Frankly, I want to have it all ways--a shelf full of of Blu-Rays with a large TV is always my first choice! But back when I used to commute on the Metro (Pre-Covid), I wished that I could pull out a tablet and watch some Woody...
If all 47 films had been available on Digital HD, I would have bought them all that way. Unfortunately, many of Woody's films are out of print and unavailable. So I went Blu-ray for the ones I could and DVD for the rest. I did notice another studio is re-releasing a bunch of Miramax titles in September, so maybe Woody's Miramax films can finally get Blu-ray releases in the US some day. Until then, I'll have to stick with the Japanese imports.
Nothing wrong with being old fashioned. I'm 100% physical when it comes to music. For movies though, I'm about 50/50. Whether I buy physical typically depends on the bonus features. With Woody's films not having bonus features, I go Digital HD when I can.
There are some BDs that have bonus features. For example, this German box set has several interviews, including with Woody himself: But yes, generally he doesn’t allow major bonus features on his home video releases. You do get trailers on most of them, which is something at least, and the Twilight Time BDs have isolated score audio tracks. Personally, I like to know that, when I own a physical release, it is mine forever — barring any natural disasters, of course. I don’t like the impermanence of streaming services, where I’m at the whim of rights distributors, cancel culture cowards, or even the streaming service itself going out of business at some future point. Downloads are okay, provided you can control the files and save them onto a proper hard drive, not just have them locked down on a proprietary box. I still prefer physical, though. If I want a digital copy, for the sake of convenience, I’ll rip the disc myself.
Totally get where you're coming from. Those are all the reasons I'll buy CDs forever rather than stream. Although when you live in Florida, a hurricane destroying all of your physical possessions is just as likely as one of the major streaming services going out of business. Everything is a risk in life. I love when Blu-ray releases include digital codes so everyone can have the best of both worlds. Unfortunately for A Rainy Day in New York's US release, it appears the company releasing the Blu-ray doesn't typically include digital codes in their releases.
I hate to have to trump you here, but I lived in New Orleans, LA for seven years. I lost 99.9% of my possessions in Hurricane Katrina. What little media that did survive was physical. The hard drive of my computer was destroyed. There’s nothing you can teach me about risk at this point.
That's why I don't necessarily consider downloads any safer than streaming. Hard drives can fail or get destroyed. I lost everything in Hurricane Andrew and there was no such thing as streaming back then. I think there is great value in the Blu-ray+Digital combo packs. I'm disappointed that A Rainy Day in New York is unlikely to be released in that configuration. Another great option is that some of Woody's movies are eligible for "disc to digital" on Vudu, so for $2 you can scan your Blu-ray and get a digital copy.
Those digital codes are all very well, and clearly there are people that use and value them. With over 1,000 BDs in my collection, I am just not that organised to download each one as I add the disc to my collection. I know some people sell the codes online, but I’m not interested in making that kind of chump change. So, my codes just sit in the cases, unused. It may not be the perfect solution — storage space is an issue — but I’m sticking with physical media. I’ve also moved to a safer part of the world, which helps.
Thanks--I've really enjoyed the discussion about the non-BD options. Quick question about Woody on Blu-Ray though: I checked these pages and other places online, but I've not been able to find anything that compares the transfer quality between different countries/editions of movies. For example, region-coding aside, are Arrow and Twilight Time using the same transfers? Are certain countries' version of a better quality image?
