Ugh, I sold off a lot of Disney stuff on ebay and had that Cinderella in a lot, would have been a small fortune $653.892 trillion bucks for shipping to you anyway. Let us know when you do a review of Alien, I've only ever had the first box set, my dad and I went to tower to buy it new :sick: Damn that was a waste of money if you think about it now.
Anyway never upgraded due to cost as expected but would like to read about it.
Only problem with Fantasia is the box doesn't fit on my shelves! It's the size of a cricket pitch! :crazy:
I did give Alien a very quick spin earlier as I couldn't wait. Just a few minutes of the opening sequence. Of course my set up is very feeble compared to what other folks have, but it does sound absolutely VERITABLE, from the short snippet I heard. Very keen to see it in all it's glory, with each and every pit of analogue data on that disc lovingly massaged by the sultry hands of my R7G! :silent:
I shall of course post some drivel once viewed if folks so wish to have a read. :thumbup:
Ticked off my second Sartana film from the Blu box set. This time round it's the first film, If You Meet Sartana Pray For Your Death.
Oh boy, this film has more double crossing in it than The Cassandra Crossing and the World Tic Tac Toe Championships!
Although not quite as gripping as Trade Your Pistol For A Coffin, the film still delivers pure Sartana goodness in spades. Lots of action, lots of scheming and scamming, and a bunch of great set pieces including some great work with the horses.
Apparently the film grossed 30 million Lira in the first 9 days (approx €60m including Lira to Euro conversion and inflation) when it premiered in Italy. The premiere in Rome apparently had a Western set and stagecoach etc purpose built for the occasion!
Trade Your Pistol For A Coffin is still top dog, will it be toppled?
Nice, was it released in English? Good soundtrack?
Not sure if you were referring to the Sartana films, but just in case yes the discs have the original Italian tracks and also English dub tracks.
4 of the 5 films in the set are from original camera negatives. The first film is from a 35mm print and is not in great shape. I can only assume the original negative is either perished or lost. It's still very good quality though.
Best way to go about getting these is to buy the Arrow box set. Maybe watch them in order, which is what I am doing now. Or try the third film, Trade Your Pistol For A Coffin if you just want the badassness straight away!
Might watch the second film in the series later on today. The only person more badass than Chuck Norris, apart from Wilford Brimley in Cocoon, or Mario Marola in that Napoli film I saw recently, is Sartana. He's just awesome. :clap:
I think the most interesting title in this box is Massimo Dallamano's ultraviolent Colt 38. Also you get another whopper from Speed Driver director Stelvio Massi in the form of Highway Racer! This looks like an instabuy, especially for 1970's Italian crime film fanatics. :thumbup:
Yep it's a really nice time capsule piece from 1958. All the LDDB entries say the film was released in 1960. They are all incorrect. It was filmed in 1958 and released in 1959.
If anyone can help with any information on the audio on the Laserdisc releases that would be great. Just in case the new Blu Ray audio is messed up.
I think Scott is super underrated, but he did a lot of crap, but then again most of the films from the 70s were crap so you can't blame him too much. Took the VHS scene to find out what formulas work and now they stick with formulas hard, so then if you really think about it 70s films may not be that crappy.
Need to check out these Sartana films, I boycott Bluray but I did see a cheapie set on DVD may be questionable PQ but may have to take the risk.
Wasn't he in Patton? I've not seen that, heard it's good. 70's films are awesome!
I would advise going for the Arrow Sartana set if you can. Avoid the DVD's if possible as they are nowhere near the standard of the Blu box. I hope you enjoy them, they are lots of fun. After seeing all five official films I would advise to watch them in order for sure. The extras on.each disc are well worth the time too. It's a really good value set.
Also, New Centurions I would just go for the Indicator Blu Ray. I was absolutely floored by that film last night. I watched the interviews afterwards and it.was a real eyeopener.
Talking about filming in Watts during a time of great tension. Arguments over casting and the script (trying to keep it spoiler free so im being deliberately vague).
It isn't a police procedure film. It is just bleak and f'ing horrible. Which is precisely why it is so good. One scene really bothered me about halfway through. Watch the film and you'll probably know exactly which scene. It was so well acted, so well made. Just an excellent film. It's probably in my all time top 20 even top 15 film list now.
Watched the new HD release of Death Has Blue Eyes tonight. What a bizarre film. It's like the director had a bag of Story Cubes, rolled them out on the boardroom table and said "Here, make this a film. That'll do."
