The Criterion Collection

[prior]

Not an answer to your question but I think Edge of the City would be a good fit for Criterion.

[iamnoone]

CRITERION: This was brought up in the Warner Archives thread and needs to be repeated.

PLEASE release Ken Russell's "THE MUSIC LOVERS" from your ridiculous jail. You license classics (this one from MGM) and then lock them away for 10 years or more. Any other boutique like Kino would have licensed the film and released it years ago, but you are sitting on it, depriving movie fans of seeing these classics.

I know you mean well, and go after the best films like this one, but by sitting on it and other classics for a decade, you are doing more harm to super film buffs than good. If you ever do release these things, us older film fans that would buy it are now DEAD, good luck with that.

Please surrender these classics you obviously don't really care about releasing back to their studios, take a loss, and let others who WANT to release these films to do so.

All due respect, but your release schedule can't keep up with all the titles you licensed for years, sit on forever, and never release. You are practically as bad as the major studios who simply won't sub-license and don't put anything of their own out themselves. But you are actively licensing titles to HOLD THEM BACK. Wow, outside of Synapse who takes forever over a few cult films, you guys are the absolute worst in this licensing and doing NOTHING regard, and for CLASSIC films.

Stop sitting on these titles and holding them back for YEARS. Release them or surrender them. I'm 60, tired of waiting. I'll be dead before you put out "The Music Lovers". End of rant.

Bring on the Criterion apologists. I'll read them all, , yes I will, but will not respond to any. I've spoken and nothing else will change my view. Tear me up!!! I can take it!

[prior]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

I've spoken and nothing else will change my view.

No point in arguing with you then.

[iamnoone]

Originally Posted by prior

No point in arguing with you then.

No you can please state your counterpoints, please do. I won't mind that. I didn't mean to imply to close down the discussion of people feeling otherwise. It could be very interesting, or it could just fizzle out. I know there are many who may disagree with my opinion, and that's fine and welcome. Speak up, I'll read them. I won't argue back, that's all.

[MifuneFan]

Do we even know for sure that Criterion has The Music Lovers?

[ravenus]

Watched World on a Wire (WoaW) last night (on the UK 2-BD set from Second Sight)

Directed by RW Fassbinder (based on an American SF novel called Simulacron-3), WoaW deals with the concept of a future world where advances in computers have made it feasible to design a simulated human society that can be tested with different conditions to study their impact (in the film it is used as a tool to predict market trends). The virtual humans are unaware of their origins and believe themselves and their world to be real. Of course things go wrong, and shit hits the fan both in the simulated and real (or is it?) worlds. Made in 1979 as a 2-parter for German TV spanning a total of 200 min, the film has been ascribed as a possible inspiration for The Matrix, but its own tone is more Philip K. Dick, concerned with social satire and emotional impact. While WoaW may not have bullet time and the crazy action scenarios of the Wachowskis film, it is very visual in its own way (the slightly greenish tinge over the characters, at least in the restored version - approved by DoP Michael Balhaus - seems to be a precursor to the color palette used by them), and frequently uses extended tracking and 360 shots aided beautifully by the striking set design and the physicality of lead actor Klaus Löwitsch. WoaW is a film that IMO will require more than one viewing to fully absorb, and the ending may not entirely satisfy some looking for a more explosive climax, but it is an intriguing SF feature from a film-maker not normally known in the genre.

[latehong]

Originally Posted by iamnoone

CRITERION: This was brought up in the Warner Archives thread and needs to be repeated.

PLEASE release Ken Russell's "THE MUSIC LOVERS" from your ridiculous jail. You license classics (this one from MGM) and then lock them away for 10 years or more. Any other boutique like Kino would have licensed the film and released it years ago, but you are sitting on it, depriving movie fans of seeing these classics.

I know you mean well, and go after the best films like this one, but by sitting on it and other classics for a decade, you are doing more harm to super film buffs than good. If you ever do release these things, us older film fans that would buy it are now DEAD, good luck with that.

Please surrender these classics you obviously don't really care about releasing back to their studios, take a loss, and let others who WANT to release these films to do so.

