And The Scoutie Goes To... — The Note
I'm a couple days late, life got busy, but it's Oscars Sunday! Sinners is up for 16 nominations, and I spent the week going down a rabbit hole of Canadian deals for people who love movies. While there's no longer a good Canadian options to buy/rent digital films, turns out there are still a ton of great options for physical media.
It's a Good Week to Buy Movies
Gruv.ca: March Movie Madness
Gruv is a great option — huge selection, competitive pricing, and right now they're running a March Movie Madness sale worth digging into. Sinners on 4K for $27.50 is the obvious pull this weekend. Beyond that: a 3-for-$50 4K bundle (Blade Runner, Oppenheimer, 2001, The Exorcist, The Dark Knight Rises) and a 3-for-$35 Blu-ray with comparable depth.
Unobstructed View: Build Your Collection
If Gruv is breadth, Unobstructed View is depth. This is a Canadian boutique physical media retailer with serious curation. Right now they have an extraordinary number of label sales running simultaneously, all ending March 23.
Criterion Collection — 20% off. Criterion on sale in Canada doesn't happen often. Restorations, essays, supplements. Worth browsing even if you're not sure what you want.
MPI Pictures — 40% off, 462 titles from around $12. Cult horror, world cinema, American independent.
Big Video Sale — up to 30% off across Severin Films, Fun City Editions, 88 Films, Synapse Films, and Radiance. If any of those names mean something to you, stop reading and just go.
Cinema1.ca: Nominees on Sale
Cinema1 has a dedicated "And the Nominees Are..." section with this year's Best Picture contenders on 4K — Sinners, One Battle After Another, Bugonia. New 4K titles from $17.99, and a spring sale running across the site.
Two Deals for a Real Home Theatre
If there's ever a weekend to pull the trigger on a proper home theatre, this is it.
LG C5 65" OLED + Denon/Paradigm Home Theatre (50% off)
There's something about Oscars weekend that makes you want to watch films properly. These two deals, together, get you there.
Gibbys has an open box LG C5 65" OLED for $1,797.99 (was $3,297.99). The C5 is what a film is supposed to look like at home — perfect blacks, Dolby Vision, colours that hold up the way a director intended. With this open box deal, you can save $1,500 off retail.
Pair it with the Ayre Born Denon & Paradigm 5.1 home theatre system at $998 (was $1,998). This weekend only, free shipping across Canada. A Denon receiver and a complete Paradigm speaker package — a Canadian speaker company.
Soundtracks on Vinyl
Three worth picking up this weekend, across two stores.
At Sonic Boom — Canada's largest independent record store, ships nationwide — the Sinners 2LP just landed on transparent red and blue vinyl with a 48-page booklet. The Marty Supreme score by Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) also dropped Friday on clear vinyl.
At Beat Goes On, a used copy of Broadcast's Berberian Sound Studio OST for $39.99 (was $49.99). Beat Goes On has been buying and selling used records in Canada since 1991 and grades everything properly. Berberian Sound Studio is Peter Strickland's 2012 film about a sound engineer scoring a giallo who slowly loses his mind. Broadcast's score is really special: strange, quietly devastating. A record I would love to have in my collection.
Shop Berberian Sound Studio at Beat Goes On →
One More Thing
No Such Thing As A Bad Movie is a podcast my friends Colin and April have been making for years. Each episode they pick a film of questionable quality and have a great time navigating it's highs and lows. As a patreon follower, they take feedback and recommendations from fans, making it an awesome community to be a part of.
Free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Support on Patreon →
That's the Note. Enjoy the Oscars.
