Third Window Films Discussion Thread

[MarcusZoller]

Thanks all. Got a £50 Amazon gift card from work yesterday so decided to take advantage of the 3 for £20 offer plus a couple of others. 8 in total for £3.98. Took some advice from all of you and ordered:

Tokyo Fist
Lesson of Evil
Kotoko
Han Gong-Ju
Confessions
Greatful Dead
Cold Fish
Love Exposure

[Ste7en]

Good times ahead for you

[Ben_C]

Watched The Woodsman and the Rain yesterday. Nice little film, and definitely recommended if you want an inoffensive, humorous yet poignant Japanese drama.
Probably my favourite bit was when

[Show spoiler]Katsuhiko's relatives came to the village, and every resident they passed by on their way to the house were zombies

.

[BarnDoor]

Anyone know if Amazon are still shipping Tokyo Fist and Bullet Ballet with slips? I should have gone direct but the store is closed now, and apparently is unlikely to open again before September due to 'shipping problems'.

[Dougling]

Originally Posted by BarnDoor

Anyone know if Amazon are still shipping Tokyo Fist and Bullet Ballet with slips? I should have gone direct but the store is closed now, and apparently is unlikely to open again before September due to 'shipping problems'.

I know Tokyo Fist was restocked to Amazon without slips as that was mentioned earlier in the thread so that one has gone. No idea on Bullet Ballet.

[Cinematt]

Originally Posted by Dougling

I know Tokyo Fist was restocked to Amazon without slips as that was mentioned earlier in the thread so that one has gone. No idea on Bullet Ballet.

The copies of Bullet Ballet I saw in Fopp were without slips on BD, but still had them on DVD. I suspect you'll be lucky to get a slip from amazon.

[KrugerIndustrial]

No slip for A Snake of June from Amazon, for those interested.

[Fnord Prefect]

Originally Posted by Pikylechu

The only issue that I have with slipcovers is that if they get even a little bit dog-eared or crumpled, then they start to look like crap. The same with belly bands, and the infuriating j-cards that are stuck to the back of steelbooks using that crappy glue stuff, and cover the top and bottom so you have to remove them to open the case.

I keep all these things within reason, but I've thrown at least a couple of slips and j-cards out purely because of shelf damage wrecking their corners and making them look ugly on the shelf.

Originally Posted by Shingster

For the life of me I will never understand why distributors persist in creating J-cards at the size they do instead of making them small enough to simple remove and place inside the steelbook itself. Common sense solution for those who want to keep them.

J-cards are meant to be disposable and not actually part of the packaging. I take them off put them in the same cardboard file I keep my other j cards and Obi banners (sorry as a record collector I can't bring myself to call them belly bands) and within seconds forget they even exist.

[Eibon]

Yes they're pretty worthless as they serve only to indicate contents of the pack, however I find them useful to wrap around the booklet if there's one included. It means not having to make decision to bin it; it protects the corners of the booklet and reduces the indent caused by those insert clips and it's kept for any resale. Buying CDs in Japan, you'd be surprised how many people keep the obi strip inside the booklet even though it has no purpose after cellophane is removed. However it's nice to have if you're buying s/h as collectors would consider it incomplete without. OCD is a universal issue.

[Pikylechu]

That's actually shocking. Have you put in a complaint?

[Ste7en]

I think the problem is that warehouse/fulfilment staff just don't give a shit.

Once something is wrapped in the mailer it isn't their problem any more.

[Cinematt]

Originally Posted by Futurhythm

On an another note, has Cold Fish gone out of print?

I've got a feeling TWF said earlier in this thread that Cold Fish was low stock but they still had the rights and it was going to get a re-press.

[Havok-San]

Originally Posted by Futurhythm

[IMG]
I don't even know why I bother with Amazon UK anymore. The side of the mailer was completely open too. I'm surprised nothing fell out.

You're not alone. I haven't received a single item in decent shape. We're not talking bent slipcovers, here and there. We're talking empty boxes, because they opened in transit. We're talking items that look like they were thrown into a grinder. We're talking opened wrappers and snapped discs oh my.

[Show spoiler]

As you can tell by the image, I'm pretty sure Amazon hires dogs with razor blades to save money on warehouse workers.

