The Criterion Collection

[TJS_Blu]

Originally Posted by retablo

otherwise its a super weak month.

Originally Posted by SpiderBaby

yes it is. First of the year for me.

Whatever.

Back to something that might be of interest, what's your new avatar, Spidey?

[ssjmichael]

Originally Posted by hedliniv

I really don't understand where there is no commentary for the Samurai Trilogy? I am sorry but movies like that need context and I really enjoy when they have the commentary tracks. It adds a lot of value in my eyes and makes me much more hesitant about buying them....

The DVD set was ver barebones so I guess I'm not that surprised. I imagine doing a commentary for that would be a bit more work considering it's 3 film releases in 1 set. They'd have to do commentaries for them all.

If you're a fan of samurai films there should be no hesitation in getting these regardless of the extras, they're fantastic films.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by TJS_Blu

Whatever.

Back to something that might be of interest, what's your new avatar, Spidey?

It's Tina Aumont from one of the top few films I want released, Philippe Garrel's Les hautes solitudes. I might change it soon though, go with something more upbeat.

[DetroitSquirreL]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

as in image wise or just story telling wise?

Image wise of course, if you don't know the story we're all in trouble lol

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by octagon

Speaking of no rush, is anybody else still waiting for Deep Discount to ship their $14.99 Last Temptation of Christ?

I've been meaning to ask about that since the release day came and went without a shipping notice.

Yes.

[BluPix]

What a big slate for June. Lots to choose from. All seven of these packages hold some interest for me, but I'm especially interested in:

Harold and Maude. This Hal Ashby picture is one of my favorite films of all time, I already preordered this when it was originally announced a couple months ago. I do hope the booklet does contain a set of written material as substantial as initially planned, but, either way, I'm still looking forward to receiving this on Criterion blu. A must-have.

The 39 Steps. As a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, this is another must-have. Arguably the best of his films before he moved to Hollywood. My Hitchcock collection just keeps growing and growing.

Shallow Grave. Although I've never seen this film, I tend to have a very positive reaction to nearly anything Danny Boyle directs. So nice to see him represented in Criterion's lineup. The plot of this film looks interesting and I like Ewan McGregor, so this is an easy buy.

The Samurai Trilogy. I've never seen Hiroshi Inagaki's trilogy before, but it has a solid reputation and just looks too good to pass up. Plus I love Japanese films from that period (or any period). And I like Samurai films. Another blind buy.

*

The remaining three — Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush; and Steven Soderbergh's Gray's Anatomy and And Everything is Going Fine are also of interest, to check out a bit later.

Good job, Criterion.

[oildude]

Ever since they were hinted at several weeks ago, I figured the Spalding Gray films would come out as an Eclipse set. At most, I thought they would get a double-bill blu-ray.

I guess I don't get how these monologue-driven films are deemed to be deserving of individual blu-ray releases, while other magnificent films that would have benefited so much more from high definition have been relegated to DVD-only in the Eclipse sets. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that the Gray films are relatively new having readily transferable elements, with one being an IFC film and both directed by Soderbergh.

Still, while I am happy for the Gray fans who are thrilled by these releases, this reinforces my sadness that some of the best films in the collection will never see blu-ray versions from Criterion, or not for a very long time anyway. A few of the films in the Eclipse sets have blu-ray releases overseas - some of the Mizoguchi films, the Ozu films (if not now then soon). Many of the Eclipse films I have watched so far have stunning cinematography and rich textures that beg to be experienced in high-definition. And I would say that the elements of many are in good shape already, judging from how the DVDs look.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by Flatnate

Criterions facebook page just posted a nasty picture of a can of 35mm film containing Bergman's Summer Interlude being utterly devastated into flaking pieces. I'm starting to wonder if the May 29th release is now completely off the table. What a bummer. I guess stay tuned for news on that one.

Probably got shipped in a bubble bag.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by fdm

Probably got shipped in a bubble bag.

Literally laughed out loud.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by fdm

Probably got shipped in a bubble bag.

Thank you for this post, as it made me laugh. Aall the whining in this thread was starting to annoy me a bit, so I needed a good laugh. Of course, I should have expected it, because it's the same people as always complaining about how weak Criterion has become every month. Do people honestly have to have everything Criterion puts out? It's a company that's trying to cater to a lot of people, but somehow that's a problem because Criterion keeps catering to "teh ebul hipsters." It's ironic considering the way people go on about hipsters in this thread, most of them tend to act just like hipsters, or even worse themselves.

I'm now more interested in Shallow Grave and the Spaulding Grays, just because people seem to be upset over their release. Thanks for the film recommendations guys!

[Brad1963]

June is not a big month for Foreign Language films from Criterion.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by oildude

Ever since they were hinted at several weeks ago, I figured the Spalding Gray films would come out as an Eclipse set. At most, I thought they would get a double-bill blu-ray.

