criterionforum.org

Posted: **Wed Dec 29, 2004 5:10 am**

I have bought five DVDs from Revok.com.
EL TOPO - full screen, decent print, genital blurring (from Jap. LD)
HOLY MOUNTAIN - widescreen, good sound, genital blurring. Also because of something in the PAL transfer, widescreen image takes up top half of screen. Still watchable though.
CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST - decent print, uncut, GREAT COVER!
VIOLATION OF THE BITCH - kind of a soft print. I think that's how the film was shot, though.
HARD TARGET (work print) - widescreen, decent image, japanese subtitles that aren't removable. I like this cut, though.

So overall, I'm happy with their product. I realize now, all I have to do is get a region-free player and buy the original imports. But they do have several items that you won't find easily. I have been told by them that they will be coming out with a disc of Mario Bava's ultra rare film RABID DOGS in the next few months. Check them out if you like.

Posted: **Wed Dec 29, 2004 6:52 pm**

I picked up John Huston's "Freud", Lang's "Rancho Notorious", Fellini's "Casanova", and the original theatrical cut of "The Bad Lieutenant".

Great quality !

Posted: **Thu Dec 30, 2004 12:52 am**

from where?

Posted: **Thu Dec 30, 2004 5:14 am**

I wouldn't mind getting the original Bad Lieutenant cut, that's with Schooly D's "Signifying Rapper," right?

Posted: **Thu Dec 30, 2004 6:34 am**

Wow, can I just say this thread and the websites linked are freaking great? And I thought Kim's was pretty fantastic! The prices could be lower, but what can you do?

What are some of the password protected offers at Super Happy Fun?? Can anyone give me an idea?

Posted: **Thu Dec 30, 2004 10:40 am**

Not wanting to publicize what I see as a good but certainly illegal thing and have it shut down by lawyers, I'll answer exte's question with a PM. Anyone else who is interested can PM me as well.

Posted: **Sun Jan 09, 2005 12:27 am**

Looks like 5minutestolive.com has discontinued selling "Samuel Beckett's Film." Does anyone have any info as to who may be going to officially release this one?

Posted: **Sun Jan 09, 2005 3:29 am**

Looks like 5minutestolive.com has discontinued selling "Samuel Beckett's Film." Does anyone have any info as to who may be going to officially release this one?

Sorry, no idea about DVD...but people in Boston can catch 'Film' at the HFA on Feb 27.

Apologies for the digression

Posted: **Sun Jan 09, 2005 6:17 pm**

To get to the password-protected films at SHF, join the yahoo group.

Posted: **Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:21 pm**

I'm thinking of buying 'Reflections Of Evil' from www.bijouflix.com

Anyone familiar with the movie (it sounds interesting) or bijouflix?

Thanks,
G30

Posted: **Wed Feb 09, 2005 11:37 am**

From my brick and mortar source I picked up the following...

1984...Edmund OBrien version
Dune...extended version
El Topo
American Hot Wax
High and the Mighty
Electra Glide In Blue
Rancho Nortorious

Posted: **Wed Feb 23, 2005 1:38 am**

I recently purchased Fellini's Casanova from SHF and I'm very pleased. It's actually a 2-disc set, with the second disc being extras. Unfortunately, the extras are in Italian with French subtitles, but it's pretty cool to have...

Posted: **Wed Feb 23, 2005 11:53 pm**

Fletch F. Fletch wrote:Revok Film Prodigies: they carry stuff like Scorsese's early student films, David Lynch oddities like On the Air and Hotel Room, John Woo's workprint of Hard Target ...

I've ordered many titles from Revok.com and am very happy with their customer support. As the import/export laws provide for an actual *legal* operation, they take themselves very seriously. I got a damaged DVD copy of Inglorious Bastards and they were excellent and curteous about sending me a replacement copy. I highly recommend them.

I had been considering getting Elvis, Necronomicon, Blood Diner and probably Crimewave, but they're ordering system wasn't back up after the New Year the last time I tried to buy something.

Posted: **Thu Feb 24, 2005 4:04 am**

Get Blast of Silence from 5minutestolive (gee, I've mentioned them a lot)- the print is simply wonderful for a bootleg.

And what a movie! A truly great film noir that shouldn't be missed by anyone!

Posted: **Thu Feb 24, 2005 2:10 pm**

DrewReiber wrote:I had been considering getting Elvis, Necronomicon, Blood Diner and probably Crimewave, but they're ordering system wasn't back up after the New Year the last time I tried to buy something.

If you get Elvis could you please let me know how the quality is? I've been thinking about getting it myself.

