"Club Penton" - Ask questions to Hollywood insider "Penton-Man"

[Kris Deering]

Hey Penton,

Do you have any insight into why Sony didn't release [REC] on Blu-ray back in July? I have the Spanish release and must say it is one of the best horror films of recent memory. I know Quarantine is a remake but I wouldn't have expected that it would trump a Blu-ray release of the original. Any chance this will ever see the light of day on Blu?? My region free copy is 1080i50, so not very friendly for most people's playback system though it works great on mine.

[Penton-Man]

Sorry Kris, I have no insight.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Can you say if SONY and Cirque du Soleil have plans to release any more of their shows on Blu?

I can't say.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

Sam Eliott's character in Road House?
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0018225/
"That girl has way too many brains to have an ass like that".....

Who is that guy? –
Gentlemen……Wade Garrett.

Holy sh*t!

"Exactly right."

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Sorry Kris, I have no insight.

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

I can't say.

The escape artist at work.

[sharkshark]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Who is that guy? –
Gentlemen……Wade Garrett.

Holy sh*t!

"Exactly right."

Man, Road House references... It's come to that...

BTW, Sam's got a really fun role in "Up In the Air", which I think just may garner a best pic nomination.

[Penton-Man]

Shooting backwards to quotes from past films can sometimes be fun and Road House has some real classic ones uttered by Sam Elliott.

P.S.
Speaking of shooting backwards, I haven’t seen the Blu-ray yet but, I’m pretty sure my niece and nephew will ask that I rent it for them to watch during our Thanksgiving or Christmas family get-togethers – that be Gremlins.

Anyway, there’s a scene in the movie that was actually shot backwards because the puppeteers couldn’t get the gremlin to do the desired maneuver in a forward fashion…..the tip-off is watching the actresses’ eyelids during the shot, which look strange. Are you a Gremlins connoisseur?

[Penton-Man]

Quick note Shark –
The official submission list was posted yesterday………
http://www.oscars.org/press/pressrel.../20091015.html

If Israel had chosen “Lebanon” that would have made it 3 for 3.

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Penton-Man

Quick note Shark –
The official submission list was posted yesterday………
http://www.oscars.org/press/pressrel.../20091015.html

If Israel had chosen “Lebanon” that would have made it 3 for 3.

Why do they announce the nominations so outrageously early in the morning??
5:30am

And I see the awards are on my Dad's 60th birthday next year.
And I have a son called Oscar

[sharkshark]

Why so early? So the news organizations in the correct time zone get it as a reasonable time, and after a coke-filled late night, the early morning of LA-LA-land is a moment of clarity and introspection.

Or something like that...

P, no, not a Gremlins expert, alas. And you'll find amusing that doing a search for "Gremlins backwards" finds, well, this thread...

Thanks for the list of nominations - I'll note that the Canadian entry was written/directed by a nineteen year-old.

We're all doomed.

Anyhoo, it will be interesting to see if France or Germany takes it home this year.

And, no, I didn't see this either:
http://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/films/ajami

Not sure how much the horseshit played down in LA, but the lovely antisemtism about this year's fest was a non-issue for most people who actually -attended- the fest:

http://www.screendaily.com/5005036.article

and,
http://www.screendaily.com/news/opin...006076.article
with this
http://www.screendaily.com/5004548.blog

Those wily Israelis who picked a Arab and a Jew co-direction to represent the country in their official Oscar nomination. I'm sure lots of other like nations would do the same...

But, yeah... that's a whole 'nother topic....

[Robert Siegel]

Penton, thanks for your devotion to this thread, it surely is appreciated. I am not sure if we are supposed to be asking about selected titles, but since I have seen it done many times I will give it a shot, perhaps you might know something.

Classic Media of Japan has started releasing Blu-ray versions of all of Toho's Godzilla movies. The ones I am most interested in are the late 80's and 90's films which employed CGI and had great 5.1 mixes. The first 4 or 5 were already released in Japan last month and 4 more are on the way. Sadly they do not have any English subtitles (which I prefer over the horrible dubbing, which I feel has hurt these films overseas). I saw several of these on Voom's channel Monsters HD on Dish Network a few years ago, they were Sony versions with English dubbing and they looked and sounded great in 1080i, I was very surprised at how good these looked and sounded.

