The Criterion Collection

[Kevtronn]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

really want a BD announcement for 8 1/2 for Jan badly... but maybe we will be lucky and jan could be a 4 BD release month! Che seems like it has been pushed around a bit

Hopefully 8 1/2 for Jan! I believe Che will be announced for Feb...

[captveg]

The following was briefly on the Criterion website:

"It might seem early to ring in the New Year, but we’re excited about our just-announced January titles. After some blood, sweat, and tears, the restored Rossellini War Trilogy (spine number 500!)—featuring the landmark Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero—will finally make its DVD debut. Add DVD and Blu-ray editions of restored Che and Paris, Texas, a shimmering new Blu-ray 8½, and a Chantal Akerman Eclipse set, and there’s something for everyone to celebrate."

So, that's 3 Blus in January:

8½
Che
Paris, Texas

The DVD-only releases are:

Rossellini War Trilogy (Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero)
Akerman Eclipse

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by krisstivers

Hopefully, we here something about "Che" soon...

Without adding your own political diatribe....... can anyone send me a link that gives a detailed synopsis of this title so I know what light they portray Che in? I will gladly make this the only Criterion I buy, yet never watch, if it's a fluffed up glorification piece.

Originally Posted by captveg

The following was briefly on the Criterion website:

"It might seem early to ring in the New Year, but we’re excited about our just-announced January titles. After some blood, sweat, and tears, the restored Rossellini War Trilogy (spine number 500!)—featuring the landmark Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero—will finally make its DVD debut. Add DVD and Blu-ray editions of restored Che and Paris, Texas, a shimmering new Blu-ray 8½, and a Chantal Akerman Eclipse set, and there’s something for everyone to celebrate."

So, that's 3 Blus in January:

8½
Che
Paris, Texas

The DVD-only releases are:

Rossellini War Trilogy (Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero)
Akerman Eclipse

Glad it's more than two, and somewhat glad it's not four....... four is expensive

[jmcy2k]

http://www.criterion.com/films/20987

[Shanester]

I was going to import Che from the UK but no reason to now

[PowellPressburger]

I am happy with the BLUs for Jan. I am even excited for the DVD release of more Akerman films via Eclipse line.

Very excited for 8 1/2 Wish they could have pushed that one for a closer release to NINE but Jan 12th isn't bad.

[banned user105]

Paris, TX is one of my favorite movies of all time. Can't even tell you how thrilled I am that it's coming to Blu.

[pro-bassoonist]

Disc Features

* High-definition digital transfer of restored film elements (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on Blu-ray edition)
* Introduction by filmmaker Terry Gilliam
* Audio commentary featuring film critic and Fellini friend Gideon Bachmann and NYU film professor Antonio Monda
* High-definition digital transfer of a new restoration of Fellini: A Director’s Notebook, a 52-minute film by Federico Fellini
* The Last Sequence, a new 52-minute documentary on Fellini’s lost alternate ending for 8 1/2 (available on Blu-ray edition)
* Nino Rota: Between Cinema and Concert, a compelling 48-minute documentary about Fellini’s longtime composer
* Interviews with actress Sandra Milo, director Lina Wertmüller, and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
* Rare photographs from Bachmann’s collection
* Gallery of behind-the-scenes and production photos
* U.S. theatrical trailer
* New and improved English subtitle translation
* PLUS: A booklet featuring writings by Fellini and essays by critics Tullio Kezich and Alexander Sesonske

Disc Features

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

* High-definition digital transfers of Che: Part One and Che: Part Two, supervised and approved by director Steven Soderbergh, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
* Audio commentaries on both films, featuring Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life
* Making “Che,” a new documentary about the film’s production, featuring interviews with Soderbergh, producer Laura Bickford, actor-producer Benicio del Toro, and writers Peter Buchman and Ben van der Veen
* New interviews with Cuban historians as well as participants in the 1958 Cuban Revolution and Che’s 1967 Bolivian campaign
* Deleted scenes
* Theatrical trailers
* PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Amy Taubin
* More!

