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March 29, 2024, 07:54:16 AM

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Blu-ray Deals

Started by Chedney Honks, October 21, 2021, 07:15:21 PM

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Chedney Honks

Couple of great deals at the moment:

Eureka have their standard 2 for £25 offer but some brilliant releases in there.

https://eurekavideo.co.uk/promotions/2-for-25/

I'd recommend any of the Jackie Chan stuff, plus Mr Vampire, if you like HK movies. Daughter of the Nile and the early Hou Hsiao-Hsien set are also great. A few great King Hu films, too, especially the wonderful A Touch Of Zen. Lots of great stuff here, basically.


Meanwhile, Arrow have their annual Shocktober sale which isn't just horror, it's pretty much their whole catalogue and several other indie labels who Arrow distribute:

https://www.arrowfilms.com/shocktober-sale-2021.list

A lot of great stuff here down to a fiver, and some boxsets slashed. I don't really like Arrow very much but I suspect there's something for everyone here.

petercussing

Nice one for flagging.

I don't know what was going on in my dome piece but when i was scrolling down i genuinely read The Last Waltz as The Last Wank which was a wacky brain malfunction for all involved!Everyone cheered! Everyone. :0

mothman

Ooh. Problem I always have is, I see lots of films and think, well, ooh - but then I wonder how many times I'd watch them if I got them. I have gone for a couple, though - two of my favourite films, both of which have "The Long Good" in their names!

phantom_power

I try to only get films now that I truly love and possibly have decent extras as well. There are a lot of films in the Arrow sale that satisfy those  criteria

Chedney Honks

Quote from: mothman on October 21, 2021, 09:26:27 PM
Ooh. Problem I always have is, I see lots of films and think, well, ooh - but then I wonder how many times I'd watch them if I got them. I have gone for a couple, though - two of my favourite films, both of which have "The Long Good" in their names!

Quote from: phantom_power on October 22, 2021, 07:15:14 AM
I try to only get films now that I truly love and possibly have decent extras as well. There are a lot of films in the Arrow sale that satisfy those  criteria

Glad the links were useful.

Funnily enough, I blind buy probably 80% or so and I only keep what I love or what I find intriguing. It's more exciting to me to watch, say, Johnny Guitar or Duel to the Death (two recent Eureka releases that I'd never seen) than to upgrade American Werewolf to 4K or whatever, but I do eventually try to track down the best versions of my favourites. I tend to explore a director or performer (such as the Jackie Chan stuff on Eureka and 88 Films) and then trim down to the top tier and move the rest on. Essentially, will I watch it again and will my appreciation and enjoyment grow over time? That's the criteria for me. I'm not into collecting, I'm into films.

I probably sell on about half of what I buy and on balance, I'm probably about even on that half. I look after stuff, I'm a good seller, everything I move on is Like New. If you pick up 2 for £16 or a half-price boxset in the Arrow sale, you can break even on eBay. Likewise, I will tend to get the limited pressings I'm interested in through Eureka and 88 and they sell out within a month or two. If I'm not that keen, I'll move them on for what I paid. I could hang on for another six months and quadruple my money or whatever but I don't like the idea. It's just about experiencing a wide range of films for me.

4K Blu-rays are often on sale and I probably sell 90%. You regularly see 3 for £30 or 2 for £25 so and you can get back what you paid. They also tend to be very mainstream movies so plenty of interest and plenty of people happy with a second hand cheaper copy. I also tend to preorder and import from Amazon US because it's often much cheaper than the UK release, even with shipping. Something like Transformers The Movie 4K steelbook cost me less than the regular version through Amazon UK. If I I want my money back, I'll break even.

Anyway, that's my approach to buying films.

Egyptian Feast

Quote from: Chedney Honks on October 21, 2021, 07:15:21 PM
Meanwhile, Arrow have their annual Shocktober sale which isn't just horror, it's pretty much their whole catalogue and several other indie labels who Arrow distribute:

https://www.arrowfilms.com/shocktober-sale-2021.list

This has bankrupted me, cheers.

greenman

I big advantage I find these day though is my judgement of my own taste tends to be very good, I spose both due to experience and having places like CaB were you can pickup on people with similar tastes recommendations. Honestly can't remember the last time I bought something that I really didnt like at all, for films I havent seen it depends to be between decent and great.

