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Apr. 1st, 2003 01:03 pmHooray for good(ish) news.
I was about to sit here and rant about various movie companies bringing out their movies on dvd in substandard editions (read: using the same print they put on videotape, with no special work done). Because of a discussion last week, I was put to the task of finding a couple of classic movies that were available on dvd at one point in time, but aren't any more. One such movie was "Animal House".
The problem with Animal House is that while they did a widescreen release of it a couple of years ago, Universal yanked it off the market with little or no fanfare. Supplies just dried up. You can find it everywhere on Ebay, as an "imported region 1 disc" (read: bootleg).
I'm kind of torn in my thoughts on bootlegs. I can't really say I have a problem with them when it looks like the material in question will never get released here. St. Seiya is an anime series that I have most of right now, in a set of questionalble legality. The thing that cheeses me off with the set is that the fuckers who put it out had the balls to put their own commercial messages in it. Battle Royale: likely it ain't ever going to see the light of day here. Shaolin Soccer: I have no problem with buying the original version of a film that Disney is going to hack up before they release it on these shores.
There are people who take laserdiscs and dupe them onto dvds because it's quite likely that those films won't be coming around any time in the next decade. "Rock & Rule" and "Starchaser: The Legend of Orin" are two good examples.
Similarly, there are those who bootleg American dvds that will likely *never* again see the light of day. Criterion lost the rights to distribute "Salo" years ago, but there seem to be tons of copies in "new, shrinkwrapped" condition on Ebay.
My biggest beef is with movies where the owners have chosen not to rerelease them. I know that Disney puts lots of things on moratorium; it's been their business plan for years. However, Pacino's "Scarface" has only been available as a boot for some time. Likewise, the aforementioned Animal House.
The good(ish) news I discovered? Animal House is supposed to be rereleased as a 25th anniversary edition this summer. Problem is that with some movies doing their prerelease announcements 6 months or more in advance (Alias season one in September! Woo!), I can't actually find any official industry statement to corroborate this... and it's not the kind of movie I think they'd try to sneak out.
Hollywood, I'd love to support you completely, but until you can put out a decent version of a dvd the first time around, I don't give a rat's ass how many bells and whistles you give it, I'll still look at bootlegs if they're better stuff... especially if they're cracked copies of editions you've already done for other regions.
I was about to sit here and rant about various movie companies bringing out their movies on dvd in substandard editions (read: using the same print they put on videotape, with no special work done). Because of a discussion last week, I was put to the task of finding a couple of classic movies that were available on dvd at one point in time, but aren't any more. One such movie was "Animal House".
The problem with Animal House is that while they did a widescreen release of it a couple of years ago, Universal yanked it off the market with little or no fanfare. Supplies just dried up. You can find it everywhere on Ebay, as an "imported region 1 disc" (read: bootleg).
I'm kind of torn in my thoughts on bootlegs. I can't really say I have a problem with them when it looks like the material in question will never get released here. St. Seiya is an anime series that I have most of right now, in a set of questionalble legality. The thing that cheeses me off with the set is that the fuckers who put it out had the balls to put their own commercial messages in it. Battle Royale: likely it ain't ever going to see the light of day here. Shaolin Soccer: I have no problem with buying the original version of a film that Disney is going to hack up before they release it on these shores.
There are people who take laserdiscs and dupe them onto dvds because it's quite likely that those films won't be coming around any time in the next decade. "Rock & Rule" and "Starchaser: The Legend of Orin" are two good examples.
Similarly, there are those who bootleg American dvds that will likely *never* again see the light of day. Criterion lost the rights to distribute "Salo" years ago, but there seem to be tons of copies in "new, shrinkwrapped" condition on Ebay.
My biggest beef is with movies where the owners have chosen not to rerelease them. I know that Disney puts lots of things on moratorium; it's been their business plan for years. However, Pacino's "Scarface" has only been available as a boot for some time. Likewise, the aforementioned Animal House.
The good(ish) news I discovered? Animal House is supposed to be rereleased as a 25th anniversary edition this summer. Problem is that with some movies doing their prerelease announcements 6 months or more in advance (Alias season one in September! Woo!), I can't actually find any official industry statement to corroborate this... and it's not the kind of movie I think they'd try to sneak out.
Hollywood, I'd love to support you completely, but until you can put out a decent version of a dvd the first time around, I don't give a rat's ass how many bells and whistles you give it, I'll still look at bootlegs if they're better stuff... especially if they're cracked copies of editions you've already done for other regions.
