The Criterion Collection

[rock, stone]

Originally Posted by fdm

Yeah my reaction to Wages was similar, it didn't really grab me as much as anticipated. Perhaps because I saw Sorcerer first (on laserdisc no less), which seemed, as I vaguely recall, a bit more of a nail-biter. Wages is due for another watch though so maybe my opinion will change a bit next time.

For what it is worth, I was lucky enough to see Wages of Fear for the first time on the criterion blu about a year ago and I loved it. I have no problem with unsympathetic characters, all I care about is if they are interesting.

Wages of Fear reminds of of Stagecoach in a way. They are both archetypes of their respective genres, but they do what they do so well that even when I can pretty much predict the third act by the end of the first 10 pages, I totally forget to not be engaged. The films are so solid they transcend all cynicism or over familiarity with cinema tropes.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

Beta, keep in mind that the Amazon prices include VAT, which will be subtracted once you check out. So the prices are slightly lower than posted (although they get much higher when you convert them into dollars ). If a few pounds isn't an issue, ordering direct from Eureka is probably more financially beneficial for them, though.

Remember though that Amazon adds £3.08 shipping charges for one DVD/Blu-ray, whereas Eureka ships for free, so in order to get any benefit from Amazon, you would have to be ordering a single title that was reduced by more than £3.08 after the 20% VAT removal, and with Eureka/MoC titles, I don't believe this has happened yet; the single title would have to be selling for over £30 on Amazon.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Criterion had the distribution rights taken away from them by Studio Canal just before they were going to announce it as a release. The cover art and transfer were already supposedly completed.

RAN was announced for BR but pulled several weeks before its release. Studio Canal has rights and they took a dump on the film and released it. Their version is that horrific.

[majorkonig41]

Sweet just got a shipment confirmation and the tracking shows it will be here tomorrow. Senso and America and Lost and Found prepared to be devoured.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by The Theory

Of course, that could just be Criterion elitism sour grapes, too. :: In any case, the SC is probably the best we'll get for the forseeable future, and is prob,lpo- 00ably worth the $22-odd dollars if you're into the film to begin with.

I'm a firm believer in the fact that people expect A LOT from Blu-ray (take American Psycho for instance.... I hear people say it looks like the DVD, and I think it's a huge improvement, despite the fact that it could still look better)

In the instance of Ran I heard the usual "If you have the Criterion DVD, don't bother" so I took that into consideration, but ultimately sided with the idea that even if it had DNR and other issues, it would be at least a marginal improvement over the DVD and that alone was worth the $25 to me....

WRONG... The problems outweigh the improved (boosted) contrast etc.... The Criterion DVD isn't better in every way, but the Studio Canal BD is so problematic in so many ways, that as an overall, the Criterion DVD is far more enjoyable to watch.

[JediFonger]

as a huge fan of Kurosawa myself, i had an opportunity/chance to watch Ran in a 'freshly minted 35mm' from Rialto last year sometime. i bought Criterion DVD, imported the UK version of SC Ran BD specifically to investigate the PQ issue.

after watching it on a large screen a few times, i focused in a few key scenes, the opening sequence w/blades of grass, the costume patterns of all the main characters and the flags at the battle scenes at the end. what's great is there are a few 'freeze/stills' in the beginning of Ran where there are blades of grass wavering in the wind. even blown up on a 35mm, they were blurry. there was fine detail. same w/costume patterns. most of it seems fine and have certain fine details (due to the larger grain present). the joker's costume was the most colorful. the flags at the end were blurry as well.

so both the DVD and BD were basically showing what was already present in the film negative/master source. so unless SC/Rialto spent more $ and time looking for better film negatives, that's the best PQ it will look. that or go back to the original raw footage and create a brand new cut... which is time&$ again. it's all about the profit and bottom line and just like Kurosawa's original struggle to bring his latter films to the general public, it's still the same today. where is the market? if they were star wars fans... you'd be sure Rialto/SC would search high&low or recut everything from scratch. but i think based on the film stock AK used and the quality of preservation that exists... this is the best it's going to look. would Criterion have improved it? maybe it'll look sharper. maybe it'll be a bit better looking colors... but i bet you the blades of grass will still be blurry because the original 35mm was like that.

remember folks, it's ALL about the source. if the film scanning process and digital grading/clean up/restoration and encoding process isn't screwed up royally a Blu-Ray should faithfully reproduce the original SOURCE. if the source was poor to begin with, there's nothing anyone can do to make it look better than how the source comes in.

Originally Posted by Beta Man

I'm a firm believer in the fact that people expect A LOT from Blu-ray (take American Psycho for instance.... I hear people say it looks like the DVD, and I think it's a huge improvement, despite the fact that it could still look better)

In the instance of Ran I heard the usual "If you have the Criterion DVD, don't bother" so I took that into consideration, but ultimately sided with the idea that even if it had DNR and other issues, it would be at least a marginal improvement over the DVD and that alone was worth the $25 to me....

WRONG... The problems outweigh the improved (boosted) contrast etc.... The Criterion DVD isn't better in every way, but the Studio Canal BD is so problematic in so many ways, that as an overall, the Criterion DVD is far more enjoyable to watch.

[repete66211]

Originally Posted by Twowildman21

Thank you !!!

Will surely look at these, I would love the Third Man, just seen $90 price points so far

What a ripoff. I'll let you have mine for $89. Plus shipping.

