The Criterion Collection

[BluProofie]

It’s “next week”, Criterion! Give us a little something...please?!

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by professorwho

I'm in for the Godzilla Box Set. Wonder if the '54 film has a remastered disc, ala Seventh Seal in the Bergman set. Godzilla '54 had a 4K restoration a few years ago, so it would be a nice thing to include.

I also noticed macroblocking in the opening credits to the Criterion disc, so hopefully then can improve upon the compression.

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by jw007

Maybe its because of this blu-ray from 2009 that is both Region A and B: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-E...-Blu-ray/5809/

I guess the demand isn't high enough in the states for this movie, and the 2009 Studiocanal release has held up well? It's still in print too.

The 2009 release is definitely not still in print, I bought mine used for £15.

[Gatorshea]

What are you guys doing with the individual releases of the Bergman titles that many of you likely have now that you own the box set? I have 5 of the individual titles and I'm trying to decide what I should do with them. Shelf space is at a premium but I also like the packaging, etc. of some of them.

[dml1988]

So I had an issue with my copy of High and Low, tried to send Criterion a message last week, never heard back. What's the best way to get in contact with them? I used this email mulvaney@criterion.com

[Gatorshea]

Originally Posted by dml1988

So I had an issue with my copy of High and Low, tried to send Criterion a message last week, never heard back. What's the best way to get in contact with them? I used this email mulvaney@criterion.com

Just email him again. I have emailed out more than I have received responses from them. I wish there were another way to talk with a person but I don't think there is.

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by Gatorshea

What are you guys doing with the individual releases of the Bergman titles that many of you likely have now that you own the box set? I have 5 of the individual titles and I'm trying to decide what I should do with them. Shelf space is at a premium but I also like the packaging, etc. of some of them.

I sold my copies of these 4 movies

The Seventh Seal
Wild Strawberries
Cries & Whispers
Autumn Sonata

as a lot.

I kept Persona and Fanny & Alexander because of the packaging.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

The 2009 release is definitely not still in print, I bought mine used for £15.

Seems like it was reissued in 2014, so that's still in print... its the same transfer as the 2009 edition anyway.

[ShellOilJunior]

I noticed Criterion updated their Contact page to include a drawing.

[MifuneFan]

It's actually based on the exact posters, and their locations they have in their office. Not me below.

[Show spoiler]

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by dml1988

So I had an issue with my copy of High and Low, tried to send Criterion a message last week, never heard back. What's the best way to get in contact with them? I used this email mulvaney@criterion.com

I have always received a reply from Jon, but you may need to give it a bit of time. You say "last week" but if it hasn't been a full week yet, I would hold off on a follow-up.

[The Sovereign]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It's actually based on the exact posters, and their locations they have in their office.

Yeah, I figured this was a stretch -

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

It's actually based on the exact posters, and their locations they have in their office. Not me below.

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

I have no idea how you could figure that out. You should get a Phd in criterion collection.

[The Great Owl]

Thanks, Criterion!



John Klute, a Pennsylvania private detective played by Donald Sutherland, travels to New York City to investigate the disappearance of a family friend, a chemical company executive. His only lead is an obscene typewritten letter that the missing man supposedly wrote to a call girl named Bree. The woman in question, played by Jane Fonda, aspires to be an actress or a model, but refuses to close the door on her career as a prostitute because it endows her with a sense of empowerment that assuages the repeated rejections from agents during her search for a more prestigious line of work. After Klute establishes a connection with Bree and enlists in her help to become familiar with the sex trade underworld of the city, the two gradually develop a mutual trust and an intimate relationship, but a mysterious stranger is also watching and following them.

The 1971 crime thriller, Klute, is a beautifully nuanced endeavor that superimposes its atmospheric neo-noir leanings over a character study framework. In his first film of a “paranoia trilogy” that also includes The Parallax View (1974) and All the President's Men (1976), director Alan J. Pakula effectively juggles the leisurely-paced examination of Fonda's call girl with a steadily escalating mystery that, thanks to the unnerving music score by Michael Small, convinces us that menacing eyes are tracking every moment of our two multilayered protagonists. A cast of strong supporting actors, including Roy Scheider (Jaws) as Bree's former pimp, Dorothy Tristan (Scarecrow) as a junkie prostitute, and Charles Cioffi (Shaft) as a businessman, lends a lived-in authenticity to the proceedings.

