Random DVD and Blu-ray announcements

Started by wilder, November 01, 2011, 01:54:56 AM

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wilder

October 7, 2013

Poltergeist III (1988) from Fox in the UK



Poltergeist III (1988) - Amazon UK

This movie was used as a visual reference for Todd Haynes' Safe (1995)

wilder

Second Sight to Release Jean-Jacques Beineix's Betty Blue
via blu-ray.com



British distributors Second Sight Films have revealed that they are planning to release on Blu-ray French director Jean-Jacques Beineix's 37°2 le matin a.k.a Betty Blue (1986), starring Jean-Hugues Anglade, Béatrice Dalle, and Gérard Darmon. Currently, it is unknown whether this upcoming release will contain the longer Director's Cut of the film.

Betty (Dalle) and Zorg (Anglade) have a passionate, if somewhat unconventional relationship. When she discovers his half-written novel she burns his house down and forces him to go to Paris with her in search of fame. There they team up with another couple, who run a pizza joint, before moving south, where Betty begins her tragic demise into madness and eventual death.   

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Hopefully this will improve on the botched transfer that Cinema Libre Studios put out -- which makes the whole move look like it's filtered through the "smooth motion" setting on HDTVs.

wilder

September 17, 2013

Jean-Pierre Melville's Two Men in Manhattan (1959) on blu-ray from Cohen Film


Pubrick

Quote from: wilderesque on June 06, 2013, 02:11:06 PM
September 17, 2013

Jean-Pierre Melville's Two Men in Manhattan (1959) on blu-ray from Cohen Film



No anecdote for that one?
under the paving stones.

wilder

September 3, 2013

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) from Warner Bros.



The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) - Amazon

MacGuffin

Quote from: Garam on June 14, 2013, 11:22:56 AM
Jennifer Lange is catastrophically hot in that movie.

Jessica Lange is even hotter.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

wilder

October 7, 2013

James Ivory's The Remains of the Day (1993) on blu-ray from Sony UK



The Remains of the Day (1993) - Amazon UK

wilder

October 8, 2013

Billy Wilder's Stalag 17 (1953) on blu-ray from Warner Bros.



Stalag 17 (1953) - Amazon

wilder

August 27, 2013

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) from Olive Films



Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) - Amazon

wilder

July 15, 2013

Elliot Silverstein's The Car (1977) on blu-ray from Arrow UK



Reversible cover:



The Car (1977) - Amazon UK



Pubrick

Wow, you've really outrandomed yourself this time. That looks hilarious.
under the paving stones.

Pwaybloe

I have to admit that trailer was textbook bad (in a good way). Absolutely superb.

Rated PG?  WTF? 

matt35mm

I saw a really nice print of that movie at the Alamo Drafthouse. It was very entertaining.

wilder

Thought this was interesting, via AVS Forum, Argo: iTunes vs. Vudu vs. Blu-ray. Click over for framegrab comparisons.

Quote

Much of Argo was shot on grainy film, which presents a serious challenge to compression algorithms. Film grain is easily mistaken for noise and also consumes bandwidth in the same way digital noise does. In this frame, Vudu HDX loses the most contrast and detail as a result of compression, all of film grain is treated as noise and eliminated. The iTunes 720p and 1080p versions look nearly identical, preserving more detail and texture than Vudu HD was able to. Unfortunately, iTunes also tends to treat the film grain as noise, just like Vudu. Of the three non Blu-ray formats, iTunes 720p had the fewest problems dealing with film grain.

[...]

The camera does not move in this shot, giving the iTunes 1080p and Vudu HDX versions time to fill in the details. When compression algorithms can draw from past and future frames, they do much better at preserving details. The Vudu version looks the sharpest, but it is also the least authentic reproduction of the original. Treating the film grain as noise makes the iTunes 1080p and Vudu HDX versions look cleaner than Blu-ray and makes fine details easy to see. The iTunes 720p version has less detail than the 1080p version but preserves some of the original film grain. The Blu-ray version renders the most accurate colors and also properly preserves the film grain.

[...]

This scene was shot handheld, likely on 16mm film stock, it is very grainy and blurry on purpose. Vudu HDX and iTunes 1080p try to process the grain, the result is ugly artifacts in the skin tones that look like smooth patches, as if it was airbrushed. Vudu HDX exhibited significant macro blocking in the shadow regions. The iTunes 720p version reduces the film grain but does so in a smooth, natural looking manner. Blu-ray preserves the character of the original film, although it also exhibits some very minor compression artifacts.

[...]

In this close-up we see the destructive effects of Vudu's algorithms in full effect, the film grain is wiped out. iTunes 1080p manages to preserve a lot of the details, but there are unnatural-looking smooth patches on the woman's face. The iTunes 720p version loses some fine details but manages to preserve enough of the film grain to look authentic, and it is free of artifacts. Blu-ray renders the scene perfectly preserving all of the film grain, as is appropriate.

[...]

In this dark action scene, both the iTunes 1080p and Vudu HDX version convert the out-of-focus background - an effect is known as "bokeh" - into colored blobs. The iTunes 1080p version suffers from the most noise-reduction artifacts while the iTunes 720p remains more faithful to the original, preserving some film grain and introducing no artifacts. When it comes to reproducing actual film, especially gritty grainy film, Blu-ray is superior by a significant margin.

wilder

July 23, 2013

Walter Hill's The Driver (1978) from Twilight Time - Limited Edition of 3,000 copies



The Driver (1978) - Screen Archives