The Criterion Collection

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Don't forget the third insufferable group! The complainers of the complainers! There is so much complaining going on this site, that it should just be called complaining.com

I already got that domain name locked up Duke!

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by lemonlimebeats

I guess the wait for Raise the Red Lantern to come to HD/4K (aside from the limited-time Imprint Zhang Yimou boxset that's long out-of-print) will have to chug on a little longer...but all of these Asian films coming to HD for the first time is still great news regardless. I just hope Red Lantern won't be too much longer...it premiered at a film festival in 4K over a year ago and it's been crickets since.

it’s not OOP there’s a standard edition



plenty of festival 4K restorations have never made it to disc

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by aladdin123

There are people who can be respectful. When a Criterion line-up is not for them, they'll just say "not for me", and that's fine. My criticism is against those people who think that a line-up has to be specifically catered to them and get angry at Criterion (I'm looking at DukeTogo84 getting angry and even almost wishing the end of Criterion because he dislikes how common 4K upgrades from them have become). I hate all sorts of entitlement. This is art, not a McDonald's. There's no list that is going to please everyone, so the complaining is pointless. And if you want to say that calling a line-up great is, by the same token, also pointless, then go ahead, it would be coherent with my criticisms. There are people in the WAC thread who get pissed off whenever Warner Archive announces any animation, it's like animation is not deserving of releases!

There are some people who only want 4K upgrades of big titles and couldn't care less about new to HD little known films, and they are loudly and angrily voicing how much they dislike August's line-up. And there are people who only want the new to HD releases of little known films, and they love to loudly and angrily voice how much they disliked June and July's line-ups. Both groups are insufferable.

But all of that is the very nature of a FORUM. Without the back and forth and opposite ends of the spectrum you wind up with a press release, not a conversation.

I understand your point and can sympathize with you to a degree as the constant negativity can be exhausting. My issue is when a thread is devoted to a single release and it always follows the exact same pattern:

1. Posts react to announcements and immediately start to imagine the worst and express their hopes all turns out well.

2. Release happens and early reviewers express very positive notices for it. Others on the thread start getting their copies in and echo the preliminary reviews, praising everything about the disc. This goes on for days and more and more share their praise and positive excitement.

3. One person comes in and posts that he disagrees with everyone else because a person’s shoe in the movie is not clear enough to show where the knot is. Others join in then about the shoelace “issue” and suddenly start complaining about all sorts of other problems with the release.

4. Finally someone enters and asks when the recall of the disc will happen and when replacement copies with all the “fixes” will be issued.

Yes, this drives me crazy, especially since it seems to happen constantly. So I do understand your points of contention with the repetition of reactions on this site, but with any forum, everyone has an opinion on everything and it needs to be spoken, even just to keep the conversation going.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by poisonmail

Where are you going with this? Dawn of the Discs is notorious for posting specious information online, MifuneFan didn’t make that up.

Just seeing if there is a pattern of trying to diminish other contributors. I have no idea who DAWN OF THE DISCS is and I see I have them on my Ignore list here so I guess at some point I decided I could live without their posts. Sometimes people are trying very hard to establish solid reputations and don’t take well to competition. As this thread had a second attempt to clarify a situation with another member who was known for breaking release news, I was trying to inquire if MifuneFan harbored any ill will toward others doing the same thing. In other words, basic human nature.

[TheZeppo]

Originally Posted by themp3000

That August slate is insane.

This kind of month is why I love Criterion.

I must admit that I don't know any of these titles, but the enthusiasm for each and every one of them is enough to fuel my curiosity.

I tend to view a month like this as a reason to expand my horizons and check out physical media releases that I might have dismissed or overlooked in the past. I see an influx of JP/HK/TW/Asian titles that I've never given a second glance cropping up across many different labels that mean quite a lot to others that are overjoyed at their release.

I chalk this up to my having missed out somehow along the way and plan to check these titles out while I still have the chance to have them in my collection.

Thanks to Criterion and those that share their enthusiam for these releases in this forum. Duly noted.

[Sommerswerd]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDGACubU99g

[Colonel Blimp]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Don't forget the third insufferable group! The complainers of the complainers! There is so much complaining going on this site, that it should just be called complaining.com

Complaining? Are you living in 1987?

It's 4Komplaining.com

Get with modern times grandpa.

This month's releases are all interesting - none will be instant buys, but Cairo Station and Shoeshine are both titles on my radar.

[OceanBlue]

Only the one title out of the latest batch of Criterion US announcements earlier that I am interested in, Cairo Station (have never heard of it before, but having looked through the announcement post a few pages back and having checked it out, it's a likely purchase).

