The Criterion Collection

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by Flex_MythoMass

How many Criterion titles have you guys bought on 4K despite already owning the blu? So far I’ve resisted the urge, with two exceptions: Night of the Living Dead and Blue Velvet.

Five:

Night of the Living Dead
The Red Shoes
The Last Picture Show
Days of Heaven
Walkabout

Not too many. I can’t afford to purchase every 4K disc that have existing BDs so the exceptions are personal favorites. New releases are a different story though.

[Flex_MythoMass]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. Like some, I buy a lot of new 4Ks but don’t upgrade many existing ones. I do have some personal favorites I’d upgrade day 1, like Persona or Life Aquatic.

[DimitriL]

Originally Posted by albert_m2

None and don't plan too. Blu looks great. I have purchased some 4K discs and while they look great, I can't justify doing this again, especially when blu looks really good and the jump in quality just isn't the same as with from DVD to blu and from VHS to DVD.

You know, sometimes. I get this, especially on titles of recent vintage. But sometimes it's shocking. I didn't expect any particular jump on The Red Shoes considering it's from a decade-old plus master, but it was like...holy crap, this looks like *Technicolor.* If you're looking for sharpness as a barometer, not really. Even color can be hit or miss, though sometimes the jump can be exceptional.

But the best upgrades suddenly go from looking like good video to *film.* Grain rendition, motion fidelity - it's just a striking difference with the better titles. Especially for vintage titles. The Last Waltz was night and day over the old MGM BD, almost entirely in the way it looked like film stock. So I'm always listening to reactions. It's not an automatic upgrade to me, but sometimes it's turned out to be a slam dunk.

[CRASHLANDING]

Originally Posted by Flex_MythoMass

How many Criterion titles have you guys bought on 4K despite already owning the blu? So far I’ve resisted the urge, with two exceptions: Night of the Living Dead and Blue Velvet.

Great question. So far I have five, though not all were Criterion BDs:
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Sony)
Double Indemnity (Universal LE)
The Last Picture Show
The Red Shoes
Three Colors Trilogy

Obviously can't upgrade everything, but I have no regrets spending the extra for any of these.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by Bradsdadg

Actually, these are both happening in about a week! Just want you to be sure you have the info correct in case you want to buy from either one. Severin will start a couple weeks after these two

Kino June 27th
Criterion June 28th
Severin July 12th

Thanks for filling in the blank in my mind. Putting it down to me having either a senior moment or it being late when I made my post. I'd already made a note of when the Severin sale is starting, but I'll make a note for the Criterion and Kino sales as well. I keep on top of things regarding the regular monthly and occasional announcements by labels/boutique labels, but with the various sales it's trickier keeping an eye on when they start. Appreciate the helpful reply.

[Rayjg]

What does Paul Shaffer have against Andrew Sarris?

[SmittysGelato]

Just watched 1984. The Room 101 Scene is so intense.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Flex_MythoMass

How many Criterion titles have you guys bought on 4K despite already owning the blu? So far I’ve resisted the urge, with two exceptions: Night of the Living Dead and Blue Velvet.

Not a one as of yet. I still don't have a 4K blu-ray player. My blu-ray collection is in my storage locker in a nearby US state and I haven't touched a blu-ray in about 3.5 years. I miss those sleek discs.

On another note, I just watched Brats, a new documentary by Andrew McCarthy (Pretty in Pink, Less than Zero, etc.) and I learned a lot about the "Brat Pack," a term that I never realized had traumatized a very select few young actors/actresses back in the 1980s. I was hoping a mentor of mine (Carl Kurlander - writer/producer of St. Elmos Fire) would be featured in the doc. I worked with him in my last few years of college 25 or so years ago on a student film non-profit organization. I'll have to drop him a line and ask if he's seen the film yet. I love John Hughes films though. Glad there are a bunch of 'em in the Criterion Collection too.

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by Flex_MythoMass

How many Criterion titles have you guys bought on 4K despite already owning the blu? So far I’ve resisted the urge, with two exceptions: Night of the Living Dead and Blue Velvet.

More than I expected - several I sold off unopened after I upgraded:

• Blow Out (replacing the ugly Arrow steelbook)
• Days of Heaven
• Dazed and Confused
• A Hard Day's Night
• The Princess Bride (replacing the studio disk)
• The Red Shoes
• Thelma and Louise (replacing the studio disk)
• Time Bandits (addition to the Arrow steelbook)
• Citizen Kane (addition the studio disk)

I've also done the reverse - ie., getting the UK Mulholland Drive while keeping the Criterion BD.