Streaming does help to try stuff outside my normal recommendation or simply something I strongly suspect I'll only ever watch once.

petercussing

Quote from: Egyptian Feast on October 22, 2021, 12:02:43 PM
This has bankrupted me, cheers.

I felt restrained that i did 80£ worth of films, which i'd paired down from 150. Too much nice!

Egyptian Feast

Quote from: petercussing on October 22, 2021, 06:00:25 PM
I felt restrained that i did 80£ worth of films, which i'd paired down from 150. Too much nice!

Ouch, it must've hurt whittling it down by half. I 'only' blew just over £50, but I'd already bought a few of their Argento blus the previous day on another site under the influence of the 4K Suspiria and other substances. Got a pretty good haul, so it'll be well worth a week of scrimping - Blood and Black Lace, The Long Good Friday, La Grande Bouffe, the Out 1 box set and a double vinyl giallo soundtrack (Death Smiles On A Murderer).

The only one I haven't seen already is Out 1, which I've always been intrigued by, so couldn't resist the bargain. I haven't seen a Rivette film before, should I watch something else by him first or just dive into all 13 hours of this?

phantom_power

Holy Crap. I saw that Cohen &Tate is one of the films on the Arrow deal and it is directed by Eric Red, who wrote two of my favourite 80s films, The Hitcher and Near Dark. I checked on Wikipedia to see what he had been up to since. Big mistake:

"Following a car accident, Red crashed his truck into a crowded bar in Los Angeles on May 31, 2000, resulting in the deaths of two patrons. After the incident, Red apparently exited his vehicle and attempted suicide by slitting his own throat with a piece of broken glass.[6] Red survived the incident, was taken to the hospital under an alias and was released weeks later. No criminal charges were brought against Red, but a jury in a civil suit awarded monetary damages to the families of the victims. The suit, which awarded over a million dollars to the families of the two men killed in the accident, was appealed to state and federal courts, which confirmed the original jury finding"

Herbert Ashe

Quote from: Egyptian Feast on October 22, 2021, 06:38:59 PMThe only one I haven't seen already is Out 1, which I've always been intrigued by, so couldn't resist the bargain. I haven't seen a Rivette film before, should I watch something else by him first or just dive into all 13 hours of this?

I'm a Rivette nut so YMMV etc, but I don't see the harm in diving straight in. It's structured as a serial/TV mini-series anyway so it's quite well suited to watching over a few days. Definitely think it's best to see the full version before Out 1: Spectre. Although it's a quite radical restructuring of the material and works in it's own right, I think it gains piquancy from knowing the longer version; also if you care about spoileryness, there are a few plot points I reckon it's much better to encounter for the first time in the long version.

I think the best other film to lead into with it would be Pont du Nord (1981), which is only 2 hours is one of his periodic returns to some Out 1-ish themes. In the Arrow boxset, Duelle and Noroit cover quite different ground, whilst Merry-Go-Round is one of his weakest films.


Chedney Honks

I miss Arrow Academy, shame they folded that into the regular Arrow Video releases, ie. killed it.

Egyptian Feast

Quote from: Herbert Ashe on October 22, 2021, 08:10:04 PM
I'm a Rivette nut so YMMV etc, but I don't see the harm in diving straight in. It's structured as a serial/TV mini-series anyway so it's quite well suited to watching over a few days. Definitely think it's best to see the full version before Out 1: Spectre. Although it's a quite radical restructuring of the material and works in it's own right, I think it gains piquancy from knowing the longer version; also if you care about spoileryness, there are a few plot points I reckon it's much better to encounter for the first time in the long version.

Cheers for the advice. I might not have bothered with Spectre, but I'll definitely watch both now.

greenman

Quote from: Chedney Honks on October 22, 2021, 08:24:50 PM
I miss Arrow Academy, shame they folded that into the regular Arrow Video releases, ie. killed it.

Is that official now? you could see it coming for awhile I spose as there has been a growing tendency to put out stuff on the Video label that was a bit inbetween for awhile.

Probably just a case that the main label was more successful as the logo better known.

Chedney Honks

Quote from: greenman on October 22, 2021, 11:41:35 PM
Is that official now?

