Topic: What'ya got 2007-2013?

[RossRoy]

I don't think I'm the exception, IMO most people don't really care.

Actually, I think most people care. It's all about perceived value. If you have a barebones release at 20$, and a tricked out 2 disc edition at 25$, you'll naturally feel inclined to go for the 25$ special edition. Even if you don't care for the extras, and know you will never watch them. Just the fact they were added to the package for a mere 25$ 5$ more, makes it "better".

Seb, I think you own "Comment survivre à sa mère", if you have the profile I wouldn't mind "borrowing" it from you 

No way! You're not borrowing it! I'll gladly give it to you though. (it's attached)

[Touti]

Thanks !

[Jimmy]

...but I don't think we can expect them to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in producing bonus material for 20+ years old movies that wouldn't sell enough to make it profitable even if they were exported.  It all comes down to profit.....unfortunately.

Eric we talk of the Province of Quebec here... An artist earn 300$ to appear on a talk show and is paid 3000$/episode on a tv show if he/she is lucky. There no way in hell that add some quality values to our products will cost more than 10 thousand of dollars (I'm very generous here).

This is two exemple of fill with extra dvd and I can tell you without a doubt that Barrel Ent. didn't make a big profit on them. But money is not the most important thing in the world.



Another exemple Anchor Bay make no money with almost all their release. The money came for the "Thomas the Tank Engine" series.

Media blaster didn't make money with their regular release, most of their profit came from their manga dvd.

And it's almost the same with every label.

I also wonder if it really makes a difference, I own over 500 DVD's/TV Series and I rarely watch any of the bonus material.  I don't think I'm the exception, IMO most people don't really care.

I always take the 2 disc Super Special Ultimate Incredible Edition of a dvd, so I think I care. You could say the same thing for the fullscreen dvd, most peoples buy them but I'm sure that you will take the W/S without an hesitation because you want the best product possible. This is not because the majority do something that it make it right, if it was the case I would be a fan of Star Wars, The Matrix, Romantic comedy and a Tarantino fan boy ( )

[DJ Doena]

When I saw it I couldn't resist:

[Touti]

...but I don't think we can expect them to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in producing bonus material for 20+ years old movies that wouldn't sell enough to make it profitable even if they were exported.  It all comes down to profit.....unfortunately.

Eric we talk of the Province of Quebec here... An artist earn 300$ to appear on a talk show and is paid 3000$/episode on a tv show if he/she is lucky. There no way in hell that add some quality values to our products will cost more than 10 thousand of dollars (I'm very generous here).

But you're forgetting everything else Jimmy.  To interview an actor at 300$ or so, you need to rent a recording studio and recording equipment, technicians and everything else that comes with shooting a clip.  Then comes some studio and editor's work to put it together, mix the colors and the sounds and all this stuff.   Once you have all this, you need to pay people to build the DVD, organize and structure it, build menus, animations that play when you navigate the DVD etc.

There's a lot of people involve in doing this and it's very expensive.  When shooting a movie, it's easy to do it on the set and not much more expensive because everyone and everything is already there but doing it after the fact is big and expensive.....at least that's how I see it.

[Najemikon]

I think you're right, Eric, plus as contributors start to realise the value of doing it, they'll ask for more money until it becomes prohibitive.

I invariably go for the ultimate editions, but they shoot themselves in the collective foot so to speak. Often a new DVD is on offer when first released, but this will hardly ever include the special editions. And I find some retailers don't even stock the double-discer. All this considered, what version is bound to sell quicker? I usually end up waiting quite a while before I catch the better release at a reasonable price.

That said, I am becoming fussy for two main reasons. First, DVD authors are getting lazy with "making of" features being little more than extended trailers; deleted scenes that should have stayed deleted; and endless interviews droning on about how the director/writer/star is a genius. Is there a more overused word in Hollywood?  Second, I feel cheated by the recent Judd Apatow releases (Knocked Up, Superbad). I love the films and much of their brilliance and spontaneity comes from improvisation. The nature of improv means there can be hours of footage. Yes, the banter can be funny, but out of context of the film, it doesn't work. It ended up ruining the films for me because days later I couldn't remember what was in the film and what wasn't. I'll need to watch them again after sufficient time has passed so I can appreciate the film as it was released.

