StudioCanal Kurosawa RAN Blu-ray

[jamal2]

This release is going to make all of us so sad for what could have been (the Criterion release).

[repete66211]

Originally Posted by jamal2

This release is going to make all of us so sad for what could have been (the Criterion release).

+1 I would have paid $40 for Criterion Ran on Blu-ray and I'm a cheapskate.

[singhcr]

Why would a studio release a foreign film in a US market without English subtitles?

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by repete66211

+1 I would have paid $40 for Criterion Ran on Blu-ray and I'm a cheapskate.

Me too.

[GGX]

Originally Posted by jamal2

This release is going to make all of us so sad for what could have been (the Criterion release).

Agreed! I am willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a proper Criterion release of this film on Blu-ray.

[Subtitle]

I tired to get information from Amazon.com and Amazon.ca about the subtitles to no avail. Amazon.com only lists French & Spanish subtitles and indicates that the product is dubbed. Amazon.ca doesn't provide any useful product information. Grrrrr.

[steve_dave]

Ran will be presented in DTS-HD Master Audio Japanese, English, Spanish, French, and German. Subtitle options include English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish.

As I said before Lionsgate is releasing US versions of the UK Blu-ray Discs with slightly different packaging. All the extras including the 20 page booklet will be included.

The same goes for the other Studio Canal Collection titles: The Ladykillers and Contempt.

As for the French HD DVD of Ran, it omitted English subtitles to prevent cross-importing. In fact, a lot of French release do not include English subtitles for films and even go so far as to present French Subtitles with no option to remove them for the original language track.

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by singhcr

Why would a studio release a foreign film in a US market without English subtitles?

Exactly. It's *going* to have English subs. Lionsgate isn't going to release a Japanese movie in the US without them.

[jboss]

I can definitely confirm this disc has English subs as well as Japanese DTS-MA 5.1 and 2.0 soundtracks. I posted this in the Criterion thread, but it's probably more topical here:


I just got Ran in the mail from the UK (which will undoubtedly be the exact disc Lionsgate is releasing - If you choose USA as your country, it plays the Lionsgate logo). It's pretty rough looking. It's amongst the worst looking titles in my 150-strong blu collection. It looks like an upscale, honestly. It has a very digital look to it, and the noise in the picture looks like digital compression artifacts rather than film grain. It's probably not an upscale, but I have a feeling that this was a transfer made several years ago for DVD and was never intended for high definition release, and it shows. I'd like to see a side by side between this and the upscaled Criterion DVD - I'd expect only marginal improvements.

Strangely enough, the disc defaults to the English dub, which from the 10 seconds I listened to it sounded expectedly silly.

On the positive side, the disc does have two Japanese audio tracks - a DTS-MA 5.1 track and a DTS-MA 2.0 track. I also really dig the packaging and it seems to have a bunch of special features.

Here are the thoughts of someone more qualified than me on the matter:
http://www.avforums.com/movies/index...diareview=9888

Regarding this "Studio Canal Collection", I like the idea that another studio is going to have a collection of foreign and non-mainstream films like Criterion and MoC, but Studio Canal/Lionsgate doesn't appear to be putting in the same effort as the aforementioned studios.

And it's a real shame that this film was yanked away from Criterion right before release as we know it would have gotten fantastic treatment. Even though there were complaints about Kagemusha's PQ, similar quality would have been quite an upgrade over this disc.

To be fair though, to my knowledge the other releases in the Studio Canal Collection have been good so far with the exception of The Deer Hunter. The main audio track on the Studio Canal Collection release of The Deer Hunter is pitched up too far, which was also an issue on the Australian release of this film (which is what I have). Hopefully by the time that film hits the US (probably from Universal), this will be corrected.

[HumanMedia]

Originally Posted by bboisvert

Exactly. It's *going* to have English subs. Lionsgate isn't going to release a Japanese movie in the US without them.

Yep. Not even "going to" as it ALREADY HAS English subs. The exact disc has been out for months outside the USA.

[cinema_forever19]

There has not been one foriegn language movie that I've seen in the US that doesn't have English subtitles.

[Deciazulado]

Ran Blu-ray Review

[P@t_Mtl]

The review make's me feel a little better. No where near as bad as I tought it would be.

[repete66211]

Yeah, I'm not happy about the PQ. This is one of my favorite movies. I am not preordering it and I certainly won't pay more than $20 for it, but I am about 100% sure I will buy it at some point.

[GGX]

Originally Posted by jamal2

This release is going to make all of us so sad for what could have been (the Criterion release).

Indeed. Its killing me!

[Russell_L]

Originally Posted by GGX

Indeed. Its killing me!

Me too. All the reviews I've seen (here, DVD Beaver, and DVD Talk) have expressed disappointment with the PQ, and many of the screen caps show horrific levels of EE. Yet I will still probably get this disc, as everyone says that it still looks better than the Criterion DVD. (I had the Criterion but sold it after hearing that they were going to issue it on Blu, only to be disappointed later when they lost the rights--I probably would have kept it.)

Frankly, I think there should be a 'Gladiator'-type uprising over how this film was treated on Blu, but I know that will never happen......

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by Russell_L

Yet I will still probably get this disc...

As will I, but not at $26.99. No way, no day. Maybe when it's sub $20.

[borninusa]

Well...at least it was said it probably surpasses any other released version of it. That makes me feel a bit better. I am going to get it. Looks to be a Criterion day come Tuesday

[momaw]

So is the review confirming that Lionsgate has done a complete new transfer and then packaged it up with the exact same features and down to the exact same artwork as the Studio Canal blu-ray or by surpasses other versions is he referring to the other foreign releases (France, Germany, Spain) which were also not very good?

I am extremely sceptical of a new print. Until it is confirmed that this print is in fact better than the Studio Canal print, I'll be holding off. How hard would it have been to say they have done a new print and it is better than the Studio Canal print? Would clear up a lot of confusion. The fact such a simple statement wasn't made doesn't change my belief this is probably just a port.

[momaw]

Originally Posted by borninusa

Well...at least it was said it probably surpasses any other released version of it. That makes me feel a bit better. I am going to get it. Looks to be a Criterion day come Tuesday

He says's he believe's it surpasses other versions, which leads me to conclude that is a guess and not a comparison. Not very useful for those of us looking for an upgrade on SC release