Official Film Noir on Blu-ray Thread

[Noir Black Schwarz]

Originally Posted by FantasticMrFox

Indicator UK September release:

https://www.powerhousefilms.co.uk/co...rsal-noir-1-le

Aren't these region locked?

Originally Posted by filmlover22

well, you get each film stacked with supplements and a 120 page book - none of which are on the Kinos. Also takes up less shelf space, and it is about (or even cheaper) than buying Kino's individually- even on sale.
More importantly, this is opening up an entire line of Universal Noirs from Indicator. Who knows what they will release in the future?
Very exciting news.

I'd rather have individual case for each movie so I have a cover for every single film rather than just a box that tells me the titles in the movie.

It's one of the biggest reasons I have not bothered touching Universal's horror movie sets.

[jayrobb9]

Originally Posted by Mike_C

Are you referring to the Jason Ney commentary on the Kino release? I have that one, but haven't listened to it. I don't believe I've heard a Ney commentary yet, so I'm not familiar with his work. The Indicator release of The Web includes a commentary by David Del Valle, who hasn't left much of an impression on me, but...it might be worth checking out if you're a big fan of the film, I suppose.

Yeah, Jason Ney. Speaks well (except way too fast), and just has nothing to say.

Pretty likely the Web just wasn't a production filled with interesting BTS shenanigans.

[filmlover22]

Well, I am definitely in a quandary over these new Indicator sets. If they were just including the noirs that Kino released separately, then I would simply sell those and stop getting any more individual noirs from Kino and just get these new Indicator sets.

However, they are also including films from the Kino Noir Box sets. Kino has said they plan to release at least a total of 20 noir box sets (maybe more?). That is over 60 films. And if you add the individual noirs Kino sells outside of their sets, we are looking at 70 to 80 films. If Indicator is now dipping into the same well as Kino for these films, that that is a potential 12 Indicator noir sets...

If I didn't already have 7 of the Kino noir sets, then this would be a no brainer and I would just get the Indicator. I suppose I could sell all 7 sets and use the money to get the Indicators from now on, but there is no guarantee that every film in the Kino sets would ever make it into the Indicator ones.

There are some featurettes/documentaries on the new Indicator set that I really want, and I always enjoy their books.

I am thinking of temporarily keeping my Kino sets, getting the Indicator sets and then selling off the Kinos as all their films find their way into Indicator sets..

Of course, everything I said only applies if you are region free...

[mogwai_macabre]

Pretty excited about (importing) these Universal sets. I very much enjoyed the Columbia series, and although I haven't seen any of the movies in this Universal #1, in general I prefer Universal's brand of film noir a bit more than Columbia's.

I guess they are done with Columbia sets? Was hoping they'd pickup some of the titles from the Imprint sets I missed, as well as The Burglar (which is the only movie left unreleased on blu from the 4 volume DVD set).

I agree that's the bad thing about these box sets, you end up with a hodgepodge of doubles and sets you end up holding onto in order to keep a movie or two.

[Paul Fulci 001]

I did think the standards were dropping a bit with Columbia Noir 4. There was a couple of duds, especially the rather boring A Bullet Is Waiting.

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by Paul Fulci 001

I did think the standards were dropping a bit with Columbia Noir 4. There was a couple of duds, especially the rather boring A Bullet Is Waiting.

Wow. I loved a bullet is waiting. I just accepted it as a modern romance film in color, instead of a black and white western noir. On that level, I really enjoyed it

[Paul Fulci 001]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

Wow. I loved a bullet is waiting. I just accepted it as a modern romance film in color, instead of a black and white western noir. On that level, I really enjoyed it

I was disappointed to be honest. It was well acted but failed to hold my interest. It dragged on and I got bored. Hardly a 'noir' either.

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by Paul Fulci 001

I was disappointed to be honest. It was well acted but failed to hold my interest. It dragged on and I got bored. Hardly a 'noir' either.

As I said, to me it was no way a noir. And frankly shouldn't have been included in the set. As a non noir lush colored romance, I enjoyed it. It definitely was not what most people would be in the mood for from watching the other films in the set. I did find the commentary very informative, BTW, in helping me appreciate the movie.

