The Criterion Collection

[DaBargainHunta]

Chungking Express is getting a sequel...

...set in 2036.

https://thefilmstage.com/wong-kar-wa...xpress-sequel/

https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/c...xpress_sequel/

[UnionJackMix]

Yesterday I received Paris Is Burning and Dr Stragelove and I have to say the releases look great. I love the photo for Paris, and that you can see the red booklet underneath is a great touch that was probably not foreseen even though the back is red.
Great work, and love the extras, even though I watched only the first one.
The choice of the music to play during the menu is also sublime, The Salsoul Orchestra were such a delight! Pure real music.

[tqmilymi]

I posted a thread and poll asking about what box sets Criterion might release in 2021 or 2022. The link within the Blu-ray forum is:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=332617

[Gacivory]

Franklin J. Schaffer’s The Best Man got added to the Criterion Channel. I know it doesn’t mean a release, but I have been wanting this to get a release! So I hope someone gives it a Blu release.

[HipsterTrash]

I might buy the Universal Man Who Wasn't There release just so the blu-ray gods can announce the Criterion version soon.

[mca213]

Are we ever going to get an upgrade of The elements of crime?

[NeoNical]

Originally Posted by mca213

Are we ever going to get an upgrade of The elements of crime?

If a restoration didn't happen recently, then the chances are low. Most Criterion Blu-ray releases the past few years occur due to restorations. Few scenarios where they released one without any restoration in the past few years would be Le Samouraï (1967). I don't know anything about the film but if a restoration happened recently, chances are pretty high as it seems like it's also still In Print. Hope this information helps.

[hudson4k]

Is there any chance of Criterion eventually releasing Pink Flamingos? It's long overdue for a new scan, there's no HD version of it anywhere.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by NeoNical

If a restoration didn't happen recently, then the chances are low. Most Criterion Blu-ray releases the past few years occur due to restorations. Few scenarios where they released one without any restoration in the past few years would be Le Samouraï (1967). I don't know anything about the film but if a restoration happened recently, chances are pretty high as it seems like it's also still In Print. Hope this information helps.

Pathe has had a restoration of "Le Samourai" for years...it just looks like dogshite. There's been quite a few releases where Criterion have opted to use an old master ("Magnificent Obsession", "House of Games", "The Hit", etc.)

[dwk]

Lars von Trier's company has been doing restorations of his films, so I imagine that Criterion will Blu The Element of Crime when they can access the restoration.

[theater dreamer]

Originally Posted by Reddington

RIP Michael Lonsdale.

A supremely talented actor, from Buñuel to Bond.

I enthusiastically agree. Michael Lonsdale brought real gravitas to any film he appeared in, even if he had just a few scenes. I immediately think of Munich, and Ronin, which I just saw for the first time on Wednesday morning.

Moonraker, which I'd wager introduced many of us to his work, was the height of James Bond camp. But I thought his performance as Hugo Drax was chilling, easily the best part of the film. His setting the dogs loose on Miss DuFour after discharging her from his service is one of the most unsettling scenes in the entire franchise. I just wish the rest of the movie rose to the level of his performance.

Also, I must admit that after seeing both Moonraker and The Black Hole as a kid, I confused him with Maximilian Schell all the time.

I have been meaning to watch The Day of the Jackal for quite a while. If you will all excuse me, I'm going to go put it on as a tribute to this fantastic actor.

[juisfortuna]

I'm considering selling my DVD copy of Z, which has been OOP for a while, to buttress my blu-ray collecting and ensure I don't get stuck with an obsolete copy I can't sell if a blu-ray release ever comes out, which happened to me earlier this year with the Rohmer box set (right after I snagged it for $40 at Half Price, thinking I was getting a great deal ). Is it likely that Criterion will reissue this one? It seems to be pretty well-regarded and is easily Costa-Gavras' most famous film.

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

I enthusiastically agree. Michael Lonsdale brought real gravitas to any film he appeared in, even if he had just a few scenes. I immediately think of Munich, and Ronin, which I just saw for the first time on Wednesday morning.

Moonraker, which I'd wager introduced many of us to his work, was the height of James Bond camp. But I thought his performance as Hugo Drax was chilling, easily the best part of the film. His setting the dogs loose on Miss DuFour after discharging her from his service is one of the most unsettling scenes in the entire franchise. I just wish the rest of the movie rose to the level of his performance.

Also, I must admit that after seeing both Moonraker and The Black Hole as a kid, I confused him with Maximilian Schell all the time.

I have been meaning to watch The Day of the Jackal for quite a while. If you will all excuse me, I'm going to go put it on as a tribute to this fantastic actor.

I like Moonraker more than most, although I freely admit some of that is for nostalgic reasons as it was the first Bond I saw in the cinema. Objectively, and largely based on Lonsdale's performance, Drax might just be my favourite Bond villain; a shade ahead of Joseph Wiseman in Dr. No, and behind Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love - who whilst not the central villain, is the epitome of a Bond baddie.

I watched The Day of the Jackal for the umpteenth time just a couple of weeks before he died. It's one of my favourite films, and still thrills me every time. As is often said, Fred Zinnemann's genius is to focus on the procedural aspects of both the assassination and the manhunt, rendering the fact that the outcome is already a known to even the first-time viewer almost completely irrelevant.

