http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=68967

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have announced the US Blu-ray Disc release of 3 catalogue titles on 2nd December 2008. Priced at $28.95 SRP each are Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita and Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. Also released is Stranger than Fiction, labelled as a new Special Edition and available the same day as the new Will Ferrell film Step Brothers.

Features and region coding are TBC.

Awesome news, love me some Luc Besson.
Even if the two Besson's are bare bones I am in day one :)

Stranger than Fiction was really good. Not your typical Will Ferrell movie.

Looking forward to La Femme Nikita.

Still not sure what Sony's aim is by re-releasing big selling titles like Casino Royale (picked that up on 03/13/07, and AVC/PCM are certainly good enough for me!) or Stranger than Fiction so soon, but at least they are doing two titles that I'd potentially rent/buy. Chances are I'll grab La Femme Nikita as a blind buy.

Ok let's prepare for the recall pressrelease guys!!

Looking forward to La Femme Nikita.....The perfect partner for this film would be Leon - The Professional and it's a pity that's not being released too but i'll wait for that one if they are remastering it ( god knows that it needs a remaster )

I'm all over La Femme Nikita. Here's hoping that Leon is up next.

Looking forward to La Femme Nikita.....The perfect partner for this film would be Leon - The Professional and it's a pity that's not being released too but i'll wait for that one if they are remastering it ( god knows that it needs a remaster )
Same here. It will be a major disappointment if it still doesn't get a new transfer after all these years.

Whoa! La Femme Nikita!!!! OK, must temper excitement. They can always screw it up like MGM did and use Dubtitles instead of subtitles. Luc Besson supervised a very accurate translation for a subtitle track and it has only been used once on DVD. Two other times the dubbed script was used by mistake.

So I cannt buy until we know for sure.

I've had 'Nikita' on p&s Laserdisc and anamorphic dvd....looking forward to enjoying Eric Serra's score on TrueHD, not to mention a (hopefully) new transfer. Would love to see an earlier Besson gem, 'The Big Blue' on BD also.

YES, The Messenger!

"May God forgive your blasphemy, because I never will!"

What a trippy movie.

If 'The Professional' does get released, I hope it includes these lost scenes:

link 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epoTNEFdYgg)

and

link 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWIJpw9UJdQ)

I've had 'Nikita' on p&s Laserdisc and anamorphic dvd....looking forward to enjoying Eric Serra's score on TrueHD, not to mention a (hopefully) new transfer. Would love to see an earlier Besson gem, 'The Big Blue' on BD also.
Damn do I love Le Grand Bleu, I love all of Besson's work but that above all.
Subway, The intégrale Bleu and Leon intégrale would make my year come on Fox and Sony do some work

Nikita looks absolutely terrible on MGM's Special Edition DVD, with some of the worst edge halos I've ever seen. Here's hoping Sony get it right on Blu-ray.

Yup. And that transfer is the one with the proper subtitles. F'n MGM couldn't get it right.

If 'The Professional' does get released, I hope it includes these lost scenes:

link 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epoTNEFdYgg)

and

link 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWIJpw9UJdQ)
The last two or three releases have been of Leon, not The Professional. They include both of those scenes and more.

They're not really "lost scenes" any more, Rieper. Sony have released the longer International cut of Leon at least three times already on R1 DVD, which is what Deviation was pointing out.

By the way, ze Germans are getting a Blu-ray release of Leon in October.

lookin forward to Leon from germany

The German BR will include both cuts!!!!!:)

singulus

The German BR will include both cuts!!!!!:)

singulus
What, where, when, how ?

You can order it at amazon.de
http://www.amazon.de/Léon-Profi-Blu-ray-Danny-Aiello/dp/B001CQFNHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1222283919&sr=8-1

It will be published by Kinowelt & it will be a Steelbook
http://www.kinowelt.de/detail.php?id=2626

singulus

I ordered Leon thinking that the DC would only be on there, but having the shorter version as well is a nice bonus. Add in 7.1 audio, and what's not to like?

Update

La Femme Nikita will be presented in widescreen 2.35:1 1080p video and 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio. Subtitles offered include Chinese (Mandarin Traditional), English (US), French (Parisian), Korean, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (Latin Am).

No supplemental features will be included on the disc save for access to Sony's BD-Live service.


