The Criterion Collection

[ultlife2013]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

yeah I have never really considered Criterions as expensive?



I though £25 for a bluray was pretty decent, especially for the quality, supplements, booklets, and the artwork.

Especially during the sale when so many people are getting them for 10-15 dollars easily.

[Ausjdm]

I saw George Washington last night I was alittle sleepy so re-tried this morning... holy crap I just didn't get it..!? Was there any plot at all? Felt like bad Malick and I love artsy movies. Tree of life, days of heaven it was not. I guess not all blind buys pan out sorry guys

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by Ausjdm

I saw George Washington last night I was alittle sleepy so re-tried this morning... holy crap I just didn't get it..!? Was there any plot at all? Felt like bad Malick and I love artsy movies. Tree of life, days of heaven it was not. I guess not all blind buys pan out sorry guys

Try a second viewing when you are in mood and not tired and let us know what you think? Film change when you aint in mood or when you are tired also same goes for multiple viewings...

Personally I loved it

[Ausjdm]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Try a second viewing when you are in mood and not tired and let us know what you think? Film change when you aint in mood or when you are tired also same goes for multiple viewings...

Personally I loved it

I liked the short films on there more lol. But I'll retry it In the future.
A Day With the Boys was a awesome bonus though!

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by Ausjdm

I liked the short films on there more lol. But I'll retry it In the future.
A Day With the Boys was a awesome bonus though!

Ive not watched the supplements yet >.<

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by unkie fester

How is it I picked up Benjamin Button for $6 used but every other Criterion is ass expensive

i dont know whats "ass expensive" for you. but you are able to get some criterions for 14,99$ and most of them for 19,99$ in B&N sales. and thats without using vouchers and member discount if you are in U.S.

that sounds pretty good to me.


some people happy pay 30-40$ for a steelbook but 15$ for a criterion is expensive?
i would be glad if by some miracle criterion could/would offer B&N prices in the EU as well

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

yeah I have never really considered Criterions as expensive?

I though £25 for a bluray was pretty decent, especially for the quality, supplements, booklets, and the artwork.

I regularly spend £25 ($42) on Criterion discs, but lets be honest, that is *relatively* expensive. 1 Criterion = 2 MoC discs, for those of us in the UK (while an MoC disc delivered to the US is less than $19 for a new release ordered direct).

I don't mind that they cost more, but it's very much a premium purchase when compared to the rest of my home video buys.

[WalterNeff]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

I regularly spend £25 ($42) on Criterion discs, but lets be honest, that is *relatively* expensive. 1 Criterion = 2 MoC discs, for those of us in the UK (while an MoC disc delivered to the US is less than $19 for a new release ordered direct).

I don't mind that they cost more, but it's very much a premium purchase when compared to the rest of my home video buys.

Are there any alternative brands/distributors in the UK/Europe?

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by WalterNeff

Are there any alternative brands/distributors in the UK/Europe?

To Criterion? Masters of Cinema, Arrow, and BFI are the big ones. Then Studio Canal and Artificial Eye, but the latter's focus is largely on contemporary world cinema, though they've put together some great boxsets and individual releases of classics.

[WalterNeff]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

To Criterion? Masters of Cinema, Arrow, and BFI are the big ones. Then Studio Canal and Artificial Eye, but the latter's focus is largely on contemporary world cinema, though they've put together some great boxsets and individual releases of classics.

Are they cheaper than criterion(in the UK at least). If so I'm not seeing the point of buying criterion(if you live in the UK or Europe).

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by WalterNeff

Are they cheaper than criterion(in the UK at least). If so I'm not seeing the point of buying criterion(if you live in the UK or Europe).

Yes, they are cheaper. A new Masters Of Cinema release is £10-12 when bought direct from the company, vs. £22-24 for a criterion. The reason I buy Criterion is based on the specific title. I buy every MoC title as a matter of habit, but that's obviously not going to stop me buying something like The Big Chill or the Demy set, which MoC haven't released.

[minister_x]

Also affected by other factors: the Criterion may have better A/V, better transfer, better extras, etc. More often than not, I prefer the style/layout/presentation of the Criterions. It doesn't help that I still find the new bbfc (ratings) logos an incredibly ugly eyesore. (The pre-2002 ones were so much better.) Worse than that, though, are releases littered with quotes over the cover, of which the otherwise-excellent Artificial Eye has been guilty. Premium pricing also means I'm less likely to impulse-buy, and only go for ones I know I'll want to re-watch.

