Godzilla in the Criterion Collection?!

[omgitsgodzilla]

Yeah. It's like what some bands do from time to time, they've got an album that's pretty much totally honest and from the heart and THEM, but it might not make a ton of money so they pretty up a couple of songs for the radio to help their sales and help them keep making music. It's a little bit of a cop-out, but it serves a purpose.

[Rody]

I'm not very familiar with how to recognize the levels of quality in video. Could someone give some comparison shots between the Classic Media release and the Criterion release?

[G-Matt]

I'm not very familiar with how to recognize the levels of quality in video. Could someone give some comparison shots between the Classic Media release and the Criterion release?

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview ... review.htm

[omgitsgodzilla]

Basic things to look for:

Color - Wide ranges of well-balanced colors are ideal, if it's a color film. Bright colors should be bright, more muted ones should be less so. The video should appear neither too light nor too dark.

State of the source - If taken from a film print, there should be little in the way of dirt (speckles or spots on the picture), scratches (vertical lines), jitter (picture shaking up and down) or other damage (splice marks, etc.).

Detail - How much can you see in the picture? Do fine details seem to blur? In HD video taken from film, look for grain. On later-generation prints, grain can be unsightly, but earlier prints should have a small amount of visible grain - noticeable, but not distracting. If you can see the grain, you're probably getting the maximum possible detail that can translate from the source to what you are watching. If you don't see the grain on something taken from film, it has probably undergone digital noise reduction, which gets rid of grain, but compromises the detail. Simply put, in video from film sources, grain is detail.

I'm no expert, but that's a good start as far as I know.

[g2kmaster]

I was just thinking... too bad Criterion wouldn't release WOTG and MZ as one set. Meaning, they somehow recreate the grindhouse-esque double feature of the two films. I'd buy that.

[omgitsgodzilla]

That would be cool, but ironically, even Grindhouse can't get a release like that.

[Tyler]

That would be cool, but ironically, even Grindhouse can't get a release like that.

Planet Terror and Death Proof were released together on Blu-ray with all the fake trailers.

[omgitsgodzilla]

...DAMN it, TV Tropes article! -shakes fist- Damn, I'm messing a lot of facts up lately.

[Goji]

In fact, the theatrical version of GRINDHOUSE got a DVD release in Japan years ago. For whatever reason, it never made it's way over here.

/derailment.

[Tyler]

Grindhouse on Blu
http://www.amazon.com/Grindhouse-Two-Di ... 876&sr=1-1

[Proofpoochie]

In fact, the theatrical version of GRINDHOUSE got a DVD release in Japan years ago. For whatever reason, it never made it's way over here.

/derailment.

???

It came out on Blu-ray 2 years ago. I have it.

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Grindhouse-Blu-ray/13607/

[Goji]

I was talking about a DVD release. I'm well aware of the Blu-ray.

[Proofpoochie]

I was talking about a DVD release. I'm well aware of the Blu-ray.

I don't see the point in a DVD release. The film is over 3 hours long. It would be heavily compressed.

[Goji]

*shrugs* Well there was a DVD release, it just wasn't here. It's entirely possible the feature itself was spread out between several disks, but I personally know nothing about it except for the fact that it exists.

The topic is horribly off topic right now..

[g2kmaster]

For the record, Canada did get a DVD release of the double feature version of GRINDHOUSE at the same time we got that blu-ray linked above.

Though back on topic, the only other title I can think of which CM owns which needs a real restoration is Rodan. Heck, I would think the film is "important" enough to be released. Heck, highest grossing science fiction film at the time and all that jazz.

Other than the two I have mentioned, I'd rather have Criterion release some other, non-kaiju titles...

[Daikaiju]

War of the Gargantuas would be a good Blu ray release, I wonder how long we have to wait for that?

[g2kmaster]

War of the Gargantuas would be a good Blu ray release, I wonder how long we have to wait for that?

Write Criterion. If they get enough of a response to think that it would be a proffitable venture, they could make it happen. After all, wasn't GODZILLA one of the highest selling Criterion titles of all time? No doubt if they thought they would be similar numbers, they'd at least consider it. Like I said, It would be great if Criterion released a version of WOTG and MZ which restored the US double feature experience.

[Tamura]

^ It would be great if Criterion could, at the very least, properly restore the US version of MONSTER ZERO.

[Goji]

I'm curious, where did the news first break about GODZILLA being one of Critereon's best sellers? (I originally heard it had the most pre-orders ever for the compay, though Imagined it was some kind of exaggeration). I've never seen a source for any of this stuff.

I agree, Tamura. The changes CM made to MONSTER ZERO are actually pretty obnoxious, on top of the sub par picture.

[Tamura]

There's absolutely no doubt it sold like hotcakes, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence that it was Criterion's best seller or most highly pre-ordered movie.

It seems that CM has put "updated" versions of their imperfect US version presentations on Netflix. MONSTER ZERO has the opening titles properly stretched to Tohoscope (unfortunately, everything else wrong with the reconstruction is retained), GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS! has the Trans World logo added back (matted, though), and the prologue to TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA, already matted to 1.78:1 from a pan-n-scan fullscreen print, has been stretched to the main feature's monstrously wide aspect ratio of 2.57:1.

What I would like more than anything is for all the Toho Classic Medias to revert back to Toho, to be sold/leased to another company like Criterion or Synapse, etc.