Avalon

[superbit]

Hi, I got Avalon on trade about a week ago and haven't got round to watching it yet however I played the first opening scene of the film and I don't think the movies going to be my cup of tea, IMDB have it rated at 7.8, I'd be interested on what other forum members think of this film, it might it make me sit down and watch the whole film.:)
Currently got it up for trade but not getting much interest so I might keep it.

[sticker]

I thought it was superb - The trailer plays like a high octane flic, but its pace is far more relaxed...

Really loved it though. - Check sig!!

http://homepage.eircom.net/~garryleavycomedian/Avalon.jpg

[Cirrus888]

I think it was kanada who said that if you like ghost in the shell then you will like this ... I found both to be a real bore.

[DCH]

Loved Avalon. Sure it's made on a lowish-budget but it's smarter, more stylish and less predictable than most Hollywood product.

Virtual reality, mega-tanks, rocket launchers, female lead ...ohh yeah... I've watched it three times in as many months.

You should certainly watch it all the way through - it gets progressively better right up until the final, perfect, frame...

D.

[wide_inside]

I thought it was fantastic. But on the other hand, I haven't got a scooby what it was about.

wide

[jdanielp]

it sounds like there is going to be a R1 release soon accordingly to DVD Times (http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=5828) although it appears to be lacking on the special features and DTS sound when compared to the Japanese and Korean Special Editions... now i wonder if a UK R2 release will ever turn up? i might just go for the Korean SE and be done with it though! :dork:

[DCH]

Wow! Thread comes back from the afterlife! I was just thinking I didn't remember writing that post - then it hit me that it was cos it was over a year ago.

Still think it was a great flick BTW.

[Arch Stanton]

Avalon = Dreadful film that makes the Matrix sequels look like fast paced cuting edge Sci fi.

[Tom-Lux]

Here's another :thumbs: :thumbs: for Avalon. I loved it too. found it to be very refreshingly different.
I got the french 2DVDset that came with the soundtrack, which is brilliant. Unfortunately it lost the DTS track that the korean disc has:(
still great sound and picture:)

here are some more stunnign screenshots (slightly bigger:nuts: )
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tom.bechet/pictures/avalon.jpg


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tom.bechet/pictures/avalon2.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tom.bechet/pictures/avalon3.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tom.bechet/pictures/avalon4.jpg

[Boink!]

Originally posted by DCH
Loved Avalon. Sure it's made on a lowish-budget but it's smarter, more stylish and less predictable than most Hollywood product.

Virtual reality, mega-tanks, rocket launchers, female lead ...ohh yeah... I've watched it three times in as many months.

You should certainly watch it all the way through - it gets progressively better right up until the final, perfect, frame...

D.

I agree with him completely. Bought the R3 pseudo silvery tin with free postcard off these forums last year and picked it off my 'to watch' pile with not much idea on what it was about. I was completely hooked. Oh the colours the hardware and the style are all top notch. Fantastic!

Boink!

[Squirrel God]

It's a fantastic, fantastic film. Easily a 9/10 for me.

I was a bit unsure during the first few scenes, but eventually it hooked me in. It's full of atmosphere and abundantly rich in imagery and metaphor. It's a film that you just let wash over you - you experience, not just view. And the ending provokes easily as much thinking and discussion as films like Donnie Darko. To this day, I'm still undecided on various points :)

I also thought the score was absolutely incredible - it gave me goosebumps. I very rarely leave the credits rolling once a film has finished but in this case, not only did I leave them rolling to hear the wonderful score, but I also skipped back 3 or 4 times to listen again. Awesome.

Tom - Have to say mate, you really need to upgrade to the Korean 2-disk edition :) The DTS-ES 6.1 soundtrack is full bitrate DTS and is quite simply stunning. It enhances your enjoyment of the film no end :notworthy

[jonathan.e]

Originally posted by Squirrel God
It's a fantastic, fantastic film. Easily a 9/10 for me.

I was a bit unsure during the first few scenes, but eventually it hooked me in. It's full of atmosphere and abundantly rich in imagery and metaphor. It's a film that you just let wash over you - you experience, not just view. And the ending provokes easily as much thinking and discussion as films like Donnie Darko. To this day, I'm still undecided on various points :)

I also thought the score was absolutely incredible - it gave me goosebumps. I very rarely leave the credits rolling once a film has finished but in this case, not only did I leave them rolling to hear the wonderful score, but I also skipped back 3 or 4 times to listen again. Awesome.


What he said. :thumbs:

Gives Blade Runner a run for it’s money as best film ever made.

Squirrel God - you have to get the soundtrack CD. It is just awesome.

[Brozyniak]

I think that I might give this a go. Where is the best place to get it from?