All due respect, but your release schedule can't keep up with all the titles you licensed for years, sit on forever, and never release. You are practically as bad as the major studios who simply won't sub-license and don't put anything of their own out themselves. But you are actively licensing titles to HOLD THEM BACK. Wow, outside of Synapse who takes forever over a few cult films, you guys are the absolute worst in this licensing and doing NOTHING regard, and for CLASSIC films.

Stop sitting on these titles and holding them back for YEARS. Release them or surrender them. I'm 60, tired of waiting. I'll be dead before you put out "The Music Lovers". End of rant.

Bring on the Criterion apologists. I'll read them all, , yes I will, but will not respond to any. I've spoken and nothing else will change my view. Tear me up!!! I can take it!

I respectfully suggest you send your suggestion to suggestions@criterion.com, their official email account for that specific purpose (which has been available for years), instead of calling them "you" here on this thread as if there were a Criterion employee whose sole duty is to monitor all the random suggestions online and report interesting ones to the related persons.

[romuald121]

Originally Posted by latehong

I respectfully suggest you send your suggestion to suggestions@criterion.com, their official email account for that specific purpose (which has been available for years), instead of calling them "you" here on this thread as if there were a Criterion employee whose sole duty is to monitor all the random suggestions online and report interesting ones to the related persons.

Funny thing I did that. I suggested them to release Young Sherlock Holmes 1985 on bluray through the email mentioned. I know they are not at my sole service and getting rights for a film is more complex than meets the eye but they never even acknowledged my film bluray proposal at all as if they saw the email and deleted it right away. Makes you wonder about their CSR skills. Also, the company seems more or else tone deaf when taking suggestions from fans, they really seem to operate as they wish. Their catalog appears to me to be targeted to a niche market or to appeal to masses when it comes to bundle like Dietrich collection. No in between and certainly no suggestions taken from fans.
EDIT: and they like to recycle a lot of their titles from dvd to bluray to 4k bluray. I am not sure anyone was asking for Mulholland drive to be be put on 4k after a bluray and dvd release, but that's just one of the many corporate only decision that has little to do with any fanbase the movie has

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by romuald121

Funny thing I did that. I suggested them to release Young Sherlock Holmes 1985 on bluray through the email mentioned. I know they are not at my sole service and getting rights for a film is more complex than meets the eye but they never even acknowledged my film bluray proposal at all as if they saw the email and deleted it right away. Makes you wonder about their CSR skills. Also, the company seems more or else tone deaf when taking suggestions from fans, they really seem to operate as they wish. Their catalog appears to me to be targeted to a niche market or to appeal to masses when it comes to bundle like Dietrich collection. No in between and certainly no suggestions taken from fans.
EDIT: and they like to recycle a lot of their titles from dvd to bluray to 4k bluray. I am not sure anyone was asking for Mulholland drive to be be put on 4k after a bluray and dvd release, but that's just one of the many corporate only decision that has little to do with any fanbase the movie has

I'll let someone else delve into your completely wrong hot take on Mulholland Drive and other upgrades, but as far as emails go, they clearly say on their site they don't respond to all, but do a read them all. I know for certain they've listened to at least a couple of my suggestions, including commissioning an artist I suggested. They probably get inundated with suggestions on a daily basis, so it's perfectly understandable they can't respond personally to each and every one. Questioning their "CSR skills" because you didn't receive a response to your request is beyond ridiculous.

If you would like to suggest a title, please write to suggestions@criterion.com. Though we are not able to personally reply to all suggestions, our acquisitions staff reads all of them and appreciates hearing from you

[jkoffman]

Why do I get the feeling that if Criterion did release The Music Lovers that people would still complain just as much about the Intermission music being in mono or some other such thing.

[CrossRhodes94]

I don’t know where to ask this. But I’ve seen Criterion classified as this, so I thought it’d be okay to ask here. Anyway, what is a “boutique label” what is that and why is criterion labeled that?

