The Criterion Collection

[Tin Drum]

So, it is absolutely confirmed that Criterion is releasing The Great Beauty? I read in the newsletter than Janus was showing it theatrically, but that automatically means Criterion will release on blu as well?

If so - I will cancel my Amazon UK pre order immediately...


Also, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold looks amazing.

[mrjohnnyb]

The region-free three box set of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive / Inland Empire / Lost Highway had a recent price-drop on Amazon-Germany. It took me a few minutes more to complete the process, but when it was finished, my grand total including tax and shipping came to $22.83.

Here is the link for all interested parties:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/David...Blu-ray/20724/

Note: One drawback is that the supplements are not region free.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

The region-free three box set of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive / Inland Empire / Lost Highway had a recent price-drop on Amazon-Germany. It took me a few minutes more to complete the process, but when it was finished, my grand total including tax and shipping came to $22.83.

Here is the link for all interested parties:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/David...Blu-ray/20724/

Note: One drawback is that the supplements are not region free.

That is an insane deal!!!!! I bought my copy for $45 last spring and I haven't regretted the purchase for a second.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

The region-free three box set of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive / Inland Empire / Lost Highway had a recent price-drop on Amazon-Germany. It took me a few minutes more to complete the process, but when it was finished, my grand total including tax and shipping came to $22.83.

Here is the link for all interested parties:

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/David...Blu-ray/20724/

Note: One drawback is that the supplements are not region free.

That's awfully tempting but I'm still kind of smarting over the Cassavettes set

(just to be clear, I'm talking about the Criterion announcement...what little I've sampled of the Concorde set is nice. It's pretty basic, not a lot of supplements (and they won't play on my main player which doesn't handle 50hz material anyway) and no English subs but overall quality seems pretty good)

[Illy Scorsese]

Holy Shit...

Criterion got the Rights to Bergman's "Persona"?????

The wait is going to be excruciating.

Now all I need is "Winter Light".

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Blu-ray REVIEW

Thank you! Looking forward to upgrading my DVD.

This will make a great double feature with The Lives of Others.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by Illy Scorsese

Now all I need is "Winter Light".

It is the Bergman film that has moved me the most.

[Ausjdm]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Unbelievable film!

It describes modern Italy with surgical precision.

TRAILER
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=11937



Pro-B

Holy hell this looks amazing! Love the cinematography. Fingers crossed for a criterion release.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Illy Scorsese

Holy Shit...

Criterion got the Rights to Bergman's "Persona"?????

The wait is going to be excruciating.

Actually I was a bit bummed by the news because I was hoping MGM could do a HD upgrade of their excellent Bergman collection set, with all the extras and stuff. The only thing that set was short of to be called a Criterion release was a wacky 'C' logo

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by Illy Scorsese

Holy Shit...

Criterion got the Rights to Bergman's "Persona"?????

The wait is going to be excruciating.

Now all I need is "Winter Light".

Wow! Excellent news!

However, the one that I am really dying to get is Hour of the Wolf!

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Actually I was a bit bummed by the news because I was hoping MGM could do a HD upgrade of their excellent Bergman collection set, with all the extras and stuff. The only thing that set was short of to be called a Criterion release was a wacky 'C' logo

And a spine number.

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by Tin Drum

So, it is absolutely confirmed that Criterion is releasing The Great Beauty? I read in the newsletter than Janus was showing it theatrically, but that automatically means Criterion will release on blu as well?

If so - I will cancel my Amazon UK pre order immediately...


Also, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold looks amazing.

This is what I saw (from Janus's twitter), which seems like an absolute confirmation...

"It's all true! RT @Deadline Cannes Pic ‘La Grande Bellezza’ To Get Janus, Criterion Release http://ow.ly/oonpm"

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

Wow! Excellent news!

However, the one that I am really dying to get is Hour of the Wolf!

That's a great "less serious" Bergman movie. Any rabid horror fan should seek it out (as well as The Magician, of course)

[The Great Owl]

I'm double-posting this from the International forum, because I figure people here will be interested...



A few impressions upon last night's viewing...

• First of all, the 2012 disc is Region A playable, because that's all I've got.

• Just to give a frame of reference as to how I saw this Blu-ray...
  I own a 32'' 1080p LCD, and I usually sit about seven feet away while I'm watching it. For this viewing, I chilled out on the floor three feet away, as I sometimes do if I want to watch movies while doing stretching exercises after running outside. I wanted to see how the full 1080p effect (as per the viewing chart) works with this particular Blu-ray.

• Le Samouraï looks a lot darker here than the transfer on the Criterion DVD. It's a cool look that falls more in line with what we see on the Criterion Blu-ray of Army of Shadows. This Le Samouraï transfer was reportedly approved by Pierre Lhomme, who worked on Army of Shadows, so that might explain. I do not know if this is the "correct" look or not, but research around the discussion boards gives me the impression that the intended look might fall somewhere between the darkness on this Blu-ray and the comparably bright transfer of the Criterion DVD.

