The Criterion Collection

[DimitriL]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

On that note, instead of continuing this debate today, I will give you something better with this gif.

This is why, in spite of your heartbreaking stance on HD, you are clearly a superior person

[HillSprinter]

Originally Posted by DimitriL

That doesn’t mean the original was anything like accurate, especially since Friedkin was still in his revisionist mode. (No one should ever make judgments based on an earlier disc release. It reminds me of the grousing of the Three Colors 4k, when it turned out all the earlier video releases didn’t look a thing like the original but the new one was frame accurate to the film prints. And don’t get me started on Matewan, where Criterion actually had to run the films side-by-side to show how accurate it was.)

I was refering to Brazil, and my personal preferences related to how it looked. But yes, I agree.

[DimitriL]

Originally Posted by HillSprinter

I was refering to Brazil, and my personal preferences related to how it looked. But yes, I agree.

Ah, sorry - posted right after all those screencaps from Sorcerer. Thanks for clarifying!

[poisonmail]

Last year Criterion was getting roundly criticized for the lack of new supplements despite bringing to Blu/4K multiple major films that had never gotten past DVD. Now they have seemingly restarted the commentary machine, which to me is great news. But somehow I feel like the goalposts keep moving due to people’s specific personal taste. I dunno, if I worked there I would find it pretty befuddling personally. “A 4K UHD release for The Big Heat” is something I have to really twist myself in knots to view as a negative development.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

Except that isn't what Tarantino said at all! He did not say "all 4K DCPs and 4K restorations are bad". In fact, Tarantino explicitly said:



He was explicitly talking about theatrical exhibition in a large theater



Tarantino in that paragraph and the preceding one actually praises home viewing of quality video vesions.

And he walks the talk, given that his two theaters only show film prints. Near me the theaters that show film prints can get a lot of audience of younger people to those screenings, even when they charge higher ticket prices for film than DCP. That audience also prefers the look of real film to digital, and they're going out of their way to see it projected in a theater, not watching at home.

Again though, he was judging 4K DCPs in theaters off the basis of one - count 'em, one - DCP of one 4K restoration that is the complete antithesis of what film restoration is.

If instead of Fistful, for example, the 4K DCP screened before Tarantino would've been Texas, Adios, the film released alongside Django in that film's LE, (caps) I think Tarantino would've sang the praises of 4K restorations and 4K DCPs.

Same film format - 2-perf Techniscope, same era - 1960s, same style of filmmaking - spaghetti westerns, on usually lower budgets...and the only difference is Texas, Adios was restored by competent entities and competent people, and Fistful wasn't.

I truly believe that Tarantino's statement comes from nothing more than seeing the truly dreadful 4K restoration of A Fistful Of Dollars, and then erroneously concluding that "well if this one's bad, they all must be bad".

I'm not saying things can't go wrong with a 4K DCP of a 4K restoration. What I am saying is that all of his complaints about the Fistful DCP can be traced directly back to the restoration, and not to anything related to DCPs in general or film restoration in general.

And I have seen the 4K restoration of Fistful on my TV. It sucks. I really hope Tarantino hasn't had that misfortune, or he'd likely start saying how terrible Blu-ray and 4K are. (Unless he's waiting for the Arrow discs, in which case, I hope he sees them.)

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by DimitriL

The Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important contemporary and classic films*



*unless versions have been put out by defunct and British-only labels on an inferior format with barely half the resolution of film, in which case, who cares how important it is, that film can ROT

Funny, that describes The Devils fairly well...

Defunct: nee
British-only: yep
Inferior format: yep
Half the resolution of film: "half" might be a little too far now...
Important film: absolutely
Left to rot: seems like it

5/6

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by poisonmail

Last year Criterion was getting roundly criticized for the lack of new supplements despite bringing to Blu/4K multiple major films that had never gotten past DVD. Now they have seemingly restarted the commentary machine, which to me is great news. But somehow I feel like the goalposts keep moving due to people’s specific personal taste. I dunno, if I worked there I would find it pretty befuddling personally. “A 4K UHD release for The Big Heat” is something I have to really twist myself in knots to view as a negative development.