It's an interesting obscurity for such a rare film, but essentially really is a load of old hokum. It's a shame really because it does have some.interesting moments and also a great soundtrack. It's just the film is cobbled together so shoddily and is all over the place that you're left bemused as to whether what you've watched seriously got the green light.
A film with serious potential executed very poorly.
Watched the juicy Australian DVD of The Keep last night. I think I'm still trying to process what I watched and if I liked it.
On the one side, it's a bit of an incomprehensible mess. Though take in to account that Paramount instructed Michael Mann to butcher his 3.5 hour vision down to a mere 1.5 hours. That's a lot of potential story and exposure just flat out dumped on the cutting room floor. If you take that as the main focal point then it's no wonder the film feels so erratic. On the other hand, if you fill in the gaps yourself, you can build some form of comprehension of The Keep.
I have a thing for films, plays, stories and television shows set in one location. I think using a single setting encourages writers to become especially creative when locations are so heavily restricted. I think The Keep is no different, and at it's heart it's a fairly simple story. The problem is that because the film was stripped back to bare bones, the story becomes very flimsy and stitched together with the weakest of thread. If Mann could have been permitted to perhaps create a director's cut for a home video release, even if it wasn't the full 3.5 hour epic, an extra 30 or 45 minutes tacked on would have likely really helped to flesh out the story. The backstories behind Glaeken Trismegestus and Molasar would benefit vastly from an extended cut and I'd be reasonably confident that Michael Mann had this covered off in his desired vision but it was likely lost in the Paramount butchering process.
I loved the set of The Keep. It looked like the whole film was set in Sigourney Weaver's refrigerator in Ghostbusters. It also has those trademark early 1980's glow effects, examples being Molasar's eyes and Glaeken's ultimate destructor weapon which look so dated today yet inexplicably still appear so pleasing.
The soundtrack is of course scored, now somewhat infamously, by the incredible Tangerine Dream. The early 1980's syntheizer sounds surge and swell beautifully. It does feel though that the score tends to overpower the film more often than not. It's also rather loud in places, possibly down to poor mixing and mastering. I had to enable the Clear Voice feature on my soundbar as the score got too noisy at times and drowned out the actors voices. There were also times when the actors voices were whisper quiet, so again deploying Clear Voice helped make the dialogue a bit clearer. I don't think this is a fault of the DVD, which has the original 2.0 stereo track on it, as older reviews of the VHS, Laserdisc and even the cinema versions all state similar concerns with the audio over the years.
Regarding the DVD picture quality, you get a proper 2:35:1 presentation. I'm unsure what source was used here. For the most part the picture is good, despite some blocking/artifacting which is likely a mix of the SD resolution of DVD and my Panasonic UB820 upscaling the image with the HCX chip on board. A couple of moments in the film looked a little out of place, like specific scenes were taken using alternate film elements. There's nothing on the DVD case blurb that states otherwise, and you get absolutely nothing on this disc at all besides a rather ropey looking theatrical trailer. You don't even get any subtitles or alternate audio or commentary tracks. Just the film, a trailer and a cheap looking menu with two options, Play Feature and Play Trailer. With all of that said, this is probably the best The Keep has ever looked and sounded as of April 2021 so if you are on the fence then don't be, just get this DVD and make absolutely sure it's the Australian Viavision release.
It boggles the mind why this was released on DVD in a time when Blu Ray and Ultra HD are preferred, especially by collectors, enthusiasts, film buffs and all the rest of it. The film received a rare theatrical presentation a couple of years ago in the USA. It was revealed that the theatre hosting the presentation had shipped in a 35mm original camera negative which was loaned out to them from the British Film Institute. So in that respect, it's comforting to know that a 35mm print exists and is in the safe hands of the BFI . I do wonder then if perhaps any potential future Blu Ray or Ultra HD release could come from a brand new 4K or 2K scan of those negatives to be released on the BFI label? Why it hasn't been done until now is perhaps something only Paramount and Michael Mann can answer, or perhaps there is a whole minefield of red tape to navigate and it's just not worth it.
