The Criterion Collection

[Lannister1098]

Bought these movies from my first ever Criterion flash sale:

Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2 Box Set

Kuroneko Blu-ray

Blow Out 4K

Black Moon Blu-ray

(Hopefully I did good with this haul)

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

The Chantal Akerman set is the first time an entire Eclipse set has been upgraded to BD. On the downside, it looks like the Eclipse set has been removed from Criterion's site, and appears to have gone OOP.

I am 99% sure that the Czech set will be upgraded to BD soon.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by dvining

I hate being a responsible adult.

I hate being any kind of an adult. Outside of sex and driving, there aren't a whole lot of advantages to being an adult over being a kid.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Lannister1098

Bought these movies from my first ever Criterion flash sale:

Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2 Box Set

Kuroneko Blu-ray

Blow Out 4K

Black Moon Blu-ray

(Hopefully I did good with this haul)

I'd say so! Those Scorsese sets are fascinating and BLOW OUT is arguably DePalma's best film and looks superb in 4K. KURONEKO is beautiful and a wonderful movie to watch on Halloween so fire it up when it gets to you!

[Al_The_Strange]

The minute I saw the sale go life I jumped on the site and ordered these few, which were on my mind the most lately:



Took another look at the collection today and decided to splurge on this lot:



These will keep me busy for a while. Would have jumped on Moonage Daydream and The Trial as well, but I had those ordered already on a gift certificate. Still looking forward to ordering Mean Streets in November.

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

... While I'm at it, was there a B-locked disc of After Hours? Is the American Blu-ray A-locked? I'm thinking maybe I got a B-locked disc, and that's why it won't play. "The disc does not meet the specifications" of my Region A/Region 1 player. If that's not what caused this mess, then I'm officially stumped.

The UK release is marked as region B, although I understand these are not made in Mexico, so it would be a mystery you having one! Can you try the top menu trick?

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

There has to be someone on the internet who's doing Scanovo versions of Criterion Digipacks. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, maybe even TikTok. (I was shocked to know there's a huge collecting community on TikTok.) Also, there's r/Criterion on Reddit, there might be someone on there who does this.

I know because I've seen covers going around that I know aren't real (for instance, the Criterion cover for The Devils), and between the ink and the paper they look 100% real.

If I knew how to use my computer I'd start making the covers myself. There's at least 100 of these by now.

There is someone on the forum here who does these covers - he did a fantastic set for the Godzilla and WKW sets. A search in their threads will probably turn up the results.

[Taylor3978]

Originally Posted by ravenus

League of Gentlemen is important in the history of heist films, moving from the gritty noir of Asphalt Jungle to caper films where you're asked to identify with the robbers (hence Topkapi, The Italian Job, etc).

[mande2013]

Originally Posted by ravenus

I remember people saying something like, Studio Canal was not interested in cherry-picking licensors - they transferred a bulk license for a huge chunk of catalog to Lionsgate in the US. So Criterion was not able to renew licenses for Third Man, Man Who Fell to Earth, Ran, Paris, Texas and several other movies. Apparently, they still have David Lynch only because of Lynch's special relationship with the people at Criterion. That's what I heard anyway.

This was Studio Canal’s policy for a time in the early 2010s when dozens of Criterion licenses were being terminated in quick succession, but I think they eventually relented when it was clear LG wouldn’t be handling the bulk of their catalog as intended. So now they’ve gone back to licensing films to boutiques like Kino and Criterion. Paris, Texas never went OOP by the way, but several formerly OOP Canal titles have returned to CC like Le Cercle Rouge, Army of Shadows, Pierrot Le Fou, all the Tati titles, and the three seventies Bunuel films. A bunch of others subsequently went to Kino. A few, however, did remain with Lionsgate like Contempt, Ran, and The Man Who Fell To Earth.

[dvining]

Originally Posted by CRASHLANDING

I usually try to add 1 Eclipse set to my order during each sale, even though most of those films are available on the Channel. I tend to agree they won't be available forever and who knows what will happen with streaming. I enjoy having some deep catalog stuff even on DVD.

I should pick up the Kobayashi and Lubitsch sets.

It seems like my hopes of a Kobayashi Blu-ray boxset are never going to happen, and whoever it was at Criterion that drove Lubitsch releases seems to be gone.

The Smiling Lieutenant on DVD > no Smiling Lieutenant at all in my collection.

