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domino harvey wrote:Another film already available on MOC, hooray! \:D/

Since it's region coded it shouldn't be a bother. When they start wasting their time on stuff MOC, BFI, ect. have R0 it would be the time to bitch. Afterall no one was complaining when MOC released For All Mankind/ M.

domino harvey wrote:Another film already available on MOC, hooray! \:D/

MOC isn't going to put out a 35mm print here in the US. Janus probably will. So ... \:D

domino harvey wrote:Another film already available on MOC, hooray! \:D/

Another film available for the first time in Region 1, hooray! \:D/


this is a seriously weak complaint DH....the two companies serve separate CONTINENTS....overlap is to be expected. Just because you happen to be one of the 183 people on earth who buy dvds from all over the world matters not to the vast majority who are constrained by the expense required to buy from overseas (including, or perhaps especially, equipment). So lots and lots of people will be ecstatic at this release, including many who don't even know MOC exist...you know, because they aren't European.

I doubt there are many people who buy Criterion discs who aren't aware of who Masters of Cinema are.

I should have recognized the Japanese title but just saw Black Cat written on the reel, which I had never heard of. This is not one of the MoC's I own (obviously), so I suppose I'll buy the Criterion when it's released. I liked Onibaba well enough. Maybe they'll release Onibaba on blu at the same time. (upgraded with the MoC director's commentary and a few other assorted new goodies?)

I bought Criterions for years before coming here and hearing about MoC. Was gutted when I found out they were a British company, but then I bought a region-free player and all was well. \:D/

HistoryProf wrote:

domino harvey wrote:Another film already available on MOC, hooray! \:D/

Another film available for the first time in Region 1, hooray! \:D/


this is a seriously weak complaint DH....the two companies serve separate CONTINENTS....overlap is to be expected. Just because you happen to be one of the 183 people on earth who buy dvds from all over the world matters not to the vast majority who are constrained by the expense required to buy from overseas (including, or perhaps especially, equipment). So lots and lots of people will be ecstatic at this release, including many who don't even know MOC exist...you know, because they aren't European.

Not that I really want to get into this, but:
--It's not expensive to export DVDs from the UK
--Have you tried Googling your existing DVDPlayer to see if it can be made region-free?
--A region-free player can be had for under $40
--Before you go "But but but that's an expense!!!!" many DVDs are cheaper in R2, thus saving you money
--Plus nice films unavailable in R1 are now available to you
--And then you can see movies you like
--And you know what that makes everyone?
--A winner

ianungstad wrote:I doubt there are many people who buy Criterion discs who aren't aware of who Masters of Cinema are.

I don't know about buyers, but I can assure you, 99% of people who rent Criterions (and even seek out the company's titles regularly) don't even know what DVD regions are or mean. I imagine the percentage is lower among regular buyers, but even then...

It's great for everyone who isn't us that this is coming out

Pretty much. The way I look at it is that an American release of any movie will increase the knowledge of it in America. Just look at what the criterion release of Pierre Le Fou did for that title. Even in a worse case scenario criterion's managed to save you twenty bucks.
Avoiding that piece of karma there are other advantages to have multiple area releases of a title. For example I have no clue if I would like this title and with me disliking Onibaba a great deal, it doesn't even manage fun bad, I have even more reason to be suspicious. A criterion release would allow me to rent it to see if I'd even be interested in the title enough to buy it.
Another advantage, especially in this day and age, it should be a priority to have as many good editions of a film out there in case one edition gets yanked. Just look at the Spain safe haven now that Paramount has killed off their classics.

Kuroneko in 1080p would pique my interest, otherwise the MoC disc will do just nicely.

The vast majority of MoC discs are region free anyway, so there wasn't a reason for buying a region-free player, unless your previous one couldn't handle PAL content.

I just hate having such a gargantuan kevyip and finding film after film which have been sitting in there getting released again in Blu, such as Kuroneko! Maybe I should stop being such a wimp and try selling these examples.

Amen to that ... I remember buying the Criterion Red Shoes and Black Narcissus DVDs and thinking, well, I'll have those for posterity now. And instead they'll get resold unseen. But I've learned my lesson: I'm not buying the Blus until I am actually ready to watch the movies again.

knives wrote:The way I look at it is that an American release of any movie will increase the knowledge of it in America. Just look at what the criterion release of Pierre Le Fou did for that title.