It's a crying shame in my humble opinion. I think a BFI release with a nice booklet, still photos, cast and crew interviews and so on would be great. Similar to what BFI did with their excellent release of the Pet Shop Boys film It Couldn't Happen Here. The icing on the cake I am sure would be to have an interview with Michael Mann on the disc where he could perhaps talk freely, and at length, about the film and his vision. Set the record straight. Wishful thinking of course, but life is too short so hopefully some day in the near future it could be realised.
Oh and about the Tangerine Dream score, it took me a minute to realise (and then I checked in the end credits) but yes, that is an ambient synth version of Howard Blake's 'The Snowman' playing out at the end of the film! Sadly it's not on the Tidal release of the soundtrack and I'm not sure where it is actually available. It sounds wonderful though and is a great interpretation of a very famous piece of music.
For all it's faults I think I enjoyed The Keep. Yes it's a bit of a mess, but it's so much more than the sum of it's parts. It's just a pity that until now we haven't got to see all of them.
At least Sony are handling it. If it was left to Funimation we'd end up with a 4K HDR disc release that when you pop it in your player turns out to be an SDR 240p Potatovision™ edition with 28.8kbps Realplayer audio and burned in subtitles in both Swahili and TubeTube languages.
I can hear it now, like one of those station announcer breaks they have:
"...and coming up after the big game tonight at 7, your evening movie. Meryl Streep stars in the network premier Kramer vs Kramer, brought to you by Tylenol, followed by your news and weather in City Tonight at 11.
And don't forget after a double bill of CHiPS and Murder She Wrote on Sunday at 4, tune in as Richard Petty and Sammy Davis Jr toss out the first pitch as the Mets take on the Expos in the Sunday afternoon game brought to you by Burmashave!
Two discs arrived. First up is the AC3 version of Patlabor. I have no urgent need for it except that I've had the AC3 version of Patlabor 2 for years and it bugged me not having both. I've been looking for a sensibly priced copy for a couple of years now and finally got one. No point paying over the odds when the Blu Ray box set is the definitive edition.
That's done now. I've updated the entry with as much information as I can give.
As for the disc, it's really nice. The audio quality is superb. Nice and loud and clear. Image quality is excellent. I'd be curious to know the source used as it looks theatrical, burn marks etc are present. Yet it's a 4:3 ratio.
The left side of the picture looks oddly framed too, like it's been masked off or something. It's not horrendous or anything, I just found I kept looking at the bottom left of the screen for some reason.
Hopefully I can capture the disc and find some subtitles as it looks really fun and I know of some mini people that may enjoy this film.
Side note: This is the only film I've ever seen that features a talking loaf of bread who is also a superhero. The closest thing I've ever heard of is a piece of toast that plays the saxophone in 1970's 'adult art film' Night Dreams.
Patlabor 2 is quite possibly the best anime feature film of all time when seen on its own as a movie. Oshii rules and this movie embarrasses a lot of Hollywood spy thrillers that tried to be half this good.
Precisely this.
Patlabor 1 is a very fine film in it's own right. Patlabor 2 though, dear God, it really is anime at the absolute pinnacle of excellence.
It's not for everyone, and I don't mean that in a derogatory sense rather we all enjoy different genres; and yes there is a LOT of dialogue in this film.
Yet it builds and builds and builds until the pay off at the end just makes the entire film worth it. It's a colossal success of a film on every single level imho. There are very few films that are level pegging on the sheer royalty level of excellence that Patlabor 2 is nestled firmly in to. That's without even mentioning the soundtrack which is one of the finest works of all time in any anime, no contest.
Subtitled all the way for most anime for me, bar some classics like Akira 1988 Dub, Angel Cop, Cyber City Oedo 808, Urotsukidoji and Mad Bull 34. If you are not native tongue or fluent Japanese I'd just go subbed for Patlabor 1 and 2.
If you can get it for a reasonable price just go all in for the Blu Ray box set, that way you get everything in one big pile of goodness apart from Next Generation.
I'd just watch the three films first in their own right and do the TV series and OAV's afterwards.
You won't be charged VAT if the goods are being exported outside the EU. Now includes the UK too. However it does leave you susceptible to taxes and fees upon delivery at the destination address.
I've seen this site a couple of years ago and forgot about it after looking for parts for my 925. Thanks for the reminder!
First up, a documentary I've seen about 6 jillion times already but one more time can't hurt! The superb When We Were Kings.
If you've never seen it, watch it.
Next up I revisited the Universal Monsters Blu Ray box set. I'm watching all of them in order so tonight I picked up where I left off with film 6, The Wolf Man.
