The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration Collection OFFICIAL for 9/23/2008

[powerknowledge]

As posted today at thedigitalbits.com and highdefdigest.com.

Here's the official link:
Director Francis Ford Coppola's Epic Trilogy Debuts on DVD and Blu-ray in All Newly-Remastered Versions

The Blu-Ray essentials (SD stuff cut out):

[BEGIN TEXT]

The Godfather: THE COPPOLA RESTORATION
Cinematic Classics Return to their Original Pristine Glory with All-New
Special Features
Must-Own Collections Arrive September 23, 2008

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- More than three decades
after they won the Academy Award(R) for Best Picture, director Francis Ford
Coppola's classic films The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II will once
again be enjoyed by audiences as they originally were meant to be seen,
thanks to a meticulous restoration by Paramount Pictures, overseen by
Coppola himself. On September 23, 2008, both fully restored films will
debut on DVD and Blu-ray, along with a newly remastered version of The
Godfather Part III, to be included as part of The Godfather, The Coppola
Restoration Collection. All three films will be available individually or
in a five-DVD collection or four-disc Blu-ray collection, which are loaded
with a host of all-new special features.

The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II underwent extensive
frame-by-frame examination and restoration utilizing state-of-the-art
digital technology in this historic preservation effort, which required
more than a year to complete. Robert A. Harris of the Film Preserve
supervised the restoration under the direction of Coppola and
cinematographer, Gordon Willis. Harris' restoration credits include
Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus, Vertigo and Rear Window among others.

The new special features created by Kim Aubry, founder of Zoetrope
Aubry Productions, explores the complexities of the restoration process and
provides new insights and perspectives about how the film almost didn't
come to pass as we know it. "The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't" relates
the unlikely events, intrigue, allegiances and luck that put together the
unknown director with the "unwanted" cast and contains interviews with most
of the living players and many of the films' admirers. Other featurettes
include " ... when the shooting stopped," and "Godfather World," which take
a look at The Godfather's influence on popular culture today. Each film
includes a commentary by Coppola.


THE GODFATHER: The Coppola Restoration Blu-ray Collection

THE GODFATHER: The Coppola Restoration Blu-ray four-disc set is
presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French
5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Mono (except The
Godfather: Part III) and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and
Portuguese subtitles. The following special features are presented in high
definition as noted:



Disc 1:
-- The Godfather feature film
-- Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola

Disc 2:
-- The Godfather, Part II feature film
-- Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola

Disc 3:
-- The Godfather, Part III feature film
-- Commentary by director Francis Ford Coppola

Disc 4:
-- Godfather World (HD)
-- The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't (HD)
-- ... when the shooting stopped (HD)
-- Emulsional Rescue-Revealing The Godfather (HD)
-- The Godfather on the Red Carpet (HD)
-- Four Short Films on The Godfather
o The Godfather vs. The Godfather, Part II (HD)
o Cannoli (HD)
o Riffing on the Riffing (HD)
o Clemenza (HD)
-- The Family Tree
-- Crime Organization Chart
-- Connie and Carlo's Wedding Album

Disc 4 (cont'd):
2001 DVD Archive:
-- Behind the Scenes
o The Godfather Family: A Look Inside
o On Location
o Francis Coppola's Notebook
o The Music of the Godfather
o Coppola & Puzo on Screenwriting
o Gordon Willis on Cinematography
o Storyboards from The Godfather, Part II
o Storyboards from The Godfather, Part III
o The Godfather Behind the Scenes 1971
-- The Filmmakers
o Francis Ford Coppola
o Mario Puzo
o Gordon Willis
o Dean Tavoularis
o Nino Rota
o Carmine Coppola
-- Additional Scenes
-- Acclaim & Response
-- Trailers (HD)
-- Photo Gallery
-- Rogues' Gallery

[END TEXT]

Per Bill Hunt at the 'Bits, this is the restoration (under the auspices of Robert Harris) that should have happened long ago.

