Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by Hank the Tank

Dies TT Have the Blu rights to the 1978 disco classic "Thank God It's Friday"?
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/thank-...JmMQR2dGlkAw--

"Classic"?

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

"Classic"?

Well it did win an Oscar!

[BillieCassin]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

Telling the truth about what? This is all just your rampant speculation, as is other people's comments about them deliberately trying to hide the numbers for whatever reason. Unless someone can post an answer directly from SAE or TT, nobody knows why the numbers are now limited to fifty - whether it was a deliberate move or some adjustments to their software. Nobody is a villian here or a hero, it just is what it is.

Telling the truth about just trying to make films available on Blu-ray for fans of films that otherwise would not be coming out.

You are correct, though, I was providing a counterpoint to the conspiracy theories that they did this because they "hate" their customers by providing another way to look at it if we are going to speculate as to motivation.

Originally Posted by wormraper

obviously a glitch in their system Billie? sorry but MOST major retailers you can play the cart game. you can do it on amazon all the time. it's basically keeping track of real time sales so they don't oversell.

Yes, it obviously is a system glitch and unintentional.

I'd be interested to know what runs their back-end, because, interestingly enough, I know a completely unrelated website that sells completely different products entirely that just fixed the same "trick" - I wonder if it actually has anything to do with TT or not, or simply the cart vendor updated their software. Like literally, the same week this one was. May be total coincidence, but interesting nonetheless.

As to Amazon - Amazon tells you right on the product page how many of an item are left when it gets low. There is no "trick" necessary. Obviously if TT intended it, they could put the number remaining on the website. Having to use a "trick" to find out is a glitch - as in, unintentional behavior.

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Anbody have any opinions on the 5 movie Kim Novak DVD set that Sony put out in 2010? The reviews for it around the web are pretty good... color is supposed to be good and the aspect ratios and whatnot are correct.

How about the films themselves? I have seen NONE of the 5.

Pal Joey, Picnic, Bell, Book, and Candle, Jeanne Eagels, Middle of the Night

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...D=1412#auswahl

No sane person could buy the DVD over the Blu-ray after seeing those caps.

[Hank the Tank]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

Well it did win an Oscar!

Well a classic from my teenage days anyway. A lot of guys wanted to learn to dance so they could cruise the chicks in the disco.

And had a killer soundtrack, unless you were a part of the "disco sucks" crowd.

Definitely a late 1970s time capsule. Much like Skatetown USA, a dated mess but still a time capsule.

[dsfan1]

Originally Posted by Hank the Tank

Well a classic from my teenage days anyway. A lot of guys wanted to learn to dance so they could cruise the chicks in the disco.

And had a killer soundtrack, unless you were a part of the "disco sucks" crowd.

Definitely a late 1970s time capsule. Much like Skatetown USA, a dated mess but still a time capsule.

Donna Summer still rules! I would love this on BD in lossless sound, because the soundtrack is great!

[Zoodles95]

Originally Posted by BillieCassin

/sigh

They are danged if they do, danged if they don't.

It's hardly, HARDLY a case of "I hate the customer" to fix what was obviously a glitch/bug in their website. If it was meant to give you a countdown, they would give a countdown, not through some backdoor trick known only to a small segment of folks.

To be honest, I think this, coupled with their limit of 1 per person, was done precisely to prevent reselling at higher prices. I am sure their metrics showed that people were buying them up at that point, knowing it was about to sell out - leading to folks buying up multiples for resale knowing that it was about to sell out and they would be able to make a profit soon by getting the remaining stock (even once the limit of 1 was put in, even paying separate shipping and ordering multiples would still net them $ once a title sells out).

Preventing this extends the availability on their site - which again, I think shows that they are more interested in making these available to fans vs. trying to make a quick buck, not caring who buys them out as long as they sell and they make the $ as quickly as possible.

In general, they get so much crap for the 3K limit, but I think a lot of people don't take into account how attractive that is for the studios, which is why their licensing deal is what it is, and what they are able to do with it. To the studio, it's a great deal - they get a one-time payment for pretty much doing nothing, don't have to track anything after, and keeping the limit low means the market isn't flooded with copies of a title, preserving their interest in a title should they wish to distribute it wider, later. This is one reason I find the, "If TT didn't release it, some other company would" a false assumption - no other boutique label is willing to take on all the risk of selling a title, making one large lump payment, and keeping distribution so limited.

All this adds up to - I know, it's shocking to even THINK - that TT is doing exactly what they say they are - trying to make films that, currently, the studios have no interest in releasing, available to fans to buy on Blu-ray. These are just measures to make sure more fans get the films directly, and reduce the number of people who buy them up just for profit.

But I know...we are so used to not getting the truth from companies, we never think that, just maybe, one is telling the truth. It's almost impossible to believe, but in this case - I think it may actually be true.

I think this is a great, well balanced, post. However, while I think a title like Man In The Dark is a perfect title for Twilight Time (which I have incoming), I have to wonder how titles like As Good As It Gets, Philadelphia, Sleepless In Seattle etc are not films a studio is interested in releasing. How is Jerry Maquire on regular release and not these others?

