The Criterion Collection

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by dbhl3000

Barnes & Noble 50% off?

Always.

[hawkikwah]

Just caught Lynch / Oz which was freagin INCREDIBLE. I’ve seen a good chunk of Alexandre O Phillipe’s movies before but this may be my fave.

Was surprised to see the Janus logo title card preceding the film. Guess we’re going to be seeing a Criterion release of this in the future?
That’s like coffee & cherry pie

[Professor Echo]

LA BAMBA and THE TRIAL are great films in my opinion, but my Blus will suffice for both.

WALKABOUT on the other hand is a sure buy on 4K, pending reviews.

Nothing else for me in the new batch, but happy for those who dig them.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Scottie

Give me Ozu set Criterion. PLEASE.

I’ll take it from any competent label. Nice solid Blu transfers with a minimum of fuss is fine by me, but not a huge bank busting 4K LE with overflowing extras that I might watch once. There are some directors I truly appreciate getting a bursting of everything, but with Ozu I’d be happy with every film looking magnificent on Blu and leaving it there. He’s a director I like to invest my own thoughts and reflections over, not have it done for me. And I can’t keep buying all these once in a lifetime releases that continually keep coming out once in a lifetime. YMMV.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by dancerslegs

Surprised no one's created dedicated threads yet for the newly-announced titles.

No one is this thread does it but I think there are accounts whose sole purpose is to be the first to create a new thread for a given release. Almost like the new discussion page is opened and ready to fill in title, paste press details, and then submit.

[The Sovereign]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

No one is this thread does it but I think there are accounts whose sole purpose is to be the first to create a new thread for a given release. Almost like the new discussion page is opened and ready to fill in title, paste press details, and then submit.

There must be an amazing reward for whoever racks up the most of those.

[MifuneFan]

Earlier today, I watched Ozu's Early Summer (1951) at the Film Forum. This was my first screening of their ongoing Ozu 120 retrospective, and actually my first time seeing the film as well, which I loved. Unlike most of Ozu's family dramas, which typically centered around a parent / child relationship, this movie features three different generations living under one roof. So, we get to see all kinds of interesting family dynamics at play throughout the film, from grandfather / grandchild, sister / sister-in-law, etc... All told in that wonderfully balanced, and humorous tone that Ozu has made an artform.

The film was shown from a 35mm print, and the screening was virtually sold out, which in itself, as a fan of cinema, gave me a heartening feeling. This is now the 5th Ozu film I've watched to coincide with the retrospective. I'll be seeing An Autumn Afternoon from a 4K restoration in theater later this week (and Floating Weeds, my fav, next week!). I'll probably make a post with some brief impressions of all the movies I've seen at the end.

[OceanBlue]

Regarding last week's latest batch/set of Criterion US announcements, the title which stood out for me was The Trial.

I don't have a 4K set-up, so I'm weighing up the options of whether to get the Criterion US Blu-ray release or Studiocanal's UK 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray release (the transfer is important of course, but my mind is focused at the moment on the extras/bonus features).

Shall be adding the Criterion US Blu-ray release of The Princess Bride (released a few years ago) to the list of Criterion US titles I want to get.

[Shane Rollins]

Is there a B&N Criterion sale thread, or do we just talk about that here? Just wondering before I crap all over this thread.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

Is there a B&N Criterion sale thread, or do we just talk about that here? Just wondering before I crap all over this thread.

Usually there is a separate thread, created once the sale has been confirmed in some manner. So far radio silence.

[mande2013]

I’m just responding to a discussion that was admittedly had several weeks back on this thread regarding the differences between Criterion’s current release strategy and that of circa 2010. I think the changes are merely a product of the changes in the physical media market. Criterion(along with Kino and others) essentially shifted from catering to the «*arthouse crowd*» to catering to the «*home theatre crowd*». Those two camps don’t always overlap in my experience, although they sometimes do. Even so, a lot of rep house dwellers in my experience will go «*pft*» when you address the advantages of 4K over 2k. I experienced this first hand about a month ago in fact when I went to see the 4K restoration of Le Mepris in the cinema. To cut to the chase, when DVD was still king a business model based on catering to the arthouse crowd that centered primarily around keeping the standards in circulation when they wouldn’t be touched by the studios was sustainable, due to how widespread DVD itself was.. By standards I mean Fellini, Ozu, Renoir, Bergman, French New Wave, Antonioni, Kurosawa, etc. along with some less popular studio titles the rights holders would be reluctant to properly treat themselves like Heaven Can Wait or The Scarlett Empress. However, as the market shifted, a lot of traditional cinephiles who perhaps weren’t hung up on cutting edge home theatre technology probably lost interest in discs meaning Criterion had to start catering more to the Blu-ray.com crowd to stay in the physical media business and that meant more Arrow-y type releases and less cherry-picking from Susan Sontag’s favorites list.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by mande2013

