Disney had its Investor Day last week, where they announced a number of new projects coming to Disney+ as well as theaters. One that we knew was headed for Disney+ for a while is The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Here is the exclusive first look for The Falcon and The Winder Soldier which arrives on Disney+ March 19, 2021.
An online trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 dropped a couple days ago. As you probably heard, Wonder Woman 1984 will be released in theatres, IMAX, and HBO Max on the same day. I am not sure how I feel about this. I think overall, that it is being presented in theatres given the current circumstances is a good sign for a future commitment to theatres. And really, movies are best in the cinema. I am in Canada, and we don’t have HBO Max here so our only option is to see it in theatres, and since we only have a handful of COVID-19 cases it is relatively safe to do so. If you can see it in an IMAX it will be beneficial to do so as some sequences were shot with IMAX cameras. Warner Bros. is going to release all their 2021 releases under this model. So, let’s hope that theatres are still around in 2022, because if they are not, we will likely suffer a huge decrease in quality going forward. Anyway, my encodes are available at the link below. And sorry, no 5.1 mixes are available since it is an online and not a theatrical trailer. See, that is what I mean about a decrease in quality going forward.
Release Date: December 25, 2020 (North America) / HBO Max (USA Only)
Director: Patty Jenkins
Writers: Geoff Johns, Patty Jenkins
Stars: Pedro Pascal, Gal Gadot, Connie Nielsen, Chris Pine
Studio: Warner Bros.
Expected release date March 4, 2022. Robert Pattinson takes a turn as the caped crusader, a character who first appeared in 1939. That is 81 years ago! The teaser for ‘The Batman’ was revealed during DC FanDome almost a week ago. There was a 4K version uploaded to Vimeo by director Matt Reeves. A couple days ago I was able to get a 1080p ProRes master along with the dialogue, music and effects tracks. Over in the User Uploaded Trailers section Donnie uploaded a 1080p version with a 5.1 mix, likely from the DME tracks as well. Here I am featuring the 4K Vimeo encode with a 5.1 mix I did from the dialogue, music and effects tracks as well as my official thedigitaltheater encode of the 1080p master. I suspect that the 1080p will look much better than the 4K due to the higher bitrate, but the internet has been swooning about the glorious 4K on social media. Take your pick. I am also including the original stereo in AC3 if that is your preferred choice. Lots of options, I hope everyone is happy. BTW, who would want to live in Gotham? It seems like a nightmare…
Expected Release Date: March 4, 2022 (North America)
Director: Matt Reeves
Writers: Peter Craig
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Colin Farrell
Studio: Warner Bros.
A word on public health. I viewed Tenet on August 26th. I was able to do so because I live in Canada and am in a province with less than 10 active COVID-19 cases, with no known community transmission. All precautions were taken including wearing of masks, hand washing and social distancing. The theatre I was in had two pairs of seats per row, with every other row vacant, and the filled seats staggered between rows. Seats were sanitized before and after screening. This review is not meant to encourage people to take risks, but since I am one of the first people in the world to actually be able to see a first run movie I thought it would be good to share my experience. If the film is available in your area please follow local public health guidelines if you chose to see it in the theatre.
Tenet (2020)
Warner Bros. Pictures presents a SYNCOPY production, written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh
August 27, 2020
By Jonathan Richards – thedigitaltheater.com
Tenet is unlike anything that I have seen before, and a film that could only come from Christopher Nolan. His films require multiple viewings because there are just so many little moments that don’t seem important at first but offer up a puzzle piece which falls into place later – so long as you remember. Thematically, Tenet is most like Inception (2010) than other Nolan films. However, Inception had a better connection to the motivations of the characters, at least in a way most viewers can relate. In Inception, you sensed Cobb’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) pain from planting the idea in his wife’s mind, and the dangerous solace he sought to ease it. And although Inception is a complex and mind-bending film, the concept is well explained early in the film, providing a foundation for the viewer. Cobb explains everything for our benefit to his new recruit, Ariadne (Ellen Paige). In Tenet, we are essentially learning alongside “The Protagonist” so the foundation for understanding is not as well laid out, at least not on the first pass; perhaps I just missed a key piece of the puzzle.
The concept behind Tenet is “inversion”. The word Tenet is a palindrome, which is a word spelled the same forward and backward. I wonder if “Madam I’m Adam” was also considered as a title. We learn that objects and people can be inverted, which means that they move backward through time. When you are inverted, intense heat is experienced as intense cold. An inverted bullet returns to the gun when the trigger is pulled. OK, that is fairly simple to follow. But then you are watching the movie and your mind starts working on things like…what happens when an inverted person gets into a car that is not inverted and drives forward? Are they moving backwards in time at the speed they are moving forward? Or are they not going anywhere? If you have someone from the past, and someone from the future, and one is inverted and the other is not, is time irrelevant? Can an inverted ball roll both up and down a hill? I guess it would depend upon where it started, maybe. Anyway, watching a movie like Tenet (and there are no others) will make you think about things like this, and that is what makes Nolan’s works all the better. A mind trip that keeps you thinking while being bombarded with elaborate action set pieces.
