Criterion Additions

I would love to see a collection of Jem Cohen's films released by Criterion, but I'm certainly not holding my breath.

Once again, I refer you all to the wonderfully great Criterion messageboard of http://pub125.ezboard.com/bcriterioncollectionforum/

Try that...

I just ordered my copy - $18. on DVD-R. Natch. - along with a copy of <em> F is for Fake </em> from
www.pimpadelicwonderland.com

Weekend is owned by New Yorker films but no plans for a DVD have been made. It may come on Region 2 at some point.

And because they can - they've got the name and the identity to hook in film geeks, where else are you going to turn, New Yorker?

I haven't seen it, but supposedly it was aimed at the special effects mavens out there. Also I recall reading an interview with one of the Criterion folks who said that the revenues from the Armageddon allowed them to fund a lot of other less-popular titles.

Here's just the start of the relevant section:

Specifically, with "Armageddon": You'd be silly to overlook blockbusters as a genre and leave them out of a film library. They drive so much. They drive tastes and shooting styles and visual references that appear all over the world in commercials and on TV as well as on movie screens. They're part of a huge cultural cross-pollination. And special effects are one of the most important aspects of a certain kind of contemporary filmmaking.

Is The Rock Criterion still in print? I'd much rather have that than Armageddon.

Those were the days when you actually got your $140 million dollars worth out of your production budget.

I miss the days when a budget topping $80mln was big news and a reason to go see the film. Now that barely buys you a romantic comedy.

it depends on how you look at it. it my mind, there's no need for it to necessarily become somethi@5{te the suggestion that short films/music videos/avant-garde & experimental work are just a "warm-up" for a feature length narrative. it's kind of absurd to but a limitation of film that it has to be 90-180 minutes long with actors, dialogue & a plot. at least 50% of my favorite cinematic works don't fit into the categorization, and whenever i hear about people complaining about a lack of innovation in film, it's usually because all they watch are feature length narratives.

but as for the idea of the innovation in these works not "catching on" in the mainstream, you simply have to look around you to see their influence: magazines, billboards, popular films and music, even architecture. it's everywhere, and most of the good, innovative feature filmmakers will be the first to admit that they've been influenced by someone like michel gondry, spike jonze, jem cohen, etc.

two words: HOLY SHIT.

so rejoice, damn you.

Janus Contemporaries July: Anselm

AUGUST: Mother (A. Brooks)*; Real Life*; Not A Pretty Picture; Brief Encounters / The Long Farewell: Two Films by Kira Muratova; and a 4K of The Last Emperor.

*4K Available

SEPTEMBER: Happiness (Solondz); Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy; All of Us Strangers; an upgrade of The Long Good Friday; and a 4K of Repo Man.

All of this month's titles available on 4K.

On closer inspection, Totally F***Ed Up from the Araki set was only restored in 2K, so it doesn't appear in 4K in that version of the box.

In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of The Doom Generation and Nowhere and two Blu-rays with all three films and the special features

I stand extraordinarily corrected on Happiness. I assumed that would never see the light of day on physical media going forward.

Besides the content, were there other hurdles to getting it released? I remember seeing it in theatres and yes it was a shocker, but more "vile" stuff comes out all the time imo

so Nonesuch Records thought it was a good idea to do their own spin on the Criterion Closet because...

I thought it was fun. I'm a big fan of the Amoeba What's In My Bag? clips.

Who was the first place to do these? My hunch is it wasn't Criterion

record stores used to do these promos with radio stations where someone would get e.g. 97.9 seconds to grab whatever they could from the store, I think the promotional tactic goes back a ways

OCTOBER: Gummo*; Demon Pond*; I Walked With A Zombie & The Seventh Victim double-feature*; and a Blu upgrade of Pandora's Box

*4K Available

Janus Contemporaries October: About Dry Grasses

I read rumors that they’re doing something with Twin Peaks. I wish it were so, the existing TP blu-rays are such bullshit.

OCTOBER: Gummo*; Demon Pond*; I Walked With A Zombie & The Seventh Victim double-feature*; and a Blu upgrade of Pandora's Box

CC40 "Greatest Hits" Blu Box In November: https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/7646-cc40

All previously released titles.

Thought that said CCR for a second there #onethread

ouch at that price. i'll stick with the channel.

I’m hoping it’ll flood the market with used classic titles but I suppose the folks buying it will put it on the collector shelf

ouch at that price. i'll stick with the channel.

Nobody is paying $800 for it except maybe libraries and extreme gotta haveits.

