Dr Kain wrote:Why is everyone so obsessed with comparison shots instead of just enjoying the movies?
It's like people need some sort of reward to enjoy a movie these days.
I thought it was obvious from the screenshots I passed along that Criterion's BRDs look superior to those previous BRDs from Toho and Media Blasters. Criterion's contrast adjustments helped, especially for
Megalon.
Yeah, it would have been nice if Toho had let Criterion use that 4K restoration of
King Kong vs. Godzilla but it's no surprise that they didn't. Toho hasn't even released that on disc in Japan yet and even after they do they still might not be willing to share it with a foreign distributor.
SeaHawk wrote:The Astro-Monster Champion broadcast, though, was a total revelation for me. You don't even need to directly compare it to any other copy to notice a huge difference. The movie looks like candy when you're finally able to see every color of the rainbow. It was like watching the movie for the first time. Gone is that mustard and beef stew tint. I never even noticed the greens in the night club or the plant in the conference room since the color green barely exists in the old HD transfer. There were details I'd never seen before.
The original Japanese prints of these films would have been struck from the original negatives... this is close to how they would have looked originally, if not slightly sharper and cleaner. The supplied HD transfer of this film, though, was from a print from a dupe negative from an IP from the original negative. It's closer to how an American print would have looked, and it could still look sharper and more colorful if it were given a modern transfer.
Oh yeah, Toho's restorations of the Champion Festival cuts look very vibrant based on the screenshots that have gone around. There's no doubt that if Toho had let them then Criterion would have done their own restorations for
Astro-Monster and the other sequels. They probably would have managed to improve even on those new transfers of the Champion Festival cuts, especially if they were restoring the uncut versions of the films. It would have been great for all parties if Toho had let Criterion do that for this set.
C'est la Toho.
Gwangi wrote:But had the dubs been included, wouldn't have sales gone even further through the roof? Probably a smaller percentage yes, but more money, does mean more money!
Maybe so, and maybe Criterion could pass along that sentiment from their consumers in an effort to convince Toho to reconsider letting them include the rest of the US versions in a future re-release.
However, that sentiment has to come from the consumers for it to carry any weight with Criterion or Toho. People who aren't buying this Godzilla set aren't consumers in this equation. Regardless of any fan's personal reasons for choosing not to buy it, that just puts them in the same boat as every non-fan in the world who isn't buying the set.
'I won't buy Godzilla movies' is the message sent there, not
'I'll buy Godzilla movies if they're presented the way I like.' Whether this set sold well or not, there would be no reason to tailor any future release of these 15 Godzilla movies to the whims of people who weren't interested in this current product.
Strong sales are what could make Criterion want to revisit these titles in the future. Customer feedback is something that Criterion can take to Toho to make the case for a re-release with the US versions and ground-up film restorations. We can only hope that Toho might have a change of heart (or personnel) by that point but nobody's boycott is going to bring things any closer to that goal.