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by filmlover22

As I said, to me it was no way a noir. And frankly shouldn't have been included in the set. As a non noir lush colored romance, I enjoyed it. It definitely was not what most people would be in the mood for from watching the other films in the set. I did find the commentary very informative, BTW, in helping me appreciate the movie.

I didn't care for it either like the previous member (noir or not noir), but maybe I'll check out the commentary if it helped you appreciate it. I've listened to about half of the commentaries of these sets, but this wasn't one of them.

[leonmarks]

Thought I'd ask a general question that I've been curious about. What kind of information do you all prefer in disc commentaries? I've found myself preferring certain types of commentaries to others. My favorites are when the commentator watches and appreciates each scene like a friend watching the movie with you ("Look at that shot!" or "Here comes some snappy dialogue"). Eddie Muller used to be great at this. My least favorite are when the commentator literally reads an essay they wrote before recording - why not just publish an essay instead of recording a speech over the movie?! Anyway, it seems to me there are several kinds of information in a commentary:

- appreciation of scenes, shots, techniques
- behind the scenes - what happened during the production
- biographies of cast and crew
- academic critiques/interpretations (social, political, feminist, etc.)

Anyway, just curious what you all prefer.

[dr727]

Originally Posted by leonmarks

Thought I'd ask a general question that I've been curious about. What kind of information do you all prefer in disc commentaries? I've found myself preferring certain types of commentaries to others. My favorites are when the commentator watches and appreciates each scene like a friend watching the movie with you ("Look at that shot!" or "Here comes some snappy dialogue"). Eddie Muller used to be great at this. My least favorite are when the commentator literally reads an essay they wrote before recording - why not just publish an essay instead of recording a speech over the movie?! Anyway, it seems to me there are several kinds of information in a commentary:

- appreciation of scenes, shots, techniques
- behind the scenes - what happened during the production
- biographies of cast and crew
- academic critiques/interpretations (social, political, feminist, etc.)

Anyway, just curious what you all prefer.

1. I enjoy postmortems with the core creators behind a film—particularly older directors/cinematographers/editors revisiting their films years/decades later who are less hesitant to reveal their creative process as well as behind-the-scenes going-ons. It’s wonderful to hear the genesis of shots/scenes/dialogue. (And technical decisions as well, be it lenses/editing/scoring).

2. I equally enjoy critical analysis & observations. Deconstructing the film in real time. Hearing history about the creative team’s collaboration and how it relates to other films they created—the artistic through-lines. Also, contextualizing films in relationship to cinema history (and the era that a film was created).

[Jorvic]

Though I don't listen to commentaries that often – when I do, I prefer explanation of appreciation of scenes, shots, and techniques.

[jayrobb9]

Originally Posted by leonmarks

Thought I'd ask a general question that I've been curious about. What kind of information do you all prefer in disc commentaries? I've found myself preferring certain types of commentaries to others. My favorites are when the commentator watches and appreciates each scene like a friend watching the movie with you ("Look at that shot!" or "Here comes some snappy dialogue"). Eddie Muller used to be great at this. My least favorite are when the commentator literally reads an essay they wrote before recording - why not just publish an essay instead of recording a speech over the movie?! Anyway, it seems to me there are several kinds of information in a commentary:

- appreciation of scenes, shots, techniques
- behind the scenes - what happened during the production
- biographies of cast and crew
- academic critiques/interpretations (social, political, feminist, etc.)

Anyway, just curious what you all prefer.

Of the ones you listed, if they were 1-4, I'd vote for...

1, 4, 3, 2.

While I enjoy critical analysis, sometimes I think it goes way beyond thunderdome, and retroactive meaning can be applied where there may have been none intended to begin with. The flip side is that as someone who has directed, I know first hand that little of what creeps in to your story is there by accident, it all comes from SOMEWHERE.

Cast/crew bios in commentaries bore me. That's all stuff that is readily available elsewhere, and it almost always sounds like the commentator is just reading off a sheet.

Love hearing about behind the scenes details. Not necessarily scandal and gossip, but more how films came to be made, genesis, studio interference, those kind of things.

