The Criterion Collection

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by koberulz

As for the "kids these days don't watch old films"...kids back in your day didn't watch old films either. Most people don't, and never have.

The hard truth about film, and by extension Hollywood, is simply it's no longer the same universal touchstone that it once represented in popular culture, and that includes the major franchises, e.g., Star Wars, Marvel, etc.

Beyond that dynamic, sometimes it seems as if parents aren't as interested in exposing their children to the arts and its value in education. I have distinct memories of seeing the theatrical releases of Chinatown, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Mean Streets, Walkabout, The Duellists, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest right along with James Bond flicks, Planet of the Apes and the Dirty Dozen. Sometimes my parents would go to the movies we wanted to see, but more importantly, they wanted us to see the movies they wanted us to see, i.e., films from directors such as Bergman.

In retrospect, I don't know what my Dad was thinking, but he allowed us to go to movies we really shouldn't have been seeing due to the sexual and violent content, e.g., El Topo. But it was the 70s, and there was a lot of that going around at least in NYC, not sheltering children from what was going on in the world, the war in Vietnam, racial issues, environmental issues, etc.

That said, all is not lost. If you are seeking an education about film history, it's never been more accessible than it is today, with streaming and labels such as Criterion, Eureka, etc.

Beyond an education, if you are seeking a career as a filmmaker or in the film entertainment industry, it's never been more accessible than it is today thanks to film schools and related study programs.

With two kids in college, both have taken classes where film is the primary subject, e.g., French New Wave, or film is interwoven with literature to understand a topic in the humanities, e.g., interwar, post-war, feminism, etc.

My daughter is a VP of the student advisory board for the local cinema affiliated with her school (Cornell), and they have a great line-up of screenings and programs. This year there have been screenings with filmmakers, e.g., Metropolitan with Whit Stillman, and this weekend they have a 35MM print screening of Tokyo Story as part of their greatest film series.

So, all is not lost, but there's no question from a pop culture perspective, the tide has turned.

[koberulz]

Nothing is a universal touchstone anymore, because there are too many entertainment options.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by Ishai

B&N also has a similar program called "stamps", I think it's only 5% back but you get the reward faster (after spending $100), and of course it isn't limited to Criterion releases.

They could have the best rewards program ever, but their prices are still obscene. When I went to the July sale there was a 4K of Casablanca there. It was 40% off, and the final price was $34.99. While I didn't sit there and do all the math, the price had to be at least $50.

On the way out, I saw the tables of books that are basically just the books everyone reads in school. The Catcher In The Rye, which went for $8 when I was a kid, is now going for $27.99!

Even with their rewards, if I spent enough at B&N to get a reasonable amount of stamps, I would be bankrupt:

$30 DVD ($15 during the sale): $600 for a free DVD ($300 for a free DVD during the sale)
$40 Blu-ray ($20 during the sale): $800 for a free DVD ($400 for a free Blu-ray during the sale)
$50 UHD ($25 during the sale): $1,000 for a free DVD ($500 for a free UHD during the sale)

My last purchase was roughly $165. To get that for free, I would've had to spend $3,300 at B&N.

While I like getting rewards, I'm not going to buy obscenely overpriced stuff to get them.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by Alfredlynch

Good day to all. Does anyone know if old digi-pack releases are sure to come in hard cases at this point? I am trying to stay consistent in hard-cased versions of Criterion releases. I know some have been switched and I recently picked up the regular hard case of Dazed and Confused to my surprise at a store. I would love to get hard cases of Repo Man, Mullholland Drive, Silence of the Lambs, Thelma and Louise, Scanners, and and Blue Velvet if they are available. If so, how would one know or ensure getting them when ordering?

I just bought The Silence Of The Lambs, and it's a Digipack. It looks exactly like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/23524889134...Bk9SR_jXt_LjYg

The actual store was sold out and this came directly from B&N's warehouse (which is surprisingly a stone's throw from my house), and presumably they then got it directly from Criterion (or their manufacturer, or their distributor).

I also got Godzilla, and that's a Digipack too. Bruce Lee was that ridiculous fold-out thing that I honestly hate. It's one of the worst packages I've ever seen.

I have never seen Lee, Godzilla, or TSOTL in any other package, so I can only assume that those are the packages.

I also got After Hours, and both the Blu-ray and the 4K are in standard cases. (Also, as a side note, Criterion did not release a DVD for After Hours, so I believe they are done with the format or getting there.)

Finally I got Night Of The Living Dead on 4K, which is in a three-disc hard case, like Shaft was. The 4K is hidden behind the insert, which threw me too. Considering the Blu of NOTLD was in a Digipack and the 4K was in a regular case, I would assume that 4K upgrades will mostly be in normal cases. However, there was also Citizen Kane, which was possibly the worst Criterion package ever.

Also, the two I purchased - Godzilla and TSOTL - have issues that would preclude a Criterion 4K. Godzilla's master was only done at 2K, from either two FGPs or a FGP (54) and either a print or copy master (56). Whatever elements were used were whooped by time, and the negs and all intermediate elements are presumed lost. That would have to be redone from the ground up.

And TSOTL is a casualty of Criterion waiting just a tad too long to jump into the 4K game, and MGM then signed a 4K deal with Kino. Possibly if Criterion did a 4K they'd put it in a three-disc case like NOTLD and Shaft, but again they'd either have to buy out the Kino deal or sit and wait until it ends on its own.

One idea, though they won't look as good as real cases, is to buy replacement cases from Criterion directly. Last time I checked, one-disc replacement cases are 5 for $12 on the Criterion website:

https://www.criterion.com/shop/produ...ay-case-5-pack

I am unsure if these are part of the flash sale, but it's worth finding out. If so I might just get a bunch of cases during the flash sale and save the discs for November.

As for 2-disc cases, 3-disc cases, or any other type of case, insert, fold-out, poster, slip, etc, you have to wait for their occasional packaging replacement programs, and if the OOP status is questionable, it's a coin toss whether they can help you. If it's in print, you're set.

Now, while this is morally questionable, there is probably a fan-made cover for every single Criterion release ever. I'm sure some fan somewhere has made normal covers for all of the movies that have crazy cases. If this is truly a novel idea, please someone feel free to steal it from me.

[Rayjg]

Cinema been dead for 20 years now. Internet killed it. There's a reason why Lynch and Waters and Carpenter and Dante all but disappeared around that time. The super rich billionaire machines (Spielberg), the quixotic (Gilliam) and the nostalgic (Tarantino) keep going but that's it. Everyone else...TikTak.

[Taylor3978]

Originally Posted by koberulz

As for the "kids these days don't watch old films"...kids back in your day didn't watch old films either. Most people don't, and never have.

Yes, back in the day it was Star Wars, before that it was Clint Eastwood, before that it was John Wayne, before that......now it's MCU and John Wick and F&F and Barbie, I get that.....

.....but to recruit that small cadre of cinephile nerds that keep the flame alive, you need to provide a way that they are exposed to the old classics. For people in the US, I'm guessing it was the late show and Elvira and Joe Bob Briggs etc, maybe PBS for foreign fare? For me growing up it was BBC2 (now BBC4), that's where I saw films like Brewster McCloud, The Conformist, Targets, The Crazies, etc while BBC1 was showing mainstream Hollywood fare. Going to grad school in the US, it was the local Pet of the Day station (I loved that!) late night movie. In Ontario it was Elwy Yost on TV Ontario hosting a classic film every Sunday night. TCM just opened things up like that scene in Wizard of Oz when Dorothy steps out of the B&W Kansas farmhouse into Technicolor Oz. More recently, I was introduced to a lot of great cult films by TCM Underground, my wife has become a huge Jim Jarmusch fan from watching his films at 4am on a Saturday morning!

I just fear that without that regular appointment with curated fare that for many of us was an introduction to many of these films, kids today are going to be guided by AI into the same crap that everybody else is watching, old films will be kept around as filler until the streamers have enough of their own old crap to use as filler.... The dirty little secret is that this data-driven stuff is the emperor that has no clothes, but the suits in Hollywood have bought into it because as someone said the only time they look at a TV screen is to check their stock prices.

Just look at Hideo Kojima's closet picks, he's lamenting that Japanese kids know nothing of films from the 60s and 70s, he has to come to the States to find these movies on disk!

[dvining]

I'm self-motivated to discover film on my own, and I'm doing my little part in making sure that my kids know more about film history than just what's the zeitgeist right now. One of the things I did this summer was pretty much open my closet to my elder son and told him that he could watch almost anything. I'd give him five I thought he'd like, and he chose one of them.

As for myself, it's just a constant dig into film history. Most recent was Paul Leni, which was really quite fun. (Gonna have to get those Flicker Alley discs now.)

I have less of a problem with general film knowledge falling off (that's just bound to happen in any art form as time goes on) than people actually in the industry who don't seem to know of anything older than 50 years ago, and even that stuff is just the biggest franchises.

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by koberulz

Nothing is a universal touchstone anymore, because there are too many entertainment options.

Sure there is, social media images represented by memes, and no, I'm not kidding. Success kid, disaster girl, distracted boyfriend, on and on.

Here's another thing that's no joke and should come as no surprise, the opinion piece published in the NYTs "...that ours is the least innovative century for the arts in 500 years."

We are now almost a quarter of the way through what looks likely to go down in history as the least innovative, least transformative, least pioneering century for culture since the invention of the printing press. There is new content, of course, so much content, and there are new themes; there are new methods of production and distribution, more diverse creators and more global audiences; there is more singing in hip-hop and more sampling on pop tracks; there are TV detectives with smartphones and lovers facing rising seas. Twenty-three years in, though, shockingly few works of art in any medium — some albums, a handful of novels and artworks and barely any plays or poems — have been created that are unassimilable to the cultural and critical standards that audiences accepted in 1999. To pay attention to culture in 2023 is to be belted into some glacially slow Ferris wheel, cycling through remakes and pastiches with nowhere to go but around. The suspicion gnaws at me (does it gnaw at you?) that we live in a time and place whose culture seems likely to be forgotten.

[Bolo Seagull]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

Yeah I set myself up for that one.

I meant would he happen to have any pull whatsoever in getting it out on Blu-ray or 4K. Sometimes when an actor gets involved it can move the needle. It just sucks that there's only a few OOP DVDs of that movie. I don't even know if it's on streaming. I just bought it on tape (from a nitwit who himself only bought it because he assumed Orion equals horror), and it was amazing. The tape barely worked, but it was still amazing.

I have the DVD of 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' and watch it about once a decade. It's a good movie, but just not at the front of my mind. So, I never really kept up on the history of this film on home video. I'm surprised it never got a bluray release. I should probably sell my DVD for a collector's price before somebody announces a new release on a current format.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by Bolo Seagull

I have the DVD of 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' and watch it about once a decade. It's a good movie, but just not at the front of my mind. So, I never really kept up on the history of this film on home video. I'm surprised it never got a bluray release. I should probably sell my DVD for a collector's price before somebody announces a new release on a current format.

Right now the prices are pretty damn good for sellers. $20-$30 each, which is good. Just going OOP, regardless of how many exist, means that every asshat on eBay can list their copy of a movie for an obscene price. That might be one of my self-gifts this year, assuming tons of big movies don't come along before then.

What I'd like to know, is whether the transfer was right on the Criterion disc or the other discs:

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by DVD Compare

R0 America - Criterion Collection
#55
Commentaries: Audio commentary by director Philip Kaufman, co-writer Jean-Claude Carriére, editor Walter Murch and actress Lena Olin
Subtitles: English HoH
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Picture Format: Anamorphic
TV System: NTSC
Soundtrack(s): English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Case type: Keep Case
Notes: Features a sharper transfer, approved by the director.
The case states the aspect ratio to be 1.85:1, but it is in fact 1.78:1.

