the glory of ultra panavision

So, I finally got around to watching "The Hateful Eight", Quentin Tarantino's 8th film.  They shot the thing in 65mm Ultra Panavision.  My goodness, that was a beautiful film to watch.  The film overall was awesome:  great story with twists and turns, great actors acting brilliant, Quentin's usual lush, colorful dialogue, and the score was tailored to every scene with eclectic abundance.  I loved it.

But what made it extra special was the cinematography.  I can't believe Ultra Panavision hasn't been used since the 70's and that this was only the 11th film ever made with it.  Yeah, I watched the bonus features.  If you are interested in reading about the details of Ultra Panavision, check out the Wiki.  Seeing everything wider and in more detail really dragged me into the movie more.  It would have been better to see it in the theater at one of the special 70mm showings.  Obviously, shots of blood flying through the snow is going to look dramatic, but it's so much more than that in the higher definition filming.(Okay, not really higher definition technically, but aesthetically, it is)

I'm glad Tarantino went through the trouble of bringing back the old tech.  They actually used the lenses from the 70's and retrofitted them to today's camera equipment.  And now, I've found out that the new Star Wars Story, "Rogue One" is going to have an undisclosed amount of scenes shot in Ultra Panavision!!!  I was already excited about this film.  Hopefully, they use it a lot.

​Sometimes, old school is best.