[filmlover22]

Originally Posted by leonmarks

Thought I'd ask a general question that I've been curious about. What kind of information do you all prefer in disc commentaries? I've found myself preferring certain types of commentaries to others. My favorites are when the commentator watches and appreciates each scene like a friend watching the movie with you ("Look at that shot!" or "Here comes some snappy dialogue"). Eddie Muller used to be great at this. My least favorite are when the commentator literally reads an essay they wrote before recording - why not just publish an essay instead of recording a speech over the movie?! Anyway, it seems to me there are several kinds of information in a commentary:

- appreciation of scenes, shots, techniques
- behind the scenes - what happened during the production
- biographies of cast and crew
- academic critiques/interpretations (social, political, feminist, etc.)

Anyway, just curious what you all prefer.

I always am fascinated that what some people love about this hobby, others hate. For example, I loathe the "friend watching the movie" commentary because I listen to commentaries to learn something. As for biographies, it depends, I really enjoy hearing the non-IMDB life stories about the cast/crew, how they got into movies, what happened to them after the film was made, etc. But someone just reading a list of IMDB credits? No, thank you.

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by jayrobb9

While I enjoy critical analysis, sometimes I think it goes way beyond thunderdome, and retroactive meaning can be applied where there may have been none intended to begin with. The flip side is that as someone who has directed, I know first hand that little of what creeps in to your story is there by accident, it all comes from SOMEWHERE.

Best Interview Question Ever - Steven Spielberg "Thank you for that." - YouTube

[Noir Black Schwarz]

Is there something wrong with the disc to The Sleeping City? The audio sounds like it is coming out of a garbage can as there's this piercing echoing sound on top of voices sounding muffled at times and characters mumble incomprehensibly from time to time. I can barely hear what is being said clearly and I've got my receiver nearly to full volume. At first I thought it was my receiver, but I checked other movies and they were all fine.

Suffice to say, this movie sucks. It's boring and being unable to properly hear the dialog made areas hard to follow. How did this pass quality control?

[Gunsnroses092789]

Originally Posted by Noir Black Schwarz

Is there something wrong with the disc to The Sleeping City? The audio sounds like it is coming out of a garbage can as there's this piercing echoing sound on top of voices sounding muffled at times and characters mumble incomprehensibly from time to time. I can barely hear what is being said clearly and I've got my receiver nearly to full volume. At first I thought it was my receiver, but I checked other movies and they were all fine.

Suffice to say, this movie sucks. It's boring and being unable to properly hear the dialog made areas hard to follow. How did this pass quality control?

Yeah, Kino messed up big time. They must DNRed it to hell because it does indeed sound like a zoom or Skype call. When I got it 2 years ago and brought it up, no one else noticed But it is indeed awful and ruined my viewing experience of the film. I would probably have watched it more if the audio was normal. There's a copy uploaded online of the film on a Russian site (I won't link) and the audio does not sound like that. It has a lot of hiss, but doesn't sound like it's coming from a tin can. Since no one really noticed it, it won't ever get fixed by Kino. The best thing we can hope for is that it appears in one of Indicator's Universal Noir sets with normal audio.

[Dailyan]

There's also the possibility Universal could of done it themselves. It's not uncommon that licensors will tweak their audio masters (for better or for worse...usually the latter). I can't imagine Kino doing additional work to a pre-supplied, pre-existing, HD master (unless it would be a bigger title) other than adding/timing subs and syncing the commentary.

[jayrobb9]

Originally Posted by koberulz

Best Interview Question Ever - Steven Spielberg "Thank you for that." - YouTube

I am an absolute Spielberg NUT, and never put two and two together on this.

It illustrated what I was getting at perfectly - it all comes from somewhere, where we know it or not.

Thanks so much for posting that vid. Great little insight.

edit: Of course the vid could also be used to illustrate the first part of my rant - retroactive meaning applied where none was intended. But in this case I doubt it

[Paul Fulci 001]

Originally Posted by Noir Black Schwarz

Is there something wrong with the disc to The Sleeping City? The audio sounds like it is coming out of a garbage can as there's this piercing echoing sound on top of voices sounding muffled at times and characters mumble incomprehensibly from time to time. I can barely hear what is being said clearly and I've got my receiver nearly to full volume. At first I thought it was my receiver, but I checked other movies and they were all fine.

Suffice to say, this movie sucks. It's boring and being unable to properly hear the dialog made areas hard to follow. How did this pass quality control?

I find audio quality varies on a lot of discs. Some are great, others have low dialogue.
Sometimes I have to crank up the soundbar at least to 70% for films like Casablanca for example.