New Australian DVD and BD Releases

[Abulafia]

I second that question.

[Rich Malloy]

Given Madman's upcoming sale, I urgently third that request.

[Abulafia]

I guess the question is has any one actually seen the Madman Angelopoulos prints at all? There is a picture right?

[alandau]

madman is vvvvvvv slow tonight
cannot buy anything
are they for real

[alandau]

Just bought The Red Desert from Borders in Melbourne (they have many madmans on sale [2 for $40] - however not Red Desert).

The transfer is excellent (utterly blown me away). I have never seen an Antonioni (or for that matter any other film of this period) look like this.

The commentary is first-rate as well, after Rolando overcomes initial nervousness, constant, and SCENE SPECIFIC, shedding important light on the director's purposeful use of colour.

The only problem I have with this disc are the annoying yellow subtitles (which interfere with our appreciation of the vibrant colours). Will have to call Madman tomorrow and voice my concerns.

[Abulafia]

I guess the answer is no.

[marty]

I am getting really fucking pissed off with some of the local distributors. The other day I bought Umbrella's DVD of Fellini's 8 1/2 (yes, I know I should have bought the Criterion but it costs around A$80 at a local store so I opted to get Umbrella's release at A$30). I put on the DVD and it has fucking BURNT-IN SUBS that are the same ones that feature on the 35mm print. In some places, you can hardly read it. I have gone to Amazon today and ordered Criterion's version. That is the last time I buy an Umbrella/Shock DVD. The only reputable local distributors now are Accent who always produce quality DVDs and Madman (but only if they stop using those fucking yellow subs!).

[Solaris]

I mentioned burnt-in subtitles on Umbrella's 8 1/2 in the Yellow vs. White thread. The title was released back when Umbrella was distributed through Madman, not Shock.

Don't give-up on Umbrella/Shock altogether, they did release a great edition of Intervista a few months ago.

Curiously, Umbrella's 8 1/2 features a 52-minute documentary which is not included in the Criterion edition.

[Solaris]

The Miss Marple boxset is the only "classic" box set Warner have recently released down here, but these two upcoming titles are interesting:

Full Metal Jacket (HD DVD)

Full Metal Jacket (Blu-ray)

The only title of note from Fox recently is Shock Treatment, however it is only available in a 2-pack with Rocky Horror and has none of the extras from the R1 edition!

Are you confusing Cronaca di Un Amore with the local Stomp release? or is there another release exclusive to Borders?

It would be great if David, or someone else, would keep us updated with these Studio Canal titles, as not all of us can regularly visit a Borders shop.

[Solaris]

Alas.

[ChrisW]

madman is vvvvvvv slow tonight
cannot buy anything
are they for real

For those who missed out...

Hi All,

Thank you to the overwhelming number of people who shopped in Madman's recent "$10 per disc 10th Anniversary Sale"!

In fact, the response was so overwhelming that our servers struggled with the load, and as a result many people were unable to make their desired purchases.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our valued fans and customers who missed out, and as such we are offering you a brief window of opportunity to actually complete your lost orders! Just follow these steps:

1. Point your web browser to http://www.madman.com.au/birthdaySale.jsp to activate our special discount pricing

2. Shop around the site, add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout as normal

If you follow the above link and don't see our special pricing, you can activate the discount using the coupon code 'MAD10BDS' on your shopping cart page.

Discounted orders will be accepted until midnight, Thursday 9th November 2006. We expect the servers may also be quite busy during some of this time, so if you are unsuccessful, please try back later.

Please note, November new release titles and preorders are excluded from this offer. No backorders will be accepted for out of stock items. The offer only applies to Madman DVD titles (including Madman DVD box-sets.)

Any enquiries sent regarding orders or payments will be attended to from Wednesday 8th November (Tuesday is a Public Holiday in Victoria). Orders will be dispatched starting Wednesday 15th November and should be completed within 10 days from this date. If you have any further concerns, you may contact our customer service at [email protected].

Once again we apologise for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

If you are aware of any other Madman customers who missed out on the sale because of technical difficulties, please feel free to share this email with them.

Sincerely,

The Madman Team

For further information contact:
Customer Service
[email protected]
(03) 9417 0977

[LupinIX]

Personally I'm OK with yellow subs for $10. Could be purple at that price and I could live with it.

