7. You Raise Your Eyebrows At A Movie's Aspect Ratio
Most people don't know or care about the difference between 1:85.1 and 2:40.1, even though it's easily explained. You point to the screen and say: "See how it's wide like an HDTV, but not super wide? That's 1:85" or "See how it's really, really wide and would need black bars even on an HDTV? That's 2:40." The person to whom you're explaining it to will say "Oh" and then forget you ever said anything and stop returning your calls. But to you, the film nerd, it has a lot to do with the tone of a film. When a film's aspect ratio is 2:40, it's typically an epic or blockbuster action movie like Star Trek Into Darkness or Thor: The Dark World. If you're watching a rom-com or a mumblecore indie drama, it's likely 1:85. However, there are some films whose themes don't seem to match their aspect ratio, and this is a massively grating experience for film nerds. For instance, the movie "Horrible Bosses" is in 2:40. Now, I like that movie - it's a pretty decent comedy, but it ain't no 2:40. On the flip side, Terrence Malick's The Tree Of Life, maybe the most epic film ever made (half of the movie is just about the universe), has a 1:85 aspect ratio. You mean to tell me a movie with Colin Farrell snorting lines of coke off a Thai prostitute's breasts constitutes a wider screen than a movie about loss, love, life, faith and all of existence as we know it? Something just isn't right with that.