Not Music Related But…
I am concerned that some film studios are ending their releases on hard copy.
I was waiting for a new 4K release of the Wallace and Gromit series that would include their latest full length film, “Vengeance Most Foul“. But noticed that a pre-order for everything but the latest film was available on Amazon Canada.
This Shout Studios release is also listed on Amazon U.S.A but isn’t available as a pre-order for July 15th yet and appears to be short the “Curse of the Were-Rabbit” blu-ray that was released by Dreamworks Animation in July 2019. And it looks like the blu-ray of that film has been pulled from Canadian shelves.
The Collector’s Edition Boxed Set released last December does include that film but “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” is on Netflix and they only released two seasons out of four of “Stranger Things” on blu-ray.
Are they holding out hoping more will join their streaming service or are blu-ray and 4k hard copies no longer on their table?
“The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” is available to stream and purchase on Prime Video so I can hold off on buying a hard copy until early July if I don’t find that film in Canada beforehand. But it would be great to be able to buy everything in one package.
Now that would be “Cracking”.
(P.S More details on the new Shout Factory release is available by clicking here)
Pain In The Tariff!
So, I was eying “Dexter’s Laboratory – The Complete Collection” at several retailers and had never considered that the tariffs would have a secondary effect on goods that are not tariffed so I didn’t expect sticker shock a few days back – The price of this DVD collection just skyrocketed, by $30 at some of these retailers.
Like CDs and vinyl, DVDs and Blu-rays are not currently included in the list of goods that are being subjected to tariffs. But I suspect their prices will go up in the states, well above the $20 postal importation exemption, which is rather annoying. And I presume any shipment from the states would be delayed going through customs because they’ll have more forms to fill out, unless Canadians just stop importing from the states via mail.
I did just order the collection from a Canadian seller on eBay for the amount I had encountered before the hike, preferring to avoid the American and Chinese sellers. And if need be I could always try the U.k and Europe for other releases as well.
I personally like Amazon u.k, Amazon France and FNAC for CDs and Region Free DVDs from Europe, and I do have a region free DVD player for some French films that never made their way to DVD in North America. But sometimes deals can be had for under $20 Canadian, not including shipping, and sometimes the shipping rates are acceptable.
I have emailed my local MP and several electoral candidates suggesting a $60 exemption for postal importations from Europe, the U.k and several more of our stable trade partners so I’m hoping we’ll be able to order more from those countries after the election is done.
If you want to support a $60 exemption for postal imports, which is long overdue, you can contact your local Member of Parliament via this form, after the election of course.
Hopefully we’ll be done with this tariff nonsense soon…
My Favourite Canadian Sources
I thought I’d list my favourite Canadian stores for music, film, books and instruments.
My favourite local stores for new and used CDs and vinyl here in Ottawa are Legend Records, The ODDs & SODs Shoppe and Turning Point. But I also like Sunrise Records and HMV, the latter being found in Toys-R-Us Canada stores, and I usually also purchase physical copies of films on DVD and blu-rays from these stores as well.
In Montreal and Gatineau, I shop at Archambault, where one can also find instruments and books in French and English. But for instruments and sheet music in my neck of the woods I shop at Long & McQuade, Granata Music and Steve’s Music.
Indigo offers books and a small selection of new vinyl records at many of their stores, although more vinyl can be found online. And many more Canadian retailers offer goods via Amazon.ca and eBay.ca if you want to do some comparison shopping.
Best Buy Canada stores no longer carry film and music but they do sell them online, some of which come from Canadian retailers. And you should note that Sony Music Canada, Universal Music Canada and Warner Music Canada have their own Canadian shops online.
You might also want to try Saskatchewan chain McNally Robertson and Quebecois chain Librarie Renaud-Bray for books, or Ontario chains The Beat Goes On and Deja Vu Discs for new and used film and music.
Eastern Canadians can also try Taz Records / Backbeat Records for new and used CDs, DVDs, LPs and Blu-rays. And don’t forget that Record Store Day is coming up at many local retailers on April 12th, 2025.
Those are the sources I can think of on the top of my head so I may add some more later on.
Hope this helps.
Paramount+ Update
It appears that Paramount+ has listened to complaints and has added the Star Trek catalogue to their streaming service in Canada, which I just discovered when redeeming a free three month subscription through the Monopoly promotion at McDonalds.
