The Criterion Collection

[Illy Scorsese]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Posted by DWK on CF. Thought this was an interesting observation:

No, but I noticed the past few announcements that some of the two-disc sets that have been upgraded to Blu lose the "SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:" description from the Disc Features section. Both Ikiru and À nos amours have no mention of being a two-disc set under their Disc Features, so I figured I'd guess they are being upgraded.

He's speaking of Ikiru

"Ikiru" would be FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!!

[stevezissou]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

Most people bash Wes Anderson films. I'm the the biggest fan but I was wishing for Life Aquatic first, but Rushmore is fine.

Steve Zissou concurs with your post.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Illy Scorsese

"Ikiru" would be FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!!

Agreed! I never know if I must cry or be happy with this movie, such a fantastic story and well done.

[AlbinoPriest]

Originally Posted by Illy Scorsese

"Ikiru" would be FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!!

Absolutely. Not expecting it, but I got my fingers crossed.

[zeroman987]

Blu-Ray of Island of Lost Souls 19.99 again on Barnes and Noble website. Blu-Ray of Battle of Algiers at 24.99. Nothing else is discounted though.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Pat, thanks for stating that, as it seems that most people in this thread cannot understand this concept.

I kind of fall in the middle of all of this...

I understand that this is a business and each and every company has its own set of priorities and budget to work within...this is affected by supply and demand, but also by the personal preferences of those making the final decisions.

I also like some of Wes's films and Rushmore is one of them...but also don't like to see "lost classics" (you fill in the blank) get delayed/postponed/cancelled/never considered, due to a title that will likely get released anyway at some point in the near future.

Just look at companies like Eureka!/Masters of Cinema and BFI. Criterion has YET to release ANY Ozu on blu-ray, but BFI has (7) releases with (14) films out already and plans to release the entire 33 film catalogue of his films. Masters of Cinema continue to release US/Japanese titles that don't/didn't seem destined for release on either DVD and/or BD (the list of said titles is endless). The surprising thing is, that these are much smaller companies than Criterion, ergo, a much smaller budget.

This is certainly a personal perspective...but I think that there are still a number of older films that are in GREAT need of restoration and deserve to be first in line for restoration/release. BFI did this with "The Great White Silence", which I consider to be a very important film. Kino is releasing Eisenstein's "Strike" in a couple of weeks and is another important film...bravo Kino!

Hey...Criterion released "Stagecoach", otherwise, this might have stayed a lower quality DVD for a while/forever.

SOMEONE also mentioned about people "not caring about DVDs any more". NOT TRUE...it was a thought sometime back and I have moved 180 degrees from that thinking. Both BFI and MoC released Naruse DVD boxsets...other than (1) of these films getting a Criterion release...it's unlikely that they will ever see a BD release by ANY company. Now alas...due to the arson in the UK...they have become officially OOP. Hope you got your while they were around.

With me, it's all about film preservation...and CC, Kino, Eureka!/MoC, and BFI are the major cardholders with the capability of taking on these projects...

[EddieLarkin]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Posted by DWK on CF. Thought this was an interesting observation:

No, but I noticed the past few announcements that some of the two-disc sets that have been upgraded to Blu lose the "SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:" description from the Disc Features section. Both Ikiru and À nos amours have no mention of being a two-disc set under their Disc Features, so I figured I'd guess they are being upgraded.

He's speaking of Ikiru

Richard III is the same

[poke smot]

am i missing something in regards to subtitles on english lang titles. cant seem to find them for kiss me deadly and red shoes. thanks in advance.

[easyblu]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Agreed! I never know if I must cry or be happy with this movie, such a fantastic story and well done.

I think I would cry tears of happiness if it was announced, and then cry tears of sadness while watching it again. Hope it is announced as well.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by JHas

I watched Soderbergh's version a few years back and absolutely hated it. I am a huge Tarkovsky fan, so maybe it was some partality on my part, but I just couldn't enjoy it, it felt like everything was extremely dumbed down, plus it has Jeremy Davies someone that may take the title as worst actor in the past 20 years.

I also consider myself a huge Tarkovsky fan, but I think Solaris is one of his weaker films. I prefer Soderbergh's version.

