The Criterion Collection

[Narcissus]

Originally Posted by nitin

Pretty sure Warner will supply the master and most of what they put out has been from 2k scans of IPs.

Ugh, So WB does the mastering and puts it out under Criterion label?

Then what's the point?

[Saucerful]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

The release really is held back by Cimino's involvement in that way. As great as it is, it feels incomplete and to get the full story you really have to do your own digging. Luckily one of the more obvious bonus features they could have included is available free on Youtube -

Yeah, thanks for this as well. I'll be checking it out later tonight.

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I, personally, don't care about UA's money. Kudos to Cimino for trying to make the film that matched his artistic ambition. I've read the production history and I do find it very interesting, but when I put the film on, the end result is what I see now.

I don't care about UA's money either in the sense that I'm glad Cimino got to make the film he wanted. But, like you say, I find the production history interesting. It would have been nice for them to have shed some light on that. I can understand why they didn't, as others have mentioned, since they wanted Cimino's involvement. I'm not going to make my decision about whether or not I like the film based on what critics were saying in 1980, I'm just saying that it would have rounded out the supplemental features which, as they stand, feel a little one-sided.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by Narcissus

Ugh, So WB does the mastering and puts it out under Criterion label?

Then what's the point?

Is that unusual? Doesn't the owner of the film usually provide the master to Criterion when they license the film?

[dwk]

Originally Posted by nitin

Pretty sure Warner will supply the master and most of what they put out has been from 2k scans of IPs.

Not true. To date, Criterion's Lee Kline or Maria Palazzola have, in some way, been involved in every WB master except The Emigrants and The New Land:

277 My Own Private Idaho:
Transfer supervisor: Lee Kline.
Colorist: Russell Smith/Criterion, New York

651 Badlands:
Transfer supervisor: Emmanuel Lubezki, Maria Palazzola.
Colorist: Brian McMahan/Technicolor, Los Angeles.

769 Day for Night:
Transfer supervisors: Pierre-William Glenn, Lee Kline.
Colorist: Gregg Garvin/Modern VideoFilm, Burbank, CA.

796 The Emigrants and 797 The New Land:
Restoration supervisor: Mats Forsberg/Chimney Group, Stockholm.
Transfer supervisor: Peter Bengtsson.
Colorist: Thomas Barkenas/Nordisk Film Post Production, Stockholm.

807 Barcelona:
Transfer supervisors: Lee Kline, Whit Stillman, John Thomas.
Colorist: Jason Crump/Metropolis Post, New York.

823 The In-Laws:
Film scanning: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging, Burbank, CA.
Colorist: Lee Kline.

826 The New World:
Transfer supervisors: Terrence Malick, Emmanuel Lubezki, Lee Kline.
Colorist: Bryan McMahan/Modern VideoFilm, Burbank, CA.

833 Cat People
Transfer supervisor and colorist: Lee Kline.
Scanning: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging, Burbank, CA

[MifuneFan]

His point still stands that it's very likely Warner's decsion to scan many of them at 2K rather than 4K

[Narcissus]

I was under the impression, maybe this is totally wrong, that Criterion did their own work. Assuming that is true, then putting out other studios remasters under the Criterion label is really a slippery slope. More so since they are not designating who did the work.

[The Great Owl]

I'll double-post my review from the Movies forum, since it's Criterion-related to an extent. This is probably what most of you are expecting out of this film. Really good, but not great...

The Magnificent Seven is a remake of the 1960 John Sturges western, which was, in turn, a remake of the 1954 Akira Kurosawa film, Seven Samurai. This new movie lacks the depth and character development of its predecessors, but you're still in the right place if you are looking for a fast-moving action story with some brilliantly staged gunfights. Denzel Washington has the most memorable presence here in another of his collaborations with Antoine Fuqua, who directed Training Day (2001) and The Equalizer (2014). I also enjoyed watching Peter Sarsgaard as a sadistic land baron whose terror reign over a mining valley calls for the hiring of the title characters. Ethan Hawke, Byung-hun Lee, Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Martin Sensmeier are all likable in their roles. One should not become too attached to any of the characters, though, because The Magnificent Seven, like the earlier versions of the tale, is rugged and merciless once the battle begins, and, especially, in this case, once the Gatling gun starts firing. I'll give this one a thumbs up for the action, even if Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and the 1960 Sturges film are the ones that I'll continue to pull off of my shelf in the future when I want to revisit this story.

[theater dreamer]

I love Frances McDormand, too. If an Academy Award winning actress can truly be considered under appreciated, she's it. I need to see more of her work. Blood Simple will make for an interesting addition to my collection.

I would really love to see her on the stage.

Originally Posted by tisdivine

Being born and raised in Miami and a huge FishFan I am in total disbelief. Fernandez was an amazing pitcher and a truly all around good guy. Such a tragic shame.

I just finished up Blood Simple tonight. The film was just as amazing as it always is and the extras are pretty spectacular. The hour and ten minute discussion with the Coen's and another guy who worked on the film (I cant remember his name) was really insightful. They actually watch the film with you and tell behind the scenes facts and stories.

Plus the Francis McDormand interview is so great. I just love her to death. Honestly.

