The Criterion Collection

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by nondiatonic

Antichrist was the first von Trier I saw. I own it and Melancholia. The other two in my 4/4 mentioned previously are The Element of Crime and Europa. My high regard of those has earned him a few blind buys from me.

Buy them. You will not be disappointed. I wish I had seen Breaking the Waves for the first time with this new transfer.

[The Great Owl]

Loosely on the subject of Riot in Cell Block 11...

I have been watching the fifth and final season of The Twilight Zone on the Blu-ray set over the past few days. Two of these Season Five episodes were directed by Don Siegel. "Uncle Simon" and "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" are both quite good.

[Kevin Ridge]

Originally Posted by mcvitie

Can any one sway me either way on a blind purchase of Robinson Crusoe On Mars? Looks quite interesting

Was going to say check it out on Amazon Prime first but not sure if you have same access to it in UK. Watched it a few days ago for first time. Came out of feeling it is an average movie and not something I will purchase for repeated viewing.

[TJS_Blu]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

I was just wondering:

I have seen many countries represented in the Criterion Collection.
Why not Greece too?

What about Brazil, Chile, or Cuba? This is one of the one of the reasons it's so great to have the World Cinema Foundation titles coming in (and as far as I know, no Greek titles have been restored by WCF). Criterion is great, but the foreign language releases outside of Sweden, France, Italy and Japan are not spectacular (quantity-wise).
One of the other sides to your question is why don't these films have more distribution than they do - regardless of label? AE from the UK put out 3 volumes of Angelopoulos films in standard def, Never on a Sunday got a DVD release from MGM but doubt if they will bother with HD. Never heard of the other titles, they sound like the kind of titles only Facets or New Yorker would touch, and that's not really a good thing.
Here's hoping for better availability of Greek and other foreign language titles.

[Yami]

O Drakos is a masterful Greek film. I hope that the World Cinema Foundation decide to restore it

[dtyner92]

Originally Posted by nondiatonic

On a less Criterion related note, I just finished Melancholia. Looks like von Trier is 4/4 in my book. Beautiful and uncomfortable film. I will be blind buying Breaking The Waves and Nymphomaniac soon. Can never tell what this guy will do next.

Even though this isn't a Criterion released film, I would recommend Dancer in the Dark. Interesting concept and great performance by Bjork. I would personally love to see this film get the Criterion treatment.

[aes3728]

I heard strong rumor that Roeg's Don't Look Now will be coming to the Collection and there is proof on Instagram. I have looked through it a bit but can't seem to find it. Anyone know this to be true/have proof of this title coming to the Collection?

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by aes3728

I heard strong rumor that Roeg's Don't Look Now will be coming to the Collection and there is proof on Instagram. I have looked through it a bit but can't seem to find it. Anyone know this to be true/have proof of this title coming to the Collection?

Oh man I hope so!

[Snicket]

Originally Posted by aes3728

I heard strong rumor that Roeg's Don't Look Now will be coming to the Collection and there is proof on Instagram. I have looked through it a bit but can't seem to find it. Anyone know this to be true/have proof of this title coming to the Collection?

This came from Ryan at Criterion Cast, maybe tweet at him for a clue?

But hearing him say it, it sounded like a pretty solid rumor. (pretty much confirmed)

[thismightbezach]

The Emerald Forest was supposed to be coming too.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Loosely on the subject of Riot in Cell Block 11...

I have been watching the fifth and final season of The Twilight Zone on the Blu-ray set over the past few days. Two of these Season Five episodes were directed by Don Siegel. "Uncle Simon" and "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" are both quite good.

I bought this season recently and now have all except four which I'm in no hurry to get. It's fun to skim the credits not only for the actors but directors as well. Season five also has Jacques Tourneur, Ida Lupino, Richard Donner, Robert Florey, and character actor turned director, Abner Biberman.

[BTTF_]

Random questions:

Do you think some of the rare oop DVD's will ever get a Blu treatment? There's quite a few I want to jump on, but I'm willing to wait for. Films like "With Nail & I" or "Mafioso" I really need to add to my collection. Should I just pick them up now?

[rock, stone]

Originally Posted by BTTF_

Random questions:

Do you think some of the rare oop DVD's will ever get a Blu treatment? There's quite a few I want to jump on, but I'm willing to wait for. Films like "With Nail & I" or "Mafioso" I really need to add to my collection. Should I just pick them up now?

I'm relatively certain a new improved Region B version of Withnail & I is on the way from Arrow, which is likely to be the equal to any hypothetical CC blu. Arrow has been killing it lately.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

I've only seen 3 of these, but I would rate both Iphigenia and Electra as outright masterpieces (and they are part of a loose trilogy by Mihalis Kakogiannis (aka Michael Cacoyannis), along with The Trojan Women - that 3rd film I didn't really care for). I'm not Greek, but I stumbled upon Iphigenia by accident 6 months ago (on VHS of all things) and was floored by it, and then sought out some of his other films. The much earlier Electra was just as devastating and actually plays as a sequel to Iphigenia even though it was shot 15 years prior. The amazing Irene Pappas is in both; in Electra she plays the vengeful daughter of the mother she would end up playing later in Iphigenia. If you're at all into the ramifications of the Trojan War and the revenge and tragedy involved, both films are absolutely essential and I picked up the two MGM dvd's afterwards (although Iphigenia is long OOP).