I also think Jeremy Davies was excellent in the film (and liked his performances in the TV shows Lost and Justified as well).

I was just thinking that what I'd like to see is Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice on Blu-ray, and son of a bitca if Kino didn't just release it about a month ago.

What Criterion should give the Blu treatment is Andrei Rublev.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Agreed! I never know if I must cry or be happy with this movie, such a fantastic story and well done.

Takashi Shimura is kind of like Kurosawa's Chishu Ryu...he dates way back with Kurosawa and would typically show up in most of his films.

Ryu was a decent actor...but THIS film proved to me that Shimura was the better actor. He and Mifune got me to leave my Ozu/Naruse comfort zone and to check out more of Kurosawa's post WWII/non-Samurai films.

[Cutthechord]

Rushmore page on the Criterion site has been slightly updated. It now says THE DIRECTOR'S CUT and high def transfer on the special features page. Dir cut of Rushmore? It was already perfect, but I'll take more.

[ImportFanatic]

Originally Posted by Illy Scorsese

"Ikiru" would be FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!!

OMG now I'm afraid I'm going to be disappointed if this doesn't materialize in today's announcement!

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

The way I look at Criterion releases, I prefer that they would concentrate more on things that really have not much chance of being release by the major studios. I know we can consider Kurosawa as main stream in here but when you stop and think about it, would another company like WB or Paramount would ever go and try to get the rights for releases of his movies? I doubt it!

Funny you should mention that. Warner actually released Akira Kurosawa's Dreams on LD and DVD.

I think the beef some have over Anderson and others is that since they are already well popular and are receiving releases already because of their following from major studios it take's away some chances of getting something else from Criterion. I don't go to mad over since I can't do much to tell Criterion how they should run the business but I understand some of the anger it can create.

Shrug. Criterion has been getting grief for some of its more "commercial" choices since way back in the laserdisc days. I always figured that if releasing Armageddon made them enough money to restore The Passion of Joan of Arc, more power to 'em.

The other thing to consider is that, generally speaking, Criterion will end up doing a much better package than the major studios on such films. Take a look at the Criterion editions (LD and DVD) of Brazil: I doubt that Universal would do anywhere near as spectacular a job. Some of Criterion's LDs are still worth keeping around because they threw in some great extras that the majors didn't put in their subsequent LD and/or DVD editions.

Do I wish Criterion would forego things like the Wes Andersons in favor of some other foreign films? Sure. But I can't honestly say it bothers me any more than any of the major studios spending time on their crappy films while great back catalog films are languishing.

Criterion DVDs I'd like to see get the Blu treatment (and they might still have the rights to):

Andrei Rublev
Ivan's Childhood
Grand Illusion
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Element of Crime
Europa
Brazil
Kwaidan
The Human Condition
Ugetsu
My Man Godfrey
Sullivan's Travels
The Last Wave
Picnic at Hanging Rock
La Strada
The Tin Drum
Gate of Flesh
The Story of a Prostitute
Drunken Angel
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Hobson's Choice

[Illy Scorsese]

Originally Posted by ImportFanatic

OMG now I'm afraid I'm going to be disappointed if this doesn't materialize in today's announcement!

Exactly!

Now if "Ikiru" isn't announced it'll be a major bummer for me personally... I've already attached myself to the idea that it's coming. lol

[Illy Scorsese]

From Criterion Forum:

I just checked the archived view of Criterion's site from a year ago, and it looks like there wasn't any specification of Ikiru as a double disc set then, either

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by Illy Scorsese

From Criterion Forum:

Archived view isn't reliable. Often when the archived page doesn't load it loads the page in present form.

[Illy Scorsese]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Archived view isn't reliable. Often when the archived page doesn't load it loads the page in present form.

[broganreynik]

From Amazon's Facebook:

Cinephiles and film geeks! Don't miss out on an awesome Criterion event starting tomorrow, 8/16 at 6am. We'll be featuring four 4-hour lightning deals of Criterion favorites, just in time for the new Kubrick release, "The Killing".

Sucks for those of us who pre-ordered it.

[ShellOilJunior]

The particular page for Ikiru doesn't show in the wayback listing. Usually they archive http://www.criterion.com and a few pages off of that. I doubt all the film listings are archived.