The Criterion Collection

[Oblivion138]

Originally Posted by LegacyCosts

Thank you for the info. I decided to order the U.K. blu ray of chungking before I buy anything else as it is much cheaper than criterion or the dvd set with most likely a horrible pq.

FYI (if you didn't know already) the UK release is not in the correct aspect ratio (it's cropped to 1.78). I know that for some, this will not matter, but for others, it may be a dealbreaker. Take it for whatever it's worth to you.

[funtom]

I've already ordered the Rossellini boxset and The Killing and the Night to Remember in this sale. I'd still like to order something... Pricewise the max is 4 standard BDs. I was thinking of the three Hitchcock blu-ray they have and one other film to it. What do you think? Does these Hitchcock films worth to be purchased on Criterion?

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Originally Posted by thomasomalley

ATTENTION: To anyone who owns the Walkabout blu, I suggest you check your disc for skipping/freezing starting at the 49:57 or around that mark. After two years of the Bluray playing perfectly fine for myself, I checked again yesterday (after reports from the criterionforum suggested issues) and sure enough, it froze and skipped for several minutes, rendering the film unwatchable.

I checked my disc on a PS3 and my Dynex player, both showed the same issues. Going to have to e-mail Mulvaney about this. Just thought I'd warn everyone!

p.s. tomorrow is Criterion Q+A at the Wexler Center where they will be answering questions about upcoming releases and what not. If yr in the Columbus area, tickets are real cheap. Should be an interesting day.

About a year ago I opened my copy of Walkabout and the disc had a severe coffee stain look to it and it too froze and stopped working about the 50 minute mark. I contacted criterion and they sent a replacement disc which worked perfectly. Good warning to anyone who owns a copy but hasn't watched it yet. Check your discs.

[Tin Drum]

Originally Posted by Woodsy

I already miss lovely ScarJo.

But, alas, that is still Scarlett.

Scarlett had had a nice resurgence this past couple of years and that's nice because she deserves it. We Bought A Zoo, The Avengers, Hitchcock. She's amazing in Don Jon and has gotten great reviews for Her and Under the Skin. Cannot wait to see her in CA - Winter Soldier.

I've read Under the Skin and it's a pretty great read. The ending is devastating. I know that the film does not follow the book closely at all, but if it has the same tone (which it seems it does) I'll love it.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Well, they don't have the rights now, as far as I know, but it's a Fox title, so who knows if they could get them.



Depending on how you want to count them, there are 300-400 distinct releases. It's difficult to calculate. There are some that didn't have spine numbers, and there are some spine numbers that weren't used (and the two groups don't "match up"). Some titles had separate CAV- and CLV-format releases, others just CLV (I don't believe that there were any that were CAV-only). Some had variant covers (Taxi Driver, for example, was issued with two different covers in both the CAV and CLV editions). Some had variant packaging (Close Encounters of the Third Kind CAV came in both triple-gatefold packaging and a box). There are some instances in which two different titles had the same spine number or the same catalog number. Monterey Pop is the winner here: it shared spine #43 with Shoot the Piano Player and shared catalog #CC1164L with The Killing (spine #64). Some titles were re-issued in new editions (aside from the usual CAV/CLV duplication)

There was also a separate sequence with the name Criterion Television, that had five unnumbered releases, and another separate sequence called Rolling Thunder, in which they offered three titles "presented by" Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder company.



Actually, that was true of all three of the Bond films they released (the first three: Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Goldfinger) in their CAV editions. The CLV editions were issued later without the commentaries.

The rarest (and most expensive) release was #159: The Prince of Tides. It had already started pressing when Barbra Streisand decided she didn't like some parts of the audio commentary that she'd done for it. Criterion had to stop pressing, record a new commentary with Streisand, re-author the disc, and make a new pressing. It was released two years later with a new commentary track, and a new spine number: #227. Though the original pressing was never officially released, some number of copies (believed to be less than 100) made their way into the collector's market. When copies came up for sale, they generally went for $350-450.

Have fun!

Thanks jayembee, this is why I ask these questions here. It was funny, and a bit overwhelming, as I looked through all the pages of Criterion LDs. Not sure if I want to go down the road of trying to collect all the LDs, but there may be a few I try to pick up.

Again, thanks for the wealth of information!

[ccfixx]

Courtesy of criterionforum.org...

For those that haven't seen, here lies the packaging for Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

Courtesy of criterionforum.org...

For those that haven't seen, here lies the packaging for Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman.

I love it... don't worry mine will look better on my shelf then that final pic they posted lol. Mine is already ordered for in store reserve next week. I can't wait.

It just occured to me looking at the pics again... that front cover is for sure a sticker, I think I and others had the impression it was kind of a square cut out window with that image.

[Scottie]

Ah, so it'll stick out more than normal. I don't think that will be a problem for me as my shelves are somewhat deep.

[G:Box]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Ah, so it'll stick out more than normal. I don't think that will be a problem for me as my shelves are somewhat deep.

This set should've been only BD's

[The Great Owl]

No Zatoichi set for me. It's a handsome package, but I don't see myself revisiting all of those flicks multiple times.

I decided this morning to pull the trigger on The Ultimate Buster Keaton Collection, since I was able to get it for only $122.70 from ImportCDs. I was going to hold out until 2014 for this set, but the price is quite remarkable right now.

I'm going to look for Tokyo Story on the way home, and then hole up in my Blu-ray bunker with plentiful supplies until December.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

No Zatoichi set for me. It's a handsome package, but I don't see myself revisiting all of those flicks multiple times.

