The Criterion Collection

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

So happy to see you came around to stopping the off topic posts that you started and want to get this thread back on track. The Kaurismaki DVD sets were great but I won’t give up my Kaurismaki Artificial Eye Blu-Ray set from England.

Yeah, I hate derailing threads... so... we're back.

Can you think of any other director aside from Kaurismaki and Jarmusch that used such a level of deadpan humor in their films? I am trying to think of a third director like those two but am having a hard time coming up with a name (and I'm not going to do a Google search cause that's too easy).

[scarletlion]

Originally Posted by jw007

Yeah, I hate derailing threads... so... we're back.

Can you think of any other director aside from Kaurismaki and Jarmusch that used such a level of deadpan humor in their films? I am trying to think of a third director like those two but am having a hard time coming up with a name (and I'm not going to do a Google search cause that's too easy).

Herzog's 'Strozsek' is alot like a Kaurismaki film. I've only seen a couple of Emir Kusturica films but they have a level of humour that is a little dead pan.

Mike Leigh? Ruben Ostluund definitely has dead pan comedy in his films.

Bong Joon Ho? Sean Baker?

[gudemameshiba]

Originally Posted by jw007

To change the subject, how many people here miss the Criterion Eclipse cult films series?

I still love my Aki Kaurismäki Eclipse 12 and 29 DVD box sets.

I've always thought that a lot of the Criterion Channel-only titles—especially many of the Japanese films—would have been destined for Eclipse sets if the sales for that line had remained strong enough.

In the "explainer" after the first dual-format releases were announced in 2013, Peter Becker wrote, "We could stop making DVDs, but that would mean cutting off 40 percent of our customers, including most schools, libraries, and universities. We could just take the DVD out of print after its initial run, but we have always strived to keep all our titles in print as long as we have the rights to them."

To state the obvious, the landscape of physical media has changed a lot in the ensuing decade, so it's not necessarily a surprise that this is no longer true, but it is no longer true.

The Eclipse line seemed to be a destination for masters that were not worthy of mainline (let alone Blu-ray) release and for which Criterion deemed a new restoration to be economically unfeasible. It is heartening to see films "rescued" from that line, but in those cases—the early Bergmans, The Ascent, and Daisies—new restorations were completed by the rightsholders and only licensed by Janus/Criterion. (I excluded Agnès Varda in California because I'm not sure the masters on the Blu-ray are actually from newer restorations.)

I honestly don't have any knowledge of their institutional sales, but I strongly suspect that many "schools, libraries, and universities" have shifted more towards digital access, which they already were accustomed to, such as with scholarly publications available through JSTOR or whatever. An institutional subscription allows multiple users to access the same film at the same time. Not to mention that many students do not have access to an optical drive of any kind! The last Mac to ship with a built-in CD/DVD drive had already been on the market for over a year when Criterion first went dual-format.

I'd imagine that's a significant chunk of what previously would have been Eclipse Series DVD purchases!

Kanopy sidebar under the spoiler cut:

[Show spoiler]At present I don't think there is such a thing as an institutional subscription to the Criterion Channel, but some of the catalog is available via Kanopy. I am very curious how long that contract will last. Starting in 2019, a bunch of institutions started dropping it (or limiting to "curated mode"), including the New York Public Library.

Also, I never paid super close attention to what was included, as I was already a Criterion Channel subscriber. Has Kanopy's Criterion selection always been thin, or is that a change over time? Justwatch indicates that over three quarters of Kanopy's catalog is from the last 22 years. is that accurate??

[Scottie]

Do any of you know top tier websites or apps for 4K iPhone wallpaper?

I’d love some Criterion or similar arthouse movie photos for Lock Screen backgrounds.

[alexrinse]

Originally Posted by jw007

Yeah, I hate derailing threads... so... we're back.

Can you think of any other director aside from Kaurismaki and Jarmusch that used such a level of deadpan humor in their films? I am trying to think of a third director like those two but am having a hard time coming up with a name (and I'm not going to do a Google search cause that's too easy).

Elia Suleiman

[jw007]

Originally Posted by alexrinse

Elia Suleiman

Fascinating. I just watched the trailer to Divine Intervention (2002) and there was a music cover of "I Put a Spell on You" from Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Very Jarmuschian use of music.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by scarletlion

Herzog's 'Strozsek' is alot like a Kaurismaki film. I've only seen a couple of Emir Kusturica films but they have a level of humour that is a little dead pan.

