DVD and Blu-ray Disc bargains!

[EricMontreal22]

Best--I'm gonna side with DVDBeaver and Agnes Varda here. The Miramax disc of Rochefort lookes way too saturated for me--Demy talks in the documentary about how it's all meant to be pastels and slightly faded, "like a memory." I much prefer the look of the BluRay. I am biased though--I remember on a French Demy email forum all the discussion about how Miramax messed up the colours on the Rochefort disc.

Cherbourg looks very good to me, as does Donkey Skin--the only ones I can compare to DVDs, but I can't speak with as much authority about the colour with those ones (they were also supervised by Varda--but your mileage could vary with that qualification.)

[CarlosAlberto]

Thanks bestie for linking this thread to the comparison images for the various Rochefort releases. I clearly see what you are talking about and it's frankly inexcusable. The image looks yellow and dingy. The best out of the three is the BFI Region 2 PAL image - - - it's beautiful.

Even the opening credits have been changed from the original soft white lettering to that awful orange colored font.

WHAT. THE. FVCK!

Ugh...I'll stick to my overly saturated Miramax DVD.

[best12bars]

Every shot in Rochefort on the Criterion BD looks like a scene from Soylent Green.

It's not "pastels," it looks more like Stage 4 smog. Very ugly, and I will gladly watch the oversaturated DVD.

I don't like how these color-timers go crazy and think they can "fix" something that wasn't broken by making it worse.

I won't buy The King and I because it's blue.

I won't buy LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring (extended) because it's green.

And Rochefort is yellow.

Stop! Now.

[EricMontreal22]

Well I'm with you on King and I. I honestly don't notice the yellow tinge you do--I just notice the softer colours, with Rochefort and Agnes Varda talking about the colours in the accompanying documentary on the restoration sounds legit to me. But, as I said, I do get where you're coming from--and I certainly feel that way with other discs. I'm not sure I've come across others complaining about the colours on Rochefort or Cherbourg's BRs, so I guess I was a bit surprised.

And I appreciate the proper aspect ratios--particularly for Rochefort where you get much more information on screen.

[CarlosAlberto]

You don't notice the yellow tinge? How could you not?

[CarlosAlberto]

^^^ THIS is the way it's supposed to look!

[best12bars]

For those of you who love your "Friends," and you know who you are, the complete series is available on Blu-ray today (Gold Box Amazon deal) for $79.99. That's 71% of the list price.

LINK

[CarlosAlberto]

:: RAISES HAND ::

That would be me!

[best12bars]

The worst part about the Rochefort color-timing is that there are no true "whites" on the screen (no, that's not a racial comment!).

Rochefort's costumes and buildings have a lot of white in them, and they all look like nicotine-stained ugly beige-yellow teeth, rather than white.

That's how I know the color is off. There is no white anywhere (except the subtitles).

[CarlosAlberto]

Yeah, the film looks like it was shot through piss....

Look at the color of Delphine and Solange's dresses...and their skin color is off..they look jaundiced and sickly. Whoever approved this transfer should be slapped...HARD!

[best12bars]

For those of you into the Disney animation catalog, there are some nice/classic titles available for Black-Fridayesque prices this week on Amazon.

Alice in Wonderland BD/DVD combo
The Rescuers (both films) BD/DVD combo
Roger Rabbit BD/DVD combo
Oliver & Co. BD/DVD combo

All are $9.96!

[Mister Matt]

^^^ THIS is the way it's supposed to look!

That looks really blue to me.

[best12bars]

I'm not a fan of the PAL coloring the way Carlos is. I like the US/Mirimax coloring best, even if it's over-saturated. At least it's not tinted.

[best12bars]

US/Mirimax (over-saturated, but balanced):



PAL (blue tint, but not over-saturated):



Criterion BD/DVD (a yellow-faded mess):

[EricMontreal22]

Demy describes the whites as "cream." *shrug* I admit, anyway, I really dislike the blue PAL colouring. Of course I'm not foolish enought o say that because Demy's wife and son spent so much time with the remaster they still aren't necessarily right--but they were meticulous about it. Also remember that Demy used cyan-yellow-red strip film on purpose.

Thanks for the heads up on the Disney discs!

[EricMontreal22]

Sorry for beating a dead horse--but things like arguments about colour on BRs etc always interests me-has there been much talk or argument about the Demy discs? I can't find any (I know, for example, there was a LOT about King and I.) Anyway, ultimately I do think it comes to personal opinion (don't get me started about some of the Disney classics.)

Oddly this doesn't seem to be an Amazon.com deal, but for Friday the 13th, Amazon.ca has a number of great horror movie deals (I have no idea what shipping to the US costs so it ultimately might not be a deal for the US.)

The BluRay of all the original Elm Street movies is $25 Canadian (which in Canada comes with free shipping,) for example. The Halloween Collection for $80 which is not a great deal but not bad, etc. http://www.amazon.ca/b/ref=amb_link_431184462_2?ie=UTF8&node=11144045011&pf_rd_m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&pf_rd_s=center-B1&pf_rd_r=0NN65MJVR907348MYVSN&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=2056469942&pf_rd_i=915398

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Mine came today! Perfect for a cold and rainy weekend!

[TotallyEffed]

Great taste, Phyllis. :)

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Thanks! My only dilemma is trying to decide which one to start with!

[TotallyEffed]

Are they Blu? Rosemary's Baby looks incredible but Tootsie is just so endlessly entertaining. :)

[Bettyboy72]

The Criterion sales are a bit of a ruse. Their blurays are often $ 20-22 bucks at Amazon everyday.

[CarlosAlberto]

I can watch TOOTSIE on a loop day in and day out....that movie is a friggin' masterpiece.

[Roscoe]

The Criterion sale is handy if you spend fifty bucks or more, then you get the free shipping. Over time I've managed to pick up most of what I want from their catalogue, so I've got my eyes on their new releases as a rule. This time I picked up their marvelous (based on the first half hour or so) restoration of Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW, but I only did it because I had a ten dollar gift certificate from the ERASERHEAD mess they had. I tend to wait for the Barnes and Noble sales, where shipping isn't an issue, except for the OMG GOTTA HAVE IT NOW releases, like the recent FELLINI SATYRICON.

DON'T LOOK NOW seems to me to be a real marvel of this kind of restoration/presentation. It's crystal clear with gorgeous color, and it manages to present the film grain that was such an integral part of filmmaking in the 1970s -- they've resisted the temptation to make it all squeaky clean. I'm looking forward to sitting down and really giving this film the attention it deserves. Just a quick cursory check of the film's first sections had me gasping.

You never know what's going to happen with these restorations, though. The current digital version of Kubrick's THE SHINING has a very strange bit of new color-timing, which makes a certain tennis ball that features prominently in one memorable scene, pink where it used to be yellow. And you can see that the stars on the boy's sweater in that same scene are also pink where they used to be yellow. You can see the difference in the assorted captures on the dvdbeaver page for the film. I wonder why this happened -- Kubrick's folks are usually so careful about stuff like this.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Yeah, I got four at $19.97 each, and free shipping, and they were all at least a buck or two cheaper than the ones you can actually get on Amazon.

And TotallyEffed, I went with All That Jazz last night. I thought it looked fabulous!

[TotallyEffed]

It does look amazing! I watched Watership Down this week and it looked marvelous. I am so obsessed with Criterion. They truly do the most amazing job on all the films they release.

[tazber]

I just noticed that B&N is doing their 50% off sale this month.

Link

Also, the October slate includes Mulholland Drive and The Brood!