Blu-ray, in General

[willoneill]

Inetvideo.com has both Egoyan's, and they ship pretty much anywhere in the world. (If you're in Canada, you have to go through inetvideo.ca)

[Adam X]

Thanks Will.
I'd seen their listing on Amazon, and going to buy from them anyway.
Glad to know there's an actual website.
You've used inetvideo before then? How are they (he asks, risking the discussion being moved to a different thread)?

[willoneill]

I've used their sister domestic site, inetvideo.ca, once, and it was quick with no damage. I would assume inetvideo.com is essentially the same company, but I don't know much more that. I've also dealt with them professionally in a previous career, and they were a good company to do business with.

[domino harvey]

I don't know if they still do but they used to send their DVDs out in nothing more than plastic wrap-- no padding or cardboard or even the box of chocolate plastic trays inside. Their prices were good on OOP stuff but I learned to look elsewhere

[Professor Wagstaff]

I normally had success with them until recently when they sent me a blatantly bootleg edition of a Criterion title which was listed through their seller page on Amazon as brand new. Despite feeling comfortable with them previously, I'd hesitate to order from them again.

[Adam X]

Good to hear from both sides of the fence. Thanks guys. In fairness, I might try elsewhere.

No packaging, Dom? That makes Amazon.com sound like the worlds' best, and I've had some pretty lousy experiences with them. Sometimes it's worth paying a bit more.

[fdm]

I ordered 5 dvds from them a couple months ago. They were shipped in a bubble bag. Better packed than most things shipped in bubble bags these days, but a couple of the OOP titles had to be re-shipped since they looked like somebody had procured them from the bottom of walmart's bargain bin (the damage was there before the items were shipped).

And a while back, a year maybe, I ordered 3 Canadian blu-rays from them without any problems at all. Vaguely recall a bubble bag was used for packing as well.

I'll probably give them another shot at some point.

[CSM126]

Shocking I know but blu-ray.com is at it again with the whole "DNR doesn't exist" malarky

What's really annoying is that the guy actually says that there is a "de-graining process" at use here and it's "the way to go", and then turns around and denies the use of DNR. What the fuck do you people over there think DNR stands for?

[The Narrator Returns]

And in Blu-Ray.com terms, edge-enhancement isn't edge-enhancement, it's "haloing."

[David M.]

The software available to post facilities has progressed to the point where the detail represented by film grain can be adequately translated to video without stripping it away. This is yet another reason (aside from imprecise usage) why "DNR" is no longer a relevant term. Post facilities no longer strip away grain as noise; they translate it into something that appears stable on video. (For a shining example, see Aliens.)

What he says is true within the context of (most?) modern Hollywood film scanning. *COMPETENT* post facilities no longer strip grain away as noise.

"DNR" is an overused term but it's still totally relevant in cases where studios pull out grubby masters or use noise-generating equipment and blast the image with noise reduction to clean this up (killing the grain in the process).

It's important to explain the differences between film grain and noise. Me on this subject: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDX54Tbe ... age#t=508s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[fdm]

He gave Buffy The Vampire Slayer a one-star review. 'nuff said.

[warren oates]

Now that I've seen the two new Alliance Egoyan Blu-rays the whole way through and listened to all three commentaries (the new Sweet Hereafter commentary with Egoyan alone is great too), I'll highly recommend them to all. Last time I checked they were both in stock from Amazon.ca. Anywho, Egoyan is up there in my top ten, maybe top five of filmmakers who give good commentary. He's so smart and self-aware, so articulate and honest about every choice he made, every contribution from an actor or technical collaborator, every bit of serendipity that ended up contributing to the whole. It's like film school in a little blue box.

[dwk]

Mill Creek is releasing the Daimajin Trilogy on September 18

[manicsounds]

Glengarry Glen Ross coming to BD in the UK from ITV

I know the reputation this movie/play has, although I've only seen it once, and when I was 12 or so and it just didn't do much for me... I might have to give it another chance.

[mfunk9786]

It's worth a viewing as an adult - I completely love it, but even if you don't, Jack Lemmon's performance is perfection.

[flyonthewall2983]

I love it too and actually just watched it again, after years languishing away in my DVD collection. Pacino is playing Lemmon's character in an upcoming stage version in England, which sparked my attention again.

I brought this up in another thread thinking Lionsgate still has the rights but as it turns out it's owned by a company that has licensed plenty of movies to Criterion. So here's hoping CC can get their hands on it.

[Chance Hale]

The Raid: Redemption

The reviewer mentions the poor video quality being true to the source but this isn't how I remember it looking in the theaters. Does this look right to anyone else who saw it theatrically? I was shocked enough when I saw the screenshots that I checked my monitor.

[Finch]

It looks a bit softer than the theatrical print as far as I can tell. Time to cancel the pre-order until Momentum's UK disc gets reviewed.

[David M.]

Those screen shots show what looks like combined spatial + temporal noise reduction (but I'd have to see it in motion to confirm the temporal part).

Given that it's a Sony release and it's of a modern film, it's quite likely it was digitally mauled at the Digital Intermediate stage, so the comment about it looking the same way in theaters will likely be true.

[David M.]

Edit: just found out it was shot on the Panasonic AF100 - a low budget Micro 4/3rds AVC camera.

[manicsounds]

So that means Sony didn't mess up "The Raid" and that's just how it looks originally?

[David M.]

Given that it's Sony, I'd be inclined to say that it was out of their hands, yes.

If anyone saw it on a print, the various artefacts involved with that process would probably conceal the inherent faults.

[Finch]

Spike Lee tells THE PLAYLIST that he's recorded a commentary for a 25th Hour Blu-Ray:

Q.: I was at the 10th anniversary of 25th Hour, that film’s grown in stature like none of your films outside of “Do The Right Thing.” It was really overlooked at the time.
A.: You mean at Lincoln Center. Ed [Norton] was there, Philip Seymour Hoffman was there. The unfortunate thing is that the marketing of the film was based upon Academy Award Nominations, Golden Globes, when it was released at that time. Once we didn't get that...but people love that film and it's really grown in stature. In fact it went out to Blu-Ray now, I've got to approve it. That came out of nowhere. I just did that commentary.

[mfunk9786]

See: The Criterion/Buena Vista thread

[flyonthewall2983]

The synopsis for the latest Pat Metheny release has me highly curious as to something. Is it possible to have a 3D film and the 2D version on the same disc?