The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

[Gamblour.]

Perhaps Schwartzman is the connection?

[modage]

perhaps mild retardation is the cause?

[Gold Trumpet]

Actually, my environmental science professor assumed Wes Anderson directed I Heart Huckabees. I didn't inquire why, but the Schwartzman explanation makes sense. he's pretty good with films too. I think a lot more knowledgeable than the local film professor.

[Slick Shoes]

Why do people often think that Wes directed I (Heart) Huckabees?

They have the same haircut.

[MacGuffin]

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou Criterion Collection DVD Preview
Hunting the jaguar shark on two amazing discs.

Despite widely varying appraisals of Wes Anderson's filmmaking skill, one thing seems indelibly clear: his films have made some of the best transitions to DVD in recent memory. Both Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums scored Criterion Collection versions, and Anderson's latest, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou has gotten the same treatment.

The film stars Bill Murray and features a zany band of sea explorers who roughly approximate Jacques Cousteau's crew on ecstasy. The Life Aquatic tells the story of Steve Zissou, a failing documentarian whose life really starts going downhill when his best friend is eaten by a shark. The film chronicles Zissou's quest for revenge and his connection with a long-lost son (Owen Wilson) who appears at the beginning of the expedition.

There is an extensive explanation of the disc's transfer in the fold-out, so we'll let that speak for itself: "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are normal for this screen format. The original 35 mm cut negative was scanned at 4k resolution on an Imagica "Imager" XE Scanner. The final down-sampled 2K files were color corrected using a da Vinci 2K Color Corrector and recorded to an HD 24-frame progressive D5.

The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the original magnetic tracks. Enhanced for widescreen televisions, the transfer was supervised by Wes Anderson and director of photography Robert Yeoman. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest possible bit rate for the quantity of materials included." Wouldn't it be great if every disc listed this much information?

As you'd expect, the discs are loaded with special features, including the following:

*Commentary by Director Wes Anderson and Writer Noah Bamubach
*This is an Adventure, a documentary chronicling the movie's production.
*An interview with Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach on the Italian talk show Mondo Monda.
*Video interview with Mark Mothersbaugh, composer and former Devo member.
*Ten video performances by Seu Jorge, who performed the Portugese Bowie renditions for the film.
*Video journal of Intern #1 (actor Matthew Gray Gubler).
*Interviews/behind-the-scenes footage of cast and crew.
*"Starz on the Set" behind-the-scenes featurette.
*Deleted scenes.
*Theatrical trailer.
*Original art from the film.
*Behind the scenes photos.
*Fold-out insert featuring a cross-section of the Belafonte, as drawn by Eric Anderson.

In addition to the foldout, the disc features the same style of hand-drawn art that Eric Anderson crafted for Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums' Criterion editions. Here is a bunch of images of the box art:

[Pozer]

Fax machine anthems get your damn hands up- Hell yes!

[puddnanners]

i think this is the first dvd review:

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/609/609696p1.html

no talk of the "This is an Adventure" doc unfortunately.

[meatwad]

i got the DVD last Monday. For anyone in New York City, you can buy it at Kim's Video. It's on display

[grand theft sparrow]

i got the DVD last Monday. For anyone in New York City, you can buy it at Kim's Video. It's on display

You just made my day!  

[grand theft sparrow]

i got the DVD last Monday. For anyone in New York City, you can buy it at Kim's Video. It's on display

You just made my day!  

My day was unmade when I checked Kim's on Thursday and there were no more!  

Now I have to buy it tomorrow like a goddamn commoner!  

[MacGuffin]

DVDFile Review:
http://www.dvdfile.com/software/review/dvd-video_11/lifeaquatic.html

[Pozer]

Funny thing, I always screw up and buy the single disc instead of the double, sometimes I open it then I have to go through the return hastle etc.
this time I caught myself as I was approaching the line. I'm getting better.
p.s. the dude in front of me is how I caught my mistake. he was buying Life Aquatic and the new Weezer which is exactly what I was buying. Geeks.

[meatball]

Weezer and Wes Anderson, bringing in the dough using the geek aesthetic.

[MacGuffin]

The good: No "Coming Soon on Disney DVD" ads.

The bad: Those stupid briefcase snappers.

[Weak2ndAct]

All bads are outweighed by the fact that we get an affordable 2 disc criterion release.