Yeah, I think they formalised it about six months ago. They said they were merging it with the regular Arrow label and that the Academy-type releases would continue under there but you'd be hard pressed to identify one single film since that fits the criteria. They repressed some previously released Fassbinder but that doesn't really count. Fortunately, they still distribute Third Window and Second Run but I've pretty much got what I want from them at this point.

The simple fact seems to be that arthouse films don't sell as well as genre stuff. The audience is smaller and they don't have the same collector's mentality as slasher fans, kung fu fans, etc. I suppose Criterion can support arthouse cinema better because they have a dedicated audience who will buy anything CC, especially in the States.

I basically just wish for more releases like the Borowczyk, Imamura, Jia Zhang Ke, Rohmer, Kieslowski and Jissoji sets. There's a lot of the individual films which don't appeal but they put out some great boxsets which I bought blind and loved. I'm not sure where else those kinds of releases are coming from.

greenman

Quote from: Chedney Honks on October 23, 2021, 05:54:53 AM
Yeah, I think they formalised it about six months ago. They said they were merging it with the regular Arrow label and that the Academy-type releases would continue under there but you'd be hard pressed to identify one single film since that fits the criteria. They repressed some previously released Fassbinder but that doesn't really count. Fortunately, they still distribute Third Window and Second Run but I've pretty much got what I want from them at this point.

The simple fact seems to be that arthouse films don't sell as well as genre stuff. The audience is smaller and they don't have the same collector's mentality as slasher fans, kung fu fans, etc. I suppose Criterion can support arthouse cinema better because they have a dedicated audience who will buy anything CC, especially in the States.

I basically just wish for more releases like the Borowczyk, Imamura, Jia Zhang Ke, Rohmer, Kieslowski and Jissoji sets. There's a lot of the individual films which don't appeal but they put out some great boxsets which I bought blind and loved. I'm not sure where else those kinds of releases are coming from.

Although you've had box sets for Fassbinder and Assayas put out on the video label and previously they would likely be academy, I spose maybe some slightly pulpy elements to those films amd maybe someone like Kieslowski may still get an Academy release.

Speaking of him I'm hoping Arrow get the rights to more of his stuff as the Three Colours films and Veronique are coming out on UHD in France but without english subtitles, Artfical Eye currently have them but they seem to be putting otu very few physical releases anymore although I spose they did put otut he UHD for Parasite.

Indicator sale just started as well.....

https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/collections/sale

Chedney Honks

I forgot they re-released Assayas, as well. I wonder whether that's the route they'll go down, just repress some of the bigger sellers from the Academy line and stick the Video label on them.

Kieslowski is a good call. I think the boxset might be going OOP (or at least OOS) because I've seen it sold out in a few places over the last six months. I can well imagine them repressing that, but hopefully alongside some new releases. I've not seen Three Colours for almost twenty years but I have fond memories. It's a shame about the lack of English subs, I understand it's the same with the 4K European releases of In The Mood For Love. I can get by with French and German but it's less enjoyable to watch a film when you spend time figuring out the dialogue. It becomes more of an exercise.

Artificial Eye is a funny one, isn't it? I've got some great releases by them but they seem to have virtually abandoned the market. Edit: Just looked and they seem to be pushing their streaming services much more. Probably sensible albeit it's a shame.

greenman

Quote from: Chedney Honks on October 23, 2021, 07:50:02 AM
I forgot they re-released Assayas, as well. I wonder whether that's the route they'll go down, just repress some of the bigger sellers from the Academy line and stick the Video label on them.

Kieslowski is a good call. I think the boxset might be going OOP (or at least OOS) because I've seen it sold out in a few places over the last six months. I can well imagine them repressing that, but hopefully alongside some new releases. I've not seen Three Colours for almost twenty years but I have fond memories. It's a shame about the lack of English subs, I understand it's the same with the 4K European releases of In The Mood For Love. I can get by with French and German but it's less enjoyable to watch a film when you spend time figuring out the dialogue. It becomes more of an exercise.

Artificial Eye is a funny one, isn't it? I've got some great releases by them but they seem to have virtually abandoned the market. Edit: Just looked and they seem to be pushing their streaming services much more. Probably sensible albeit it's a shame.

The lack of english subs does I think suggest that we might be getting another UHD release of the Kieslowski films, basically limiting the export market so its more worthwhile releasing it somewhere else, either that on French distain for the English audience is reaching record levels.

