New Australian DVD and BD Releases

[squarefoot]

Also, according to reliable sources, Accent have no retail releases planned until March 2006 at the earliest.

I contacted Accent a couple of weeks ago about their upcoming releases and was told that (due to a restructure of sales and distribution and signing a new distibutor) the next release, High Tension would be in Feb 2006 and "most of the titles in our "coming soon" section will be released in the first half of next year". I guess that's not too long to wait: they've got some great titles coming up.

[Solaris]

Any specs on Hopscotch's upcoming release of Malle's Damage?

I presume it will be an uncut print.

[Solaris]

On March 1 2006 Warner shall be releasing 2disc editions of both All the Presidents Men and Dog Day Afternoon (however not Network, I believe MGM owns the rights), as well as the tin box of King Kong and Kong: King of Atlantis(a title I can't find any information about), and Scarecrow (1973).
Paramount claim to be releasing Twin Peaks Season Two on this day as well.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Kong: King of Atlantis(a title I can't find any information about)

Try Google. It seems to be an animated feature.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I received a copy of the new edition of The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs which seems to have been shipped from Germany (ordered from Amazon UK). Took about 10 days or so. Otherwise I have not had any issues with Amazon, except that they sent me a defective The Idiot and chose to refund my money instead of shipping a replacement. Shipments are still taking about 3 weeks from the US, which is average.

[devlinnn]

Very good to see two Richard Widmark Fox titles, licensed to Magna, in nice anamorphic transfers - Dmytryk's Broken Lance and Hathaway's Garden of Evil. No extra's (so what's new) but Garden of Evil does have one of Herrmann's finest scores (with themes he would put into use again for Vertigo) and Susan Hayward on horseback (always a good thing). Giddy-up.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

AV Channel have the following slated for 15/2/06 release:

An Autumn Afternoon
Man With a Movie Camera
Hanzo the Razor Box Set (!)
Samurai Assassin

The Ozu has I Lived But... as an extra while the Vertov disc has Three Songs About Lenin.

[King of Kong]

AV Channel have the following slated for 15/2/06 release:

An Autumn Afternoon

Sounds nice. 'cept I already have I Lived But... - we'll see.

[devlinnn]

Recent Sony/MGM releases look to be very good - all correct ratio / anamorphic (including The Entertainer at 1:66 - a first?). 1984 finally has the original director-disapproved score intact. The film holds up very well - Deakins photography a marvel, as is Ms. Hamilton's Rosebud - and all that cheap gin. God, the film really did have an effect and influence on me 20 years ago. But it is Hurt who raises the film to another level with Burton (God how he is missed today) in the third act - a depressing joy to sit through.

[devlinnn]

Finally released locally will be Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, through Sony, 8th of Feb. along with Polanksi's Macbeth.

[Geoff]

David, we are living in desperate times, so let old men whine. A friend just finished work helping film students with their end of year shoots. She claims no one had seen any classic films or foreign fare and worse still had little interest in seeking them out. The Astor here has been sold to make way for apartments leaving no re-run theater besides (cough) ACMI, and yes, nearly everyone just shrugs and buys Plasmas to watch their DVDs of TV programs that are on Foxtel anyway (that they still pay $75-100 a month for). As we count down the hours 'till a young man hangs (we are living in 2005?) for a stupid error of judgement, Howard really has lulled us all into a cozy, Christmas Day Holiday optional for some, coma.

Oh - the problem with rental arthouse/classic tiltes is most of those with an interest buy them anyway. The general public under 30-35 have zero interest, as if you didn't know. Those cinephiles under 35 are also stingy, baby, complaining as they do behind the decades old collection of Green Guides at the library, bathing in the missed nostalgia of TV when "Australia's Favourite Films - You Vote, Our Cheap Programming" (Margaret - how low can you go? David - good to see enough is enough) were actually presented.

Thanks heavens for The Art Gallery of NSW film theatre.

There are still some people who appreciate arthouse/classic titles that are young in Australia.

I'm only 21 for example.

[Gordon]

Does anyone know the release date for the Australian release of Kwaidan? It is going to be the 188-minute version in a superior anamorphic transfer to the 165-minute Criterion disc, which isn't one of their best transfer, apparently. The Japanese and French editions are the 188-minute version in a gorgeous transfer, but they don't have english subtitles.

Any info?

[kinjitsu]

Does anyone know the release date for the Australian release of Kwaidan? It is going to be the 188-minute version in a superior anamorphic transfer to the 165-minute Criterion disc, which isn't one of their best transfer, apparently. The Japanese and French editions are the 188-minute version in a gorgeous transfer, but they don't have english subtitles.

Any info?

Gordon, I would have assumed that you already read this in the Kwaidan thread but perhaps you missed it:

Madman/Eastern Eye Kwaidan Release Information

Release Date: 15/03/2006

Audio tracks: Dolby Dual mono
Languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English subtitles
Runtime: 183.0 mins
Format: DVD, Region 4

DVD Special Features

The first UNCUT English subtitled version available worldwide
Original Theatrical Trailer
Teaser Trailer
Production Teaser
Production Stills Gallery[/b]

The Black Hair

A master less Samurai abandons his wife and re-marries again into a wealthier family. Soon he finds his new life an empty one and longs for the wife he ignored. When he returns to her, he finds that things have changed.

