The Criterion Collection

[Snicket]

I was at B&N today and saw their new free membership program. Breaks down to spend $100 get $5. Better than nothing I guess and it’s free so no complaints here. Should come in handy for a sale.

[latehong]

Originally Posted by gudemameshiba

This may not mean anything, but fourteen Warner Archive DVDs are back in print, of which over half were released by Criterion in the intervening years:

Released by Criterion on DVD:
Barcelona (spine #807)
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (spine #842)
Blow-Up (spine #865)
Lost in America (spine #887)
The Breaking Point (spine #889)
Show Boat (spine #1021)
Crash (spine #1059)
The Learning Tree (spine #1107)

(I suspect that the Criterion DVD editions of these titles will not be reprinted.)

Back in print after at like half a decade at least:
The 7th Victim/Shadows in the Dark
Gummo
The Lusty Men

Back in print after a shorter period of time:
Petulia
Scaramouche
The Year of Living Dangerously

Something tells me that all of these titles were with Criterion. My guess is that for the ones that were not released, DVD rights (or at least exclusivity) was reverted but Criterion retained Blu-ray rights, in keeping with their retreat from DVD releases. The other possibility, if they were indeed with Criterion, is that the licenses have lapsed outright.

(For what it's worth, plenty of other Warner's titles that Criterion has released on DVD remain unavailable from Warner Archive.)

...which coincides with a Criterionforum.org comment I just read:

Here's a blast from the past. This is a list of directors who had phantom pages appear on the old site appear at the same time back in 2016:

Edward Sedgwick - The Cameraman
Tod Browning - ?
Harmony Korine - ?
John Cameron Mitchell - Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Raoul Walsh - High Sierra
Mervyn Leroy - ?
Irving Rapper - Now, Voyager
George Sidney - ?
James Whale - Show Boat
George Stevens - Woman of the Year, Swing Time

Most of the directors listed have had titles already released and it's obvious that these were a part of the WB deal since the titles listed are all licensed from WB, so the missing titles should be from them as well. I'm presuming that the missing titles are for Freaks, Gummo (or julien donkey-boy, since Criterion did say that it would be possible for them to release a Dogme title), Scaramouche, and either Little Caesar or I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.

[dkelly26666]

This is an out of left field suggestion, but with Criterion now having released a couple of Ousmane Sembene's films (Black Girl, Mandabi), I wonder if they may ever get to his swan song, the powerful, "Moolaade"?

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by dkelly26666

This is an out of left field suggestion, but with Criterion now having released a couple of Ousmane Sembene's films (Black Girl, Mandabi), I wonder if they may ever get to his swan song, the powerful, "Moolaade"?

I don’t feel it’s a left field suggestion, but I stop hope they get it and release it. I also want Camp de Thiaroye!

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by gudemameshiba

Back in print after at like half a decade at least:
The 7th Victim/Shadows in the Dark

If this means the possibility of a WAC release of The 7th Victim, I'd say YAY!!!

[mande2013]

One thing I will say regarding blu-ray to 4K upgrades is that in certain cases they're upgrading rather antiquated blu-ray releases that could have used an upgrade to a 4K-sourced 1080p disc regardless. In those cases it seems less bothersome.

The already available standalone releases of The Seventh Seal and Rules of the Game were sourced from dated masters. The same is true of Wings of Desire. On the other hand, Mulholland Drive already had a 4K-sourced blu-ray, but are people seriously going to say 'no' to Lynch in 4K? Should 2001(not Criterion, I know, but still) not get a UHD, because it already has a decent blu-ray? Come on. Let's be reasonable here.

Perhaps titles like Virgin Suicides, A Hard Day's Night, In The Mood For Love, and Night of the Living Dead didn't need to be UHD priorities.

I'd wager "old foreign films" that already have solid 4K-sourced standalone releases like L'Avventura, Au Hazard Balthazar, and An Autumn Afternoon are going to be less of a priority on the UHD front unlike The 400 Blows, for instance. I was about to mention La Dolce Vita, as well, but the standalone is out of print.

In short, I don't have a problem with blu-ray to UHD upgrades if the original blu-ray is heavily dated, which wasn't the case with The Virgin Suicides or A Hard Day's Night and isn't the case with L'Avventura or Balthazar.

[garyd97]

Originally Posted by Mike0284

Yes.

Was Princess Bride shown in the same book packaging as the blu ray?

[mande2013]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

I think balance is key between upgrade to 4K titles and new to Blu-ray titles, as well as titles people have been asking for. This is where Criterion is falling on its face. I think Arrow, VS, Severin, Kino, and Shout are striking the right balance. I really believe Criterion needs to release more titles if one or even TWO of their monthly titles are upgrade to 4K titles with the same features as the Blu-ray, but simply better resolution.

Personally, Criterion has struck me as the old man in Up who refuses to budge and just does things their way even if it ends up hurting them. Who knows, but it's ok to sublicense, or to do more than 5 titles a month. Speaking of Up, they probably will give that a release and it will sell 20,000 copies in a week.