Big thanks to Madman for stepping up

Speaking of $10, if you're in the Melbourne CBD there's a discount DVD shop on the corner of Swanston & Flinders Lane that has a small "World" section down the back ("World" as opposed to ????) that is worth a regular look. Currently has the Umbrella Antoine Doinels for $10 each, also the Australian Viscontis

[Rufus T. Firefly]

February AV Channel releases include Malle's Atlantic City and several Dardennes brothers films: The Promise, The Son and The Child.

[mpippia]

If you really want to lay into Aust distributors why not savage Warner, Universal and Fox?

All three seem to be virtually insvisible in all but blockbuster releases. Warner in partcular - it's just such a given we'll never see their classic titles in R4.

The newest JB Hi-Fi catalogue in Brisbane has three Warner Box sets for sale for $49.98 each. They are advertised as an exclusive to JB.

Errol Flynn: Signature Collection (7 discs)
Doris Day Collection (6 discs)
Bette Davis Collection (5 discs)

Hopefully, they will have more in the future.

[alandau]

Has anyone on Oz got a copy of the latest madman Godard "Two or Three Things....."

[marty]

Has anyone bought Madman's R4 DVD of Ma Mere? The film is supposed to be 2.35 as stated on the DVD slick but my version is 4:3!!

[solent]

Has anyone had a chance to view the R4 LA COMMARE SECCA? Price-wise (in terms of price-conversion & shipping) it matches the Criterion R1 (whose extras don't seem to amount to much). I'm curious as to what exactly the 55-minute documentary on Bertolucci is about. Both the Pasolini docos [on the R1 MAMA ROMA & TEOREMA] are useless watch-once-only affairs (the latter is not even worth watching once actually). Does anyone have any idea what the Bertolucci doco could be?

[marty]

It's neither 2.35 nor 1.37. The disc is anamorphic 1.78. And it has an audio synch issue.

Well, now I'm confused. The DVD case says its 2.35 and then when I play it on my computer it shows it in 4:3 and now you are saying its 1.78. In any case, the images is squeezed on my computer unless there is something wrong in the setting. I will play it again tonight and see what happens. Thanks anyway.

[ChrisW]

I just checked the disc and David is correct. The DVD is correctly flagged as 16:9 anamorphic and the video has 1.78:1 aspect ratio. To be confusing, it's listed as being 2.35:1 on the cover but that's a mistake.

[alandau]

Just watched Madman's "2 or 3 things I know about her." Transfer is good, but not of the standard of Madman's The Red Desert. Nice anamorphic image, with FUCKEN yellow subtitles.

What can I say about the movie, Godard is a genius. Have not heard commentary or seen extras yet.

[JFarina]

This one just started screening in a new 35mm print from Rialto at the NY Film Forum. I plan to catch it on Friday, despite how much I hate leaving the house the day after Thanksgiving. This is enough to get me out.

Nice to hear there's a decent enough edition to add to my collection if I like it. Not that I have any doubts.

Agreed. Godard is a genius.

[seferad]

I don't know if anyone else has posted on this, but Nanni Morretti's 'Dear Diary' is to be released by the Australian label Roadshow at the end of this month.

[John Cope]

Just wanted to pass this along (I also posted this on the Angelopoulos thread). I received Eternity and a Day and Ulysses' Gaze from Madman today and after a quick perusal I have to say that they both appear to be excellent editions (with the unfortunate exception of the much hated yellow subs). Anyway, I assume the New Star DVDs are better still but on the basis of this no one need be ashamed to pick these up (I can't possibly afford to pick up all the New Star editions so I'm concentrating on getting those that are unavailable in any other decent form, like Suspended Step and Traveling Players for example). If they are ultimately also-rans they are nonetheless quite worthy in their own right.

[Solaris]

Paramount will be releasing Malle's Pretty Baby in February.
If I'm not mistaken, the R1 Paramount edition is censored.

[wbumble]

hey guys- just saw on Gary's review on dvdbeaver that The Conformist R1 is also coded for Region 4 - does anyone have a feeling that this will be released in Australia? 1900 came down here, right? (hoping....)