VS is taking a page from Severin and are offering Drop Zone three different ways
Limited Edition Slipcase ONLY (4,000 units) $39.99 ($59.98 MSRP)
Limited Edition Slipcase + John Badham On Directing - Paperback Book + Cinématographe Parachuters Toy (50 units) $64.99 ($89.98 MSRP)
Limited Edition Slipcase + Cinématographe Parachuters Toy (950 units) $42.99 ($65.98 MSRP)
And continuing being a slipcover first company, Last Tango in Paris has two different slipcovers: one for the main VS site and one for the Melusine site.
From a French perspective, it's very interesting to see Last Tango in Paris getting a lavish 4K release when the helm of the Cinémathèque française ranted against censorship PC wokester [etc] a few months ago when a Last Tango screening ended up being cancelled following what might be the most dilettante approach to programming such a specific movie. And it's all the more interesting to read the specs of this upcoming release as the extra features don't look like they're particularly going to cover the Schneider-related grounds.
tenia wrote: Tue Apr 01, 2025 5:11 pm
From a French perspective, it's very interesting to see Last Tango in Paris getting a lavish 4K release when the helm of the Cinémathèque française ranted against censorship PC wokester [etc] a few months ago when a Last Tango screening ended up being cancelled following what might be the most dilettante approach to programming such a specific movie. And it's all the more interesting to read the specs of this upcoming release as the extra features don't look like they're particularly going to cover the Schneider-related grounds.
It's also a little rich/tasteless to announce this the week that Being Maria opens in the US...
dwk wrote: Tue Apr 01, 2025 4:11 pm
Igor and the Lunatics (VSA)
I haven't seen this but I can still remember the different voices that called out "Igor" and "Aanndd the luunaaticss" in the trailer on one of those compilation discs!
Last Tango in Paris UHD (Distribpix)
Props to actually doing this, I thought the film was going to be lost forever in the states. It appears to carryover all of the extras from Imprint's recent edition
The Human Pyramid + The Punishment (Icarus Films)
Glad to have these upgraded from the Rouch DVD set but why are there virtually no extras? There are countless books on Rouch, they could absolutely get someone to talk about one of his most famous films...
Love Crime (IFC)
Haven't seen this but Corneau is an increasingly interesting director for me. FYI De Palma's Passion is a remake of this
tenia wrote: Tue Apr 01, 2025 5:11 pm
From a French perspective, it's very interesting to see Last Tango in Paris getting a lavish 4K release when the helm of the Cinémathèque française ranted against censorship PC wokester [etc] a few months ago when a Last Tango screening ended up being cancelled following what might be the most dilettante approach to programming such a specific movie. And it's all the more interesting to read the specs of this upcoming release as the extra features don't look like they're particularly going to cover the Schneider-related grounds.
It's also a little rich/tasteless to announce this the week that Being Maria opens in the US...
An argument could be made that Bertolucci and Brando's alleged behavior on set is only marginally worse than Jessica Palud, et al's decision to make their exploitative biopic. I haven't seen the latter film (nor will I - all the assorted news and historical reporting on the subject will suffice) but I can't imagine it is anything but a hagiography of Schneider and an excoriation of Brando, the result no doubt far more simplistic than the caustic and heartbreaking vulnerability of Bertolucci's film.
And it would be fittingly ironic and culturally recursive if it turns out that some sort of "abuse" or "discomfort" (when will the first accusations of impropriety against intimacy coordinators occur?) took place on Palud's set, which in turn was made into its own biopic years from now...
Maladroit Aggregator wrote: Tue Apr 01, 2025 7:58 pm
And it would be fittingly ironic and culturally recursive if it turns out that some sort of "abuse" or "discomfort" (when will the first accusations of impropriety against intimacy coordinators occur?) took place on Palud's set, which in turn was made into its own biopic years from now...
To be clear, you are just making this up based on nothing other than a desire for someone to be abused on the set of this more recent production?
Maladroit Aggregator wrote: Tue Apr 01, 2025 7:58 pm
And it would be fittingly ironic and culturally recursive if it turns out that some sort of "abuse" or "discomfort" (when will the first accusations of impropriety against intimacy coordinators occur?) took place on Palud's set, which in turn was made into its own biopic years from now...
To be clear, you are just making this up based on nothing other than a desire for someone to be abused on the set of this more recent production?