If anything, I'd argue Criterion releases too many films compared to Arrow and BFI. With Arrow, Carlotta, and BFI a UHD title is always an "event" of sorts and from a commercial standpoint treating it as an "event" seems to work like gangbusters. Granted, Kino does seem to crank out UHD titles at a frenetic pace.

However, I also think the market for cinephile-friendly media is in a very different place today than it was 12-15 years ago, so I'm not sure blaming Criterion for not "sticking to their roots" is entirely fair.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by aim4theacez

To everyone whos going “where the Japanese films? Want the Japanese films,” you’ve got a shot coming up to show support: Branded to Kill.

I mean, think about it. Yes its a 4K reissue, but more than anything, I see it as a test to see interest in older JP cinema both on UHD and in general. Criterion are pretty smart and follow trends. If they see that more modern films are selling like gangbusters and maybe outselling the classics they are associated, theyll license as many as they can. Ditto on the Wall-E point from earlier. They go where the money is. You’ve got a golden opportunity here: show interest for classic cinema on UHD, JP cinema on UHD and classic JP cinema.

You wont see The Man Who Stole the Sun (or any big “holy sh*t finally” JP title) randomly pop up amongst the upcoming titles out of the blue (although we all would lose our minds if it did, lets be honest here). If they see good sales and interest in classic JP cinema, then they will probably do more. Its just a smart way to run a business. If it cant make money, why take a huge gamble on a title like that on an unproven format for JP cinema in the west? Maybe we’ll even see the big K’s titles on UHD if it sells good.

I’ve only bought one Criterion title when it wasnt during a sale, but I guess now it will be two. I’ll be doing my part. If you really want more JP titles but don’t show interest by buying the newer ones, you’ve got nobody to blame but yourself.

First, I would LOVE to see The Man Who Stole the Sun on Blu-ray. Third Window wanted to to do it, but Toho made it an expensive proposition. Still, they are willing to license it.

Second, I want to show support for Japanese films, but don't want to buy Branded to Kill on 4K? Why? I'm 100% satisfied with the Blu-ray. Which is where my issues lie, sure everything could look better, but where does it stop? I've had the the Branded to Kill Blu-ray for years and never thought anything better would come out because it already looked pretty damn good. Same with Time Bandits. The Blu-ray is impeccable. Impeccable. I understand some users are obsessed with making sure they have the very best something could look, but a lot of these presentations already look better than the films did theatrically.

I want more Japanese films, but I don't want to throw my money away for something that is practically the same thing. If they had gone for a Suzuki film that didn't have HD representation in the US like Youth of the Beast or Underworld Beauty, I'd throw my money at them all day long, but I'm not going to just give them my money for something that is practically the same product.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by mande2013

If anything, I'd argue Criterion releases too many films compared to Arrow and BFI. With Arrow, Carlotta, and BFI a UHD title is always an "event" of sorts and from a commercial standpoint treating it as an "event" seems to work like gangbusters. Granted, Kino does seem to crank out UHD titles at a frenetic pace.

With the amount of titles they actually have, I would say they are moving too slow. Way too slow. I'm sure someone here has a chart or something, but curious who has put more new to HD disc titles in 2023 so far? Arrow or Criterion? I'd say it would probably be Arrow, but maybe that Italian boxset pushed Criterion over the edge. Not sure.

[kwillard37]

Originally Posted by garyd97

Was Princess Bride shown in the same book packaging as the blu ray?

It was just on the "June titles announced!" graphic on the homepage. The art was the same, but who knows if it'll still be in the book or not. I hope!

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

With the amount of titles they actually have, I would say they are moving too slow. Way too slow. I'm sure someone here has a chart or something, but curious who has put more new to HD disc titles in 2023 so far? Arrow or Criterion? I'd say it would probably be Arrow, but maybe that Italian boxset pushed Criterion over the edge. Not sure.

I'm countng new to BD as new to the US market:

Criterion:

Bergman Island
Inland Empire
Europe Trilogy (3 films)
Last Hurrah for Chivalry
Medicine for Melancholy
Romeo and Juliet
Pasolini (8 films)
Petite Maman
The Servant
Small Axe (5 films)*
Targets
This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection
Triangle of Sadness
Marguerite Duras (2 films)

Total: 23 (*28 if counting Small Axe, see edit below)

Plus Small Axe, which I'm not sure how to count as it's considered a TV series, but has several films included. This is Not a Burial, also includes a feature-length documentary film "Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film" as well.

edit: The sub-header of Small Axe states it as "Five films by Steve McQueen". So depending if you accept that, Criterion's total goes to 28.