[skyofcrack]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

The 50-cart situation applies to everything for sale on SAE, not just the TT titles. So there's a very good chance this has nothing to do with TT, and is simply a new way SAE is showing their inventory.

It's not a glitch. Here's what they told me:

The live inventory will never come back to the site – sorry.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Originally Posted by skyofcrack

It's not a glitch. Here's what they told me:

Gotta love SAE. That's right morons have your cart system work as bad as your site looks. I had a more professional looking site when I was 13 using geocities.

[Page14]

Originally Posted by skyofcrack

It's not a glitch. Here's what they told me:

I hope they don't do away with the low stock alerts (350 or 500). I'm thinking as long as we have those, we should still have a decent shot at getting a copy of those titles we're on the fence about.

[PowellPressburger]

TT and SAE usually always give Low Stock alerts and while the Cart Game has its good points it isn't always best esp when maybe they have only added the first 2,000 copies of the stock and later add another 1,000.

When a title starts running low on stock TT and SAE will post it.

[BJQ1972]

The cart works perfectly for me. I add what I want to buy to it, and then checkout.

[PuppetMasterBlu]

Originally Posted by BJQ1972

The cart works perfectly for me. I add what I want to buy to it, and then checkout.

Oh you....

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by skyofcrack

It's not a glitch. Here's what they told me:

lol, gotta love them. it didn't really help with the speculators at all since they tell you when it's below 1000 and 500 on the site news anyways and have a limit imposed at that stage anyways... the cart game was just a way for most of the normals to guess how long they had left (a few hours, a few days) for them to purchase items they were on the fence with.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergl...D=1412#auswahl

No sane person could buy the DVD over the Blu-ray after seeing those caps.

I agree, they look amazing, which is probably the reason why I am intrigued in the first place but $19 for 5 movies PLUS bonus features vs. $35 for 1 movie. ?? I think if it was a well reviewed movie, I'd be comfortable with that, like I was with Leave Her to Heaven.

Between yesterday and today, I think I've made my decision. Call me insane! Thanks for your input, though.

[EddieLarkin]

I guess the smart thing to do is invest in the DVD box set and then if you like 'em, you can upgrade to the Blu-rays.

Personally, I think the only things Picnic has going for it are its score and how nice it looks (and how nice Kim looks), so you're going to miss a lot of that with just the DVD.

Bell Book and Candle and Pal Joey are great in their own right though.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

I guess the smart thing to do is invest in the DVD box set and then if you like 'em, you can upgrade to the Blu-rays.

Personally, I think the only things Picnic has going for it are its score and how nice it looks (and how nice Kim looks), so you're going to miss a lot of that with just the DVD.

Bell Book and Candle and Pal Joey are great in their own right though.

Any movie featuring cinematography from James Wong Howe is worth owning in high definition.

The Twilight Time Blu-ray of Picnic has a lot of bang for its buck in terms of the film content, picture quality, and sound quality. Bell, Book and Candle may not resonate with me quite as much as Picnic does, but it has some cool visuals that are worth seeing on the Blu-ray transfer.

I would rather not have paid $34 apiece for Picnic or Bell, Book and Candle, but I feel that I have my money's worth. The presentations are both impressive, and the movies themselves are fun enough to watch multiple times.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

I guess the smart thing to do is invest in the DVD box set and then if you like 'em, you can upgrade to the Blu-rays.

Personally, I think the only things Picnic has going for it are its score and how nice it looks (and how nice Kim looks), so you're going to miss a lot of that with just the DVD.

Bell Book and Candle and Pal Joey are great in their own right though.

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Any movie featuring cinematography from James Wong Howe is worth owning in high definition.

The Twilight Time Blu-ray of Picnic has a lot of bang for its buck in terms of the film content, picture quality, and sound quality. Bell, Book and Candle may not resonate with me quite as much as Picnic does, but it has some cool visuals that are worth seeing on the Blu-ray transfer.

I would rather not have paid $34 apiece for Picnic or Bell, Book and Candle, but I feel that I have my money's worth. The presentations are both impressive, and the movies themselves are fun enough to watch multiple times.

ahh, you see? precisely my dilemma... mixed reviews on the film content. I tend to over analyze things to much, but for the $19.41 I paid (bought it this morning) I guess I'll take my chances. Jeanne Eagels isn't supposed to be too good, but I've heard *some* good things about each of the other 4 films even if the consensus doesn't seem to swing one way or the other. man, Picnic does like really nice, but I've got so many blus on my wishlist right now that I'll consider it a victory that I still got an extra 16 bucks in my pocket!

[captveg]

Originally Posted by BillieCassin

In general, they get so much crap for the 3K limit, but I think a lot of people don't take into account how attractive that is for the studios, which is why their licensing deal is what it is, and what they are able to do with it.

I also don't think people realize how many studio releases are under or just at 3K. The difference being that they will run another batch if needed, but if anyone thinks that 3K+ of, say, Tequila Sunrise were made on initial order they are nuts.

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by captveg

I also don't think people realize how many studio releases are under or just at 3K. The difference being that they will run another batch if needed, but if anyone thinks that 3K+ of, say, Tequila Sunrise were made on initial order they are nuts.

Except isn't the thing that Warner can just print more copies if something sells out. TT doesn't have that luxury, or at the very least they don't for 3 years.