There are occasional, subtle differences that the pixel-watchers have noticed, but the Arrow and Twilight Time editions are so close that it’s not worth worrying about. I own the three Arrow box sets because I live in the U.K. and they were far cheaper to pick up on release than the TTs, which have always been expensive to import. Plus, they look lovely in their B&W boxes, with their accompanying hardback books. If I still lived in the United States, I’d most likely have gone with the TTs. As for specific online comparisons, yours is a general question that prompts a general answer: search for the individual titles you are interested in. Some useful websites in that regard: Blu-ray, Blu-ray Movies, Blu-ray Players, Blu-ray Reviews DVDBeaver rewind @ dvdcompare.net - the home of dvd & blu-ray comparisons Generally speaking, the transfers themselves are much of a muchness. I would say avoid French releases, unless your research indicates that a particular title does not feature forced subtitles; it is still a widespread issue over there, unfortunately. I also bought a couple of Spanish Woody releases that had forced subs (and others that did not), so be careful there. I updated the Blu-ray.com database myself for the ones I found. Whilst the database there is very good, it’s not always perfect, especially for releases outside of the U.K. and the U.S. To Rome with Love is a unique one in Woody’s catalogue insomuch as it features multiple languages that demand good, English subtitles (unless you’re a polyglot). The U.S. BD is the only way to go here.
Thank you both--DVD Beaver is a cool site. And that "rewind" site was amazing, too...I'm not ashamed to say that I spent a few hours there.
Update on the US release of A Rainy Day in New York on Blu-ray. Target.com's pre-order price has dropped from $23.99 to $14.99 for those looking for a bargain.
fedex just woke me up, but it was my japanese bullets over broadway blu-ray showing up a week early, so i'm excited. just need sweet and lowdown to show up on dvd from ebay and then i've got all the woody allen movies
It was a lot of money, but I'm glad I did it. It's hard to predict how cancel culture will affect Woody's films in the future, especially once he's no longer with us, so it's possible some of these films were just going to become harder and harder to find, and far more expensive. My fiance is in her 20s and had never heard of Woody Allen before, so she thought it was crazy that I wanted to buy almost 50 movies from the same director, but I made her watch a few of them with me as I started buying them and she's actually really liked them. Although she does tease me that so many of the movies are about relationships where the woman is a bit younger than the man, since she is a bit younger than I.
I quite liked one called “Paris-Manhattan”, a charming little French film that flew under the radar for me until someone mentioned it in the film-by-film thread. Not perfect, by any means, but worth recommending to fans like us! The lead character is a French gal who loves Woody’s films...
That's great! Around the time that Wonder Wheel was in the theaters, I decided to start trying to replace my dvds with Blu-rays and to try and pick up all of the ones that I didn't have. This was motivated largely by my fear in what was going to happen to him and to his work in light of the cultural climate. Like you, I think that I have all of his titles in Blu-ray or in dvd when it's the only option. I would love for some company to put Crisis in Six Scenes out in a physical format... And congratulations on being engaged AND to someone who likes his films! So far, my wife prefers his crime films over his comedies.
I think his book selling so well in the US, and laying out such a convincing argument for his innocence, will make some companies curious about working with Woody. It'll be interesting to see how the US release of A Rainy Day in New York goes. Still never seen it. How is it? Is it on Amazon still? Thank you. Getting engaged during a pandemic may not have been ideal, but we've been having a blast and there's certainly more free time to watch movies at home. She was born in the 90s and HATES 80s movies for whatever reason, but she's really gotten into Woody's love stories from the 70s as well as some of his love stories from the past decade or so. I love some of those 80s/90s crime type movies, but she can't get into them.
Uneven. A couple of good jokes in the first episode then a couple of poor episodes before rallying a little toward the end of the series. Episode five features some good interplay between Woody and Elaine May.
Anyone else holding off on purchasing/repurchasing A Rainy Day in New York until the North American Blu-ray/DVD release to show that company some love?
Yes, that's the reason I've never bought the film. Been waiting for an official US Blu-ray to buy in hopes it will encourage more US releases for Woody's films.
For those still collecting, Screen Archives just updated their inventory and pricing for the Twilight Time titles. For Woody: $8.95 Alice Another Woman Midsummer Sex Comedy --Low Quantity September 14.95 Bananas EYEWTKAS--low quantity Husbands and Wives Interiors-- low quantity Shadows and Fog Stardust Memories Zelig--less than 75 copies remain