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2005 1:06 am**

Blood Diner- I rented this one on VHS from the local video store a while ago; gross movie, stupid and vile, but if you like that kind of humour and movie, its probably a great time.

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2005 3:20 am**

How is Night and Fog in Japan? It's the first I've heard of it...

Widely regarded as the most personal of director Nagisa Oshima's three 1960 films, Night and Fog in Japan centers around a gathering of former student activists, all of which protested the signing of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. Preferring to let go of the past, the old protestors had regrouped for a mutual friend's marriage, and maintained a peaceful atmosphere until the last of their old companions arrives and immediately begins hurling accusations. Now a fugitive, the party crasher denounces the party as a charade and claims that those in attendance betrayed their own ideals in exchange for personal security. Before long, all pretenses of a happy reunion are thrown aside, and the marriage is reduced to an all-out brawl. Oshima himself was once a student protestor, and the film served as an open display of his disappointment with Japan's left-wing political movement meant to illustrate how those who once united in hopes of making a positive chance in Japanese society have denigrated into bickering, weak-minded versions of their former selves.

Is it a coincidence or does the title have a thematic relation to the original Night and Fog, sort of like Tokyo Olympiad...?

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2005 4:25 am**

"NIght and Fog in Japan" is a fairly complex political character drama that feels more staged than anything else I have seen from Oshima. I didnt care much for it, perhaps I am ignorant and indifferent of the communist - student - worker upheaval of the era. It does have its merits: as the narrative unravels in character-linked flashbacks, relations between the players, their alliances and relative importance shift, our viewpoint, sympathies and associations confused and challenged. The stage, tight, crowded and artificially lit as it is, acts more like a trap which forces all their lurking conflicts to surface and be conffronted. placing the camera often in the middle of the ensemble not only places the viewer among both the accusers and the accused but often acts like a suffocating device: the threat of not knowing who hovers over your shoulder (you get the point...).

Ultimately, I wouldnt recommend it.

(this text was NOT spellchecked. You know who you are...
Hey, can we get that emoticon with the tongue sticking out?)

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2005 11:55 am**

From Super Happy, I ordered:

Face to Face (Bergman)
Robinson Crusoe on Mars (2.35:1 from the Criterion Laser + second disc with the commentary!)
Voyage to the End of the Universe (Ikarie XB-1 / AIP dubbed version)
The Passenger (from the Japanese letterboxed Laser / Doubt we'll see a legit DVD anywhere)
The Stranger (Been wanting to see this for YEARS)
Jean-Pierre Melville: A Portait In 9 Poses (Great, rare docu on one of my fave filmmakers)
The Conformist (Paramount are wasting my time)
Neil Young: Weld (From the Laser / I love NY)
The Reflecting Skin (this should have had a legit DVD during the LOTR hype circus)
Sole Survivor (Legendary, ultra-rare TV-movie with Bill Shatner)

From Revok, I ordered the Scorsese set. American Boy is glorious! Plus, Neil Young's "Time Fades Away" on the soundtrack!

I have ordered "Blast of Silence" from 5 Minutes. Again, I have wanted to see this all my life. Glad to hear the PQ is good.

http://www.eurofilmsltd.com/
- "Pretty Poison", "Hitler: A Film from Germany" with English subs, among others

Where can I get John Huston's, "Freud"?

Posted: **Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:29 pm**

Is the super happy fun version of "FACE TO FACE" the long TV version or the cinema release version?

Posted: **Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:21 pm**

It's the 136-minute version in Swedish with burned-in English subtitles with an overmatted 1.90:1 ratio - it should be 1.66.

It's either from an NTSC VHS tape or was made from a print. The Paramount logo precedes the film.

Great bit of Bergman, btw. This really deserves a DVD release.

Posted: **Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:48 pm**

Cinematic release version.

cool,

i really wanna see both versions!

It would be soooooo cool if Criterion would release both versions a la "Scenes From A Marriage" and "Fanny and Alexander"

Posted: **Sat Apr 30, 2005 7:58 pm**

Anyone know where I can get a copy of Rancho Notorious and The Storm Within (Les Parents Terribles)?

Posted: **Sat Apr 30, 2005 9:10 pm**

Anybody been to http://www.subcin.com/ ?

It has lot's of great films you can buy from the website master. I've been wanting to get the movie he owns of Groucho Marx smoking pot and jackie Gleason tripping on acid.

The site also has great sections for the unrealeased George Romero, Jerry Lewis, and Andy Kaufman films.

Posted: **Tue May 10, 2005 5:27 pm**

Gordon McMurphy- what did you think of Blast of Silence?

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