Michael Giltz: DVDs: The Last Last Emperor http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-the-last-last-empero_b_89623.html [4/5/2009 7:34:15 PM] APRIL 5, 2009 HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING STYLE GREEN WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY 23/6 VIDEO BLOGGER INDEX ARCHIVE Make HuffPost Your HomePage Get Email Alerts Twitter: Follow Us BIG NEWS : Angelina Jolie | Madonna | Chris Brown & Rihanna | Paul McCartney | More...</p><p> LOG IN | SIGN UP Michael Giltz Freelance writer and raconteur Posted March 3, 2008 | 02:10 PM (EST) BIO Become a Fan Get EmailAlerts Bloggers'Index DVDs: The Last Last Emperor Read More: Anime , Cartoons , Chuck Norris , Communism , Dvds, History , Mike Huckabee , Movies, Smurfs, Super Bowl XLII , The Last Emperor , TV Shows , Westerns , Entertainment News I love the new Criterion edition of Bernardo Bertolucci's ode to Communism, The LastEmperor ($59.95; Criterion).</p><p> It contains sterling prints of the original and for those fanatics whowant to see everything the much longer and lessinteresting TV version (which was wronglylabeled the "director's cut" for years whenBertolucci did NOT prefer it to the theatricalversion), plus two more discs stuffed withdocumentaries running three and a half hourslong.</p><p> Best of all, if you read this review and decide you want to rent or buy The Last Emperor, you can go anywhere and find it.</p><p> Why do I say that? Because the worst new trend in DVDs is exclusivity.</p><p> That means instead of making the DVD available wherever DVDs are sold, a studio strikes up an exclusive arrangement with some outlet, reducing the chances of someone stumbling onto a title and making it difficult even for fans of a particular release to know it's out and ready to be purchased.</p><p> Showtime had a critical success with This American Life, a six part TV version of the long-running radio hit by Ira Glass.</p><p> The name alone probably has a high recognition factor that might prompt an impulse buy.</p><p> Unfortunately, Showtime has arranged an exclusive deal to sell its TV shows atBorders.</p><p> Go to Barnes & Noble or Wal-Mart or Best Buy or even Amazon.com and you'll have noidea that This American Life ($19.99; Paramount) has been out on DVD for a few weeks. (And here's a wacky twist - Borders is partnered online with Amazon.com so if you go to Borders onlineyou STILL won't realize This American Life is available.) The same is true of The Greatest Superstars of WrestleMania, a two disc set celebrating Hulk Hogan and the like available only at Wal-Mart starting March 25 for $29.95.</p><p> If you want theengrossing Peter Bogdanovich documentary Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down ADream ($29.99; ) you have to somehow know it's only at Best Buy.</p><p> Be the First to Submit This Story to Digg Get Breaking News Alerts Share Print Comments never spam Popular Stories on HuffPost Fashion Face-Off! Michelle Obama And Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Finally Meet In France (VIDEO, PHOTOS, POLL) *Video, poll and slideshow Levi Johnston TalksSafe Sex With Tyra Banks (VIDEO) ***UPDATE*** 8:30pm: People.com is reporting that Sarah Palin has issued...</p><p> Oscar de la Renta Slams Michelle Obama's Buckingham Outfit As Major Designers FeelIgnored While Michelle Obamahas made lesser...</p><p> Verena von Pfetten 7 Lessons To BeLearned From Carla Bruni So here's the thing.There's no shortage of articles dedicated to thatcertain je ne...</p><p> Huff TV Arianna Discusses MichelleObama's "Fantastic" Style On CBS' 'Fast & Furious' HAUL: Rakes In $72.5M Madonna Tot's Dad Found: 'At Last I Can Be Part Of Mercy's Life' Farrah Fawcett's Son Arrested As She's In Hospital Michael Giltz: DVDs: The Last Last Emperor http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-the-last-last-empero_b_89623.html [4/5/2009 7:34:15 PM] SNL: Madonna And Angelina In Weekend Update...</p><p> Reality Star Jade Goody Buried In Lavish...</p><p> Robert De Niro Nanny Sues For $40,000 "HGTV's $250,000 Challenge": Families Vie For Mortgage...Why would anyone agree to these exclusive arrangements? Casual fans who might have given a DVD a try will never know it's available.</p><p> Even fans dying to buy a DVD will find it hard to track down a title.</p><p> Are they supposed to magically know that a Showtime series can only be found at Borders? That would be like trying to remember that Simon & Schuster books can only be found at Barnes & Noble. (Not true, of course.) It is, quite simply, idiotic.</p><p> Whatever promotional resources the stores devote to the title is far outweighed by the long-term stupidity of making your DVDs hard to find.</p><p> Also out this week: Sean Penn's acclaimed Into The Wild ($35.98; Paramount).</p><p> Me, I couldn't get past the fact that the kid died so unnecessarily when the movie painted him as a Christ-like figure who found ecstasy.</p><p> But it was well-done with a great supporting cast (including a touching Hal Holbrook) and Emile Hirsch holds the screen wonderfully.</p><p> It deserves a wider audience.