"Criterion Collection" - Anyone follow it?

[nitteo]

I often see movies with the "Criterion Collection" tag. Anyone follow it or is influenced by it?

I often buy something obscure or "old" in Amazon if they have "Criterion Collection" on the title.

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by nitteo

I often see movies with the "Criterion Collection" tag. Anyone follow it or is influenced by it?

I often buy something obscure or "old" in Amazon if they have "Criterion Collection" on the title.

I follow it as they are in my opinion produce the top tier releases of movies. So if I can help it I purchase the Criterion version. Of course this hasn't been applied to Blu-Ray yet, but there are hopes of it after more studios start to double dip.

[pjasonOH]

They do pretty good work,and their prices reflect it!
While I personally feel they may be a bit overrated since the DVD revolution,they were definately kings of the hill in laserdisc presentation...transfers and extras and such.(and yes the prices definately reflected it!)


I personally own seven titles-Armageddon,Charade,Gimme Shelter,RoboCop,Life Of Brian and Chasing Amy on DVD,and 2001 A Space Odyssey on laserdisc.

The Criterion disc of Charade is by far the best version of that film available-the transfer alone was enough for me to buy it.



The first blus arrive in October!

[doctorsteve]

Originally Posted by Marine Mike

I follow it as they are in my opinion produce the top tier releases of movies.

So how did "Fishing with John" make it in there?

[J6P]

Originally Posted by doctorsteve

So how did "Fishing with John" make it in there?

Fishing with John is brilliant! Have you seen it? I rented it back in the '90s and only watched it once, but it made a huge impression. Odd and amazing, odd and amazing..

[Octavio]

Criterion produces the finest DVD's available on the market, plus its catalog it's just wonderful!

I am eagerly waiting for their 1st BD releases. In particular for "The Wages of Fear" and "The Third Man".

[cathexist]

I want Mon Oncle and Seven Samurai on blu-ray...the end.

[Marine Mike]

Originally Posted by doctorsteve

So how did "Fishing with John" make it in there?

I haven't seen the movie, but I wasn't clear enough. They release the top tier version of the movie. Such as all the special features available as well as best encoding. So the actual movie is irrelevant to be Criterion. Also its just a matter of opinion if a movie 'deserves' to have the Criterion treatment.

[gufazi]

Their titles are varied, by genre but the quality - it is always top notch (save for the early non-anamorphic titles). They carry classic, but often overlooked, american and foreign films as well as cult b movies, documentaries, and movies by a few modern film makers.

The cool thing is that they will be releasing their blu-rays at the same price as their DVDs. Granted their DVDs have always be on the high side, but at least their blus will be competitive.

[newguy7]

Criterion is the reason I originally bought a DVD player back in the late nineties. I had heard of this new "DVD" fad and wasn't really taken by it until i saw the Criterion release of Robocop: Uncut, which I had heard of but never seen, immediately i picked it up and bought it ($35.99) at suncoast. 3 weeks later I had saved enough (I was about 18 working at a Taco Bell) to buy my first DVD Player (Sony $500.00)

Criterion holds a special place in my heart :-) I think if not for them DVDs would not have all the extra features they have now.

[erowe83]

Criterion is the best distributor out there. There transfers are excellent and they have the best catalouge of films.

I own about 200 Criterions and they are the best part of my collection.

[Beta Man]

I managed to collect about 280 Criterion Collection titles, and just couldn't keep up.... I'm eagerly awaiting them to release the dozen or so Blus they announced, and I'll do my best to not get behind collecting them.....

I expect a $39.99 retail, but hopefully I'm wrong!

[erowe83]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

I managed to collect about 280 Criterion Collection titles, and just couldn't keep up.... I'm eagerly awaiting them to release the dozen or so Blus they announced, and I'll do my best to not get behind collecting them.....

I expect a $39.99 retail, but hopefully I'm wrong!

Well they said their blu-rays will be the exact same cost as their Dvd's....

