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Stuart, it doesn't sound harsh at all. Over the years Media Blasters have shown themselves to be incompetent and/or shady. It is a shame too, because they have/had the rights to a lot of great stuff.

As much as they had 'good stuff' in their library, their BD releases especially have been one delay after another for no explained reasons. And do they look great? Not really...

They probably did invest too much money into these 2 Toho Godzilla releases, and now it may be all for naught. I wonder if their accountants were part of that laid off staff... Or if they had accountants at all in the first place.

Also, their February/March releases of "Bakuman" and "Ikki Tousen" DVDs are also on indefinite hold...

Their Blu-rays have been sub-par (just like a lot of their DVDs). Hell, I think only one or two of their Blu-rays were actually HD and the rest were SD upconverted to 1080.

Some interesting non-developments in the Media Blasters scandal: The discs’ project manager, Carl Morano, has repeatedly ignored voice mail messages and emails from both Steve Ryfle and myself. He’s basically hidden his head in the sand like an ostrich, popping his head out only occasionally to tell Steve that my wire/check will go out the following week – and then it never does… Over the weekend I ended up writing him a scathing email, indicating Steve and I now regard him as a habitual liar who cannot be trusted, whose word means nothing, and who personally damaged the company’s reputation on two continents and caused a lot of people to lose their jobs. THAT hurt his feelings, prompting a steady stream of how-dare-you-pick-on-li’l-‘ol-me emails. Carl can’t imagine why I’m sore (“you [must be] under other stress that is influencing your behavior”) and that “to believe that we are not going to pay you is delusional” even though they’ve given me not one good reason to believe they ever will. Instead, they’ve a) ignored all inquiries about my payment; b) lied about its progress for months; and c) made one unfulfilled promise after another. He should pay me with money out of his salary, if he’s so sure it’s coming.

Stuart Galbraith IV wrote:Some interesting non-developments in the Media Blasters scandal

Appreciate the update, albeit deeply sad to hear. The Classic Media set has an honored place in my collection, and considering how much I enjoyed the DAM disc (particularly for the informative, fun track from you and Steven although I expected nothing less!), I was eagerly anticipating this release to replace a treasured, if worn, Good Times VHS of GvM. Now, I can honestly say that unless there's news you've been properly compensated for you work, even if the disc is released, it wouldn't be something I'd purchase.

Dr. Forrester wrote:

Stuart Galbraith IV wrote:Some interesting non-developments in the Media Blasters scandal

considering how much I enjoyed the DAM disc (particularly for the informative, fun track from you and Steven although I expected nothing less!)

Well, Galbraith was not on that commentary track, so he didn't get paid for that one either...

manicsounds wrote:Well, Galbraith was not on that commentary track, so he didn't get paid for that one either...

Oops! You're more than right; that was Ed Godziszewski, whose work I've also really enjoyed.

Back to crossing my fingers everyone gets properly compensated and this disc gets a proper release.

A friend of mine is good friends with someone who worked until recently at MB, and from what he was told, it sounds like it's only a matter of time before the company is dead, so I wouldn't be expecting any kind of release of anything from them. It's a pity, I was looking forward to Megalon, not to mention the people out of work and unpaid.

Some good news, at least in regards to Galbraith and Ryfle being properly compensated for their work

Still, even if it's the last gasp of the company, I'll keep my fingers crossed for Megalon to be released

Media Blasters will be releasing Takashi Miike's Fudoh: The New Generation, and there is a chance that it will be released on 4K.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sun Oct 29, 2023 3:08 pm Media Blasters will be releasing Takashi Miike's Fudoh: The New Generation, and there is a chance that it will be released on 4K.

Good news: They have preorders up. Don't let the listing fool you, as it is a 4K+BD release.

Bad news: They only ship within the U.S., and it looks like they are only selling 1000 copies of the Limited Edition. Haven't seen any indication that a standard edition will follow.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2024 11:06 pm

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sun Oct 29, 2023 3:08 pm Media Blasters will be releasing Takashi Miike's Fudoh: The New Generation, and there is a chance that it will be released on 4K.

Good news: They have preorders up. Don't let the listing fool you, as it is a 4K+BD release.