• This 2012 re-release of Le Samouraï is not the worst Blu-ray transfer that I own (That honor goes to Family Plot, from Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection box set.), but it's definitely lacking. Like Family Plot, however, I still did not find this Le Samouraï Blu-ray to be outright unwatchable, and, after the initial dismay of the picture quality, I fell into the groove and simply enjoyed revisiting a fun movie.

• This Pathe 2012 re-release edition of Le Samouraï looks less "watery" than the screen captures of the 2011 Pathe Blu-ray, but the movie is still scrubbed to death. Jef Costello's (Alain Delon's) face gets the worst of it, and save for a handful of decent shots, the result looks like an alternate Costello from Jean-Pierre Melville's House of Wax. Cathy Rosier, François Périer, and others get scrubbed as well. Most disappointingly, the insanely beautiful blonde hat check girl whom I obsess over every time I watch the movie has lost some detail. Jane Lagrange (Nathalie Delon) looks decent in almost every shot, though.
• The final result is odd. During the second card room scene, the man at the left side of the table is scrubbed of detail, but the war veteran sitting at the right side of the table looks crystal clear in the same shot.
• All of the clothing in the movie (suits, hats, overcoats) looks coated smooth with some amazing fireproof/waterproof sealant or something.
• Having watched the Criterion DVD of Le Samouraï about a million times, I'm cognizant of the fact that there are apparently intentional out-of-focus shots, or soft shots as Jef Costello walks in and out of the screen, but the gauzy look of a great many shots has to be the result of a badly scrubbed treatment.

• The grain look of the Criterion DVD is absent here. No natural film grain whatsoever to my eyes. This presentation does not have the horrid look of recent CGI-heavy neo-noir films like Watchmen or Sin City, but it does not strike me as looking like Le Samouraï is supposed to look with respect to how it probably appeared in theaters at the time.

• Some scenes look decent on the Blu-ray. The always-amusing sequence with the two detectives placing the bug in Jef Costello's apartment looks alright. The encounter on the footbridge looks cool.

• The audio jumps out more than it does with the Criterion DVD. I swear to God that I can still hear the bird chirping right now in my office during lunch break.

• No English subtitles, but I didn't need them. I've got the Criterion DVD subtitles practically memorized in my head, and Le Samouraï does not exactly overwhelm the viewer with dialogue in the first place. My enjoyment of the film was not dampened at all by the lack of subtitles.

• The Special Feature supplements are viewable on my Region A player. There's a new 23-minute documentary that is not seen on the Criterion DVD, and, although I do not know a lot of French, I still got the general gist of the supplement, and I enjoyed viewing it.

End summary...

Is this a good-looking high definition transfer? No.
Are you better off sticking with the Criterion DVD? Yes.
Is the Blu-ray completely unwatchable? No.
Did I still enjoy revisiting the movie? Yes, of course.

This Blu-ray is a mere placeholder until a better high definition presentation comes along, but I have no regrets about my purchase. In fact, I'll probably watch the Blu-ray again tonight.

[Abdrewes]

Special features in a language you do not speak? That sounds like something.

[JJJ225]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Blu-ray REVIEW

I'm not familiar with this movie, but this looks amazing. Probably worth a blind buy.

[Kevin Ridge]

Originally Posted by JJJ225

I'm not familiar with this movie, but this looks amazing. Probably worth a blind buy.

I have this on my Amazon Prime list to watch before deciding on whether to pick up.

[bsitg]

Originally Posted by Kevin Ridge

I have this on my Amazon Prime list to watch before deciding on whether to pick up.

Excellent idea! I often forget to check my Amazon Prime. This movie is free, unlimited streaming.

[joie]

When the Internet goes gaga over a release, Dave Kehr may provide some perspective. Here's his Rotten Tomato for Persona: "Ingmar Bergman's best film, I suppose, though it's still fairly tedious and overloaded with avant-garde cliches." His Rotten Tomato for Seventh Seal is especially good: "It survives today only as an unusually pure example of a typical 50s art-film strategy: the attempt to make the most modern and most popular of art forms acceptable to the intelligentsia by forcing it into an arcane, antique mold."

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by octagon

That's awfully tempting but I'm still kind of smarting over the Cassavettes set

(just to be clear, I'm talking about the Criterion announcement...what little I've sampled of the Concorde set is nice. It's pretty basic, not a lot of supplements (and they won't play on my main player which doesn't handle 50hz material anyway) and no English subs but overall quality seems pretty good)

I understand your position. The way I figure it is, even if Criterion releases it this December, the earliest that I will buy it will be next July's Barnes and Noble 50% off sale. At an average of $7.26 per movie, I decided to "bite the bullet."