[Thomas Veil]

Burmese Harp, Fire on the Plain and Cairo Station for me...first time in a long while where I have wanted multiple titles. Good months, bad months, it all evens out.

[HarryAlbright89]

I'm curious how this auteur driven month performs sale wise when the big fall sales roll around. I'm not sure any are going to sell several thousand discs within the first year, but a few certainly have a shot at being honest earners. If I had to guess I'd say either The Burmese Harp, Cairo Station or the Yang double feature ends out the top seller. Maybe I'm underselling Shoeshine's potential, but that film doesn't get mentioned with the same reverance as Bicycle Thieves or Umberto D.

[AnthonyGG]

Originally Posted by jordan-r

I'm so eager to see whether this leads with a Janus logo. Great movie.

If it's got the Janus logo, is it more likely to see a physical release?

[sherlockjr]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

That’s my point too. Why does everyone feel the need to do the opposite and praise the announcements and cheer for them and announce all their intended buys and pledge their tributes?

I appreciate when people get excited about a movie that I don't know. Because if several people are excited about a film or make a persuasive case about how great/interesting it is, it encourages me to check it out. I've learned about plenty of worthwhile films I hadn't heard of before that way.

It’s the same as people feeling a need to express the other side.

No, it's really not the same. If I already know a title and like it, all I'm learning is the poster's poor taste. If I already know a title and don't like it, it tells me nothing I didn't already know. If I don't know a title but I let some random poster on the Internet influence my opinion about a movie I don't know anything about--I'm the idiot. Especially if it's a movie that Criterion, of all labels, has decided to release.

There are, of course, serious film critics who's opinions I respect who can write seriously and with justifications about why a movie isn't worth my time. But those comments have a lot more substance than "Weak ass month".

In general, it’s what makes a forum. How dull would it be to just hear everyone saying variations of the same thing over and over?

Constant negativity and complaints is what turns people off from a forum. If the best you can do is the predictable "weak ass month" why bother? How does that add any sort of dialogue?

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by AnthonyGG

If it's got the Janus logo, is it more likely to see a physical release?

Yes, because it means Janus owns the film.

[tatterdemalion]

Fires on the Plain, at (very censored) last! One of my 100 favorite films & my favorite from Ichikawa. I have the Eureka edition of The Burmese Harp so I don't need that. But thank you Criterion for finally making a wish come true. Now get onto those Masaki Kobayashi films.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by sherlockjr

I appreciate when people get excited about a movie that I don't know. Because if several people are excited about a film or make a persuasive case about how great/interesting it is, it encourages me to check it out. I've learned about plenty of worthwhile films I hadn't heard of before that way.



No, it's really not the same. If I already know a title and like it, all I'm learning is the poster's poor taste. If I already know a title and don't like it, it tells me nothing I didn't already know. If I don't know I title but I let some random poster on the Internet influence my opinion about a movie I don't know anything about--so I'm the idiot. Especially if it's a movie that Criterion, of all labels, has decided to release.

There are, of course, serious film critics who's opinions I respect who can do writer seriously and with justifications about why a movie isn't worth my time. But those comments have a lot more substance than "Weak ass month".



Constant negativity and complaints is what turns people off from a forum. If the best you can do is the predictable "weak ass month" why bother? How does that add any sort of dialogue?

We will have to agree to disagree on this one, Sherlock, although I do understand your point of view, especially about the constant negativity (which I am as guilty of as anyone else). But I still think all opinions should be welcome and all points of view encouraged, no matter how ineloquent some may express them. There are folks here who will rate ANY Criterion release highly just because they are so brand loyal, so I myself need to see counterpoints on movies I have yet to see. I have gotten burned on some Criterion releases I blind bought and I would never trust them implicitly or unconditionally.

Incessant negativity or positivity really don't contribute to a forum in my opinion, but I still welcome them all and will then make my own decisions. But a forum filled with all the same Pollyanna voices and perspectives goes nowhere and offers nothing.

[Cecil B. DeMille]

Originally Posted by willtopower

Wow single best month I can recall in ages for me.
Both Ichikawa
Cairo Station
Yang set
Shoeshine
Compensation

Same thing for me. I absolutely don't understand the whining this month. Or perhaps I do, in a way. Almost every month, Criterion couples at least one major "mainstream" title, often on 4K, with smaller, lesser known films. This month, there is no blockbuster title or beloved cult classic, so people are disappointed.

