Issues Inspired By Thank You For Smoking

I just watched Thank You For Smoking, and I have a couple of things to say.

First of all, I HATE PAN AND SCAN. I got this DVD from the library, and they don't tell you if you're getting widescreen or full screen. It used to be that you always got full screen. I remember the first widescreen movie I saw on video was 2001, and I found those black bars distracting. However, as time went on, I started noticing how movies changed in full screen from their original versions. My first memory of noticing the phenomenon was watching Ghostbusters on TV. There's a scene when the Ghostbusters are in the elevator, three wide. The camera has to keep panning to see them all, even cuts so it looks like different shots. However, in the original version, it's all one shot. The camera doesn't move, and thus it isn't distracting, and doesn't spoil the joke.

The reason for full screen was the different ratio of the TV versus movies. It was basically re-editing the movie so it would fit, and now it drives me crazy. Even after I decided for myself that widescreen was the best way to watch movies on TV, people I knew were still insisting on fullscreen. "Widescreen makes the picture too small," they would complain. True, but in full screen, you don't see everything. Bigger picture=less picture.

So, to Thank You For Smoking. The DVD I got from the library was full screen. HOWEVER, it kept switching between full screen and widescreen, which they seem to do in re-editing when it is determined that nothing can be left out. My question is, what's the point? If there are scenes that must have widescreen, why bother with full screen? Argh.

Second point - having just read the book recently, I found it interesting some of the substitutions that were and weren't made between the two. For example, in the book, Nick Naylor goes on Oprah. For the movie, it was the fictional talk show "Joan", hosted by Joan Lunden. Naylor's life is threatened on Larry King in the book, Dennis Miller in the movie. Now, maybe Oprah and King weren't available, but some of the product changes were interesting. In the book, they made a big stink about Camel cigarettes and their mascot; however, the label that appears in the movie (in passing) is Alpaca. When Naylor goes to Hollywood in the book, he and Jeff plan to incorporate smoking into the scenes with two fictional actors; in the movie, it's Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones. In the book, it's the Tumbleweeds Man who's dying of cancer; in the book, it's the Marlboro Man. Possibly others, but I just noticed it.

Third - the movie was better for me the second time. It's different than the book, but it's still very good.

And as a sidebar, I know I'm late on the April links. Maybe I'll get 'em up tomorrow.