[ultlife2013]

Now 25 dollars is considered premium pricing. How spoiled we have become with cheap bluray releases. Also note that this isn't a thread designed for complaining about criterion prices.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by ultlife2013

Now 25 dollars is considered premium pricing. How spoiled we have become with cheap bluray releases. Also more that this isn't a thread designed for complaining about criterion prices.

I'm not sure how discussing = complaining, especially having already said that I'm happy paying that. And it's £25, which is $42.

[ultlife2013]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

I'm not sure how discussing = complaining, especially having already said that I'm happy paying that. And it's £25, which is $42.

Does Barnes and Noble ship to your country? Or what about Criterion.com?

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

To Criterion? Masters of Cinema, Arrow, and BFI are the big ones. Then Studio Canal and Artificial Eye, but the latter's focus is largely on contemporary world cinema, though they've put together some great boxsets and individual releases of classics.

AE has a nice Tarkovsky boxset, albeit only DVD atm - wish they;d upgrade it to bluray as its a very nice set I got all his films for £30 - so cheap!



http://www.artificial-eye.com/film.p...=true&wm=false

Would be nice to see Criterions take on this - all his films together

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by ultlife2013

Does Barnes and Noble ship to your country? Or what about Criterion.com?

B&N do, but they're not worth the hassle that comes with customs, delayed shipments etc. I used to use them often but got stung one too many times. Criterion.com doesn't ship outside of North America.

Just to reiterate, I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM paying what I pay for a Criterion release. Out of July's releases alone I've spent £79 on Demy, and £22 each on Pickpocket, Scanners and The Big Chill, all of which arrived in the UK undamaged and before their US release dates.

I'm not complaining about how much they cost, I am simply not in denial about the fact that they are more expensive than other Blu-rays.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

B&N do, but they're not worth the hassle that comes with customs, delayed shipments etc. I used to use them often but got stung one too many times. Criterion.com doesn't ship outside of North America.

Just to reiterate, I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM paying what I pay for a Criterion release. Out of July's releases alone I've spent £79 on Demy, and £22 each on Pickpocket, Scanners and The Big Chill, all of which arrived in the UK undamaged and before their US release dates.

I'm not complaining about how much they cost, I am simply not in denial about the fact that they are more expensive than other Blu-rays.

Yes they cost more but you are getting more for your money, Criterion have high end designers creating the artwork, they go out and create new supplements/interviews etc, or restore other supplements, they create incredible PQ and AQ and package them with so much care and thought.

Most standard DVD don't include all that and some you onyx get the trailer as a supplement, and they use the artwork from the film campaign as its available and cheaper for them.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Yes they cost more but you are getting more for your money, Criterion have high end designers creating the artwork, they go out and create new supplements/interviews etc, or restore other supplements, they create incredible PQ and AQ and package them with so much care and thought.

Most standard DVD don't include all that and some you onyx get the trailer as a supplement, and they use the artwork from the film campaign as its available and cheaper for them.

You're not saying anything that I don't agree with/am aware of.

That being said, throughout the course of this particular discussion the comparison has been between Criterion and the UK's equivalent boutique labels. Companies such as Masters Of Cinema, Artificial Eye, Arrow are of a similar standard to Criterion in terms of PQ/AQ, extras and original artwork (tho admittedly, AE do fall down on the latter points, but their AV standards are generally very high).

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

You're not saying anything that I don't agree with/am aware of.

That being said, throughout the course of this particular discussion the comparison has been between Criterion and the UK's equivalent boutique labels. Companies such as Masters Of Cinema, Artificial Eye, Arrow are of a similar standard to Criterion in terms of PQ/AQ, extras and original artwork (tho admittedly, AE do fall down on the latter points, but their AV standards are generally very high).

Ah fair enough, but tbh with MoC they probably need to up prices to upgrade that website it's a mess lol!

But yeah not sure with UK ones, MoC artwork looks quite similar throughout so not sure if they have in-house designers as opposed to hiring external designers? Also same goes for their cases, they have same style case as regular Blurays so would that make them cheaper? whereas Criterion does get a lot of custom cases etc?

Not too sure on UK companies as I haven't really explored them much lol