[HN Gopher] The Wire in HD (2014)
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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.
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