[Touti]

For me all the "Special Editions", "Collectors Series", "Collectors Edition" and everything else in that trend is bullshit.  The only thing I look for is a) original aspect ratio and b)director's cuts.

a) Whether it's Full Screen or WideScreen is irrelevant to me as long as it's how it was filmed.  If a movie was made in Full Screen then so be it, I won't refrain from buying it because it's not WS.  Now on WS movies, aspect ratio and anamorphic are also not relevant to me.  It the director shot in at 2:20 then 2:20 it is, if he shot it at 1:78 or 1:85 or 2:35 or 2:40 then so be it as well.  As far as Anamorphic is concerned then I prefer that because I get a bigger image while still having the movie in the ratio it was intended to be.  And to those who I've seen at Invelos saying Anamorphic is bad because a movie should be viewed at the size the director intended it to be..........he intended it to be 50 feet wide you idiots 

b) Now that's the most important to me, I want to see what the director wanted to show, not what what he was forced to show because some morons with the checkbook decided that if it's more than 75 minutes it's not good for business.  Two best examples I can give are

"The Abyss", now this is incredible, the end of that movie never made any sense to me until I watched the complete version and realized that I never seen the real end.  This is the worst I've seen in cutting scenes to fit a timeframe,   They basically cut off something like 12 minutes at the end of the movie but kept on scene in it to try to make it have some sense.  If you've seen the Theatrical version of The Abyss but not the director's cut you should run to your video store and buy or rent a copy.

"Amadeus".  There's only a few scenes in that movie where Constanze interacts with Salieri.  Yet toward the end of the movie, when she returns home after having left Mozart, she finds Salieri with sick Amadeus in their apartment and she's very agressive with Salierie.  The scene is played like she really hates him.  Something always bothered me in that scene because I felt it was too strong, I didn't see why she would treat him like that.....until I saw the director's cut with the 20 minutes of footage back where they belong and saw their most important scene where Salieri does something that would make any woman really hate a man.

So all this to say, in my DVD's I care about movies, not all the bullshit that comes with it.  Especially since for the past few years bonus materials have been quite bad because everybody wants to be paid for giving an interview and they want royalties on every copy sold.

[Najemikon]

Yeah, I vote for top quality film presentation over the extras. Although, before one gets too carried away, there is still the thorny issue of hard and soft-matte. Anything around 2.35 must have been filmed with special lenses, while around 1.85, the director would have chosen to put a frame in the camera (hard) or use the full 35mm frame

Now, either he did this knowing it would be framed correctly in the cinema, or he intended it to be foolscreen from the start. 

Really the only way to know for sure was if you saw a boom mike in the shot, chances are it should have been framed, but no way do video distributors care. Before I had a widescreen TV, I still bought WS format VHS. I didn't mind the black bars because I preferred the image, but it did make it more obvious when you were getting screwed.

I remember being so excited about getting a "proper" widescreen version of Shawshank! Before I realised I gained nothing on the sides that is. It was really obvious in the canteen; everyone leaning on the table had no elbows! It looked better in full frame. Widescreen TVs get away with it and it isn't so noticeable.

The worst release has to be Wonder Boys. I bought it ex-rental foolscreen. Saw the widescreen version retail and it was 2.35, so I grabbed it. It was a hard matte 2.35! Nothing gained on the sides, but two thirds of the image lost top and bottom. And that included Katie Holmes sexy red boots.

Anyway, regards extras, Coen brothers films are funny because they take the mickey with fake commentary and specially filmed deleted scenes! Mind you, I do always enjoy the extras in Hong Kong Legends and Criterion. Both these labels produce retrospective material that is more interesting because they aren't trying to sell the film, but just put it in context.

[lovemunkey187]

Coulda sworn I posted this yesterday 

But anyhoo;

Lately I've bought:
R3Kr - The Wild Bunch: The Directors Cut 2disc Special Edition
R2UK - Hero
R2UK - Chicago
R2UK - Rambo
R2UK - 30 Days Of Night 2disc Special Edition

[Najemikon]

You did! But Eric broke it...

[Touti]

You did! But Eric broke it...

[lovemunkey187]

Arrived today.

R4Aus - Bad Taste: Collectors Edition.

You did! But Eric broke it...

 

[Achim]

Had some time to kill earlier, so I went to some shops and ended up with this on the way home:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

[Touti]

Today from Amazon.ca

[addicted2dvd]

I placed my monthly order today... I ordered from Amazon:





And on Pre-order for this Month:


Birds of Prey: The Complete Series - Released: 7/15

Witchblade: The Complete Series - Released: 7/29