Jane Fonda, in the role that earned her a Best Actress Academy Award, is entrancing as an assertive figure whose inner vulnerability manifests itself in subtle ways. Fonda's much-publicized involvement in politics at the time only serves to enhance the verisimilitude of her call girl character's idiosyncrasies, especially when Bree is shown relaxing with a book in the privacy of her home, heard on tape recordings as she soothes the nerves of her johns during sessions, or seen during visits to a therapist. After preparing for the part by getting to know several actual sex workers in the city, she applied her strong feminist leanings in a non-heavy-handed way to complete the picture of a resilient person with many angles. The end result is one of my favorite female performances that I have seen in all of my years as a moviegoer. It is a testament to her acting talent that I feel as though I am spying on a real person as I watch her fictional persona on the screen.

Donald Sutherland, in turn, combines stoic iciness with loving concern in an undeniably charismatic way that he also perfected in other 1970s works like Don't Look Now and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. One of the true joys of this film is watching how Bree's initial disdain toward Sutherland's Klute gradually dissolves as he lets his protective instincts govern his interactions with her. While Fonda excels at showing us how her call girl is inwardly afraid of giving herself over to someone in a complete way, Sutherland shines as a man whose policeman-like exterior appears similarly trouble as he lets his affection for this woman take hold.

Klute shows its cards earlier than expected with regard to the identity of the villain, but this reveal does not diminish the urgency of the narrative in the slightest, thanks to the noir-edged cinematography that makes darkness a character in its own right and to a chilling overall aesthetic that would later grace the better entries of the slasher horror genre that rose to popularity a few years later. More than anything, though, this film's blend of 1970s cynicism and romantic chemistry is what really makes its seemingly disparate elements come together as a masterful whole.

This Criterion Blu-ray delivers the technical goods with a nicely fllmic video transfer and an audio presentation that brings out the best in Michael Small's music that makes us hear things that may or may not be there. A present-day interview with Jane Fonda by Illeana Douglas is the lion's roar of the supplementary features, but I also love the older television interview footage of the actress. Another great extra, The Look of "Klute", sheds more light on the film's visual appeal.

[regeyer]

Where is the best place to list Criterion Blu-Ray's for sale or trade? I'm going to have a couple Blu-Ray's that I'd like to trade as I just bought the Bergman set. Thanks.

[movieattack5]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

I sold my copies of these 4 movies

The Seventh Seal
Wild Strawberries
Cries & Whispers
Autumn Sonata

as a lot.

I kept Persona and Fanny & Alexander because of the packaging.

Ironically I didn’t get the box set because I already owned Persona and Fanny and didn’t want to double dip, even though the box set is very impressive.

I wonder if anybody double dipped on Dr Strangelove. The pop art/steelbook version is cooler than the Criterion version.

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by regeyer

Where is the best place to list Criterion Blu-Ray's for sale or trade? I'm going to have a couple Blu-Ray's that I'd like to trade as I just bought the Bergman set. Thanks.

Right here:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...60614&page=153

[JasonMichael]

Originally Posted by movieattack5

Ironically I didn’t get the box set because I already owned Persona and Fanny and didn’t want to double dip, even though the box set is very impressive.

I wonder if anybody double dipped on Dr Strangelove. The pop art/steelbook version is cooler than the Criterion version.

I bought the pop art version because I found it for $5 new.
It is pretty nice:

[Namuhana]

I was never one for Godzilla (or kaiju movies in general), but this is an immense release. It'll be cool to see what all is included in the box set.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I would like to know what it’s going to take to get upgrades of The Human Condition and Red Beard?

...I would like to know that.

Human Condition is long overdue on Blu-ray from Criterion. What's the hold up?