I'm not a collector, and to be honest many of the films you show are unknow to me, but your knowledge and passion for films are remarkable. And it's always interesting to learn something and watch the unboxings.

@jasoncain9602

Жыл бұрын

That’s why we love and support Heath!

My copy of Robot Monster has arrived to me here in Melbourne Australia, from Bayview entertainment.

Received the Blood Money box set and the Hugo 4k, haven’t been able to hit up the westerns yet but I’m excited! Honestly the Sartana set is some of my favorite spaghetti westerns, but obviously you have to know what you’re getting into. Great as always Heath

I love HUGO; it has inspired me to look for as much George Melies as might be available. HUGO is the perfect movie (along with AGE OF INNOCENCE) to recommend to people who think that Scorsese only excels at gangster movies. ADDENDUM: You had me with "Psychedelic Western"

Welp sounds like I know what box to get in next week’s B&N Arrow sale

Absolutely love Fighting Back, so glad that Arrow picked this up, was an instant buy and import to the UK for me. As far as I'm aware here in the UK we only had one release of Fighting Back under the title of Death Vengeance way back in 1983. Unsure if Arrow is planning to add this to their UK catalogue though

Waiting for that Once Upon A Time in the West 4K...

FYI: For the Blood Money set, there is an error on the "$10,000 Blood Money" disc, where the Tears of Django featurette drops the English subtitles about 8.5 minutes in, and the rest is Italian audio only. I haven't seen a disc replacement announced by Arrow yet, if they even will. EDIT: Oops! Looks like you covered it at 12:15 (hadn't gotten that far in the video yet!).

@saintofrevenge1

Жыл бұрын

So it's not just me, I knew it! I was bummed out about it. Here's to a disc replacement.

Hugo was one of my favourites as a kid, it was one of the first movies that showed me that movies could be art.

Since you mention Italian comedies, I highly recommend “Alfredo, Alfredo,” starting a young Dustin Hoffman 😁

Thanks, Heath! God bless and stay safe!

Good discussion and cool video Heath!👉😃👈

Blood Money is 🔥🔥. I am looking forward to digging into it. An incredible package! I’ve never seen fighting back, but I’ve heard so much great buzz about it, so I’ll be picking it up. Kudos for Arrow for making it available. A 42 page book and poster!?! Awesome!!

Never again will I buy direct from Arrow. I pre-ordered my copy of Hugo the day it was announced and now, here we are almost 2 weeks after it was released and it's still hasn't arrived. According to tracking it's still another 2 weeks away. Same happened with Waterworld. Going to go through Amazon from now on...

Man I can't wait to get my Spaghetti Western Blood Money Box in! Big Western fan. In my opinion, Arrow has the best artwork and presentation!

There has been a pretty substantial fan base for spaghetti westerns since they were originally released. There were a couple of very prominent fanzines devoted to Italian Westerns that came out frequently and for many, many years. "Westerns All'Italiana" (1983) and "Spaghetti Cinema" (1984 - also covered peplum films) were the most prominent. Also, Wild East Entertainment (which sprung out of "Westerns All'Italiana") put out predominantly Italian westerns on DVD and blu-ray for almost two decades going back to 2003, I think. They had 67 releases before they dropped out of business. These were properly framed and often had extras. I'll automatically pick up anything with the Wild East label if I'm lucky to find them out in the wild. Whether there are that many "great" Italian westerns is arguable. I know that a large majority of Italian westerns that I watch are interesting, well crafted, and FUN. A much better use of my time than BARBIE or the new Indiana Jones movie!

Very grateful for your updates on Arrow, and also especially today...Imprint as well... because the box set for Walter Hill is coming today! Now out of print already at Diabolik...and it would have not been on my radar if you had not educated us, but today it will be on my porch. will order blood money on monday. Thanks much

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

I'm jealous! Hopefully my Walter Hill set will be here soon. Enjoy it!

@hawkspeak8592

Жыл бұрын

In spite of the heatwave this has been a great month. Blood Money from Arrow, the Ranown set from Cri. This Imprint Hill set, Nevada Smith from Kino, and we still have Rio Bravo first of August. It be an early Christmas for Western fans. @@CerealAtMidnight

There's an issue with the 3D version of Hugo. Instead of using the stereo angle for the right eye, they used the 2D version. It's incorrect and ruins the 3D experience, since it's cropped wrong and has been distorted for flat presentation. I reached out to Arrow about it. If you want to see examples with screenshots, go to the recent comments on the bluray forum thread about it :(

ARROW also has an edition that includes the 4K, blu ray AND the 3D Blu ray

I hate to say it- but you haven;t really seen HUGO until you've seen it in the original 3D. As expected- Scorsese just owned the 3D. He embraced and perfected what 3D presentation is all about.

I love my arrow italian western box sets too. I agree with you up to a point. Yes outside leone they are not as good as American westerns but many of them are more fun to watch. Plus I think that there are very few American westerns that can touch TGBU and Once Upon A Time in the West. High Noon Unforgiven and Tombstone would round out my top 5 westerns. I have been on italian film collecting kick as of late. The KL sale has seen me pick up a few italians from different genres this week.

