Where is the sale at? Even at 40 bucks, still an awesome deal to pay 80 rather than 120

Agreed about Made in the U.S.A. I know there's several people here that enjoy it but it's a mess. It was really tough to get through it for me.

Barnes and Noble but it's really not that great a deal to be honest when they are MSRP.

If we are doing double De Sica, I hope they add After the Fox, as it's a little less high profile than doing a double release of Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D. It's such a fantastic film: Neil Simon, De Sica, Victor Mature, and Peter Sellers? Yes please! It's also an influential film in its own right. :) I just want a nice BD release, as the UA/MGM DVD is OOP. :(

Bicycle Thieves is long overdue....

I'm thinking Children of Paradise is October. New York Times is usually wrong about the dates. I always think of the line from Dr. Strangelove when they post a scoop:

Russian Ambassador: Our source was the NY Times!

Grey Gardens
Week End
The Apu Trilogy or The Fountain...this one will be close
Husbands
In a Lonely Place

BTW, when would a Spartacus release make most sense? Christmas? The dead period after the holiday spending frenzies?

What time is it over there? I usually stay up most of the night here waiting for announcements. It's my saddest day as I lay here all night refreshing the Criterion page.

7:35 in central US so 8:35 where they are.

I'm off to bed soon, a good ten hour nap and I should only have a short two hour wait when I get up.

Doh, thanks blkhrt - I'd love to blame that on the Ambien but stupid works too and there's that whole Occam's Razor so...

Off to bed at 7.35am?

You've got that backwards. It is 8:40ish on the east coast.

Yeah, I've been a night-dweller for almost my entire adult life (and if grades were any indication, for much of my pre-adult life as well).

I read this, and just assume what you mean is "vampire."

I'll be back around 4 AST, 3 EST, 2 CST, noon PST. Just got my copy of Fanny and Alexander from Deep Discount in the mail. I'm off to watch the televised version.

Thanks for that reminder, octagon. I forgot about Artificial Eye's release.

I would love to see that lineup actually happen, as three of those films—Umberto D., Bicycle Theives and Y Tu Mama Tambien—are among my favorites.

You are not alone. High school days saw about 3-4 hours tops of sleep a night.

Criterion has released a few prominent Kurosawa classics on Blu already and I'm sure more, including Rashomon, are sure to come. It also has a huge box set of Kurosawa on DVD (http://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/AK-100-25...awa-DVD/19041/).

There are plenty of terrific classic Japanese movies beyond those of Kurosawa and Mizoguchi. Criterion has actually released many of them on both blu-ray and DVD that span many genres, from samurai dramas and comedies, to straight dramas, to crime dramas, to horror and suspense, to the offbeat, to war stories, to epic commentaries on the human condition.

I don't think Japanese studios are hesitant to license their films to Criterion, despite sharing the same region, as Criterion has licensed such films from a variety of studios, including Toho and Nikkatsu. Further, I've noticed that the studio releases such films on Blu fairly regularly.

I've come to really love old Japanese films, due in large part to Criterion's continuing efforts to release these films to its North American audience.

Carefully browse the Criterion section of this website (http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movies.php?studioid=70) as well as Criterion's own website (http://www.criterion.com/) and I'm sure you'll come across several titles that intrigue you.

If you crave still more Japanese cinema on BD and DVD, you should also consider importing titles from The Masters of Cinema series, from Eureka Entertainment in the UK. There are many Japanese films to be found there, too.

I can't recall if my copy of Branded to Kill has this issue (it's not in front of me), but I know a number of Criterion titles have had this issue on their plastic spines, and I don't think it's limited to just the ones on the list Criterion provided (though I can't remember which other titles).

From my observations, the adhesive residue seems to stem from the type of shrinkwrap being used and the process used to wrap it to the case. Numerous other blu-ray (and DVD) cases in general from many different distributors exhibit a similar problem of adhesive residue (or even bits of remaining shrinkwrap) along the spine or other areas. It's a quality control issue at the facilities contracted to shrinkwrap those cases. Yes, it can be annoying, though I don't typically return items because of it (I can't help but think that the replacement may have some other problem that I'd find more serious). But, it's nice that Criterion is offering this program.

Hopefully, for all future pressings, Criterion uses the shrinkwrap that doesn't tend to mar their cases. I especially like the wrap that leaves a double seam on the back of the case, where the edges of the wrap overlap. To unwrap such cases, I just carefully take a scissors to that seam and it peels away nicely.

Criterion has also used the wrapping that is a bit more elastic, the corners of which can be stretched a bit, clipped with a scissors and peeled along the edges of the case.

Hey CC. Your picture didn't display. Would you mind trying again?

If you don't want to wait, Children of Paradise is getting a UK release from Second Sight in September.