New Australian DVD and BD Releases

[Geoff]

do you guys know of the quality of the early american hitchcock films that are on sale at JB Hi-fi.

I'm referring to Rebecca/Spellbound/Notorious.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

do you guys know of the quality of the early american hitchcock films that are on sale at JB Hi-fi.

I'm referring to Rebecca/Spellbound/Notorious.

I recall seeing a review of Rebecca at http://www.michaeldvd.com.au.

[marty]

Speaking of MRA, their April releases are:

Twentynine Palms (Bruno Dumont)
Europa (Lats Von Trier)
Totally F***ed Up (Gregg Artai)

[Solaris]

I presume Accent is now owned by MRA. They seem to have removed a lot of good upcoming titles from their website (Mouchette, The Beast, Fantastic Planet).

[Solaris]

Specs for Siren's Cannibal Holocaust:

* New hi-definition 16:9 digital restoration of the original uncensored director's cut
* Spectacular new stereo re-mix and original mono mix
* Provocative audio commentary by director Ruggero Deodato and star Robert Kerman
* Selected on-camera commentary
* THE MAKING OF CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST - one hour Italian documentary featuring rare behind the scenes footage
* Exclusive on-camera interviews with Deodato, Kerman, and co-star Gabriel Yorke
* Original theatrical trailers
* Extensive gallery of stills and poster art
* Plus other surprises

I still find it hard to believe that this got past the OFLC uncut, while In A Glass Cage and Caligula have recently been banned.
We will have to wait till someone reviews it......


Also, Siren will be releasing this rarely seen film in June http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0072656/

[Solaris]

Hmmmm, I can understand what you mean.

Kinda off-topic (and a bit late to ask), but does anybody know whatever happened to that great magazine Region 4?
I think it has been a year since their last issue, I was subscribed never received any kind of apology from them.

[devlinnn]

Accent are using MRA to distribute their stock, just as Aztec uses AV Channel, Hopscotch uses Roadshow, etc.

Wilder's sublime Love in the Afternoon will be released through Sony May 3rd, along with My Sister Eileen.

Umbrella will be releasing the Erroll Morris Collection May 8th (Vernon, Florida, Thin Blue Line, The Gates of Heaven).

[marty]

I emailed Accent asking why they removed some great titles from their Coming Soon section and they said that they were not happy with the quality of the masters of the Argos Films and they will not do them until they get satisfactory masters equivalent in quality to Criterion as they have released the Argos Films as well. Interesting.....

[devlinnn]

Very pleasing to report that Aztec's The Double Life of Veronique is a direct port of the M2K. The transfer is stunning. Only downside is the fact if Roadshow picked it up, as they have with the Lynch M2K sets, we would be paying half the price.

[King of Kong]

Very pleasing to report that Aztec's The Double Life of Veronique is a direct port of the M2K. The transfer is stunning. Only downside is the fact if Roadshow picked it up, as they have with the Lynch M2K sets, we would be paying half the price.

A direct port? No flaws of any kind. I'm happy. =D>

[devlinnn]

AV Channel's June slate is up.

Highlights for some -

* Kurosawa's Drunken Angel and High and Low

* Jarmusch's Ghost Dog, as well as a boxset with Mystery Train, Dead Man and Permanent Vacation
* Okamoto's Kill!
* Monte Hellman's Westerns: The Shooting, Ride the Whirlwind
* Jia Zhang Ke's The World
* Godard's Vivre Sa Vie, with Adrian Martin commentary (!)

[solent]

UNE HISTOIRE D'EAU is listed as an extra on the VIVRE SA VIE disc. This is the 1958 short Truffaut began and Godard completed. Never seen it myself.

[marty]

I find most of the DVD titles released through AV Channel of generally poor or moderate quality. Occasionally, they do have some great transfers but this is usually for films where they access the overseas ports. Their own DVD authoring and mastering is sub-standard.

[King of Kong]

I find most of the DVD titles released through AV Channel of generally poor or moderate quality. Occasionally, they do have some great transfers but this is usually for films where they access the overseas ports. Their own DVD authoring and mastering is sub-standard.

*cough*Spirited Away*cough*

Their Russian Ark is nice, though.

[marty]

But why do Australian distributors, not just Madman, but others as well, bother releasing films that Criterion have already released. Surely the market for these films is somewhat limited and I would think that about 70-80% of the audience for these titles already have the Criterion version which are almost always superior to any other release. I would like to see them release titles that Criterion have not got as there are so many other great films that need to be released.

[marty]

I heard the Japanese films released by Madman have done atrociously bad sales, even the ones Criterion have done. The Wong Kar-Wai films released by Hopscotch are very bad. Why bother releasing them? At least source a decent master or restore the damn thing.

I know there is a store opening up in Sydney dedicated exclusively to arthouse DVDs. The whole store! They are not only stocking local releases by Madman, Hopscotch, Accent etc but also Criterion, AE etc.

[marty]

TITLE @499 Crown Street Surry Hills: the sound of the century.


: a retail space celebrating the sonic and sensual experiment of our times.

: unique and sublime music on CD and LP. Influential art created by independents with their ear to the ground and a hole in their heart for the beautiful things.

: definitive DVD editions of the greatest films ever made. Sourced from around the world: Criterion, Kino, Artificial Eye and Momentum : Accent, Hopscotch, Madman and more.

: books on film: books on music


TITLEspace.com

: get to it before it gets to you. Too late. It just did.