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

I love Italian westerns! To further explain my comments, I think by not putting pressure on them to be great, we allow them to be what they really are, which is low-budget entertainment with a lot of style and entertainment value. Most of them reveal their exploitation origins when you start to try to analyze story, which is usually pretty thin, but they're a great gateway into the western genre that demands almost nothing from the viewer. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon A Time in the West would be listed in my 5 great ones, for sure. Outside of the two Sergios, it's very hit or miss. I like Enzo Castellari a lot too. For people who are on the fence about American westerns and might find them creaky and unrelatable, I encourage them to check out The Searchers, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Two Mules for Sister Sara, Quantez, Ride the High Country, Monte Walsh, Red River, Rio Bravo, Shenandoah, The Magnificent Seven (original, ignore the remake), The Wild Bunch, and The Ranown cycle, which I just reviewed here on the channel: kzread.info/dash/bejne/a2qWxJKcqJC_dZs.html

@TheAlexZorba

Жыл бұрын

@@CerealAtMidnight Agree. Great list of must see westerns. Rio Bravo and Outlaw Josey Wales would be my #6 and #7. I would also throw out High Plains Drifter as a very fun watch. I do not remember the Ranown films and want to pick up the Criterion set but with all the sales and Bruce Lee I have so over spent this month its crazy. November is not that far away.

Hi Heath, interesting discussion on Italian cinema. I have Hugo on Blu Ray. I bought it as a children's movie, but it's 126 minutes long, and it's a rare child who can sit watching a film for that length of time! Are you saying it's really a film aimed at adults?

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

I think Hugo is a movie for all ages. I think it was marketed as a children's movie, but to me, it feels like Scorsese making a movie that literally anyone and everyone can watch and enjoy.

Does the 3D version of Hugo require 3D enhanced equipment .. or is it mastered like the 2D/3D versions Kino Lorber have on their releases?

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

It appears the 3-D version of Hugo is polarized, so yes, you'll need 3-D TV and 3-D capable Blu-ray player. It shares a disc with the 1080p 2-D version of the movie, which plays properly without need of special equipment.

so if I liked death wish I should check out fighting back

Dont know if i agree with you Heath about italian westerns, i like them because they offer a more nuanced moral perspective than american westerns, and i also find them much less predictable and much less sanitized, though id agree there arent many great ones, but thats because there were a lot fewer than what the americans produced. I do prefer american westerns BTW, but i think doaghetti westerns can be as good 8r better, and not just leone. Another day ill bring titles that deserve a special note 🤠 btw i enjoyed the bideo

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

I would say many American westerns are anything but sanitized, especially during the 1950’s golden age of the genre and beyond. Seek out The Searchers, The Outlaw Josey Wales, High Plains Drifter, Ride The High Country, Rio Bravo, Monte Walsh, Budd Boetticher’s Ranown cycle, Shenandoah, Quantez, and anything Peckinpah touched. They’re often brutal and heartbreaking. American westerns are synonymous with the American Myth of the west and that myth went from being an optimistic dream to a lost opportunity over the course of about 30 years worth of movies. None of my comments from this video were intended to suggest I don’t enjoy Italian and European westerns. I adore them. But they’re often style over substance and even the people who made them admit that they were exploiting trends for money.

@mauriciogutierrez2145

Жыл бұрын

@@CerealAtMidnight the searchers was the first american western that I'd say was a more morally complex western, perhaps the gunfighter before it, but most of the ones you named came after or were contemporaries with italian westerns (or were influenced by them like the eastwood movies). I love american westerns but for me was a culture shock to see italian westerns for the first time where instead of black and white there were mostly shades of grey that offered a more ambiguous characters and story. In the 70s or a bit before that, american westerns did change, and started making what the french called, crepuscular westerns, but still, don't you think the "good" guys in american westerns tend to be a lot more straightforward than in spaghetti westerns? in spaghetti westerns there are barely good guys, and that kind of less manichean outlook is one of the things I prefer in italian westerns, even though like I said, I love and think american westerns are superior, for the most part, but they tend to be simpler, morally speaking.

Great video, but I would quibble with your characterization of spaghetti westerns. While it's true that a great many were mediocre, there are more than a few that are really good, and of the thousands of American westerns produced, it's safe to say that at least 80-90% are mediocre at best. At least spaghetti westerns have the virtue of presenting a more accurate view of the old west. American westerns (particularly those of the golden age) suffer from whitewashing what was a violent, avaricious, amoral time and place.

@CerealAtMidnight

Жыл бұрын

I was talking about this recently with someone who was surprised by my opinion that there are 10 or less GREAT Italian westerns (I agree there are many very good ones, but also many, many mediocre ones). Further thoughts: I've really fallen in love with the 50s American Western over the last 5-7 years and I'm sure that's informing some of my thoughts about Italian Westerns. The more American westerns I watch, the more they seem to be little repositories of all of our hopes, dreams, failures, regrets, aspirations and foibles. Westerns are one of the only art-forms that is uniquely American (jazz is another) and the ones made after World War II make me feel feel all of the feelings. They're our collective American myth, showing us as we wish we were, but they also grapple with our greed, prejudice, and nationalism. There's heroism tinged with weariness. American westerns embody so much humanity, sometimes I can hardly stand it. When I watch a Euro-western, I appreciate the style, the music, the visuals, the locations, etc, but they can't touch the heartbreak that runs through so many American films.