Zatoichi (2003)

I adore the film

But this HD version could be an odd release as the UK had a radically different looking dvd release compared to others around the world (the UK version is very colourful, very contrasty, loos wonderful for me) the other releases look drab, colourless and frankly ugly. So it will be interesting to see which transfer they use for the film.

I hope the UK bright and colourful print, as I just dont like the look of other places transfer they got.

Still seen some caps from the HDTV version and it was not much of an improvment over the standard dvds anyway sadly so hope the Blu Ray can do much better work (please!).

EDIT all above is wrong haha its the american Region 1 version which is the colour pumped up version (its bed time, I guess I was confused haha).

Hi - you've remembered this wrong. The pumped up color belongs to the R1 version from Miramax. The Artificial Eye UK version retains the drab color scheme...

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCom...oichi-2003.htm

Thanks for the correction Silly me, nice to see someone on the ball tonight

yup Region 1.

Not sure what others prefer mind you, but I would assume most people would rather have what the director intended, and the fact the Japanse version and most other versions apart from the Region 1 and fairly drab, I would assume he wants it drab (mind you best not to assume anything haha).

...are the Zatoichi films from the 60's available in HD?...the now defunct VOOM Kung-Fu channel (at leat, via DISH network) showed several of them in HD and they, for the most part, looked wonderful...

I love the Voom HD Kung-Fu Channel. I watch Zatoichi every time it comes on. But the one pictured above I didn't like. It just felt like it was off.

Will it be uncut? UK releases can have cuts for violence.

LOVED this movie. Can't wait for this. It's so quirky and cool

I recorded Zatoichi from WOWOW (Japanese HDTV movie channel) some time ago in 1080i and that version does look quite drab with very muted colors. I guess I'll skip the UK BD release though as I already have this version and Zatoichi is not among my top favorite Kitano films.

Next month WOWOW is showing 3 more Kitano films, Hana-bi, Kikujiro no natsu and Kantoku - Banzai! in HD. My favorite by him is Hana-bi and I'm really looking forward to that one. Sonatine would be nice too.

Maybe back in the day, it's incredibly rare for anything to be censored in the UK these days. Most films still cut are from the laziness,(and cheapness), of studios not bothering the re-submit previously censored movies.

Absolutely love the Zatoichi films. Have seen all but a few (two or three of them are held hostage by a studio unwilling to release them here for reasons unknown). Many of them are on the Kungfu HD channel weekly.

The remake was a letdown for me. It just didn't work, imho. I much prefer Zatoichi 89, which was the original Zatoichi actor's return to the character after a long long time away from role (almost two decades). The story deals with Zaotichi being an older man, slower, but still deadly.

The CGI blood effects in this movie were particularly awful. I wonder how they'll hold up in HD.

Kitano films in HD, well I would spend a lot of cash on them as frankly many of the dvds I own are garbage quality

the CGI blood effects were intentional to look that way. Kitano wanted it a bit "cartoony" to emphasize overkill

...don't mean to sidetrack the discussion, but...the VOOM channel(s) don't exist anymore, right?...Dish network dropped them (without even telling its subscribers in advance)...has anyone picked the VOOM channels up for broadcast?

Those Voom channels are on Cablevision and have been for years.

I am not buying the blood looking so fake was intentional. They are just cheap, pathetic fx in my view. The Lone Wolf & Cub films had much superior blood fx that were 100% real. So did later Zatoichi films and Zaotuichi 89 and the Hanzo The Razor films.

No way the blood was intentional. Too many movie producers think that CGI is the cure for all ills and I'm sure they thought CGI blood and sword tips would look realistic. When they came out looking crappy, they made excuses for it.

Kitano went with CGI and in this style with the intent of having the blood appear to be like "flowers blossoming across the screen". He wasn't going to realism.

Respectfully, you're wrong sir.

The CGI blood/violence looked ridiculously bad. I hope they didn't seriously think it looked convincing.

Respectfully, they can say whatever they want to after it turns out looking crappy, whether it's true or not.

So how can you prove I'm wrong?

(In addition to that, besides the blood looking superfake, the tips of the swords poking through people's bodies looked superfake. Was that intentional as well?)

They simply did not have the money and the means of making it realistic over there. Asian films are frequently slogged with terrible looking CGI.

Being a fan of the original Zatoichi. I would love to see this one. I had tried to get it on occasion locally in PR but was never successful. Looks like an amazon Buy.

Jorge

Just to clarify, I enjoyed this movie. I just really, really didn't like the effects, as they took away my suspension of disbelief.

I will most likely pick this up on Blu Ray. The DVD was quite poor, although the movie was excellent. I am not too bothered about the CGI

I wonder when Kurasawa titles like Ran and Kagemusha will make it to Blu Ray.