To me personally, this is the "most Criterion" announcement in quite a few months. This is the type of films that made Criterion big.
I am very glad I held off buying the MoC DVD of Sica's "Shoeshine" for a while. I would have never thought this one might get a Criterion, let alone a UHD, so I am pleasantly surprised. The UHDs must be selling quite well for them (also looking at the last months, where there were quite a few UHDs announced).
Kon Ichikawa's "The Burmese Harp" is a major classic of Japanese cinema which had previously only been released on a long-OOP UK blu-ray from Eureka/MoC. I am certainly not the only one excited about this one heading to UHD, and am very happy it is joined by "Fires on the Plain" from the same director, which had previously only been available on DVD from Criterion.
"Cairo Station" is a classic from the Egyptian Golden Age of Cinema which is frequently mentioned among the best Egyptian film noirs form that period. The Egyptian film industry, particularly in the middle of the 20th century, was the Hollywood of the Arab world, and produced many great classics of Arabic language cinema. I sincerely hope that this is the first of many classic Arabic films to be released in the Criterion collection, or at least on region A blu-ray. E.g. the classic Egyptian films of Omar Sharif. There are so many gems here waiting to be discovered by Western audiences. Similar to Mexico and India (Bollywood), Egypt is a major film nation, the films from which are strangely almost completely unavailable on home video in the West, and thus unknown to Western audiences as a whole, unfortunately. "Cairo Station" was listed as 31st in the Library of Alexandria's (Bibliotheca Alexandrina) list of the 100 greatest Egyptian films of all time. I can't wait to check it out once released.
Next, we get not one, but two 90s films from the great Edward Young. After "Yi Yi", "Brighter Summer Day" and "Taipei Story", "A Confucian Confusion" and "Mahjong" are the fourth and fifth film his to join the collection. These will be interesting to see in comparison to his big classics.
So we already have some films by major filmmakers joining the collection. Beyond that, we get two American independent films from the late 1990s and early 2000s, "Compensation" and "Saving Face". These might two films for August which are rather "diversity picks", and I haven't seen either of the two, but looking at the trailers, both seem very interesting. Sure, I wouldn't have minded to receive a major classic instead of these two, but even so, August already is a very strong month.

[shimmy]

In for both of the Kon Ichikawa UHDs, very unexpected but welcome.

[aladdin123]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

We will have to agree to disagree on this one, Sherlock, although I do understand your point of view, especially about the constant negativity (which I am as guilty of as anyone else). But I still think all opinions should be welcome and all points of view encouraged, no matter how ineloquent some may express them. There are folks here who will rate ANY Criterion release highly just because they are so brand loyal, so I myself need to see counterpoints on movies I have yet to see. I have gotten burned on some Criterion releases I blind bought and I would never trust them implicitly or unconditionally.

Incessant negativity or positivity really don't contribute to a forum in my opinion, but I still welcome them all and will then make my own decisions. But a forum filled with all the same Pollyanna voices and perspectives goes nowhere and offers nothing.

About the bolded part, it is honestly inevitable that it happens sometimes. I'm not saying you shouldn't consider blind buys, I'm saying that art is always going to be subjective.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Cecil B. DeMille

S
"Cairo Station" is a classic from the Egyptian Golden Age of Cinema which is frequently mentioned among the best Egyptian film noirs form that period. The Egyptian film industry, particularly in the middle of the 20th century, was the Hollywood of the Arab world, and produced many great classics of Arabic language cinema. I sincerely hope that this is the first of many classic Arabic films to be released in the Criterion collection, or at least on region A blu-ray. E.g. the classic Egyptian films of Omar Sharif. There are so many gems here waiting to be discovered by Western audiences. Similar to Mexico and India (Bollywood), Egypt is a major film nation, the films from which are strangely almost completely unavailable on home video in the West, and thus unknown to Western audiences as a whole, unfortunately. "Cairo Station" was listed as 31st in the Library of Alexandria's (Bibliotheca Alexandrina) list of the 100 greatest Egyptian films of all time. I can't wait to check it out once released.

I posted earlier pretty much the same sentiment about wanting to see more Arabic cinema and that I had watched a couple of vintage Omar Sharif Egyptian films on Netflix and I loved them. The country's film history hasn't even been tapped and pales next to the releases of the other countries you mentioned, India and Mexico. Why?

I highly recommend this book:
ARAB CINEMA HISTORY

[poisonmail]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

There are folks here who will rate ANY Criterion release highly just because they are so brand loyal

Are there? I don’t even see that kind of behavior at the Criterion Forum, let alone here. Some of that comes out at the Reddit which is very collector-oriented, but on the forums I rarely see them get a break — which makes sense, the company has put forth a high standard and people expect it upheld. I find Criterion fascinating as a company and I have more of their releases than any other label but I have many, many criticisms. I just don’t see the fanboy behavior you’re referring to here. I feel it’s much more in the opposite direction, really.