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PostPosted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:09 pm 
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Sorry, I didn't mean to say that Beaver is responsible for Criterion's relationship with revisionist film history, nor am I blaming Criterion for this.

But because of Criterion's inadvertent impact in North America, it's very difficult for other companies, who don't have the deep pockets of Criterion, to compete, especially when the core of the market isn't listening. And Beaver continually criticizes the non-Criterion North American companies as if this were an even playing field. Yes, Beaver wants people to go region-free, but its strong bias for this often corrupts fair judgment when reviewing discs.

It just may come down to whether or not you think Criterion takes enough risks and whether you think the risks taken by smaller companies (New Yorker, Kino, Koch Lorber, etc) outweighs their shortcomings.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:30 pm 
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justeleblanc wrote:
Yes, Beaver wants people to go region-free, but its strong bias for this often corrupts fair judgment when reviewing discs.

I'm not getting this. You can only arrive at a fair judgement if you compare a disc with other editions (if there are others) in order to find out what is technically possible with a given film or transfer. And if the BFI discs are superior it should hardly be deemed an unfair judgement if Gary points out that in that special case Zeitgeist may not have done the utmost that is possible. He does the same with Kino or with MoC releases (pointing out, for example, that the new R1 of Ford's "Shark Island" looks superior to the MoC R2). Whether these differences weigh enough for an US costumer to import the BFI discs instead of buying the Zeitgeist discs is a totally different question and is up to everybody's personal decision. Just the same as deciding to remain region-locked or not.


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:00 pm 
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Look at how Beaver slams Koch Lorber for the Joy House DVDs, and ask if that was maybe a little too harsh given the evidence. Yes, the Koch Lorber disc is inferior, but is it really the abomination Beaver says it is? That's what I mean when I say his bias gets in the way of fair criticism.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:35 am 
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Well, not every Koch Lorber release gets slammed by DVDBeaver though-- Comedy of Power was given high marks, for instance.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:09 pm 
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Irma Vep at last!


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:49 pm 
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foggy eyes wrote:

Kick-ass specs:

Quote:
SPECIAL FEATURES
- 16:9 Anamorphic transfer, available for the first time in North America
- Audio commentary: a discussion with director Olivier Assayas and critic Jean-Michel Frodon
- 30 minutes of never before seen on-set footage, plus an additional audio essay by Assayas and Frodon
- "Man Yuk: A Portrait of Maggie Cheung" (1997), a short film by Assayas
- Black-and-white rushes of Cheung as Irma Vep on Parisian rooftops
- Original French theatrical trailer
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
- 16-page booklet with essays on Maggie Cheung and Les Vampires director Louis Feuillade by Assayas, and a new appreciation by critic Kent Jones


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:00 pm 
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foggy eyes wrote:

YES!!! Wonderful news as I'd hoped it'd street late 2008 rather than anytime 2009!


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 4:44 pm 
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Glenn Kenny on Irma Vep (and Day for Night), with screen captures.


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 9:18 pm 
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Beaver on Irma Vep.

Slightly disappointed with Zeitgeist - I hoped this release would be definitive. Extras aside, I guess it boils down to interlacing vs. removable subs (which means I'll be picking up the Second Sight disc after all, thanks also to the weak £).


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 5:13 pm 
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Irma Vep arrived today. My only problem is that the audio essays have no business being put over the film and the Making of Vep extra. It would have been easier to just have it play over a still much as Criterion has done. Otherwise, I'm very happy to finally have this gem! Also, Zeitgeist provided a Z20 booklet that notes that in 2009 they'll be releasing two Philippe Garrel shorts on DVD.


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:49 pm 

Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:12 pm
I suspect the Garrel films are Le Revelateur (1968) and Le Dit de la Vierge (1968/69), the two short features that Re:Voir released on DVD recently. They would work quite well together as a set and, in any case, it will be great to have more of Garrel's work available in North America.


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:54 am 
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ptmd wrote:
I suspect the Garrel films are Le Revelateur (1968) and Le Lit de la Vierge (1968/69), the two short features that Re:Voir released on DVD recently.

Do Re:Voir actually license their transfers? It seems unlikely, and I can't recall them doing it before. It's a stretch to call Le Lit de la vierge 'short' too, so I wonder whether these could actually be new releases?


