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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

#26 Post by HerrSchreck » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:59 pm

Reminds me when I mentioned the Image-Vampyr-like intertitling-over-image (and low-def heavily-chroma-bugged telecine'd-sections.. the edition is definitely a digital composite of two seperate telecine's) of Shepard's edition of La Roue for Flicker Alley... and an ally of F.A. promptly joined this board to make one post (under the username "sssshhhhhh") with the title "Hey! Let's drive Flicker Alley out of business! C'mon!", and wrote (partial quote):
Oh the suffering that goes on in this forum. I'll be straightforward. I'm a good friend of Jeff Masino of Flicker Alley. I like to check in on forums like these to see how Flicker Alley is doing in the eyes of silent film fans. Yes, I'm an outsider. I know how hard he works on these titles. In order to keep his company running, he needs to generate income. I think the need to use English titles has already been made clear in an earlier post ...

And for someone to "obtain" a FREE press copy of the film and proceed to heap profanity laced criticism on the film's translated titles to the point where others change their minds about purchasing the DVD - that's reprehensible. The film isn't even released yet. Watch the film for yourself on TCM and if the fact that the English titles block a part of the film causes you to not purchase the DVD, then don't buy the DVD and be proud of yourself (and please HerrSchreck, return the press copy to its rightful owner). But don't incite others to knee-jerk react to over-the-top negative criticism.
--when I paid full price for the film off the shelf and criticized the sloppy intertitling (about which I was proved right, as I was about the multiple sources of telecine) from my own rights as a consumer paying my own hard earned cash for a not-inexpensive dvd advertising premium digital treatment from premium source materials.

It's amazing when a company seems to give the impression that negative reviews are Strictly Forbidden (to the point where a simple post on a php forum-board is treated like a NYTimes review!).... like you're Not Playing Fair and in fact breaking some kind of rule by expressing comparitive displeasure when measuring their product up to similar products/labels/price points. Or even, in the case of Flicker Alley, the amazing quality of their usual product.

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MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
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#27 Post by MichaelB » Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:11 pm

Just to clarify, the "ally of FA" didn't actually work for the company, and made that post without Jeff Masino's prior knowledge (or so Jeff told me, and I have absolutely no reason to disbelieve him).

But otherwise I completely agree with you - the simple fact is that unless a distributor personally delivers every single copy to the purchaser and forces them to sign an NDA before they can watch it, there comes a point when there's absolutely nothing they can do. What's pissing off Facets is that Gary was so quick off the mark that he doubtless caused loads of people to cancel their pre-orders - but I don't see why that should make any difference in the long run: it's not as though his review would have been worded any differently a fortnight or so later.

(My own reviewing beef with Gary is quite different - he's had one of my efforts for well over a year, and still hasn't reviewed it, despite it featuring on the Beaver's 2007 Top 50 poll - a pleasant surprise given that that's the only mention it's had on the site!)

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HerrSchreck
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:46 am

#28 Post by HerrSchreck » Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:29 pm

I never thought that Shhhhhhhh was a FA employee (FA is pretty much Jeff, from what I could construe from my discussions with him, and he btw was always a hell of a good guy, which is why the thing took me aback). Ally suggests a Seperate Entity, who sympathizes.

But thx for the clarification. As an ally, shhhh was indeed a goon!

Anyhow, back to all things beev.

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Gary Tooze
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 9:07 pm
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#29 Post by Gary Tooze » Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:12 pm

New...

Fox Lorber - Region 0 - NTSC "La vie de Jésus" vs. Eureka / Masters of Cinema #60 - Region 0 - PAL

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Best,

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tubal
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 8:52 am
Location: Zürich, Switzerland

#30 Post by tubal » Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:00 am

Hi Gary,

I noticed that you've reviewed some of the Warner Kubrick Blu-ray titles recently and was wondering if you were planning on doing a comparison of the Full Metal Jacket SE with the original Blu-ray release?

Thanks for the great work you do.

Rich Malloy
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 12:29 pm
Location: Boston MA

#31 Post by Rich Malloy » Wed Jul 30, 2008 4:55 pm

Hi Gary,

I see you've posted Second Run's new "TROPICAL MALADY" comparison against the Thai disc. Although I always considered the Thai disc to be quite a decent transfer - and easily superior to the US release, particularly on the audio side - I must confess that I'm a bit disappointed that the still frames don't show one iota of improvement.

What's the deal with the "flat line" encode? Does Second Run not bother to compress those portions that are more "compressible" (shot that are essentially static vs. ones with a lot of movement)? This concerns me a bit, and I do wonder whether this shows up as artifacts in scenes with a great deal of motion in the frame.

Secondly, I know this is not exactly your mission, but did you happen to A:B the audio tracks? This is one area where the US release - with it's 2.0 mixdown - really suffers against the highly immersive and effective 5.1 surround mix on the Thai DVD (a mix that was apparently the result of much time spent recording in the jungle and editing in the studio).

I suspect I'll pick this up regardless for the extra features, but I'd be lying if I denied I was just a little disappointed.

zone_resident
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:33 pm

#32 Post by zone_resident » Sat Aug 09, 2008 6:04 pm


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Gary Tooze
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 9:07 pm
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#33 Post by Gary Tooze » Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:13 am

New...

Criterion (REISSUE) - Region 1 - NTSC "Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom" vs. Gaumont Columbia Tristar - Region 2 - PAL vs. Criterion - Region 1 - NTSC vs. BFI - Region 2 - PAL

Old (original) Criterion
Image

New (REISSUE) Criterion
Image

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Cheers,

zombeaner
Joined: Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:24 pm

#34 Post by zombeaner » Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:17 am

Gary Tooze wrote:Criterion (REISSUE) - Region 1 - NTSC "Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom" vs. Gaumont Columbia Tristar - Region 2 - PAL vs. Criterion - Region 1 - NTSC vs. BFI - Region 2 - PAL
Wow.

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

#35 Post by Matt » Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:24 am

zombeaner wrote:Wow.
Seriously. I had forgotten what a sack of vomit that old transfer looked like. I'm so glad I unloaded mine back when it could still pay a month's rent.

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Gary Tooze
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 9:07 pm
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#36 Post by Gary Tooze » Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:37 am

New...

Universal (Collector's Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC "U-571" vs. Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray

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Cheers,

Perkins Cobb
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:49 pm

#37 Post by Perkins Cobb » Tue Aug 19, 2008 1:27 pm

Damn. Well, cue the inevitable "but the old transfer looks better" backlash from all the in-denial suckers who paid $800 for the original Salo disc.

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aox
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:02 pm
Location: nYc

#38 Post by aox » Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:21 pm

Yep. Awaiting the, "Pasolini intended the film to have a green tint" post.

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cdnchris
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#39 Post by cdnchris » Tue Aug 19, 2008 3:17 pm

Perkins Cobb wrote:Damn. Well, cue the inevitable "but the old transfer looks better" backlash from all the in-denial suckers who paid $800 for the original Salo disc.
I bought it from Amazon for $20 just before it went out of print and I still felt screwed. I can only imagine how the >=$300 people feel.

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Person
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 3:00 pm

#40 Post by Person » Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:06 pm

Money talks and bullshit walks - but not in the case of OOP Criterions.

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Cash Flagg
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:15 pm

#41 Post by Cash Flagg » Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:27 pm

My apologies if this has been covered before, but could someone please give me a brief explanation of the "alchemist process" that Gary mentions in his Salo review?

