The Criterion Collection

[rdandura]

Will they ever release the artwork for Moonrise Kingdom? I mean I already have the Universal BD, I'm just curious.

[oildude]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

That Man from Rio rocked my face. It's quite a departure from the Criterion films that star Jean-Paul Belmondo, though. Both That Man from Rio and Up to his Ears seem to pay homage to the physical stunts of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, so there's definitely an offbeat edge to the action.

The Professional, a 1981 film starring Belmondo, has the same sort of vibe.

Le Professional has an awesome soundtrack. I haven't seen the film but own the score. That doesn't happen to me often. I was on the Screen Archives site and it was "recommended" to me. I listened to the samples and loved it. It is one of my favorite Morricone scores.

[oildude]

Yesterday I discovered a new score I have to own - Michel Legrand's music to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It is so profoundly beautiful that it completely submerges you into it, as if the closest earthly sensation to heaven is to feel that melody moving in your very bones. As I make my way through my Jacques Demy set in film order, I watched this movie for the first time ever yesterday. What a fantastic and unforgettable experience! I have to admit that I was kind of hesitant about it going in, knowing nothing about the story except that the entire dialogue is sung which did not appeal to me even though I tend to like musicals. Now I understand what all the praise is about.

I don't know if The Umbrellas of Cherbourg technically qualifies as an opera, but that is how I think of it. Truly a wonderful film, with an engaging and immensely moving story, superb acting (especially from a striking 20 year old Catherine Deneuve.....she really knocks this one out of the park), astounding cinematography, and those eye-popping colors! There is one scene in the film that will stick with me for the rest of my life.....Catherine at the station looking into the frame as the train carrying her lover pulls away from her; the viewer sees her from the perspective of the train rapidly leaving her receded and alone on the platform. One of the most amazingly filmed images I have ever seen, simple, powerful, gorgeous, and utterly devastating. Anyone who has seen the movie knows this scene. Combined with Legrand's soaring, achingly lovely score, it is one of those iconic images found in very few films that is capable of elevating camera work and composition into the cinematic stratosphere. Being able to experience moments like that in classic films is a big reason I love movies.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

The PQ on Artificial Eye's blu is not going to win any awards, although it doesn't look bad by any means. Either this one or The Bride Wore Black is my least favorite Truffaut film that I've seen so far. (I've seen 6) That isn't to say that they weren't enjoyable on some level, its just that I felt The Woman Next Door could have been better.

Pedro had mentioned that Criterion has the U.S. distribution rights to all but one of the Artificial Eye titles that were released in the UK. Even with that being said, some of those titles, I would presume, are pretty far down the list of films to be released.

I, too, am holding out for the Doinel box from Criterion, though.

For me, "could have been better" applies to several Truffaut movies. I haven't watched any of the Artificial Eye BDs just yet, but I did see pretty much all of the ones I hadn't seen before via TCM a year or so ago (talk about not winning any PQ awards!).

My least favorite of those was Such A Gorgeous Girl Like Me, and it may actually be my least favorite of his all in all (but could have been maybe I just wasn't in the right mood). Besides The Woman Next Door, along with some others, I'm a pretty big fan of Love On The Run from the Doinel box, one that I often see disparaged. So, seems everybody has their peculiarities when it comes to Truffaut likes and dislikes. (And Bride Wore Black is one I'm not all that fond of either, but it was okay on second viewing, first viewing being 30 years prior.)

[fdm]

Originally Posted by rdandura

Will they ever release the artwork for Moonrise Kingdom? I mean I already have the Universal BD, I'm just curious.

Pretty safe bet that they will.

[pedromvu]

So with UHD specs finalized, and titles and players supposedly coming this Christmas do you think Criterion will be making their move anytime soon?, seeing that they already have many titles restored in 4K.

I was looking at some interesting dates from when the change to blu-ray happened:

June 20 2006: Apparently the first batch of blu ray released by Sony.
February 18 2008: End of war of the formats, with Toshiba announcing they would stop developing of HD DVD players.
May 7 2008: Criterion announcement that they would start releasing blu-rays.
December 16 2008: First batch of Criterion blu-rays released.

I don't plan to upgrade anytime soon, but was thinking that if the change is made, hopefully they can go with combo packs (blu-ray + UHD blu ray) from the start to avoid any complains of price hikes.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

So with UHD specs finalized, and titles and players supposedly coming this Christmas do you think Criterion will be making their move anytime soon?, seeing that they already have many titles restored in 4K.

I was looking at some interesting dates from when the change to blu-ray happened:

June 20 2006: Apparently the first batch of blu ray released by Sony.
February 18 2008: End of war of the formats, with Toshiba announcing they would stop developing of HD DVD players.
May 7 2008: Criterion announcement that they would start releasing blu-rays.
December 16 2008: First batch of Criterion blu-rays released.

I don't plan to upgrade anytime soon, but was thinking that if the change is made, hopefully they can go with combo packs (blu-ray + UHD blu ray) from the start to avoid any complains of price hikes.

No. UHD will be reserved for the biggest titles (and probably bigger blockbuster films) for a while. No one is going to rush out to buy a 4K UHD of Ivan's Childhood, not to mention a lot of what Criterion releases were 2K restorations to begin with. I will safely guess that they won't be jumping into UHD anytime soon, if at all - and not to mention the replication - if different than blu - will be limited for a while unless the format kicks off. I don't see combo packs with regular blu and 4K blu costing the same as just a regular blu or blu/DVD.