I've not yet had time to watch my Lonsdale "tribute" film, but I've lined up The Name of the Rose for when I do.

[kowski]

Does anyone know about the right situation for Teshigahara's films? Would love to watch Pitfall and Face of another again. Does Criterion still own the rights and is a Blu-Ray in the pipeline?

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by kowski

Does anyone know about the right situation for Teshigahara's films? Would love to watch Pitfall and Face of another again. Does Criterion still own the rights and is a Blu-Ray in the pipeline?

The DVD set is OOP so maybe not. Does anyone here know for sure that the HD master used for their BD of Woman in the Dunes is the same or a newer one than what was used for the DVD?

[DaBargainHunta]

California Suite (1978) - Expiring from The Criterion Channel!



Based on a play written by Neil Simon, California Suite is a comedy farce about four sets of people staying at the same hotel. For whatever reason, despite an absolute stacked and stellar cast (including an Oscar win for Maggie Smith), the movie is mostly forgotten today. As with most films of this type, some of the stories and characters are stronger than others.

Here's the breakdown:

Jane Fonda and Alan Alda: Their dialogue is completely artificial - something that could only come from a playwright or screenwriter - and yet their banter is undeniably the most entertaining in their film and their chemistry is the best of all the actors. They play a divorced couple fighting over who gets to keep their daughter (played by Dana Plato of Diff'rent Strokes fame in a small cameo).

Maggie Smith and Michael Caine: If you only know Dame Maggie Smith from Harry Potter or Downton Abbey, she's unrecognizable here as a much younger woman. She plays a high-strung actress nominated for an Academy Award. "Eight years with the national theatre, two Pinter plays, nine Shakespeare, three Shaw, and I finally get nominated for a nauseating little comedy." Art eventually imitated life in that regard, as Smith was nominated for this "nauseating little comedy." Michael Caine plays her long-suffering lover who seems more interested in the male actor seated at their table during the awards ceremony. Smith and Caine are great together and arguably the second strongest couple in the movie.

Elaine May and Walter Matthau (with the GREAT Herb Edelman): I came for Fonda but stayed for Edelman (who is probably most famous for playing Stan on The Golden Girls). I wish he had gotten more screentime, but he does enough damage - hiring a hooker for his brother, played by Matthau. I never would've put the two together in my mind as siblings, but it works. Of course, Matthau has to hide the hooker from his wife. This is all a little too over-the-top for me, but Elaine May is fantastic as the exasperated wife who has to put up with these silly shenanigans, and Matthau gives it his all with gusto.

Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby: Easily the worst and least funny part of the movie. It's very much reliant on outrageous physical comedy, and while the actors give it their all, they're completely wrong for this type of material. About the only notable aspect of any of this is that Pryor's character is named Dr. Gump - 15 years before Tom Hanks made that one of cinema's most famous and revered last names.

The movie has a nice cross-section of personalities, long before diversity was a priority for anyone in Hollywood: WASP-ish exes (Fonda and Alda), two Brits - one of whom is gay or bisexual (Smith and Caine), a old Jewish couple (May and Matthau), and African-American brothers-in-law (Pryor and Cosby).

DaBargainHunta's Decree: Not necessarily a "great film" but definitely a fun flick and enormously entertaining. (Subtitles: Yes!)

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Reddington

I like Moonraker more than most, although I freely admit some of that is for nostalgic reasons as it was the first Bond I saw in the cinema. Objectively, and largely based on Lonsdale's performance, Drax might just be my favourite Bond villain; a shade ahead of Joseph Wiseman in Dr. No, and behind Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love - who whilst not the central villain, is the epitome of a Bond baddie.

It's really amazing how times change. When MOONRAKER was released to near unanimously negative reviews, most critics piled on Lonsdale for being the dullest villain in the history of the Bond series. For some years after whenever you read about how bad the film was, for all of the obvious reasons, Lonsdale was usually included as an integral part of the film's shortcomings. I'm not fond of the film, but I still watch it every now and again as even a bad Bond movie is better than no Bond movie, and I have to say that Lonsdale's performance has grown on me. I give him credit for trying something a bit different with a rather subtle, almost Shakespearean interpretation of a Bond villain rather than playing it larger than life as some did. I'm not sure it works, but it's definitely in welcome contrast to the excesses found in the rest of the film.

[jjlikesonions]

Originally Posted by kowski

Does anyone know about the right situation for Teshigahara's films? Would love to watch Pitfall and Face of another again. Does Criterion still own the rights and is a Blu-Ray in the pipeline?

Not sure about the rights, but both films are streaming in HD on the Criterion Channel. and they look great.

[UnionJackMix]

Can someone kindly advise how heavy the Ingmar Bergman's Cinema set is? As DeepDiscount won't ship this internationally due to its weight I want to calculate how much it would cost to use shipito to ship it to me.
Thanks

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by UnionJackMix

Can someone kindly advise how heavy the Ingmar Bergman's Cinema set is? As DeepDiscount won't ship this internationally due to its weight I want to calculate how much it would cost to use shipito to ship it to me.
Thanks

According to a post in the thread for the set. 7.5 pounds.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...307668&page=28