Mike Leigh? Ruben Ostluund definitely has dead pan comedy in his films.

Bong Joon Ho? Sean Baker?

How could I forget Kusturica!

[jordan-r]

Originally Posted by gudemameshiba

I honestly don't have any knowledge of their institutional sales, but I strongly suspect that many "schools, libraries, and universities" have shifted more towards digital access, which they already were accustomed to, such as with scholarly publications available through JSTOR or whatever. An institutional subscription allows multiple users to access the same film at the same time.

I buy media for an academic library and can speak to this a little, though everyone's situation is different. The way things roll with digital access can be grim, honestly. Digital access should logically not break the bank, but in practice it means that you have to pay more for access to fewer films. In my library we still buy a lot of Criterion DVDs, and they do circulate.

[RojD]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Streaming is good for checking out movies for the first time before buying but the only way to achieve maximum fluidity™ is through a UHD blu-ray.

Also as a backup when there's a problem with your physical media. When I was watching Days of Being Wild from the Wong Kar Wai set, it froze about 3/4 of the way thru. Argh! I had to finish it, so I streamed the rest on the Criterion Channel.

At least I found out what happened with the rest of the story, but the picture quality was awful, esp. compared to the quality on the BD which I'd been watching the first part of the evening.

Two lessons: 1) I love the quality on my physical media (when it works)! and 2) Criterion has great customer service. They replaced all my defective discs in that set.

[wabrit]

Originally Posted by jw007

To change the subject, how many people here miss the Criterion Eclipse cult films series?

I still love my Aki Kaurismäki Eclipse 12 and 29 DVD box sets.

I've actually recently started buying some of the Eclipse sets I was missing - the Duvivier set is an absolute corker, and so worth overcoming my "but its not HD/restored" internalised bias. I love the Eclipse line too.

[critterdvd]

Originally Posted by jordan-r

I buy media for an academic library and can speak to this a little, though everyone's situation is different. The way things roll with digital access can be grim, honestly. Digital access should logically not break the bank, but in practice it means that you have to pay more for access to fewer films. In my library we still buy a lot of Criterion DVDs, and they do circulate.

Similar situation here. Most 'streaming' options available to libraries are also only available via token systems so the library pays for each user, regardless if they actually use their tokens. Also, could be possibly due to our location near Los Angeles, but we are always getting physical media donations that make sense to add to the collection.

However I can also confirm that when both a DVD and Blu-ray are available for the same content to users, 4 out of 5 will check out the DVD. It actually kinda alarming the amount of people who admit that they watch almost all their disc content on old laptops to boot.

[regeyer]

Originally Posted by critterdvd

However I can also confirm that when both a DVD and Blu-ray are available for the same content to users, 4 out of 5 will check out the DVD. It actually kinda alarming the amount of people who admit that they watch almost all their disc content on old laptops to boot.

This doesn't surprise me at all. There are people who watch movies on their phones, laptops, and undersized TV screens. Plus, many people watch TV and movies while playing games on their phones, texting constantly, all while sitting too far away from the screen. Why would they even consider the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray, let alone 4K UHD?

The reality is that only a minority of people have an adequate HDTV setup, including proper seating distance, screen size, and lighting, to make a noticeable different between DVDs, Blu-Rays, and 4K UHDs.

[Burt Lancaster]

I really wish watching movies on phones/tablets/laptops wasn't a thing. I don't consider doing that even watching the movie. Sickening.

Also, many people have 60 fps set on their tvs with sharpness set above "0". When I go to someone's house I wait for them to leave, then I have 2 minutes to figure out their remote and tv menu to fix their picture settings because if I am caught, they'd tell me to change it back, despite it looking worse.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Burt Lancaster

I really wish watching movies on phones/tablets/laptops wasn't a thing. I don't consider doing that even watching the movie. Sickening.

Also, many people have 60 fps set on their tvs with sharpness set above "0". When I go to someone's house I wait for them to leave, then I have 2 minutes to figure out their remote and tv menu to fix their picture settings because if I am caught, they'd tell me to change it back, despite it looking worse.

If someone held me hostage and forced me to watch a movie on my phone, I still wouldn't do it.

