Adelphia just went out as I was trying to post, but I saw it happening and I saved - whew.
Most Internet DVD critics are children whose only knowledge of DVDs comes from what they've read on other sites - hence the "dirt" and "debris" comments. They are talking about the opening ten or fifteen minutes of the film, all of which is covered with fog - every shot in that sequence is an optical, and, like all opticals, is overly grainy and has negative dirt from the generation loss on those shots. A little knowledge never hurt anyone, but you wouldn't know it by these nincompoops. And you'd think they'd figure it out, because once you're out of the first fifteen minutes, everything is suddenly crystal clear and sharp as can be.
Re McCarthy - when I was younger I was obsessed with the McCarthy hearings and that whole era (Point of Order, a wonderful documentary, was supposed to be out weeks ago on DVD, but keeps getting pushed) - read many, many books, watched many, many videos. I haven't seen the Clooney film yet, but will soon. And no, there is no defense in any way, shape, or form, that anyone anywhere could come up with for the horrendous, immoral, and self-serving behavior of Mr. McCarthy and his apes.