I take my wins where I can get them.

I wanted all three cuts of Brazil to get restored. Only one of them, the most important one, did. So I'll juggle old copies and call it a win.

The Devils, one of the most demanded titles ever, that disc could be barebones for all I care. Just give me the 117-minute movie and it'll be a win.

The goalposts for me are "make me happy, give me the best AV presentation, and don't screw anything up". Everything else is a bonus.

A previous major release that rocked my world was Natural Born Killers. I still need all my old copies for special features, but I finally got the movie fully restored, so why piss about what the set didn't have? I'm not sad that I need all my old tapes and discs to have the special features, I'm happy that I no longer need those copies for the movie.

That's basically how I see it. Take a film, solve the problems with it, and I'll be happy. Short of some egregious eff-up, I'll be happy with what I have rather than nitpick about what I don't have.

[DimitriL]

Originally Posted by poisonmail

Last year Criterion was getting roundly criticized for the lack of new supplements despite bringing to Blu/4K multiple major films that had never gotten past DVD. Now they have seemingly restarted the commentary machine, which to me is great news. But somehow I feel like the goalposts keep moving due to people’s specific personal taste. I dunno, if I worked there I would find it pretty befuddling personally. “A 4K UHD release for The Big Heat” is something I have to really twist myself in knots to view as a negative development.

Ya know, the continuing cycle of Criterion releases always has a debate. Some releases are, well, I don't understand that choice at all. Some are, well, now that you've explained it, I can see the logic. And then there are so that are so obvious, that fit in so well with Criterion's history, that you go, "What do you mean this isn't one they're bringing back from Criterion laserdisc?"

The Big Heat is the latter.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by poisonmail

Last year Criterion was getting roundly criticized for the lack of new supplements despite bringing to Blu/4K multiple major films that had never gotten past DVD. Now they have seemingly restarted the commentary machine, which to me is great news. But somehow I feel like the goalposts keep moving due to people’s specific personal taste. I dunno, if I worked there I would find it pretty befuddling personally. “A 4K UHD release for The Big Heat” is something I have to really twist myself in knots to view as a negative development.

What’s next? Maybe they’ll bring back booklets!

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

What’s next? Maybe they’ll bring back booklets!

The accordion-esque pamphlets never bothered me. The ones that bother me are the poster/booklet things. How am I supposed to hang up the poster and keep the booklet?

[DimitriL]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

What’s next? Maybe they’ll bring back booklets!

Maybe they'll bring back editions with full books! I miss those.

[Frankie S]

After a couple of months (April, May) where I wanted nothing (apart from maybe ‘Basquiat’, which I’ll probably pick up in a sale), an unprecedented state of affairs for two consecutive Criterion monthly slates, June is a very strong month for me.

I’ll definitely pick up 3 - ‘Sorcerer’, ‘Straight, No Chaser’ and ‘Midnight’ (excited for all those) and I’m mildly intrigued by ‘32 Short Films About Glenn Gould’. And while I’ll continue to resist the temptation to upgrade (what seems like) almost every Criterion blu that I own to 4k (I just can’t justify the expense), ‘Brazil’ and ‘Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters’ are eminently worthy of 4k upgrades.

So, after a couple of months of ‘not for me’, June’s slate is very welcome. And while Criterion’s output has certainly been drifting away from my tastes of late (‘The Wiz’, really?) there’s still a load of stuff that they’ve just released, or are bringing out soon, that I’m really looking forward to picking up - ‘Winchester ‘73’ 4k, ‘The Grifters’ 4k, ‘Drugstore Cowboy’ 4k, ‘Performance’ 4k, ‘Choose Me’ 4k, ‘Night Moves’ 4k, ‘Wages of Fear’ 4k upgrade (I’ll relent on that one as it’s a favourite), and the titles from the June slate mentioned above.