$400 from B&N or during a flash sale is how 99% of these will find homes.

i doubt there are any criterion fans who don't already have a few of those, making it even less value for money

(7 for me)

Per criterionforum.org:

Funny Girl
Paper Moon
Scarface (1931 w/ Paul Muni)
Seven Samurai
The Shape of Water
The CC40 box set
Godzilla UHD

I did not know Black God White Devil could look that good:

https://criterionforum.org/Review/black-god-white-devil-the-criterion-collection-blu-ray

Janus Contemporaries November: Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus

DECEMBER: No Country For Old Men*; Eastern Condors; and 4K upgrades of 8 1/2 & Paris, Texas.

*4K available

Wasn’t Paris Texas already available? I assumed this would be a 4k issue.

It's a 4K upgrade.

JANUARY: Winchester '73; The Grifters; Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling; The Mother and The Whore; and a 4K Upgrade of the Yojimbo/Sanjuro set.

All January Titles are also available on 4K.

Also: The Mother... release <does not> contain any of Eustache's other films.

Well all those people who complained for years about Eustache not being available in Region 1 needed something else to complain about?

I'm not completely joking....

I see you've been lurking in the Criterion forum too!

I'm figuring they decided a full set wasn't feasible due to $$$ list price, and that they could bundle all the shorts as a second disc to an edition of The Little Loves, which itself is pretty obscure and could use the boost if sold separately from TMATW.

I imagine there's going to be a ton of issues from now on since it looks like every new mainline title is getting a 4K edition, which of course limits what <they can> release.

One of the umpteen things that held back the Eustache releases were that the original 00s restorations were done in standard-def literally right before the HD-Blu wars and 1080p becoming the new industry standard.

Another issue is that most of Eustache's short films aren't really that short, with a number of them clocking in at around 50 minutes (or more) apiece, and that his other feature, the documentary Numero zero weighs in at just under 2 hours.

Putting everything together would have resulted in perhaps a $100 MSRP 4K set, so this was purely a cost thing.

I thought the real problem was the two versions of "Une Sale Histoire"

FEBRUARY: Performance*; Drugstore Cowboy*; Crossing Delancey*; King Lear (Godard); and 4K upgrades of Cronos and Punch-Drunk Love.

*4K Available

king lear is the cannon films one, right? how many cannon releases are in the collection?

Checking wiki, it looks like just their two Casavettes titles (Love Streams and the I'm Almost Not Crazy doc), and if you expand the net to include adjacent stuff via sister companies and/or distribution pickups there's Thelma & Louise, The Comfort of Strangers, and Sex, Lies and Videotape.

Janus Contemporaries February: Last Summer (Breillat)

MARCH: Night Moves (Penn, 1975)*; Choose Me*; A Woman of Paris; Godzilla vs. Biollante*; and 4K upgrades of Thief & The Wages of Fear

*4K Available

There's a new audio commentary on Night Moves. I wonder how many other new ones they've done in the past 4 or 5 years aside from the Underground Railroad set. I felt like they didn't think it was worth the time and effort for a while but now with the rise of all these new boutique blu ray brands who tend to splash out for commentaries etc if they're feeling the need to compete.

Love the new Wages of Fear cover.

I just saw the new restoration in the theater last week, after not having seen it for years. Truly awesome.

At which screening they also played a trailer for THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, which had a pull-quote from a guy named Bill Weber. I went to see that on Thursday, another great experience.

Annual Day of Missing Jason Polan & His New Year's Drawings

APRIL: Prince of Broadway; Basquiat*; Anora*; Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring: Two Films by Claude Berri*; and 4K upgrades of Chungking Express; Some Like It Hot; and Ugetsu

*4K available

I'm glad they're putting out 4Ks, but budget reasons keep me sticking with BDs most of the time.

Now that I own a 4K player (well, a ps5) I can more confidently say the upgrade from regular blu ain't that amazing.

I think it depends on the movie (and your TV I guess). I've watched a couple of 4Ks (not Criterion though) on a 65" oled and while the 4K resolution itself probably makes a marginal at best difference, the dynamic range of the colours can be amazing.

I'm not going 4K anytime soon (or maybe ever), but during the last B&N sale I picked up the dual-format Paper Moon because the packaging is so lovely & clever.

https://www.criterionforum.org/Packaging/paper-moon-the-criterion-collection-4k-uhd-plus-blu-ray

MAY: Killer of Sheep (plus A Walk with Charles Burnett (2019), a documentary by Robert Townsend)*; The Three/Four Musketeers (Lester)*; The Wind Will Carry Us*; a Blu upgrade of How To Get Ahead In Advertising; and 4K Upgrades of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg; Withnail & I; and In The Heat Of The Night.

*4K Available

Janus Contemporaries May: Room 666/Room 999