175 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

[swo17]

The review doesn't mention if the 5.1 track has been 'corrected' or not, compared to the DVD release.

Chris says that it has been corrected.

[editman]

Anyone else having problems with Oscar Zeta Acosta's reading of The Revolt of the Cockroach People on the blu? Mine starts pixelating at 27 minutes 56 seconds throughout the end. I checked the DVD version and it plays fine. No problem with the film or any other supplements on the blu either, so I wonder if it's a mastering problem or just my rotten luck of getting a bad copy.

[swo17]

I don't think I see any pixelation on mine. There are some horizontal white lines that flash over the image occasionally, though this happens throughout the whole segment and I assume it's inherent in the source.

[tachyonEvan]

How do big HST fans/readers of the book feel about this film? I haven't seen it in a few years, though I saw the B&N sale as an excuse to get the blu-ray and give it another shot (which I haven't done yet). I must admit, I've really never been as big a fan of this film as other people seem to be. I don't know if that's because HST's writing was so important to me in my teenage years and am too much of a "purist" or what. My main criticism is that segments of it are overlong without much going on. Lots of strengths, and I think the acting performances are tremendous, but it also suffers from meandering and weaknesses that I consider uncharacteristic of Gilliam's work.

I think it's a GOOD film, by all accounts. It just seems to get a lot of praise from the general public, who I assume aren't especially familiar with Gilliam/HST's work and see it as "a trippy drug movie with Johnny Depp in it!" The fact that middle-schoolers in my city started saying "Too weird to live, much too rare to die" and other Gonzo-isms thanks to that stupid Avenged Sevenfold song didn't help my perception of the mainstream audience of this film.

Not that I would let other people's perception of the film ruin my appreciation of it - maybe this whole point is moot and useless. I'm just curious.

[Finch]

4K upgrade in June:


DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Terry Gilliam, presented in the aspect ratio of 2.39:1, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack
One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
Three audio commentaries: one with Gilliam, one with actors Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro and producer Laila Nabulsi, and one with author Hunter S. Thompson
Deleted scenes, with optional commentary by Gilliam
Selection of Thompson correspondence, read on camera by Depp
Hunter Goes to Hollywood, a short documentary
Program about the controversy over the screenwriting credit
Profile of Oscar Zeta Acosta, the inspiration for Dr. Gonzo
Collection of artwork by illustrator Ralph Steadman
Excerpt from a 1996 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas audio recording featuring filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and actor Maury Chaykin
Documentary from 1978 featuring Thompson and Steadman
Storyboards, production designs, stills, and trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: An essay by critic J. Hoberman and two pieces by Thompson

Cover illustration by Ralph Steadman

[beamish14]

PBS produced a solid documentary on Oscar Zeta Acosta that would’ve been a nice new supplement. He was an incredible activist and writer, and I don’t blame him for being incredibly pissed over how Thompson depicted him in his book

[Drucker]

Appears to lose this supplement which I've always loved:

Documentary from 1978 featuring Thompson and Steadman

[CSM126]

Appears to lose this supplement which I've always loved:

Documentary from 1978 featuring Thompson and Steadman

… it’s still there

[Drucker]

I stand corrected!

[onedimension]

Why has Terry Gilliam become the go-to for Criterion on 4K UHD?

I'm not complaining, but is there a reason? Sales numbers, contractual agreement, transfer quality,... He's neck and neck with Scorsese

[ryannichols7]

Why has Terry Gilliam become the go-to for Criterion on 4K UHD?

I'm not complaining, but is there a reason? Sales numbers, contractual agreement, transfer quality,... He's neck and neck with Scorsese

truthfully, as someone who is a big fan of Brazil and pretty here and there on his other output - I don't really think he has anything else going on right now, and it's known that his movies are huge money losers at the box office. however, considering his films are popular and do sell well, I'm not surprised Criterion (and Arrow too!) have probably been pushed to get these out, possibly for financial need..

[therewillbeblus]

It's not much fun to give the obvious answer, but I suspect people above my pay-grade are counting numbers, not just with old Gilliam releases but UHD sales. Unfortunately there's a small sample size, but I have to imagine Baron Munchausen must've been a strong seller, and if The Red Shoes was flying off the shelves, we'd probably be getting more Archers upgrades instead.

The more interesting answer is that popular audiences, who've always been entranced by the medium's possibilities for fantasy, have increasingly gravitated towards the surrealist bend on fantasy as reflective of their own existential and isolated troubles. Mass audiences began connecting with Charlie Kaufman a while ago, and last year the Oscars were swept by a surrealistic-fantasy, existential dramedy... Seems like Gilliam would be a safe bet right now, even if I agree that he's not one of the more exciting filmmakers to have their canon boosted first (and I basically like all his movies in the collection, so it's not exactly a complaint!)

Per usual, I'm curious if Arrow is the way to go on an upgrade, simply based on who does the encoding and the supplements?

[tenia]

Not sure about some of his other movies, but Fear and Loathing always seemed to me like a big seller on video, and Time Bandits looks like it's not a bad one either. I certainly wouldn't say that about, say, Tideland. However, I'd suppose 12 Monkeys would also sell well.

Theatrical crowd at T0 isn't the same crowd than the video one 30 years later (and I suppose the expected sales aren't either).

[dwk]

This title was, and probably still is, Criterion's best selling DVD. Safe to assume that Gilliam's other films are also solid sellers for Criterion, but I wonder if Sony pushed for quick UHD releases of the Gilliam titles they licensed to Criterion.

[dwk]

MifuneFan over at the Blu-ray.com forum emailed Criterion about the transfer (as the caps on Criterion's site look different than caps of Arrow's master) and confirmed that they are not using Arrow's master.

[therewillbeblus]

Deleted and moved to Arrow's thread to consolidate discussion