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'Blow Up' - New Blu-Ray Release 3/28/17 - Yardbirds


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New blu-ray release of the film Blow-Up is out today:

blow-up.jpg

In 1966, Michelangelo Antonioni transplanted his existentialist ennui to the streets of swinging London for this international sensation, the Italian filmmaker’s first English-language feature. A countercultural masterpiece about the act of seeing and the art of image making, Blow-Up takes the form of a psychological mystery, starring David Hemmings as a fashion photographer who unknowingly captures a death on film after following two lovers in a park. Antonioni’s meticulous aesthetic control and intoxicating color palette breathe life into every frame, and the jazzy sounds of Herbie Hancock, a beautifully evasive performance by Vanessa Redgrave, and a cameo by the Yardbirds (featuring Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck) make the film a transporting time capsule from a bygone era. Blow-Up is a seductive immersion into creative passion, and a brilliant film by one of cinema’s greatest artists.

  • New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New pieces about director Michelangelo Antonioni’s artistic approach, featuring photography curators Walter Moser and Philippe Garner and art historian David Alan Mellor
  • Blow Up of “Blow Up,” a 2016 documentary on the making of the film
  • Conversation from 2016 between Garner and actor Vanessa Redgrave
  • Archival interviews with Antonioni and actors David Hemmings and Jane Birkin
  • Trailers
  • PLUS: A book featuring an essay by film scholar David Forgacs, an updated 1966 account of the film’s shooting by Stig Björkman, the questionnaires the director distributed to photographers and painters while developing the film, and the 1959 Julio Cortázar short story on which the film is loosely based

https://www.criterion.com/films/28694-blow-up

Review: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/71918/blow-up/

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1 hour ago, craigled said:

Havent got Blu-Ray facilities myself. Would be interesting though.

The Criterion edition is also available on regular DVD - however, it seems to be available only in the States at the moment. Do you have a multi-region DVD player?

In any case, I recommend the movie, if you haven't already seen it.

 

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I really like this movie though it is years since i have seen it. I remember as a teenager watching this film and not knowing the Yardbirds were in it ! I just thought Jane Birkin was fit and it is a great story of a man developing a picture and seeing someone with a gun in a park ( I think).Honestly it's that long ago I saw it. 

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That's pretty neat.  I'm sure it should be available for streaming soon.   There a few pay service sites for TV Streaming to Roku and other devices.  FilmStruck and  Turner Classic Movies that has a huge Criterion catalog section as part of the monthy or yearly subscription.

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On 28/03/2017 at 11:52 PM, ForEvermore said:

The Criterion edition is also available on regular DVD - however, it seems to be available only in the States at the moment. Do you have a multi-region DVD player?

In any case, I recommend the movie, if you haven't already seen it.

 

I will get my friends to sort it for me. That is who i turn to re technology. It will be a very interesting watch.

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I just got mine in the mail today. It's got a cool booklet that includes the original short story on which the movie was based, and a whole slew of extras. I plan on sifting through the extras this weekend, I'm curious to see if the "making of" documentary has anything more about the Yardbirds involvement.

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I just watched the Blu-Ray. Well, as you might imagine, both the picture quality and the sound (despite being monaural) are phenomenal - to see 1966 London so clearly is a treat for the eyes. Well worth the investment if you are a fan of the film. :)

(For those who haven't seen the film, it is an Antonioni film - thus, more artistic, stream-of-consciousness, and a feast for the eyes than a plot-driven film (but it does have a plot - it just meanders from it on occasion). A word to the wise...)

 

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38 minutes ago, Mook said:

I watched this film years ago when I first got into Zeppelin, thought it was a load of shite other than The Yardbirds segment, I'll maybe need to give it another try.

The thing about the Yardbirds segment is the obvious mime, it gets worse when Jeff Beck is smashing up that cheap hollow body guitar and Stroll On/Train Kept a Rollin'  is still playing in the background.

 

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4 hours ago, Mook said:

I watched this film years ago when I first got into Zeppelin, thought it was a load of shite other than The Yardbirds segment, I'll maybe need to give it another try.

It's definitely not for everyone. Slow, meandering, virtually pointless. I like the movie, but even I have to be in the proper mood for it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

watched it last night

4k is nicely done and the sound is better than expected.  Kinda fixated on Vanessa Redgrave a little- forgot about her screen presence.  Booklet is nice too.  Yardbirds scene is a highlight for sure.

not for everyone no doubt- what Balthazor said about in the mood.

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