One thing I wasn’t sure about while watching was if there was any time travel involved, but I think I understand how that works now. It is not the time travel of pushing a button and ‘poof’ you are in 1952. It goes like this: if I go for a run in the park today and I see myself running down the path backwards, I’d say, ‘gee that is weird’. Then tomorrow I become inverted and stay inverted long enough that I would move backward in time to the point when I go for a run in the park backwards and I see myself running forward I’d say, ‘oh, I remember doing that yesterday’ (note: my forward moving self would still say ‘gee that is weird’). Now I just realized that if you invert and move backward in time, and then reinvert you will never get back to the point where you initially inverted because your experience of the flow of time would adjust from that point forward and you will always be that far back in time. In fact, you would be twice as far back as time keeps moving forward. See, if you spend a day moving backward, normal time moves ahead a day as well, so the difference between where you are and where you should be is two days. This is assuming time only moves forward, of course, and at the same rate as backwards. I’d have to re-watch to see if that is dealt with.
Let’s just say that there are lots of possibilities with this concept, and fans of Tenet will be debating them for years to come.
Robert Pattinson delivered a wonderful performance as Neil. We first meet him (I think) as someone who had a little too much Vodka and tonic, yet he seems to be ready for the task at hand. He also seems rather informed. John David Washington inherited a lot of skill from his father (Denzel) and delivered a great physical performance, but some of his one liners didn’t quite hit home. They just seemed out of character. I do think that the film could have been improved by giving him more of a personal motivation other than what appears to be a sense of duty. That is where DiCaprio’s Cobb in Inception benefited from having a fleshed-out backstory concerning the loss of his wife and exile from his children. That emotional connection gave weight to Inception. Washington’s character is just there. In fact, he isn’t even named. He refers to himself as “The Protagonist”. Perhaps some things are being held back for some point in the future (or past) as the possibility exists to explore the character further. Then again, he is a spy so perhaps that is why there is no back story. He is on a mission. That could be the thinking here, “The Protagonist” is just a man on a mission.
The premise of Tenet is also straight forward: save the world from annihilation by having the flow of time stop (I think). The person who wants to end the world has his own reasons for doing so. This character, Andrei Sator played by Kenneth Branagh is the most intense character in the film. It is clear he made his billions by not being a nice guy. The other main character is Sator’s wife Kat played by Elizabeth Debicki. She is trapped in a bad marriage, held hostage between her freedom and being with her son by information that Sator has. There are twists and turns along the way involving the heist of plutonium from a convoy that ultimately reveals Sator’s plan. Eventually there is a large battle with some crazy scenes of destruction in forward and reverse time. Think of a 20-story building being hit with missiles where some are normal, and others are inverted in time. Really, think about it.
I had a few issues with the presentation of the film. The image bent upwards on the bottom left of the screen, and about 5% of the screen on the far right was darkened and a bit blurred. Also, there was a light from the booth that would illuminate the screen from time to time – a door being opened maybe. It is a shame that more care isn’t given to the presentation. That’s what happens when there is no projectionist and it is all programmed in a NOC a couple thousand miles away. I also had issues with the dialogue. I found it very difficult to hear over the music in the surrounds. I doubt that the movie was mixed that way, so I am blaming the theatre for that one too. I would have loved to have been able to see it in 70mm as projectionists were contracted for those screenings, and I am sure they would have ensured a flawless presentation.
Tenet delivered almost everything I expected. I would have loved to have more depth to “The Protagonist” but I will assume that there is a reason for that. I am looking forward to seeing it again, so that I can hopefully answer some of those questions I still have. Oh, and now I remember it being said that gravity works the same when inverted. Therefore, an inverted ball would go downhill, and it would also roll uphill if it had gone downhill. Solved! Now, does intense pain become intense pleasure?
Things are getting a little busy, lots of new trailers out there. And I am excited to say that I have my tickets for Tenet at 7 PM tonight. Our local 10 screen multiplex is showing it on 5 screens. With only 4 people per row, and every other row empty that would equal a packed single theater in normal times. The “User Uploaded Trailers” forum has been busy too, with trailers for The Batman, Bill and Ted, Wonder Woman 1984, and more!