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 1:57 pm 

Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:12 pm
Re:Voir doesn't usually license their transfers, you're right, so I guess the other possibility is Athanor (1972) and Voyage au jardin des morts (1978), the two Garrel films that are classified loosely as "shorts." I'll be grateful for any of these, of course.


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:29 am 
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Careful (Remastered and Repressed)

Release Date: March 24/09

SPECIAL FEATURES
- Brand-new master, created from a new Hi-Def transfer
- New feature audio commentary by Guy Maddin and screenwriter George Toles
- Waiting for Twilight (1997, 60 mins): A vintage documentary by Noam Gonick on the early career of Maddin, narrated by Tom Waits
- Odilon Redon or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity (1995): Maddin's short film about the great French Symbolist painter
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 4:30 am 
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I'm curious about the "new" commentary by Maddin and Toles, because the original is one of my favourite DVD commentaries ever - assuming this isn't a mistake, why did they redo it?

On the other hand, that's excellent news about the new transfer, as Careful is the only disappointing one in the Maddin DVD oeuvre and clearly needed redoing - and they seem to have ported over all the extras of the Kino version and thrown in the Odilon Redon short (previously tucked away on the obscure Shorts 3: Dreams).


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 10:39 am 

Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 5:19 pm
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I just don't understand why they are going back and doing these remasters (Irma Vep, Carefull) and not taking these straight to Blu-ray...


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 10:42 am 
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mikebowes wrote:
I just don't understand why they are going back and doing these remasters (Irma Vep, Carefull) and not taking these straight to Blu-ray...


Presumably because Zeitgeist hasn't moved into Blu-ray yet, and niche-market Blu-rays almost certainly have insanely tight margins at present - which is why it's the better-heeled independents like Criterion, the BFI and Artificial Eye who have taken the plunge so far. I suspect they've done their sums and worked out that the cost of going into Blu-ray at present is too high when set against the likely returns.

Anyway, does Careful - a film shot on 16mm and replete with deliberate damage - really need Blu-ray? Criterion's Brand Upon The Brain! looked magnificent, and I really can't see how a hi-def transfer would have improved on it, given the extreme graininess of the source.


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 10:52 am 
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Anyone catch the German doc Into Great Silence (the native title is something like Grosse STille or thereabouts)? A doc about the lives and moment to moment existential fabric of monastic monks living high in the mountains. Normally receptive to this kind of stuff (i e the lack of editorialization requiring you to move in and inhabit "blankly presented" material), I found it more tiresome than watching a banana go brown and mushy. By the half hour mark I was so close to charging headfirst into the glass window nearby I hadta shut it off..


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 10:54 am 
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By the half hour mark I was asleep


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:38 pm 
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I loved every empty minute of Into Great Silence. The peace overwhelms me, as does the beauty of the setting. To each his own, I guess.


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 12:59 am 
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I haven't seen Into Great Silence yet, but Phillip Grôning's previous film, L'Amour, L'argent, L'amour is fantastic. I'm pretty sure it's a lot different, though.


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 3:45 am 
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Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:
Zeitgeist provided a Z20 booklet that notes that in 2009 they'll be releasing two Philippe Garrel shorts on DVD.
I just checked their online catalogue and the two films are not shorts but the feature length films I Can No Longer Hear The Guitar and Emergency Kisses.


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:16 am 
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I believe both come from The Front Desk, a Rialto-like distribution company that spawned out of BAM Cinematek.


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:28 pm 
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Matt mentioned this over on the NYer thread, but a question came to mind. Zeitgeist now has Fados by Carlos Saura. They mention that it's part of a trilogy, but they only have this one film. Does anyone know why they couldn't get the rights to the other two films? I'm guessing that it's a rights issue, but they could get the rights to this one somehow. I know that it's a new movie, but I was curious nontheless.


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 Post subject: Re: Zeitgeist Films
PostPosted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:31 pm 
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One of the films is Tango, which Sony owns. The other is Flamenco, which is New Yorker and which is probably tied up in the whole library auction business. Apparently, Dan Talbot paid for Fados with his own money, which is why it's not part of the assets seized by Technicolor.


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