The Criterion Collection

[Egbert Souse]

If I had an unlimited budget and bought everything I wanted from Criterion this year, that would be 34 releases (only have picked up six so far). I'm already hoping to split up a dozen of those between the flash sale and B&N. Between those, Warner Archive, Kino Lorber, Shout, and everyone else, I can't watch discs fast enough to keep up!

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by BoydR12

I understand you’re very micro focused on one small niche so I appreciate your opinion. HOWEVER, I feel this year from Criterion has been absolutely un-f*****g-real. No even counting 4K upgrades the following come to mind:

- After Hours 4K
- Mean Streets 4K
- Inland Empire
- Moonage Daydream 4K
- The Trial 4K
- The Others 4K
- Baron Munchausen 4K
- One False Move 4K
- Pasolini box set
- Thelma and Louise 4K
- The Europe Trilogy
- Todd Browning set
- The Ranown Westerns 4K

Not to mention all of the incredible upgrades we got this year. What an incredible year!!

Unfortunately, until the Dec announcements, upgrading their dvd titles wasn’t really a thing.

[latehong]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Now that we know their entire line up for 2023, I'm still pretty ho hum about it, mainly due to the lack of 0 new to HD Japanese titles and a ton of upgrades to 4K that already had either really good Blu-rays or 4K already somewhere in the world.

Instead of going on a rant, I'm just going to hope for the best for 2024 and getting some of my most wanted held hostage Criterion titles. I'm thinking we'll at least get Pat Garrett or The Roaring 20's.

♬ Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne ♬

[Show spoiler]
simple repackage/reissue (e.g. Red River) and "Janus Contemporaries" excluded

Jan


Feb


Mar


Apr


May


Jun


Jul


Aug


Sep


Oct


Nov


Dec

5 Must-Buys:
- After Hours 4K
- Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema
- Tod Browning's Sideshow Shockers
- The Last Picture Show 4K (mainly for its bonus feature, Texasville)
- Blast of Silence


Overall, I also think it's a somewhat underwhelming year, mainly because of so many 'good but not great and sometimes unnecessary or perhaps a little too late' releases, for example:

Imitation of Life: Universal's Imitation of Life: 2-Movie Collection has been available for the last 8 years. CC lost the Douglas Sirk remake and the PQ is more or less the same.

Romeo and Juliet: It has been available for 10 years in the UK and other countries. It was released even in South Korea last year, using the same new 4K restoration Criterion used.

Last Hurrah for Chivalry: Eureka released it together with John Woo's other wuxia movie Hand of Death (Arrow released it this year in the US) four years ago.

Three Colors 4K: Controversial color correction (not Criterion's fault, to be fair).

Time Bandits 4K: Arrow released it in the UK this year and their encoding is better.

The Servant 4K: The UK Studio Canal 4K with Dolby Vision and HDR10 has been available for 2 years, yet Criterion released it only on Blu-ray.

The Trial 4K: Again, the UK Studio Canal 4K with Dolby Vision and HDR10 has been available for a year, yet Criterion released it only in SDR.

Don't Look Now 4K & Videodrome 4K: Again, Studio Canal and Arrow did them first (and probably with better encoding from Fidelity in Motion).

La Cérémonie: has been available for 11 years in the UK and the upcoming CC release doesn't look like a significant upgrade.

And more 4Ks without HDR: The Seventh Seal, Triangle of Sadness, Wings of Desire, Branded to Kill, Rules of the Game, Moonage Daydream, The Others

And while I was happy with the announcements of Targets and Mean Streets at first, now I'm waiting for the upcoming UK BFI (Targets) and Second Sight (Mean Streets) releases because quality-wise, they are more reliable labels these days.


Mind you, I'm not saying these Criterion releases are bad per se. If you live in the US and only buy the US releases, fine. But as someone who went region-free ages ago and has been aware of releases and labels outside the US for years, almost every time Criterion announced their line-up, I could not help but think, 'Is that really necessary?', 'Aren't you guys too late?', 'Hmm, better wait for a possible UK release', etc.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by latehong

[i]


Mind you, I'm not saying these Criterion releases are bad per se. If you live in the US and only buy the US releases, fine. But as someone who went region-free ages ago and has been aware of releases and labels outside the US for years, almost every time Criterion announced their line-up, I could not help but think, 'Is that really unnecessary?', 'Aren't you guys too late?', 'Hmm, better wait for a possible UK release', etc.

Looking at the list you posted, I've only bought six Criterion releases this year, which is unheard of for myself as I usually have much more. There are still three I'll be getting in the year, but for me personally this was probably the worst year for myself in relation to Criterion and I've been buying Criterions since around 2000. Thankfully so many other labels are releasing some really good stuff, but man, knowing all the titles Criterion has, it is a bit depressing how many of those titles will never get a Blu-ray.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio 4K UHD

https://www.criterion.com/films/3382...oros-pinocchio

[Show spoiler]

No feature commentary from GDT? Boo, what a paltry set of extras

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Looking at the list you posted, I've only bought six Criterion releases this year, which is unheard of for myself as I usually have much more.

I also bought the fewest Criterion new releases in the past year than I ever did before, but my import budget blew up. I've just come to put my faith in better editions or more interesting to me titles elsewhere nowadays. I didn't even make a single purchase in any of the Criterion 50% sales this year, which I think has never happened before.

