DIRECT CONTACT (Danny Lerner, 2008)

[MikeR]

Anyone got any idea if the Blu-ray is going to be region coded?

Amazon in the UK is only listing the title as a US import, which if it is region coded will mean it can't be played on European machines. So far some studios region code every title (yes, Fox I mean you), some only do some titles, and some see sense.

M.

[Jox]

No idea.

http://ethaicd.com/show.php?pid=45454

[Daydreamer]

MikeR: the swedish Blue-ray is region 2.

/Daydreamer

[Jox]

In GERMANY:
June 23 (rental)
August 11 (retail)
http://www.video.de/videofilm/direct-co ... 23606.html

This one will be released by Kinowelt whom I expect to deliver a good cover and extras + very good sound & picture quality

[MikeR]

Thanks Daydreamer - Sweden shares the same code as the UK, so I can not only watch the movie, but use any subtitles to brush up my Swedish!

M.

[Warchild]

There's 3 reviews at IMDB and it seems to be a satisfactory movie so far, by what people are saying is that this movie as plenty of action which is good enough for me, can't wait to purchase this one on June 2.

[leigh1975]

Annoyingly, the film's available online. Hope that doesn't dissuade people to buy the film. I'm itching to watch it, but I'll wait until June.

[Nathan]

The reviews on IMDB ain't great or on the Van Damme forum. To be honest, my expectations have dropped dramatically. The stills and trailer depicted and sleek and expensive looking action movie but some of the reviews appear to say otherwise. I hope Dolph sticks to directing his movies in future because I always feel more comfortable and confident that he has delivered a watchable product.

[Jox]

Annoyingly, the film's available online. Hope that doesn't dissuade people to buy the film. I'm itching to watch it, but I'll wait until June.

I wish at least they wouldn't write about it, and I'm glad people here can restrain themselves (not like those idiots at the VD board).

It's two months away from the release in most countries so a bad buzz "a la DIAMOND DOGS" could be fatal. I don't think it can be as bad as DD though, and for undemanding B-movie fans there should be enough bloody and explosive action. Waiting for my Thai DVD to arrive.

As for Dolph not directing it's only an issue when he works with directors he hasn't checked their credentials (both Lerner and Shimon Dotan he knew personally from previously working with them as producers). In the case of DC, he didn't have a choice on the director (it was Lerner's and his sidekick Les Weldon's project from the start) and he kind of agreed to do it in order to get CP financed.

[Warchild]

People at the VD board already saw this movie??? Are u sure because i did not see any posts on DC or any reviews!!

Well this movie as a higher score than Diamond Dogs which is good enough for me

[MikeR]

There will be torrents circulating out there; either taken from the original copies or from those destined for the DVD pressing plants.

For all the sound and fury of the movie studios about piracy, almost all of the high quality rips come from inside their own organisations or the factories they use to stamp disks. In fact in some DVD pressing plants in Eastern Europe and particularly in China, factory managers turn a blind eye to extra runs being made outside of hours which are destined straight for the pirate market.

Worst bit? Quite often these unofficial copies will lack region coding and the unskippable 'piracy is evil' adverts the studios like to inflict on legitimate users.

[Warchild]

I think piracy actually hurt the smaller action stars of the 90's like DL, JC, SS etc... because piracy became more available in the market around the world, i don't think it was just fans not being interested in DL and JC movies, my brother and sis actually buy all PIracy dvd's which with 10 dollars you get 5 DVDs of the newest movies.

I hate the way the picture looks in those illegal DVDs, it's awful, that is why i don't buy it and never will.

[Nathan]

Same here, I would NEVER download a movie using a torrent. People saw Urban Justice and Pistol Whipped via torrent and complained the screener was too dark. So why not just wait and appreciate it more on dvd and on a bigger screen?

[MikeR]

Good point Warchild. But I think what's happening now might be worse for the big studios than the modest budget.

For a while now studios have been relying on the fact that the experience of a movie theatre is much better than what you can get at home - a big screen, awesome sound... so we've had rising movie receipts around the world. But now, we can all get big flat screens at home, better sound systems than many movie theatres and ultra-high resolution Blu-ray disks. For people like me, that's been enough to make me pretty much give up on the theatre - no more out of focus projectors, scratched prints and chattering teenagers with their mobile phones.

What the movie studios really aren't prepared for are the really high quality rips that are circulating on the Internet. Forget the blurry camcorder copies of ten years ago, these are taken directly from the master prints and look just as good as the originals. And this is going to hurt everyone in the industry, big budget or not. Attitudes to piracy are changing, there have been some really interesting academic surveys and they all point to the fact that consumers don't like being able to transfer their movies between devices, they don't like region coding of DVDs and they really don't like release windows where movies are released in the US long before they arrive (if ever) in Europe.

One way of making money in the future might be to make modest budget movies and release them directly on to the Internet through services like hulu.com or iTunes. I don't know if you caught Joss Whedon's 'Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog' http://drhorrible.com/ which was released as an experiment last year (it's on iTunes now); made for $200,000 - released for a limited period for free, then on iTunes, only then on DVD - it's made a lot of money for the cast and crew, cut out the middle men who make most of the money, and got a loyal audience.

It could be the way forward for people like Big D - oooh I wonder if we can get Joss Whedon and him to 'do lunch'?

M.

[Jox]

People at the VD board already saw this movie??? Are u sure because i did not see any posts on DC or any reviews!!

I'm sure.

There will be torrents circulating out there; either taken from the original copies or from those destined for the DVD pressing plants.

Well here it seems to be rip from the Thai DVD that just came out there, I didn't think it would happen but I guess it got worse since 4 years go:?