The Criterion Collection

[Smegma]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Maybe, but 90+% of consumers also do not own a release from Criterion too, let alone Arrow or VS. If you want to compare, realism needs to be involved.

Well I post here and if Criterion released Fast Times on 4K and Blu, I'd just buy the Blu-ray.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

It would certainly be an upset if this doesn't eventually happen. I don't suppose there's a whole lot they could do with something like Sanshiro Sugata, but the fact that something like Red Beard or Ran they haven't even put out on blu ray yet is a head-scratcher.

Yeah. I'd also love to see The Idiot as well. (Never seen it because the UK Masters of Cinema DVD is too damn expensive from being OOP, and there's not a single BD of it worldwide) Kurosawa adapting Dostoevsky seems like an incredible pairing.

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Yeah. I'd also love to see The Idiot as well. (Never seen it because the UK Masters of Cinema DVD is too damn expensive from being OOP, and there's not a single BD of it worldwide) Kurosawa adapting Dostoevsky seems like an incredible pairing.

I saw it in Criterion's Post-War Kurosawa Eclipse set. Definitely a worthy adaptation with a great job by Masayuki Mori in the title role.

[javy]

Back when Second Sight announced Nightmare Alley a couple of years ago, I went ahead and sold my Fox DVD. But then delay after delay happened. And just a few days ago I thought to myself that I should have never sold my DVD. So to see the Criterion announcements yesterday was truly a blessing. I'll be purchasing both NightmareAlley and Merrily We Go To Hell on release day.

Another thing that's really cool is, at the beginning of the year I had Masculin Féminin on my list of films I'd like to see upgraded to blu ray. And, as we all know, it was announced last month.

I'm excited about these things.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

It would certainly be an upset if this doesn't eventually happen. I don't suppose there's a whole lot they could do with something like Sanshiro Sugata, but the fact that something like Red Beard or Ran they haven't even put out on blu ray yet is a head-scratcher.

I think there is a good chance of it happening, but when is the question. That's the only logical explanation I can think of as to why Criterion hasn't released a Kurosawa film on Blu-ray for such a long period of time.

[gbm82]

Act 4 of Fanny and Alexander was even darker than I was expecting... I was going to save act 5 for tomorrow but I'm going to have to watch it now.

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by javy

Back when Second Sight announced Nightmare Alley a couple of years ago, I went ahead and sold my Fox DVD. But then delay after delay happened. And just a few days ago I thought to myself that I should have never sold my DVD. So to see the Criterion announcements yesterday was truly a blessing. I'll be purchasing both NightmareAlley and Merrily We Go To Hell on release day.

Another thing that's really cool is, at the beginning of the year I had Masculin Féminin on my list of films I'd like to see upgraded to blu ray. And, as we all know, it was announced last month.

I was just thinking of some of the recent titles that Criterion has upgraded, realizing that they have knocked off some of my biggest wants from their catalogue (like Taste of Cherry, Mouchette, Do the Right Thing, the aforementioned Godards).

Still, I can't help but think about what I'm still waiting on, like The Spirit of the Beehive, Twenty-Four Eyes, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, Spellbound, Onibaba, and many Ozu titles, just to provide a very short list. Clearly they've got their work cut out for them as far as upgrades goes, and frankly, I'd rather wait if it means giving them the opportunity to actually upgrade them as opposed to just repackaging.

I actually just took some time out to e-mail 'Mulvaney' about just this...and also express my input about 4K discs.

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

I think there is a good chance of it happening, but when is the question. That's the only logical explanation I can think of as to why Criterion hasn't released a Kurosawa film on Blu-ray for such a long period of time.

Yeah, I agree that it definitely 'feels' like something that ought to be expected. One would hope it's the most logical explanation. Fingers crossed.

[javy]

It would be cool if Criterion released Down and Out in Beverly Hills.

[JMDiaz718]

What happened to Ferris Bueller?

[scififan73]

Originally Posted by JMDiaz718

What happened to Ferris Bueller?

Guess he must've skipped out of class.

[Filligan]

Originally Posted by JMDiaz718

What happened to Ferris Bueller?

Fast Times almost feels like a reassurance for those of us waiting on Ferris Bueller. At least that’s how I’m choosing to feel about it

[Spider-Fan]

Whatever happened to Rodan or War of the Gargantuans?

[belcherman]

It seems weird to me that there are no films by Woody Allen in the Collection. Say what you will about his personal life, but he is an important American filmmaker.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by belcherman

It seems weird to me that there are no films by Woody Allen in the Collection. Say what you will about his personal life, but he is an important American filmmaker.

He already is with "Annie Hall" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors" having Criterion Laserdiscs.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

He already is with "Annie Hall" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors" having Criterion Laserdiscs.

Well, something in-print would be nice. The two films you mentioned would be a great place to start.

[MifuneFan]

I wonder if the inability to provide any supplemental material for his films played any part in their exclusion from the DVD era and beyond? I don't imagine it had to do with his personal life considering they had no problems with Polanski, so I think there had to be other reasons.

[FragnitoM]

Originally Posted by belcherman

It seems weird to me that there are no films by Woody Allen in the Collection. Say what you will about his personal life, but he is an important American filmmaker.

There’s like 4 part doc coming to HBO premiering next week and it looks completely one sided/featuring Mia Farrow so expect to hear a lot of renewed outrage soon

IMO Much of Allen’s films definitely deserve to be in the collection, even if he is opposed to special features. There are many films just not in print/very hard to find or have never had Blu-rays.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I wonder if the inability to provide any supplemental material for his films played any part in their exclusion from the DVD era and beyond? I don't imagine it had to do with his personal life considering they had no problems with Polanski, so I think there had to be other reasons.

How much control does Allen have? I know he has stated that his films should stand on their own, but if MGM were to license Annie Hall, for example, to Criterion, could he stop them from providing their own supplements?

[StLouisRibs]

Because of a dispute with regard to the release of Take the Money and Run, when Allen jumped to UA/Orion he signed an extremely powerful contract that put him with veto power over basically everything related to his films in perpetuity that exists for the run of films from Bananas to Shadows and Fog. So he does actually have the capacity to nix anything. It is not uncommon for filmmakers to have some degree of approvals way down the line, he’s just particularly reluctant to approve anything.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by belcherman

How much control does Allen have? I know he has stated that his films should stand on their own, but if MGM were to license Annie Hall, for example, to Criterion, could he stop them from providing their own supplements?

I believe he has a lot of control. I can't recall specifics, but I know Arrow wanted to do something with one of the movies (Manhattan?) and apparently Allen (or whoever is representing him) prevented them from doing so.