NOTE: Che: Part One appears in 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Che: Part Two appears in 1.78:1 aspect ratio.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

* New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Wim Wenders, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
* Audio commentary featuring Wenders
* Interview with Wenders by German journalist Roger Willemsen
* Excerpts from the 1990 film Motion and Emotion: The Road to “Paris, Texas,” featuring interviews with Wenders, actors Harry Dean Stanton, Hanns Zischler, Dennis Hopper, and Peter Falk, composer Ry Cooder, cinematographer Robby Müller, novelist Patricia Highsmith, and filmmaker Samuel Fuller
* New interviews with filmmakers Allison Anders and Claire Denis
* Cinéma cinémas: “Wim Wenders Hollywood April ’84,” with Wenders and Cooder working on the score
* Deleted scenes and Super 8 home movies
* Gallery of Wenders’s location-scouting photos, from his book Written in the West
* Behind-the-scenes photos by Robin Holland
* Theatrical trailer
* PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Nick Roddick and interviews with Stanton, writer Sam Shepard, and actors Nastassja Kinski and Dean Stockwell

Pro-B

[SpiderBaby]

January's releases are probably the best month-wise releases yet.

Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy plus 3 great Blu-rays. That's about $170 that month, not including other blu-rays and dvds out then.

I haven't bought any Eclipse sets yet, so I will pass on the Chantal Akerman one, for now.

I just hope they somehow bring one of the blu's up towards the end of December, since the last would be the ones early in that month. That will help space out the $.

[Moviefan1203]

Great news that both Che and Paris, Texas are getting Blu-ray releases. They are great films, and I cannot wait to add them to my Blu-ray library.

[DFS61]

Whatever the argument, it's great to have a choice...! Personally, I never found anything wrong with the "cardboard" packaging; the plastic covers are fine, as well. I'm a "purist," so having the "first edition" will always mean more if I should ever decide to re-sell them (on Amazon, for example). I've had people pay top-dollar for "first printing" DVDs, even though more recent versions were out there on the market for a cheaper price! Whatever the complaints are, Criterion products are ALWAYS valuable and hold their pricing excellently!

On another note, I'm extremely excited to hear that "8-1/2" is coming out on Blu-ray, as well as "Paris, Texas"!!! ("Che," too!) I hope that my two all-time faves, "La Dolce Vita" and "Nashville," will be out on Blu in the near future, as well....

[Brad1963]

8 1/2 finally! Yes, Nashville would be a great Criterion Blu title. Since they license Paramount titles it may be a possibility. Too bad Robert Altman is gone. Nashville is one of the few DVD's I have kept.

[retablo]

3 amazing releases! Paris, Texas is a long-time favorite. Happy with the price on Che as well, since it's essentially 2 films.

[McCrutchy]

# The Last Sequence, a new 52-minute documentary on Fellini’s lost alternate ending for 8 1/2 (available on Blu-ray edition)

So the 8 1/2 BD gets an exclusive extra? That would be interesting...

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

So the 8 1/2 BD gets an exclusive extra? That would be interesting...

Yes all those bonus features and most of them also in HD all on ONE Blu Ray disc. I guess Criterion knows what they are doing.

[Kartoon]

Anyone ever seen Paris, Texas? I've never heard of it before.

[DFS61]

Originally Posted by Brad1963

8 1/2 finally! Yes, Nashville would be a great Criterion Blu title. Since they license Paramount titles it may be a possibility. Too bad Robert Altman is gone. Nashville is one of the few DVD's I have kept.

Altman's "3 Women" and "Short Cuts" are also well-deserving of the Criterion Blu-ray treatment. In short, there are quite a number of films deserving of a thoughtful Blu-ray treatment.... Why all the crap out there on Blu, when there's so many great films that have yet to even see the light of a DVD treatment...???

Such is a cinephile's bane....

[DFS61]

Originally Posted by Kartoon

Anyone ever seen Paris, Texas? I've never heard of it before.

It was a small film that was released back in '84. A particularly bleak and meditative Wim ("Wings of Desire") Wender's film. Laconically paced and beautifully composed. Definitely not for a mainstream temperament; haunting for lovers of prose and art. I mean, just look at the Blu-ray cover art: that shot makes an immediate impression of what you're in for.... It's a keeper, for sure...!

[cbo]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Pro-B

NICE!

[Zen_Amako]

Paris, Texas is a great movie. The standard DVD was only about $8 (before it went out of print), which I thought was an amazing deal for such a good flick.
It was bare bones, though. Definitely looking forward to the Blu-ray. It's a very slow-paced film, but if you stick with it, you will be rewarded. Nastassja Kinski is at her most beautiful in this. Although she doesn't have a lot of screen time, her role is quite memorable.