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BLACK WIDOW: THE MOVIE (TBD)
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Started by Bosco685,

2,016 posts in this topic

fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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4 minutes ago, piper said:

I bought a 4k TV about two weeks ago. It’s a significant improvement from our previous 1080p box.

What 4K content are you watching?  Is it via UHD discs or streaming?

I ask because 95% of people who think they're watching 4K content almost always aren't.

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ExNihilo

ExNihilo

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Decent film, starts off feeling like Disney meets Jason Bourne and then veers into the more traditional superhero flick.  I enjoyed it, but I think part of that might have been the fact that it was the first movie theater experience since Far From Home.  Seeing the Marvel Studios logo come on screen felt...special though.  Like we're finally emerging from the horrors of the last 15 months.

2 hours ago, Bosco685 said:

Interesting screen presentment to feel immersed in the action

Saw it in IMAX and my seat was close enough that I had to shift my eyes left and right if there was anything occurring on the edges of the screen.  Action sequences feel blurred when you're that close.  I can't imagine a giant 3 screen theater where you're in the middle.  I much prefer to have the entire screen directly in front of my field of view.  Would not spend the $30+ or whatever it will be for the 270 degree viewing experience.

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piper

piper

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3 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

What 4K content are you watching?  Is it via UHD discs or streaming?

I ask because 95% of people who think they're watching 4K content almost always aren't.

Netflix and Disney +. It looks better than my Blu Rays.

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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5 minutes ago, ExNihilo said:

I don't think this quantifies as a spoiler, but I personally think it's best to watch Falcon and the Winter Soldier before watching Black Widow.

To me that isn't a spoiler. But good to know as I was wondering how they would link the two since the original Phase IV had BW going first.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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7 minutes ago, ExNihilo said:

I don't think this quantifies as a spoiler, but I personally think it's best to watch Falcon and the Winter Soldier before watching Black Widow.

Can you give a spoiler-free generically-stated hint as to why?  The original release order of the works was supposed to be Black Widow first and Falcon and the Winter Soldier second.

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Bosco685

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2 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

Can you give a spoiler-free generically-stated hint as to why?  The original release order of the works was supposed to be Black Widow first and Falcon and the Winter Soldier second.

You owe me a beer

:tink:

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ExNihilo

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7 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

Can you give a spoiler-free generically-stated hint as to why?  The original release order of the works was supposed to be Black Widow first and Falcon and the Winter Soldier second.

All I can say is that character arcs seem to flow better by watching BW second.

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fantastic_four

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28 minutes ago, piper said:

Netflix and Disney +. It looks better than my Blu Rays.

If you're using the apps built into your Smart TV and did nothing else you're probably not actually watching anything in 4K.  Which is fine, because even if you jump through the hoops you're unlikely to be able to tell either way unless you switch back and forth between resolutions--which itself is non-trivial to do.  I test it by watching Netflix and Disney Plus on my smart TV then flip to watching both via my XBox One X.  Here's what you should know:

  • Netflix doesn't give you 4K streaming for free; you have to subscribe to their "Premium" service that is $4/month more expensive.  The only thing you get for the $4 is 4K content.
  • Disney Plus does provide 4K for free, but actually getting it usually ranges from difficult to impossible.  My Samsung TV's Disney Plus app either rarely or never streams in 4K.  I don't know why, it just doesn't and I haven't been able to fix it.  I can really only tell when I flip back and forth between the TV app and the XBox app.  I get it fairly consistently through my XBox, but the Samsung app is in 2K for whatever reason.  On top of compatibility issues Disney flips you down to 720p or 1080p whenever they want to.  Could be in the middle of viewing or right from the start.  The reason they say they do it is if they detect that your bandwidth is too low to support 4K, but who knows if that's the only reason.  You'd have to have separate tech equipment that monitored your streaming resolution to know when you're getting 4K and when you're not.

Netflix's 4K service is worth it--sort of.  It's mostly worth it because they do a much better job of actually streaming in 4K when it's available and IF you're on the right device.  It's only "sort" of worth it because only a tiny fraction of their content is actually in 4K.  I watched the first season of Punisher in 4K and thought it was worth it, but very little of what I've watched aside from Netflix originals is in 4K.

The last thing to know is that Disney barely produces anything in 4K anyway.  They SAY it's 4K, but it isn't because most of the Marvel movies are 2K translated to 4K, and that means it's not really 4K.  Some are in 4K--Black Panther is--but most of the others aren't.  Black Panther on UHD is spectacular.  I've compared it side-by-side with the same film streamed from Disney Plus--which, by the way, SHOULD have been 4K, but as is usually the case, wasn't--and the 4K version is noticeably better--but that's when you're viewing side by side.  If you're not comparing I usually don't notice because 2K is pretty darned good to begin with.