My only complaint is where is the Dan Hedaya interview? That guy is great in everything.

[ClaireEllison]

Either I am way too young or way too uncultured but...I haven't seen a 1 of those movies on that list! Personally my ranking so far of the ones I have is (from most favorite down):

#64 The Third Man
#304 The Man Who Fell to Earth
#453 Chungking Express

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Narcissus

I was under the impression, maybe this is totally wrong, that Criterion did their own work. Assuming that is true, then putting out other studios remasters under the Criterion label is really a slippery slope. More so since they are not designating who did the work.

They do a lot of their own work but they don't always start completely from scratch and do their own scans. They'll do cleanup (sometimes frame-by-frame) and they'll sometimes do color-grading in house but they don't always do the actual scanning.

And they're usually pretty open about where everything comes from. The booklets (or I guess foldouts now, sometimes) usually spend a paragraph or three talking about the genesis of the transfers.

Sometimes we have to read between the lines but the truth is usually out there. For instance, they don't often say 'Sony did this transfer' but when you see Grover Crisp in the credits it's pretty easy to connect the dots.

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

I love Frances McDormand, too. If an Academy Award winning actress can truly be considered under appreciated, she's it. I need to see more of her work. Blood Simple will make for an interesting addition to my collection.

I would really love to see her on the stage.

Do you have the TT release of Mississippi Burning? One of my favourite films and the first time I saw her in anything. A great performance.

[pedromvu]

I don't think there is anything slippery about the job Criterion does, they are home distributors, that they have directly worked in some of the films with in house remastering like in The Apu Trilogy doesn't mean that is the only way they work.

From what I gather they have the tools to do part of the restorations and minor adjustments to masters, but I think a lot of the times their job is more on everything involved with producing supplements or getting the proper licenses to be able to distribute a film, on complicated projects this could also extend to finding the best sources of a particular title.

Most of the time though, the masters already exists, and their work can range from nothing to be done, to further cleaning or color grading or contrast adjustments.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by octagon

They do a lot of their own work but they don't always start completely from scratch and do their own scans. They'll do cleanup (sometimes frame-by-frame) and they'll sometimes do color-grading in house but they don't always do the actual scanning.

And they're usually pretty open about where everything comes from. The booklets (or I guess foldouts now, sometimes) usually spend a paragraph or three talking about the genesis of the transfers.

Sometimes we have to read between the lines but the truth is usually out there. For instance, they don't often say 'Sony did this transfer' but when you see Grover Crisp in the credits it's pretty easy to connect the dots.

Speaking of which, I don't really know a lot about all the technical ins and outs of these processes. Can you recommend a good documentary, or even book that would make some of this stuff clear to someone like me?

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Speaking of which, I don't really know a lot about all the technical ins and outs of these processes. Can you recommend a good documentary, or even book that would make some of this stuff clear to someone like me?

Only five minutes long, but this may be of interest:

https://www.criterion.com/current/po...-knew-too-much

[octagon]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Speaking of which, I don't really know a lot about all the technical ins and outs of these processes. Can you recommend a good documentary, or even book that would make some of this stuff clear to someone like me?

I wish I could because it's a pretty interesting topic. But alas, most of what (I think) I know I've picked up from restoration featurettes on various discs and discussions here.

[greekak229]

Did you guys know that Boyhood took twelve years to make?

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

I love Frances McDormand, too. If an Academy Award winning actress can truly be considered under appreciated, she's it. I need to see more of her work. Blood Simple will make for an interesting addition to my collection.

I would really love to see her on the stage.

In addition to agreeing 100% with Reddington on her fantastic work in Mississippi Burning (she absolutely deserved her Oscar nomination, and I was rooting for her to win), allow me to recommend her performance in Laurel Canyon. Christian Bale plays her straight-laced son who comes to visit her in LA (she's a free-wheeling record producer), Kate Beckinsale plays Bale's even more straight-laced fiancée, and their two lives get quite a bit less straight-laced after they get there.

It's not a great film, but it's certainly watchable, and McDormand's character is by far the most interesting and compelling one in the film. You wind up wishing the movie was more about her; she's that good in it.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Reddington

Only five minutes long, but this may be of interest:

https://www.criterion.com/current/po...-knew-too-much

Originally Posted by octagon

I wish I could because it's a pretty interesting topic. But alas, most of what (I think) I know I've picked up from restoration featurettes on various discs and discussions here.

Thank you both. I'm out of "Thanks" so ... but I appreciate it.

EDIT: That was pretty interesting for sure. This is a subject in general that I really want to learn more about.

[Rich Pure Doom]

What are everyone's thoughts here on The Last Emperor? I'm in the middle of my second viewing and just can't fathom how this is revered. I'm trying though.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Narcissus

I was under the impression, maybe this is totally wrong, that Criterion did their own work. Assuming that is true, then putting out other studios remasters under the Criterion label is really a slippery slope. More so since they are not designating who did the work.

The majority of their releases use restorations completed elsewhere. But they also do more in-house restorations than any other boutique label.

And as dwk pointed out, I was partly wrong about how much involvement they have with the Warner titles, Lee Kline's involvement is a very good thing.