The Criterion Collection

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

I feel like this 4K scan will come to UHD. If not by Criterion, then by StudioCanal. I bought it twice last year, but would triple dip.

I think if Criterion releases a UHD it won't be for a few years. Unfortunately, this may mean no Fellini on UHD because the box set was released not long ago. Things may become more clear once we see what Criterion does after the first 6 UHDs have received release dates.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by DimitriL

I guess it remains to be seen, but knowing Criterion, I'd say if they go through all that trouble to rescan, then yeah, I think we'd get a new BD as well. If they decide to update the supplement list for the UHD/BD edition at all, it's probably a certainty with the BDs hosting the supplements.

(This is actually the only part that worries me just a little, as a viewer. I wonder if interest in supplements will diminish some when you always have to switch discs for supplements, except for, I suppose, commentaries. Also, would they make an extra effort to start including commentaries regularly again, when that's likely the only supplement a UHD disc would probably hold?)

Some excellent points you made here.

I'm one who rarely listens to the commentary track while watching a film. I've done it a handful of times for specific movies I really love. But normally if there's an audio commentary (or two or more), I won't re-watch the film and listen to the commentary. I think its about 2 or 3% of the time I'll listen to a commentary track.

How many Criterion fans here listen to audio commentaries?

Have commentary tracks become less popular with newer directors and younger viewers?

[Mushi Minion]

Originally Posted by jw007

Some excellent points you made here.

I'm one who rarely listens to the commentary track while watching a film. I've done it a handful of times for specific movies I really love. But normally if there's an audio commentary (or two or more), I won't re-watch the film and listen to the commentary. I think its about 2 or 3% of the time I'll listen to a commentary track.

How many Criterion fans here listen to audio commentaries?

Have commentary tracks become less popular with newer directors and younger viewers?

My impression is younger viewers prefer 2-to-5-minute BTS YouTube videos.

(that can mean "Behind-the-Scenes" or the K-pop group and I'm probably still right)

[moviesaremylife]

Originally Posted by jw007

Some excellent points you made here.

I'm one who rarely listens to the commentary track while watching a film. I've done it a handful of times for specific movies I really love. But normally if there's an audio commentary (or two or more), I won't re-watch the film and listen to the commentary. I think its about 2 or 3% of the time I'll listen to a commentary track.

How many Criterion fans here listen to audio commentaries?

Have commentary tracks become less popular with newer directors and younger viewers?

I don’t typically listen to commentary tracks. They can be hit or miss. It’s also a big time commitment to watch the film and then watch it again with a commentary.

I love the video essays, scene specific commentaries and interviews with film scholars that criterion does. They can run 15, 20 or even 30 minutes and they are usually pretty meaty.

I also love a good feature length making-of documentary, like the ones that came with blade runner and the alien films. Those are few and far between though. Probably way to expensive to make and for films that are older than the 80s, practically non-existent.

[KUNG FU BOB]

Originally Posted by jw007

How many Criterion fans here listen to audio commentaries?

Have commentary tracks become less popular with newer directors and younger viewers?

Though I'm very interested in listening to audio commentary tracks I don't have much free time. So when I get a chance to relax I often opt for watching another film instead of rewatching the same film with the AC. If it's a film I've seen a lot, sometimes I'll let it play with the AC while I work, mostly listening as opposed to watching. Occasionally I will rewatch something over and over, listening to multiple AC's in a row (typically over a few days) which is something I did with Criterion's SILENCE OF THE LAMBS release (and for non-Criterion titles NOBODY and DAWN OF THE DEAD and it's multiple versions and AC's). But overall, I'd estimate that I check out the audio commentaries for about 4-5 out of 10 films.

[yoloswegmaster420]

Seems as if Wayne Wang's 'Chan is Missing' is going to be released by Criterion.

[DimitriL]

Originally Posted by jw007

How many Criterion fans here listen to audio commentaries?

Have commentary tracks become less popular with newer directors and younger viewers?

It’s interesting. When Criterion discs were as much as $125, I would never not listen to a commentary, because I just wasn’t buying a whole stack of them. I would nurse those suckers for all they were worth, and the good ones - Suber’s The Graduate commentary is one I think of - I would listen to over and over, internalizing all the details. But I will definitely still listen to commentaries decently often.

I do think, as a general point, younger audiences are less patient and aren’t reserving another two-hour slot for a commentary. That’s certainly the rationale Peter Becker has given for somewhat fewer commentaries. But I also think that for a lot of Criterion’s target audience - dedicated cineastes and film students who still glom onto Criterion as a “film school in a box” - commentaries are as important to them as they’ve ever been.

I think part of the reason that the Criterion Channel has broken out a separate commentaries section isn’t just to make listening to them easier, but to have a way to gather actual metrics about how many people are actively seeking out commentaries.

[Sommerswerd]

Originally Posted by yoloswegmaster420

Seems as if Wayne Wang's 'Chan is Missing' is going to be released by Criterion.

That is awesome! I know Janus Films also has the rights to the doc Who Killed Vincent Chin? so they are finally diving into Asian American cinema. I hope they also have the rights to Wayne Wang's follow-up film Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart. I know that film and Chan is Missing was released at the same time on DVD by Koch Lorber back in the day.