From the HD room
http://www.thehdroom.com/news/Updated_Sony_Announces_Bessons_La_Femme_Nikita_on_Blu-ray/3493

And cover art :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/dvdmike/4613.jpg

I do not care about lack of extras as long as the picture is up to par

I don't much care for the "A new kind of lethal weapon" line on La Femme Nikita as it's not really that type of film even though it features a few quality action set pieces.

For those buying Leon from Germany i hope you can report back on the film transfer....Look for edge enhancement, macroblocking and DNR and let us all know.

If it's a good transfer i'd be inclined to buy it and same goes for La Femme Nikita.

Bare bones Nikita. I don't think so.

I'll wait for the next version that has some extras in it. Espeically for that price.

Seggers

If 'The Professional' does get released, I hope it includes these lost scenes:

link 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epoTNEFdYgg)

and

link 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWIJpw9UJdQ)

these 2 scenes add nothing to the overall picture, i can see why they were cut.

If La Femme Nikita has the properly translated subtitle track, I am buying. End of story. If not, they can.... Well, you fill in the blank. :eek:

Bare bones Nikita. I don't think so.

I'll wait for the next version that has some extras in it. Espeically for that price.

Seggers
No-one's really done a proper SE of this film, not even the French, and the extras on MGM's SE DVD were piss-poor, so it's no great shame that they're missing here.

Special features for Luc Besson movies have always been a bit thin on the ground. I wonder why?

why no Leon in US? :(

would round out a perfect release day

-Gary

LEON will happen. But not right away.

will be the second steelbook from Kinowelt with the T2 HD DVD now with Leon i like them
they blow all other studios right out of the picture if you just look at those titles..

I am much more excited to see The Messenger in HD. That movie has some amazing visuals. Here is hoping for lossless of some type too. Since its Sony perhaps we can expect TrueHD.

DVDBeaver (http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare7/nikita.htm) has a review of Nikita, and from the shots I must say it looks fantastic. Clearly a modern transfer, with fine grain and no manipulation. How I wish all catalogue titles could be treated like this.

The only thing that's unfortunate is that I'm not a bigger fan of this film, or I would be ecstatic. :) Kind of odd how they left out the extras, but quality wise, I don't see it getting any better.

Did anyone pick this up ? I just ordered it

Rieper

those two scenes are on the german BD for Leon (which looks fantastic compared to the DVD)

the blown whites are not a deal breaker IMHO. Its a great blu ray .

No mention of the subtitled being proper subs, or just DUBtitles. The first DVD release of this film had dubtitles instead of subtitles, as did the second release. The final SE release had proper subtitles.

Anyone have an email for DVDbeaver? I cannot find one anywhere on their website.

God, it looks beautiful. I've got to get this.

Nikita is a beautiful transfer. Definitely film like with no EE or DNR. It looks like a film of its age.. As for dubtitles vs subtitles. This is the first time I have seen it, and I speak a bit of french and sometimes I could tell what they were saying was not what the subtitles said. It was the same idea but not a literal translation. The SE DVD was done by MGM and this was done by Sony, so that may be the reason.

Nikita is a beautiful transfer. Definitely film like with no EE or DNR. It looks like a film of its age.. As for dubtitles vs subtitles. This is the first time I have seen it, and I speak a bit of french and sometimes I could tell what they were saying was not what the subtitles said. It was the same idea but not a literal translation. The SE DVD was done by MGM and this was done by Sony, so that may be the reason.

The official AVS Forums review says there is edge enhancement and the grain structure is uneven suggesting some minor DNR at least.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1087115

The official AVS Forums review says there is edge enhancement and the grain structure is uneven suggesting some minor DNR at least.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1087115

Its hard for me to detect minor DNR or EE, but overall its good. Maybe I should say no major DNR or EE.

La Femme Nikita - Blu-ray Info

Version: U.S.A / Region A, B, C
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
MPEG-4 AVC BD-50 / High Profile 4.1
Running time: 1:57:13
Movie size: 28,42 GB
Disc size: 30,52 GB
Average video bit rate: 25.89 Mbps

Dolby TrueHD Audio English 1342 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1342 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps)
Dolby TrueHD Audio French 1348 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1348 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 448 kbps)

Subtitles: English / English SDH / Chinese / French / Korean / Portuguese / Spanish
Number of chapters: 16

I had Nikita from Netflix this weekend and watched it today. I've taken a quarter of French in college, but I didn't learn remotely enough to comprehend an entire film. PQ was phenomenal as others have said, and the audio was pretty good for what they had to work with, too.