[DimitriL]

Originally Posted by romuald121

Funny thing I did that. I suggested them to release Young Sherlock Holmes 1985 on bluray through the email mentioned. I know they are not at my sole service and getting rights for a film is more complex than meets the eye but they never even acknowledged my film bluray proposal at all as if they saw the email and deleted it right away. Makes you wonder about their CSR skills. Also, the company seems more or else tone deaf when taking suggestions from fans, they really seem to operate as they wish. Their catalog appears to me to be targeted to a niche market or to appeal to masses when it comes to bundle like Dietrich collection. No in between and certainly no suggestions taken from fans.
EDIT: and they like to recycle a lot of their titles from dvd to bluray to 4k bluray. I am not sure anyone was asking for Mulholland drive to be be put on 4k after a bluray and dvd release, but that's just one of the many corporate only decision that has little to do with any fanbase the movie has

This post is a prank, right? It was SUPPOSED to sound like an entitled, grouchy teenager communicating on the internet for the first time, right?

If so, bravo! You nailed the tone of privileged insolence *perfectly.*

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by CrossRhodes94

I don’t know where to ask this. But I’ve seen Criterion classified as this, so I thought it’d be okay to ask here. Anyway, what is a “boutique label” what is that and why is criterion labeled that?

For one, they’re not one of the major studios releasing their own films. Boutique companies curate their own releases and typically appeal to a niche market. For example, a boutique might focus on classic Chinese cinema. Criterion began with repertory and art house films and primarily still does.

[romuald121]

Originally Posted by DimitriL

This post is a prank, right? It was SUPPOSED to sound like an entitled, grouchy teenager communicating on the internet for the first time, right?

If so, bravo! You nailed the tone of privileged insolence *perfectly.*

No it's not, it reflects the catalogue of Criterion.

BTW, the company was founded in ****1984*****, if you can't get a CSR to respond to every suggestion; at least have an automated messaging system say: we got your message and we will refer it to management or to the people that be, then your company is failing big time given that it wasn't created yesterday.

As for Mulholland Drive, it is a 2001 flick, can't see how a 4K upgrade will bring in regards to details or to anything else. The blu-ray was the best restoration. Most likely their 4K will have color tweaking (they like to do that refer to La piscine 1969 blu-ray 4K restored) here and there to make it look as if they made an effort.

It is just a movie that they still have the rights for in their library, might cost them 2 dimes (figure of speech for the people that don't understand it) to put it on 4K. Milking/recycling the already owned titles is their milk and butter. You should just look at their releases from 1984 till now a lot of double/triple dipping of the same titles (VHS-DVD-Blu-ray).

Their catalogue has little to nothing to do with user suggestion so good luck getting a response from them if they didn't delete your email or just completely disregarded it

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by romuald121

No it's not, it reflects the catalogue of Criterion.

BTW, the company was founded in ****1984*****, if you can't get a CSR to respond to every suggestion; at least have an automated messaging system say: we got your message and we will refer it to management or to the people that be, then your company is failing big time given that it wasn't created yesterday.

As for Mulholland Drive, it is a 2001 flick, can't see how a 4K upgrade will bring in regards to details or to anything else. The blu-ray was the best restoration. Most likely their 4K will have color tweaking here and there to make it look as if they made an effort.

It is just a movie that they still have the rights for in their library, might cost them 2 dimes to put it on 4K. Milking/recycling the already owned titles is their milk and butter. You should just look at their releases from 1984 till now a lot of double/triple dipping of the same titles (VHS-DVD-Blu-ray).

Pretty much everything you just said here is so misinformed that you’re not gonna find many here who will bother trying to follow up with you on this. They’ve always been a niche company that curates their own releases, not asking for your help. As you said, they’re still around after decades, so I can’t imagine they’ve been waiting all this time to hear from you. Do you walk into a restaurant, demand to see the manager, and then tell them how they should make their menu?

Whenever I’ve sent Criterion a question, they’ve always responded.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

Pretty much everything you just said here is so misinformed that you’re not gonna find many here who will bother trying to follow up with you on this. They’ve always been a niche company that curates their own releases, not asking for your help. As you said, they’re still around after decades, so I can’t imagine they’ve been waiting all this time to hear from you. Do you walk into a restaurant, demand to see the manager, and then tell them how they should make their menu?

Whenever I’ve sent Criterion a question, they’ve always responded.

IDK, he reminds me of the guy who would tell CS this because he demands satisfaction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXMlL_cr8eo

[romuald121]

Originally Posted by StarDestroyer52

IDK, he reminds me of the guy who would tell CS this because he demands satisfaction

I am not demanding a reply to my suggestion. It's not like I am demanding to talk to the president of the company.