Same goes for movies on airplanes. I've never once been able to watch a movie on an airplane, whether it was 20-30 years ago before each chair had a personal display monitor and the whole flight showed a movie during a long international flight, or today when you have a choice of hundreds of films/tv shows you can watch while in flight.

Has anyone else here also had a hard time watching movies on airplanes? (that is assuming you've taken a long airplane flight). I mean, I understand its great for passing the time, but being a cinephile, I need a much less distracting environment to watch in.

[mclellandj]

I watch blockbusters on the plane that i haven't gotten around to. Like Marvel movies or Lion King or Jumanji. Stuff like that. It's perfectly fine for those situations.

[CRASHLANDING]

Originally Posted by jw007

Same goes for movies on airplanes. I've never once been able to watch a movie on an airplane.

Has anyone else here also had a hard time watching movies on airplanes? (that is assuming you've taken a long airplane flight). I mean, I understand its great for passing the time, but being a cinephile, I need a much less distracting environment to watch in.

I guess my thought is that I'd rather watch a movie under sub-optimal circumstances versus sleeping or staring at the back of the chair in front of me. My other choice would be reading, but I read plenty at home and don't like reading for hours at a single seating.

Originally Posted by mclellandj

I watch blockbusters on the plane that i haven't gotten around to. Like Marvel movies or Lion King or Jumanji. Stuff like that. It's perfectly fine for those situations.

Interesting, as I think just the opposite. Blockbusters & CGI intensive films designed for theatrical experiences don't work for me on tiny airplane screens. Nor do subtitled films. Instead, I tend to watch indie films or character dramas where a smaller screen matters less. I'll still save the movies I most want to see for home.

Of course, a proper setup would be better for pretty much any film, but I enjoy using my travel time for stuff I might not otherwise watch.

[Egbert Souse]

Originally Posted by jw007

To change the subject, how many people here miss the Criterion Eclipse cult films series?

I still love my Aki Kaurismäki Eclipse 12 and 29 DVD box sets.

Eclipse seemed to be made redundant by The Criterion Channel, which is a far more appropriate way to get films available to the public that either don't have enough selling power or have acceptable masters for Blu-ray. Plus, we can see HD versions for many of the titles.

The only Eclipse I own is Lubitsch Musicals and even that seems like something waiting to be made redundant by a wave of Kino Lorber Blu-rays (can't imagine them passing on them unless Criterion also has the Blu rights). I did used to own the Malle Documentaries and Bernard double feature, but the latter had UK Blu-rays for years.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Egbert Souse

Eclipse seemed to be made redundant by The Criterion Channel, which is a far more appropriate way to get films available to the public that either don't have enough selling power or have acceptable masters for Blu-ray. Plus, we can see HD versions for many of the titles.

The only Eclipse I own is Lubitsch Musicals and even that seems like something waiting to be made redundant by a wave of Kino Lorber Blu-rays (can't imagine them passing on them unless Criterion also has the Blu rights). I did used to own the Malle Documentaries and Bernard double feature, but the latter had UK Blu-rays for years.

I would agree that the advent of Criterion's streaming service has all but killed (or better yet eclipsed) the Eclipse DVD series. I do love the sets though as a physical media collector, and if I had more shelf-space I'd buy a lot more of them. The Late Ozu set is easily one of my best purchases.

For me, even as a subscriber to the service, there's still something more engaging and exciting about browsing your movie shelf and picking out a particular film from a set like that. I don't feel carries over as well to browsing movies on a streaming service.

I think aesthetically, the sets look really nice lined up together too (image source):



I would actually love if Criterion offered up an option to browse the eclipse sets virtually with the cover art/packaging displayed. It won't quite be the same as physically browsing, but better than sifting through lists of movies, or cross-referencing it with Criterion's site to find a specific film from a set.

[DukeTogo84]

The Eclipse sets were great. Had all of the Japanese ones, and I do wish they would upgrade a few or even release new sets on Blu-ray too as a lot of these titles are actually in HD now.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

The Eclipse sets were great. Had all of the Japanese ones, and I do wish they would upgrade a few or even release new sets on Blu-ray too as a lot of these titles are actually in HD now.

It seems that a couple years after the eclipse sets got the axe, a low key initiative was started to slowly roll out the best known titles on bluray. We have had these two released since 2021: