DVDBeaver Comparisons

[Gary Tooze]

Oliver, we'd prefer you visit the DVDBeaver homepage to see if there is some news, Articles (Rosenbaum or other) or updated Calendar listings etc. that might also interest you. Thanks.
***
Both Jewison and Spike Lee's films are coming out on DVD January 15th.

MGM - Region 1 - NTSC "In the Heat of the Night" vs. MGM (40th Anniversary Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC

MGM Home Ent. (Europe) - Region 2,4,5 - PAL "She's Gotta Have It" vs. MGM - Region 1 - NTSC

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/

Best,

[Gregory]

Gary,
Do you have any plans for a Breaker Morant comparison? I thought the Masterworks Edition from three years ago had pretty excellent video quality but am curious how the new releases would compare.
Thanks for considering input.

[OliverB]

Oliver, we'd prefer you visit the DVDBeaver homepage to see if there is some news, Articles (Rosenbaum or other) or updated Calendar listings etc. that might also interest you. Thanks.

I should mention that I visit daily regardless, but understood!

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Re: Syndromes and a Century -- I'm 99% positive this a 35mm film. It's listed as such on Apichatpong's website (which has some behind-the-scenes photos showing what is clearly a 35mm camera) and I saw this on the big screen multiple times and there was no sign it originated on video. (Compare this to Citizen Dog, which is clearly a DV film from start to finish.) It's just another typical Strand release (the reappearance of the oversized, overstretched subtitle font from their I Don't Want to Sleep Alone is the other big strike against it).

[Gary Tooze]

Thanks Fanciful! - I should note that.

In our review of the new Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (with b/w and colorized versions) we have posted 4 screen caps from the original DVD release (Sept. 2002). You can see there is significant information removed from the bottom of the frame in the new 2-disc.

Original DVD (dual-layered)


B/W version available in the new 2-disc


Colrized version available in the new 2-disc


http://www.dvdbeaver.com/

Best,

[denti alligator]

Someone must have been telling lies about Gary T. ....

I had no idea there was bad blood there.

[broadwayrock]

Someone must have been telling lies about Gary T. ....

I had no idea there was bad blood there.

The accuser coincidentally happens to be ex DVDbeaver reviewer Yunda Eddie Feng.

[MichaelB]

I suspect carelessness rather than plagiarism - in his review of The Party and the Guests, Gary cut and pasted chunks of my booklet essay (presumably lifted from the Second Run site) without crediting me.

But he didn't credit anyone else either, and a quick e-mail exchange sorted everything out entirely amicably.

There's also the question of why anyone would want to plagiarise Yunda Eddie Feng deliberately...

[Gary Tooze]

This is just Feng - ignore him.

The only thing I am 'plagiarizing' are the extras that are in a review on my own site. They are duplicated so I cut and pasted them - I even just gave him credit! (and linked). Sheeeesh.

He was let go from Beaver as his reviews and email correspondence were increasingly more illogical and erratic. He continues to pester me with personal emails that I continue to ignore. As far as I am concerned that guy should see a whole team of specialists working around the clock.

Does that sound like 'bad blood'?

Best,
Gary

[domino harvey]

Gary Tooze has forever betrayed the principles of his profession.

God, Feng brings the lols

Can we award him an Honorary Richard Cranium Award?

[Antares]

Gary Tooze has forever betrayed the principles of his profession.

God, Feng brings the lols

Can we award him an Honorary Richard Cranium Award?

He's got my vote.

[denti alligator]

I didn't for a second suspect that something was awry with Gary's professionalism. You should know that Feng is posting this all over the place (well, on two different sub-forums at HDD, at least...).

[foggy eyes]

I'm particularly alarmed by the fact that the author of such consistently moronic "reviews" (Funny Face is a great example) is soon to be a published scholar:

Puzzle Films: Complex Storytelling in Contemporary Cinema (Ed. by Dr. Warren Buckland, 2008) (chapter on Lou Ye's Suzhou River and Purple Butterfly)

Pre-order, anyone?

[Abulafia]

I'm particularly alarmed by the fact that the author of such consistently moronic "reviews" (Funny Face is a great example) is soon to be a published scholar:

Don't be. Welcome to the wonderful world of film academia.

[Dylan]

Regarding Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, I have no idea how Ray Harryhausen could allow (much less supervise and champion!) the colorization - it looks absolutely horrid.