They’ve also added quite a few classic television sitcoms like Cheers, Frasier, Family Ties, I Love Lucy and The Love Boat, as well as the more contemporary hit series like South Park, Beavis & Butthead and Red & Stimpy. And all of the Mission Impossible films are also on there.
To get this offer you need to create an account at Mcdpromotion.ca and enter five codes from the game pieces you get when buying participating products at McDonalds. And these 12 digit codes are also available on winning pieces for free food. But I believe the offer ends on November 30th, 2022 so you’d need to enter the necessary codes and activate your trial membership by then.
By the way, a monthly subscription for this streaming service is $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year.
FYE Expands Into Canada
Entertainment retailer FYE has just opened a store in the Rideau Centre in Downtown Ottawa.
They offer film and music on various formats, as well as memorabilia from film, television and music. But it should be noted that FYE’s current American web site does not yet ship to Canada.
This American retailer had been purchased from Trans World Entertainment by Sunrise Records in February 2020 for 10 million dollars according to Billboard.
Where is it?
Remember back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s when the media and content providers claimed we would be accessing content from the four corners of the earth?
Well, it’s nearly 2020 and we’re still having serious distribution issues when it comes to music and film from Europe.
This may not be a problem for most english speakers in this country, who primarily look at Hollywood blockbusters and the odd independent film from the states, Canada, Britain, Ireland or Australia. But when you wander on the Internet Movie Database and encounter films that feature actors and actresses you know from some of those films, you may notice that these have not been made available to North Americans, regardless of the major award nominations or wins these have accumulated.
In my case I have been encountering dead ends trying to rent or purchase recent music and films from Denmark and Finland, that i’ve been searching for since the release of the Academy Award winning film “In A Better World” in 2011.
This excellent Danish drama is available on blu-ray in North America and can be downloaded via Google Play and iTunes in Canada and the United States. But Canadians will not be able to find “Someone You Love“, another Scandinavian drama featuring Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt, or Danish teen horror flick “Danny’s Doomsday“, which features William Jøhnk Nielsen (one of the young, lead actors in “In A Better World“).
Those films were made available on DVD and blu-ray for a short time after their original 2014 theatrical release and are still available for rental and purchase in Europe via several services, including iTunes and Google Play. But only “Danny’s Doomsday” has made it “across the pond”, exclusively to Prime Video in the states.
I’ve contacted iTunes, Google Play and Amazon/Prime Video repetitively in regards to several other European films and the response is pretty much “we’re slowly adding to our catalog so it might appear online soon”, the response i’ve received for over a decade in response to my requests for several classic french films i’ve wanted.
The delays in regards to the french films i’ve asked for are understandable because they’re rather obscure outside of Quebec and the other parts of North America where french isn’t common. But I won’t lie and say I don’t find it rather irritating to see soundtracks from the more recent films being featured on those services instead.
Seriously, I had purchased some of the music off the “Urban Family” soundtrack from iTunes four years before randomly encountering the Finnish musical on some obscure channel on my Roku a few weeks back. And to make matters worse I have also yet to be able to purchase “Uusi Ullottovuus“, a catchy tune by the Brotherus Brothers, the young sibling trio that features Johannes Brotherus, one of the lead actors of that film!
There are also no guaranties that a foreign film will remain available for a long time in North America, which is made apparent by the disappearance of the multiple award winning films like “Good Bye Lenin!” and “I’m Not Scared” from our store shelves and content providers. And all we can do is add titles to our wish lists on the latter, occasionally checking with JustWatch to see if a film pops up somewhere online.
Yes, you could try to find these films on DVD or Blu-ray on eBay or Amazon and use an all region DVD or blu-ray player if these discs aren’t coded for our region but this can get quite costly because of the shipping and handling costs per disc, although the later is more bearable if the DVD or Blu-ray you’re purchasing is compatible with your current player ; Consult your DVD or blu-ray player’s manual for details.
Personally, i’d prefer paying the foreign film producers directly to rent or download their films, when no distributor is available. But there are usually contract issues lingering in the background that keeps that from happening, unfortunately.
I have managed to secure some foreign films on DVD and blu-ray, that were produced in North America. But i’m guessing these are going to get rarer as more and more people just stream or download films legally.
I guess we all need to be patient about these things. But sometimes…
Argh!