Looks like I’m purchasing my new flat-screen just in time! Also, for those who are interested, Sa-kwa, starring Moon So-ri and Kim Tae-woo, is also up for preorder. This picture was very-well received by critics, but when I watched it at the theater here, I wasn’t impressed at all with the acting or the photography.
Todd has been talking up Song Il-gon’s The Magicians for a few years now, and according to KFCC, a DVD is finally in the works and scheduled for a release this spring. More good news: Song is preparing some of his earlier shorts for inclusion in the DVD.
I took the plunge and ordered The President’s Last Bang from Amazon.co.uk, any reviews on the quality of this disc yet? Third Window have yet to get a glowing review on any of their releases, and I’m wondering if I should keep my R1 disc as well.
I took the plunge and ordered The President’s Last Bang from Amazon.co.uk, any reviews on the quality of this disc yet? Third Window have yet to get a glowing review on any of their releases, and I’m wondering if I should keep my R1 disc as well.
Zombeaner, I just got the DVD this afternoon. I don’t have my Korean edition with me here to compare it to, but I’ll pop it in the player this evening and let you know how it looks.
I watched Third Window release of The President’s Last Bang last night, and I didn’t notice any of the ghosting or combing that are associated with some standards conversions from NTSC to PAL. The image is clean, with no dust specks or scratches, and there was no discernable aliasing, digital artifacts, or edge enhancement. I vaguely remember what the film looked like when it screened at the Detroit Film Theatre, but when I when I watched the R3 DVD on my 32” CRT SD set in the States a few years back, I do recall the video looking sharper and contrastier than on the big screen. I viewed the Third Windows R2 DVD on a 40” HD LCD TV, and the image had good color and contrast, if a tad on the soft side. The removable white subtitles had few if any grammatical errors, and appear to be identical to those found on the Korean release. The only extra feature is an interview with director Im Sang-soo. Unfortunately, the picture is fuzzy and the sound is even worse. And the subtitles on the interview are ridiculously bad. Im discusses the film’s legal issues, it’s initial reception, and various other topics, all of which will be of interest to viewers. Oh, and the final few minutes of restored newsreel footage of Park Chung-hee’s funeral are amazing. However, I don’t recollect seeing the formerly deleted scenes of demonstrations that open the film—I’ll have to watch it again this evening! :(
UPDATE: One reviewer at another site reviewing the UK version (he gave it a 4/10!), when stopping the the film to make screen shots, claims that it is a poorly interlaced transfer with weak blacks, combing artifacts, and lacking in detail. OK, I usually sit around 7-10 ft. from the screen, and I never paused the film to make screen shots, but I’m posting this in case a picky videophile comes back to haunt me… In any case, the image doesn’t have the contrast and sharpness I recall seeing in the R3 disc.
I don’t feel at this point that Third Window are overly concerned with transfers, more a case of just looking to secure some goodies from the east that Tartan and the likes wouldn’t bother touching. Although I’ve seen most of their catalogue I’m pretty pleased to see films like Sakuran make it over here so fast. As far as I’m aware their Turtles Swim Surprisingly Fast disc is the first release that’s been english friendly so I tip my hat to their efforts and low prices online.
Re: Third Windows uncut The President’s Last Bang, I guess I was expecting the opening sequence of demonstrations to be live footage, but it turns out to be B&W stills accompanied by a voice-over. When I watched this again, I thought I was just going to check out the transfer and the cut scenes, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen, and I ended up sitting through the entire film. The tracking shots just prior to and after the assassination are phenomenal.
One of the highlights of the Cinema 16: European Short Films collection was El sedcleto de la tlompeta by Javier Fesser, one of the funniest shorts I’ve ever seen. So I was delighted to learn that a DVD of his third feature film, Camino (2008), is slated for release next month. The Spanish websites list only Catalan subtitles, so it’s a long-shot that there’ll be English subs as well. Here’s hoping for an English-friendly release sometime in the near future.
I’ll come right out and say I disliked Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain, but I’ll give the guy one more chance when I watch The Wrestler at the theater this weekend. The film will come out on DVD and Blu-ray in the States on April 21st.
I see that Artificial Eye has just released Sorrentino’s “Il Divo” over the weekend, so I’d expect a beautiful-looking DVD from the UK by the fall. Am I mistaken, or does Artificial Eye not have any Blu rays in their portfolio? I’m guessing I’ll have a Blu ray player by then…