Originally Posted by latehong

Mind you, I'm not saying these Criterion releases are bad per se. If you live in the US and only buy the US releases, fine. But as someone who went region-free ages ago and has been aware of releases and labels outside the US for years, almost every time Criterion announced their line-up, I could not help but think, 'Is that really unnecessary?', 'Aren't you guys too late?', 'Hmm, better wait for a possible UK release', etc.

That's just it. I no longer consider Criterion the magic word for the best as I used to do, so instead of waiting and waiting and waiting for something to be announced, I invest in other labels and reward them instead. Back in the day Criterion had a lot less legit competition, but now there are several contenders for the throne and we are all the better for it, though perhaps not our bank accounts.

[Danespina]

Originally Posted by latehong

Overall, I also think it's a somewhat underwhelming year

As a Jackie Chan fan, this is the single greatest year of physical media releases and there’s not a close second. I also love Scorsese so I’ve been quite happy on that front too.

After seeing all my Blu-ray stores close as well as more digital services open, I’ve actually been quite pleased with how relentless the 2023 output has been. Seems like every month there’s close to a dozen titles I’d love to have.

[latehong]

Originally Posted by Danespina

As a Jackie Chan fan, this is the single greatest year of physical media releases and there’s not a close second. I also love Scorsese so I’ve been quite happy on that front too.

After seeing all my Blu-ray stores close as well as more digital services open, I’ve actually been quite pleased with how relentless the 2023 output has been. Seems like every month there’s close to a dozen titles I’d love to have.

I understand the sentiment, but since you quoted and twisted what I said...

You quoted me as if I said it's a disappointing year for physical media releases in general. No, this is The Criterion Collection thread and what I said was this year's Criterion line-up is somewhat underwhelming.

And my argument remains the same, even from a Jackie Chan fan's point of view.

As an extension of what I said earlier, and also as another big Jackie Chan fan, I have already been excited about and bought these wonderful JC releases from 88 Films and Eureka since 2018...

[Show spoiler]
2018:


2019:


2020:


2021:


2022:


2023:

So when Criterion announced Jackie Chan: Emergence of a Superstar 6-film set this year, four long years after their Police Story/Police Story 2 set, again, I could not help but think, 'Aren't you guys a little late for the game?'

And even if we limit this discussion to the US-only labels, I belive Shout! Factory did much more to Jackie Chan fans than Criterion this year.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by ravenus

No feature commentary from GDT? Boo, what a paltry set of extras

How about that storybook?

[Taylor3978]

Originally Posted by ravenus

No feature commentary from GDT? Boo, what a paltry set of extras

I thought the Coen brothers refusing to talk about their craft put the kibbosh on The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (making that a deal killer never made any sense to me)?

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Taylor3978

I thought the Coen brothers refusing to talk about their craft put the kibbosh on The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (making that a deal killer never made any sense to me)?

Not sure where you heard that from.

[latehong]

Originally Posted by Taylor3978

I thought the Coen brothers refusing to talk about their craft put the kibbosh on The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (making that a deal killer never made any sense to me)?

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Not sure where you heard that from.

Considering that the two actively participated in the Blu-ray releases of Inside Llewyn Davis, Blood Simple and most recently, last year's Miller's Crossing, that sounds rather unlikely.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by latehong

Considering that the two actively participated in the Blu-ray releases of Inside Llewyn Davis, Blood Simple and most recently, last year's Miller's Crossing, that sounds rather unlikely.

Yeah, exactly. Criterion are sitting on a number of titles from Netflix that we actually know about (Mudbound, American Factory, Atlantics, etc..) so it's very possible, if not likely, they have Buster Scruggs as well.

[Kyle15]

New Criterion Closet clip. The master speaks!

Hideo Kojima’s Closet Picks - YouTube

[Darth Marcus]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

New Criterion Closet clip. The master speaks!

Hideo Kojima’s Closet Picks - YouTube

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

New Criterion Closet clip. The master speaks!

Hideo Kojima’s Closet Picks - YouTube

Thank goodness those shelves are made of metal in order to hold all that gear. Solid choices by Kojima

[dvining]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

New Criterion Closet clip. The master speaks!

Hideo Kojima’s Closet Picks - YouTube

Duke should be happy. It's the all Japan show.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

New Criterion Closet clip. The master speaks!

Hideo Kojima’s Closet Picks - YouTube

Very nice selection and the guy has great tastes. (Love his shirt) He already has some of these films, so I'm thinking this was more of just letting people know what's important according to him. A couple of years ago he was asking for help in finding Onibaba and Kwaidan on Blu-ray and he was directed towards the Criterion releases as he didn't know they existed and he ended up buying them.

He's huge Kobayashi fan, so kinda wish he would put some pressure on Criterion to release Samurai Rebellion.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by dvining

Duke should be happy. It's the all Japan show.

You got that right. Wish he had some pull with Criterion as we might actually see some of the titles I've been waiting on to hit Blu-ray.

[Shanghai Express]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Looking at the list you posted, I've only bought six Criterion releases this year, which is unheard of for myself as I usually have much more.

I know the feeling. I'll end the year with only three releases from them. Two were already available on Blu-ray... in North America, no less. One of those was available from Criterion themselves and was just a low-hanging-fruit 4K upgrade. Their classic Hollywood treatments have fallen off a cliff this year. I know you feel the same about the Japanese offerings. Hopefully 2024 sees them back on track for both of us!