[RojD]

Originally Posted by Flex_MythoMass

How many Criterion titles have you guys bought on 4K despite already owning the blu? So far I’ve resisted the urge, with two exceptions: Night of the Living Dead and Blue Velvet.

I've upgraded quite a few, to mostly good results. But one film I can't wait to upgrade is Le samouraï, which I caught at the Atlanta Film Festival. WOW! It was like watching a brand new film and gave me a deeper appreciation of Melville than I already had. If the 4K disc replicates the tones of this restoration, it's going to be a must-have 4K.

And not only that, but I met The Great Owl at that showing as well! What a great guy -- smart, fun to talk with, just like you'd expect from his writing. Ironically, it turns out we have a lot of friends and interests in common; in fact, we found each other again the next night at a concert. Always checking now to see if he's in the theater or the club.

There are a lot of great people on this site.

[Flex_MythoMass]

Originally Posted by RojD

I've upgraded quite a few, to mostly good results. But one film I can't wait to upgrade is Le samouraï, which I caught at the Atlanta Film Festival. WOW! It was like watching a brand new film and gave me a deeper appreciation of Melville than I already had. If the 4K disc replicates the tones of this restoration, it's going to be a must-have 4K.

And not only that, but I met The Great Owl at that showing as well! What a great guy -- smart, fun to talk with, just like you'd expect from his writing. Ironically, it turns out we have a lot of friends and interests in common; in fact, we found each other again the next night at a concert. Always checking now to see if he's in the theater or the club.

There are a lot of great people on this site.

I've never seen Le Samourai, but I have the 4K preordered (along with Perfect Days).

[Sommerswerd]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l56hwzq1Uog

[mrjohnnyb]

R.I.P.

Donald Sutherland died Thursday, June 20th, in Miami after a long illness, according to a statement from Creative Artists Agency, which represented him.

[jw007]

Donald Sutherland: What a legend. It's time to watch 1978's Invasion of the Body Snatchers again. Still my favorite version of the four made. Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy in the same movie too? Now that's a miracle.

[Rayjg]

Virus for me. That film is stupid fun. RIP.

[yanghao6998]

So for those unaware, Arrow's edition of The Last Emperor comes with a 5.1 track sourced from the 6-channel audio in the 70mm mix of the film.

Since the upcoming Criterion release only contains a 2.0 option, I reached out to them about potentially including the 5.1 track and here is their response.

Thanks for reaching out and for your interest in our upcoming 4K UHD release of THE LAST EMPEROR: https://www.criterion.com/films/254-the-last-emperor

We chose to not include the 5.1 track because it's actually just a 5.1 decode of the 2.0 surround track that's already on our disc. I hope that's helpful.

Best,
Jon Mulvaney

[Watershipdownisgood]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

R.I.P.

Donald Sutherland died Thursday, June 20th, in Miami after a long illness, according to a statement from Creative Artists Agency, which represented him.

The Great Train Robbery is my favorite Donald Sutherland film him and Sean Connery just have amazing chemistry in that film it’s also a classic 70’s film. Rest in peace Donald Sutherland you will be missed as I was and still am a huge fan of your work.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by jordan-r

Spotted on Facebook:

"In our planner, the official dates for the B&N Criterion sale are 6/28-7/28!!"

Thanks for the heads up. I started a thread in hot deals.

[Nazca]

No idea if anyone has mentioned this, Il Cinema Ritrovato will be screening a new 4K restoration of Tokyo Drifter (1966).

"Restored in 4K in 2023 by Nikkatsu at Imagica Entertainment Media Services laboratory from the 35mm original negative"

https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.i...yo-nagaremono/

More information regarding the restoration.

https://www.imagica-ems.co.jp/en/pro...tokyo-drifter/

[NeoNical]

Originally Posted by Nazca

No idea if anyone has mentioned this, Il Cinema Ritrovato will be screening a new 4K restoration of Tokyo Drifter (1966).

"Restored in 4K in 2023 by Nikkatsu at Imagica Entertainment Media Services laboratory from the 35mm original negative"

https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.i...yo-nagaremono/

More information regarding the restoration.

https://www.imagica-ems.co.jp/en/pro...tokyo-drifter/

I'm beyond excited to see this. I hope Nikkatsu will restore Youth of the Beast as well. If they can make their restorations for these films as amazing as Branded to Kill, then I can die happily. The older Blu-ray edition still looks pretty good by today's standard and this is a film that I have revisited an ungodly amount of times. It's practically a yearly tradition for me to revisit these two films