If anyone wants to watch every Marvel movie in 4K there's an odd paradox with regards to Fox.  Almost EVERYTHING Disney has ever released that they say is 4K is actually 2K that is up-scaled.  Oddly many of the Fox films ARE in 4K.  It seems like Fox wanted to embrace the new format, but Disney decided something along the lines of their customers either don't care or can't tell so they don't really care either.  The original Deadpool movie and several X-Men movies are in full 4K, and they're great if you're watching from disc.  But even the Fox films are spotty...roughly half are in 4K, half are upscaled from 2K like Disney's movies typically are.

Edited by fantastic_four
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piper

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4 minutes ago, fantastic_four said:

If you're using the apps built into your Smart TV and did nothing else you're probably not actually watching anything in 4K.  Which is fine, because even if you jump through the hoops you're unlikely to be able to tell either way unless you switch back and forth between resolutions--which itself is non-trivial to do.  I test it by watching Netflix and Disney Plus on my smart TV then flip to watching both via my XBox One X.  Here's what you should know:

  • Netflix doesn't give you 4K streaming for free; you have to subscribe to their "Premium" service that is $4/month more expensive.  The only thing you get for the $4 is 4K content.
  • Disney Plus does provide 4K for free, but actually getting it usually ranges from difficult to impossible.  My Samsung TV's Disney Plus app either rarely or never streams in 4K.  I don't know why, it just doesn't and I haven't been able to fix it.  I can really only tell when I flip back and forth between the TV app and the XBox app.  I get it fairly consistently through my XBox, but the Samsung app is in 2K for whatever reason.  On top of compatibility issues Disney flips you down to 720p or 1080p whenever they want to.  Could be in the middle of viewing or right from the start.  The reason they say they do it is if they detect that your bandwidth is too low to support 4K, but who knows if that's the only reason.  You'd have to have separate tech equipment that monitored your streaming resolution to know when you're getting 4K and when you're not.

Netflix's 4K service is worth it--sort of.  It's mostly worth it because they do a much better job of actually streaming in 4K when it's available and IF you're on the right device.  It's only "sort" of worth it because only a tiny fraction of their content is actually in 4K.  I watched the first season of Punisher in 4K and thought it was worth it, but very little of what I've watched aside from Netflix originals is in 4K.

The last thing to know is that Disney barely produces anything in 4K anyway.  They SAY it's 4K, but it isn't because most of the Marvel movies are 2K translated to 4K, and that means it's not really 4K.  Some are in 4K--Black Panther is--but most of the others aren't.  Black Panther on UHD is spectacular.  I've compared it side-by-side with the same film streamed from Disney Plus--which, by the way, SHOULD have been 4K, but as is usually the case, wasn't--and the 4K version is noticeably better--but that's when you're viewing side by side.  If you're not comparing I usually don't notice because 2K is pretty darned good to begin with.

All good points. I haven’t conducted any trials or experiments.

I use an Apple TV Box and (sigh) pay for the premium version of Netflix to allow the multi-user aspect of Netflix.

I’ll let you know what I discover over time.

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fantastic_four

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I would fully embrace streaming if 4K worked well with it, but it just doesn't.  That's why I still buy true 4K movies on disc--sometimes.  Unfortunately the main films I want in 4K are superhero films, and since Disney does such a cruddy job with 4K I don't end up buying much.  (shrug)  Warner Brothers does MUCH better, but of course the movies themselves aren't as good so it's a mixed blessing.  :insane:

The gold standard for superhero movies in 4K is the Nolan Batman trilogy on UHD disc.  If you watch those and can't really tell the difference between the 4K and 2K versions then you're in the majority that just can't tell and probably shouldn't care about 4K at all.  (shrug)

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Bosco685

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1 hour ago, ExNihilo said:

All I can say is that character arcs seem to flow better by watching BW second.

Of the 24 MCU films (that's an incredible count even stating that), where would you rank this?

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Bosco685

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NEWSWEEK: Marvel Movies Ranked: The Best MCU Movies According to Critics

Quote

Here is the breakdown of critics' views of the movies in the MCU, from lowest-ranked to the top movie in the series based on an average score from aggregator sites Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.

24. Thor: The Dark World

23. The Incredible Hulk

22. Iron Man 2

21. Thor

...

16. Ant-Man

15. Black Widow

14. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

...

3. Avengers: Endgame

2. Iron Man

1. Black Panther

Interesting

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