Fox/Lorber's Ran? (1 Viewer)

[BrentPollard]

I have read on this forum that this particular transfer leaves much to be desired. But is it that bad? The reason I ask is that I REALLY REALLY want to have a copy of this movie but I wonder if I should just wait for a reissue if there is one in the offing. If ther is a reissue planned does anyone know if by who and when?
:frowning:

 

[Rich Malloy]

A reissue is planned and will be released (I think) in the fall. Fox Lorber (or Wellspring or whatever they're calling themselves these days) promises that it will be a great disc.

I'm gonna wait and see, however, considering the second-rate, non anamorphic and slightly shimmering transfer that they graced upon the recently released "Kurosawa" documentary. I'm lead to understand that "RAN" will be an anamorphic transfer... but of course so was Fox Lorber's horrendous "Yi Yi" transfer.

So, I'll wait and see - no preorder here - but it can only be an improvement over their original botch of this film. It really couldn't get much worse (though if anyone could find a way, it's certainly Fox Lorber).

 

[BrentPollard]

Thanks, all that I have read says to stay away from th Fox/ lorber set, so I guess I will have to wait as well.:frowning:

 

[JimNorton]

I don't understand the bellyaching about the KUROSAWA doc.

It was shot in HD for TELEVISION! This was not a feature film, it was a TV program for PBS. We're lucky they shot it on HD.

Once again...this was shown on TV!! I agree and understnad the complaints about Wellspring's DVDs when it is a feature film, but this is now getting ridiculous - crying for crying sake. The transfer on this doc is very, very good. Are we all that jaded?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Jim, the point is that it would have required approximately ZERO effort to make it anamorphic. Instead they were lazy and just popped in the 4:3 broadcast master. Typical.

 

[Philip Klein]

Jim, do yo work for Winstar/Wellspring/Whatever? Your post on this site (and other forums) about this issue seem awfully repetitive. The back of the KUROSAWA doc does brag about it being shot in HD video after all.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Also there probably would be less scrutiny if an official Wellspring rep. wasn't posting on this and other boards about how radically improved and transformed they and their new DVDs were from the bad old Fox-Lorber days. That sort of official comment invites scrutiny.
There is no doubt that some of their recent DVDs have been better, they did a good job with Perfect Love for instance. They still have work to do -- good anamorphic transfers are the crucial first step. The next step is to match the R2 features/extras on their DVD releases. Example: they have ported most of the extras from the R2 La bûche DVD they just released, but instead of a DTS track and a DD 5.1 track we get one lowly 2.0 soundtrack. And god forbid they should give us something that was not available in R2, like an exclusive director's commentary track!
Ted

 

[Brook K]

The IMO ripoff boxset with the new Ran disc is available in an exclusive from Amazon in September. The Ran disc is supposed to be available individually sometime in 2003. I sold my old disc off in a yard sale, now I'm wondering if I should have just kept it.

 

[JimNorton]

Unfortunatley, no, I don't work for Wellspring or any other studio. But I do have friends who work at other, rival studios who find the whole furor over Wellspring quite funny.

When everyone says it would require no effort to have made the transfer, what everyone fails to realize is that it does take some effort - the effort of money. Maybe they just didn't have the funds to do it.

Any extra, including commentarys, takes money. Sad to say but maybe they just don't have the funds to be everything to all people.

I'm a huge sports fan and would have liked my Twins to sign Jason Giambi but they just didn't have the money. Sometimes these companies aren't as sinister as everyone thinks