[domino harvey]

I don't think Feng is going to approve my blog comment

At least you've still got that Eastern Promises review to fall back on

[Gary Tooze]

In our review of Criterion's 4 by Agnès Varda we have compared four caps (each) from the original Criterion releases of Cleo From 5 to 7 and Vagabond with the new transfers in the boxset.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/

Cheers,

[MichaelB]

I didn't for a second suspect that something was awry with Gary's professionalism. You should know that Feng is posting this all over the place (well, on two different sub-forums at HDD, at least...).

...as well as three posts on his blog. No comments on any of them, though.

[CSM126]

I didn't for a second suspect that something was awry with Gary's professionalism. You should know that Feng is posting this all over the place (well, on two different sub-forums at HDD, at least...).

...as well as three posts on his blog. No comments on any of them, though.

Well of course not. The pussy has it set so comments don't show up unless he approves them individually. And since God knows the guy won't have anyone stroking his pathetic ego in their comments, he isn't approving them.

[domino harvey]

Someone must have been telling lies about Gary T. ....

I had no idea there was bad blood there.

That thread is now basically people racing to see who can show they know the least about Copyright Law

also, there's some more sympathetic discussion elsewhere on that board:

Always thought their reviews seemed amatuer..

[Gary Tooze]

Thanks for your support guys (and gals). Before I request we leave this thread for its intended purpose (let's leave Eddie to his own devices - he is thriving on the attention). I'll pat our own collective back(s), and my buds from MoC, for the article mention in the Jan/Feb issue of Film Comment magazine:

SITE SPECIFICS: DVD BEAVER & MASTERS OF CINEMA

Community Service The passion of the collector knows no bounds. So it's not surprising to find that websites catering to avid DVD collectors constitute some of the most spirited precincts of online film culture. Out of a handful of essential outposts, two sites stand out: DVD Beaver and Master of Cinema.

Besides offering a comprehensive release calendar, DVDBeaver specializes in meticulously technical disc reviews, including side-by-side comparisons of alternate editions of the same film. Navigate through the site's hyperactive and kaleidoscopic layout—no doubt a reflection of owner Gary Tooze's exuberant writing style—and you'll find a large archive filled to the brim with frame grabs, detailed listings of supplements, and other information, all organized and evaluated to direct you to the best quality product available.

Launched in 2001, Masters of Cinema is run by an eclectic group hailing from the U.S., Canada and England: Jan Bielawski, Doug Cummings, R. Dixon Smith, Trond S. Tronsen, and Nick Wrigley. So which masters tie this collective together? Many celebrated auteurs, but from the beginning it seems there was one sanctified quartet: Ozu, Bresson, Tarkovsky, and Dreyer. Check out the eminently useful worldwide DVD release calendar posted on the sharply designed home page and explore four years' worth of DVD of the Year readers' polls. Since 2004, the site's team has collaborated with the British DVD company Eureka to produce a Masters of Cinema curated collection, notable for the sterling care taken with each disc and the inclusion of top-notch book-length liner notes.

Communities of dedicated amateurs link and sustain DVDBeaver and Masters of Cinema as valuable resources for anyone with access to a multi-region DVD player. It's an increasingly familiar figure who enters these virtual gathering places: the domestic cinephile, constantly struggling with the ever-present pitfalls and temptations of technophilia, consumer fetishism, and a withdrawal from public space.—Paul Fileri

As I said in my ListServ:

< Gary Tooze's exuberant writing style>
Yes, I thought this particularly kind of them as so many other adjectives could have been used (sloppy, child-like, archaic etc.).
Certainly more flattering than Manohla Dargis calling me a ‘fetishistic geek’ in the NY Times in 2005.

Cheers,
Gary

[tavernier]

I thought this particularly kind of them as so many other adjectives could have been used (sloppy, child-like, archaic etc.).
Certainly more flattering than Manohla Dargis calling me a ‘fetishistic geek’ in the NY Times in 2005.

From Manohla, that's high praise!

[Rich Malloy]

And deserved praise. More than any other site, DVDBEAVER changed my DVD purchasing habits, freed me from region-coded tyranny, and opened me up to a good deal of under the radar international cinemat that I'd otherwise have had no way of seeing.

Fetishistic geeks, indeed. We need as many of them as we can get.

[ezmbmh]

congratulations, Gary. well-deserved.

[exte]

Yeah, exactly. I'm with everyone else and only think, "where's everyone else been?" For example, I just went through some very old bookmarks from 2004-2006 and you'd be surprised how many dvd sites have fallen by the wayside. Not only has Gary's site been invaluable, but he's hung in there and adapted to the new hd-mediums. I think it's only standard that he gets the official mention more often... Kudos, Gary!