thumbs about

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimark_Pictures

I remember these guys disappearing right around the time the Lions Gate started popping up.  I was confusing Lions Gate with Artisan.  I do remember seeing an Artisan pic that had a copyright of 1998 according to the video tape of it I rented and watched some of or part of (it was called ABERRATION, don't remember the movie at all, at least not enough to say anything intelligible about it...I think it took place in a swamp town, but I could be mistaken).  But then it seems within 2 or 3 years Artisan pix started making movies that people wanted to see.  CANDYMAN III was a lame film, but if you didn't know that, you'd automatically want to see it just b/c of the title...unless of course you hated the 1st CANDYMAN movie for whatever reason....and STIR OF ECHOES was a damn fine movie, even though the concept of the movie is a dumb one, as most horror movies are, especially ones that deal with ghosts.  There was another movie I saw that I liked called PREMONITION, which I don't remember very well, but I remember being impressed with it.  And then of course there were others, not counting TERMINATOR and TERMINATOR 2, which they had no part in making, but had their logo on...the very first DVD releases of T1&2 didn't have their name on them, because it was almost immediately after the first DVD editions were released that Artisan acquired the video rights.  That probably explains the fact that the very first TERMINATOR 2 DVD release was in a snapcase and why an almost identical release was made shortly thereafter in a keepcase.  I'm pretty sure the keepcase edition from the late 90's had the Artisan logo.  As for 1, TERMINATOR, I'm drawing a blank...I remember the original DVD release with the strobe light colors in the back ground, but I'm not sure what the DVD release that immediately succeeded that looked like.  It'll probably come to me later....


Anyway.....
Speaking of CANDYMAN III --- I remember that movie came to DVD and subsequently came to VHS like a month or two later....that was one of the reasons my mom and I decided to get a DVD player...we went to a rent to own store to get one.  That seems crazy to me now, but that's only because blu ray was expected to eclipse DVD and eventually replace it, which still hasn't happened, thank God!  There are movies that were made not long before Blu ray technology was announced that look worse on Blu ray than they do on DVD.  I don't personally care about *detail*.  I care about consistency.  A movie is not a compilation of loosely connected footage.  A movie is one thing.  Yes, there are multiple scenes that are not filmed in one take, or even in one day but those various scenes are meant to glide smoothly from one to the next.  If a movie stops midway through a scene, even if it's a scene that you personally would rather be sleeping through, it's a jarring experience.  Sometimes movies will deliberately do that, but the effect is not quite the same, unless your senses have limited range.
So it really bugs me when I see movies like MYSTERIOUS SKIN (2005) and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (2001) getting blu ray releases that have the kinds of flaws noted on sites like Blu-ray.com 
  But I really underestimated Blu ray when it started making its way in shops.  Then it got to where I overestimated it, and now I'm just kind of trying to find a level attitude about it.  I like shopping, but when I buy movies, I usually have to choose -- DVD?  Or Blu ray?  Or do I just choose not to buy the movie?  Choosing not to buy something that I enjoy(ed) is a depressing thought.  It's one thing when I literally can't afford it (which is almost always the case), but...idk...I sometiems find movies that are old for like $5 or $6 and then I'm like "Ooh, it's on sale!", but then I realize that the movie is on sale b/c they've already made all the money they expect to ever make of the movie and if there weren't so many people involved in manufacturing, distributing and selling any given DVD(s), that $5 would go down to less than $1.  The filmmakers probably aren't getting *any* of that money and the CEO of any given motion picture studio is probably getting very little, with even less to pay his employees with.  Those DVDs may as well be free, unless you buy 10 of them, which is a joke -- how many $6 DVDs are actually worth buying?  Heck, how many $20 new releases are worth buying?  Of course, the same principle applies there, except it's a lot easier to think of it in terms of "we can do this if we all work together!"...And if my opinion of most movies were worth anything at all, then people who buy movies that really are not all that good, if they woke up and realized their wrong and acted on it, would be saving themselves money and eventually the studios would be saving some dough by not having to finance mediocrity at such a high cost.  Movies that are f--ing brilliant cost a good sum of money -- sometimes -- but movies that are far inferior cost the same amount.  And only some of those movies that are made for the sole *hope* that they make money are actually going to make any money at all.  BTW -- I really wanted to see BLADE RUNNER 2049, but by the time I knew it was in theaters, it was already scheduled for release on video within a month or so.  I might still be able to catch it, but I can't say I like the first one well enough to enjoy the sequel thoroughly enough to not let the financial failure of it temper my good spirits.  And the sequel, like the 1st, seems more like one of those movies where you're supposed to be playing philosophical pingpong while you're watching the movie.  I like the *feel* my movies.  The only feeling I got from watching the little bit of the 1st one I saw was this sense that it might be raining soon...idk...can't explain it.  Probably has something to do with the film-noir style that the movie was made in.
Anyway...
I'm not sure why I'm still typing....Ok, whatever THE END