I saw Steven Soderbergh's Bubble last week, and I really liked it. This is the movie that Soderbergh has decided to release simultaneously in theaters, on DVD and on cable -- though it turns out that DVD retailers are not equipped to release DVDs on Fridays, so it will have to wait until the following Tuesday. I'm really not sure how this ploy is supposed to work. Are they going to count DVD sales as part of the film's box office score? Are they expecting that having the DVD in stores will actually drive people to the theater? What is the goal here?
The irony is that Soderbergh has made a gorgeous, super-widescreen movie with deeply-focused frames and vivid details depicting the ennui and disillusionment of a small town in the middle of nowhere. It's a big-screen movie that simply will not play the same way on home video. (I had a chance to sample the DVD just after the screening, and my theory proved correct.) Not to mention that its relentlessly depressing story (with no movie stars) isn't the kind of film that DVD mongers will want to see more than once. Only the Soderbergh commentary track holds any kind of allure for the home version.
Whatever Soderbergh and company are hoping to achieve witih Bubble may just have to wait until someone tries this trick again.
The irony is that Soderbergh has made a gorgeous, super-widescreen movie with deeply-focused frames and vivid details depicting the ennui and disillusionment of a small town in the middle of nowhere. It's a big-screen movie that simply will not play the same way on home video. (I had a chance to sample the DVD just after the screening, and my theory proved correct.) Not to mention that its relentlessly depressing story (with no movie stars) isn't the kind of film that DVD mongers will want to see more than once. Only the Soderbergh commentary track holds any kind of allure for the home version.
Whatever Soderbergh and company are hoping to achieve witih Bubble may just have to wait until someone tries this trick again.
| :: posted by Jeffrey M. Anderson, 1/24/2006 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
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