I’m just responding to a discussion that was admittedly had several weeks back on this thread regarding the differences between Criterion’s current release strategy and that of circa 2010. I think the changes are merely a product of the changes in the physical media market. Criterion(along with Kino and others) essentially shifted from catering to the «*arthouse crowd*» to catering to the «*home theatre crowd*». Those two camps don’t always overlap in my experience, although they sometimes do. Even so, a lot of rep house dwellers in my experience will go «*pft*» when you address the advantages of 4K over 2k. I experienced this first hand about a month ago in fact when I went to see the 4K restoration of Le Mepris in the cinema. To cut to the chase, when DVD was still king a business model based on catering to the arthouse crowd that centered primarily around keeping the standards in circulation when they wouldn’t be touched by the studios was sustainable, due to how widespread DVD itself was.. By standards I mean Fellini, Ozu, Renoir, Bergman, French New Wave, Antonioni, Kurosawa, etc. along with some less popular studio titles the rights holders would be reluctant to properly treat themselves like Heaven Can Wait or The Scarlett Empress. However, as the market shifted, a lot of traditional cinephiles who perhaps weren’t hung up on cutting edge home theatre technology probably lost interest in discs meaning Criterion had to start catering more to the Blu-ray.com crowd to stay in the physical media business and that meant more Arrow-y type releases and less cherry-picking from Susan Sontag’s favorites list.

I don't think anyone is saying that Criterion has become more commercial in its release strategy, and they certainly don't have Arrow-y type releases, unless they're doing a Cliver Barker / Frank Hennenlotter box I don't know anything about. I think most of the complaints made by some people here are about Criterion abandoning known classics (by which it typically means not upgrading their DVD's of the same) and kowtowing to social media pressure about greater representation of films made by or dealing with ethnic minorities, releasing films that fall in these categories even when it doesn't match up to whatever expectation of great cinema these elites have their in their minds.

[gbm82]

Originally Posted by ravenus

I don't think anyone is saying that Criterion has become more commercial in its release strategy, and they certainly don't have Arrow-y type releases, unless they're doing a Cliver Barker / Frank Hennenlotter box I don't know anything about. I think most of the complaints made by some people here are about Criterion abandoning known classics (by which it typically means not upgrading their DVD's of the same) and kowtowing to social media pressure about greater representation of films made by or dealing with ethnic minorities, releasing films that fall in these categories even when it doesn't match up to whatever expectation of great cinema these elites have their in their minds.

don't get my hopes up

[mande2013]

Well I love many of the WCP selections they’ve released. Some like Pixote and Memories of Underdevelopment are now among my all time favorite films, but I still think those releases are incidental to the overall shift of their release strategy. Within the past ten years they’ve certainly released a lot more post-1970 English-language films than they did during the 2000-2010 timeframe when they essentially branded themselves as the physical media home of “classic black and white foreign films”. Of course films like Amarcord and Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie are post-1970 and in color but they’re still honorarily part of that same category as are the Powell and Pressburger films.

Also, what are some classic Criterion titles that are still DVD only, barring OOP titles like Grand Illusion? Obviously they could probably release The Bad Sleep Well on Blu-ray using an older master, but they probably wouldn’t bother at this point.

Now that I think of it, Viridiana, Cria Cuervos, and Ordet are all shockingly MIA on Criterion Blu-ray. Likewise Spirit of the Beehive, Shoot The Piano Player, Trouble In Paradise, and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by mande2013

and less cherry-picking from Susan Sontag’s favorites list.

I was curious about her lists, so I looked up one. Bolded are those that Criterion has already released on Blu-ray. Those in red are ones I know Criterion has rights to, but there may be others I'm unsure about (like the Rivette and Bertolucci films). A couple they used to have rights to but are now OOP.

Susan Sontag’s top 50 favourite films:

Pickpocket – Robert Bresson, 1959
2001: A Space Odyssey – Stanley Kubrick, 1968.
The Big Parade – King Vidor, George Hill, 1925.
Ossessione – Luchino Visconti, 1943.
High and Low – Akira Kurosawa, 1963
Hitler: A Film from Germany – Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, 1977.
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her – Jean-Luc Godard, 1967.
The Taking of Power by Louis XIV – Roberto Rossellini, 1966.
La Règle du jeu – Jean Renoir, 1939.
Tokyo Story – Yasujirō Ozu, 1953.
Gertrud – Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1964 OOP
Battleship Potemkin – Sergei Eisenstein, 1925
The Blue Angel – Josef von Sternberg, 1930.
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler – Fritz Lang, 1922.
L’Eclisse – Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962.
A Man Escaped – Robert Bresson, 1956.
Napoléon – Abel Gance, 1927.
Man with a Movie Camera – Dziga Vertov, 1929.
Judex – Louis Feuillade, 1916.
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome – Kenneth Anger, 1954.
Vivre Sa Vie – Jean-Luc Godard, 1962.
Fists in the Pocket – Marco Bellocchio, 1965.
Children of Paradise – Marcel Carné, 1945.
Seven Samurai – Akira Kurosawa, 1954.
Playtime – Jacques Tati, 1967.
The Wild Child – François Truffaut, 1970.
L’Amour Fou – Jacques Rivette, 1969.
Stachka – Sergei Eisenstein, 1925.
Greed – Erich von Stroheim, 1924.
The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach – Jean-Marie Straub, 1968.
Padre Padrone – Vittorio Taviani, Paolo Taviani, 1977.
Muriel – Alain Resnais, 1963.
Le Trou – Jacques Becker, 1960.
Beauty and the Beast – Jean Cocteau, 1946.
Persona – Ingmar Bergman, 1966.
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972.
Intolerance – D. W. Griffith, 1916.
Contempt – Jean-Luc Godard, 1963.
La Jetée – Chris Marker, 1962.Crossroads – Bruce Conner, 1976.
Chinese Roulette – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1976.
The Grand Illusion – Jean Renoir, 1937. OOP
The Earrings of Madame De… – Max Ophüls, 1953.
The Lady With the Little Dog – Iosif Kheifits, 1960.
Les Carabiniers – Jean-Luc Godard, 1963.
Lancelot of the Lake – Robert Bresson, 1974.
The Searchers – John Ford, 1956.
Before the Revolution – Bernardo Bertolucci, 1964.
Teorema – Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968.
Mädchen in Uniform – Leontine Sagan, 1931.

