The Official Arrow Video Thread

[Cinematt]

Originally Posted by Magyalmar

Zavvi sent me the steelbook of Minority Report, instead of Big Trouble in Little China.

You did it again, Zavvi.

Should have seen that coming.

[Aficionado]

If you want a booklet, these days the safest bet is to pre-order (at a high street store like HMV) then pick it up on the first day. Double Face was only released 7 days ago; I went into HMV three days later and found they were out of stock already. They gave me the option of ordering a copy in but that would take 10 working days to arrive, and presumably be second pressing. I reserved one from another store and collected it yesterday; I was glad I reserved it, as no other copies were left in stock when I picked mine up. You really can't be too quick off the mark these days re: booklets.

Luckily, whilst thumbing through the Arrow section for a title to buy as part of the BOGOF offer I came across a copy of Cemetery Without Crosses that still came with a booklet.

[Aficionado]

Originally Posted by Bumblefeet

Watched "The Climber" tonight, forgettable Italian maffia/crime flick. The transfer is ok and the music ranges from slick brass/guitar themes to terrible repetitive drum loops and English cover songs that make you feel like you are trapped at a family wedding with a bad DJ. The acting and story is dull and all the lead actor does is try to look cool even when everyone else is shouting.
This movie is the unintentional Seinfeld of Italian gangster movies.

Scarface this isn't, be warned!

On to City of the Living Dead.

I liked The Climber more than you did - it's not first-rate Eurocrime, but entertaining and pulled off with considerable style. With regard to the soundtrack, perhaps it's just a matter of taste but I dug the chilled out drum loops! Though I share your sentiments re: the English-language songs. The score as a whole is pretty impressive, particularly the funereal piece accompanying the final sequence.

Scarface is the obvious comparison and I must say I prefer The Climber. Whilst Pacino is a better actor than Dallesandro, I find that Aldo (the titular ''climber'') is a more interesting character than Tony Montana, the latter having all the depth of a puddle.

[Dubliner1]

Bought 'The Day Of The Jackal' and 'Ronin' last week from Arrow- 'Ronin' came with the booklet but none with 'Jackal'.
Couldn't care less tho for only £7.50 a pop.

[adamhopelies]

My copy of FM came without a booklet. Picked it up in hmv today. I’m not particularly bothered, but who knew that FM would such a popular title...?

[drb124]

My booklet count so far:

Arrow
Horror Express (no booklet)
Scared Stiff (has limited o-card, so I’m assuming a booklet)

Zavvi
The Sender (booklet)
The Grand Duel (booklet)
Kolobos (booklet)
Trapped Alive (10th ann. booklet)
Climax (no booklet)
Def-Con 4 (no booklet - this is a bit stupid as ordered 7 days after release)
Mega Time Squad (booklet)
Yakuza Law (booklet)
Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (10th Ann. book)

As long as Arrow is okay about sending out PDF’s on the ones I missed, especially Trapped Alive and Def-Con 4 as they are very recent releases, I won’t be too bothered. I have a few more titles coming, so we will see how those turn out.

[xxnomad]

Can anyone comment on placing pre orders with Amazon UK and receiving booklets? Not placing an order a few days after release but a pre order.

Trying to best figure out if I'll get a booklet from Amazon UK RE Weird Science, or if I should take a chance and get one from Barnes and Noble here in the states.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by xxnomad

Trying to best figure out if I'll get a booklet from Amazon UK RE Weird Science, or if I should take a chance and get one from Barnes and Noble here in the states.

You could always try Bullmoose. Whenever I check Arrow titles in-store, they almost always have a booklet.

[proglodite]

Is Dark Blue a Region B title? When I load it in I get a screen that says "This is Region A and B only"...and my player won't let me go beyond that screen (unless I set it to Region B). I've had at least one other disc from Arrow that had that same screen, but can't remember which title it was. --Peter

[gobad2003]

Just got my Black Moon Rising and Def-Con 4 from Zavvi and no booklets. This will probably be the last time I take a chance on a sale unless I know for sure they have the booklets. Will be more cautious in the future.

[Mike0284]

Booklet update from the 10th Anniversary sale,

The Initiation - no booklet
Vamp - booklet (Surprised by this since it's the single disc version.)
Slugs - Booklet
The Stuff - No booklet
The Sender - Booklet

[EvaDK]

Of the some 15ish Arrow titles I have so far, only Carrie, Zardoz and Dressed To Kill came with booklets. None of my titles were bought around their release date, I got Dressed To Kill a month ago from Amazon.

Can we re-name this thread to The Official Arrow Video Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying About Booklets And Love The Movie Thread?