Do you know if these films (aside from the original which was released here already) might be released by Sony on Blu-ray here in the USA, since they have the DVD rights and have released most of them? I know this is a long-shot question, but I thought perhaps there was some industry chatter about them. Certainly there is a good fan base for Godzilla here. I am sure the market for them is not huge, but there is a fan base. I am hoping that since they are releasing the awful American version, they might consider releasing some that have the "real" Godzilla. Thanks Penton.

[Jeff Kleist]

Do you know if these films (aside from the original which was released here already) might be released by Sony on Blu-ray here in the USA, since they have the DVD rights and have released most of them? I know this is a long-shot question, but I thought perhaps there was some industry chatter about them. Certainly there is a good fan base for Godzilla here, and from what I am reading the Sony HD versions shown on Sat. and Cable are better than the Japanese Blu-ray transfers which is why I am hoping Sony might consider these at some point. I am sure the market for them is not huge, but there is a fan base. I am hoping that since they released the awful American version, they might consider a few of the "real" Godzilla. Thanks Penton.

I can't speak to these discs because I haven't seen them, but in my experience most of the Japanese houses favor heavy DNR on live action material similar to what I saw on the domestic Godzilla Blu-ray. There are some good people over there that are working hard to get people to do it right, but they are in the minority right now.

Toho just invested a fortune in redoing the movies, I don't think it's likely that there will be better masters available any time in the near future.

[Robert Siegel]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

I can't speak to these discs because I haven't seen them, but in my experience most of the Japanese houses favor heavy DNR on live action material similar to what I saw on the domestic Godzilla Blu-ray. There are some good people over there that are working hard to get people to do it right, but they are in the minority right now.

Toho just invested a fortune in redoing the movies, I don't think it's likely that there will be better masters available any time in the near future.

Thanks Jeff. In searching the net and doing some research, I found some reviews from Japan and also a few from here in the USA on the Godzilla Blu-rays, and they do mention that there is grain (heavy on a few) on most of them and that it appears that DNR for these Blu-rays was used very little, this from 2 or 3 different Japanese reviews and one USA review of the first batch of 5 releases. None of them mentioned the actual use of DNR, but we all know we need to see it first for ourselves. I just hope Sony releases a few here, I don't intend on forking out 40-50.00 per title for discs in which I cannot even read English subtitles.

The lack of English subtitles seems a strange decision for Toho considering Blu-ray can hold dozens of subtitle languages and surely there are people living in Japan who speak only English and I am sure Toho knows they have a world market for these films. Could they be trying to prevent exports of these or perhaps this was done on purpose with the intent that they will be released here and the UK eventually.

[horseflesh]

Penton, seeing as we briefly mentioned Lawrence of Arabia (and remember it was you who brought it up ;
I not going to ask when we should expect it, because I know you won't answer.....but how about I ask a general "how's it coming along??"

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

Penton, seeing as we briefly mentioned Lawrence of Arabia (and remember it was you who brought it up ;
I not going to ask when we should expect it, because I know you won't answer.....but how about I ask a general "how's it coming along??"

Well, LOA has been a topic here for years now. BTW, what ever happened to the guy that had the L.O.A. avatar? He was a regular in this thread and a nice person. Just wondering if anyone has seen him post elsewhere?

[Robert Siegel]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

Penton, seeing as we briefly mentioned Lawrence of Arabia (and remember it was you who brought it up ;
I not going to ask when we should expect it, because I know you won't answer.....but how about I ask a general "how's it coming along??"

I wish Sony would dig into the catalog for their musicals. I totally agree that LOA would be fantastic, but there's also 1969's Best Picture Oliver, Funny Girl with Streisand, and Bye Bye Birdie, not to mention non-musicals like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Guns of Navarone, On the Waterfront and Bridge on the River Kwai. All of these have been shown in the last few years in beautiful new HD transfers on HDnet movies, but of course that's 1080i and very lossy sound. Penton, maybe you would comment on the Sony classics issue?