It appears that all supplementals from the 2001 collection are included, with a host of new features that are in HD for the BD set.

And as usual, at $119.99 the 4-disc BD is unfortunately significantly more expensive than the 5-disc SD (at $72.99), but it sounds like it'll be worth every penny. The BD set includes all features of the SD set, with a couple extra goodies thrown in. Titles are available individually only on SD.

[Astrakan]

I thought they did a restoration for the 2001 release... am I wrong in that or was it just half-assedly done?

KM

[powerknowledge]

Originally Posted by Astrakan

I thought they did a restoration for the 2001 release... am I wrong in that or was it just half-assedly done?

KM

Yes, they did a restoration, and yes, it was incredibly half-assed. This one is a frame-by-frame affair similar to that done on the Star Wars OT, with what I've read are similarly striking results.

[Pirate]

I assume the BD art will be the same, just with a fugly blue stripe.

[Shawn Watson]

Never seen them.

Shawn

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Shawn Watson

Never seen them.

Shawn

Not to be the obvious cinema geek, but . . . dude. Get on that.

[ganthc]

I recently saw them, Shawn, so no worries on that. I am not big on gangster/mafia films. It took me till just last year to see Good Fellas and Casino. I guess for me I just don't care if the "protaganists" meet a bitter and gruesome end. And I don't really root for them. So, I probably won't buy the Godfather movies in HD. I saw them, and can now say that I saw them, but I wasn't completely blown away by them. They were good stories and performances, etc. I just wasn't taken by the characters at all.

[dugpa]

And people say they're bored with HD. Major yayness!

Originally Posted by ganthc

I saw them, and can now say that I saw them, but I wasn't completely blown away by them. They were good stories and performances, etc. I just wasn't taken by the characters at all.

I'm almost afraid to ask what you think a good film is. Godfather II is one of the masterpieces of modern cinema.

[Wirehed]

This is very exciting news and exactly WHY I'm excited to own a Blu-ray player.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by dugpa

And people say they're bored with HD. Major yayness!

I'm almost afraid to ask what you think a good film is. Godfather II is one of the masterpieces of modern cinema.

What can I say...the characters and stories from mafia/gangster films don't move me too much. I just want the entire family to get arrested and sent to jail. The same is true when I watch drug movies. I have no real empathy at all for the characters. In a lot of ways that clouds my opinion of the film.

If someone asked me if I thought the Godfather series was directed well, and had good performances, I would say that it definitely did. But I wouldn't want it for my collection, because I have no real interest in ever seeing it again. The Corleone family could have been wiped out in the first movie, and I wouldn't really have been upset.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by dugpa

I'm almost afraid to ask what you think a good film is. Godfather II is one of the masterpieces of modern cinema.

It doesn't really matter if he didn't connect with the characters. You can appreciate a great work of cinema without actually liking it. Watching Raging Bull makes me nervous to the point of discomfort. I love it, and I appreciate and respect Scorsese's vision, but I only revisit it once every few years because I don’t "like it."

[biglyle]

September 23rd just happens to be my birthday. I wonder what I will get myself....................................

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Pirate

It doesn't really matter if he didn't connect with the characters. You can appreciate a great work of cinema without actually liking it. Watching Raging Bull makes me nervous to the point of discomfort. I love it, and I appreciate and respect Scorsese's vision, but I only revisit it once every few years because I don’t "like it."

Very well put. I am not saying the Godfather films are bad cinema. I just don't like the storylines.

[Wirehed]

yeah...if only The Godfather had a better story...

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Wirehed

yeah...if only The Godfather had a better story...

Hahahaha, okay, mock me if you will. I don't like gangster/mafia movies. I'm not saying the plot sucked.

[Wirehed]

There are so few really good films that it's incredibly odd to me when a movie fan dismisses a great film simply because of it's genre.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Wirehed

There are so few really good films that it's incredibly odd to me when a movie fan dismisses a great film simply because of it's genre.