</p><p> Also, the similarly beautiful tale in a gorgeous setting Khadak ($24.98; LifeSize); Billy Wilder Film Collection ($39.98; MGM), the latest boxed set devoted to one of Hollywood's greats and if you don't already own The Apartment and Some Like It Hot plus the lesser Kiss Me, Stupid and The Fortune Cookie, then it's a great buy; Super Bowl XLII Champions New York Giants ($24.98; Warner Bros.), an irresistible collection (at least to New Yorkers) of nearly three hours of footage from the season in general and the Super Bowl itself, though really it should be a two or three DVD set with the entire game included; The Darjeeling Limited ($29.99; Fox), which was a huge step up from The Life Aquatic but bizarrely got lambasted by some critics for being yet another witty, intelligent comedy by director Wes Anderson with a great cast, quirky production design andoddball musical cues - really, why doesn't he pick boring musical cues and what's next, anotherwestern from John Ford?; Beowulf Director's Cut ($29.99; Paramount), which proved thatAngelina Jolie is still hot even when she's digitally animated - and hi-tech toys don't matter if thestory is weak because director Robert Zemeckis made a much better movie 20 years ago with WhoFramed Roger Rabbit and a lot less computer power at his disposal; Flight 29 Down Season Two($24.95; @DK) and Flight 29: Hotel Tango Series Finale ($14.95; @DK), a pretty fun kid's version of Lost (without the supernatural elements) though the movie finale should have been included in season two; fans of Buffy The Vampire Slayer should soak up the anime Blood+ Part One ($119.95; Sony), this more somber tale of a high school girl battling vampires that is beautifullyshot and with a film worthy score by Hans Zimmer; New Line gets absorbed into Warner Bros. andsays goodbye with one of its less successful projects, Silk ($27.98; New Line), a period piece in which Michael Pitt is tempted to cheat on Keira Knighley - as if; Sidney Lumet's taut, wonderfuljury room drama 12 Angry Men ($19.98; MGM); The Smurfs Season One Volume One ($26.98; Warner Bros.), the smash pop cultural phenomenon that was so smurfalicious in its day; ChuckNorris may not have had the power to make Mike Huckabee President but he WILL make you buyWalker: Texas Ranger - The Fourth Season ($49.99; Paramount); America At War Megaset($199.95; History), a fine if bulky 14 disc set about America's major wars, with the Civil War andWorld War II, for example, getting twice as much coverage as less fun wars like Korea, Vietnamand World War I (what was that about, again?); two sets proving there's a DVD for every interest -The Art & Practice of Gardening ($24.99; Kultur) and Simply Painting Watercolors Vol. 1: TheNortheast ($29.99; Kultur) with the amiable Frank Clarke; Newhart Complete First Season ($39.98; Fox) and I'm already anticipating that final episode, arguably the best in TV history; TheLove Boat Season One Volume One ($36.98; Paramount), is - to be kind -- a time capsule of cheesy Saturday night TV escapism that would go down a lot more smoothly if it contained the TV moviethat launched the show and the entire first season instead of just 12 episodes; Family Affair SeasonFive ($39.98; MPI), which proves that sincerity and sweetness can sometimes age better than cutting edge humor; The Hogfather ($14.95; Genius), a TV movie adaptation of one of the comicsci-fi Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett (think Monty Python, Douglas Adams, et al) that does apretty good job for those who've read some of the books and will be deeply, deeply puzzling tothose who haven't but might just make them realize they're missing something amusing and pickup a book of his; and finally Comanche Moon ($29.95; Sony), an ok prequel to Lonesome Dove as long as you enjoy it on its own merits (Steve Zahn is very good, in particular) and it's been a whilesince you watched the original, one of the best and most popular Westerns of all time.</p><p> More in Entertainment... 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RICHARD POPLAWSKI,Pittsburgh Gunman, Kills 3Police Officers Dr.</p><p> Rachel Ehrenfeld: DoesIran Harbor Osama binLaden? Comments 5 Pending Comments 0 HuffPost Stories Surging Right Now Ads by Google Deep Discount DVDs Low Price Films, Movies, Box Sets DVDs with Free Shipping DeepDiscount.com/DVDs Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to View Comments: Newest First Expand All ArabianMonkey See Profile I'm a Fan of ArabianMonkey permalink Everytime someone tries to be clever about distribution - like such exclusive deals you mention, this gives pirates a huge incentive to make the movie available to all.</p><p> I live in Amman which is flooded withpirated stores selling DVDs of everything for under $1.5.</p><p> It's wild! I can find a DVD for a movie that'sjust out in a US theatre at the same time! At one point in the past, this was painful.</p><p> But then I thought,well if these movies aren't easily available to people here, then that's an open invitation for piracy! I blogged this last year: http://naydynmoody.blogspot.com/2007/09/avc-is-missing-another-c.html Movies are made to be seen.</p><p> Distributors have been extremely frustrating, uncreative and lethargic.