I think the studios are missing out on an entire demographic for the format. I am aware that some of the classic titles are not selling well, but it could very well be that those interested in the classics already released don't consider there to be enough of a selection available to buy a Blu-ray player yet. Let's hope that Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind along with lower player prices this holiday will expand the Blu-ray audience who are into classics.

I know now for a fact that The Sound of Music is coming the first part of 2010 in a 45th anniversary edition and Oklahoma in a 55th, and that Ben Hur (along with The Music Man and The Green Berets) are in for the first quarter. Plus we have Fox's Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and Agony and the Ecstacy. That's a good start for 2010.

[Jeff Kleist]

The lack of English subtitles seems a strange decision for Toho considering Blu-ray can hold dozens of subtitle languages and surely there are people living in Japan who speak only English and I am sure Toho knows they have a world market for these films. Could they be trying to prevent exports of these or perhaps this was done on purpose with the intent that they will be released here and the UK eventually.

Protecting foreign licensors almost certainly. The English speaking market living in Japan who don't speak Japanese is so small it's not even worth mentioning for Godzilla movies. In fact the number of Japanese Blu-rays not made by Bandai with English subs on them that are only intended for the domestic market comes up for me as one, WaterBoys, and that had English subs on the DVD as well.

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Well, LOA has been a topic here for years now. BTW, what ever happened to the guy that had the L.O.A. avatar? He was a regular in this thread and a nice person. Just wondering if anyone has seen him post elsewhere?

Oh yeah I know, but Penton did raise it this time

One more thing Penton; presuming the eventual release will have some sort of "box" packaging.....PLEASE make sure there's a (fairly) regular BD case inside that will fit one everyone's shelf. Same width and height, I can understand if it might be slightly thicker to house the 5 discs.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by sharkshark

P, no, not a Gremlins expert, alas. And you'll find amusing that doing a search for "Gremlins backwards" finds, well, this thread...

That particular technical info, I would imagine, is too cinematographically esoteric (at least in a vintage sense, i.e. pertaining to a 1984 feature film) to have made it onto the internet. You’ll probably find much more on the internet concerning Steven Spielberg’s contributions to the project, all the way from encouraging a re-write of the script (essentially making Gizmo the hero ) and thru the production phase of the film. He was creatively more proactive than I think the typical E.P.(http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/LAProducer/) normally is.

Come to think of it, a bit of trivia that probably didn’t make it onto the internet forums in regards to Steven’s contribution(s) to Gremlins was that shot of the gremlin break-dancing on his back near the end of the motion picture. That was one of Steven’s last minute ideas and thusly one of the last scenes shot for the movie. It was done at ILM as an insert just prior to the answer print being readied.

Anyway, the shot that I was referring to in my previous post is when Frances McCain’s character (Mrs. Peltzer) is looking in the kitchen and movie watchers see one of the gremlins climb up into the blender. Well, the puppeteers just couldn’t get the gremlin to climb up, despite repeated attempts, so that darn gremlin is actually climbing down and it was shot backwards. The tip-off is Mrs. Peltzer’s reaction………because despite Frances’s best acting backwards, you just can’t make your eyelids act backwards.

Lots of neat back stories with that production, such as the extensive search all over the country by the filmmakers for Eastman 5293 stock (their preferred choice)…..as it had been discontinued by Kodak the year prior.

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

Penton, seeing as we briefly mentioned Lawrence of Arabia (and remember it was you who brought it up ;
I not going to ask when we should expect it, because I know you won't answer.....but how about I ask a general "how's it coming along??"

It’s going quite well……we’ve got this crispy-critter overseeing the whole project……..when he’s not doing public service stuff like organizing presentations to restoration/archivist folk for teaching purposes-
http://amiaconference.com./2009/program_02.htm (i.e. 12:30 PM - 5:00 PM).