The Official Oscilloscope Laboratories Thread

[kndy]

The following thread is focused on Blu-ray releases from Oscilloscope Laboratories and also discussion of any Blu-ray and DVD releases from the company.



What is Oscilloscope Laboratories?

Adam Yauch (MCA of the Beastie Boys) founded Oscilloscope Laboratories, a NYC-based recording studio, film production and distribution company, and post-production facility. Yauch is a big cinema fan, Criterion Collection fan and he's bringing his love to cinema through Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Current catalog can be viewed here.



The following are films available from Oscilloscope Laboratories. (note: Releases highlighted in Blu, indicate releases available on Blu-ray):

OSC-001: Gunnin' For that #1 Spot - Dir. Adam Yauch (USA)
OSC-002: FLOW - Dir. Irena Salina (FRANCE)
OSC-003: Dear Zachary - Dir. Kurt Kuenne (USA)
OSC-004: Wendy & Lucy - Dir. Kelly Reichardt (USA)
OSC-005: FRONTRUNNERS - Dir. Caroline Suh (USA)
OSC-006: Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie - Dir. Jane Delaney (USA)
OSC-007: Treeless Mountain - Dr. So Yong Kim (KOREA)
OSC-008: Scott Walker: 30 Century Man - Dir. Stephen Kijak (USA)
OSC-009: Kisses - Dir. Lance Daly
OSC-010: The Garden - Dir. Scott Hamilton Kennedy (USA)
OSC-011: The Law - Dir. Jules Dassin (USA)
OSC-012: Burma VJ - Dir. Anders Østergaard (DENMARK)
OSC-013: Unmistaken Child - Dir. Nati Baratz (ISRAEL)
OSC-014: The Paranoids - Dir. Gabriel Medina (ARGENTINA)
OSC-015: No Impact Man - Dir. Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein (USA)
OSC-016: The Thorn in the Heart (L'Epine dans le Coeur) - Dir. Michel Gondry (FRANCE)
OSC-017: Terribly Happy (Frygtelig lykkelig) - Dir. Henrik Ruben Genz (DENMARK)
OSC-018: The Messenger - Dir. Oren Moverman (USA)
OSC-019: Beautiful Losers - Dir. Aaron Rose (USA)
OSC-020: Youssou N'Dour: I Bright What I Love - Dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
OSC-021: The Maid - Sebastián Silva (CHILE)
OSC-022: Tell Them Anything You Want - Dir. Lance Bangs & Spike Jonze (USA)
OSC-023: The Exploding Girl - Dir. Bradley Rust Gray (USA)
OSC-024: Bananas! - Dir. Fredrik Gertten (SWEDEN)
OSC-025: A Film Unfinished - Dir. Yael Hersonski
OSC-026: Howl - Dir. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Freidman (USA)
OSC-027: William S. Burroughs: A Man Within - Dir. Yony Leyser
OSC-028: I Knew It Was You - Dir. Richard Shepard



Also, check out these others threads on Blu-ray.com:

For cinemaphiles all over the world who enjoy great films, I also recommend checking out the following threads on Blu-ray.com:

- BFI Thread
- Criterion Collection Discussion Thread
- Official Golden Age of Hollywood Thread
- Masters of Cinema (MoC) Thread
- Official Anime on Blu-ray Thread
- Official Palisades Tartan Thread
- Silent Film Thread
- The Official Sony Pictures Classics Thread
- StudioCanal Collection Thread

[McCrutchy]

The Jules Dassin film La loi (The Law), release 011, is not available though?

[Alkaline]

I have a very hard time picturing Adam Yauch as a serious cinephile, for various reasons, but I'll roll with it. Had heard of Oscilloscope but didn't realize he's the mastermind.

[rockyoumonkeys]

The only thing I have to contribute here is that the packaging for The Messenger is awful.

[pro-bassoonist]

La loi is a fantastic little gem, so hopefully it does appear on BD/DVD. There is a strong Italian SDVD release of it.

Pro-B

[kndy]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

The Jules Dassin film La loi (The Law), release 011, is not available though?

Hey McCruthy, looks like I forgot to add a few. (Fixed)

Originally Posted by Alkaline

I have a very hard time picturing Adam Yauch as a serious cinephile, for various reasons, but I'll roll with it. Had heard of Oscilloscope but didn't realize he's the mastermind.

I think there are people who are shocked when they found out that the Beastie Boys received a Criterion Collection release (#100). But here are Yauch's top 10 Criterion releases. Interesting comment from Yauch: "Sometimes I get free DVDs from Criterion, but not always. I wanted to get one of each, you know, like the whole collection, but they said, “No, Adam, we don’t do that."

And the comment from Criterion in regards to Yauch starting his own company:

Adam Yauch is a founding member of the Beastie Boys. Recently he created a new division of his company Oscilloscope Laboratories called Oscilloscope Pictures (oscilloscopepictures.com) for the sole purpose of distributing films. He even hired two guys from ThinkFilm to come over to his new company. At first we were a little concerned that Adam intended to compete with Criterion, but then we thought it over and, honestly, we have been doing this for a long time and are not threatened by Adam’s new company. The groundbreaking DVD The Beastie Boys Video Anthology is currently available from the Criterion Collection. So right there that proves we have the upper hand.

