Godzilla KOTM... from the Criterion Collection!?!?!

[Benjamin Haines]

[lhb412]

^ Ah. Gotcha.

[canofhumdingers]

[lhb412]

I read that, too - citing the old favorite of Toho dragging their feet in clearing the thing.

Will wait for official confirmation, of course.

[The Shadow]

It would be funny if BRINGING GODZILLA DOWN TO SIZE ends up paired with RODAN and WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS again.

[lhb412]

Hey, I think we may have a little sneak preview of the transfers. Turner Classic Movies is posting a few clips of Godzilla movies for their upcoming celebration of him next month:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... o5C0AV5kRq

Now, on the TV I'm using the Raids Again and Ghidorah clips are having compression problems so I can't really tell anything via them, but the Mothra vs. Godzilla and Destroy All Monsters clips look... pretty dang good, right?
The improved contrast and color balance has made a major difference with these two.

[Heiseigodzilla425]

[canofhumdingers]

I can’t tell for sure if it’s grain or just video noise (which plagues the Toho HD masters), but whatever the texture is in the BD captures is completely smoothed over in the YouTube screen caps. But that may just be a compression thing. But I’m not seeing any difference in color or contrast between the two sources. I *really* hope these are NOT the final Criterion versions!

[lhb412]

Okay, hours later I'm on my own TV and watching these clips and they look like the same old masters that have been on Starz and IFC these past few years. Earlier today I casted them over to a TV that was not mine and apparently they had the contrast and color boosted way up! False alarm! Sorry.

[canofhumdingers]

Never trust an unknown tv!

Sadly, most people don’t even know to change the picture settings from the out-of-the-box factory “torch” mode when they open up a new tv at home. In my experience even people I would think should be aware of screen calibration either aren’t, just don’t care, or (it hurts to even say this) actually *like* the cringe-inducing, eyeball melting torch mode! (These are also the same people who will stare willingly into a phone screen on full bright in a room with no other lights on at night).

[Joseph Goodman]

has started posting reviews with screencaps...

[kiryugoji04]

Well the colors are much nicer at least. It's still a fantastic set from so many other angles and I won't hear otherwise from anyone but I'm not gonna pretend that it isn't a bummer Toho didn't let Criterion truly work their Criterion magic.

[lhb412]

Huh, were all the Sony/Kraken transfers that cropped?

[canofhumdingers]

^people get really hung up on the cropping of images on home video but the truth is that, depending on how the projectionist matted the projector lens up (and if done properly, it *would* be matted), that amount of cropping on the Kraken discs would be quite normal in a theatrical presentation. Heck, if the media blasters had cropped the Megalon image of their Blu-ray just a tad you wouldn’t see all those ugly glue splices at every cut.

Also, Sorry I didn’t get the images lined up as well as I’d have liked (I did this on my phone), but I made a gif of a zoomed in bit of Ebirah showing the difference between the Toho sourced criterion video and the Kraken video. You be the judge.

[lhb412]

^ Hm. Makes sense.

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

^ No one's taking away our Kraken discs, jelly!



(I am looking forward to watching Godzilla vs. Gigan with the word balloons)

[jellydonut25]

[The Shadow]

Depending on you're price point to buy the Criterion set, Barnes & Nobles 50% Off Criterion sale may be the lowest price to buy the set for awhile; even for used copies. B&N has had their Criterion sale twice a year for several years now, one during the summer and a second sometime November-December.

The Criterion Godzilla set should be included in the upcoming Nov./Dec. sale reduced to $112.50.

[lhb412]

... people buy Criterion releases outside of B&N sales?

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[The Shadow]

[Henry88]

[lhb412]

[kiryugoji04]

Honestly I'd probably drop $50 for a print of Sophie Campbell's Destroy All Monsters art alone. Everything else is a bonus after that.

By the by, was Bringing Godzilla Down to Size confirmed one way or another yet or is that still a mystery?