53 replies to this topic

[Zorin Industries]

I guess I got lucky, as I picked up a Casino Royale that came with a second disc with about 105 minutes of additional material on it.

So you are quite happy that there's not even a cast commentary?

I don't understand the gripe at all.

No-one buys a music album and says to themselves "nice songs, shame about the sleevenotes".

I do agree that the extras on the current UK DVD release of CASINO ROYALE are meagre, but you are getting ownership of the film. Twenty years ago, that would have been enough for any fan.

[Loomis]

I'm perfectly happy with the DVD extras. They had every right to issue a completely bare-bones edition, and they didn't.

"Becoming Bond" is fantastic. Not hugely candid, admittedly, but more frank than you might expect. I also like the music video.

I wonder, though, why it had to be a two-disc affair. Couldn't they have fitted it all on one DVD, or is CASINO ROYALE too long a film for that? Perhaps the presence of two discs for relatively few extras makes it seem like more of a swizz than it is.

[dee-bee-five]

Strange as it may seem, I find life's too short to watch "special" features which tell me how Eon's tea-lady's son's best friend nearly got a screen test. I rarely access special features and their lack never outs me off buying a DVD.

Edited by dee-bee-five, 20 March 2007 - 12:27 PM.

[Loomis]

Strange as it may seem, I find life's too short to watch "special" features which tell me how Eon's tea-lady's son's best friend nearly got a screen test. I rarely access special features and their lack never outs me off buying a DVD.

How dare you? Call yourself a fan? Get off CBn!



How apt that such heresy should come from your post numbered 666.

Joking aside, I agree with you, although strangely enough I don't find life too short to watch, say, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN dozens of times. But most "special features" aren't worth the paper they're printed on, so to speak. I've accessed hardly any on my Bond DVDs.

[marktmurphy]

"Becoming Bond" is fantastic. Not hugely candid, admittedly, but more frank than you might expect.

Yes, I was surprised by that at the time- it's pretty decent.

But the lack of stuff is disappointing. They haven't even put those little web diary things on there, let alone the trailers.

[db077]

The extras are not the reason I buy a movie on DVD, I'll usually watch them once and then forget about them (unless it's something incredibly outstanding).

Yes, I would have liked to have seen the deleted scenes we know are out there, and being a Mads Mikkelsen fan I would have liked more than a couple brief comments from him, but I loved Casino Royale and am pleased as punch to have it on DVD.

I have several versions of a lot of my favorite movies (theatrical/director's cut, Region 1/region 2, etc.) just because I have to! And I'm sure I'll be buying whatever the next version of CR is, too.

[shadytreewejustdoredyouract]

We all know we are getting milked for even more cash in the fall of 2008 when Bond 22 comes out so enough said on that end. There are two discs in this edition because of perceived value in the average consumer's mind. While there is more than enough space on one DVD to make everything fit comfortably (especially in this case), people just think two discs are a better value than one even if the content is exactly the same. If quality is an issue, make it a flipper disc (movie on one side & the extras on the other). Those are pretty much history because of the perception issue.

I cannot believe how they have the bald faced nerve to release such a rip-off of a double disc. If this is the way they reward the new Bond's audience it really doesn't bode well for the future. Have the producers tried to justify it?

[shadytreewejustdoredyouract]

Strange as it may seem, I find life's too short to watch "special" features which tell me how Eon's tea-lady's son's best friend nearly got a screen test. I rarely access special features and their lack never outs me off buying a DVD.

How dare you? Call yourself a fan? Get off CBn!



How apt that such heresy should come from your post numbered 666.

Joking aside, I agree with you, although strangely enough I don't find life too short to watch, say, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN dozens of times. But most "special features" aren't worth the paper they're printed on, so to speak. I've accessed hardly any on my Bond DVDs.

