Last Night (1998) Re-release (1 Viewer)

[Marc Colella]

An acquaintance met Don McKellar yesterday and asked why the current DVD is P&S. McKellar replied that he never understood why Alliance Atlantis did that (who can ever understand why AA does what they do?), and that a widescreen re-release will be out next week.

I heard nothing about a re-release anywhere until today - and sure enough,there's a link to it on Amazon.ca:

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASI...200474-6102447

It may only be available to retailers in Canada, but I guess Americans can order from Amazon.ca.

Here's hoping that it's anamorphic and has a decent transfer.

 

[Tom Tsai]

Next week?!? I hope they do keep the nice looking Canadian cover though, and not the ugly US cover.

 

[Joe Kamsan]

Its a good thing I check in on this place every now and again, otherwise I would have missed this. I'll wait to see if it is 16x9. thanks for the heads up.

 

[David Jay]

Ah-ha, so this is why this film suddenly has a "long wait" in my NetFlix queue. Have to wait for the re-release now.

Thanks for the heads-up, Marc.

 

[Will_B]

Thanks for the tip. I'm in.

 

[Marc Colella]

I e-mailed Alliance Atlantis asking for the specs, and here's what they gave me:

Language Tracks: English, French
Sound: 2.0 Dolby Digital for both English and French
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Enhanced for 16x9 televisions
Subtitles: English
Closed Captions: English

It's barebones, but at least it's anamorphic widescreen.

McKellar mentioned that he wanted to include his short film Blue on it - but I guess that didn't wind up happenening. Too bad.

In any case, if the specs hold - this is a definite purchase for me.

 

[Tom Tsai]

Here's the cover art of the new release. Glad they decided to keep the artwork from the original Canadian release.

 

[Marc Colella]

Thanks Tom.

That's a sweet cover !

Really looking forward to this re-release.

 

[Marc_Savoie]

Thanks so much for confirming this rumour! I saw the new listing on Amazon.ca and wasn't sure what to make of it. This is great news, and I'll finally own this after hoping for an OAR release.

 

[Marc Colella]

My copy of Last Night arrived today, and I have to say that I am pissed.

It is NOT Anamorphic !!!

The specs provided to me via e-mail by Alliance Atlantis, and the specs on the back cover of the DVD state:

"Enhanced for 16x9 televisions"... horseshit!

I just knew they would screw something up. I'm writing a nasty e-mail to AA for mispresenting their product and will demand my money back (either through them or Amazon.ca).

I accepted the fact that it was barebones (even though McKellar wanted to do more for the DVD) but to not make it anamorphic is inexcusable.

Just another in a long line of f*ck-ups by AA.

For those who can live with a non-anamorphic transfer, the picture quality is decent in my quick scan of the DVD (nothing great, but not bad either). I would give it a 7/10 rating.

EDIT: BTW, the coverart is bilingual (unlike the coverart above). It's reversable, but both sides are bilingual - as one is predominantly English and other side predominantly French :rolleyes

Here are a few captures from the DVD:






Just wanted to give people a warning so they know what they're in for before purchasing.

 

[Tom Tsai]

crap. It is indeed nonanamorphic. Oh well, I sent them a letter, but there's no other alternative for this film on dvd so....

 

[Ted Todorov]

The captures that Marc posted seem to be gone now, so can anyone tell me how bad the transfer is? I'm dying to see another good Sandra Oh film after seeing Sideways last night.

Ted

 

[Tom Tsai]

^ I can't comment on how bad it is, but it's a good movie, so it's still worth a look. I also like her other movie, Double Happiness, which for some reason is not available on dvd. However, the semi-follow-up, "Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity" is on dvd. The dvd is only available in US through Film Movement, but you can get the Canadian version which has a pretty good anamorphic transfer. I thought she was also pretty good in Under the Tuscan Sun.

 

[Daniel Windsor]

I had the pan and scan Canadian disc. It was a mess.

I never realised just how bad it was until I copied the anamorphic version from BBC Digital.


Widescreen non-16:9 is better than nothing.