Rating: 
Summary: this could change lives, the world for the better . ..
Review: i'm writing a review because
i think these movies are brilliant cultural critique,
brilliant sweeping history, and some of the most beautiful art objects i've witnessed in my lifetime.
and there are these people with their reviews at the top. whine ing and moaning about some kind of cropping or something. obviously spoiled and useless. . . if they really cared they'd tell everyone how wonderful these films are because they could actually make a strong and important difference in a deteriorating world if they were introduced more widely into the mass disgusting marketplace.
and if the people in the mass disgusting marketplace (see amazon) weren't all worried about nit-picky and obsessive spoiled rotten crap . . . and were actually worried about the planet and the rotting mental environment of 3 or 4 destructive consumer-oriented generations.
Rating: 
Summary: Inspiring
Review: Like that this has the 16:9 version....looks real nice even at 480p....a 1080i version would be better, but we'll have to wait for that technology for now. I've waited 20 years to see this again.....a movie I've never forgotten. It just makes you think.
The musical score is perfection, as is most of Philip Glass' work......bought the re-recorded cd along with the Koyaanisqatsi/Powaqqatsi 2 pack offered here at Amazon.com
Rating: 
Summary: Powaqqatsi Cropped as well
Review: After reading the previous review from the gentlemen who owns an IRE special edition of Koyaanisqatsi I suspected they must have done the same "image cropping" to Powaqqatsi.Well, after comparing the Powaqqatsi DVD with an old VHS edition published back in the late 80's I can confirm that in order to go from 4:3 (VHS) to the 16:9 format of the DVD they simply cut the top and bottom part of the image. The DVD does NOT show extra stuff that would come from a wider picture.
Very stupid I think. The movie was probably shot in 4:3 originally.
Rating:
Summary: Correction on Roy Kristiansen's review
Review: Actually, the film was indeed released as 1.85:1 threatrically. I saw it on its original run in the theater "way back when" and later, ran it myself as a projectionist for the Nuart in LA. That print, too, was a 1.85:1 print (complete with printed masking). So, the DVD release is not a cropped version. He may be confusing Koyaanisqatsi with an IMAX film, Chronos, directed by Ron Fricke who was DP on Koyaanisqatsi - that film was 4:3 - the IMAX aspect ratio. However, I cannot, as of yet, rate the quality of the DVD because I have not yet seen it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Up to Par
Review: The quality of the picture is much less than any DVD I've seen before. Indeed, dust and scratches appear throughout both DVDs. I'm a big fan of both of these movies, but the DVDs just do not do them justice both in terms of video and sound quality.
Rating:
Summary: Films for the Ages
Review: The arrival of these films in DVD format after a long and painful journey thru legal limbo is a joy to behold. Koyaanisqatsi is truly one of the most visually stunning films of all time, but that isn't it, no far from it. In addition to Reggio and Fricke's breathtaking visuals, one is further blessed with the genius of Philip Glass' score. The sections of the film can be hypnotic, jarring, humorous, heartbreaking, puzzling, or strange, and what one takes from the film isn't set in stone, but its guaranteed to challenge the viewer in the best sense of the term. Its Sequel, Powaqqatsi is no less ambitious and no less phenomenal, shifting to the "third world" and slowing down the visual pace of much of the film (literally). It also features what is perhaps Philip Glass' most powerful music ever (matched in ambition and scope only by his Opera Akhnaten). Words must enevitably fall short to fully describe these films though, for if a picture is worth a thousand words, these films provide thousands of pictures for us to contemplate. A Definite "must own"!!
Rating:
Summary: noses up
Review: ok. what can i say? if this is your kind of viewing experience, you already know it. i don't have to tell you how amazing it is.
but i do have to add my two bits about this particular release. never having the opportunity to see KOY on the "big screen", i was just excited to be able to own this masterpiece. but after reading reviews of "aspect ratios", i didn't know what to expect. now, i don't have any training in cinematography, and i didn't go to any film schools, but i still know what a film is supposed to look like... and all i can say is, even with my lack of a trained eye, this cut simply does not look right. there is no way that such a groundbreaking film is supposed to look like this. i can't explain it with any technical jargon, i just know that something is wrong in MGM-ville. it seems they have taken us, the audience, for a bunch of fools. it's amazing! the amount of time it took for this release should have ensured a better treatment. but alas, the ... price tag truly reflects its value. you get what you pay for, and MGM has decided to make this release a ... disposable unit, priced to fly off the shelves. it's quite upsetting. but then again, at least i'm not one of the filmmakers, who should be more ... off than anyone else about this injustice. has anyone heard anything from Ron Fricke about this?
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME SPECTACLE TO BEHOLD!!
Review: I just watched this movie tonight for the first time in years and it was GREAT!! The music as well as all of the cinematography was very well done! I had forgotten about some of the music segments that are in the movie but do not appear on the cd soundtrack to my knowledge.
The sound was really awesome too! I was blown away by the opening segment! A must have for any art film or Philip Glass fan!
Rating:
Summary: Inproper Matting? Who Cares!
Review: Although some people are quick to point out that the MGM version of Koyaanisqatsi is improperly matted to 1.85:1, who really cares? If you are a fan of the 'qatsi films, then you are well aware that they have been out of print (unavailable to the public for purchase or even rental) for a LONG time. I have long been trying to obtain a bootleg, or even laserdisc copy of the films. On ebay they usually went for upwards of $100 a copy. When I heard that MGM was releasing the films on DVD, I was estatic, and after watching them at home on my TV, I am even more happy. Koyaanisqatsi is a love-hate film; you either love it, or hate it. For me, the brillance of Koyaanisqatsi comes in the juxtaposition of it's imagery and film score. The imagery is stunning: beautiful yet disturbing at times. The filmmaker Godfrey Reggio gives the viewer imagery and lets them make their own decisions about "what it means." This renders Koyannisqatsi a film where the viewer is quite active. If you do not like to think, or do not like abstractions you will most definitely not enjoy these films. If you enjoy thinking, and want to watch an experimental film that will leave you thinking for weeks, if not months afterwards, I can't recommend this film more.
Rating:
Summary: Sleep-inducing, obvious, repetitive
Review: Granted, Koyaanisqatsi had a certain freshness and art-house novelty when it was first released, and the cinematography (which was better realized in Baraka, and accompanied by better music) is worthwhile, but the unspeakably obvious latter-day Luddite point is hammered home in the first 20 minutes. Many of the images have poetry, yes, but you can't make an epic poem of a haiku. Powaqqatsi ranks several notches below its predecessor, and is scarcely worth even a first viewing. The remastered dolby digital sound is great--if only it revealed anything worth hearing after five minutes. I can't fathom why anyone would want to watch either film more than once. I know of no one who has seen either who didn't prefer Ron Fricke's (director of photography for both of these films) Baraka instead. No wonder he didn't return for Reggio's final installment of the trilogy, Naqoyqatsi. He prefers his sleep aids in the over-the-counter format.
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