I have to disagree on the Bond extras front- there have been some fantastic extra documentaries from 'Terence Young - Bon Vivant' and H'arry Saltzman: Showman' to the Maurice Binder one 'Silhouettes' and the Ken Adam 'Designing Bond'. For a franchise so rich in artistry as the Bonds it just seems to display an uncharacteristic lack of care. Has someone taken their eye off the ball or has Sony just made everyone more greedy?

[Robinson]

IMHO, this should have been a single disc release, and then when they want to milk us later they could have gone for a 2-disc set...

Which will affectionately be know as "Casino Royale with Cheese"

Please, the die-hards would've passed on a single CR DVD & Sony knows that. Maybe they cut their losses knowing Campbell wouldn't be around for an audio commentary straight away. But to not have trailers or teasers for the film is straight up lazy.

[dinovelvet]

We all know we are getting milked for even more cash in the fall of 2008 when Bond 22 comes out so enough said on that end. There are two discs in this edition because of perceived value in the average consumer's mind. While there is more than enough space on one DVD to make everything fit comfortably (especially in this case), people just think two discs are a better value than one even if the content is exactly the same. If quality is an issue, make it a flipper disc (movie on one side & the extras on the other). Those are pretty much history because of the perception issue.

I cannot believe how they have the bald faced nerve to release such a rip-off of a double disc. If this is the way they reward the new Bond's audience it really doesn't bode well for the future. Have the producers tried to justify it?

Why do they need to justify anything? FWIW, the extras on the second disc of CR run for approx. 105 minutes - that's actually longer than the total runtimes of extras on many of the Ultimate Editions (if you're not counting commentaries). They COULD have just put out the movie itself on one disc, with the Chris Cornell music video, and everyone would have bought it anyway.

[zencat]

I liked the two documentaries very much. I can understand that they didn't have time to do a commentary track, but there's no excuse to not have the two excellent CR trailers on there. They chose instead to load it up with trailers for other movies. What we have here are commercials, not extras. That makes me peeved. It's also sort of a cheat to call something like this a "2-Disc Collectors Edition." There's much less on this DVD than most standard releases (take a look at the new Rocky Balboa DVD to see how to do it right).

But I'll get the next one. The double dip thing doesn't bother me. I'm just happy to know there will be another DVD. Wonder what they will call it?

[dee-bee-five]

Strange as it may seem, I find life's too short to watch "special" features which tell me how Eon's tea-lady's son's best friend nearly got a screen test. I rarely access special features and their lack never outs me off buying a DVD.

How dare you? Call yourself a fan? Get off CBn!



How apt that such heresy should come from your post numbered 666.

Joking aside, I agree with you, although strangely enough I don't find life too short to watch, say, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN dozens of times. But most "special features" aren't worth the paper they're printed on, so to speak. I've accessed hardly any on my Bond DVDs.

I have to disagree on the Bond extras front- there have been some fantastic extra documentaries from 'Terence Young - Bon Vivant' and H'arry Saltzman: Showman' to the Maurice Binder one 'Silhouettes' and the Ken Adam 'Designing Bond'. For a franchise so rich in artistry as the Bonds it just seems to display an uncharacteristic lack of care. Has someone taken their eye off the ball or has Sony just made everyone more greedy?

I've watched a couple of 'em and, yes, they're interesting enough. But I'd rather spend my time watching the movies. I know how films are made.

[Loomis]

I liked the two documentaries very much. I can understand that they didn't have time to do a commentary track, but there's no excuse to not have the two excellent CR trailers on there. They chose instead to load it up with trailers for other movies. What we have here are commercials, not extras. That makes me peeved. It's also sort of a cheat to call something like this a "2-Disc Collectors Edition." There's much less on this DVD than most standard releases (take a look at the new Rocky Balboa DVD to see how to do it right).

But I'll get the next one. The double dip thing doesn't bother me. I'm just happy to know there will be another DVD. Wonder what they will call it?