You can see they've certainly already released the vast majority of eligible titles that are on her favorites list. I think that's one of the problems with the argument of comparing Criterion today to criterion of the past. It'd be impossible for them to match the level of arthouse classics they put out back then simply because they already put them out. Some of the most notable ones missing would be from Kurosawa, but I don't want to open a can of worms about that again.

I would also argue that, even though they're no doubt releasing a lot more "mainstream" or films geared towards home theater crowds, they're still doing a number of releases that are no doubt geared more towards arthouse. Among others, I would classify all of these as belonging to the arthouse rather than home theater category, and this is just from the first half of the year so far.

We have to consider that the market itself has drastically changed from 10 years ago. Physical media sales have declined, a lot of people have transitioned to streaming, and Criterion faces huge competition in the boutique label arena compared to back then. So, while I'm sure they'd love to find a better ratio between their arthouse and mainstream titles, they absolutely need those mainstream ones to survive. Their move to 4K is obviously another factor. They're not going to move a lot of classic arthouse titles on 4K as compared to something like After Hours, or Thelma and Louise.

A similar argument about how Eureka has changed happens from time to time in the UK thread. They used to release a ton more silent and classic films, but now release more HK / Martial arts films than anything else. But Eureka has stated that if not for those, they wouldn't have survived the last few years. So these boutique labels need to adapt to changing times.

[mande2013]

Two of the three films in red actually have been physically released by Criterion: High and Low and Taking of Power.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by mande2013

Two of the three films in red actually have been physically released by Criterion: High and Low and Taking of Power.

Fixed High and Low. I was actually thinking of The Bad Sleep Well because you had mentioned it in your post . They've only released Taking of Power on DVD I believe. The ones above are meant to be ones they've released on Blu-ray, rather than in general.

[mande2013]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

We have to consider that the market itself has drastically changed from 10 years ago. Physical media sales have declined, a lot of people have transitioned to streaming, and Criterion faces huge competition in the boutique label arena compared to back then. So, while I'm sure they'd love to find a better ratio between their arthouse and mainstream titles, they absolutely need those mainstream ones to survive. Their move to 4K is obviously another factor. They're not going to move a lot of classic arthouse titles on 4K as compared to something like After Hours, or Thelma and Louise.

A similar argument about how Eureka has changed happens from time to time in the UK thread. They used to release a ton more silent and classic films, but now release more HK / Martial arts films than anything else. But Eureka has stated that if not for those, they wouldn't have survived the last few years. So these boutique labels need to adapt to changing times.

I actually planned on amending what I said earlier by making roughly the same observation. Also, I find it amusing that two of the recent arthouse releases you listed have UHD releases in Europe: The Servant and Teorema.

P.S. I’d expect Rules of the Game to fall into that “classic foreign film unlikely to move many UHD units” category, but it could have just been a passion project on their part.

That begs another question. Which classic canon directors that Criterion have represented well on 1080p Blu-ray could we imagine still being unrepresented on the UHD Blu-ray format in 2030? Fellini may make it to UHD but Mizoguchi or Bresson?

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by mande2013

I actually planned on amending what I said earlier by making roughly the same observation. Also, I find it amusing that two of the recent arthouse releases you listed have UHD releases in Europe: The Servant and Teorema.

True, it is a shame they couldn't do a 4K of The Servant as well, unless they couldn't get the 4K rights from Studiocanal or something. Same thing with a couple other SC licensed titles like Tales of Hoffman, though in that case SC has yet to do a 4K themselves.

[mande2013]

All in all, I feel the so-called legacy Janus titles of which The Seventh Seal and The 400 Blows are prime examples are commercially viable on UHD. Stuff like Gertrud and Mouchette not so much. One would expect L’Avventura to be a legacy title, but that one seems quite a bit less popular than the likes of The Seventh Seal, The 400 Blows, and Seven Samurai, and even Breathless.