The Criterion Collection

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

C'mon, that can't be a completely true statement, can it? I'd love to be on any of their teams!

CC

Well not really true but it must be hard must be some lively discusion

[ccfixx]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Well not really true but it must be hard must be some lively discusion

Oh, yeah... I'm sure it is. You have to wonder, too, if any Criterion employees involved in film selection do frequent forums such as this one or criterionforum.org and read all the criticisms & suggestions that people post about. Is any of it ever taken into consideration?

CC

[kndy]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

As do I, there is too much for them to release and re-mastered in HD to make all happen in less then a year. It's a safe bet that very likely movies that were probably never release on DVD won't even make it to BD before the next format come's along. They are small and there is just too much good movies for them. I would hate to be on their selection team trying to figure out what to release next on BD and continue pleasing the customers, must be very difficult.

Also, it's going to be interesting as well as we will see other companies who will release previous titles from Criterion from their company. Granted, as much as I would have loved to see "Ran" and "Contempt" released from Criterion on Blu, I'm open to seeing how things will be with the Lionsgate BD releases. I don't think I have many Lionsgate Blu-rays, with the exceptions of the $10 cheapie ones from Wal-Mart but I guess' well find out soon.

Now the only thing I want to know is if those Masters of Cinema Blu-rays will be released by Criterion in the US. "For All Mankind" is out on Blu-ray from Criterion and "M" on Blu-ray will be released soon by Criterion. "Soul Power" is coming next month from Sony Pictures Classics but I was hoping Criterion would release "Sunrise", "Tokyo Sonata", "City Girl" and "Une femme mariée". I've come closing to ordering a few from amazon UK for the MoC titles but I figured what if Criterion plans to release them in 2010.

[ccfixx]

Originally Posted by kndy

but I was hoping Criterion would release "Sunrise", "Tokyo Sonata", "City Girl" and "Une femme mariée". I've come closing to ordering a few from amazon UK for the MoC titles but I figured what if Criterion plans to release them in 2010.

Do yourself a favor and go ahead and order them, kndy. The "Sunrise" and "Tokyo Sonata" blu-rays are absolutely wonderful... and I can only imagine that "City Girl" and "Une femme mariée" will be, as well.

And if Criterion's release of "M" doesn't include 'The original 1932 British release version of "M"' that's on the MOC blu-ray, you can bet I'll be ordering me a copy of that one, too.

CC

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

Do yourself a favor and go ahead and order them, kndy. The "Sunrise" and "Tokyo Sonata" blu-rays are absolutely wonderful... and I can only imagine that "City Girl" and "Une femme mariée" will be, as well.

And if Criterion's release of "M" doesn't include 'The original 1932 British release version of "M"' that's on the MOC blu-ray, you can bet I'll be ordering me a copy of that one, too.

CC

What is a good website you consider to purchase MOC titles? I really want the Une femme mariée but have never imported.

[ccfixx]

Originally Posted by CassavetesGodard

What is a good website you consider to purchase MOC titles? I really want the Une femme mariée but have never imported.

A "good one?" Hmm? I really couldn't say. I always import mine from Amazon UK just for the sheer simplicity of the whole process. Eureka and MOC have had a few recent sales, though, with PayPal ordering directly through them. Good sales, but I already had everything I wanted.

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[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

A "good one?" Hmm? I really couldn't say. I always import mine from Amazon UK just for the sheer simplicity of the whole process. Eureka and MOC have had a few recent sales, though, with PayPal ordering directly through them. Good sales, but I already had everything I wanted.

CC

Amazon UK can do. I just was thinking if there was a website that could do a fast delivery import, but I guess Amazon could be the fastest, depending on the shipping charge I use.

[ccfixx]

Originally Posted by CassavetesGodard

Amazon UK can do. I just was thinking if there was a website that could do a fast delivery import, but I guess Amazon could be the fastest, depending on the shipping charge I use.

Yeah, I just use the standard, cheapest Royal Mail shipping and usually get mine from the UK anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks.

CC

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by CassavetesGodard

First, I don't like any of the films you listed (Lord of the Rings, Spielberg's List, or Saving Private Spielberg.)

2nd, the director's most popular doesn't = their best. If people would get off of the IMDB lists for a moment and watch your own movies.

For you to never hear about some of these movies because you only heard about their popular ones doesn't mean you can say "no mealy-mouthed responses! You all know I am right". I think your wrong. So far, I believe Criterion is doing a great job, if they slow down on the Kurosawa love a little. I myself love the fact we are getting Pierrot le fou and Vivre sa vie instead of Breathless and Contempt.