Arrow

Assassination Bureau
Black Sunday
.Com for Murder
Executioner Collection (2 films)
Hand of Death
Heart of Dragon
Knockabout
Lady Whirlwind / Hapkido (2 films)
Lover's Lane
Lukas Moodysson collection (7 films)
Millionaires' Express

Total: 19

[mande2013]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

With the amount of titles they actually have, I would say they are moving too slow. Way too slow. I'm sure someone here has a chart or something, but curious who has put more new to HD disc titles in 2023 so far? Arrow or Criterion? I'd say it would probably be Arrow, but maybe that Italian boxset pushed Criterion over the edge. Not sure.

Are you talking about Pasolini 101? A decent number of those titles are in fact not 'new to HD disc' if we count UK releases too, but 7/9 of them are new to North American HD disc. Medea and Teorema are the outliers.

But if the idea is "ditch the Gilliam 4Ks and instead frenetically crank out 1080p discs of the Naruse, Carlos Saura, Kinoshita, et al. back catalogs" I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to that.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by mande2013

Are you talking about Pasolini 101? A decent number of those titles are in fact not 'new to HD disc' if we count UK releases too, but 7/9 of them are new to North American HD disc. Medea and Teorema are the outliers.

New to BD should only be what's new to the US market in my opinon. I mean, if we factored what's new to BD in general, more than half of Arrow's list would be wiped away too since they were released by 88 films or Eureka in the UK, and some from Imprint in Aus.

[gudemameshiba]

Originally Posted by ravenus

If this means the possibility of a WAC release of The 7th Victim, I'd say YAY!!!

We can hope! George Feltenstein has hinted that 2023 is going to be a Warner's-heavy year thanks to the centennial, and the RKO library needs a lot of work, but there aren't many bigger ones that don't have Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in them. (I will have to try to find out what materials survive for The 7th Victim.)

Originally Posted by gudemameshiba

(For what it's worth, plenty of other Warner's titles that Criterion has released on DVD remain unavailable from Warner Archive.)

I should note that the WAC DVD-R of Deep Cover appears to be in print, and I don't know if it ever went out of print, even though the Criterion DVD of Deep Cover states "under exclusive license from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment" (emphasis mine).

[trobrianders]

Just heard back from Criterion on the subject of blus included in 4k packages:

For 4K catalog upgrades where we've previously released a Blu-ray edition, the same Blu-ray is included in the 4K combo edition. It is not a new encode/Blu-ray from the new 4K restoration. For new 4K releases of titles not previously released by Criterion on Blu-ray, the 4K disc and the Blu-ray disc are from the same (new) 4K restoration.

[NeilZ]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Second, I want to show support for Japanese films, but don't want to buy Branded to Kill on 4K? Why? I'm 100% satisfied with the Blu-ray. Which is where my issues lie, sure everything could look better, but where does it stop? I've had the the Branded to Kill Blu-ray for years and never thought anything better would come out because it already looked pretty damn good. Same with Time Bandits. The Blu-ray is impeccable. Impeccable. I understand some users are obsessed with making sure they have the very best something could look, but a lot of these presentations already look better than the films did theatrically.

I want more Japanese films, but I don't want to throw my money away for something that is practically the same thing. If they had gone for a Suzuki film that didn't have HD representation in the US like Youth of the Beast or Underworld Beauty, I'd throw my money at them all day long, but I'm not going to just give them my money for something that is practically the same product.

I get that point of view, but I do agree with him that the best way to show Criterion we want more Japanese movies is to support these upcoming 4K's (Branded to Kill, and presumably Profound Desires of the Gods, although that one's not been announced yet).

Although we can assume they probably have the intention of doing a comprehensive Kurosawa release somewhere down the line, beyond that we have no idea what they're planning for Japanese movies. We get very few Japanese releases and very few that have the potential of selling well. Branded to Kill on UHD is one of these that could do fairly well. at the moment supporting this UHD release is the best thing we can do to encourage them to do more.

[mande2013]

I preordered Branded to Kill from their site but used two gift codes and am only paying like $32 with tax and shipping included (having it shipped to family in the US). Oops.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by NeilZ

I get that point of view, but I do agree with him that the best way to show Criterion we want more Japanese movies is to support these upcoming 4K's (Branded to Kill, and presumably Profound Desires of the Gods, although that one's not been announced yet).

Although we can assume they probably have the intention of doing a comprehensive Kurosawa release somewhere down the line, beyond that we have no idea what they're planning for Japanese movies. We get very few Japanese releases and very few that have the potential of selling well. Branded to Kill on UHD is one of these that could do fairly well. at the moment supporting this UHD release is the best thing we can do to encourage them to do more.

Yeah, but it's not a necessary release for me because I already have the film and am happy with it. If Criterion had started with Profound Desires of the Gods as their first Japanese UHD? Then that would have been an instant purchase for me because I don't have it on any format as it's never been released in HD in the US at least. I don't need another Branded to Kill when I already have one that I'm 100% content with. I'll double dip in a heartbeat if the current transfer has a lot of room for improvement, but Branded to Kill already looked very nice.

[Mike0284]

Kino strikes again.



https://kinolorber.com/product/the-n...e-hunter-4kuhd