[Argo]

DVD Soon have it for about £11 ish on pre order. :thumbs:

[Underscore]

Originally posted by Brozyniak
I think that I might give this a go. Where is the best place to get it from?
I first ordered from HKFlix but it got lost in the post. :oh-hum: Then I reordered from ********* and, after a couple of weeks wait for it to come into stock, it arrived no probs. However, you may want to wait for the R1 since play are listing it for £15.99, IIRC, while the Korean SE is over £20 - and none of the extras have subs or dubs, apparently.

As for the film; a masterpiece. Flawed, certainly, but a flawed masterpiece. A must-see for any fan of Polish art-house sci-fi from Japanese directors.

;)

_

[Tom-Lux]

Squirrel God:
I can`t afford to buy the R3 just on grounds of a DTS track (can`t use the 6 on the 6.1 anyway)
I already paid 35€ for the french set. and as the extras on the R3 are not subitlted I`d have to keep my french set as well.

Does the DTS track really sound that much better??
cheers

[Brozyniak]

I went for the R3 from *********. DTS and the stylish black sleeve was enought to convince me :nuts:

[James45]

silly nonsense that didn't involve me one little bit, i cannot begin to imagine what it is people like about this film. I hate films that act a lot more clever than they actually are.

that said it's still better than reloaded.:D

[Squirrel God]

Originally posted by Tom-Lux
Squirrel God:
I can`t afford to buy the R3 just on grounds of a DTS track (can`t use the 6 on the 6.1 anyway)
You don't have ES Matrix processing on your receiver?

[Tom-Lux]

Originally posted by Squirrel God
You don't have ES Matrix processing on your receiver?

erm no:(

I got my receiver (sony STRDE 445 or so I think) xmas 2001. 6.1 was rare at the time. and considering that it is my lasdt year at Uni and I will be moving in a year or so from home. I`m gonna wait until I have my own place (sharing with g/f) to get a whole new set.

plus our living room doesn`t allow for a 6th speaker =need new house

[Brozyniak]

Thanks guys for this recommendation. It arrived yeaterday and I loved it. easily up there as one of my faves :thumbs:

Very stylish, engaging storyline and well put together. The DTS track is good but the picture could be a lot better. It was also framed funny with a black bar along the right hand side of my screen :confused:

you don't realise just how things are so diffferent until you finally see all the rich colours of central Warsaw at the end which comes as quite a shock. What is the specualtion about Murphy? When Ash 'killed' him, does his 'consiousness return to his unreturned body'? or does he die? Hmmm. The only thing that got me was the bit about the dog. I'm not sure what that was all about other than to deliberatley confuse the boundaries beween what was 'real' and what wasn't.

[Squirrel God]

Originally posted by Brozyniak
It was also framed funny with a black bar along the right hand side of my screen :confused:
Is this the Korean version you're talking about?

If so, sounds like your display needs some calibration because the entire image is 'windowboxed' like so:

http://www.squirrel.god.btinternet.co.uk/rewind/avalon2.jpg

As you can see, it's not just a black bar down the right hand side, but all around.

You need to centre the image on your display :)

[Brozyniak]

Thanks, that explains it. I had my tv set up on the smart mode so I think that it zoomed in a bit and then pushed the picture ovver to the left. Still is a little bit odd.

[stupidboyjj]

I've had the Japanese R2 of this for a while now, I seem to remember that the framing is a bit odd as well, it's almost not quite 16x9, there is a tiny black bar down the right side of the screen (I'm watching on a 4x3 telly with the dvd player set to 4x3 letterbox).

I'm pretty sure I've read comments about this before either here or elsewhere..

JJ

[ljp]

I have the Jap R2 version. Superb film.
What is the best version if I want to watch the extras?

[jdanielp]

yay, got a brand new Korean R3 SE for a bargain price off Ebay :thumbs:

will be interesting to see what the framing is like given the discussion above and also to see how watchable the extras are without English subtitles :dork:

[Tom-Lux]

Originally posted by Brozyniak
Thanks guys for this recommendation. It arrived yeaterday and I loved it. easily up there as one of my faves :thumbs:

Very stylish, engaging storyline and well put together. The DTS track is good but the picture could be a lot better.

Glad to be of service and glad you liked it.

when you say picture could be better do you mean quality or are you just referring to the framing?
if you mean quality then I can reassure you that the film (when I saw it in the cinema) had tons of grain which is normal and the amount of processing that they did to the picture makes it looks weird but if your DVD looks anything like the screenshots posted by SG or me than that's fine. (apperently the french set loses a bit of the grain of the cinema version, but I don't seem to notice that).

