Non-Criterion Boutique Home Video Discussion (Kino, Warner Archive, Arrow, Indicator, Vinegar Syndrome, Code Red, etc.)

Got some things I pre-ordered after Xmas from Radiance today

https://i.imgur.com/PSqkP6D.jpeg

Finally, L'amour fou!

xp I'm surprised Deep Discount has so many left in stock. That company officially closed up shop last summer.

Whew, I thought you meant Deep Discount for a second. Olive, though.....ehhhhh. It's telling that I didn't even notice they were gone. They released a lot of titles I wanted to buy, but their stuff was always overpriced, and their minimal effort, bare-bones discs were always of the late-'90s 'treating an interactive menu as if it's a special feature' variety, so I'm not exactly despondent over the loss.

They might have dumped a bunch of their stock on DD, who are merely one arm of a huge online physical media retail empire (encompassing Critic's Choice Video and Collector's Choice Music amongst others).

I ended up not getting anything from that sale because almost everything I wanted was already backordered.

I buy from Deep Discount pretty regularly, as well as their CD site, import-cds.com.

Yeah, Olive was pretty disappointing. Really wish that wasn’t the case because there aren’t many boutiques and they were even based in Chicago (I passed by their office all the time the short time I lived there) but you could find most of the same titles in better quality with better presentation from UK boutiques. They did up their game with their Signature series but that should have been their baseline.

Olive walked so Kino Lorber Studio Classics could run.

Kino doesn't have their shit together either. They really need to work on their QC. They put out so much stuff, I feel like they rush them out the door without taking the time to check everything over. Their UHD's have been really hit-or-miss for that reason, like the sloppy, quasi-stereo output on the original mono soundtrack on The Manchurian Candidate (the original 1962 film, not the remake) or the massive fuck-up on The Silence of the Lambs. They usually refuse to fix these things when they're called out.

Olive walked (poorly) so Kino Lorber Studio Classics could run (also poorly).

Self-Fix

I want to get the Saul Bass giant ant sci-fi movie blu-ray but it's probably not worth buying a Blu-Ray player just for that

(were they giant? i thought they were normal size)

Them Phase IV Ants

Ha, I don’t know, the poster/cover art I’ve seen made them look huge

Regular sized ants but they make it up in volume.

spoilers, sorry

I want to get the Saul Bass giant ant sci-fi movie blu-ray but it's probably not worth buying a Blu-Ray player just for that

I dunno. I could make a case that Phase IV is the perfect reason to get a Blu-Ray player

Having got said set and watched the 4K the other day, I can confirm: yes.

Good interview with Richard Lorber as in Kino Lorber:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/kino-lorber-interview-dvds-quality-1235901130/

And speaking of — Kino now has its own streaming service a la Criterion:

https://kinofilmcollection.com/

Not outside the US it seems

We’re number one!

Criterion (and Janus Films) acquired by Steven Rales. Rales is the founder of Indian Paintbrush, a company that finances Wes Anderson's movies, among other things.

other companies that Rales owns include drug testing companies that have been accused of profiteering developing countries, lovely guy I'm sure