Also, I don't see where you are going with this. Not our fault you haven't seen alot of movies. They are releasing some of the director's most popular for people like you (Seventh Seal, 400 Blows, 8 1/2, Seven Samurai), so chill out.

I agree with you on all fronts but am utterly shocked that you didn't like Schindler's List. That is baffling to me.

[Volume11]

Originally Posted by kndy

Also, it's going to be interesting as well as we will see other companies who will release previous titles from Criterion from their company. Granted, as much as I would have loved to see "Ran" and "Contempt" released from Criterion on Blu, I'm open to seeing how things will be with the Lionsgate BD releases. I don't think I have many Lionsgate Blu-rays, with the exceptions of the $10 cheapie ones from Wal-Mart but I guess' well find out soon.

Now the only thing I want to know is if those Masters of Cinema Blu-rays will be released by Criterion in the US. "For All Mankind" is out on Blu-ray from Criterion and "M" on Blu-ray will be released soon by Criterion. "Soul Power" is coming next month from Sony Pictures Classics but I was hoping Criterion would release "Sunrise", "Tokyo Sonata", "City Girl" and "Une femme mariée". I've come closing to ordering a few from amazon UK for the MoC titles but I figured what if Criterion plans to release them in 2010.

MoC is just as awesome as Criterion and they are a bit smaller so you shouldn't hesitate to support them. In the case of Mad Detective and Tokyo Sonata (two outstanding films that are must owns IMO) they will likely NEVER be touched by Criterion as Eureka themselves said its unlikely that they will continue to release newer Asian titles and they both were essentially flukes.

And in a weird way I actually like MoC better than Criterion...

[jboss]

Originally Posted by J.Cornelius

Blasphemy!


I saw 8.5 hear in NYC at Best Buy as well. Tempted but held off on the purchase too big of a spread between the Best Buy price and Amazon. Very odd that they broke the street date maybe they have some side deal with Best Buy.

My local Best Buy in Louisville, KY had 8 1/2 too, but what surprised me was that they had Che out today (a good 1.5 weeks or so ahead of time). I was really tempted, but the $44.99 price tag vs the $35ish I'm paying at amazon stopped me. I still might end up buying it if I get too tempted before the 19th.

[rocks off]

Originally Posted by jboss

My local Best Buy in Louisville, KY had 8 1/2 too, but what surprised me was that they had Che out today (a good 1.5 weeks or so ahead of time). I was really tempted, but the $44.99 price tag vs the $35ish I'm paying at amazon stopped me. I still might end up buying it if I get too tempted before the 19th.

Buy it, then return the sealed amazon copy to best buy when it arrives.

[jboss]

Originally Posted by kndy

Also, it's going to be interesting as well as we will see other companies who will release previous titles from Criterion from their company. Granted, as much as I would have loved to see "Ran" and "Contempt" released from Criterion on Blu, I'm open to seeing how things will be with the Lionsgate BD releases. I don't think I have many Lionsgate Blu-rays, with the exceptions of the $10 cheapie ones from Wal-Mart but I guess' well find out soon.

I just got Ran in the mail from the UK (which will undoubtedly be the exact disc Lionsgate is releasing - If you choose USA as your country, it plays the Lionsgate logo). It's pretty rough looking. It's amongst the worst looking titles in my 150-strong blu collection. It looks like an upscale, honestly. It has a very digital look to it, and the noise in the picture looks like digital compression artifacts rather than film grain. It's probably not an upscale, but I have a feeling that this was a transfer made several years ago for DVD and was never intended for high definition release, and it shows. I'd like to see a side by side between this and the upscaled Criterion DVD - I'd expect only marginal improvements.

Strangely enough, the disc defaults to the English dub, which from the 10 seconds I listened to it sounded expectedly silly.

On the positive side, the disc does have two Japanese audio tracks - a DTS-MA 5.1 track and a DTS-MA 2.0 track. I also really dig the packaging and it seems to have a bunch of special features.

Here are the thoughts of someone more qualified than me on the matter:
http://www.avforums.com/movies/index...diareview=9888

Regarding this "Studio Canal Collection", I like the idea that another studio is going to have a collection of foreign and non-mainstream films like Criterion and MoC, but Studio Canal/Lionsgate doesn't appear to be putting in the same effort as the aforementioned studios.

And it's a real shame that this film was yanked away from Criterion right before release as we know it would have gotten fantastic treatment. Even though there were complaints about Kagemusha's PQ, similar quality would have been quite an upgrade over this disc.

