[HN Gopher] The Wire in HD (2014) ___________________________________________________________________ The Wire in HD (2014) Author : tosh Score : 26 points Date : 2021-01-03 21:35 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (davidsimon.com) (TXT) w3m dump (davidsimon.com) | js2 wrote: | > Still, being equally honest here, there can be no denying that | an ever-greater portion of the television audience has HD | widescreen televisions staring at them from across the living | room, and that they feel notably oppressed if all of their | entertainments do not advantage themselves of the new hardware. | It vexes them in the same way that many with color television | sets were long ago bothered by the anachronism of black-and-white | films, even carefully conceived black-and-white films. For them, | The Wire seems frustrating or inaccessible - even more so than we | intended it. And, hey, we are always in it to tell people a | story, first and foremost. If a new format brings a few more | thirsty critters to the water's edge, then so be it. | | It's too bad they don't offer a 4:3 HD version for those of us | who care about high definition but want to respect the original | composition. Same goes for Buffy, which is a complete mess in | 16:9. | | I watch many old movies on my 1080p projector to a 16:9 100" | screen and don't mind side bars at all. | | (You know what drives me crazy though? Films that use multiple | aspect ratios like Wonder Woman 1984. Typically it's for IMAX | purposes today[1]. There is a single film that I thought used | multiple aspect ratios in an interesting manner - the ratio got | shorter as the world closed in on the protagonist, and then got | taller again as the world opened back up. Damn if I can recall | what film it was now though.) | | [1] https://hometheaterreview.com/making-sense-of-new-movies- | tha... | cs702 wrote: | I saw both the SD and the HD versions. I prefer the HD version. | | If you have never seen The Wire, here are some suggestions: | | * Watch it with subtitles, so you can understand the slang of the | different subcultures of Baltimore. Otherwise, it's easy to miss | many important details. The actors -- many of whom are actual | former gang members, police officers, judges, politicians, | teachers, etc. from the city Baltimore, speak as the characters | would in real life -- not always in easy-to-understand accents. | | * Bookmark the Wikipedia page on The Wire's characters, so you | can look them up: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Wire_characters -- | There are well over a hundred important characters, and sometimes | it's a good idea to pause the show and look a character up to | refresh your memory if you don't remember a particular name. | | * If you're not naturally interested in Baltimore's police and | drug gang subcultures, you may find the first season a bit slow. | I would recommend sticking with it through at least the beginning | of the second season, which is mainly about union longshoremen, | before passing judgment. The Wire is not about police, nor about | drug gangs. It's about the city of Baltimore. | Espressosaurus wrote: | It's great, but it's also slow. I feel like asking someone to | stick with it through 18 hours to get to the "good part" is at | best inconsiderate of their time. | | Much like GOT, either it grabs you enough to continue in the | first few episodes or it doesn't. It's not like it changes the | speed of exposition and character development. Unlike GOT it | doesn't get worse with time. | | Watching it with subtitles is good advice. | namdnay wrote: | Do you really find it slow? Compared to the Sopranos or the | West Wing (which were the two other main shows on around the | time I think?), I always found the Wire to be more | accessible. Each season has a pretty strong driving plot. | | Compared to some of the really slow Sopranos seasons (I | remember the Carmela-Furio season that just dragged on and | on) it's practically 24 :) | Espressosaurus wrote: | It's not like there's a lot of action going on most of the | time--it's mostly people talking. Which is fine! But not | everybody likes that kind of show. It also doesn't have the | same addictive amount of leaving each episode on a | cliffhanger the way more recent shows are written. | | I never watched the Sopranos or West Wing, so I can't speak | to them. I enjoyed The Wire (bought the box set!), but it's | still a slow-paced drama. If that's your jam, it's | fantastic. If it's not, it's still worth a shot (it's that | good), but it's not "try it for 18 hours if you don't like | the genre" good. All IMO of course. And full disclosure: | I'm not a big fan of dramas, but The Wire still grabbed me. | Hence my caution that it's somewhat slow compared to other | fare. | | I should watch it again, it's been a long time and it is | worth it. | ideamotor wrote: | I remembered it being slow until I rewatched it recently. | It's not slow and it gets interesting very quickly. | brnt wrote: | Slow as in no cheap attention grabbing action or camera work | is good. A ton is happening in The Wire so 'slow' helps | following the story! | postingpals wrote: | I find the show to be incredible, not just in terms of rhetoric | but actually just aesthetically, it's got very pleasing visuals | and there is no overuse of edits and sound. | | But sometimes i see the way david simon acts on twitter and i | reconsider how good the show actually was. It's hard to believe | it was even made by him. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-01-03 23:00 UTC)