I wouldn't say its that supprising Artificial Eye are doing fewer releases, really it seems like they jumped the wrong direction looking for cheaper more basic releases(they ended up releasing a lot of stuff on DVD in the last few years) when the market for physical media has gone in the other direction, charging more of a prenium for better quality releases. I did used to get quite a lot of stuff from them cheap on those HMV multi buys because it was so cheap and it was good for taking a few risks for films I wasnt sure on but that kind of viewing has switched more to streaming now.

I would get in early with the Indicator sale if your looking at buying anything, some stuff does tend to go out of stock during and they end up with a big backlog during the sale so if you leave it late you might be waiting 2-3 weeks for an order.

Chedney Honks

I didn't know that about Artificial Eye, seems like an unfortunate/poorly judged gamble there.

Good call on the Indicator sale, I forgot to say cheers for posting the link. I think it's a great label in terms of the quality and care but I've pretty much got everything I'm interested in from them at this point. The Ford, Dietrich and Harryhausen sets are brilliant, I love Body Double and Night of the Demon, but I've also moved on quite a few other bits and bobs. I wish I'd gone for the Hammer stuff earlier on but not willing to pay eBay prices for them now.

petercussing

Quote from: greenman on October 23, 2021, 07:16:32 AM

Indicator sale just started as well.....

https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/collections/sale

Oooh, cheers, too. I kopped body double (£7???!?!?!?!?!?!?), which i love too, and The beast must cark it, which looks like a really nice release, to add to my wanton spree.

greenman

That version of Body Double does look excellent as well, 4K remastering.

phantom_power

Tempted by Crime Wave. Shame there will never be a Director's Cut. It would be really interesting to see it would look like before all the studio interference

greenman

Yeah went with that myself, first time they've had it relatively cheap.

Those two films Refn helped remaster, Spring Night Sumer Night and Night Tide both I think worth checking out as well, the formers plot seems exploitionish but really its more a low fi drama and both are really well shot and remastered. If you like stuff like Carnival of Souls or Night of the Living Dead then you might well enjoy them.

the science eel

Ordered Charley Varrick and The Lady From Shanghai from the Indicator sale - 7 quid apiece. Thanks for the link.

I'm wondering about Night Tide too, maybe The Last Movie and The Passenger. No doubt I'll be back.

mothman

I was tempted to get The Visitor just for its sheer bonkersishness. And to think the first time I saw it, it was on network TV.

greenman

#25
Quote from: the science eel on October 23, 2021, 11:21:28 AM
Ordered Charley Varrick and The Lady From Shanghai from the Indicator sale - 7 quid apiece. Thanks for the link.

I'm wondering about Night Tide too, maybe The Last Movie and The Passenger. No doubt I'll be back.

Night Tide really is quite an odd mix, the story itself you could say is quite cheap and cheesey supernatural horror about pier front mermaids  but a lot of it is filmed very artfully(and looks very good on this disk as well) and Hopper plays it like a naturalistic new wave film which I think works really well having a normal person thrust into that setting.

There is a bit of a mix with quality on indicator, some of the stuff like that are very recent high quality remasters, others use older sources.

AngryGazelle

Grabbed JSA and Oldboy for £20 quid on blu ray. Thanks for the heads-up

holyzombiejesus

Quote from: greenman on October 23, 2021, 07:16:32 AM

Indicator sale just started as well.....

https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/collections/sale

Very tempted by the first two Columbia Noir box sets they have for £30 each but can't really tell if the films included are that good. I do like the idea of spending winter working my way through them.

petercussing

I feel slightly rueful about buying so many films now i've got them all but i'm sure that'll go once i've viewed them up.

I did watch Phantom of that there Paradise last night for the first time as i'm on a De Palma kick after ignoring him for some time and enjoyed it very much, it's all nuts and stylish and it was nice to see the Paul Williams acting it up whilst probably thinking of songs for Bugsy Malone in the back of his mind.

joaquin closet

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on October 30, 2021, 11:58:49 AM
Very tempted by the first two Columbia Noir box sets they have for £30 each but can't really tell if the films included are that good. I do like the idea of spending winter working my way through them.

From box set one:

The Garment Jungle, Drive a Crooked Road and The Lineup all good/great.

Escape In The Fog and 5 Against The House not very good, although didn't regret watching.

Can't remember the first thing about The Undercover Man.