To be fair though, to my knowledge the other releases in the Studio Canal Collection have been good so far with the exception of The Deer Hunter. The main audio track on the Studio Canal Collection release of The Deer Hunter is pitched up too far, which was also an issue on the Australian release of this film (which is what I have). Hopefully by the time that film hits the US (probably from Universal), this will be corrected.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by kndy

Now the only thing I want to know is if those Masters of Cinema Blu-rays will be released by Criterion in the US. "For All Mankind" is out on Blu-ray from Criterion and "M" on Blu-ray will be released soon by Criterion. "Soul Power" is coming next month from Sony Pictures Classics but I was hoping Criterion would release "Sunrise", "Tokyo Sonata", "City Girl" and "Une femme mariée". I've come closing to ordering a few from amazon UK for the MoC titles but I figured what if Criterion plans to release them in 2010.

Originally Posted by ccfixx

Do yourself a favor and go ahead and order them, kndy. The "Sunrise" and "Tokyo Sonata" blu-rays are absolutely wonderful... and I can only imagine that "City Girl" and "Une femme mariée" will be, as well.

And if Criterion's release of "M" doesn't include 'The original 1932 British release version of "M"' that's on the MOC blu-ray, you can bet I'll be ordering me a copy of that one, too.

CC

I strongly agree with ccfixx on this...MoC editions also often offer unique extras that Criterion editions do not (Note that none of the extras on the MoC edition of M (with the possible exception of the Anton Kaes audio commentary) were present on Criterion's 2004 DVD re-release, so Criterion would have to stack all those on top of their own strong supplement package to make the MoC release a no-go.

And we must also remember that MoC booklets are always excellent and often outdo Criterion's on the same title.

Finally, I think it's great to support MoC as they have pledged themselves to region-free Blu-rays and NTSC standard definition extras, with an obvious eye to the US import market.

Originally Posted by CassavetesGodard

What is a good website you consider to purchase MOC titles? I really want the Une femme mariée but have never imported.

Outside of the excellent unmatched sales that Eureka has had (and hopefully will continue to have), Amazon.co.uk is the cheapest and easiest source for MoC titles.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

Oh, yeah... I'm sure it is. You have to wonder, too, if any Criterion employees involved in film selection do frequent forums such as this one or criterionforum.org and read all the criticisms & suggestions that people post about. Is any of it ever taken into consideration?

CC

Making a claim such as this about WB, or Universal seems silly..... but Criterion , although having a fairly large staff..... they're really a much smaller operation, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least to have "The higher powers" swayed from time to time based on "Buzz" from the fans.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I agree with you on all fronts but am utterly shocked that you didn't like Schindler's List. That is baffling to me.

Well I don't want to get into it too much to start up fights with people, it's just that I don't like Spielberg's movies. But to each his own.

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

Outside of the excellent unmatched sales that Eureka has had (and hopefully will continue to have), Amazon.co.uk is the cheapest and easiest source for MoC titles.

Thanks.

[jacobsever]

Originally Posted by CassavetesGodard

It's just that I don't like Spielberg's movies.

So do you dislike it based solely on who directed it, and not as a film in itself?

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by jacobsever

So do you dislike it based solely on who directed it, and not as a film in itself?

Well a little of both. Not what the movie is based on, just how the director (Spielberg) went about it. A little too "Disney" for me. Like a exploitation film meets Bambi. Like I said, nothing against what it was about. Actually I don't like it because of the way the movie was portrayed, like I am defending the subject, but not the movie, if that makes sense.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by CassavetesGodard

Well a little of both. Not what the movie is based on, just how the director (Spielberg) went about it. A little too "Disney" for me. Like a exploitation film meets Bambi. Like I said, nothing against what it was about. Actually I don't like it because of the way the movie was portrayed, like I am defending the subject, but not the movie, if that makes sense.

Huh? When I think Schindler's List the last thing I think of is Disney. I can understand why people may not like certain aspects of the movie but I don't get the Disney analogy.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Huh? When I think Schindler's List the last thing I think of is Disney. I can understand why people may not like certain aspects of the movie but I don't get the Disney analogy.

I mean Disney in the sense that Spielberg is one of the Hollywood "boyscouts" that use typical emotions that doesn't challenge you to think in anyway. He is a "blockbuster" guy. He uses comic portrayals of Nazis which all of Hollywood movies do and everyone says this movie is different, I have no clue why. Maybe because people needs emotions spelled out for them to feel something. Many need to understand that there are good and bad sides to all humans, and that a "MOVIE" that portrays black vs white with no grey tells me people like generic emotions and generic movies.

That is why I dislike films like this, Shawshank Redemption, Saving Private Ryan, etc.

Like I said, I didn't want this to get into a fight. Some naive poster will probably like that.