I managed to get a 4K version of the new Wonder Woman 1984 trailer yesterday, so even though there is a nice 1080p version in the forum I thought that I would add the 4K here. This one has “sequences shot with IMAX film cameras” at the very end. Wonder Woman 1984 is set for release on October 2, 2020. Stay safe out there!
Release Date: December 25, 2020 (North America)
Director: Patty Jenkins
Writers: Geoff Johns, Patty Jenkins
Stars: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Pedro Pascal
Studio: Warner Bros.
Five young mutants, just discovering their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, fight to escape their past sins and save themselves. (IMDB)
Trailer 2 was originally released back in January, when the film was scheduled for a spring release. The current release date is set for August 18, 2020. This is an unofficial mix derived from an official non English mix, the centre channel is the non official element. Aspect ratio is 1.85:1. For any of you who project movies and use masking for a 2.4:1 aspect ratio, I have included a Flat version (1482×800) in a 1920×800 Scope image size. This really is of interest only to someone projecting to a 2.4:1 screen.
Release Date: August 28, 2020 (North America)
Director: Josh Boone
Writers: Josh Boone, Knate Lee
Stars: Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Gerard Butler is back in action as a dad determined to get his family to a bunker in Greenland while the Earth undergoes an extinction event. Yikes! This mix was derived from the dialogue, music and effects tracks. I hope you enjoy this in your home cinema. Greenland is currently scheduled for release on August 14th.
Here is the 4K (4096×1716) version of Tenet Trailer 3. A few notes on the encode. The original was 12 bit in the XYZ color space. In the past, I have converted from this format to 8 bit RGB which resulted in banding in the blacks (like the Top Gun: Maverick IMAX Trailer). This time for the conversion to the RGB color space, I transcoded to ProRes 422 HQ which has a bit depth of 10 bits. I needed to do be able to edit the titles so that they would be English, so this appeared to be the best way to go. I then did two HEVC encodes from the ProRes 422 HQ – 1 with HDR grading in Rec2020 color primaries, and one with SDR in Rec709. The results look quite good, and I could not detect any excessive banding issues. The downside is on the encoding – which took about 18 hours each to encode to HEVC. I may take some time to re-encode some of the past 4K trailers that have banding issues, particularly Top Gun: Maverick.
The audio is an official studio 5.1 mix. What is interesting is that there are a lot more sound effects in the mix, than what were available in the effects track that I used in the 1080p mixes. Not sure why they were not included, but they were not. Needless to say, this sounds much better.
AN IMAX ASPECT RATIO 4K VERSION IS COMING SOON
Feel free to leave your impressions of the encodes in the comments below.
The different versions available are listed below:
Release Date: July 31, 2020 (North America)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Stars: John David Washington, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Robert Pattinson, Kenneth Branagh
Studio: Warner Bros.
Things have been really slow as of late, for obvious reasons. But for now TENET is still scheduled for release next month, but the date has been adjusted slightly from July 17th to July 31st. On July 17th, Warner Bros. will be offering the 10th anniversary re-release of INCEPTION. I never did get to see it in theatres, but it is one of my all time favorites. In fact, I just watched it two weeks ago and it doesn’t seem like it was 10 years ago when it was released. If you have never watched it, or if you are a fan of the film, I hope there is a cinema open in your area screening it.
The third trailer for TENET is a bit of an expansion from the second, and offers some glimpses at some set pieces. I think it will be an interesting film, and with Nolan’s track record, I have high expectations. The source of trailer 3 was a ProRes 422 HQ 1080p with dialogue, music and effects tracks. I mixed them into a 5.1 channel mix. There are not a lot of sound effects in the mix, so it is mostly music in the surrounds. I really do like the music too. I did a few different encodes because I had time on my hands and thought some may be interested in the results. There is a standard H264 AVC, but I also did two 10 bit H265 HEVC HDR encodes. One has an HDR grading, and the other is just a straight export without any grading. They may look weird, but there they are if you are interested. Feel free to leave your impressions of the encodes in the comments below.
There is no 4K version available at this time.
The different versions available are listed below:
Release Date: July 31, 2020 (North America)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Stars: John David Washington, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Robert Pattinson, Kenneth Branagh
Studio: Warner Bros.
I was able to get a 5.1 mix sooner than expected. This is an unofficial English 5.1 mix based upon an official French 5.1 mix. The French dialogue was removed from the center channel while maintaining the sound effects. The English dialogue was added from the English stereo master. You can get this version from the links below. Of course, if Disney would release the English version as they were doing in the past, then I would not have to go through all of this. There is no 4K version available yet.
Release Date: July 9, 2021 (North America) and Disney+
Director: Cate Shortland
Writers: Ned Benson, Don Heck (comic book & character)
Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr.
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures / Marvel Studios