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by proglodite

Is Dark Blue a Region B title? When I load it in I get a screen that says "This is Region A and B only"...and my player won't let me go beyond that screen (unless I set it to Region B). I've had at least one other disc from Arrow that had that same screen, but can't remember which title it was. --Peter

I mentioned the exact same issue a year ago on this thread. Just the wrong region message was used at a guess

[darkness2918]

Originally Posted by gobad2003

Just got my Black Moon Rising and Def-Con 4 from Zavvi and no booklets. This will probably be the last time I take a chance on a sale unless I know for sure they have the booklets. Will be more cautious in the future.

If its a title I really want a booklet for I make sure to pre order, seems to be the only way to guarantee one now. If I do wait for a sale it means I don't really care about the booklet for that title so I wont really be disappointed if it doesn't come with one.

[Ste7en]

Originally Posted by lionel74

Having complained to Arrow at not receiving a booklet with my copy of The Sender, they said they couldn't send me a booklet so instead sent me the PDF (useless to me).
So I responded asking them whether it is now the case that booklets cannot be guaranteed even with a pre-order and this is the response I received-

Hi Liam,

Unfortunately booklets are limited so only come with the first pressings of films. We normally press a lot more booklets than needed but we’ve had to reduce that temporarily as we move distribution centres. If you pre-order a title on its own from our site then you will definitely get a booklet if it’s part of the first pressing.

We aim to produce a lot more booklets moving forward and also have greater customer access to them via our site; we currently have a selection uploaded https://arrowfilms.com/faqs/ which you can access on product pages. Thank you for your support and custom.

All best,

Team Arrow

So... they come with first pressings only but they usually print more. What? More than needed for the first pressing? Or they aren't printing enough to cover the first pressing?

No way are we onto a second pressing of Def-Con 4.

I'll hazard a guess that only 50 percent of first pressings are coming with a booklet at the moment.

They really need to get this shit sorted out.

[johnpaul2]

My understanding is that there currently aren't booklets in every first pressing copies, but that Arrow doesn't consider this "standard practices", that this is because of their changes of warehouses, and that it will revert to normal at some point.

Note that this is a very vague response from Arrow, but also that I have no idea why warehouses are factored in copies having booklets or not. I mean : I doubt booklets and copies are 2 different references assembled late in the process.

I have also no idea why Arrow's response seems to imply they usually print more booklets than first pressing copies.

[moviegeek1992]

I think for these recent releases, Arrow have printed first and second pressings together and either knowingly or unknowingly both of those batches have been sent out to retailers, meaning you're not guaranteed a booklet if you order online. Maybe they might correct this issue for future releases, seeing as how so many people are complaining. But as others have said, I wouldn't be surprised if they phase out the booklets completely and make the content exclusive to their website for members.

[lionel74]

Originally Posted by Ste7en

So... they come with first pressings only but they usually print more. What? More than needed for the first pressing? Or they aren't printing enough to cover the first pressing?

No way are we onto a second pressing of Def-Con 4.

I'll hazard a guess that only 50 percent of first pressings are coming with a booklet at the moment.

They really need to get this shit sorted out.

They are basically saying if you pre-order, you'll definitely get a booklet IF the one they send you is from a first pressing. So they aren't guaranteeing you'll get a booklet, even with a pre-order.

The only way to be sure is to buy a copy in a store.

It really is a shambles, and they should be printing extra booklets to cover this mess. There's absolutely no point in given your custom direct to Arrow.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by lionel74

They are basically saying if you pre-order, you'll definitely get a booklet IF the one they send you is from a first pressing. So they aren't guaranteeing you'll get a booklet, even with a pre-order.

I think they said if you pre-order from THEIR store (which also means your money is taken at the time of pre-order, and you don't get advantage of any Amazon price drops), you'll get a booklet.
Frankly, this whole thing stinks, and Arrow would be a lot more honest to not mix first and second pressings, and openly announce second pressings instead of forcing their customers to gamble. It might just lead to people ignoring the booklets and waiting for things to come on sale if they are disappointed too often. So much so for encouraging people to buy stuff early.

[fuzzymctiger]

Originally Posted by moviegeek1992

I think for these recent releases, Arrow have printed first and second pressings together and either knowingly or unknowingly both of those batches have been sent out to retailers, meaning you're not guaranteed a booklet if you order online. Maybe they might correct this issue for future releases, seeing as how so many people are complaining. But as others have said, I wouldn't be surprised if they phase out the booklets completely and make the content exclusive to their website for members.

I think that's been going on for a while.

I got Dead End Drive In less than a month after release from Amazon and got no booklet, but people up to 2 years after were still getting booklets from them.

The whole booklet system has been a mess since they swapped to the first pressing only system and is only getting worse.