The Criterion Collection

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by Firecrackker

I may not pick up Manchurian Candidate because I have the regular edition of it. Is it worth the upgrade?

YES.
The picture quality is superior to the old MGM release. Not many new features on it though, probably two plus the leaflet.
Packaging is super nice as well if you care about that kind of thing.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by Firecrackker

What're you cats pickin' up on the next B&N Criterion sale? I got $140 in gift cards to murder

[Show spoiler]Guaranteed pick-ups:



I may not pick up Manchurian Candidate because I have the regular edition of it. Is it worth the upgrade?

I have $60 on a B&N gift card.

These four are locked and loaded:






Might try to snag a copy of this, depending on the status of my bank account in July and whether or not I can persuade one of you ruffians to let me trade you for it first.

...I just can't see myself spending $50 on a dvd.

[Firecrackker]

Originally Posted by JoeBuck

YES.
The picture quality is superior to the old MGM release. Not many new features on it though, probably two plus the leaflet.
Packaging is super nice as well if you care about that kind of thing.

Is it like a life changing difference in picture quality? Or just clearer and stuff

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Might try to snag a copy of this, depending on the status of my bank account in July and whether or not I can persuade one of you ruffians to let me trade you for it first.

...I just can't see myself spending $50 on a dvd.

But it's not just a DVD. It's 15 hours worth of a Fassbinder TV series, plus an earlier film adaptation of the novel, plus three documentaries, plus interviews, essays, and whatnot. On seven discs.

Sure, you can say that one can get a Blu-ray set that has as much, and for the same price. But seriously, dude, this is worth getting, even if it's "just" a DVD.

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

[/SPOILER]

Might try to snag a copy of this, depending on the status of my bank account in July and whether or not I can persuade one of you ruffians to let me trade you for it first.

...I just can't see myself spending $50 on a dvd.

Take one for the team. I'm picking up the OOP DVD of Reed's The Fallen Idol for $30 tonight with the foreknowledge that it may appease the Criterion gods and someday lead to a blu-ray release. Your purchase could be the one that pushes sales past the threshold for a blu-ray release for future purchasers

[Namuhana]

I'll definitely be picking up Bicycle Thieves and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. I may finally get the David Lean Directs Noël Coward set, too.

[Snicket]

Lists already? we are still over 4 months away before this thread gets endlessly cluttered with sale posts.

[Vidya]

Originally Posted by Firecrackker

Is it like a life changing difference in picture quality? Or just clearer and stuff

Yes, it will change your life.

[RickDee]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

Take one for the team. I'm picking up the OOP DVD of Reed's The Fallen Idol for $30 tonight with the foreknowledge that it may appease the Criterion gods and someday lead to a blu-ray release. Your purchase could be the one that pushes sales past the threshold for a blu-ray release for future purchasers

I don't think DvD sales factor in anymore

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

Oh man The Thing is one, if not, my favorite horror movie. Really, really good. My cousin, who's an 8th grader, came over and wanted to watch a horror movie. He'd seen Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street series. The usual movies that air on AMC on Halloween. I could tell he was scared and grossed out from the special effects. I know people shouldn't have favorite family members, but he is one of my favorite cousins. Open to watching any movie. Other horror movies that I enjoy are The Exorcist and Cronenberg's The Fly.

The Thing truly is a scary horror film. I mean, its just so unnerving... more of a psychological/paranoid thriller, though the gore is indeed over the top, and hellish to look at. It nearly cuts into that bio-pandemic-viral genre that you see in vampire or zombie movies, but in a much different way.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Nuck Horris

I expect this country to be a wasteland by 2116. People will be eating cats and radioactive potatoes in their mud huts, not watching movies. Dust covered Criterions will line the shelves of the long dead consumers whose ghosts will stare at them wishing they didn't spend half their lives gazing at a box in their living rooms.

I've been telling people this for years now! Criterion blu-rays will be best utilized as coasters for ancient glass bottles used for drinkable liquids other than beer.

Originally Posted by RickDee

As long as Kevin Costner is there to deliver the mail we will be alright!

The Postman, one of the most underrated movies of the 1990s.

Originally Posted by jayembee

I expect to be long dead by then, so I'm going to continue doing what makes me happy in the here and now, and that's watching movies.

How do you know you won't be reincarnated as another human being with many future lives ahead of you? You just never know!

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by RickDee

I don't think DvD sales factor in anymore

In the physical world, DVD sales have no meaning. You need to look at this on a theological level.

The Criterion Gods can be likened to the trickster gods of various ancient mythologies. They take great pleasure in a successful ruse. Whenever you purchase a non-Criterion release of a film that was previously distributed by Criterion or an OOP Criterion DVD (or hell, even an in-print Criterion DVD of a film that has yet to receive a blu-ray upgrade), The Great Overseers of The Collection seem to think it's funny to announce the upgrade to that film shortly after your purchase.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by RickDee

I don't think DvD sales factor in anymore

Let me guess...you also don't believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jw007

The Thing truly is a scary horror film. I mean, its just so unnerving... more of a psychological/paranoid thriller, though the gore is indeed over the top, and hellish to look at. It nearly cuts into that bio-pandemic-viral genre that you see in vampire or zombie movies, but in a much different way.

There's an anecdote regarding the genesis of the original story, "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campell, Jr. (under the pseudonym Don A. Stuart). Campbell's mother had an identical twin sister, and sometimes, his aunt would be baby-sitting him without him realizing that she wasn't his mother. As he grew older, he came to feel that he could never be sure whether he was talking to his mother or his aunt.

Interesting note about Carpenter's film: in the final scene with Kurt Russell and Keith David -- sitting in a stalemate, as neither one could be sure that the other was human and not alien -- if you watch closely, you'll notice that

[Show spoiler]every time Russell speaks, you can see his breath billowing as it condenses in the cold; the same is not true of David. It might just be a trick of what direction the set fans are blowing, or an indication that David's character is The Thing.

On edit: Possibly my favorite home video Easter Egg was on the Image/Turner laserdisc of the Hawks/Nyby version. The supplements includes the original novella that you step through a frame at a time. If one went to the first page, and hit "play" instead, as the story "pages" are flying past, the audio plays the soundtrack of the teaser trailer for Carpenter's version.

[mrjohnnyb]

Looks like we will be getting A Touch of Zen according to the latest newsletter.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

In the physical world, DVD sales have no meaning. You need to look at this on a theological level.

The Criterion Gods can be likened to the trickster gods of various ancient mythologies. They take great pleasure in a successful ruse. Whenever you purchase a non-Criterion release of a film that was previously distributed by Criterion or an OOP Criterion DVD (or hell, even an in-print Criterion DVD of a film that has yet to receive a blu-ray upgrade), The Great Overseers of The Collection seem to think it's funny to announce the upgrade to that film shortly after your purchase.

This is colloquially known as a Summoning Spell. There are philosophical debates about whether the spell will work if you perform it with premeditation.

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

Looks like we will be getting A Touch of Zen according to the latest newsletter.

Not surprising considering Janus started touring it. It's playing in NYC at the theater near me this April!

[Firecrackker]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

Looks like we will be getting A Touch of Zen according to the latest newsletter.

[SkyAntoine]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

Looks like we will be getting A Touch of Zen according to the latest newsletter.

My guess was Little Buddha...

[IanSchultz23]

Originally Posted by SkyAntoine

My guess was Little Buddha...

same