I wonder what the artwork will be. Presumably they won't use the same poster. Perhaps they'll go for the teaser poster with Craig sitting in the casino. That'd be good.

Perhaps we should also not expect to see another edition of CR on DVD until next year. I make this point as some people seem to be under the impression that there'll be another one out for Christmas. While there may be, for all I know, I think it's more likely that the next CR DVD will be timed to coincide with the eve-of-release hype for BOND 22.

[plankattack]

I agree with everyone that extras shouldn't be a reason to buy a DVD, but considering that a commentary is standard on most DVDs, and that there's been one on all the older Bonds, and Brozza's when they were released individually (pre the current box set re-release), the lack of one is shocking.

There's discussion on another thread whether or not the filmmakers pay any attention to us fans when it comes to ideas for plots, direction of the series etc, and the consensus seems to be that they don't. Well, they should pay attention when it comes to issuing a DVD with at least a commentary. The last time I checked, it's us fans who fork out the money for this sort of stuff - not the general audience who are more likely to plonk down the money for a rental or a PPV.

If there was a commentary (standard practice on Bonds so far) I would be happy but no commentary means that to me, the extras are substandard.

[DaveBond21]

I enjoyed Bond Girls are Forever, which I remember seeing on British TV a few years back . I enjoyed the new CR section of it.

I also liked Becoming Bond - it's amazing how many English people work on the Bond movies - they all seem to have cockney accents. Even the big guy from the Casino scenes (I forget his name) was a cockney geezer!!!

[00Twelve]

The special features were great. Both of them.

[AgentPB]

I guess I got lucky, as I picked up a Casino Royale that came with a second disc with about 105 minutes of additional material on it.

So you are quite happy that there's not even a cast commentary?

"Here's a good scene... look at Eva there. She looks great... I think I had a cold that day..."

He's right besides Rogers on the U.E. most commentaries are a bore. They add little info that we didn't know already. I can't really see Daniel Craig really opening up on a commentary he would probably just tell the story of how he was picked to be Bond over and over again.

[DaveBond21]

I like the English comedian Ross Noble's commentaries on his comedy DVDs. He does a commentary on his show, talking about lots of other things (so it's almost like a bonus show), plus then he does a commentary of his own commentary!!

It's hilarious!! He even criticises his own previous commentary!!!

[Judo chop]

Strange as it may seem, I find life's too short to watch "special" features which tell me how Eon's tea-lady's son's best friend nearly got a screen test. I rarely access special features and their lack never outs me off buying a DVD.

How dare you? Call yourself a fan? Get off CBn!



How apt that such heresy should come from your post numbered 666.

Joking aside, I agree with you, although strangely enough I don't find life too short to watch, say, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN dozens of times. But most "special features" aren't worth the paper they're printed on, so to speak. I've accessed hardly any on my Bond DVDs.

To that I

[chris-o]

The german version has the same features and I can say that DAD had much more extras. Sony should put the trailers and other "lost" CR features on the Ultimate Editon Version! I think Sony wanted to sell the DVD early as possible, with the features or without the features!

I payed

[Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]

Well, "Bond girls are forever" documentary is doing a huge career here in Poland Firstly on the DVD with "Casino...". Secondly on a DVD as an addition to "Die another day" dvd - the first of the series of "bonds" released with "VIVA Kino" magazine (see: http://www.viva.pl/007/ ). WOW, I'm going to have a double :]

[thecasinoroyale]

It's not the best Extra set...but as said there will be another set to come..so for now I am happy with it.

It's neat, and a welcome package with the film. I love the Bond For Real feature, highly entertaining. As with Becoming Bond focusing on DC and the team.

Plus the neat music video...yeah, it's not all that bad!

[SeanDalton77]

Hopefully around the holidays will get a dvd on par with the great ultimate editions

[Scottlee]

I've managed to resist the current CR dvd. It's been difficult for me, but I'm not paying for the same film twice, and I know I'd want the next release when it comes out.