New Australian DVD and BD Releases

[ChrisW]

Review of R4 Kwaidan.

http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Reviews/Re ... iewID=6907

[Jem]

Thanks, wow!

Screenshots from the R4 Kwaidan, couresty of Tony Dale:

http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/images2/kwaidan6.jpg

http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/images2/kwaidan7.jpg

http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/images2/kwaidan5.jpg

http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/images2/kwaidan4.jpg

[solent]

The review of Beresford's GETTING OF WISDOM is up:

http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Reviews/Re ... sp?ID=6919

[devlinnn]

Of interest to R4 buyers may be the recent news of Optimum Releasing joining forces with Studio Canal in the UK. ChrisW may know or possibly find out, but hopefully the deal made earlier in the year with Madman and Optimum to share releases between the two (known as Optimum Madman) may also mean far greater access to Studio Canal titles as well for Madman.
Universal lost the rights to many Studio Canal titles in Australia over a year ago, and many titles have not been seen since (The Third Man, Accident, Billy Liar, Hammer, the Ealings etc, etc.) Magna Pacific have also recently lost rights to their Rank catalogue. The mind boggles as to what Madman could do with all these titles sniffing at the door. BRING IT ON!

[devlinnn]

Umbrella titles of interest for July - more details when they come to hand.

* INTERVISTA
* FELLINI'S MAGIC
* KIESLOWSKI COLLECTION (5-disc set)
* BLACK SUNDAY
* BIRD WITH A CRYSTAL PLUMAGE
* WERNER HERZOG - DOCUMENTARIES & SHORTS BOX SET (5-disc set)

Miracle in Milan due in June looks to be a port of the very recent UK release through Arrow Films. The Bicycle Thief will include the documentary That's Life.[/i]

[Solaris]

Umbrella titles of interest for July - more details when they come to hand.

* INTERVISTA
* FELLINI'S MAGIC
* KIESLOWSKI COLLECTION (5-disc set)
* BLACK SUNDAY
* BIRD WITH A CRYSTAL PLUMAGE
* WERNER HERZOG - DOCUMENTARIES & SHORTS BOX SET (5-disc set)

Miracle in Milan due in June looks to be a port of the very recent UK release through Arrow Films. The Bicycle Thief will include the documentary That's Life.[/i]

Oh my! This is wonderful news.

What is Fellini's Magic? I couldn't find it on IMDb, unless it is The Magic of Fellini which is on La Dolce Vita special edition.

I presume the Kieslowski Collection is the same as the R1 collection, although that contains six films.

As for the Herzog box-set, this could be amazing. Unless it the R2 Herzog Box Set II, but that doesn't really contain documentaries and shorts. Here's hoping Where The Green Ants Dream are included.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

As for the Herzog box-set, this could be amazing. Unless it the R2 Herzog Box Set II, but that doesn't really contain documentaries and shorts. Here's hoping Where The Green Ants Dream are included.

It may be the same as the set on Herzog's own site, which is 6 discs and contains:

Werner Herzog DVD Edition - Documentaries and Shorts
- Herakles (1962)
- Last Words (1967)
- Fortress Deutschkreuz (1967)
- Precautions against Fanatics (1969)
- Flying Doctors of East Africa, The (1969)
- Wings of Hope (2000)
- Huie's Sermon ( Huies Predigt ) (1980)
- Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)
- Handicapped Future (1971)
- Fata Morgana (1971)
- God's Angry Man (1980)
- Echoes From a Somber Empire (1990)
- How much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (1976)
- La Soufrière - Warten auf eine unausweichliche Katastrophe (1977)
- I Am My Films (1979)
- Jag Mandir: Das excentrische Privattheater des Maharadscha von Udaipur (1991)
- Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)
- Strange Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, The (1974)
- No One Will Play with Me (1976)
- Dark Glow of the Mountains, The (1984)
- Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984)
- Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun (1989)
- Lessons of Darkness (1992)
- Bells from the Deep (1993)

http://www.wernerherzog.com/main/de/htm ... film_id=53

[Geoff]

As for the Herzog box-set, this could be amazing. Unless it the R2 Herzog Box Set II, but that doesn't really contain documentaries and shorts. Here's hoping Where The Green Ants Dream are included.

It may be the same as the set on Herzog's own site, which is 6 discs and contains:

Werner Herzog DVD Edition - Documentaries and Shorts
- Herakles (1962)
- Last Words (1967)
- Fortress Deutschkreuz (1967)
- Precautions against Fanatics (1969)
- Flying Doctors of East Africa, The (1969)
- Wings of Hope (2000)
- Huie's Sermon ( Huies Predigt ) (1980)
- Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)
- Handicapped Future (1971)
- Fata Morgana (1971)
- God's Angry Man (1980)
- Echoes From a Somber Empire (1990)
- How much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (1976)
- La Soufrière - Warten auf eine unausweichliche Katastrophe (1977)
- I Am My Films (1979)
- Jag Mandir: Das excentrische Privattheater des Maharadscha von Udaipur (1991)
- Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)
- Strange Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, The (1974)
- No One Will Play with Me (1976)
- Dark Glow of the Mountains, The (1984)
- Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984)
- Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun (1989)
- Lessons of Darkness (1992)
- Bells from the Deep (1993)

http://www.wernerherzog.com/main/de/htm ... film_id=53

wow, that would be pretty great.

I'm pretty sure it would cheaper than buying it directly from the site too.

[zedz]

And if it loses the readily available, feature-length Fata Morgana and Lesson's of Darkness then the six discs should easily condense to five. I'd be very happy if this were the case!

[devlinnn]

I'm pretty sure it would cheaper than buying it directly from the site too.

The Herzog box will have a rrp of $149.95.

[zedz]

I'm pretty sure it would cheaper than buying it directly from the site too.