I guess I don't get how these monologue-driven films are deemed to be deserving of individual blu-ray releases, while other magnificent films that would have benefited
that some of the best films in the collection will never see blu-ray versions from Criterion, or not for a very long time anyway. A few of the films in the Eclipse sets have blu-ray releases overseas - some of the Mizoguchi films, the Ozu films (if not now then soon), and I think SpiderBaby mentioned awhile back that Daisies, which Criterion will be releasing in the Pearls of the Czech New Wave set, has a blu-ray release in Europe. Many of the Eclipse films I have watched so far have stunning cinematography and rich textures that beg to be experienced in high-definition. And I would say that the elements of many are in good shape already, judging from how the DVDs look.

I just saw Daisies a week ago, sad to hear we won't see it in HD in the States for a while.

I'm excited for all of June's titles. I like Soderberghs independent work (Bubble and The Girlfriend Experience), but I may have to rent these first.

[billzfan]

I just watched Amarcord, which I bought on a blind buy. Unbelievable film.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by octagon

Same here (along with Silent Running). If I don't break down earlier I'll almost certainly be adding it/them to my Double Indemnity order.

I love Silent Running
One of my favourite sci-fi's. Bruce Dern is great and so are the drones.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

I love Silent Running
One of my favourite sci-fi's. Bruce Dern is great and so are the drones.

Another film that I discovered in my youth. I think I saw it on late night TV two years or so after it was released. The MoC blu was the first time I had seen it in over 30 years...

[Yami]

Daisies has never had a Blu-Ray release but it's a shame that Criterion won't give it one. If the rumoured upcoming sets are correct, it feels a little bit lazy to stick Daisies, The Cremator and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders on Eclipse as they're easily among the best of Criterion's 600-strong mainline. Perhaps they're just stuck on there in order to sell the other titles in the set but that doesn't really sit well with me either. Second Run's DVD editions didn't look terrible so I don't think that materials would be much of an issue and with Criterion's Phoenix restoration tools they could look marvellous. Alas, Criterion never ceases to confuse me with their releases, I still love them though

June looks to be the strongest month since August, hopefully that will continue!

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by zui

What? Really? I think you're mistaken although I hope you're not. Could you or SB for that matter please comment on that?

I never said there is a Daisies Blu-ray, so he might of had things mixed up. I have said there is a Daisies dvd release already out by Second Run and had one in the U.S. with Facets. It deserves a blu-ray, but Criterion's opinion on what gets what is up to them.

[Yami]

It would probably be pointless protesting at this stage but if The Cremator and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders do end up on the third set, I might weep.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by Yami

It would probably be pointless protesting at this stage but if The Cremator and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders do end up on the third set, I might weep.

Just read CriterionForum today for discussions on this. 2-3 years ago these films would of had mainline releases (most likely dvd only, which is cool, as long as they restored them and gave them the releases they deserve). Today, they don't seem to care.

For every Hollis Frampton set today, we will have 30+ releases that either has a blu-ray in the U.S. (Traffic), is widely available (Chaplin), or something widely known that needs no discovering (Being John Malkovich). People can use the laserdisc days as an example, but after more than a decade of doing great on dvd, having switch back to the "laserdisc ways of releasing" is kind of a kick in the face. Of course they get a bigger crowd (never seen so many people on a Criterion forum/site/page as I do with the Facebook page) by releasing the "big name titles" but who the **** will release that hardly seen masterpiece Limite (Mário Peixoto, 1931, one of my fav films btw) or any other small, "obscure" (not in a bad way people), film from a country (not having to do with Japan, France, America, etc) that needs help being discovered? The fact that most "Criterion fans" seem to not care about that sucks to be honest with you. I guess that is the reason though. Most people are fans of Criterion and whatever they release, and others, like me, are a "fan" of what they release. To me, it's been a little better this year (in terms of the rate of releasing those "gem" releases), because last year sucked out loud.

[Yami]

I 100% agree. While it's nice to see titles like Harold and Maude that sort of border the line between cinephilia and mainstream, there needs to be some sort of balance. No doubt this will just be disregarded as a self-centred "why won't they release what I want" moan but it just baffles me that Criterion relegate what should be mainline titles to Eclipse. They're not money-grabbing either because Frampton is hardly going to make the Facebook crowd offer up their wallets. Materials could be an issue but where there's a will (and money) there's a way and judging from the more-than-acceptable releases from Second Run, it wouldn't be too difficult to get selected Czech titles in HD.

Traffic was one bizarre release. It's not like it's much of an upgrade over the existing release like, say, Spartacus would be. Limite, A Page of Madness, Eustache, the Taiwan New Wave, Uchida, O Drakos and many more unavailable titles should be a priority.