[larryj763]

Is there anywhere I can find a list of titles they (Criterion) have slated for Blu? I looked on their site and couldn't find such.

TIA!

[Moefiz]

I loved Criterion DVD releases they are the best at what they do take obscene title and do an outstanding job on the PQ and SQ.
Whenever you can get your hand on a release grab because most of there title are limited and so do fetch a collector price.

[Variable]

Originally Posted by larryj763

Is there anywhere I can find a list of titles they (Criterion) have slated for Blu? I looked on their site and couldn't find such.

TIA!

I believe they have a website that lists everything they've made.

I have a small collection of their stuff but it's probably my favorite dvds I own.

[Rob71]

Originally Posted by larryj763

Is there anywhere I can find a list of titles they (Criterion) have slated for Blu? I looked on their site and couldn't find such.

TIA!

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1278

[JadedRaverLA]

I've been a big fan of Criterion since the laserdisc days. They pretty much invented the "special edition" as know it, way back on LaserDisc. Directories commentaries, director or DP-approved transfers, storyboards, stills, restoring titles and scavenging for the BEST available elements, even branching to show multiple versions of a film -- they all started on LaserDisc and Criterion pioneered their use. Granted their titles generally ran $100 - 150 for a CAV disc set, but many LaserDisc fans would drop that in a heartbeat for the great work they did.

The company changed considerably with the advent of DVD. Studios wanted to drive DVD mainstream, and didn't want Criterion to have the rights to many of their more popular titles, so Criterion became more focused on obscure titles that the studios didn't didn't plan on covering themselves, etc.

They still had a few "hits" and some that most Criterion fans pretend don't actually exist as part of the collection (cough* Armageddon *cough), but in general they focus more on the avant guard, foreign, cult, and controversial or obscure titles now.

Originally Posted by gufazi

The cool thing is that they will be releasing their blu-rays at the same price as their DVDs. Granted their DVDs have always be on the high side, but at least their blus will be competitive.

Very true. But I know a lot of people who thought that given Criterion's history (and pricing including LDs), that they'd be releasing Blu-rays starting at $59.99 or so. The fact that they are matching their DVD prices (as low as $39.99 for two disc sets, $29.99-34.99 for one disc sets), puts them pretty near average pricing compared to the major studios. That's a pretty huge deal.

Originally Posted by larryj763

Is there anywhere I can find a list of titles they (Criterion) have slated for Blu? I looked on their site and couldn't find such.

TIA!

Yeah, it's a little troubling that they announced back in May that titles would start hitting in October, but then when the October release slate became official earlier this month, no Blu-ray were listed. Supposedly, there's still discussion with Criterion about whether or not they plan to start renumbering their title spines or match the Blu-rays to the DVDs (that's actually a pretty big deal to some of the collectors -- they actually know most of the titles by spine number). Hopefully, they still get a couple titles out in October, right now nothing is confirmed.

In their May press release about releasing Blu-ray, the following titles were mentioned as being among Criterion's early Blu-ray releases:

• The Third Man
• Bottle Rocket
• Chungking Express
• The Man Who Fell to Earth
• The Last Emperor
• El Norte
• The 400 Blows
• Gimme Shelter
• The Complete Monterey Pop
• Contempt
• Walkabout
• For All Mankind
• The Wages of Fear

Overall, a very nice list for their first efforts, though those are actually among the more "mainstream" titles as far as Criterion goes. Makes sense given the current BD marketscape, though.

Also, for anyone who follows the back and forth bickering about The Last Emperor, it is being released in both the original theatrical cut (at the original theatrical aspect ratio) as well the new reframed version Storaro jas recently decided he prefers.

[Beta Man]

was going to post my love for Criterion Collection DVDs, but realized this was a "resurrected" thread

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

was going to post my love for Criterion Collection DVDs, but realized this was a "resurrected" thread

Wish I had caught that before responding to month old quotes. Oh, well.