Velvet Goldmine on DVD (1 Viewer)

[LawrenceK]

I saw this movie on television late one night, and remember liking it quite a bit. I can't seem to find any reviews of the DVD on any of the usual sites (DVDFILE, The Digital Bits), so I'm wondering how the quality of the current dvd is? It looks like it is a bare bones disc...which is dissapointing since I'd love to hear a commentary track on the film, and I'm sure all sorts of relevant supplements about glam rock and such could be found. Maybe Criterion could pick it up, since it seems to have a bit of a cult following nowadays?

 

[Kenneth_C]

Here's a couple:

http://www.dvdangle.com/reviews/velvet_goldmine.html

http://www.mondo-digital.com/velvetdvd.html

 

[WillardK]

Haynes' work before Far From Heaven doesn't seem to be getting the treatment it deserves (I've held off on buying Safe because of it's disc reviews and high price... Poison is the worst looking dvd I own.) But Velvet Goldmine is very much worth it imo. It could be better (it screams for extras like you said), but the non-enhanced image is satisfying enough with terrific sound. The price has been lowered recently I think. It's a film I thought flawed at first (along with most critics) but with each subsequent viewing it seems less and less so (even McGregor's singing becomes more of an amusement than a laughably bad Iggy imitation). If you liked it, get the dvd.

 

[PatrickL]

If you can play discs from other regions, then go for the R2 version. Not only is the R2 enhanced, it also bests the R1 version by including a half hour featurette in which Haynes and others are interviewed.

 

[Elizabeth S]

I absolutely love this film, and am happy to have the R1 DVD. As I remember it, the quality is fine and the film is full of vibrant colors. If they DID ever
re-release it with supplements, I'm all over it, though.

 

[Bjorn Thoresen]

The domestic version has really distracting compression artifacts -- at the end of the film, when Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale are sitting in the bar, there is an intended graininess to the image.

However, the film has been compressed at a level where you can see the grain shift as each I-frame goes by. It's incredibly distracting.

About the PAL version -- how does the music hold up? Has the film been pitch corrected for the 25 fps speedup?

I've seen the packaging for the PAL disc, which is a vast improvement over the domestic packaging, some of the most amateur artwork I've seen on a studio DVD title.

 

[Ron Morgan]

Haynes' best film, in my opinion. The R1 looks absolutely gorgeous and sounds great. The lack of extras was none too surprising considering its' non-success in theaters. The horrid US trailer (the only extra on the R1) totally mis-markets the film, selling it as some kind of 'who killed Brian Slade' mystery, when that whole issue is explained in the first ten minutes. Oh, if only Criterion or anybody would do a special edition of this.

Stll, I do plan on getting the R2 edition for what it offers. Plus, I read on a GOLDMINE fan site there there are some minor differences between the US and UK versions.