HTH

[Brozyniak]

Originally posted by Tom-Lux
Glad to be of service and glad you liked it.

when you say picture could be better do you mean quality or are you just referring to the framing?
if you mean quality then I can reassure you that the film (when I saw it in the cinema) had tons of grain which is normal and the amount of processing that they did to the picture makes it looks weird but if your DVD looks anything like the screenshots posted by SG or me than that's fine. (apperently the french set loses a bit of the grain of the cinema version, but I don't seem to notice that).

HTH

I think that the actually picture quality could be better (not the framing) . I realise that the grain is deliberate, but the deliberate element dissapears at the end in game realleaving a picture that is passable but IMO not quite top notch.

In response to the other point, IO watched some of the extras today. The trailers/tv spots and visual image library are obviously fine but the tow main documentaries are impossible if you don't understand Polish/Japanese or Korean. Fortunately my wife translated a lot of the POlish and I can get by with a bit, but some parts are just in japanese :confused:

Essentially the first documentary follows the crew around the various scenes of the movie showing how they were shot a bit about Oshii's broken leg and birthday!

[jonathan.e]

There’s a Visual FX doco and an interview with Oshii on the upcoming R1 disc.

[jdanielp]

watched my shiny new Avalon SE DVD tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it again second time through :thumbs:

i noticed the black border top and bottom but not really to the left or right which makes me wonder if my TV needs recalibrating (i had noticed minor things going off the edge of the screen before, particularly to the left, but never really paid them too much attention). i don't know how to get at the service menu or anything for my TV to do it myself (it's a Hitachi Natura C32WF727N i think) - is a geometry adjustment like this worthy of trying to get an engineer out to have a look under my 5 year warrenty from John Lewis? :suspect:

[Squirrel God]

Originally posted by jdanielp
i noticed the black border top and bottom but not really to the left or right which makes me wonder if my TV needs recalibrating (i had noticed minor things going off the edge of the screen before, particularly to the left, but never really paid them too much attention). i don't know how to get at the service menu or anything for my TV to do it myself (it's a Hitachi Natura C32WF727N i think) - is a geometry adjustment like this worthy of trying to get an engineer out to have a look under my 5 year warrenty from John Lewis? :suspect:
No, you shouldn't notice the left and right borders on a CRT. The reason I suggested it previously was because that person could see one border but not the other, which suggested his image was off-centre. Every TV has some degree of overscan which is normal. In fact, one of the reason why they windowbox some DVDs (Avalon isn't the only one) is because of the overscan on displays - windowboxing it ensures that more of the complete image is seen on-screen :)

[jdanielp]

Originally posted by Squirrel God
No, you shouldn't notice the left and right borders on a CRT. The reason I suggested it previously was because that person could see one border but not the other, which suggested his image was off-centre. Every TV has some degree of overscan which is normal. In fact, one of the reason why they windowbox some DVDs (Avalon isn't the only one) is because of the overscan on displays - windowboxing it ensures that more of the complete image is seen on-screen :)

ah yes, now i see what you mean :dork:

the output from the PS2 on my TV however does usually have a border on the right but not on the left (which can be corrected by shifting the output to the right where the option is available in a game). is this a PS2 specific issue? my other gear seems to be fine...

[KeyserSoze]

which language are you supposed to watch this in ?:confused:

[jdanielp]

Originally posted by KeyserSoze
which language are you supposed to watch this in ?:confused:

the spoken language in the film is Polish so go for that with the English subtitles presumably :blah:

[jdanielp]

noticed in HMV (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click^QS^p=18710^QA^a=60823^QA^g=280345) the other day that a 2 disc UK R2 version is out - only has DD 5.1 as far as I could tell but the second disk does seem to have most of the extras from the R3 SE, presumably with subtitles, so might be worth checking out and would appear to be somewhat better than the R1 and R4 editions...

[Squirrel God]

noticed in HMV (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click^QS^p=18710^QA^a=60823^QA^g=280345) the other day that a 2 disc UK R2 version is out - only has DD 5.1 as far as I could tell but the second disk does seem to have most of the extras from the R3 SE, presumably with subtitles, so might be worth checking out and would appear to be somewhat better than the R1 and R4 editions...

The worst thing about the R1 is that it changes the damn film by adding extra narration to help explain the plot to Americans :brickwall

If the R2 doesn't do that, then could be a nice purchase. The DD 5.1 won't compare to the full bitrate DTS-ES of the Korean release, but I bet it'll still be a great soundtrack and having subs on the extras will be cool. I have been tempted to pick up one of the Western releases for the extras alone as I love the film so much :)

[Alan b]

Moving to World Cinema & DVD Forum

[ljp]

Whats the R2 release like then?

[robbiez666]

great film

[ljp]

So has no one got the R2 release then?