The Woman of the Snow

Caught in blizzard, two woodcutters Mosaku and Minokichi take shelter in a nearby shack. Visited by a ghostly woman, she drains the blood of Mosaku and makes Minokichi promise never to tell. Years later, happily married, Minokichi begins to tell his wife about that mysterious night.

Hoichi the Earless

Hoichi is a blind servant, besieged by spirits from a battle 700 years before. To protect him, the temple priests cover him with mysterious prayer symbols - but there is one thing that they have overlooked.

A Cup of Tea

Visiting a temple and taking tea, Lord Sato sees a strange face reflected inside the cup. Later that night, the man in the cup of tea comes to visit with a message for Lord Sato.

[devlinnn]

One last bit of news to report before the year closes - Fox has dropped from the January schedule Hitchcock's Lifeboat. This was more than passing interest as a 2-disc set was promised, with added features unknown. Also, Cronenberg's special edition of The Fly has been dropped. Great to see the local guys starting the new year in the same old fashion.

To our local guys and gals(?) - David, King of Kong, Solaris, Rufus among others, I trust and hope you have a great few days with your loved ones (and family, if need be). Share the gin around -it's later than you think.

[Solaris]

Merry Christmas to all!!!!

And let's hope 2006 is bombarded with R4 goodies.

[devlinnn]

Merry Christmas to all!!!!

And let's hope 2006 is bombarded with R4 goodies.

Well, The AV Channel have certainly heard the call. Their March titles are up on their website with a few choice cuts being -

* Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens
* Early Summer (with Talking with Ozu)
* Eternity and a Day
* Les Amants
* The Double Life of Veronique
- Conversation with Krzysztof Kiewslowski
Interview with Irene Jacob
Documentary on Polish cinema
Collection of short films by Kiewslowski:
- The Musicians / Factory / Hospital / Railway Station
* Ulysses' Gaze
* Up!

[King of Kong]

Just cross fingers they won't fuck up Veronique. Though expecting a Criterion-like treatment will likely leave us disappointed.

[Solaris]

Looks like AV Channel are delivering some great goodies in March.

Does anyone know what's going on with Accent?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

In March AV Channel are also releasing

Lift to the Scaffold
Sonny Chiba Collection Vol 1
Zatoichi 26 (last and worst of the series)
Hidden Blade
Godzilla: Final Wars
Kwaidan (as mentioned previously)

And I bet every one of the Japanese titles is an NTSC to PAL conversion. This label could easily be the R4 equivalent of Criterion or MOC if they took more care over their transfers. But as the late Maxwell Smart would say: "missed by that much".

[Rufus T. Firefly]

To our local guys and gals(?) - David, King of Kong, Solaris, Rufus among others, I trust and hope you have a great few days with your loved ones (and family, if need be). Share the gin around -it's later than you think.

Thanks Devlinnn, hope you and the others had a good one. Unfortunately I have had a dose of the Black Death for the last two weeks, so no gin and not much Christmas cheer. Sounds like David had an even worse time losing both the dog and the plasma. I trust 2006 will improve, given time.

[yoshimori]

Thought I'd mentioned I received my r4au disc of John Huston's The Dead last week. It's 16x9, widescreen, and looks like a better transfer than the cropped r2jp. It's available for $6.64 USD plus shipping at EzyDVD.

The Dead

[I did have a little problem with my disc, however. It had a lot of artifcats in the opening credits and stuck around 1:39. I sent it back for a replacement.]

[marty]

Looks like AV Channel are delivering some great goodies in March.

Does anyone know what's going on with Accent?

I have recently contacted Accent (I put up a link to their site under Boutique Labels) and they said that the reason they have not released any titles for the past few months is that they are undergoing a restructure and have recently signed on with an established video distributor to handle the sales and distribution of their titles. Since their inception, they handled the sales and distribution themselves but they needed a company that has an established sales force.

I think this is a good idea and hopefully they will start releasing some of their titles listed in their Coming Soon section. They have some great stuff there. They also do the odd theatrical every now and then like they did with Irreversible and 9 Songs although High Tension is going straight-to-DVD (I would have loved to have seen this on the big screen!). They also have the new Abel Ferrara film, Mary, which I heard was great.

But the pick of the bunch for me is Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint 9 which stars Bjork. I thought The Cremaster Cycle was one of the most unique and memorable cinematic experience I have ever had!

[Solaris]

Fox are now releasing Special Editions of Lifeboat and The Fly on February 8.

[devlinnn]

Any specs on Hopscotch's upcoming release of Malle's Damage?

I presume it will be an uncut print.

Rated R, 106 minutes.
16:9 Anamorphic
Featurettes on Production, Jeremy Irons, Louis Malle, The French Connection
rrp - $19.95

[devlinnn]

Roadshow continues to pick up stray rights and the slack. Releases for March, with rrp.
* Eat Drink Man Woman - $19.95
* The Ice Storm - $19.95
* My Own Private Idaho - $19.95
* Torch Song Trilogy - $19.95
* Kundun - $24.95

More Bergman - $29.95 each
* Cries and Whispers
* Smiles of a Summer Night
* Wild Strawberries

Pick of the bunch -
Lost Highway: Special Edition - 2-disc set, $19.95