Bad news: They only ship within the U.S., and it looks like they are only selling 1000 copies of the Limited Edition. Haven't seen any indication that a standard edition will follow.

Bought this instantly. Maybe my single favorite film from Miike

beamish14 wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2024 11:18 pm Bought this instantly. Maybe my single favorite film from Miike

Definitely think it's one of his most stylish and creative films (and that is saying a lot for someone with a filmography like his). I remember being enchanted throughout the entire thing until the very ending when it

Spoiler

ends on a freeze-frame

and then immediately looking to see if he made a sequel before being disappointed to learn that one didn't exist.

BTW, is this the first Miike film to get a 4K UHD? If so, what an inspiring choice! It would be cool to see something like Ichi the Killer or Audition get 4K releases as well.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2024 1:15 am

beamish14 wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2024 11:18 pm Bought this instantly. Maybe my single favorite film from Miike

Definitely think it's one of his most stylish and creative films (and that is saying a lot for someone with a filmography like his). I remember being enchanted throughout the entire thing until the very ending when it

Spoiler

ends on a freeze-frame

and then immediately looking to see if he made a sequel before being disappointed to learn that one didn't exist.

BTW, is this the first Miike film to get a 4K UHD? If so, what an inspiring choice! It would be cool to see something like Ichi the Killer or Audition get 4K releases as well.

The first 10 minutes are just hysterical. I was very lucky to see it theatrically, and I was almost hyperventilating with laughter. The seemingly endless number of bullets being pumped into a restroom stall and the accompanying pool of blood seeping out, along with the balloon pop striptease trick endeared me to Miike for life

Fudoh: The New Generation will have a 2nd, non-limited release at a later date.

I’m curious about the source used, as the negative is apparently missing

beamish14 wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2024 5:56 pm I’m curious about the source used, as the negative is apparently missing

The restoration notes from the screening at Fantasia Fest a couple years ago state that the 4K restoration was from the last surviving 35mm print.

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2024 6:36 pm

beamish14 wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2024 5:56 pm I’m curious about the source used, as the negative is apparently missing

The restoration notes from the screening at Fantasia Fest a couple years ago state that the 4K restoration was from the last surviving 35mm print.

Incredible. It must’ve been the very same print I saw about 12 years ago.

beamish14 wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2024 7:02 pm

yoloswegmaster wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2024 6:36 pm

beamish14 wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2024 5:56 pm I’m curious about the source used, as the negative is apparently missing

The restoration notes from the screening at Fantasia Fest a couple years ago state that the 4K restoration was from the last surviving 35mm print.

Incredible. It must’ve been the very same print I saw about 12 years ago.

It's kinda crazy and sad to know that not even the negatives for a film that came out less than 30 years ago might not even exist anymore. Hopefully it's just misplaced rather than being destroyed.

dwk wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2024 5:29 pm Fudoh: The New Generation will have a 2nd, non-limited release at a later date.

Great news to hear! Now if I can only figure out a way to get it to Canada...

Media Blasters have announced they are releasing Pinocchio 964 on UHD.

Sounds like the time to break out the YouTube video of the pécis 'Super 8 edited' version of the film!

Technically it is √964 Pinocchio. That's quite an intense film, kind of Tetsuo: The Iron Man mixed with Zulawski's Possession, with a lot less plot and much more screaming and barrelling through crowds of onlooking civilians. If you don't like the idea of a lady losing her mind before vomiting up her own bodyweight inside the corridors of a train station (basically a version of the big scene from Possession) and then collapsing and rolling around in it for good measure then this may not be the film for you. If they include Fukui's 1987 short Caterpillar (which has a similarly emetic sequence in the middle of it - EDIT: I think I may have actually got it mixed up with the other short film Gerorisuto, although hopefully you can forgive me for not going back to check on which of the shorts has the extrended vomit scene in it!) you can be cautioned for that too.

I slightly prefer Fukui's film from a couple of years after, 1996's Rubber's Lover, which is in Tetsuo-esque black-and-white and acts as a kind of loose 'prequel' semi-explaining how the protagonist of √964 Pinocchio came about!