The Criterion Collection

[GenPion]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I've noticed that Criterion's special features are, in general, not as plentiful as they once were. I'm not necessarily complaining. Quantity doesn't automatically equal quality after all.

My reason for bringing this up is that some titles have only one or two relatively short interviews for extra's (The Vanishing), while others like Sword of Doom and the upcoming The Friends of Eddie Coyle basically only have an audio commentary for extra's.

What with them also switching from booklet's to leaflets as well, some titles are lacking enough in the supplements to warrant being $29.99 ($14.99 on sale) titles, but aren't.

All of this is pointing to Criterion falling on hard times, financially speaking. If they weren't, surely some of these titles with not much to speak of would be one of their budget releases.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I'm really not complaining. In fact I love audio commentaries in particular and I can recognise that even though they're "only" one extra, they amount to a wealth of information shared over the length of the feature film. This is all just something I've found interesting.

They're really minimising their packages and there hasn't been a great deal of effort put into cover art lately. All the more reason to support them though if they haven't been able to afford such lavish packages like once upon a time.

Just out or curiosity, does anyone agree that there are some titles that could've been one of those lower priced BD's? And if so, which do you think?

Criterion still releases a lot of titles that are loaded to the brim with bonus features. Yes, some of them don't have tons of extras, but you can see that even with many of their early releases. Not every film will be as easy to put together supplements for and (sadly) some of them are not as popular so Criterion probably does cut costs somewhere.

I do think it's a shame they no longer print booklets but leaflets, but am not sure if anything will be done in the future to update this from them.

As for the pricing structure, Criterion titles used to regularly sell to consumers for much higher prices and their big fans would regularly purchase titles on the day they came out for $30-40 easily. Now, while there are still some fans buying their releases like that, a ton of their loyal fans just wait until they are on sale and get them for $20 (or less) from Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Amazon, etc. when sales happen. So they probably are factoring that in.

I don't think it's that "doom and gloomy" for Criterion as they still put out a ton of releases every month and having so many classic films released on Blu-ray is a win in and of itself.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by Page14

TCM is the main reason I'm hanging on to cable. Sports are too, to a lesser degree, as I get the local teams on the local stations anyway ... so I don't absolutely need cable for that.

Me, too. I wish they offered a standalone streaming service a la HBO Go. I would gladly pay $10/month for it if it meant I could cut the cable cord and stream it via my Roku. Of course, that would probably tick off their existing cable providers.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by WeeBey

I wish Criterion threw in two additional films on the Ozu set: the surviving excerpts of Fighting Friends Japanese Style and Kagamijishi. It's nice that all of Ozu's surviving films are on DVD or Blu-ray but to get just these two you have to spring for two expensive sets (this and this). At least, as far as I know.

It would be nice to have Ozu's complete surviving works on disc for reference. I might have to shell out, I guess.

Aside from the two you mention, I think all I'm missing in my surviving Ozu collection is A Straightforward Boy. Is that available somewhere?

[The Great Owl]

According to the James Bond 007 Facebook page, a newly restored ultra high definition version of Goldfinger will be screened at the Berlin Film Festival in February.

C'mon Criterion, this is your chance to upgrade that old laserdisc. You know that you want to.

[ShellOilJunior]

The blu-ray announcement of The River has inspired me to develop a new thread: "3-Strip Technicolor Films on Blu-ray".

Coming soon...

[italy12]

Originally Posted by jw007

Hopefully this isn't the case. But over the last year or so I've also noticed some strategic marketing moves from Criterion to survive in the home video market. Obviously the Dual-format experiment was a failure and they prob. took a hit from that. The recent "bronzing" fiasco of blu-rays produced in 2010 and recall of defective discs prob. didn't help them either. The cutback on booklets inside new releases and less use of paper is prob. another sign they're trying to save money. However, in the example you stated of "The Vanishing", Criterion was able to get director George Sluizer interviewed just months before he died, so that was a major win. Overall, I see a slight downward trend, but I'd say its extremely minimal right now.

