Attraction 3D Blu-ray (2017) [Region B Locked / No English Audio or subtitles]

[jamietre]

Just ordered Attraction 3D steelbook from Germany. Sounds pretty cool, and I'm a sucker for oddball 3D movies anyway.. and how often do you get to watch a 3D russian sci-fi blockbuster?

Any chance anyone (in Europe maybe...) has seen it yet? It was released September 4 so kinda doubt anyone in the US would have a copy yet. Don't even see any discussion here...

[kidglov3s]

Is this English-friendly? Amazon DE only lists German subs. It's gonna be sad if I become reduced to getting non-English discs for my 3D fix (I've been tempted to do so for Underdogs/Metegol/etc, getting a 3D BD and trying to sync it to an English 2D DVD or BD but have so far resisted).

[reewinder]

I was tempted to get this and the Mojin 3D but with no English subs or dubbing I think I could still enjoy watching them just for the visuals. But I can't even watch either of them until I get myself a region free player. I might get the Mojin one anyways just because it's a great looking steelbook and I'll have it there ready to go once I do go region free.

[levcore]

Mojin 3D has English subs, if we're talking about the 3D Steelbook from Germany.

[reewinder]

Originally Posted by levcore

Mojin 3D has English subs, if we're talking about the 3D Steelbook from Germany.

Oops you're right. It was that other Russian one Guardians steelbook that has no English subs or dubbing. I thought that one was in 3D but it's not.
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Guard...lu-ray/175806/

[levcore]

That Russian movie Guardians has some amazing fx and design work in it but the movie is so terrible. It would have been fantastic in 3D though.

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by jamietre

I guess I'll find out - but there are English subs online; if necessary I will rip & remux it with subtitles from the internet so I can watch it in English. Did this with Timecrimes. It is weird how these German-only releases seem to often have no english subs a lot, it's like they don't want us to watch them...

If this does have English subs, please let us know, because I'll order it if it does.

[micnic]

I have the disc here. Let's see if my wife wants to watch it tonight. I will watch it soon anyway.

Edit: We watched another movie but I poped it in for a minute or two anyway. I can confirm: Only German subtitles. Sorry.
I have not checked region coding (my player was already set to B and I was to lazy to switch - maybe later).

[gazadams]

was looking forward to this one . Why cant they release these films with English subs

[micnic]

OK - I watched it now.

1st: The technical stuff
Very nice native 3D. Not the strongest one (especially the wider shot could have more depth for my taste) but still very satisfying. Also the other technical aspects like sound and visual effects are strong. My butt kicker had quite something to do in the beginning and end.

2nd: The movie itself
Not what I was expecting at all. This is no popcorn action flick. It's mainly about xenophobia. Not really the next "District 9" but definitely more complex than your average blockbuster. For me, it was even a bit unpleasant to watch because to a large extend you follow a group of basically young hooligans and in the beginning I was wondering if we are supposed to sympathize with these guys. The action is mainly at the beginning and the end.
There are here and there small bits of idealization of the Russian government and media but these aspects are short and subtle and therefore not too much distracting.

A further note to the Blu-ray: next to having only German subtitles, it is also a German image master. It has hard encoded German location marks and such things.

[jamietre]

@micnic, thanks for the great write-up. Quite looking forward to seeing it now.

[RickStar]

Yeah, I just saw this on a flat DVD I got off eBay. Since I only have a DVD, I can’t comment on the 3D.

Like micnic in his review, I found this to be very different from my expectations. I was hoping this would be some kind of Close Encounters but it’s not like that at all. Really, I thought of it as a cross between District 9 and West Side Story (without songs).

This is more of a drama than some big action movie. Like micnic stated, there is action that occurs in the beginning and right towards the end.

English subtitles: To the best of my knowledge, official English subtitles do not exist for this movie. The DVD I purchased off eBay was advertised as having English subtitles but the DVD turned out to be a bootleg with makeshift subtitles. From what I understand, some bootleggers will use voice recognition software for the deaf in order to obtain/create subtitles and then auto-convert to English. That’s what this DVD has and I imagine those are the only subtitles you will find floating out there in cyberspace. But I will say that the subtitles did help in understanding what was going on.

3D: Interesting that micnic reported native 3D. Other sources, like Blu-ray.com, have reported conversion.

https://www.blu-ray.com/Attraction/676157/

[RickStar]

Yes, if you are willing to put in the time to learn these tools and put in the work needed, you can fix all translation/sync issues related to subtitles. And often, you'll find situations where there are no problems (nothing to fix).

