When Rodriguez says film has gotten bad, he means that it is poorly processed, usually on inferior film stock at overworked film labs. Colors and contrasts are often substandard, he said. Work is also slow, he said. I saw the digital version last month at the GCC Franklin Mills. The difference is clear.
Colors are brighter, images are sharper.
There are no pops and scratches, none of the tremulousness of film - that subconscious sense of movement. On the other hand, digital clarity gives you the feeling you're seeing a colder, harder surface. Film looks velvety soft, and feels warmer. These are, of course, the romantic interpretations of an old fogie. Generations who grow up on HDTV and the inevitable conversion to digital cinema will come to understand the digital look AS cinema.