280 The Sword of Doom
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
The trailer is a new addition as well.
- Shrew
- The Untamed One
- Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:22 am
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
I'm really glad to get the Prince commentary, just to have more background on this fantastic film. I've no problem with the paying the small extra cost.
This is up there with The Browning Version for unappreciated gems in the collection (very different kinds of films of course!) I think it's one of their best releases, if just because I would have never found it outside of Criterion and would have dismissed it as the sort of samurai genre trash the English title makes it sound like (and it is genre trash, but the very best kind).
This is up there with The Browning Version for unappreciated gems in the collection (very different kinds of films of course!) I think it's one of their best releases, if just because I would have never found it outside of Criterion and would have dismissed it as the sort of samurai genre trash the English title makes it sound like (and it is genre trash, but the very best kind).
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
- EddieLarkin
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
I had hoped we wouldn't see a return to these sort of upgrades of the Japanese titles, where Criterion merely reuse an overly sharpened and contrasty DVD master. Bad enough to do it in 2011, worse to carry on doing it in 2015. Perhaps they suspect a new transfer never being struck by the Japanese, though this isn't always the case as we saw with Harakiri, which came out at the same time in both territories, with MoC using a brand new and vastly superior transfer to Criterion's old DVD source.
- dwk
- Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
Harakiri had two advantages over The Sword of Doom, the Miike remake and being owned by Shochiku, who have shown more of an interest in creating new HD masters than Toho has.
- aox
- Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:02 pm
- Location: nYc
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
That's so incredibly disappointing.
- tenia
- Ask Me About My Bassoon
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
It makes me wonder : why re-releasing a movie without a new transfer and not a real editorial upgrade such as Sword of Doom rather than releasing either a new title or choose one where the upgrade is clearer ?EddieLarkin wrote:I had hoped we wouldn't see a return to these sort of upgrades of the Japanese titles, where Criterion merely reuse an overly sharpened and contrasty DVD master. Bad enough to do it in 2011, worse to carry on doing it in 2015. Perhaps they suspect a new transfer never being struck by the Japanese, though this isn't always the case as we saw with Harakiri, which came out at the same time in both territories, with MoC using a brand new and vastly superior transfer to Criterion's old DVD source.
There are plenty of movies with new restorations awaiting to be ugraded by Criterion, but no, they upgrade Sword of Doom by using a 10 years-old master.
Moreoever, it's even more frustating to see this "upgrade" not being lower-tier-priced despite only having an audio commentary as significant extra. And of course, it's not coming with a booklet but a leaflet.
I was quite impatient to see this BD coming on, because I believe this movie (as many Gosha movies) really deserves a proper upgrade, but am now wondering if I should instead cancel my pre-order (and will probably do it).
- EddieLarkin
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
I was thinking the same thing. Why wait until 2015 to upgrade this title when they could have presumably done it at any time over the last 6 years? If it's really that hard to fit it on the schedule, why even bother with such a basic upgrade? Better to wait until 2020 or 2025 by which time the Japanese will probably have something better to license, or there will be an increased chance of being able to do your own transfer. It's not like many were begging to buy this again, so why offer so little over the DVD (well, maybe I just answered my own question)?
- movielocke
- Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
The DVD was probably getting a new batch ordered, so they figured do the bluray as well? It was probably scheduled while they were still doing dualformat.EddieLarkin wrote:I was thinking the same thing. Why wait until 2015 to upgrade this title when they could have presumably done it at any time over the last 6 years? If it's really that hard to fit it on the schedule, why even bother with such a basic upgrade? Better to wait until 2020 or 2025 by which time the Japanese will probably have something better to license, or there will be an increased chance of being able to do your own transfer. It's not like many were begging to buy this again, so why offer so little over the DVD (well, maybe I just answered my own question)?
- manicsounds
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:58 pm
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
- Telstar
- Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:35 pm
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
Curious how different Svet and Gary's takes seem to be on this.
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- Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
Not really, I don't think Gary notices half the stuff Svet does.
- Telstar
- Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:35 pm
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
True, but considering that Gary seems to have done a direct comparison of the new blu-ray with the old dvd, it's a little strange to me that he sounded so enthusiastic about the "improvements."Orlac wrote:Not really, I don't think Gary notices half the stuff Svet does.
- aox
- Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:02 pm
- Location: nYc
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
Anyone get the BD and take a look at it? I found a copy for $22 so I picked it up, but haven't had a chance to review it. I'm hoping the new commentary will be worth it if nothing else.
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- Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:33 am
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
The new commentary is very good, but applied sparingly. That is, Prince isn't interested in anything except the main plot of the psycho swordsman played by Nakadai. So whenever he hits a patch of sub-plot where Nakadai is not involved he goes silent (but he does tell us where his comments will kick in again (e.g. "Skip ahead to Chapter Eleven.")). Nonetheless, I found the upgrade worthwhile.aox wrote:Anyone get the BD and take a look at it? I found a copy for $22 so I picked it up, but haven't had a chance to review it. I'm hoping the new commentary will be worth it if nothing else.
- teddyleevin
- Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 8:25 pm
- Location: New York City
- Contact:
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
If the audio commentary is that sparse, I feel like it warrants a different label in marketing materials (like "select scene commentary"). Is there a precedence for this? I feel cheated, because I have such a soft spot for Prince.
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
It was more common in the earlier days of commentaries. I think the I Am Curious films had a similar arrangement where they'd helpfully tell you to skip ahead to Chapter X for the next burst of commentary. Which is vastly preferable to incredibly sparse commentaries that don't include such helpful signposts and you end up sitting through awkward quarter-hour silences waiting for the commentator to wake up / come back from the toilet.teddyleevin wrote:If the audio commentary is that sparse, I feel like it warrants a different label in marketing materials (like "select scene commentary"). Is there a precedence for this? I feel cheated, because I have such a soft spot for Prince.
- CSM126
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:22 am
- Location: The Room
- Contact:
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
The Night on Earth commentary does the same thing.
- Roger Ryan
- Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:04 pm
- Location: A Midland town spread and darkened into a city
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
And doesn't Criterion normally provide chapters for the commentary tracks? That way, once one chunk of commentary has completed, you can simply select the next chapter to skip ahead.
- aox
- Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:02 pm
- Location: nYc
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
Just a heads up: only 6 out of 24 chapters (including the color bars) do not have Prince's commentary, and there is a helpful Index in the commentary menu that not only tells you which chapters don't have the commentary, but what each chapter's subject is about.
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- Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
Comparison with new German BD - http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?d1=9041&d2=9040&c=3654" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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- Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2018 5:34 am
Re: 280 The Sword of Doom
Finally got around to picking this up and honestly I can kind of see both points with the transfer. The sharpening/contrast being turned up quite high does make the grain a bit intrusive in a few scenes, most obviously in the opening scene with a lot of sky in it but overall I think the films mostly dark and contrast heavy nature is well suited to it in lieu of there being a superior transfer on offer.
Don't think much of that German release from the above link, looks like the sharpness and contrast are cranked up even higher to the degree grain is obvious in far more shots.
Don't think much of that German release from the above link, looks like the sharpness and contrast are cranked up even higher to the degree grain is obvious in far more shots.