R1 America - MGM Home Entertainment
Extras: Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Picture Format: Anamorphic
TV System: NTSC
Soundtrack(s): English Dolby Digital 5.1
Case type: Keep Case
Notes: The picture on this release is slightly cropped on all sides, as well as being rather soft.

R1 America - Warner Home Video
Special Edition
Extras: DISC ONE
*Part 1 of the film (114:04)
Audio commentary by director Philip Kaufman, co-writer Jean-Claude Carriére, editor Walter Murch and actress Lena Olin

DISC TWO
*Part 2 of the film (58:38)
Audio commentary by director Philip Kaufman, co-writer Jean-Claude Carriére, editor Walter Murch and actress Lena Olin (continued)
"Emotional History: The Making of The Unbearable Lightness of Being" documentary (30:24)
Theatrical Trailer (2:21)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Picture Format: Anamorphic
TV System: NTSC
Soundtrack(s): English Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Case type: Keep Case

Now, what I'm wondering is did Kaufman approve the sharper transfer because it looked nice and shiny (this was 1999), or did he approve it because that was how the film was supposed to look? The tape was very soft and fuzzy, but it wasn't VHS soft, it was more of that dreamlike haze that a lot of filmmakers worked with in the 70s and 80s.

[Bobaray]

Originally Posted by Ishai

B&N also has a similar program called "stamps", I think it's only 5% back but you get the reward faster (after spending $100), and of course it isn't limited to Criterion releases.

Also, B&N occasionally has "Double Stamp" days (like today), which is equivalent to 10% back. They had some days during the last Criterion sale with Double Stamps given (triple stamps if you paid for the premium membership).

[BadBart]

I have many people to thank for my love of music, film and art. Either my older brother listened to a band and that started my interest in that same band, or perhaps I sat and watched a "classic" film with my family. We are all exposed to different things through others. I try to expose my kids to things they have no interest in and I'm often rewarded when they too find a new artist or film they can't get enough of. There is so much available that we can't get to it all. I was late to enjoy BB King and never saw him in concert. I never saw The Shining until I was nearly 50 years old. I try to fill the voids in my experiences but damn if I still find it an uphill climb at times. So many things I still want to see in the film industry. Some I already own but need to make time for. There are books by my favorite authors I likely will never read but I still love the ones I'm familiar with. My kids have been teaching me a few things about film and music in recent years and that circle should never stop. Exposure to and the discovery of new things is what keeps all of this so amazing in my opinion.

Bart

[trobrianders]

I enjoyed Pauline at the beach's closet picks.

[trobrianders]

Originally Posted by Rayjg

Cinema been dead for 20 years now. Internet killed it. There's a reason why Lynch and Waters and Carpenter and Dante all but disappeared around that time. The super rich billionaire machines (Spielberg), the quixotic (Gilliam) and the nostalgic (Tarantino) keep going but that's it. Everyone else...TikTak.

And good luck trying to find a cosy fleapit.

[Egbert Souse]

Cinema isn't dead, it just smells funny

[TolerancEJ]

Originally Posted by Egbert Souse

Cinema isn't dead, it just smells funny

And people refuse to turn off their cellphones.

[jedidarrick]

Originally Posted by TolerancEJ

And people refuse to turn off their cellphones.

That or they talk incessantly like at my screening of Three Thousand Years of Longing.

[ErickRPG]

Does either Criterion store or Barnes & Noble accept paypal as payment? I have my card tied to paypal but I like to use actual paypal since I use paypal credit for $99+ orders frequently.

[trobrianders]

Originally Posted by Egbert Souse

Cinema isn't dead, it just smells funny

It doesn't smell of anything. It smells of a shopping mall. It smells of an airport.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by Egbert Souse

Cinema isn't dead, it just smells funny