[Sifox211]

I listen to commentaries about half the time. With those and the extras I fit them in at odd moments like when having lunch or a cup of something. So I don’t take up valuable two hour film slots doing it that way.

It also helps having two players - one I use for film watching, the other for the extras.

[NeoNical]

Only listened to one commentary completely. Think I only listened for Akira Kurosawa’s Stray Dog. Decent commentary just going over some real life postwar crime cases and the Japanese economy, which is why I wanted to listen to it in the first place. There really wasn’t much in the way of analysis for the film in the first place so the scholar rarely mentioned any behind the scenes or anything about Kurosawa’s style and such. Did listen to a bit of Flesh for Frankenstein by Criterion but did not like the scholar in the commentary. Morrissey was at least interesting and Kier was always fun to listen to.

[kvnbhovis]

Originally Posted by moviesaremylife

I don’t typically listen to commentary tracks. They can be hit or miss. It’s also a big time commitment to watch the film and then watch it again with a commentary.

I love the video essays, scene specific commentaries and interviews with film scholars that criterion does. They can run 15, 20 or even 30 minutes and they are usually pretty meaty.

I also love a good feature length making-of documentary, like the ones that came with blade runner and the alien films. Those are few and far between though. Probably way to expensive to make and for films that are older than the 80s, practically non-existent.

I generally like the commentary tracks but there are some "film historians" who simply just regurgitate list of credits for each actor and the most important film technicians i.e. director, cinematographer, composer and add nothing that can't be found on IMDB. I listened to one today for "No Man Of Her Own" and the person just regurgitated credits in a snobby way. It would have been a good time to talk about the Lombard/Gable relationship in some detail but he just touched on it and moved on to other people in the film. Just a shame as that is the only film that they made together outside of extra work in movies like the original Ben-Hur.

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by kvnbhovis

I generally like the commentary tracks but there are some "film historians" who simply just regurgitate list of credits for each actor and the most important film technicians i.e. director, cinematographer, composer and add nothing that can't be found on IMDB. I listened to one today for "No Man Of Her Own" and the person just regurgitated credits in a snobby way. It would have been a good time to talk about the Lombard/Gable relationship in some detail but he just touched on it and moved on to other people in the film. Just a shame as that is the only film that they made together outside of extra work in movies like the original Ben-Hur.

The commentary on Jacques Tourneur's Canyon Passage is like that too. Whenever I come across a commentary that's almost entirely just mentioning who an actor is and what movies they were in it discourages me from listening to more.

[moviesaremylife]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

The commentary on Jacques Tourneur's Canyon Passage is like that too. Whenever I come across a commentary that's almost entirely just mentioning who an actor is and what movies they were in it discourages me from listening to more.

That’s just awful. A commentary (and any special feature really) should have intrinsic entertainment value. The risk of a commentary is pretty high although there are plenty of resources to check out whether a commentary is worth it or not. Roger Ebert’s were worthwhile.

[Vigojean]

Originally Posted by tatterdemalion

It's not the borrowing that would be the problem, it's the can you make the borrowing into your own style that counts, like classical composers variations on a theme.

I agree, but today’s directors just aren’t good at even mimicking the old masters. They’re too slavish…or too cringey. At least for me. Anyway, I just got done arguing with Gen Z about why ‘90s hip-hop is better than modern rap, so I’m too tired to have this conversation. It’s the same thing, just different art form.

[BaronVH]

On a different note, just got around to Phoenix. What a wonderful film. It may have some of the best acting I have seen in anything. That is a nuanced masterpiece.

[Sifox211]

I give up on boring commentaries but many are worthwhile; some highlights I recall are Moonrise Kingdom, Wild Strawberries and Portrait of a Lady on Fire (AE, sorry).

[nitin]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

It's gone quickly from predicting how they'll lose money by not releasing UHDs to predicting how they'll lose money by releasing UHDs, and nobody's even seen one yet.

Next round will be why is Criiterion releasing only so and so on 4k, they would make more money if they released more popular titles.

[cgpublic]

Originally Posted by BaronVH

On a different note, just got around to Phoenix. What a wonderful film. It may have some of the best acting I have seen in anything. That is a nuanced masterpiece.

Agreed. If you haven’t yet got around to Transit, that was one of the Top 3 films of 2019 for me (on Blu via Music Box), and his latest, Undine, is now available on digital via iTunes and others.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by jw007

I'm one who rarely listens to the commentary track while watching a film. I've done it a handful of times for specific movies I really love. But normally if there's an audio commentary (or two or more), I won't re-watch the film and listen to the commentary. I think its about 2 or 3% of the time I'll listen to a commentary track.

I would suggest you try out the Stephen Prince commentaries on the Kurosawa releases and the Tony Rayns commentaries (I recall In the Realm of the Senses and Vampyr, there could be others). They are great at providing analysis and context. Prince's Kagemusha commentary is especially a tour de force, providing a lot of the historical background and comparing it with the story that Kurosawa was telling, while also discussing the stylistic techniques.

[Namuhana]

I would also suggest any commentaries done by Ian Christie. He's so knowledgeable and easy to listen to.