I'm gearing up for some major holiday film marathons. I spent about $200 on DVDs, including Betty Boop: The Vintage Collection, Remastered, Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, and the new Criterion Collection restorations of Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Seven Samurai, and their limited edition of Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy, which includes Blood of a Poet, Orpheus, and The Testament of Orpheus.
Besides those, I am borrowing from the library where I work, the Angel Video edition of Ken Russell's The Devils, David Lynch's Inland Empire,, Lindsay Anderson's If, a new cut of an Orson Welles film on The Complete Mr. Arkadin, and the 2004 film Crash, a director's cut.
I'm sure there will be lots of egg nog (with plenty of nog), popcorn, and probably some pizza to go with...
I have already watched Yojimbo, and Sanjuro, both old favorites, excellent films that most anyone can enjoy. The new anamorphic versions, both from high definition digital transfers, from first generation positives were quite noticeable improvements. The restorations were stunning in their clarity, and the new translations made much better sense in spots, more detailed. Both films had an optional Dolby Digital 3.0 soundtrack, which had the original "Perspecta Stereophonic Sound," a three channel simulated stereo sound. DD5.1 it wasn't, but is sounded much better than mono. I never knew the original film releases had that, because this was the first recording issued that has it. I highly recommend these films/DVDs!
