Casino: 10th Anniversary Edition 14th june (1 Viewer)

[BennyD]

We sat down and watched this last night after my local theater lied to us about Batman Begins showtimes on their website and we missed our screening.

Picture Quality looked great on a 62" DLP. The sound quality was pretty good but seemed to be a bit front-driven though considering the movie this is probably as intended. Haven't had a change to review the extras yet.

 

[Frank@N]

I think what's being addressed here is a 'perceived value' issue.

'Casino AE' can be had now at most retail locations for around $15 plus tax.

This was the price I found at my local WalMart today.

For that same $17 total, I recall purchasing 'Raging Bull SE' week-one which came in a paper slipcase, paper foldout trays with huge pictures and quotes, two discs with art, and a cool booklet.

That was a great effort by MGM considering that the previous version was not 16x9 and everyone would have bought it anyway.

For the same $17 total, 'Goodfellas SE' came on two discs (albeit minimal packaging), but this set also provided the first 16x9 release of the film on DVD.

Now comes 'Casino AE' which already had a 16x9 release and is now only somewhat improved (PQ, but not SQ) on a DVD-18 'flipper'.

So here's the $17 breakdown (with previous releases and current product in mind):

Raging Bull SE: totally worth it, IMHO.
Goodfellas SE: worth it, IMHO.
Casino AE: not worth it, IMHO.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I'm a fan of cool packaging, but not of putting stuff on multiple discs just to make it look like "more". If it fits on one disc with no loss in quality, put it on one disc and give me another printed insert or something where the 2nd disc would go. If you want a ton of discs with every release, go back to laserdisc

 

[Nathan V]

Can someone talk in more detail about the "commentary?" Does it run the full length of the film? Who does the majority of the talking?

 

[Vincent_P]

Anchor Bay had lots of problems with some of their single-sided disc releases a while back. Dario Argento's OPERA and THE CAT O' NINE TAILS, and Michael Lehman's HEATHERS come to mind. Had something to do with the laquer used in the manufacture of the discs- some of these DVDs would have defects immediately, and others would at first play flawlessly and later develop the problems over time, with the disc eventually being rendered unplayable. AB even set up an exchange program to deal with the problem.

As for the release in question, while I tend to prefer 2-disc sets myself, I'd never NOT buy a title I wanted just because it was a dual-sided release. I picked up CASINO yesterday and am quite happy with it. To my eyes on my video projector, the image quality is superb, and the extras are really quite informative, too. Good stuff all around.

Vincent

 

[Jefferson Morris]

Is that on there? My copy is still in transit, so I won't be able to see it until Monday at the earliest.

I remember reading the press about the problems the MPAA had with that scene. Some speculated that Scorsese made the original version of the scene intensely gruesome in order to make the rest of the violence in the film look relatively tame. This would have the dual effect of making the MPAA less likely to find fault with the rest of the film, and making Scorsese appear conciliatory by cutting a scene that he never really intended to make so bloody in the first place.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Doug Schiller]

I heard that also, the problem is, the scene is cut so it is obvious that something is missing.
You see Pesci turn the vice, then a quick cut away, then him saying, "You made me pop your eye out for so and so???"
It looks like they made that cut late in the process. It could have been smoother.

 

[PeterTHX]

There's more cuts.
The guy in the car: he's hacked with something and then smothered in the bag. Suddenly he has a gash in his head and slumps foward. Looks like they cut the additional hack to the top of the skull. It's rather abrupt.
Another has to be the baseball bat scene. There's a couple "rough" looking cuts in an otherwise beautifully edited film.

BTW: The new transfer is magnificent. Probably will show up on HBO-HD or Showtime HD the same way "Goodfellas" did shortly after the remastered DVD release.

 

[Felix Martinez]

I looked for this as well. MIA in all the supps. Not even a mention in the featurette on editing the film with Thelma Schoonmaker. Otherwise a great disc!

 

[Vincent_P]

In the "commentary", Scorsese discusses a more explicit version of the eye-popping, but his commentary makes it seem like he cut it back early on, after an early rough-cut test audience screening of the film. I've heard rumors that a longer version of the eye-popping exists in overseas editions, but have not seen any import editions of CASINO myself to confirm.

And PeterTHX:

Do you have actual evidence that the scenes you mention suffered MPAA-imposed cuts, or are you just extrapolating that because you personally feel that the scenes look like they might have been cut? Myself, the only scene in CASINO that screamed "possible MPAA edit!" to me was the eye-popping. The two scenes you mention don't look truncated to me at all.

Vincent

 

[Anthony Thorne]

Both of the cuts mentioned by PeterTHX seem (and have always seemed to me) like deliberate stylistic choices rather than cuts imposed on the movie from outside. I could be wrong but they seem in keeping with the stylistic freedom Scorsese has allowed himself in most of his productions.

I have the new CASINO disc and am very happy with it. I like the transfer and have enjoyed the extras that I've sampled so far. Eric Peterson, did the double-sided discs that were problematic for you prove to be unplayable on multiple players? I was having some disc problems recently and shelved my 4 y.o Pioneer player for a new and current model - it solved my disc problems pretty quickly.

 

[Paul.S]

I don't care for the menu music in that IMO it's not appropriately period. It feels much too contempo/Ocean's 11. I would have preferred a medley of snippets from the myriad of 70s pop songs on the s'track.

Hell why not even be really grand and use "Matthew's Passion" on the movie side and the Georges Delerue on the flip.

-p

 

[Eric Peterson]

For those of you who ignored my worries about DVD-18s, and accused me of being a liar, there is a new thread started with five people already reporting issues with playing this disc.

Of course, I'm sure it's just a conspiracy against DVD-18.

 

[Shane Martin]

Eric,
No problems with Dvd-18's here either.

 

[JonZ]

This disc looks really nice and has me rethinking on whether I should rebuy Jaws,12Monkeys and Apollo13

 

[Frank@N]

Seems like there's been a flurry of iffy DVD reissues lately.

One or two new things, but nothing earth-shattering.

If you already have a decent 16x9 copy, it's a tough sell with new formats around the corner.

Don't even think I'd give it a second thought, except that newer movies seem so uniformly poor.

 

[JonZ]

"If you already have a decent 16x9 copy, it's a tough sell with new formats around the corner"

Yea thats exactly it.

But with everything going on, "around the corner" could turn into years (for me as Im not buying into HD dvd format until they resolve their problems - I refuse to own 3 players -region free,Bluray and HDDVD)

So the upgraded PQ or SQ for a film I really like may be worth it.

Especially as Ive seen 12Monkeys going for $9 and Apollo13 and Jaws for $14.

 

[Shane Martin]

Honestly not really a tough sell given that they are all better than their predecesors(sp?).

 

[Kwang Suh]

Those reissues are meant more for people who got into DVD later than we did...

 

[Frank@N]

Well, let's do a quick Universal reissue rundown:

Jaws: documentary is now full length, unless you had the LD which contained the whole thing. So there's not really anything new here at all.

12 Monkeys: Exact same as old release except video was redone with marginal improvement. This is practically just a repackaging job.

Apollo 13: old release was 16x9, had a documentary with chapters, and a commentary. New release eats up most of the second disc with a shorter version of the movie.

Casino: reissue has some extras and a 'commentary'.

So, you could spend almost $70 with tax buying all four of these again or just stick with what you've got.