I also picked up his early film A Girl in Black, which was very good, and the scene

[Show spoiler]with the children on a sinking boat and the tragedy that ensues will stick with you long after the film ends.

Another sad, tragic film. Unfortunately, I never got around to some of his other early films like Stella, but I did rent his most famous and successful film, Zorba the Greek, and pretty much hated it. But I need to check out some of his other early films and it would be great if Criterion looked into some of these.

Oh, you didn't like Zorba? I liked it quite a bit! I have to see it a 2nd time though..
About the ramifications of the Trojan War: Yes, I know the stories.. We did those at school, we also read them in illustrated books outside of school, so I would be curious to see how they are in film.

Originally Posted by TJS_Blu

What about Brazil, Chile, or Cuba? This is one of the one of the reasons it's so great to have the World Cinema Foundation titles coming in (and as far as I know, no Greek titles have been restored by WCF). Criterion is great, but the foreign language releases outside of Sweden, France, Italy and Japan are not spectacular (quantity-wise).
One of the other sides to your question is why don't these films have more distribution than they do - regardless of label? AE from the UK put out 3 volumes of Angelopoulos films in standard def, Never on a Sunday got a DVD release from MGM but doubt if they will bother with HD. Never heard of the other titles, they sound like the kind of titles only Facets or New Yorker would touch, and that's not really a good thing.
Here's hoping for better availability of Greek and other foreign language titles.

By the way, as I wrote in another thread, some Angelopoulos films have been released in Japanese Blurays:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Lands...Blu-ray/44162/
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Trilo...Blu-ray/44160/
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Etern...Blu-ray/44163/
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Voyag...Blu-ray/44161/

I have seen screenshots of some of them and they look quite good, like they're restored or something!

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

By the way, as I wrote in another thread, some Angelopoulos films have been released in Japanese Blurays:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Lands...Blu-ray/44162/
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Trilo...Blu-ray/44160/
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Etern...Blu-ray/44163/
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Voyag...Blu-ray/44161/

I have seen screenshots of some of them and they look quite good, like they're restored or something!

Many of Mr. Angelopoulos' films were restored in Greece, prior to his death in 2012.

The ones that were released on DVD in Greece actually look lovely even by current DVD standards. Most likely these restorations were used for the Japanese Blu-rays. I have not seen them and cannot comment on the quality.




Pro-B

[RupertPupkin]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Picnic at Hanging Rock Blu-ray REVIEW

great review - as always !

I have bought a couple of years ago the Second Sight UK BR and was very pleased with the transfer. But I didn't wait for a test to pre-order the Criterion...
It's "in their next release" since a very long time (the amazon poll)

I really hope that the packaging will be a digipack.
They have enhanced their new releases : Il Sorpasso and Breaking The Waves are magnificent packages. The digipack are thiner than the previous release and it looks more solid.
I think they found here the good compromise for this kind of packaging while using combo DVD/Blu-Ray.

existential question of the day I know that this version is Peter Weir's directors cut, redux or whatever it is, so all previous version have to be forgotten.
But I'm very curious with the original version which was from what I read in sepia... with a lot of filters...
did you see this version?
I'd be curious to find it (perhaps it has been released on DVD in a obscure country or broadcast on TV)

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by RupertPupkin

existential question of the day I know that this version is Peter Weir's directors cut, redux or whatever it is, so all previous version have to be forgotten.
But I'm very curious with the original version which was from what I read in sepia... with a lot of filters...
did you see this version?
I'd be curious to find it (perhaps it has been released on DVD in a obscure country or broadcast on TV)

I'm not sure where you heard this. The original released version is almost exactly the same as the Director's Cut version, just with about 7-8 more minutes of footage. You can see what was cut from the original release by going to the IMDb entry for the film, and clicking on "Alternate Versions".

[CobraVerde]

Originally Posted by nondiatonic

Antichrist was the first von Trier I saw. I own it and Melancholia. The other two in my 4/4 mentioned previously are The Element of Crime and Europa. My high regard of those has earned him a few blind buys from me.

Yeah, if you enjoyed those, then you will be okay blind buying any of his films.

Originally Posted by aes3728

I heard strong rumor that Roeg's Don't Look Now will be coming to the Collection and there is proof on Instagram. I have looked through it a bit but can't seem to find it. Anyone know this to be true/have proof of this title coming to the Collection?

Well, I hope it's a better transfer than the awful Optimum UK version. Hopefully it's a master directly from Paramount, a la Rosemary's Baby.

[ShellOilJunior]

Hopscotch (Studio Canal) is now out of print. Credit to ianungstad at CF for finding this:

http://dvdlist.kazart.com/queryDVDList2.php3?id=18747

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Many of Mr. Angelopoulos' films were restored in Greece, prior to his death in 2012.

The ones that were released on DVD in Greece actually look lovely even by current DVD standards. Most likely these restorations were used for the Japanese Blu-rays. I have not seen them and cannot comment on the quality.




Pro-B

Oh, have you watched all these?
I'm ashamed.
You're not Greek and probably have seen them, and I haven't.
But I wanted to feel more mature to be ready to watch them.

The screenshots from the Blurays I've seen seem to retain good grain structure, fortunately.
There are some contrast issues with the black levels and such (they seem like dark gray), but I believe this is the source's issue. Not the restoration's.

What film(s) would you say is (are) the best?