I'm talking about stones and glass houses, those who crow the loudest, right side of history, who is the righteous, etc
If you misconstrue "fittingly ironic and culturally recursive" to mean "desire" then maybe English isn't the first language for at least one of us. I'm saying biopics are generally reprehensible, and all the more so when created with an agenda while standing on the grave of whoever it is the creators are "speaking for." God forbid an artist come up with their own story, instead of yet another wiki-script-generator (and they say AI is a threat?) that mines headlines and footnotes, instead of using, I dunno, metaphor and allegory, to make something just as angry or didactic (LaBute's flicks, Mamet's Oleanna, etc.) without the baggage of unearned specifics.
Speaking of stones, I’m disappointed that Criterion didn’t have the stones to release Last Tango, but I’m still glad to be getting it. The colors in the caps on the product page look gorgeous. It really is an amazing movie.
If this doesn’t fit Criterion’s mission statement, I don’t know what does.
Peacock wrote: Tue Apr 01, 2025 10:53 pm
Is anyone here familiar with José Bénazéraf? That’s a new name for me.
He's a Nouvelle Vague adjacent figure who later transitioned into making full pornography. I've only seen his Joe Caligula (not included, I imagine), which opens with prostitutes and johns communicating via name-checking Chabrol and closes with Gerard Blain wandering around looking for an ending. Not a complete failure, but its oddball rattiness is aggressively artless
dwk wrote:And continuing being a slipcover first company, Last Tango in Paris has two different slipcovers: one for the main VS site and one for the Melusine site.
The VS one (featuring the Eiffel Tower) is so tacky. Would be embarrassed to have it on my shelf tbh.
dwk wrote:And continuing being a slipcover first company, Last Tango in Paris has two different slipcovers: one for the main VS site and one for the Melusine site.
The VS one (featuring the Eiffel Tower) is so tacky. Would be embarrassed to have it on my shelf tbh.
yeah, I'm trying not to that guy them releasing the movie, because I certainly own questionable movies in my library and don't support it being erased to time (though I do genuinely really hate this movie). but for them to release it with that slipcover feels next level exploitative and disgusting. I completely get that MGM of course surely wouldn't let them create any extras that tell the story, but it doesn't help that they market the movie the way they do. what can I say I expect from this label though!!
dwk wrote: Tue Apr 01, 2025 5:19 pm
Not that I would have expected them to cover the Schneider issues, but I doubt that MGM's legal would allow any special features to touch the topic.
I'd be astounded if they did. MGM may well be the toughest of all the majors in terms of what their legal department will or won't permit, and they've absolutely eviscerated some special features in the past because they weren't happy with what certain interviewees said.
My guess is that the controversy with Schneider will be discussed in one or more of the booklet essays.
Also these special features appear to be different from those on the Imprint Blu-ray. The interview with Francesco Barilli and locations featurette are exclusive to the VS and the interview with Piero Spila is exclusive to the Imprint. Both include interviews with editor Roberto Perpignani and an archival interview with Bertolucci though the running times are different so it's unclear whether they're based on the same footage.
I'm chuckling at this discussion because I just finished going through Eureka's The Dark Half blu-ray, licensed from MGM, where multiple cast and crew members (including George Romero himself) shit on Timothy Hutton's method acting process and behaviour, throughout several different supplements.
If we’re talking about that director I’d much rather someone rescue Powder from the Disney vault because that’s a beautiful and strange film in spite of the awful, awful person who created it. Of course, that will never happen.
If we’re talking about that director I’d much rather someone rescue Powder from the Disney vault because that’s a beautiful and strange film in spite of the awful, awful person who created it. Of course, that will never happen.
I remember really enjoying that in a near-empty theatre. It really is a very unique work.
I do think it’s a matter of time before someone releases Clownhouse. Hell, Kino probably already bid on it
Peacock wrote: Tue Apr 01, 2025 10:53 pm
Is anyone here familiar with José Bénazéraf? That’s a new name for me.
He's a Nouvelle Vague adjacent figure who later transitioned into making full pornography. I've only seen his Joe Caligula (not included, I imagine), which opens with prostitutes and johns communicating via name-checking Chabrol and closes with Gerard Blain wandering around looking for an ending. Not a complete failure, but its oddball rattiness is aggressively artless
There's an episode of the 1999 Channel 4 Eurotika series (NSFW) devoted to his films, which showed together with a screening of his 1971 psychosexual drama Frustration, which is the only film I have seen by the director. Seeing early Chabrol films like Les Biches in the years since makes me wonder if Bénazéraf was trying to do something in that area (mixed with Belle de Jour) with at least that particular film.
