USA Vs UK! (1 Viewer)

[Porl D]

I have a friend who's voyaging to the UK soon & I was wondering what the "must have" English DVDs are. Which ones have special content that you can't get anywhere else? Nice one bruvvers....

 

[Mark_Wilson]

You're in Australia? I thought R4 got must everything R2 did? All my R2 discs and dual coded for 2&4.

 

[Porl D]

UK DVDs are mostly the same as Australian but I'd heard of special editions containing extra bits not on the US releases (Fifth Element, Trainspotting?) that were only available in the UK...

 

[DannyS]

sorry to dissapoint, but most, if not all uk dvd are cut for content and are inferior to aussie DVD and US dvd. sorry. :-( as for trainspotting...CUT fith element? extra FREE

 

[Duncan Harvey]

I don’t think its really a case of there being “must have” discs in terms of extras when compared to their R1 release, more a case of getting material which isn’t out in R1.

If you are a fan of the ITC 1960s action series or the Gerry Anderson titles, then there’s lots of DVDs available. Similarly BBC comedy such as Only Fools and Horses is well represented on DVD.

Theres also plenty of “arthouse” British films available on DVD – films by Mike Leigh and Ken Loach for example which although they may get an R1 release, tend to come out over here sooner.

But if you’re after typical Hollywood films, do what we do – stick with R1.

 

[JohnJB]

You accurately generalise that US (& even OZ) have better releases than UK, but there are some notable excetions, all of which are uncut:
Armageddon (if you can live without the gag real then the UK & OZ version I believe (which Link Removed currently have on special for US $12 delivered) 2 disk version has everything the US Criterion has with one major advantage reference quality anamorphic picture)
From Dusk Till Dawn (2 disk, reference quality anamorphic picture & all Miramax Collectors Series extras)
Karate Kid (anamorphic)
Everything from Hong Kong Legends is pretty much the best in the World, in many cases to the power of ten i.e.
Miracles, Police Story, Once Upon a Time in China I & II, Armour of God, all Bruce Lee's films look better than region 1 Enter the Dragon for example, Drive (reference quality anamorphic for the material and packed with extras)
Sleepless aka Nonhosonno (2 disk special ed with anamorphic picture vs. US pan & scan and packed with extras including Eye for Horror doc also 16:9)
Phenomena (anamorphic picture but mono)
Vertigo (anamorphic picture with same extras as US)
Jean De Florette & Manon Des Sources (reference quality anamorphic)
Scarface (very good quality anamorphic and same extras as US)
Battle Royale (very good quality anamorphic)
Planet of the Apes (1967 ver), Hard Boiled, NBK, Event Horizon, Hana-bi, Brother, Shallow Grave, Red Heat, Reservoir Dogs, Ravenous, The Graduate, Life Is Beautiful, True Romance, Faculty (all these anamorphic unlike US versions, some reference quality and many with extras)
UK exclusives African Queen (original 4:3 with DOP Jack Cradiff commenatry), Bugsy Malone (16:9), Convoy (16:9)

 

[Porl D]

Cheers JohnJB, that's the sort of info I was hunting... Now, what about UK music DVDs in the dance (breakbeat/electro/dub) genre?

 

[Artur Meinild]

Get the Lock, Stock and 2 smoking barrels: Director's Cut! It's worth it!

 

[JohnJB]

Artur Meinild

Please explain why it's worth it, just to help me justify the upgrade from the original LS&2SB UK edition which is already 16:9

 

[Duncan Harvey]

The directors cut is on a DVD9 rather than a DVD5, and this allows a higher bit rate for the film. Also the additional scenes (to me at least) made the film flow better.

Furthermore (and I’m reaching here) the DC is now available in a keep case rather than a super jewel!!

Going back on topic IIRC the spec ed of Nightmare Before Christmas is 16:9 – no dts though.

Is From Dusk Til Dawn a real anamorphic transfer or is it the lbx scaled up?

 

[Artur Meinild]

What Duncan said! Better quality and longer cut made it worth it to me...

 

[TheoGB]

Though they re-coloured it I believe. The original LS&2SB had that cool 'washed out' feel but I think the studio then decided that it looked bad in the compression so the current dir's cut is pretty colourful.
I think that's right. I know that my dir's cut seems more colourful than I remember.
Incidentally you might want to view the Region 2 winners list at Link Removed as it also lists R4 titles.

 

[Dan Brecher]

TV is all I use R2 for. I gave in and got the Futurama season 1 set today, dodgy box but otherwise it's a very pleasing release. You might wnt to check it out if you're a fan (unless it hit R4 too).

Dan (UK)

 

[JohnJB]

"Is From Dusk Til Dawn a real anamorphic transfer or is it the lbx scaled up?"

I keep getting this question with regard to both this and Vertigo and Armageddon.

I have a 56" rear proj. telly and they are not lbx scaled up, or if they are then they should stop using HI-DEF masters and revert to lbx scaled up because Armageddon & FDTD are within top ten trasfers of all the circa 600 DVD's I own.

Also I'm pretty confident I'd know if they were because I have seen lbx scaled up i.e. R4 version of Pulp Fiction, and even then it still looks a million times bettter than non-anamorphic version and has the added bonus of no Quentin T. Commentary (wonderful filmmaker, but asshole human being IMO)

 

[TheoGB]

There is no commentary for Pulp Fiction in existance AFAIK. He mentions that he couldn't bring himself to do it on the DTD commentary with Rodriguez...