I decided this morning to pull the trigger on The Ultimate Buster Keaton Collection, since I was able to get it for only $122.70 from ImportCDs. I was going to hold out until 2014 for this set, but the price is quite remarkable right now.

I'm going to look for Tokyo Story on the way home, and then hole up in my Blu-ray bunker with plentiful supplies until December.

It's been a while that the Buster Keaton set has been around $105 with free shipping on DVDPlanet, but i think it's backordered right now.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

It's been a while that the Buster Keaton set has been around $105 with free shipping on DVDPlanet, but i think it's backordered right now.

It's backordered on ImportCDs as well, but I've had great luck with that site in the past, and I've never done business with DVDPlanet. Just the same, it's great to see the Keaton set at decent prices.

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by LegacyCosts

I found a part time job at a used media store by my house and on my first day I noticed a beautiful wong kar-wai collection on dvd. I've never watched his films but they seem right up my alley. Is everything in this set available on blu ray/criterion? If not I'll probably pick it up. Ah hell chungking express alone is like 70 bucks on blu ray. Maybe I will get this set.

His entire filmography, except for 2046, is currently available on blu. The Grandmaster, As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild can all be imported from YesAsia. Kino released Happy Together and Fallen Angels in North America. My Blueberry Nights is available in the UK as a Region B release and Japan as Region A/B.

His films are absolutely worth checking out. I recently completed a semi-complete retrospective of his works (left out 2046) and it solidified him as one of my top 5 directors.

[Judex]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

His entire filmography, except for 2046, is currently available on blu. The Grandmaster, As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild can all be imported from YesAsia. Kino released Happy Together and Fallen Angels in North America. My Blueberry Nights is available in the UK as a Region B release and Japan as Region A/B.

His films are absolutely worth checking out. I recently completed a semi-complete retrospective of his works (left out 2046) and it solidified him as one of my top 5 directors.

Someone really needs to change that. I adore 2046.
I'd love a Criterion blu with all the extra's from the French SB.

[LegacyCosts]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

His entire filmography, except for 2046, is currently available on blu. The Grandmaster, As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild can all be imported from YesAsia. Kino released Happy Together and Fallen Angels in North America. My Blueberry Nights is available in the UK as a Region B release and Japan as Region A/B.

His films are absolutely worth checking out. I recently completed a semi-complete retrospective of his works (left out 2046) and it solidified him as one of my top 5 directors.

Thanks I will be attempting to view all of them. I see that like someone in love is in your top movies for 2013. Where did you view it? Been wanting to see it a long time but I didn't see a release for it

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by funtom

I've already ordered the Rossellini boxset and The Killing and the Night to Remember in this sale. I'd still like to order something... Pricewise the max is 4 standard BDs. I was thinking of the three Hitchcock blu-ray they have and one other film to it. What do you think? Does these Hitchcock films worth to be purchased on Criterion?

One time when I had way too much time on my hands, I googled to find the 52 Hitchcock films ranked in order, the requirement being that the person putting together the last had to have at least 50 of his films ranked. I then added the numbers and, of course, the lowest number was to be the highest ranking film on my new list. The Lady Vanishes ranked #6 of 52, The 39 Steps ranked #5 of 52, and The Man Who Knew Too Much is middle of the road Hitchcock and it ranked #20 of 52.

I LOVE Hitchcock, so for me these are absolute must own films. What I can tell you about these three films is that they are all from Hitchcock's British era. In these early films, there is a sense of humor (I should say 'humour' being that I'm speaking of his British films )that kind of disappeared once he began working in the States. If you're looking for a 4th film, why not get Fritz Lang's M. You'll then have two Peter Lorre films (which is awesome!) and 4 films from the early talkie days. I'm thinking of picking up M for those very same reasons.

[UncleBuckWild]

Eyes without a Face ... is it worth buying?


The story seems quite interesting... what are your thoughts?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by UncleBuckWild

Eyes without a Face ... is it worth buying?


The story seems quite interesting... what are your thoughts?

Eyes Without a Face is one of the year's best Criterion titles. It's a horrifying, yet strangely beautiful story with a couple of scenes that are quite intense, given the time of release.

The Blu-ray transfer is nothing short of miraculous, and it's a great-looking black-and-white film in high definition.

I have a longer take on this movie under the User Reviews.

[nymets138]

Left off Ashes of Time. There's not a US release but Ashes of Time (Redux) has a UK, German and Japan release. However there probably won't ever be another release of the original version.

Originally Posted by brandon_260

His entire filmography, except for 2046, is currently available on blu. The Grandmaster, As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild can all be imported from YesAsia. Kino released Happy Together and Fallen Angels in North America. My Blueberry Nights is available in the UK as a Region B release and Japan as Region A/B.

His films are absolutely worth checking out. I recently completed a semi-complete retrospective of his works (left out 2046) and it solidified him as one of my top 5 directors.

[UncleBuckWild]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

[Show spoiler]Eyes Without a Face is one of the year's best Criterion titles. It's a horrifying, yet strangely beautiful story with a couple of scenes that are quite intense, given the time of release.

The Blu-ray transfer is nothing short of miraculous, and it's a great-looking black-and-white film in high definition.

I have a longer take on this movie under the User Reviews.

Thanks bro! ... that was a very detailed and nicely written review.

In a comical way the mad doctor reminds me of Gene Wilder's character in Young Frankenstein.

... will make sure to pick this up ASAP.