Taught people that the title of the film was Pierre Le Fou?

swo17 wrote:

knives wrote:The way I look at it is that an American release of any movie will increase the knowledge of it in America. Just look at what the criterion release of Pierre Le Fou did for that title.

Taught people that the title of the film was Pierre Le Fou?

#-o

As for the Criterion / MOC overlap thing, that's been hashed out ad nauseum, but one thing that's changed lately is my assumption that I could rent anything that comes out in R1 for $2, but would have to pay the purchase price for imports from overseas. Now that the rental stores are mostly gone and Netflix is increasingly unreliable, I'm looking at a future where I might have to buy just about everything ... so I guess my only reason for being happy about CC repeating something from R2 has evaporated.

Your local library branch should be excellent with rentals. I don't even need netflix because they seem to have everything within two months of release.

swo17 wrote:

knives wrote:The way I look at it is that an American release of any movie will increase the knowledge of it in America. Just look at what the criterion release of Pierre Le Fou did for that title.

Taught people that the title of the film was Pierre Le Fou?

Spare a dead man a typo, I had just finished Satantango without break. 8-[

HistoryProf wrote: Just because you happen to be one of the 183 people on earth who buy dvds from all over the world matters not to the vast majority who are constrained by the expense required to buy from overseas (including, or perhaps especially, equipment).

Dude, not to sound like a broken record, but like Domino basically said, you may not realize how much cheaper Amazon.uk DVDs can be. They likely have hundreds of DVDS that are $10-15 cheaper than their American counterparts even if you include shipping.

Yes, you're in the happy position that us Britons were in about 2006-08, when the exchange rate was two US dollars to the pound. Now it's just $1.50:£1 or thereabouts, so make the most of it.

Yes, anything could happen with the economy in the near future, I'm afraid.

Is the argument for going region free *STILL* having to be made? Good grief. Also, yeah you're going to get some overlap and it's pointless moaning, but it's also perfectly fair to register your ambivalence about it. Just because overlap is a fact of life doesn't mean I have to throw a party every time some DVD I already have gets an R1 release, and I don't need a lecture about why I should pretend to be excited just because some people haven't figured out "Google" yet.

Numero Trois wrote:

HistoryProf wrote: Just because you happen to be one of the 183 people on earth who buy dvds from all over the world matters not to the vast majority who are constrained by the expense required to buy from overseas (including, or perhaps especially, equipment).

Dude, not to sound like a broken record, but like Domino basically said, you may not realize how much cheaper Amazon.uk DVDs can be. They likely have hundreds of DVDS that are $10-15 cheaper than their American counterparts even if you include shipping.

the rental part is a huge factor though. I simply can't afford to buy anywhere near close to everything I want to. netflix is a godsend in that respect, but I can hardly rent foreign releases, so seeing them released here and there is something I'm all for. But I also realize i'm the minority in this opinion on this forum...but that doesn't make it any less valid, as i'm not anywhere else. I just think people take region-free for granted here and expect that everyone buys from everywhere...but for me it's just not feasible. Someday I hope it is, but it won't be anytime soon. and the simple reason is that if I opened myself to other regions, my already ridiculously long wishlist would become overwhelming.

oh, and for the record, I have tried to hack my Samsung BD player but none of the codes I can find on-line worked on mine. I do have a few Region 2 discs that I can't play PAL stuff also won't play on my system (Samsung BDP1500 and Panny Viera LCD). So it's not that I haven't tried...

knives wrote:

domino harvey wrote:Another film already available on MOC, hooray! \:D/

Since it's region coded it shouldn't be a bother. When they start wasting their time on stuff MOC, BFI, ect. have R0 it would be the time to bitch. Afterall no one was complaining when MOC released For All Mankind/ M.

There tends to be a reluctance to make petty complaints or seem ungrateful when you know your comments will be read by the people who put these things out.

Anyway, the MoC release of Kuroneko is decent, but there's certainly a lot of room for improvement.

med wrote:There tends to be a reluctance to make petty complaints or seem ungrateful when you know your comments will be read by the people who put these things out.

Oh, believe me, there are loads of petty complaints!

Not least via PM, though I generally ignore those.