The Criterion Collection

[HorrorBlu]

Jump ahead to 6:20 in the video, but is there any truth to this?

SHOCKING BLU-RAY HUNTING TRIP! No More Criterions At Barnes & Noble! Is Best Buy Next?!? - YouTube

Are Barnes & Noble retail locations getting rid of their Criterion section, and what does this mean for the 50% sales?

[GenPion]

Not every location carries them. For instance, my local Barnes & Noble has never carried them.

[concolt]

Originally Posted by HorrorBlu

Jump ahead to 6:20 in the video, but is there any truth to this?

SHOCKING BLU-RAY HUNTING TRIP! No More Criterions At Barnes & Noble! Is Best Buy Next?!? - YouTube

Are Barnes & Noble retail locations getting rid of their Criterion section, and what does this mean for the 50% sales?

I brought this up a couple of months ago. The near me barely has any now. They seem to get in most of the new stuff but they aren’t keeping the older stuff out.

Another member brought up that it’s mostly due to theft.

[stvn1974]

My Barnes And Noble usually has more Criterions than they do any other movies or TV shows on disc. I was just in there two days ago and they were out of stock for many titles. They usually have one of every release on BD and DVD and those on USD. Not sure if they removed them or are not going to be restocking.

[NeoNical]

My Barnes & Noble still has a good section for Criterions even after they moved it downstairs (They didn't make it smaller since the section has always been pretty small). Haven't been there in a long time though so I hope they still have them. Although I do tend to buy most of my Criterions online nowadays because of the long drive to Barnes & Noble, buying in person is really a different experience because one gets to see all the other options and see the details so they have a better understanding of what they're getting. One thing for certain, one will know that their product won't be damaged if they buy it in person. This experience touches on similar issues as going to a video rental store back then in comparison to streaming movies now.

[fdm]

Well that's one way to break me of my Criterion addiction… maybe now is finally the time.

[dr727]

Originally Posted by jshaide

Been going through these Herzog sets (and Herzog's catalogue) during the last month, and I do wish those sets had the three earlier shorts (and Handicapped Futures) that are on the BFI set. I hold out hopes for a third volume, though to fill in some gaps!

The White Diamond (2004) is a absolute Herzog fave and yet it’s absent from Blu-Ray aside from these two releases. Note that the boxset also contains the only Blu release of The Flying Doctors of East Africa (1970). Hopefully there is an odds & ends volume as you suggest.

Thinking of TWD reminds me that movies can alter our life’s course. The film had such a profound effect on myself and a peer that we started a popular dirigible blog (now defunct) and organized an annual dirigible design contest for college students.

Aside from TWD’s release, it was a time where renewed interest in dirigibles was picking up. San Francisco and other cities had startups that acquired Zeppelin NTs [“new technology”, non-combustible design from the same manufacturer as the original Zeppelins!] and outfitted them for luxury city flyovers. The goal was for it to eventually become an alternative form of transportation (ala it’s ill-fated predecessor) but lack of interest and the public’s historical associations with dirigibles eventually prevented those endeavors from succeeding.

Anyhow, thank you Werner!

[dr727]

Just a quick addendum:

Variety lists TWD’s production details as “A Marco Polo Film, NDR Naturfilm (Germany)/NHK (Japan)/BBC (U.K.) production. (International sales: Werner Herzog Film, Munich.)”. That last bit would seem to imply it’s available to Shout along with the rest?

It was shot entirely on Super 16mm.

[mja345]

I checked out the Michael Haneke Trilogy recently, which is a series of insanely disturbing films that are also incredibly pointed and well-made. The highlight among these three extremely distressing films is "Benny's Video", Haneke's remarkably disturbing film about a psychopathic teenager. The most horrifying aspect of the film is the way the main character and his parents seem to only regard the horrific crime he's committed in a distant, abstract way. It's one of the most prescient films about our current times and deserves so much of the praise that has been thrown its way. It's a true masterpiece IMO.

[Rayjg]

Just finished the Samurai Trilogy. What beautiful films. The one good thing about less Japanese releases coming from Criterion is I'm finally working my way through and getting caught up on their prior releases. Next up: An Actor's Revenge or Three Outlaw Samurai

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by HorrorBlu

Jump ahead to 6:20 in the video, but is there any truth to this?

SHOCKING BLU-RAY HUNTING TRIP! No More Criterions At Barnes & Noble! Is Best Buy Next?!? - YouTube

Are Barnes & Noble retail locations getting rid of their Criterion section, and what does this mean for the 50% sales?