[kndy]

For those who want to try the films out before purchasing them, Joshua has sent me an update of the list with the streaming netflix links:

OSC-003: Dear Zachary – Dir. Kurt Kuenne (USA) http://ow.ly/2l8Nj

OSC-004: Wendy & Lucy – Dir. Kelly Reichardt (USA) http://ow.ly/2l8QF

OSC-005: FRONTRUNNERS – Dir. Caroline Suh (USA)
 http://ow.ly/2l8Rb
OSC-006: Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie – Dir. Jay Delaney (USA) http://ow.ly/2l8SN

OSC-007: Treeless Mountain – Dr. So Yong Kim (KOREA)
 http://ow.ly/2l8UE
OSC-008: Scott Walker: 30 Century Man – Dir. Stephen Kijak (USA)
 http://ow.ly/2l8Vm
OSC-010: The Garden – Dir. Scott Hamilton Kennedy (USA)
 http://ow.ly/2l8W9
OSC-013: Unmistaken Child – Dir. Nati Baratz (ISRAEL)
 http://ow.ly/2l8X0
OSC-015: No Impact Man – Dir. Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein (USA)
 http://ow.ly/2l8XO
OSC-017: Terribly Happy (Frygtelig lykkelig) – Dir. Henrik Ruben Genz (DENMARK)
 http://ow.ly/2l8Z2
OSC-018: The Messenger – Dir. Oren Moverman (USA)
 http://ow.ly/2l90r
OSC-019: Beautiful Losers – Dir. Aaron Rose (USA) http://ow.ly/2l90X

OSC-020: Youssou N’Dour: I Bright What I Love – Dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
 http://ow.ly/2l92M
OSC-021: The Maid – Sebastián Silva (CHILE)
 http://ow.ly/2l93I

[RainPlex]

Just picked up The Messenger. Great flick! I was also impressed with OLabs packaging. I'm definitely going to subscribe to their Circle Of Trust program.

[pro-bassoonist]

Take a look at their Burma VJ - Dir. Anders Østergaard (DENMARK):

http://www.amazon.com/Burma-VJ-Repor...1130647&sr=1-1

Very strong documentary with an excellent, unique packaging. DVD only.

Pro-B

[manicsounds]

Extras for "The Law":

Disc One:
All new feature length audio commentary by film critic David Fear.
New English-language subtitle translation by Lenny Borger.

Disc two: Alternate ending Mariette's Revenge.
-1958 episode of Cinépanorama from the set of The Law, featuring Jules Dassin, Gina Lollobrigida, Yves Montand, and Melina Mercouri.
-1957 television interview with La Loi novelist Roger Vailland, from French television program Lectures pour tous.
-L'Ultima Osteria (2010, dir. Alfredo De Giuseppe) a documentary film about The Law as played in southern Italy today.
-The Law original theatrical trailer.
-With an exclusive essay by Haden Guest, director of the Harvard Film Archive.

DVD only it seems....

[RainPlex]

This is priceless. Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie

I hope HOWL will be a BD release.

[GuruAskew]

I'm a huge Michel Gondry fan and I'm bummed that "The Thorn in the Heart" isn't getting a Blu-ray release, though the fact that they only have two Blu-ray titles makes me think there might come a time when they kick the Blu-ray thing into high gear and in that case I imagine their Gondry movie would be a top-tier release.

"I Knew It Was You" should be worthwhile on Blu as well. I'm pretty sure it aired on HD on HBO and even if the interview footage was somehow shot in SD in this day and age it has enough film footage from Cazale's career to make HD worthwhile, even if they had to re-edit it.

But yeah, I didn't know they got "I Knew It Was You" until I saw this thread a couple days ago and I almost instantly went from "cool, Oscilloscope got it" to "crap, no Blu-ray".

It would be a perfect opportunity to release Cazale's short film "The American Way" and that appearance from the mysterious unnamed television episode they feature in the documentary proper.

Edit: I was just checking out the IMDB for "I Knew It Was You" and the movie's director (or someone claiming to be him) says they are trying to secure the episode (which turns out to be from a show that aired on CBS called "NYPD") for the DVD release. If they can fill out the disc with Cazale rarities I'll bite on DVD.

[pro-bassoonist]

On the restoration of Sam Wood's Beyond the Rocks (1922), with Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gz50OlxCEY

Disc:
http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Rocks-R...148092&sr=1-21

Pro-B

[McCrutchy]

Off-topic for Blu-ray, but this is a very interesting article regarding an Oscilloscope film that reveals a glaringly obvious problem with the MPAA. That decision makes me upset to live in this country because of what it says about our culture and morals.

Holocaust Doc Loses Appeal on 'R' Rating

Response from Adam Yauch to the MPAA Rating (likely prior to the appeal)

[RainPlex]

OscopeLabs just sent me a tweet confirming HOWL will have a blu release!

[McCrutchy]

For those looking at the "Circle of Trust" membership: I was curious about Blu-ray releases, since the site says members get the next 10 DVDs. So I e-mailed Oscilloscope and this is their reply:

Hi,

You are able to chose between Blu-ray and DVD for those specific titles, and Blu-rays are no extra cost.

When we have a title that comes out in both formats, we will send out a pre-shipment email asking each subscriber what their preference is.

Thanks for your inquiry!

Nicole

That's very cool, I think, especially for a new, small company.

The cost of membership is $150.00, and I assume it expires afer you receive their next 10 DVDs/BDs.

Next 10 Oscilloscope DVD releases

DVDs will arrive about one week before the official street date

All shipping and handling charges are included

Ability to purchase one of each previous Oscilloscope DVD release for half price (plus shipping & handling)

Optional auto-renew

Gift purchase option available

[manicsounds]

Anyone know if their Circle Of Trust is available for overseas purchase?

D'oh, just checked their site, and US only...

[ccfixx]

Been awhile, but Barnes & Noble has many titles for 50%-off right now.

CC

[g.schweet]

Thanks for the heads up, might pick up La loi finally since I also got a 15% off coupon in a email today.

[McCrutchy]

Wow, so release 027 will be William S Burroughs: A Man Within which looks to be a documentary that would be perfectly suited to include on a joint Criterion/Oscilloscope 2-disc Blu-ray of Naked Lunch...