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Has John Sayles Been Forgotten On Blu-ray? (1 Viewer)

Dick

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Yes, we can get a bare-bones edition of EIGHT MEN OUT. But, hey, what about LONE STAR, MATEWAN, SILVER CITY? These and others of his are such excellent films, but nobody is getting them to us. The oop MATEWAN is pretty much unavailable even on DVD for less than $50.00, and that's for a non-anamorphic, letterbox transfer, if you can even find it. Sayles is staggeringly unappreciated (by the studios, anyway), a talent who needs to be brought out for a new generation, and for those of us who saw his work when first released. Anyone listening?
 

skylark68

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I agree. I have the old laserdisc of Matewan. The DVD was pretty rough if I remember correctly. Really dark and non-anamorphic. I think some of the scenes that took place at night were barely discernible regarding what was happening on screen.

I'm really surprised that Matewan wasn't picked up by Criterion long ago. It's a very important film with regards to a real historical event in post WW1 US social history.

Thanks for starting this thread. Sayles deserves some bluray treatment. A very important film maker.
 

Robert Crawford

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I completely agree that Sayles has been ignored on Blu-ray. I thought Matewan was one of the best films from its year of release. Lone Star I bought on iTunes in HD for $4.99 because I got tired of waiting on it.
 

atfree

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Yes, we can get a bare-bones edition of EIGHT MEN OUT. But, hey, what about LONE STAR, MATEWAN, SILVER CITY? These and others of his are such excellent films, but nobody is getting them to us. The oop MATEWAN is pretty much unavailable even on DVD for less than $50.00, and that's for a non-anamorphic, letterbox transfer, if you can even find it. Sayles is staggeringly unappreciated (by the studios, anyway), a talent who needs to be brought out for a new generation, and for those of us who saw his work when first released. Anyone listening?
Son, you got a talent for stating the obvious. <_<
 

bujaki

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I've always preferred The Return of the Secaucus Seven to the later, slicker and more superficial The Big Chill.
 

Mark Cappelletty

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I met Sayles ten years ago at Amoeba Music in Hollywood and asked him if CITY OF HOPE would ever make it to video (it never got a DVD release) and he said that he was busy acquring the rights to his old movies. Alas, nothing seems to have come of it. I'd love it if he did what Hal Hartley did and self-released a box set of his films (and would love to retire my DVD copies of LIMBO and LONE STAR).
 

Rodney

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bujaki

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What about Amigo? I caught that on Amazon Prime. Did that ever play theatrically? I really liked it.
 

skylark68

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You are right...thanks! I'm gonna order it, even though it's not anamorphic.

Please let us know how the transfer looks. I never ordered it because I had read (not sure where, this was quite some time ago) that it was really dark. I believe the sound wasn’t very good either. I’d like to be told otherwise.
 

arbogast

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There is an anamorphic DVD of Matewan available. Look for the Canadian Seville Pictures DVD.

And, let me join the chorus: “We need more John Sayles on blu-ray!!!!”
 
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Dick

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I now own the anamorphic Canadian DVD, and it looks splendid. Until a Blu-ray is available, I would heartily recommend this.
 

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