Kind of makes sense, who purchases Criterions from B&N when there is not a sale going on? They are not marked down at all and they just sit until the next sale. My guess is they may re-stock certain titles in-store during the sales just for that period of time. But overall, I think they feel that online sales benefit them more, and they could utilized the store floor space for items that sell all year round.

[Vinyl]

Originally Posted by Rayjg

Just finished the Samurai Trilogy. What beautiful films. The one good thing about less Japanese releases coming from Criterion is I'm finally working my way through and getting caught up on their prior releases. Next up: An Actor's Revenge or Three Outlaw Samurai

If you are still in the samurai-swordplay mood go with Three outlaw samurai

The director of Three Outlaw Samuai, Hideo Gosha, finally got some physical media love by Film Movement. They are coming out with their Samurai Wolf set as well as his yakuza film Violent Streets in June. Criterion has his Sword of the Beast on dvd, one that many here have been waiting for a long time to upgrade to Blu.


Ps: beat Duke Togo to responding to a Japanese film post

[RojD]

I'm in the US but region free and getting more and more BDs from abroad. What's a good site to check whether a disc has English subtitles? I found a site before but, of course, didn't book mark it.

Speaking of which, I watched Marketa Lazarová last night and was blown away by every single element of the film -- cinematography, story-telling, decor, editing, tone. An amazing film. And a wonderful restoration. The first in that trilogy, The Devil's Trap, was just as good but looked awful, maybe a simple transfer. I'd love to see Criterion restore Vlácil's whole trilogy.

[NeoNical]

Originally Posted by RojD

I'm in the US but region free and getting more and more BDs from abroad. What's a good site to check whether a disc has English subtitles? I found a site before but, of course, didn't book mark it.

You can always try using this site to see if anyone has clarified for the releases you're looking for.

You can also check DVDCompare as they may sometimes have details on the subtitles on the release you're looking for.

Besides that, I have no clue what kind of releases you're looking for. I only import from the UK and haven't imported anything outside of the UK (or Japan whenever I stop by) yet. If you have access to a photo of the back cover of the edition you're looking at, you can sometimes find the list of subtitles available for the release (If you're looking at an Asian release, you will have to translate the word to see if it spells out "English" on the subtitle box. For example, it's “英文” in Chinese and Japanese releases within the list of subtitles available that should be there in the technical specs).

[mja345]

Awesome review of "Thelma and Louise" by Svet! Dude really needs to fulfill his destiny as the film critic at Breitbart.

[MifuneFan]

Just noticed The Eight Mountains is playing at an AMC theater here starting this Friday. I expected to see this relegated to art house theaters, so I'm happy to see it at a major chain

The Eight Mountains - Official Trailer - YouTube

[dancerslegs]

Originally Posted by mja345

Awesome review of "Thelma and Louise" by Svet! Dude really needs to fulfill his destiny as the film critic at Breitbart.

A reviewer like Svet makes me miss John Simon. And I should in no way miss John Simon.

[BunyipPouch]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Just noticed The Eight Mountains is playing at an AMC theater here starting this Friday. I expected to see this relegated to art house theaters, so I'm happy to see it at a major chain

The Eight Mountains - Official Trailer - YouTube

Man I'm jealous. Would love to go see that this weekend. I try to see 4-5 movies a week and this weekend is desolate around me (with Guardians taking up all of the screens). I have a 17-theater rotation that I check weekly and this is one of the worst weeks I've ever seen.

[Scholer]

Originally Posted by dkelly26666

Later, when the titles were ready for blu ray, apparently (again, rumored) Herzog offered Criterion first dibs on them. Criterion apparently passed, saying the transfers were no good. LOL

There might be something to this, since almost every single transfer on the Shout box set release was some form of digitised mess. Strangely BFI had access to the same masters, but produced much better releases, with even the subpar transfers in their box set release looking filmic and digitally unmanipulated. But the corresponding German blu-ray releases again had similar shitty digitised transfers again. Not sure if anyone ever figured out what went wrong there.

[deadheadbill]

Originally Posted by mja345

Awesome review of "Thelma and Louise" by Svet! Dude really needs to fulfill his destiny as the film critic at Breitbart.

Yeah, I don't even read his synopsis/movie review section anymore. I scroll straight to the PQ/AQ sections and even those I take with a grain of salt.