two boxed sets

[solipsistnation]

1. Blade Runner, the Ridiculous Edition. Silly briefcase. Neat art cards. Weird slab of plastic with animated film clip thing in it. One potential spoiler of a prop. One toy car. 5 DVDs. I haven't watched them yet, but I bet they're awesome. Possibly tomorrow. (Probably tomorrow, at least for one of them.) Not too expensive, considering the sheer amount of crap you get in there.

2. Radiohead, In Rainbows. Wow, this is pretty. Nice slipcover. Cool art book. The records are a little hard to get in and out of their slots in the covers. This was worth pre-ordering, even though it was kind of expensive. At least I get all the media at once. I am a big fan of companies that sell you vinyl plus mp3s, since lately I really prefer listening to vinyl at home. Hooray for vinyl.

Not the deepest reviews, but each of this is most likely something you already have an opinion about, so it's not like I'm going to be able to convince anyone either way. I think they're neat; you may also.

Comments

[zotz]

I was considering picking up In Rainbows as a Christmas present for my turntable, but I was a bit busy today. Looks like it'll be Wednesday.

Yes. Vinyl plus mp3s is good. Vinyl plus free CD for the car, a la Shellac, is even better.

[eccles.livejournal.com]

Crikey! Just had a look on Amazon at the Blade Runner Ultimate Power Nitro Mach 3 Edition with an extra trimming blade. Not only am I astounded by the fact that it has five DVDs but that there are two other versions with 4 DVDs and 2 DVDs repectively. I was going to get it but now I'm all confused, are the other three discs worth it??? I have to say that disc 5 with its workprint version does sound intriguing but would I ever bother to watch all the different versions? Let me know your opinion.

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

Depends. The only version I previously had on video was the Criterion Edition LD and, since I'm one of those heretics who like the voice-over, getting the whole set was worth it to me. The other versions are icing. :)

For completeness sake, the five versions included are:
Disc 1: Ridley Scott's "Final Cut" version, mastered from the 4K scans. Worth it if only because this is Scott's favorite version of the film.
Disc 3: The 1982 US theatrical version, with the voice-over. The 1982 international theatrical version, aka the Criterion Edition, without the voice-over. The 1992 director's cut. All three on one disc -- hooray, seamless branching!
Disc 5: 1982 workprint, shown to test audiences and at film festivals.

The other two discs contain a slew of documentary-type material. If you like that sort of thing then the 5-disc set is worth it. If not then maybe not.

You can get the 5-disc set without the V-K case.

The whole thing is definitely something for fans, much like last year's Star Wars re-releases with the theatrical versions which Lucas had said he'd never release on DVD.

[eccles.livejournal.com]

Woah there back up, when did Lucas re-release the theatrical versions? Did I blink and miss that one? I occasionally catch them on HBO or something and I am sick to death of seeing all the extra CGI and Hayden "I can't act" Christiansen pasted onto the end of Return of the Jedi. Off to amazon I go...

...scratch that, they appear to be terrible laserdisc transfers. Lucas is a wanker.

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

They're not LD *transfers*. They were mastered from the same set of masters that were used to make the THX LDs before the Special Edition Trillogy. Not quite the same thing. I have a LD transfer, done myself. The professional ones look better and they suck less than, say, the early LD versions (especially the first) or the VHS editions.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

If you aren't a hardcore Blade Runner nerd, it's probably not worth the bucks. If you are, though, it's quite cool.

Go for the basic 2-disc "Final Cut" version if you don't feel like the bonus giant set...

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

The new version of the movie is absolutely beautiful. Haven't gotten to the rest of the kit myself, yet, but I will soon enough.

Fair warning: the briefcase is brittle plastic. A corner of one of the "feet" of mine broke off rather easily.

[highreseuph0ria.livejournal.com]

Yeay for vinyl! I didn't know In Rainbows was being released that way... I got Vanderslice's latest in the same manner, also =)

[highreseuph0ria.livejournal.com]

PS: tell me if you like Blade Runner, because I'll be ordering mine soon!

[saintnobody.livejournal.com]

I went with the "complete" blu-ray edition rather than the "ultimate" edition. Same discs, less clutter. Fun fact: disc 2 is a DVD and not a blu-ray.

[memetic-glutton.livejournal.com]

Saw the Final Cut in the cinema on Sunday. Worth it just for the print - looked bloody gorgeous. I don't think the changes were really necessary though; it's nice they they fixed the replicant count at the start, but the added gore shots and random strippers were rather pointless.

[trystero.livejournal.com]

The strippers didn't do much for me, and I regret Roy's "I want more life" line going from "fucker" back to "father", but the added gore isn't new to the Final Cut: it was included in the international release back in 1982, and most tapes/discs of the movie had it up until 1992. It wasn't included in the 1992 so-called "Director's Cut" for some reason, so if that's the version you're used to, it will jump out at you. But it's not really new.