If you really love a foreign-language film, you should be able to find English subtitles (homemade or professional) somewhere on the internet and get them to work with the movie.

I've learned a little bit and hope to learn some more. Glad to hear there is a second set of subtitles out there for Attraction. I'll need to look into that.

[Joe D.]

Originally Posted by RickStar

Yes, if you are willing to put in the time to learn these tools and put in the work needed, you can fix all translation/sync issues related to subtitles. And often, you'll find situations where there are no problems (nothing to fix).

If you really love a foreign-language film, you should be able to find English subtitles (homemade or professional) somewhere on the internet and get them to work with the movie.

I've learned a little bit and hope to learn some more. Glad to hear there is a second set of subtitles out there for Attraction. I'll need to look into that.

Hi Rick,

Just wish it would be so simple for us who are just barely able to follow the instructions on a basic calibration disc.

Mojin is a film I'd be interested in getting.

[RickStar]

Originally Posted by Joe D.

Hi Rick,

Just wish it would be so simple for us who are just barely able to follow the instructions on a basic calibration disc.

Mojin is a film I'd be interested in getting.

Check again Joe. Mojin comes with English subtitles on the disc itself. But I can't remember if its Region B locked.

[micnic]

Originally Posted by RickStar

3D: Interesting that micnic reported native 3D. Other sources, like Blu-ray.com, have reported conversion.

https://www.blu-ray.com/Attraction/676157/

If this is a conversion, it has to be the best conversion I ever saw. No - this is native. Maybe there are brief converted shots, as in most movies.

[Joe D.]

Originally Posted by RickStar

Check again Joe. Mojin comes with English subtitles on the disc itself. But I can't remember if its Region B locked.

Hi Rick,

Saw that one. Region B

[TM2-Megatron]

Originally Posted by jamietre

Well, in real life I'm a computer programmer so for me it's not hard. But it is a little like work At least the outcome is more fun.

It is remarkable, though, that the people actually producing these things can't be bothered to put out a disc that's at least as good as something some hobbyist can do with free software in their spare time...

It's not so much that they can't, nor necessarily that they don't want to... but sometimes the margins for these releases can be slim and they can't just take a subtitle track off the internet and slap it on a disc to sell. Subtitles cost money, either to use ones that've already been made or to have a new track made for your release.

It's unfortunate, especially as the North American 3-D market is kinda drying up for releases like this, these smaller German labels could potentially have a lot of new customers in region A were they to include English dubs and/or subs.

[jamietre]

Originally Posted by TM2-Megatron

It's not so much that they can't, nor necessarily that they don't want to... but sometimes the margins for these releases can be slim and they can't just take a subtitle track off the internet and slap it on a disc to sell. Subtitles cost money, either to use ones that've already been made or to have a new track made for your release.

It's unfortunate, especially as the North American 3-D market is kinda drying up for releases like this, these smaller German labels could potentially have a lot of new customers in region A were they to include English dubs and/or subs.

Well, I'm a bit surprised these small labels aren't a little more scrappy. If I was in their shoes, I'd just take the German SRT track and stick it in front of the intern one day, who probably learned English in primary school like most Germans, and have them crank through it. Would it be awesome? No, but who cares? It couldn't possibly be worse than the typical sub track we get on small Asian imports.

Now it's entirely possible that the potential market is very small - and this conversation could include almost everyone who would ever buy this disc But once you already have a sub track in one language, with all the sync points, you could make one in another language with very low effort.

[kidglov3s]

Originally Posted by jamietre

Well, I'm a bit surprised these small labels aren't a little more scrappy. If I was in their shoes, I'd just take the German SRT track and stick it in front of the intern one day, who probably learned English in primary school like most Germans, and have them crank through it. Would it be awesome? No, but who cares? It couldn't possibly be worse than the typical sub track we get on small Asian imports.

Now it's entirely possible that the potential market is very small - and this conversation could include almost everyone who would ever buy this disc But once you already have a sub track in one language, with all the sync points, you could make one in another language with very low effort.

Posts like yours have me pondering getting a BD drive. Earlier this year I got the JP Satomi Hakkenden disc and watched it projected with my US subtitled DVD on the laptop and it was awesome because the movie is awesome but it probably would've been better if I had added the subs directly to the BD presentation. I just hate the thought of having to do shit like that and I'd rather find workarounds that don't involve ripping/reauthoring because I remember all the trouble that was in the DVD arena.