[marty]

Minotaur Books in Melbourne were fined around $100,000 for parallel importing R1 DVDs. Not sure if the fine was for selling unclassified material or for importing films that already have a distributor. These stores must have rocks in their heads. There was an interesting article in The Age Green Guide a couple of weeks ago and the article cited some retailers (who declined to give their name!!) as saying that the relevant authorities should focus on piracy and not parallel importing. But what's the difference apart from the obvious DVD quality?

The problem with the pricing is that they actually pay the full retail price in the US from stores like Amazon and then when you add freight, they need to price the DVD much higher than the US price to make any money out of it as they are not paying the US wholesale price. They're idiots! Just focus on local product and let the consumers buy overseas product online. They don't have a very good business plan to make money. If they were to classify the DVDs then each would cost around $700-$1,000 depending on length and extra features.

[Geoff]

TITLE @499 Crown Street Surry Hills: the sound of the century.


: a retail space celebrating the sonic and sensual experiment of our times.

: unique and sublime music on CD and LP. Influential art created by independents with their ear to the ground and a hole in their heart for the beautiful things.

: definitive DVD editions of the greatest films ever made. Sourced from around the world: Criterion, Kino, Artificial Eye and Momentum : Accent, Hopscotch, Madman and more.

: books on film: books on music


TITLEspace.com

: get to it before it gets to you. Too late. It just did.

It seems like this store is being run by fuse music group

http://www.fusemusic.com.au/

I've bought quite a bit of stuff from them in the past, since I'm a big fan of experimental music.

[Geoff]

No offence meant Geoff!

(Think Crawford in Humoresque -- "no Offence..." but not wearing a Prince Albert... 'least as far as I know...)

don't worry I'm never offended.

I just want to meet people who appreciate films for more than just pure entertainment.

As an accounting graduate I didn't meet too many people interested in anything released by Criterion, except maybe the Rock.

[BertoltNietzsche]

Hello everyone. First post.

Not really a NEW title anymore, but has anybody else had problems with Wind will carry us by Abbas Kiarostami? (Director's suite - Madman R4)

I had bought it a few days ago and had to return it because it had an authoring problem with its audio synchronization. I can't remember which, but sound either came about 0.5~1 sec after or before mouth movements. I've checked out the MK2 release (which the R4 sources from), and I think I found out why and here it is:

The film starts with guys driving on a narrow road through hills and mountains. We hear them talk, but we only see the car from far away. It goes on for a while and once they reach near a farm, we see a farmer speak on-screen for the first time. In the MK2, this line is off about 0.5~1 sec, and the rest of the film is synchronized properly. Therefore my guess is that; Madman have ported the R2 MK2 release, test played it, found that the first on-screen spoken line is not synchronized, updated synchronization to match it, then authored it. I haven't had a chance to go back to the R4, so this is only a speculation, and I am not even sure whether what I had was a defect, or the problem exists in every disc.

Just sharing my speculation...

[Solaris]

Minotaur Books in Melbourne were fined around $100,000 for parallel importing R1 DVDs. Not sure if the fine was for selling unclassified material or for importing films that already have a distributor. These stores must have rocks in their heads

When did this happen?
I live in Hobart, and frequently fly to Melbourne and Minotaur is the one shop I always visit and buy (overpriced) Criterions from. They retail $78AU for a $39.95US Criterion and $58 for a $29.95 Criterion. Besides a few shelfs with DVDs, the large store is mainly filled with comics, sci-fi/fantasy junk (not to offend anyone who likes that kind of thing). I recall seeing a sign once which apologized for no longer selling the R1 John Waters boxset, because his early films are still banned by the OFLC.

[marty]

This is not surprising. Didn't they also have a big problem with A Short Film About Killing with the subtitles being out of synch and they had to recall all the DVDs?

[BertoltNietzsche]

Bertolt have you emailed AV? (I know it can sometimes be difficult to get an answer.) I don't have the disc (or the title indeed) and can't comment.

Just curious - what is your equipment? Could it have been a player/display glitch?

I have emailed them and I haven't got any answer back, but I've been having some trouble with my email account recently, so it's all messed up.

I've tried playing the disc on my PC as well as on my DVD player and the same thing happened. It could be a disc glitch. The store I returned it to didn't have any extra copies of it, so I couldn't check there either. MK2 is fine though.

[Solaris]

Incorrect. None of Waters' early films were ever banned.

Pink Flamingoes was subjected to two censor cuts ("Mother love" blojob and the poddle shit ending) but the VHS "mysteriously came out uncut. They are now completely out of copyright in Oz and merely waiting for a local distrib. Flamingoes would definitely not suffer the same cuts today. And if you look hard enough you'll find them all in VHS warehouses.

Sorry, I should be more specific. The original uncut version of Pink Flamingos was indeed banned in the early 70s, and again in 1998. A version with those cuts you mentioned was released theatrically (a theatre in Melbourne, I forget which one, occasionally still play it), I'm not sure about the VHS. http://www.refused-classification.com/F ... kflamingos
As for Desperate Living and Female Trouble, they were rated R upon release in the 70s, I'm not sure about their uncut status. Polyester was rated M and released on VHS through Colombia. Minotaur now stock those three titles individually for $44 each.
And if anyone else likes Waters' post Polyester films, avoid all R4 releases. Both Pecker and Serial Mom are pan & scan with no commentary unlike the R1 release. Cecil B. Demented has audio problems, and A Dirty Shame is a decent release, but alas rental only. Speaking of rental only titles, has anyone checked out Madman's release of Grizzly Man?

RE: AV Channel, I believe they have really improved their releases in the past year, i.e. the Directors Suite catalogue. Their earlier releases, such as Paris Texas and Walkabout were horrendous.