So the next Criterion sale will still see my wallet take a substantial hit. On that basis alone, I’d say they’re still one of my favourite boutique labels (Eureka and Indicator have moved further away from my tastes than Criterion of late), even if they’ve lost their pre-eminence in a crowded field, with (IMO) perhaps only Radiance eclipsing them for consistency of output these days.

[TheZeppo]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

As someone who regards animals as my best friends, people who hurt animals for any reason are just lower than all others. For her to do this just for her stupid TikTok video, it shows what a scumbag she is. (I considered many other words, but between the fact that my mouth has got me banned before, and the fact that the site has a language filter, I settled on "scumbag".)

People like that make me absolutely furious that Hell isn't real. Prison isn't long enough or hard enough for someone who would literally rip a child away from their parent, whether human or non-human.

I agree completely with your post up to the mention of hell. Hell is 100% real, and that fact will become reality too late for many. But that's not a conversation for this thread or forum.

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

Funny, that describes The Devils fairly well...

Defunct: nee
British-only: yep
Inferior format: yep
Half the resolution of film: "half" might be a little too far now...
Important film: absolutely
Left to rot: seems like it

5/6

I still haven't given up on The Devils. I've watched two editions of this film that some emphatically declare to be horrendous, but I don't really think they're all that bad. But, without question, the time is long overdue for a worthy BR remaster of this film to see the light of day. Criterion seems like it would be a good fit for such a release. Along with Arrow. Second Sight. Powerhouse/Indicator. It's about time for The Devils to receive the release it deserves.

[Cremildo]

Émilie Dequenne, the star of Rosetta, has passed away at 43.

[longshot7]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

Except that isn't what Tarantino said at all! He did not say "all 4K DCPs and 4K restorations are bad". In fact, Tarantino explicitly said:



He was explicitly talking about theatrical exhibition in a large theater



Tarantino in that paragraph and the preceding one actually praises home viewing of quality video vesions.

And he walks the talk, given that his two theaters only show film prints. Near me the theaters that show film prints can get a lot of audience of younger people to those screenings, even when they charge higher ticket prices for film than DCP. That audience also prefers the look of real film to digital, and they're going out of their way to see it projected in a theater, not watching at home.

It’s such a baby/bathwater reaction. Have you been to the New Bev? It was so much better before - not to mention the family he put out of work because he wouldn’t compromise.

[suspiciouscoffee]

So is the flash sale happening tomorrow? We're running out of weeks in March.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by suspiciouscoffee

So is the flash sale happening tomorrow? We're running out of weeks in March.

It should start on Tuesday.

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by imax143

People are never satisfied, you can't please everyone. For years, countless people in these forums mocked and hated on Criterion for not getting into UHD. And when Criterion got into it, there were many complaints of too few UHD releases, too few UHD upgrades for big classic movies, too slow of a pace. Now that Criterion has listened to those criticisms from UHD fans, we have the crowd that hates them for that, a crowd that includes people like you. And your crowd can't ever agree with the people that prefer to have UHDs of big movies instead of new to HD obscure stuff. Even if Criterion released 20 movies a month, with 10 of them being new to HD and the other 10 being UHD upgrades, I bet you would still be ranting.

People are just not happy unless they have something to complain about on these boards. It is never enough and there is no gratitude for what is being released in a time when physical media is considered dead.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Sommerswerd

I think the Sorcerer cover-art might be inspired by the crew shirts like the one Spielberg is wearing:

I postd this in the Sorcerer thread, but the artist actually had several other drafts. This one below is actually even closer to that shirt above, and I would have preferred it to the final one they went with.



You can see all of them here:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...6#post22965156

[Rayjg]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

I think I used up all my arguing powers yesterday for the week, but I will say, I love BD resolution.

On that note, instead of continuing this debate today, I will give you something better with this gif.

I visit the Criterion thread for the latest release updates but I stay for the seal porn.