Originally Posted by GenPion

Criterion still releases a lot of titles that are loaded to the brim with bonus features. Yes, some of them don't have tons of extras, but you can see that even with many of their early releases. Not every film will be as easy to put together supplements for and (sadly) some of them are not as popular so Criterion probably does cut costs somewhere.

I do think it's a shame they no longer print booklets but leaflets, but am not sure if anything will be done in the future to update this from them.

As for the pricing structure, Criterion titles used to regularly sell to consumers for much higher prices and their big fans would regularly purchase titles on the day they came out for $30-40 easily. Now, while there are still some fans buying their releases like that, a ton of their loyal fans just wait until they are on sale and get them for $20 (or less) from Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Amazon, etc. when sales happen. So they probably are factoring that in.

I don't think it's that "doom and gloomy" for Criterion as they still put out a ton of releases every month and having so many classic films released on Blu-ray is a win in and of itself.

Not a big deal regarding leaflets for me, as long as the films are still presented in a manner which is on par with earlier Criterion releases. So far, I have not been disappointed.

Some mention The Vanishing as a title which seemed to lack features. I owned the original Criterion DVD (was my very first Criterion) and it had no features that I can remember, except for touting the RSDL dual layer disc!

[WeeBey]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Aside from the two you mention, I think all I'm missing in my surviving Ozu collection is A Straightforward Boy. Is that available somewhere?

A Straightforward Boy is a available in two collections: this and this. If you pick up the Japanese one you also get Fighting Friends Japanese Style but the UK set is much more affordable.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by WeeBey

A Straightforward Boy is a available in two collections: this and this. If you pick up the Japanese one you also get Fighting Friends Japanese Style but the UK set is much more affordable.

Thank you. I have the UK set, but did not realize that it was on there. Time to update my Ozu spreadsheet.

[pedromvu]

Regarding titles originally released with few extras, it seems those titles cost $29.95 on DVD, what i am not sure is if that was their original pricing when they were released.

Edit: just found out on some old review that The Friends of Eddie Coyle was a budget release in 2009 with a MSRP of $29.95 (from before they decided to reduce dvd prices) it also had a 46 page booklet which will probably be gone, so it seems they no longer are honoring having blu rays the same price as their dvds, i know they have lowered the price of a lot of their dvd's but this is a special case since it was originally intended for that price.

Anyway, not complaining just giving the information in case anyone is interested.

[Roninblues]

Originally Posted by jw007

Is anyone else fascinated by the similarities between the older DVD cover artwork and the new blu-ray cover artwork for The Friends of Eddie Coyle? The older DVD included the now current Criterion design, so I'm wondering why they didn't just use the same one? Anyone think this is interesting?

I kind of like the new blu-ray design more though.

Check below to see what I mean:

Keats died in 94 and Boyle in 96 and while they had careers, I don't think they offer much of a draw for the box cover. They also reversed Mitchum's photo. I actually prefer the 70's style of original but unlike others, I purchase for the movies not the artwork.

[Roninblues]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

You are a bit new in your membership I see and I haven't posted much in recent time in this tread, I am known by the "old guard" of this tread as the Ozu nutcase

I view you as a person of good taste.

[Roninblues]

Originally Posted by Meek12345

By the way, has anyone here watched Hanzo the Razor: The Sword of Justice yet? It is on Criterion's Hulu page, so I checked it out last night. Shintaro Katsu does a complete 180 nearly as a cop during the Edo era. I have no problem with change. However, Hanzo used sexual assault to interrogate the female characters, so I can't recommend this film to anyone. I was really looking forward to watching Katsu in something different after Zatoichi and the Hanzo films seem to be popular. I'm not sure why though. Since, it is basically soft core porn. Well, different strokes for different folks I guess. I would be interested in hearing someone else's opinion on Hanzo the Razor.

I have the three disc set. I just view it as a live action cartoon with a R rating.