 

[Lance Rumbolt]

Orbital The Altogether is a very good dance dvd with dolby digital 5.1 and dts tracks, check out there version of doctor who, cracking.

If you like it Brassed Off is available uncut in the UK, the us version is terrible badly edited for the American market.

Cheers

Lance.

 

[Voon Jiet]

I second Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels.

Also, you have to get the Hong Kong Legends DVDs if you are a fan of Hong Kong martial arts films. All the Bruce Lee films are presented in anamorphic widescreen and DD 5.1. (in the original Cantonese language with English subs), not to mention extras. I don't think you can get those in Australia.

I would say HK Legends are the best DVDs R2 has to offer. There is no equivalent in either R1, R4, or even R3.

 

[JohnJB]

I know Quentin has never recorded a commentary for Pulp Fiction, but I'm expecting he might wan't to ruin the rumoured region 1 SE, like he did in everything he contributed on FDTD SE, except obviously the fantastic script.

My favourite QT soundbite was that he beleived he could have 'had' any of the female crew who worked on Pulp Fiction.

Re HKL they are to HK films what AB are to horror films, the best in the World bar none, I know because for the films I like I've owned just about every version and HKL allways make you feel like they went back in time and got the negative straight out of the camera when it was just filmed, compare Miracles with HK version (sub VHS quality) and CTHV (hard to beleive but even though 16:9, worse than HK version) HKL's on the other hand looks like Michael Bay shot it yesterday, he's no genius and Pearl Harbour was the dullest shite I've ever seen but you have to admit he's King of Eye Candy. (oh yeah and Bad Boys was the silliest movie of all time)

 

[Julian Lalor]

There are quite a few films available in R2 that are not released in R4 and no, they're not cut (not every film made is full of violence). Predominatly, they're "art house" movies (whatever that term means). Try these (which are also not available on R1);

-Three Colours Trilogy (all 16:9, DD 5.1 (except Red), with excellent extras);

-Fanny and Alexander (longer TV edit, due 25 Feb);

-La Goute des Autres (The Taste of Others) (16:9, 5.1);

-A Matter of Life and Death (AKA Stairway to Heaven);

-Maurice;

-A Room for Romeo Bass;

-Secrets & Lies (16:9);

-Queen Margot (16:9);

-This Year's Love (a vastly superior romantic comedy);

Family Guy Series 1, Ali G, The Blue Planet, Space and, of course all of South Park Series 1-4 (also available in R4) are out.

There are also quite a few good R2 French DVDs out there. The French seem more interested in classic American cinema than the Americans. The Magnificent Ambersons, Bringing Up Baby and Suspicion are all out, in SE's no less.

 

[Craig Crane]

R2 always got a bad rap. Euurrgghhhh! 4% faster etc etc etc. Well, guess what, I find myself watching a lot more R2 discs than I thought I ever would. OK, so most of them are freebies from the studios (Thanx Canal+ for the delightfull T2 / Total recal package ), but they are getting soooo much better nowadays. As for the US / UK comparisons...dont forget, we embraced 16/9 10 years before anyone else. So when we were offered LTBX flippers of films in the early days, we literally flipped. There was no excuse. Fortunatly this never happens now (unless you are buying a "multi angle for the weekend".
I was always biased towards R1 imports. But last year two major things happened that made me really slow down on the R1 imports (Only A-list big movies are now ordered as R1...unless released here first). The two things that happened were;
HTPC:
I really started to squeeze every last drop of detail from these discs, and R2 started to look pretty FANTASTIC.
FNAC:
The French store had pretty much everything I had been looking for. Then HMV and Virgin in London really really started stocking DVD. One week they had a few shelves, the next it was an entire floor.
So, how is my region 2 / bought in France / anamorphic / True lies DVD? Well, its a heck of a lot better than the R1 version. Add to that the Le Pacte Des Loups Box set. Then there are the two Taxi films, in DTS no less. Sopranos season two was out on DVD ages before HBO released it in the states. The same will happen with S3 (BADA BING). There are now so many reasons to stop slating the 2nd region. Unless they are being watched in the "3rd place", which we all know is adire experience (PS2).
Region two has now gotten to the point where I can pop into a store and actually browse for titles and not know where to start. Titles that I would think twice about buying online, or maybe not even think to buy suddenly become great impulse buys at the HMV. Take this week...I was on a lunch break, I went for a walk. I ended up in HMV and found Salvador. No big shakes there, but this was the one Oliver Stone Movie I always managed to miss. So I snapped it up. It has a great image, nice extras and James Woods...who shines in this film. Bargain. But this is not a movie that I would of spent time looking for On line at Play.com or the like.
Plus, before Sony released their R1 superbit version of Fifth Element, I always prefered the image of the R2 version. It even had a few extras. It was a lot more vibrant, and the sound mix was a lot better than the "reference, 1st gen R1" release. In fact, apart from the DTS track, I reckon the R2 is still better than the Superbit version...
As for the 4% difference in running times...I am not really that bothered on most titles. Only with films that I am overly familiar with does it become "mildly noticable".