Battle Royale Region Free SE BR/DVD

[Tosh]

Originally Posted by John

Mainstream film is mostly a no holds barred business in full force, so it's easy to forget that it's a medium of art that can be appreciated if you're willing to learn about it. Which is exactly what you need to do if you want to at least understand where we're coming from if not to further develop your own impressions.

I know full well film is a medium for art. Music - painting - film it's all the same, however lets not try to make this film something its not, Throne of Blood is art, Citizen Kane is art, this is shlocky pulp at best, but hey we all have our guilty pleasures.

For a social commentary on future youth violence I'll take Kubric's Clockwork Orange over this. Not to say I hated Battle Royal, I think I just had higher expectations with the hype it gets.

[mpm74]

I'll take Kubrick over God =D

[mpm74]

Got the set in... finally. =D Will be watching this baby this weekend.

I actually could have settled for a single disc/snap case version of the theatrical version, but heck, doesn't exist....

Did you guys get yours yet?

[John]

Originally Posted by Tosh

I know full well film is a medium for art. Music - painting - film it's all the same, however lets not try to make this film something its not, Throne of Blood is art, Citizen Kane is art, this is shlocky pulp at best, but hey we all have our guilty pleasures.

For a social commentary on future youth violence I'll take Kubric's Clockwork Orange over this. Not to say I hated Battle Royal, I think I just had higher expectations with the hype it gets.

I understand you don't particularly care about Battle Royale. But the themes addressed in this film, the contemporary generation gap and the moral panicking of modern Japanese politics, hit the nail right on the head. Everything here is carefully arranged; Kitano's performance is both creepy and sympathetic, the cinematography has Fukasaku's trademark kineticism, and the use of orchestral music is commandingly appropriate. The word "art" isn't particularly convincing until it can hold hands with criteria such as those. What is more, this is an indictment of Japanese society. You're comparing apples to oranges.

Originally Posted by Juon 408

Special Version of the UK Bluray release has leaked. Seen screenshots of it. Looks like higher resolutioned DVD quality to me. Definitely holding out for Anchor Bay now. Hopefully they do release a better quality version in HD of it. I noticed compression artifacts in the screenshots I seen. Looks like all Arrow did was upconvert their original DVD masters instead of actually going back and using the uncompressed film itself that they should've gotten off of Tartan when they acquired the rights from them.

This is most certainly not an upscaled transfer; there is considerably more detail in this release. Although I think there's a good case to be made that this is a rather dated transfer, it eclipses DVD editions handily. Everyone also seems to forget that HD is an audio experience too; this disc has banging lossless audio.

The bottom line is: this is an unmolested 24fps transfer that is unquestionably the best Battle Royale release out there AND it's English friendly. It's also not even that expensive. You could wait 2 years or however long it'll take for another English-friendly distributor will take to release this on Blu-ray, but there's no guarantee that a) it will actually happen and b) it will be completely satisfactory in every which way. It could be worse for all we know; considering this is above average, I've no trouble recommending it.

[mpm74]

Starting watching this today. You're right, it's definitely the best the movie has looked and it's not just an upscaled DVD version. It actually looks better than some of those screen shots (which are usually false to begin with) make it out to be.

Originally Posted by mpm74

Got the set in... finally. Did you guys get yours yet?

Got the shipping (dispatch) notice from amazon.co.uk on 12/11 and still don't have it yet! Amazon UK doesn't provide tracking info for international packages either.

[Markgway]

UK post has been hit by the weather.

I ordered a Xmas present from Amazon UK that hasn't turned up yet (and I live in the UK).

[mpm74]

Out of all the places I have ordered from, it seems it takes the longest when coming from the UK (amazon.uk, to be exact).

I just re-watched BR and BR:DC... BR is still the better cut.

What an awesome movie. As good as it was the first time I watched it. Haven't watched any of the special features. If a single disc theatrical version comes out, I'm gonna buy that and sell this set on ebay. I'm not a fan of box sets and all the crap they usually come with. I just want the movie.

[kungfusamurai]

I just watched the first 45 minutes of the theatrical cut, and it looks great. I should browse the other discs, maybe tomorrow. It's definitely an HD transfer, not upscaled from a standard def source.

KFS

[kungfusamurai]

Originally Posted by WuxiaFan

Got the shipping (dispatch) notice from amazon.co.uk on 12/11 and still don't have it yet! Amazon UK doesn't provide tracking info for international packages either.

Your package could have been delayed by the East Coast snow storms earlier in the week.

KFS