At the Blu-Con 2.0 conference yesterday, Academy Award-winning
filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who is also a veteran and avid cinephile, sang
the praises of the Blu-ray format because it offers viewers at home the
chance to "experience the best possible sound and picture" and see "the
film as it was meant to be seen." Movies viewed in the HD format boast a
"film-grain quality," he added.
Also, Scorsese opined that BD "will extend the life of movies", because the
clarity makes classic films look new again, and thus more attractive for
younger audiences. “Blu-ray will extend the life of movies,” Scorsese said.
"I have a daughter who's 10, and she can't tell the difference between old
films and new films." That makes him "very excited and optimistic as a
filmmaker and a film lover".
On the other hand, a poor presentation, in his opinion, detracts from the
movie-watching experience, especially for younger viewers. “There are
subtle things, like not being able to see the actor's eyes. With Blu-ray, you
don't have that problem.”
During Q&A time, Scorsese was asked which film he has most enjoyed
watching on Blu-ray. Scorsese said it was the '
The Searchers'. The
Ford/Wayne classic has long been one of Scorsese's favorites, and he
considers the BD "incredible." He said it was "something about the beauty
of the landscape and the nature of the faces — you put it on just to check
something out, and you can't take it off."
Scorsese films released on Blu-ray include:
However, many other Scorsese movies are still unreleased on BD, notably
'Taxi Driver', which was supposed to have come out early this year, and
also 'Bringing Out the Dead', 'Kundun', 'The Age of Innocence', 'Cape Fear',
'The Last Temptation of Christ', 'The Color of Money', 'After Hours', 'The
King of Comedy', 'New York, New York', 'Mean Streets' and "Who's That
Knocking at My Door', as well as the documentaries 'No Direction Home',
'My Voyage in Italy' and 'A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through
American Movies'.
According to the
The Hollywood Reporter, Sony
senior VP for restoration and mastering Grover Crisp said that, with his
infectious enthusiasm for Blu-ray, Scorsese "has also gotten other
directors like Michael Mann and Christopher Nolan involved" on disc
remastering and special features.