[Havok-San]

Originally Posted by Futurhythm

There's absolutely no work around either. I thought putting in large orders might help, but on the several occasions I have, they've been split up and sent in those damn mailers. I'm glad that most of the premium UK releases I want are from studios I can buy from directly. Unfortunately, there'll always be nice editions I can only buy from Amazon, and it'll always be a gamble, and I'll always end up losing so I've pretty much given up on those.

I know all of this, so well. Damn. I've taken to purchasing multiple copies of stuff that's extremely important to me. Seems to be my only fix. Of course, then I'm stuck playing the resale game, or returning tons of things. It's a stressful thing when the majority of my life is movies. I guess I shouldn't be so picky, and I've gotten better about movies/games that aren't as sentimental to me. Still craziness.

I will give tons of credit to Amazon.co.jp, though. They've sent me tons of things in absolutely pristine condition. I had ONE item packaged poorly, and they replaced it within two days to the states. I wish I had more items to order from them, after every single positive experience I've had.

Here's hoping that it changes in the future for you. Keep contacting them, keep leaving packaging reviews. I've noticed some packages coming in recently ACTUALLY BOXED AND PROTECTED. Had a heart attack. Maybe change is coming.

[Dougling]

I find it so weird that I've never had anything badly damaged from Amazon. Sometimes you'll get a slight dent on the top corner of a slip but that's the most. Other people seem to have constant problems, but I can't for the life of me work out how that happens based on law of averages. I wonder somehow if it depends on who delivers it, but the fact that it's already damaged inside the Amazon packaging is what confuses me.

[logboy]

Originally Posted by Dougling

I find it so weird that I've never had anything badly damaged from Amazon. Sometimes you'll get a slight dent on the top corner of a slip but that's the most. Other people seem to have constant problems, but I can't for the life of me work out how that happens based on law of averages. I wonder somehow if it depends on who delivers it, but the fact that it's already damaged inside the Amazon packaging is what confuses me.

more than one amazon fulfilment centres in the UK?

[Ste7en]

Originally Posted by Cinematt

I've got a feeling TWF said earlier in this thread that Cold Fish was low stock but they still had the rights and it was going to get a re-press.

It'd be nice if the new one came with a slip... so I'd have an excuse to double dip

[whedon]

Amazon standards have gone to hell, the number of items I have received badly damaged has got to the point that I now expect to have to contact them when I make an order. Add in the dozens of missing orders, usually shipped with Ascendia and the packages that come with items missing and it's incredibly annoying, especially when you consider how poor their UK customer service has gotten. I have to contact them so often that I fear that they may ban my account as a result.

[Dougling]

Originally Posted by Futurhythm

I really only specifically have problems with Amazon UK. My few experiences with the European Amazons have been okay. Japan is always good, but they have been slipping lately. USA is hit or miss; it's either really good, or piss poor.

I assume that warehouse staff don't know/care if what they're packing is for a local order or international. While stuff being sent domestically might survive their poor packaging standards, stuff being sent overseas definitely won't. I don't know who they use to ship domestic orders with, but unless I pay for Express which uses UPS, I'll either get Royal Mail or Asendia. I'm more than happy to put money on Asendia being absolutely horrible. Every order I get shipped from them arrives in the worst shape possible.

Admittedly I don't know if the stuff is packed in one big warehouse and then sent to the fulfilment centres, or if it's packed in the centres themselves. I've had hundreds (possibly thousands) of items delivered from Amazon over the years via both Royal Mail and Logistics (these are just people who drive around and deliver stuff, pretty sure they're all private agents) and never had any major problems.

I've got a friend who has had his packages seemingly opened before but that tends to be with his Logistics deliveries, which may not be the same ones delivering mine, but my office (I don't get stuff delivered to home as people seem to struggle finding the letter box even though it's on the wall next to the house number) is a few minutes from his house so I presumed it would be the same.

I'm not in any way defending Amazon, I've got a few beefs with them for other reasons, I just find it interesting that people get consistent issues with deliveries and I don't get any.

[GasmaskAvenger]

Not too terribly worried about Tetsuo: The Bullet Man now as I finally secured a copy of the original Japanese blu-ray through a Japanese Amazon.co.uk seller based in Japan...for shipment to the States.

Convoluted, yes, but it was cheapest option in my entire time trying to buy this damn movie (Didn't want the German blu-ray, to be blunt).