The Herzog box will have a rrp of $149.95.

Bingo! About half the price.

[Solaris]

$149.95 for 5 Discs?

The last Herzog set had 6 Discs and was only $119.95!

[marty]

$149.95 for 5 Discs?

The last Herzog set had 6 Discs and was only $119.95!

They obviously didn't do as well so this time they made them more expensive based on past sales of the previous box set.

[devlinnn]

$149.95 for 5 Discs?

The last Herzog set had 6 Discs and was only $119.95!

...and can be now found around the traps for around $55.

Marty, with your logic, tickets to see my grandma play strip canasta with her friends would cost $500 a pop (binoculars included).

[Solaris]

Oh well, I'm sure JB will have it cheaper.

Speaking of Umbrella box sets, anyone got the Errol Morris Box Set? What's the verdict?

[zedz]

Marty, with your logic, tickets to see my grandma play strip canasta with her friends would cost $500 a pop (binoculars included).

Maybe you're posting on the wrong forum?

I think the market for the Herzog docs is much more niche than the features, so they'll need to recoup their costs from significantly lower sales. They can probably get that price, though, especially since the only competition, internationally, is so much more expensive.

Considering I was sorely tempted to spring for the original set - despite its alarming price - I consider this a bargain! (All this assumes, of course, that this will be similar content to that set)

[marty]

$149.95 for 5 Discs?

The last Herzog set had 6 Discs and was only $119.95!

...and can be now found around the traps for around $55.

Marty, with your logic, tickets to see my grandma play strip canasta with her friends would cost $500 a pop (binoculars included).

A Werner Herzog box set is not an impulse buy. Fans of the director and cinephiles will buy this but Madman probably didn't know exactly how many this would be. So after the first box set did limited numbers, they raised the price for the second box set to at least recoup their costs which they obviously didn't do so with the first box set. Its Economics 101. Simple, really.

As for your grandma playing strip canasta, I would lower the price to $1 a peek!

[Geoff]

$150 AUS certainly beats $150 Euro.

Not too long ago I saw the other region 4 Herzog boxset discounted to around $70.

[Geoff]

I got the Anchor Bay Herzog/Kinski boxset when I was in London.

I think it was only 17 GB pounds, and a bargain!

[Andre Jurieu]

Its Economics 101. Simple, really.

So they apparently removed the chapter on elasticity from the Economics 101 curriculum.

[marty]

Its Economics 101. Simple, really.

So they apparently removed the chapter on elasticity from the Economics 101 curriculum.

I would think for a Werner Herzog box set, the price elasticity of demand might be considered inelastic.

[Solaris]

MRA will be releasing Otto Preminger's Saint Joan in July.

[LupinIX]

I was planning on buying the Australian version of Autumn Afternoon but it has already disappeared from the local stores and EzyDVD has it out of stock

but others may also be interested that Yesasia does have the "Australia Version" AV Channel edition in stock for US$18.99, which at the moment would be about AU$25 , also Early Summer for US$19.99. Yesasia's free shipping offer is now only $25 so ordering both will qualify

This compares with the EzyDVD price of AU$34.95 + shipping, which I know includes GST but still ...

I'm all for supporting locals but I figure that buying from Yesasia still supports the local manufacturer (who presumably charges the same wholesale price for exports). What do others think? Is there a cheaper local price?

Yesasia also has an AV Channel The World on July 5th preorder for US21.99 - I was planning on ordering this from the States so I think I'll wait now

[BertoltNietzsche]

I've just purchased Ulysses' Gaze by Theo Angelopoulos (R4 Directors Suite - Madman) blind, and I am very frustrated with their subtitling authoring effort.

Don't they have any quality control procedure of sitting down and going over the DVD they've just authored? I've only watched the first 5 minutes and the subtitle timing is so unpredictable that I have missed 1/3 of the subtitles already. A part of a sentence was shown on the screen and it disappeared after less than 0.5 seconds, and the rest of the sentence displayed and it remained for a couple of seconds after the character finished speaking. I had to rewind, pause, read the subtitle, and I don't know whether this effort on my part is worth it... I will get back once I finish the film and edit this post and say how the rest of it goes.

[marty]

I've just purchased Ulysses' Gaze by Theo Angelopoulos (R4 Directors Suite - Madman) blind, and I am very frustrated with their subtitling authoring effort.

Don't they have any quality control procedure of sitting down and going over the DVD they've just authored? I've only watched the first 5 minutes and the subtitle timing is so unpredictable that I have missed 1/3 of the subtitles already. A part of a sentence was shown on the screen and it disappeared after less than 0.5 seconds, and the rest of the sentence displayed and it remained for a couple of seconds after the character finished speaking. I had to rewind, pause, read the subtitle, and I don't know whether this effort on my part is worth it... I will get back once I finish the film and edit this post and say how the rest of it goes.

This is not surprising. I have raised the problems with Madman's authoring and subtitling in the past and I was shot down by almost everyone in this forum. I think the problem stems from the fact that they release some 40-60 titles per month and obviously quality control would be difficult to maintain for all their releases. Every foreign-language film needs to be checked and double-checked by their staff when it comes to subtitling. It is simply not good enough just to get the overseas subtitle file and just whack it on the master. In the past, with some of their subtitling fuck-ups, Madman have informed us that they did not do the authoring or the subtitling as with some Umbrella releases but if you are going to have your logo plastered all over the DVD, then I think you should take some responsibility for the quality of the DVD and not just pass-the-buck when stuff-ups happen. Madman are not that quick in claiming they did not do the authoring when the DVD has been universally praised.

I have also just heard that Madman have been acquired by a children toy company, Funtastic, which I am sure will ensure even greater quality control! With every DVD of Viscont's The Leopard you will get the tubby tigers DVD! This is just great!