[gr451]

Originally Posted by jmclick

I got mine today, and now I hope you will find a copy for yourself.

Thanks still looking...

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

So with UHD specs finalized, and titles and players supposedly coming this Christmas do you think Criterion will be making their move anytime soon?, seeing that they already have many titles restored in 4K.

Unlikely soon, and I doubt if for several years they don't make a move in that direction. They can't seem to get a good hang of managing the DVD and BD audiences (considering their back-and-forth on dual format), adding a third format would be just additional hassle for them with benefit for a far smaller percentage of their already niche clientele (the ones that have huge screens and UHD players).

[CinemaBlu]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

No. UHD will be reserved for the biggest titles (and probably bigger blockbuster films) for a while. No one is going to rush out to buy a 4K UHD of Ivan's Childhood, not to mention a lot of what Criterion releases were 2K restorations to begin with. I will safely guess that they won't be jumping into UHD anytime soon, if at all - and not to mention the replication - if different than blu - will be limited for a while unless the format kicks off. I don't see combo packs with regular blu and 4K blu costing the same as just a regular blu or blu/DVD.

I don't think so. UHD and Criterion share a huge part of their demographic. And I think dual format should be more successful if its BD/UHD-BD rather than DVD/BD.

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by CinemaBlu

I don't think so. UHD and Criterion share a huge part of their demographic. And I think dual format should be more successful if its BD/UHD-BD rather than DVD/BD.

You'd think, but they have said themselves that the DVDs sell considerably better than the BDs.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by demonknight

You'd think, but they have said themselves that the DVDs sell considerably better than the BDs.

That's not quite right, based on what Criterion said when they announced the move to dual-format.

"Today, something like 60 percent of the discs we sell are Blu-rays, 40 percent DVDs."

http://www.criterion.com/current/pos...hy-dual-format

From the same blog, this ought to put some of the doom-mongering to rest too (re-speculation over what the fewer booklets and digipacks mean regarding their financial state).

"The good news is that the growth of Blu-ray has more than made up for the slide in DVD, and our overall audience is growing."

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by CinemaBlu

I don't think so. UHD and Criterion share a huge part of their demographic. And I think dual format should be more successful if its BD/UHD-BD rather than DVD/BD.

I'm not sure about UHD dual-packs (I dread to think how this would be reflected in price) but I do think that Criterion will be one of the first to dip their toes in to the water with the next format. I reckon they'd have been quicker in getting involved with Blu-ray were it not for the format wars.

UHD could be great for Criterion. It's set to be even bigger a niche format than Blu-ray, which *should* mean that they have access to an even greater range of titles than they do at the moment (think, their laserdisc days) as the studios concentrate on blockbusters and streaming. The fact that they've been restoring and mastering a wide range of their discs in 4K for a year or so now would suggest that they're thinking with the future in mind.

[Mr. Thomsen]

I wonder whether UHD will be as niche as laserdisc was, and what that will mean for the prices.

I mean, look at all the constant *****ing and moaning about prices in threads about limited edition releases from small labels. I suspect we will much more of this with UHD and possible with even higher prices.

That said, Criterion have never really been strong early adopters, so I wouldn't expect them to do UHD the first couple of years.

[PowellPressburger]

Mr Thomsen, I agree with all that you've said. UHD will be very niche and the movies will be far and few between. I would almost bet the pricing will be expensive esp. for those who want the highest quality possible and don't ever want to pay for it.

I don't expect Criterion to rush into UHD either. Blu with Criterion seemed to take forever and even then they didn't have all their new release titles rolled into their contracts for BLU and many films were only released as DVD.

I won't be jumping on the UHD bandwagon anytime soon. My current plasma still has me thrilled. The fact people complain about BLU pricing and lack of releases UHD isn't going to help at all. IMO UHD will be for select releases and probably would remind me of Laserdisc days. Nothing wrong with that.

[The Great Owl]

I've spent the past two nights revisiting Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas by way of the brilliant new Warner Bros. 25th Anniversary Blu-ray.

François Truffaut's Jules and Jim was reportedly a big influence on Scorsese when he was filming Goodfellas, and one can see the influence in the many freeze frame shots, the abrupt cuts, and the voice-over narration.

I'll have to watch the two films back-to-back one day. That sounds like a fun double-feature anyway.

[SlickDamian]

Originally Posted by octagon

I'm a little late to this party but add me to the Revanche amen corner.

It was one of my early BD purchases and in a lot of ways I've been chasing that same high ever since. I honestly think I'd be a lot less prone to blind buying if it weren't for some notable successes early on and Revanche was definitely one of them.

I feel the exact same way. When I blind buy a Criterion, I subconsciously compare it to my experiences with Revanche and Paris, Texas. Fortunately I've been lucky; Fish Tank, Still Walking, Pale Flower, The Big Chill, George Washington, Riot In Cell Block 11, and Fat Girl are just some of the very satisfying blind buys that I've purchased since.

[Snicket]

Criterion just teased a release of My Own Private Idaho on their Instagram.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Snicket

Criterion just teased a release of "River" on their Instagram.

My Own Private Idaho

[Snicket]

Originally Posted by iScottie

My Own Private Idaho

Haha, fixed. I could only see the comments.