Is it incredibly odd if you find no redeeming value to the characters in a movie, and you don't care if they live or die? In fact, you could turn it off halfway through and be done with it, and not really need to know what happened...you just care that little about the Corleones? Basically I pushed myself through the three movies, and I can appreciate the grandness of the whole thing, but I seriously could have stopped watching after an hour of the Godfather and said I tried to watch it. I actually fell asleep at one point for a little bit during the first one when he was getting married in Sicily. I was just that uninterested.

[Pirate]

Do characters have to have redeeming qualities for you to care about their story? I don’t think Coppola wanted us to praise these characters, and I don’t think he necessarily was going for sympathy, but empathy and a general understanding of the environment and mindsets. You don’t have to love Michael Corleone to care about his plight. I don’t love Travis Bickle, but I understand him.

I’m obviously not saying you have to like the films, I just wonder if you’re not viewing them from the wrong angle.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Pirate

Do characters have to have redeeming qualities for you to care about their story? I don’t think Coppola wanted us to praise these characters, and I don’t think he necessarily was going for sympathy, but empathy and a general understanding of the environment and mindsets. You don’t have to love Michael Corleone to care about his plight. I don’t love Travis Bickle, but I understand him.

I’m obviously not saying you have to like the films, I just wonder if you’re not viewing them from the wrong angle.

I think so. I think even if I hated the Corleones it would be an improvement. At least then I would be engaged to want to see what happens to them, do they get their just desserts? But really, I was so uninterested in them. It is through no fault of Coppola or the script. For me, the genre of gangster films is not my cup of tea. I'm sure I'm going to raise even more skirts here when I say that I didn't really care for Scarface either. Great film, no doubt, but I'm not crazy about it at all.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by ganthc

I think so. I think even if I hated the Corleones it would be an improvement.

I think that's the issue, though. Within their environment, redeeming qualities do exist. You just have to look at it from their point-of-view. So many gangster pictures are, in actuality, character studies that ask the audience to stretch beyond their narrow moral compasses. Looking for qualities based on your own definitions of right and wrong close you off to a lot of great stories.

[ganthc]

Now Playing:

peter hates the godfather video

[Pirate]

So you love The Money Pit?

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Pirate

I think that's the issue, though. Within their environment, redeeming qualities do exist. You just have to look at it from their point-of-view. So many gangster pictures are, in actuality, character studies that ask the audience to stretch beyond their narrow moral compasses. Looking for qualities based on your own definitions of right and wrong close you off to a lot of great stories.

Hey, I really liked American Psycho, and Silence of the Lambs. I think that it's not about the moral positions of the characters, but strictly the genre of gangsters. The same goes for drug dealers. I will watch the movies, but I can't be expected to be interested in the characters if I have no way of connecting on any level to them. I will say that I was empathetic to Kay and to Mama Corleone, and Kay kept me somewhat involved. But none of the Corleones were that way.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Pirate

So you love The Money Pit?

It's a funny movie.

[Wirehed]

Right, so ganth = Peter I guess that clears quite a bit of things up.

[dugpa]

You can't just throw all films that happen to have gangsters in them together as the same, any more than you can say all films that take place in space are the same (there's a world of difference between Plan 9 From Outer Space, Star Wars and Day the Earth Stood Still). Yes, The Godfather films do have the mafia in them. But the story at the core is about how power corrupts, about how it pushes away the people closest to you and leads to isolation and misery. Coppola and Puzo went with the mafia because they were both being Italian Americans and knew the sense of family that brought with it. But you could apply the same themes to a film about politicians, super heroes or any number of groups who wind up in power. And in fact those same themes have been many times.
Nor do you need to be a "gangster" to relate to the characters in the film.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by dugpa

You can't just throw all films that happen to have gangsters in them together as the same, any more than you can say all films that take place in space are the same (there's a world of difference between Plan 9 From Outer Space, Star Wars and Day the Earth Stood Still). Yes, The Godfather films do have the mafia in them. But the story at the core is about how power corrupts, about how it pushes away the people closest to you and leads to isolation and misery. Coppola and Puzo went with the mafia because they were both being Italian Americans and knew the sense of family that brought with it. But you could apply the same themes to a film about politicians, super heroes or any number of groups who wind up in power. And in fact those same themes have been many times.
Nor do you need to be a "gangster" to relate to the characters in the film.

