The Criterion Collection

[Purplenoon]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I'm back home from seeing Akira Kurosawa's Ran at the Paris Theater here in NYC. I was actually going to go see it yesterday, which would have cost $16, but when I visited the site I found out they were now participants of National Cinema Day, so I got to see it for just $3.00! This was my first time visiting the Paris Theater, which is the only remaining single-screen theater in the city. Its located right in the heart of 5th Avenue too, across the street from the famous Plaza Hotel, around the corner from luxury shops like Bergdorf Goodman, and Tiffany's and many others The theater had actually closed down in 2019, but thankfully Netflix came to its rescue and saved it. The theater is pretty nice, with traditional red velvet auditorium-style seating. There's also a balcony level, which I will have to try the next time I visit.

Seeing Ran in theaters was such an incredible experience. The epic scale of this film benefits from seeing it on the biggest screen possible. Hearing the film's booming score, with its haunting drums, gunfire, and hoofbeats added as much to the experience for me as its visuals. Like Throne of Blood, it manages to completely transport Shakesepeare's work into a Japanese setting. Its battle scenes are some of the greatest on film, and Tatsuya Nakadai gives one of the best performances of his impressive (and still ongoing) acting career. It is a masterpiece created by a legend, whom at the age of 75 already had a full career of masterpieces behind him.

You were really lucky to have seen RAN on the big screen, and especially on the Paris screen. I was vacationing in southern Maine in the summer of '85 when RAN was released. I drove over two hours to see it in a small arts theater in Bangor, Maine. It was spectacular to say the least, and certainly worth the drive. As for the Paris, it is a landmark cinema in NYC. I saw many films there in the 1960s, but never at $16. You should frame that $3 ticket. I last remember seeing a Criterion film there in 1967: I AM CURIOUS YELLOW. I am glad to see the theater has reopened. Those single screen theaters need preserving. There are so few left anywhere in America.

[Burt Lancaster]

https://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&...148694&i=0&l=0

Take a look at the screens for Sanjuro. JP is leagues better. When we gettin' that box set????

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by kingdoxie

Been in the CC since 2018

Technically since 2008. That’s why I’m confused.

[NeoNical]

Regarding the Au Hasard Balthazar theatrical rights, I'm still a bit confused on what really happened, but this is what I think:

Criterion's 2005 DVD was distributed by Home Video Entertainment, which was a partnership between Criterion and Rialto Pictures (Who owned a handful of StudioCanal titles). Of course, the ending of their partnership led to Criterion's biggest loss of titles, having them to make an announcement where customers should buy the soon-to-be OOP titles before they ran out of stock on their sites.

Rialto Pictures owned this title for a while. I don't know what exactly happened in 2017 and 2018 but we do know that the Janus Films logo appeared on Criterion's 2018 Blu-ray (On back cover). Interestingly enough (At least for me), Film Forum was screening this for their Homage to Anne Wiazemsky selection, stated as "A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE."

Rialto Pictures has owned this for a long time (I recall connecting Rialto's name with this film a few times so the possibility that Rialto had the rights until now is possible) but Janus Films seems to have gotten theatrical rights now.

Here's one theory that I had: Maybe Criterion got the rights through HVE but lost it because of their partnership, then got the rights back to the film THROUGH the company that owned the film in the first place, Argos Films (Maybe Svensk Film Industri as well but probably not). Janus Films got the home video rights from Argos (Which is why the name was on the back cover of 2018 Blu-ray), Rialto kept the theatrical rights until this year.

This probably wasn't the first Criterion title that they lost because of HVE and then re-obtain rights through Janus Films (Don't want to put any examples of titles out in case of misinformation). It's a bit hard making sense of what went on at first, but I think the theory I presented is pretty solid (Or maybe not because I was getting sleepy towards the end of writing this post).

[jw007]

While I'm out here shooting documentary footage whilst simultaneously upgrading my lenses, I came across this VERY interesting article about filmmakers and their choice of lenses/focal lengths.

For example, directors like the Coen Bros. like to use 27mm for their films while guys like Ridley Scott primarily use long focal lengths such as 75mm. Then you have directors like Hitchcock who used 50mm (closest to the natural field of view) and Kubrick who opted for super wide angles like 10mm or 18mm. People like Kurosawa liked to shift between 35-50mm lenses and Francis Coppola favors 40mm. There's a whole list of directors and their lens choices if you scroll to the bottom of the link below.

It's truly fascinating to me how different directors like to shoot with different lenses for different focal lengths to achieve different results, and its making me inspired to try different lenses myself as I'm out here filming in the high desert.

https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/fav...ilm-directors/

[NeilZ]

What a great article, thanks for sharing!

[jw007]

Here's another video I found excellent that compares spherically shot films (ie. Terrence Malick or Stanley Kubrick) vs. anamorphic films (ie. Wes Anderson or Quentin Tarantino).

The Difference Between Anamorphic And Spherical Lenses Explained - YouTube

[Cremildo]

Kyle MacLachlan's Closet Picks! - YouTube

[CineClassics]

Does anyone know how the Criterion distribution rights work? For instance, if Criterion has distributed a DVD of a film from Paramount 20 years ago, and no other distributor has released the film on blu-ray since that time, is it safe to assume Criterion still holds the distribution rights to the film?

[willyumm]

I've been skeptical of all the Peaks release hope and hype, but now I'm at least a little more convinced that it's plausible by the way Kyle MacLachlan brings up Being There's influence on Dougie Jones, saying "Again I borrowed or was inspired by let's say, again, for the Dougie character in Twin Peaks the Return," as if he had just recently been talking about Dougie Jones...for an interview supplement maybe? To be fair there is also some footage cut out between him taking Being There off the shelf and talking about it, so maybe he's only referring to something he said that was cut out...or to be more hypeful maybe they cut that out because he says something about an upcoming release? In any case it's one of the better closet videos, and just about all of his picks are favorites of mine.

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Kyle MacLachlan's Closet Picks! - YouTube

That was awesome, one of the best down to earth actors on the planet.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by drush9999

That was awesome, one of the best down to earth actors on the planet.

Him and Bruce Campbell should have had more prolific careers.

[spacekitty]

Originally Posted by willyumm

I've been skeptical of all the Peaks release hope and hype, but now I'm at least a little more convinced that it's plausible by the way Kyle MacLachlan brings up Being There's influence on Dougie Jones, saying "Again I borrowed or was inspired by let's say, again, for the Dougie character in Twin Peaks the Return,"

Ah, makes sense.

[HipsterTrash]

Well I wasn't anticipating Criterion to release that film.

[Ender14]

Wow!



https://www.criterion.com/films/3324...ov-2022-wall-e

[Abdrewes]

I just saw the WallE email. Whaaaaaat?

[SanCarolina59]

I guess this answers if Criterion’s dealing with Disney or not.

[Bradsdadg]

Checking date for April Fools...

[TolerancEJ]

Wow! I had deleted the email and needed to dig it out again to confirm the posts here. I will go for this one too.

[MifuneFan]

This is the most out of left field thing I've seen in a long time. Wow