[42041]

Originally Posted by JediFonger

as a huge fan of Kurosawa myself, i had an opportunity/chance to watch Ran in a 'freshly minted 35mm' from Rialto last year sometime. i bought Criterion DVD, imported the UK version of SC Ran BD specifically to investigate the PQ issue.

after watching it on a large screen a few times, i focused in a few key scenes, the opening sequence w/blades of grass, the costume patterns of all the main characters and the flags at the battle scenes at the end. what's great is there are a few 'freeze/stills' in the beginning of Ran where there are blades of grass wavering in the wind. even blown up on a 35mm, they were blurry. there was fine detail. same w/costume patterns. most of it seems fine and have certain fine details (due to the larger grain present). the joker's costume was the most colorful. the flags at the end were blurry as well.

so both the DVD and BD were basically showing what was already present in the film negative/master source. so unless SC/Rialto spent more $ and time looking for better film negatives, that's the best PQ it will look. that or go back to the original raw footage and create a brand new cut... which is time&$ again. it's all about the profit and bottom line and just like Kurosawa's original struggle to bring his latter films to the general public, it's still the same today. where is the market? if they were star wars fans... you'd be sure Rialto/SC would search high&low or recut everything from scratch. but i think based on the film stock AK used and the quality of preservation that exists... this is the best it's going to look. would Criterion have improved it? maybe it'll look sharper. maybe it'll be a bit better looking colors... but i bet you the blades of grass will still be blurry because the original 35mm was like that.

If a new 35mm print looks like a bad video master, then that print was made from a bad video master. 35mm film simply does not look like the SC disc.

[repete66211]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

RAN was announced for BR but pulled several weeks before its release. Studio Canal has rights and they took a dump on the film and released it. Their version is that horrific.

Studio Canal's version of Ran isn't that bad. Criterion would have done a better job, but "horrific" is a bit much. I understand it's no great leap above the old Criterion DVD, but the SC Blu-ray is significantly better than my old Fox/Lorber DVD. Now that was horrific.

[Illy Scorsese]

The Studio Canal BD version of "RAN" is better than the Criterion DVD...

Sadly it may be a long time before we ever get to see what Criterion would do with the Blu-Ray format for the film.

[JediFonger]

so you've seen the theatrical projection of Ran? how many times? i wasn't old enough yet when Ran originally debuted... but the film print i saw last year was 'struck from the original master' wasn't that clear (paying attention to the blades of grass in the opening title is an easy way to spot this).

Originally Posted by 42041

If a new 35mm print looks like a bad video master, then that print was made from a bad video master. 35mm film simply does not look like the SC disc.

[repete66211]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I personally would not suggest Wages of Fear, which is one of the few Criterions on blu that greatly underwhelmed me. The first 45 minutes were a bore and I found it a fatal flaw to purposely make all characters unsympathetic in a film that was about the tension of those individuals transporting nitroglycerine. It's not that it's a bad film, but in my opinion it could've been so much more.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who didn't think much of Wages of Fear.

[42041]

Originally Posted by JediFonger

so you've seen the theatrical projection of Ran? how many times? i wasn't old enough yet when Ran originally debuted... but the film print i saw last year was 'struck from the original master' wasn't that clear (paying attention to the blades of grass in the opening title is an easy way to spot this).

i have not seen Ran projected, but knowing what an analog 35mm print looks like from the movies i have seen, i can say with certainty it did NOT look like the SC blu-ray. as far as i can determine, it was shot on Eastman negative on Panavision equipment, just like any Hollywood movie.
Was it soft? Did it have blurry opticals? Probably, but it sure didn't look like a bad video transfer, by virtue of impossibility.

[jacobsever]

Just posted on facebook.

Some of the comments are pretty funny :

- Denzel Washington was originally going to star in the Gus Van Sant film - they were going to call it "Chocolate Milk."
- Gus Van Sant thought Harvey Milk was bisexual and was going to call his film "Half & Half."

[repete66211]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

That's pretty sad, actually.

Yeah, that's pretty bad comedy, easy Catskills humor, like making fun of the fat kid. The "lactose intolerant" comment was marginally funny. He should have left it at that.

[StefR]

My Criterion order still hasn't shipped!

I ordered..

Days of Heaven
Paths of Glory
Sanjuro/Yojimbo boxset
Night of the Hunter
America: Lost and Found Box Set
And A CRITERION BASEBALL CAP!!!!

JUST GIVE ME THE CAP AT LEAST!

I'm curious to see how many people ever come up to me while I'm wearing the hat. I figure it's a good way to make friends/meet girls.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by StefR

I'm curious to see how many people ever come up to me while I'm wearing the hat. I figure it's a good way to make friends/meet girls.

really??? Let us know how that works out for ya.....

[italy12]

Originally Posted by StefR

I'm curious to see how many people ever come up to me while I'm wearing the hat. I figure it's a good way to make friends/meet girls.

Quote of the day

p.s. I'm curious too! Maybe you can get 400 Bl....nevermind...

[italy12]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

really??? Let us know how that works out for ya.....

Is that a C on your hat or are you just happy to see me?

[StefR]

What I HOPE will happen...

"omg, I LOVE The Criterion Collection! Would you like to get a cup of coffee?"

What probably WILL happen...

"The Criterion Collection is pwnz0rz. Want to come over to my Grandmas house and hang out?"