Oh, I got all those themes, but it's hard for me to care when the characters don't matter to me. Perhaps if it has been a Kennedy type family and a political drama, I might have been more intrigued. It really is through no fault of Coppola that I didn't care for the movie. And obviously it's easier to make fun of me for not really being blown away by it, than to try and understand the points I am making...so I will leave it at that.

[Shawn Watson]

If it insists upon itself then I am not sure I want to see it at all. I own the trilogy on DVD, but I've never cared for sitting down for 10 hours to watch them.

Shawn

[billnye97]

I think that when people tell you how great a "classic" movie is for years it ultimately will not be as great as they say. The hype machine ruined it for you Ganth probably years ago. I find that the same for anything let alone films. I just try to watch them by myself without the people who have seen them a million times. Even then I generally don't care for it as much as they do.





However, I do like the Godfather films an awful lot but if you don't that's cool. We all don't have to like everything even though the majority do.

[plissken99]

Man this next one is shaping up to be one expensive quarter!

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by billnye97

I think that when people tell you how great a "classic" movie is for years it ultimately will not be as great as they say. The hype machine ruined it for you Ganth probably years ago. I find that the same for anything let alone films. I just try to watch them by myself without the people who have seen them a million times. Even then I generally don't care for it as much as they do.





However, I do like the Godfather films an awful lot but if you don't that's cool. We all don't have to like everything even though the majority do.

Maybe this is a bit of it, but not really. I can appreciate the film aspects of what was involved. Great direction, and acting, and the script was really good. It was high class drama. It's really just me. I won't go and say the movies suck, because they don't. But I just don't really care for it. I mean Scarface was the other example, and maybe also Good Fellas and Casino. They are all supposed to be badass movies, and I guess they are, but I didn't really get into them.

[powerknowledge]

Up at Amazon for $86.95 (their standard 30% off). I'd bet that it drops a bit between now and then...but their pre-order price guarantee is in effect!

Amazon.com: The Godfather Collection - Four-Disc Coppola Restoration (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-Ray] [Blu-ray]: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton,

[Derb]

Goodfellas was awesome. I could see how someone would be bored with The Godfather & Casino thou.

[EM3]

Now this is why I need a B R Player.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by ganthc

And obviously it's easier to make fun of me for not really being blown away by it, than to try and understand the points I am making...so I will leave it at that.

Well, one should always expect a bit of razzing when one claims not to be a fan of The Godfather on a movie forum. However, I don’t think we’ve missed your points, we just don’t entirely understand why gangsters and drug dealers serve no interest for you.

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Pirate

Well, one should always expect a bit of razzing when one claims not to be a fan of The Godfather on a movie forum. However, I don’t think we’ve missed your points, we just don’t entirely understand why gangsters and drug dealers serve no interest for you.

Well, I shouldn't include all drug movies as Requiem for a Dream is a great movie, imo, even if it depresses the hell out of me. I seem to remember liking Blow too.

[sub780lime]

Originally Posted by ganthc

Well, I shouldn't include all drug movies as Requiem for a Dream is a great movie, imo, even if it depresses the hell out of me. I seem to remember liking Blow too.

Requiem yes, Blow=bad

[ganthc]

I also like the TV Series "Weeds"

[Pirate]

[biglyle]

Originally Posted by Derb

Goodfellas was awesome. I could see how someone would be bored with The Godfather & Casino thou.

I thought Casino was a far better movie than the Godfather