As for dubtitles vs subtitles. This is the first time I have seen it, and I speak a bit of french and sometimes I could tell what they were saying was not what the subtitles said. It was the same idea but not a literal translation. The SE DVD was done by MGM and this was done by Sony, so that may be the reason.
If you watch the movie with the English dubbed track AND the subtitles, you can compare them. If the subtitles are different, than it is a more literal translation.

The dub and subs are way different. Different expressions, everything. A lot of the dialog is changed.

I'm getting a rental in the mail later this week to compare to the DVD version (the one with the properly translated subtitles, if I can find the darned thing) just to be 100% absolutely sure this is what i want. My purchased copy is in the mail now, but I will wait to open until after viewing the rental.

For a release with no extras at all, I need to be careful.

This is Besson's best film, by far. It deserves much better treatment. Seriously, how long do we have to wait for an SE in this country? It's been nearly two decades now!

Off topic, but related... when the hell are we going to see Christopher Gan's CRYING FREEMAN officially released in the United States? Good grief, it's never been released here! I mean, who doesn't want to see Yoko Shimada naked? In High Def!! :D

DVDBeaver (http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompare7/nikita.htm) has a review of Nikita, and from the shots I must say it looks fantastic. Clearly a modern transfer, with fine grain and no manipulation. How I wish all catalogue titles could be treated like this.

The only thing that's unfortunate is that I'm not a bigger fan of this film, or I would be ecstatic. :) Kind of odd how they left out the extras, but quality wise, I don't see it getting any better.

Indeed the caps look gorgeous. ;)

Too bad I'm not a big fan of this film as well, IMO it's one of the weakest among Besson's selection.

:eek:

I'm getting a rental in the mail later this week to compare to the DVD version (the one with the properly translated subtitles, if I can find the darned thing) just to be 100% absolutely sure this is what i want. My purchased copy is in the mail now, but I will wait to open until after viewing the rental.

For a release with no extras at all, I need to be careful.

This is Besson's best film, by far. It deserves much better treatment. Seriously, how long do we have to wait for an SE in this country? It's been nearly two decades now!



I agree it's Besson's best work....Far better than the vastly overrated and frankly overhyped and average The Fifth Element.

Roll on the directors extended edition of The Big Blue.

Once you get it please come back to the thread and let us all know if the subtitles are better on this release and if you rate the image quality.

I'm pleasantly surprised by how well this movie turned out on Blu-ray, especially considering how awful some of the DVDs have been over the years. More than worth the upgrade for me.

The DVD's were either 4:3 letterboxed, or anamorphic, with edge enhancement just caked over everything. On larger screens they all looked horrid. I actually cannot find my anamorphic DVD, so I think I sold it.

It's going to be killer to see this thing in high def. My wife has never watched this one, so it'll be a treat for her.

Confirmed: The subtitle translation is NOT a simple Dubtitle. It's a more accurate transaltion.

Not perfect according to a French speaking friend of my wife. But "much closer" than the dubbed track.

Confirmed: The subtitle translation is NOT a simple Dubtitle. It's a more accurate transaltion.

Not perfect according to a French speaking friend of my wife. But "much closer" than the dubbed track.

Matt,

I'll be reviewing this title soon. I still have the DVD hanging around somewhere, but haven't watched it in years. Do you have an example of the different subtitles that I can point to?

I likely won't have time to even turn my TV on until this weekend, but just from memory, check out the scene right after the credits where the junkies are outside the shop. When they talk, the dubbed track does its best to match the mouth movements of the characters. What they say vs. the actual subtitle track is way different.

Later, when Nikita stabs the cop in the hand, she yells at the cop, what she yells at the cop is different. In one she yells "My name is Nikita!" and in the other she yells My Name Is Sweety or something like that. I cannot remember which goes to which.

The dubbed track conveys what is said, but comes across as badly written dialogue, as they had to match mouth movements with the spoken word.

Meanwhile the subtitle track seems far more natural in what is being spoken by the actors.