Every well respected company that sells a product has a customer service rep that acts as a representative of the company that relays the message to higher management.

If that small customer service representative isn't even there or is overwhelmed with all the messages that they receive that even an acknowledgement cannot be sent for a message that you send, then the company is failing or it's only putting out what they think will sell and disregard fans or user suggestion.

If the small CSR saw my message and said oh well, even management wouldn't give a damn about what movie you would like us to put out so why even reply to you or acknowledge = there's your problem.

[DimitriL]

Originally Posted by romuald121

No it's not, it reflects the catalogue of Criterion.

BTW, the company was founded in ****1984*****, if you can't get a CSR to respond to every suggestion; at least have an automated messaging system say: we got your message and we will refer it to management or to the people that be, then your company is failing big time given that it wasn't created yesterday.

As for Mulholland Drive, it is a 2001 flick, can't see how a 4K upgrade will bring in regards to details or to anything else. The blu-ray was the best restoration. Most likely their 4K will have color tweaking (they like to do that refer to La piscine 1969 blu-ray 4K restored) here and there to make it look as if they made an effort.

It is just a movie that they still have the rights for in their library, might cost them 2 dimes (figure of speech for the people that don't understand it) to put it on 4K. Milking/recycling the already owned titles is their milk and butter. You should just look at their releases from 1984 till now a lot of double/triple dipping of the same titles (VHS-DVD-Blu-ray).

Their catalogue has little to nothing to do with user suggestion so good luck getting a response from them if they didn't delete your email or just completely disregarded it

Oh good grief. They spelled out how they deal with suggestions. They don’t respond, but they read every one of them. Didn’t get a cold robot response? Boo hoo.

Mulholland Drive was shot on 35mm film. Film has a ridiculously greater range of color and detail and resolution than 1080p BDs can support. We’re not talking Inland Empire here.

And moving to a format capable of much greater resolution and fidelity is not, uh, “double dipping.” (And while Janus and Home Vision brought out a few titles on VHS, Criterion never did, so I’m not sure why you brought THAT format up. Just to be clear, VHS is the boxy thing with magnetic tape, and laserdiscs are big shiny discs, which is what Criterion specialized in at first. You seem confused.)

But sure, you’re horrified that they didn’t respond to your brilliant suggestion of, uh, Young Sherlock Holmes, so I guess that speaks for itself. That reminds me, I need to drop a suggestion to get the groundbreaking disco masterpiece Can’t Stop the Music into the collection.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by romuald121

I am not demanding a reply to my suggestion. It's not like I am demanding to talk to the president of the company.

Every well respected company that sells a product has a customer service rep that acts as a representative of the company that relays the message to higher management.

If that small customer service representative isn't even there or is overwhelmed with all the messages that they receive that even an acknowledgement cannot be sent for a message that you send, then the company is failing or it's only putting out what they think will sell and disregard fans or user suggestion.

If the small CSR saw my message and said oh well, even management wouldn't give a damn about what movie you would like us to put out so why even reply to you or acknowledge = there's your problem.

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by latehong

History of Criterion Flash Sales (all on Tuesdays except where otherwise noted)

My guess for the next flash sale is Oct 19th.

Originally Posted by hariseldon

8-Sep-2011 THURS
24-Sep-2012 MON
1-Oct-2013 TUES
9-Oct-2014 THUR
6-Oct-2015 TUES
17-Oct-2016 MON
17-Oct-2017 TUES
16-Oct-2018 TUES
15-Oct-2019 TUES
20-Oct-2020 TUES



14-Feb-2012 TUES
26-Feb-2013 TUES
25-Feb-2014 TUES
10-Mar-2015 TUES
23-Feb-2016 TUES
28-Feb-2017 TUES
13-Feb-2018 TUES
5-Mar-2019 TUES
25-Feb-2020 TUES
23-Feb-2021 TUES

Updated the last summary.

4 years in a row, the Oct Sale has been 3rd Tuesday so Oct 19th is a good guess. Even 2016 I think was supposed to be the 3rd Tuesday, but for some odd reason they moved it to Monday and moved the Tuesday releases to Monday to match.

The reddit link is either dead or blocked for me though the wording looks pretty familiar.