DVD/BluRay News

Arkadin wrote:

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR has camp value, but I don't think you can take it too seriously.

Certainly not, but it didn't strike me as being a joke, either. It's all in the way you view it, I guess. I had very different expectations from what it was...

trevanian wrote:

I wish Verhoeven would have made his ... as a longtime scholar of the era, he probably would have balanced his sado-masochistic tendencies with a spiritual approach, as opposed to (from what little I've seen) the snuff film angle in the Gibson movie.

Well, it's unfair and misleading to suggest that because Gibson's film is hyper-violent that it somehow doesn't have a spiritual approach; it's in a longstanding Catholic tradition as to seeing the meditation on Christ's physical suffering as a way of spiritual edification. Don't get me wrong, I don't like THE PASSION much at all, but we do have to discuss it as an expression of Catholic theology, which is what it is intended to be.

But if you're interested in Verhoeven's film, you can read his early notes for it here: http://soulfoodmovies.blogspot.com/2006/12/verhoeven-jesus-movie-notes-spring-94.html. It would have been so controversial as to make the furor over LAST TEMPTATION look like nothing. But it is a pretty good primer on how the Jesus Seminar would attempt to rewrite the gospel text in order to get at the "historical" Jesus. The scholarship behind it isn't as popular as it once was--I think many have been effective at pointing out its questionable methodology and presenting alternate takes that make more sense--but it still has hold in certain circles.

VIOLENT SATURDAY available to pre-order here.

Annoyingly enough its not anamorphic, but apparently theres some glitch with the prints that prevent it. Ah well - this is likely to be the best version we'll get of it.

colly wrote:

VIOLENT SATURDAY available to pre-order here.

Annoyingly enough its not anamorphic, but apparently theres some glitch with the prints that prevent it. Ah well - this is likely to be the best version we'll get of it.

TWILIGHT TIME offering non-anamorphic? This doesn't bode well with me.

From the website:

Quote :

(NOTE: While we understand that most hardcore collectors of DVDs prefer all titles to be 16 x 9 anamorphically enhanced for widescreen televisions, in some instances this isn't possible when the studio has only non-anamorphic elements in the vault. It then becomes our decision to either not release the title, or to go with the 4 x 3 master available to us. As we at Twilight Time love films like "Violent Saturday," it is our feeling that to have it out in the only way we can, is better than to not have it at all. Fortunately, many of the titles we will be issuing in the series ++are++ anamorphically enhanced, so we ask your forgiveness and indulgence in advance, for those classic treasures left in the 4 x 3 format as a result of being prepared for laserdisc before being left in the cold when that mode of delivery was eclipsed by DVD. We are collectors, too--and appreciate your support. Thanks so much.)

Frustrating, but at least FATE IS THE HUNTER should be anamorphic. Because I've seen it in a widescreen TV presentation.

BFI are releasing their restored version of Battleship Potemkin for cinemas at the end of the month.



Would love to go and see it.

Separate blu-ray releases for:

Barry Lyndon

and

Lolita

They're "Amazon Exclusive", never heard of that before but anyway BARRY LYNDON was the title I have been looking most forward to for a blu-ray release after having purchased his many other titles on the format. The old DVD is non-anamorphic so I was never considering that, so it's a relief that it will be released properly this time. So yes, I just pre-ordered it. Should be fantastic to watch it in HD.

Never saw LOLITA, I keep hearing mixed opinions concerning that one so I'm not even sure I'll do a blind purchase on that.

BARRY LYNDON is mines!

Bounty Entertainment must read my Internet searches. They're releasing editions of:

VIOLENT SATURDAY
THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS
HELL AND HIGH WATER
DESTINATION GOBI
and others, on Wednesday. Plus Director's Suite's doing WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER?, though I think M ight go the Mansfield boxset for that.

Anybody know when Never Let Me Go willl be released on DVD in Australia? Had a quick look on the net and couldn't find anythng.

Isnt it still in cinemas?

Sharkster will love this...

http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/index.php?tle_id=502

Not sure if it's region-free or not, though.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001PIHH5M/dvdbeaver-20/ref=nosim

Citizen Kane (Amazon Exclusive 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition + The Magnificent Ambersons on DVD) [Blu-ray]

Will AMBERSONS be available seperately?

I'm not sure. As of now, it looks like it may only be an Amazon deal when you purchase Blu-Kane.

New Criterion releases:
http://www.criterion.com/library/expanded_view?f=1&s=release_date

The Killing, Cul de Sac, Battle of Algiers, and more. Looks good.

Never saw THE KILLING. But it's Kubrick on Criterion, therefore I'm sold. Has anyone kept count on how many times I've explained how much I cherish the Criterion release of PATHS OF GLORY? Again, best blind purchase of my life.

HELL YES!

Warner Archive's at it again - releasing:

>The Paul Newman trio of THE RACK, THE PRIZE and UNTIL THEY SAIL
>Holden's TOWARD THE UNKNOWN
>DON'T GO NEAR THE WATER with Glenn Ford which I've been searching for for a while
and the Loy pic THE PRIZEFIGHTER AND THE LADY.

if only they werent so expensive... :(

DVD beaver reviews the blu-ray of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/onceuponatimeinthewest.htm

Honestly - to my mind that DVD restoration was fantastic enough, so this Blu-Ray doesnt look like a massive improvement to my eyes. Not enough to make my blu-ray conversion imminent.

"She's gahgeous."

I'm buying this next Tuesday, no doubt. It looks like a better transfer to me. I just can't wait until I can finally get an HDTV and Blu-ray player! :x

DVD beaver does BARRY LYNDON

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_reviews54/barry_lyndon_blu-ray.htm

Love that second capture.

At Best Buy I saw Sean Connery Bond collections for 15 bucks. Two collections, one with DN, FRWL, and GF, the other with the other three films. 15 each. Probably no extras. I gotta find a way to see if they have the mono tracks, because I may pick them up later this week.

I wasn't gonna get any Bond blu-rays yet except for LTK, but I'll probably get these. Just wish OHMSS and TLD were out.

The Bond blu-rays that are out so far all have the mono track, including LALD which I know the 2006 DVD was lacking.

Plus the 5.1 mixes for the Blu-ray are a major improvement from the 2006 DVDs, as far as I could tell they were much more faithful to the mono tracks, nothing altered. I did comparisons myself when Netflixing the blu-rays.