Non-Criterion Boutique Home Video Discussion (Kino, Warner Archive, Arrow, Indicator, Vinegar Syndrome, Code Red, etc.)

Kino Lorber March Madness Sale: https://kinolorber.com/collection/march-madness-sale-2024

Deep Discount is doing a BOGO sale on titles from the defunct Olive Films label through Friday. Lots of vintage Hollywood genre films and oddball stuff. Not sure how many of these will get picked up by other boutiques, so this might be one of your last shots at scoring these on disc.

https://www.deepdiscount.com/deep-olive-films-bogo-sale/b233819

Got some things I pre-ordered after Xmas from Radiance today

https://i.imgur.com/PSqkP6D.jpeg

Finally, L'amour fou!

xp I'm surprised Deep Discount has so many left in stock. That company officially closed up shop last summer.

Whew, I thought you meant Deep Discount for a second. Olive, though.....ehhhhh. It's telling that I didn't even notice they were gone. They released a lot of titles I wanted to buy, but their stuff was always overpriced, and their minimal effort, bare-bones discs were always of the late-'90s 'treating an interactive menu as if it's a special feature' variety, so I'm not exactly despondent over the loss.

They might have dumped a bunch of their stock on DD, who are merely one arm of a huge online physical media retail empire (encompassing Critic's Choice Video and Collector's Choice Music amongst others).

I ended up not getting anything from that sale because almost everything I wanted was already backordered.

I buy from Deep Discount pretty regularly, as well as their CD site, import-cds.com.

Yeah, Olive was pretty disappointing. Really wish that wasn’t the case because there aren’t many boutiques and they were even based in Chicago (I passed by their office all the time the short time I lived there) but you could find most of the same titles in better quality with better presentation from UK boutiques. They did up their game with their Signature series but that should have been their baseline.

Olive walked so Kino Lorber Studio Classics could run.

Kino doesn't have their shit together either. They really need to work on their QC. They put out so much stuff, I feel like they rush them out the door without taking the time to check everything over. Their UHD's have been really hit-or-miss for that reason, like the sloppy, quasi-stereo output on the original mono soundtrack on The Manchurian Candidate (the original 1962 film, not the remake) or the massive fuck-up on The Silence of the Lambs. They usually refuse to fix these things when they're called out.

Olive walked (poorly) so Kino Lorber Studio Classics could run (also poorly).

Self-Fix

I want to get the Saul Bass giant ant sci-fi movie blu-ray but it's probably not worth buying a Blu-Ray player just for that

(were they giant? i thought they were normal size)

Them Phase IV Ants

Ha, I don’t know, the poster/cover art I’ve seen made them look huge

Regular sized ants but they make it up in volume.

spoilers, sorry

I want to get the Saul Bass giant ant sci-fi movie blu-ray but it's probably not worth buying a Blu-Ray player just for that

I dunno. I could make a case that Phase IV is the perfect reason to get a Blu-Ray player

Having got said set and watched the 4K the other day, I can confirm: yes.

Good interview with Richard Lorber as in Kino Lorber:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/kino-lorber-interview-dvds-quality-1235901130/

And speaking of — Kino now has its own streaming service a la Criterion:

https://kinofilmcollection.com/

Not outside the US it seems

We’re number one!

Criterion (and Janus Films) acquired by Steven Rales. Rales is the founder of Indian Paintbrush, a company that finances Wes Anderson's movies, among other things.

other companies that Rales owns include drug testing companies that have been accused of profiteering developing countries, lovely guy I'm sure

A decent flash sale at Arrow UK this weekend.

https://www.arrowfilms.com/spotlight-deals.list

I already have this but its half-price in the sake and its worth getting
https://www.arrowfilms.com/battles-without-honor-and-humanity-the-complete-collection-blu-ray/13167090.html

*sale

well-spotted. a couple of things on my wish list there, will probably spring for the ju-on box.

the stray cat rock and female prisoner scorpion boxes are good value at £25 each

Meantime Vinegar Syndrome has got its Halfway to Black Friday sale going

https://vinegarsyndrome.com/

Vinegar Syndrome kills me because everything they release is either "Huh, never even heard of that" or "Really? That?"

Honestly I shop their partner labels a LOT more.

I admit I gave their version of Phase IV a look, but it doesn't seem to have anything the Japanese Blu-Ray I bought a couple of years ago lacks.

Yeah I hadn't gotten that earlier one so I happily picked their version up. Well worth it! Good extras too.

An action tour-de-force from director Joseph Zito (The Prowler, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter) and one of the key films in helping establish Chuck Norris (who co-authored the screenplay with James Bruner) as an action superstar, INVASION U.S.A. was also one of the first true blockbusters from 80s genre film legends Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus’ Cannon Films. Co-starring Richard Lynch (The Sword and the Sorcerer), Melissa Prophet (Goodfellas, Casino), and Billy Drago (The Untouchables), this epic feat of non-stop stunt work and incredible action setpieces comes to 4K UHD from Vinegar Syndrome, newly restored for this release from its 35mm original camera negative and ready for retribution with a staggering supply of new and archival bonus materials.

I feel like this kind of description is sort of like trying to flip an old house after giving it nothing more than a new paint job and wood slat fencing around the perimeter of the property.

well-spotted. a couple of things on my wish list there, will probably spring for the ju-on box.

the stray cat rock and female prisoner scorpion boxes are good value at £25 each

― koogs, Friday, 24 May 2024 18:29 (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Aye, I did grab those.

HMV also have a sale on for Radiance blu-rays 2 for £22
https://hmv.com/store/film-tv/radiance-blu-ray-2-for-%C2%A322

Well I was excited that BFI had a sale on their recent blu ray set “Three Films by Yasujiro Ozu” - they’re not exactly top-tier titles but I assume it’ll go out of print rapidly like all such niche sets. Even the 80s Obayashi set from last year has doubled in price used.

Problem for me is VS raised the MSRP on everything, so even at 50% off... hard to throw $25-35 on a blind buy

i have two of those ozu titles on other bfi releases but have been wanting Tenement Gentleman for a while

(but that's not much cheaper than fopp was already selling it for)

fwiw I think an Ozu set from the BFI is going to have a larger printing than an Obayashi from Third Window

I have about a 50% hit rate through VS, science fiction and Spanish language are almost certainly worth it but the other ones I pick up are hit and miss. I'm not interested in 80s action movies though so over the past couple of years there's definitely been a lot to avoid.

glad I'm not into the stuff VS puts out cos that shit be expensive. appreciate their conservation efforts tho

Vinegar Sugar is nuts, Love to pay more for a DVD than the original budget of the movie.

Syndrome, not Sugar.

Invasion USA is a shitty pick. I kept hoping it would be something like the final J. Lee Thompson/Charles Bronson collab, the absolutely fucking insane Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1999)

Deaf Crocodile and Canadian International are killing it. The only 2 partner labels worth blind buying anything from. Dennis Bartok of Deaf Crocodile was the lead programmer of the American Cinematheque for years, and their schedules declined significantly after his departure

Phase IV is a rare disc I’ve bought twice, as the older Blu has Bass’ short films.

I was actually present when the Cinefamily in L.A. showed the original ending of Phase IV for the first time ever. The film doesn’t work without it-you literally SEE the titular fourth phase in it!

Yeah I’ve bought everything on Deaf Crocodile and supported their Kickstarters. Insanely good work.