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arsonfilms
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:53 pm
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#42 Post by arsonfilms » Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:58 pm

Cash Flagg wrote:My apologies if this has been covered before, but could someone please give me a brief explanation of the "alchemist process" that Gary mentions in his Salo review?
Someone can correct me if I'm off base at all, but the Alchemist process was the old standard technology for converting PAL to NTSC. Since PAL is 25 fps and NTSC is a little under 30 fps, roughly five new frames would need to be created every second by interlacing two frames together. Within the last few years, a new process (UFC, or universal format converter, I believe) was created that eliminates the interlacing. It looks a lot better and stays much more faithful to the look of the original PAL source. How it does this though... I couldn't actually tell you. Anyone else?

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Gary Tooze
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 9:07 pm
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#43 Post by Gary Tooze » Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:52 pm

New...

Warner (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC "The Adventures of Robin Hood" vs. Warner - Region FREE - Blu-ray

SD-DVD
Image

Blu-ray
Image

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Cheers,

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Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

#44 Post by Matt » Thu Aug 21, 2008 5:28 pm

Gary Tooze wrote:Warner (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC "The Adventures of Robin Hood" vs. Warner - Region FREE - Blu-ray
I would buy this for "Rabbit Hood" and "Robin Hood Daffy" in HD alone. The original UltraResolution DVD transfer of Robin Hood was beautiful, but that Blu-Ray image is stunning.

Gary, is the "Glorious Technicolor" documentary in HD?

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Saturnome
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:22 pm

#45 Post by Saturnome » Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:22 am

I'd love to see full res caps of the cartoon shorts! I think indeed it's a first.

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Darth Lavender
Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2006 2:24 pm

#46 Post by Darth Lavender » Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:48 am

Matt wrote:
Gary Tooze wrote:Warner (Two-Disc Special Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC "The Adventures of Robin Hood" vs. Warner - Region FREE - Blu-ray
I would buy this for "Rabbit Hood" and "Robin Hood Daffy" in HD alone. The original UltraResolution DVD transfer of Robin Hood was beautiful, but that Blu-Ray image is stunning.

Gary, is the "Glorious Technicolor" documentary in HD?
Pretty sure it isn't. The special-features list on Beaver specifically lists the cartoons (but not the documentary) as HD. And I'm pretty sure the reviews of the (identical) HDDVD said only the shorts are HD.

The colors there are fascinating, though.
Can't say the I'll double-dip (I've only found time to watch my DVD once in the three or four years I've owned it) but it's a pretty interesting example of superior color in High Definition (still don't quite understand how that works. But it's clear from those caps that something about the 1080p technology is letting them produce reds that are a heck of a lot more vibrant than the standard DVD)

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manicsounds
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
Location: Tokyo, Japan

#47 Post by manicsounds » Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:32 am

The cartoons on "The Adventures Of Robin Hood" DVD were not restored and looked like they were taken from old video masters, nothing compared to the "Golden Collection" materials. I guess the Blu-Ray corrects that.

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Gary Tooze
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#48 Post by Gary Tooze » Mon Aug 25, 2008 2:42 pm

New...

Facets - Region 0 - NTSC vs. "Valerie and Her Week of Wonders" Second Run - Region 0 - PAL vs. Redemption - Region 0 - PAL

LionsGate - Region 1 - NTSC "Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre" vs. Boomerang Pictures - Region 2 - PAL

Genius Products (2-Disc Special Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC "Planet Terror" vs. BroadMedia (Japan- 6-disc) - Region 2 - NTSC

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Cheers,

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perkizitore
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:29 pm
Location: OOP is the only answer

#49 Post by perkizitore » Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:28 pm

Mr. Tooze,i would appreciate a complete comparison of Vampyr,although i got the differences.I can't wait for the Salo Blu-Ray versus Criterion's re-issue.

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Darth Lavender
Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2006 2:24 pm

#50 Post by Darth Lavender » Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:13 pm

I've bought my copy of Vampyr (the Criterion, gorgeous packaging (Criterion's best, ever?) although I kind of wish I'd gotten the MoC for the unrestored soundtrack and Del Torro commentary)
But, it is a fascinating release. And I certainly wouldn't mind reading more about the differences between the DVDs. (How about adding some short audio-captures to the comparison page?)

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