</p><p> So if the only way for someone in Jordan to find/watch a movie of choice is thru a local store selling pirated material, then that's what they're going to do! And I know it's wrong, but what choice is one left with??internet penetration in Jordan is a mere 14%, so only a handful of people shop online.</p><p> The rest can'tafford the $30+ original DVD even if it is available.</p><p> Making things inaccessible simply encourages people who want it to seek alternative ways to obtain it.</p><p> Distribution and pricing needs a whole new structure! Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink You make a good point about availability -- and it's not just around the world.</p><p> When recordlabels literally killed the single, people turned to illegal downloads available online until iTunesrescued the music industry's butt in that category.</p><p> However, as far as new movies areconcerned, I would defend the studios a little.</p><p> Increasingly, big blockbuster movies areopened worldwide as quickly as possible, virtually day and date.</p><p> And it's not just INdianaJones but darn near every big would-be blockbuster like Iron Man, Horton Hears A Who.</p><p> Computers India Barack Obama Michelle Obama Sports Olympics Housing Crisis Fox News Cars MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » Books by this author A cabin of one's own: New England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... 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(The national gay &lesbian newsmagazine) by Michael Giltzchemical used in rocket fuel were found insamples of...</p><p> HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:11 PM on 03/04/2008This Blogger's Books from Michael Giltz: DVDs: The Last Last Emperor http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-the-last-last-empero_b_89623.html [4/5/2009 7:34:15 PM] HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING GREEN STYLE WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY FUNDRACE ARCHIVE Advertise | Login | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Jobs | FAQ: Comments & Moderation | FAQ: Huffpost Accounts | Contact Us Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | Archive | User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type Comments are closed for this entry Plus they rush out the DVD generally within 12 weeks of a movie's release in the theater.</p><p> The wages of people in Jordan is beyond them, of course, but they do try to blanket the globe asquickly as possible.</p><p> And that's a direct response to pircy -- they know they can't stop it so they try to make the theatrical experience as widely available as soon as they can.</p><p> GeorgeKaplan See Profile I'm a Fan of GeorgeKaplan permalink This is what I do! http://www.amazon.com/Last-Emperor-Criterion-Collection/dp/B000ZM1MIW/ref=sr_1_1? ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1204655435&sr=1-1 Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink I didn't buy the Eagles album for the same reason.</p><p> Not so many Wal-marts in Manhattan.</p><p> You're rightto point out the financial incentives but it so SEVERELY limits the upside that it makes no sense to me -- especially if you see DVD sales and rentals as not just a means to themselves but as a way topromote the show so that season two will do better.</p><p> Heck, just SEEING This American Life on theshelves let's people know about the series on Showtime.</p><p> It's like a mini-ad and they're giving all that up to foolishly hedge their bets.</p><p> New Line hedged its bets on The Golden Compass by selling off the foreign rights even though a fantasy spectacle like that was certain to do at least as well as the US and often much more.</p><p> Now the heads of New Line are out of a job.</p><p> They probably still would be, but at least they wouldn't look so dumb on their last big decision.</p><p> As for Amazon, if you mean lower prices for singles, that's something the labels wanted iTunes to do but they resisted mightily multi-layered pricing. (Mostly for the intelligent reason that labels wanted to charge more for hot new singles not really just lower prices on much older songs.) So I don't think Amazon got a better deal so much as agreed to aggressively different pricing for different songs/albums.</p><p> But I may be wrong. dannyo152 See Profile I'm a Fan of dannyo152 permalink The thing about these exclusive retailer deals (last year there was an Eagles album that didn't get my dollars because they made it too difficult to buy) is that they they take a fee for the exclusivity, whichhedges the downside and in return they limit the upside.</p><p> I don't get it either.</p><p> But then I'm sure it takes anMBA and a spreadsheet to understand much the record companies do.</p><p> As an example, giving Amazona better deal so as to punish Apple for successfully selling their stuff.</p><p> You must be logged in to reply to this comment.</p><p> Log in or Ads by Google Deep Discount DVDs Low Price Films, Movies, Box Sets DVDs with Free Shipping DeepDiscount.com/DVDs Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:12 PM on 03/05/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:31 PM on 03/04/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:44 PM on 03/03/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:49 PM on 03/03/2008