I had mixed thoughts at first on this one. It has a so-so start with all the drama school grade acting and a couple of sloppy edits, mainly in the opening sequence when Larry returns home to his father.
But it got better as the film went on. There's some absolutely gorgeous set design here and about as much fog as you'll see in both Sigourney Weaver's fridge in Ghostbusters and 1983 headmelter The Keep which I saw the other day.
The acting does get a bit shrill and a bit 'I'll be in my trailer darling, curled up with a bottle of Amaretto'. Also I can't get used to seeing Ralph Bellamy as a young man. Every time he opens his mouth all I hear is the words Winthrop and Valentine. I can't help it. It's engraved in to my psyche.
I read in the booklet in the box set that the make up removal for the wearwolf transition scenes was shot frame by frame and took 10 hours to complete. If transition sequences were all shot like that then no wonder actors were all heroin addicts in the 1940's and 50's.
The make up was pretty good for the time, though when the main man appears for the first time as the wolf man, all I could see was the lead singer from The Wonders in Tom Hanks bopfest That Thing You Do! (whopper film by the way).
Anyway, it's a fun film though it does end a bit abruptly. Like the director had a nervous breakdown or something and said 'right enough of this s**t, end the film here now'.
And so The Wolf Man ends. Pretty much immediately in it's urgency.
I got Devil's Advocate today. Amazed it arrived safely considering it was shipped in a supermarket bag.
As you can see it has the legal warning message sticker on the front about the statue. I thought it may be a late release after the court case thing and have scenes removed as well as the digital censoring of the statue.
Span the discs tonight and checked over all the scenes. It's all 100% intact. Saved a fortune over the ridiculous DVD prices and got a juicy AC3 track to boot!
Very happy to have it uncensored, seeing as it will likely never be released this way again.
I looked in to it a bit recently after posting here. From what I have read only USA copies of the DVD, VHS (rental and retail) and Laserdisc were recalled. Less than half a million copies. Nothing states the Laserdiscs were recalled. Perhaps by 1998 it wasn't seen as worthwhile to recall and repress copies on Laserdisc?
Anything (Japan, HK, UK etc) outside of the initial run of USA copies I think can be deemed to be cut and digitally censored. The thing is, aside from the blurring of the statue, which is pretty crudely done, the trims and rearrangement of certain scenes end up making them nonsensical. Even on Blu Ray. As far as I know the court case over the statue will likely prevent the film ever being seen properly ever again. Unless perhaps a settlement is reached. That was offered up first time round and look what happened.
I don't know much at all about the DVD release other than in certain places it was mentioned it wasn't great? The Laserdisc is very VHS-esque in terms of picture quality, but it is presented properly and with decent audio too. Good old D-EXT or whatever it's called, on my R7G, makes it look a whole lot better though.
It's a good film. Having it uncut and delivered in the way it was intended to be viewed makes the Laserdisc all the more valuable to me to put in my silly collection of stuff. I want my films like my milk on my Corn Flakes. Full fat, straight from the teet and as God intended please. :thumbup:
Got a tub of discs thrown in to a box and punted over to New Delaware all the way from Japan today.
We're not off to a good start. This was described as a Special Collection disc. The shop either sent the wrong disc by mistake or flat out lied. Ah well you live and learn. It'll make for a good pizza plate.
Next up is His Girl Friday. I already have this on Criterion Blu. Someone here has a blog and wrote that the audio on the LD is better. So I want to see if that's true. Great film. Just take a couple of paracetamol before starting watching it.
This is a curio for me from Japanese hip hop group Schar Dara Parr. It's a really interesting disc, full of different clips, tracks, beats and mixes. I know very little about it but it looks like it has huge potential!
Phil Collin's Hair: The Movie. I already have a copy of this. But it bugged me because it was missing the obi and the nice colour booklet. OCD? Yes. Very much so.
Here's why. This is the only other edition I've not heard. It seems to be even harder to find than the Digital version. Just the VHD and VHS to get now...
It took long enough but I finally got a copy of It Couldn't Happen Here for a sensible price. Finally i will be able to check if the audio is damaged like the Blu Ray. If it isn't, i'll mux it to a custom Blu.
Another Japanese copy of Cinderella. This one is the huge box version though. I think it's great to have these premium Disney sets. Proper versions of Disney classics before the Mouse went and censored everything.
Thanks list
