PatD

Here's the cover of the upcoming release:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ima...4295480&sr=1-2

So...this is going to be a properly pressed DVD and *not* a DVD+R? If so, cool.

tylergfoster

It is a pressed DVD. Also I imagine the final cover will look slightly different, that looks like "weekly ad art" that has the title blown up so you can make it really small and still tell what it is.

Zen Peckinpah

YES! About friggin' time!

Hope they put the complete Mant on there.

PatD

It's coming out this week (got mine ordered)! Are there any early reviews of it yet--I haven't found any so far?

JLyon1515

When I saw it, I didn't think it was "weekly ad art." In fact I thought it was the same cover art from the previous DVD release that I own. I looked it up, and it appears that they did swap the location of John Goodman, and enlarge the title some, but it's not that much. The original release had the title fairly big.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...ASL._SL500.jpg

Regardless, it's great to see this coming out again. I'll probably pic it up for the better transfer... too bad it's not a blu-ray.

dan31655

First I'm hearing about this.... good news indeed.

tylergfoster

It used to look different. The art that's up at Amazon now is clearly final art.

Here's what it used to look like:

Nicholas Vargo

Sadly, if the info at Universal's webasite is to be believed, this will be a bare bones affair with just the film in 16x9 and 5.1 audio. Still, I think that's better than nothing.

Dane

Finally!

It will be released in 1.85:1 Anamorphic (OAR)

JLyon1515

Oh yeah, I see. Yeah, in that version you barely even see the atomic bomb explosion over the ants head. The final version is much better, especially with the font being smaller too.

akubrick1

FYI~ There are no special features on this newly released disc... so if that matters to you.... Look like I'm going to be tracking down a '98 copy a much higher price. Am I to understand by earlier comments that that the '98 version is not 16X9 OAR?

Nicholas Vargo

Yes, it is not enhanched for 16x9 and unless if you count cast profiles an extra, you're better off getting this new edition. Trust me. The PQ is miles ahead of the 1998 DVD.

manicsounds

DVDPacific also confirms no special features. Boo to Universal on this one....

mdnitoil

Just watched the first ten minutes or so to determine picture quality and I have a question. When the boys leave the theater and walk home, the image is red...really, really red. Then as soon as they enter their house the color is normal again. Was this by design? Just asking because it looked like crap.

tylergfoster

So, wait, neither of the discs have the Mant! featurette?

Paul_SD

I think the fact that universal re-issued this without the Mant featurette augers well for a more loaded Criterion edition down the road.
There are just too many avenues to explore as to special features with this, and the demographic it appeals to makes it more or less a safe bet.

MTRodaba2468

As awesome as that would be, a part of me seems skeptical.

Then again, Criterion's released stranger stuff before...

tylergfoster

Universal and Criterion are pretty good buddies. Ride With the Devil, Fear and Loathing, Brazil, Videodrome, Dazed and Confused, Two-Lane Blacktop, La Haine, Traffic, etc.

TheHypnoToad

Correct, it only showed up on the deluxe laserdisc.

MTRodaba2468

True. Actually, you could add Do The Right Thing to that list as well. I guess I should say that as cool as it would be for Criterion to release it, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. At least we have the movie with an anamorphic transfer, and apparently, you can find Mant! on YouTube.

Matthew Chmiel

I'd like to point out while Videodrome is getting a Blu-ray upgrade via Criterion this year similar to the most recent Blu-ray release of Ride With the Devil; Fear and Lothing in Las Vegas and Traffic didn't receive such upgrades and made it to Blu-ray as movie-only editions.

I'm tempted to purchase the new release of Matinee just for the new 16x9 trailer, but at the same time, I already paid $15 for it over a decade ago. If it were under five dollars, sure. If there was a Blu-ray release, then yes, I would've made the upgrade no questions asked.

chriscooling

Ugh! Just got this today...NO special features and I played just a bit of it and the picture quality looked like crap! HORRIBLE video noise throughout, especially on dark scenes...I think my Laserdisc looked better than this. So bad I would even think this disc is defective.
Did they not even use the HD transfer made for the current satellite TV airings?

tylergfoster

They made it to Blu-Ray as movie-only editions through Universal. Since Universal's discs of Fear and Loathing and Traffic, as well as Dazed and Confused, Videodrome, and a version, if not the initial single-disc version, of Do the Right Thing, etc. all remained in-print while Criterion had their versions out, I might guess that the same will be true of Blu-Ray, with Criterion editions further on down the line.

Matthew Chmiel

IIRC, the Blu-ray of Do the Right Thing contains most, if not all, of the special features from the Criterion set.

wd40cloud

The only feature missing is Public Enemy's video for "Fight the Power."