[KrugerIndustrial]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Regarding titles originally released with few extras, it seems those titles cost $29.95 on DVD, what i am not sure is if that was their original pricing when they were released.

Edit: just found out on some old review that The Friends of Eddie Coyle was a budget release in 2009 with a MSRP of $29.95 it also had a 46 page booklet which will probably be gone, so it seems they no longer are honoring having blu rays the same price as their dvds, i know they have lowered the price of a lot of their dvd's but this is a special case since it was originally intended for that price.

Anyway, not complaining just giving the information in case anyone is interested.

The DVD actually comes with a 42 page booklet, including an essay by Jones and a Rolling Stone article that takes the majority of the booklet. Based on the info Criterion has provided so far, the "leaflet" on the Blu-ray release also contains these two. This must mean that either the article has been cut, or we'll get a proper booklet with this release. Either way, it'll be interesting to see how this turns out.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I think, like Adam said, it has more to do with the fact that a title like Eddie Coyle didn't have much on its original DVD release. I just bought the DVD not too long ago and won't be upgrading. The PQ is pretty strong and there is no sense in upgrading for a commentary track that I won't listen to.

I don't know how it works exactly, but some time between the 2009 release and the Blu-ray release, CC either paid to include an existing commentary or arranged for Yates to record a new one. That is not evidence of a struggling company.

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Regarding titles originally released with few extras, it seems those titles cost $29.95 on DVD, what i am not sure is if that was their original pricing when they were released.

Edit: just found out on some old review that The Friends of Eddie Coyle was a budget release in 2009 with a MSRP of $29.95 it also had a 46 page booklet which will probably be gone, so it seems they no longer are honoring having blu rays the same price as their dvds, i know they have lowered the price of a lot of their dvd's but this is a special case since it was originally intended for that price.

Anyway, not complaining just giving the information in case anyone is interested.

Why would the booklet be gone? The same info is promised in the print form - the Rolling Stone interview and an essay by Kent Jones.

The commentary is actually not new. It was on the DVD. So, I have to correct myself. No new features as far as I can tell. No upgrade for me.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Why would the booklet be gone? The same info is promised in the print form - the Rolling Stone interview and an essay by Kent Jones.

The commentary is actually not new. It was on the DVD. So, I have to correct myself. No new features as far as I can tell. No upgrade for me.

I don't think that there has been any recent release with booklets, only the few released on digipaks, and i think it would be hard to fit so much material in a leaflet, maybe they will cut something like KrugerIndustrial said, or maybe we will be having booklets again in April

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

I don't think that there has been any recent release with booklets, only the few released on digipaks, and i think it would be hard to fit so much material in a leaflet, maybe they will cut something like KrugerIndustrial said, or maybe we will be having booklets again in April

A lot have complained about the new leaflet and we know C listen as they did change C&W artwork after all the complaints

Heres hoping!

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Roninblues

Keats died in 94 and Boyle in 96 and while they had careers, I don't think they offer much of a draw for the box cover. They also reversed Mitchum's photo. I actually prefer the 70's style of original but unlike others, I purchase for the movies not the artwork.

As do I.

[The Great Owl]

I guess that I'm still so ecstatic that the clunky Dual Format packages are gone that I am not bothered by the leaflets or the comparative lack of special features on the newer Criterion titles.

[Polaroid]

I purchase for the film, but I appreciate when the artwork is on par - Criterion is about the e tire package, great artwork, great supplements and great films.

[GenPion]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Me, too. I wish they offered a standalone streaming service a la HBO Go. I would gladly pay $10/month for it if it meant I could cut the cable cord and stream it via my Roku. Of course, that would probably tick off their existing cable providers.

You might (kind of) get your wish. A new service for the PS3/PS4 from Sony is coming up which will have a bunch of cable channels with both streaming of the channels identical to the networks and on-demand content.

Also, Dish Network and a few other companies are dipping their toes into this business as well and will be launching similar services for around $20 a month. They are mentioning the Turner channels for some of these, including TBS and Cartoon Network. If TCM is also included that will be amazing!