[Egbert Souse]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

The Chantal Akerman set is the first time an entire Eclipse set has been upgraded to BD. On the downside, it looks like the Eclipse set has been removed from Criterion's site, and appears to have gone OOP.

Second, as the entirety of Agnes Varda in California is included within The Complete Films of Agnes Varda (and even takes up one BD-50).

[Martin_31]

It has been three years since I’ve placed an order during a Flash Sale. Too long. I finally bought Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol. 1, since I really need to continue watching foreign cinema, and I decided to add Girlfriends since I really enjoy films that capture the environment, the zeitgeist, the texture, of cities.

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

I hate being any kind of an adult. Outside of sex and driving, there aren't a whole lot of advantages to being an adult over being a kid.

When do those two advantages kick in?

[Shane Rollins]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

The UK release is marked as region B, although I understand these are not made in Mexico, so it would be a mystery you having one! Can you try the top menu trick?



There is someone on the forum here who does these covers - he did a fantastic set for the Godzilla and WKW sets. A search in their threads will probably turn up the results.

What I'm wondering is is the Blu-ray set for both Region A and Region B, or just Region B? I think if they accidentally locked more American discs for the wrong region there'd be a big deal about it, but maybe one somehow managed to slip into the US stock.

I initially thought the disc was blank, but when I realized the disc was actually displaying something for a few seconds, that's when I realized that the disc actually had content on it. If the disc does this every time I clean it, and it does it in every player I try, and the players just keep saying "The disc does not meet the specifications", what else could it be? The disc is literally spotless.

Aside from replacement programs (CK, A Hard Day's Night, etc), has anyone with one bad disc ever got a replacement from Criterion?

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by Taylor3978

League of Gentlemen is important in the history of heist films, moving from the gritty noir of Asphalt Jungle to caper films where you're asked to identify with the robbers (hence Topkapi, The Italian Job, etc).

Eh, I identified far more with the characters of The Asphalt Jungle than I did with anybody in Topkapi.

This statement sounds like a reach.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Egbert Souse

Second, as the entirety of Agnes Varda in California is included within The Complete Films of Agnes Varda (and even takes up one BD-50).

Oh nice. Forgot the Varda one.

[Rayjg]

Originally Posted by Mushi Minion

Have you tried running it through the dishwasher? If that doesn’t work, toss it in with your next load of laundry, like-colors only.

I know you're joking but dammit if this doesn't work for me every time! The wife is always *****ing "who put another load of Criterions in the wash!"

[Taylor3978]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

Eh, I identified far more with the characters of The Asphalt Jungle than I did with anybody in Topkapi.

This statement sounds like a reach.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6zkf6c

Perhaps I should have said, a more light-hearted take on the heist movie.

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

What I'm wondering is is the Blu-ray set for both Region A and Region B, or just Region B? I think if they accidentally locked more American discs for the wrong region there'd be a big deal about it, but maybe one somehow managed to slip into the US stock.

I initially thought the disc was blank, but when I realized the disc was actually displaying something for a few seconds, that's when I realized that the disc actually had content on it. If the disc does this every time I clean it, and it does it in every player I try, and the players just keep saying "The disc does not meet the specifications", what else could it be? The disc is literally spotless.

Aside from replacement programs (CK, A Hard Day's Night, etc), has anyone with one bad disc ever got a replacement from Criterion?

The UK UHD set has the "B" symbol on the back; apart from a few special cases, Criterion don't seem to dual encode their BDs, even when there are simultaneous UK and US releases.

I have a not-very-good region A Samsung player and it has problems playing quite a few of my US Criterions. I've definitely seen that message before. All of them when tried in my Panasonic UB300 with the top menu trick play flawlessly.

Clearly some pressings are marginal and don't like some players. I'd contact Criterion for a replacement.

[CRASHLANDING]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Three of those movies were released on BD in the UK by Network. Sadly, Network seems to have folded up now.

That's encouraging that this should be a good set!

[speedracer5]

Originally Posted by Shane Rollins

Push come to shove, go to B&N next month. Call the store now though, and blow their phone up. They'll know you really want it and get it in stock for the sale.

I don't know how many stores are near you, but play it safe and work all their phones.

Yeah. I'll check B&N. There are 4 stores in the Portland Metro Area. I have $15 credit there. If I can get that $125 set for $47, that'd be a great deal and worth it for all the Dietrich and von Sternberg in Hollywood films.