The Criterion Collection

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Knaldskalle

Fixed that for you.

The Lady from Shanghai says 'hi, boyo'.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

Very few of those directors have a 'singular' style though, and even fewer did anything new/novel. Spike Lee and Jarmusch were already in the 'spotlight' before those directors you mentioned. Spike Lee peaked in the late 80's and early 90's and was the biggest 'indie', or at least non-mainstream, director in America before Tarantino came along.

Again, MOST of them have a singular style and "even fewer did anything novel?" Have you watched any of their films? Many of them are Oscar winners, like Tarantino, so saying none of them besides him did anything novel is also ridiculous. And while Spike Lee "peaked" in 1989, he was still part of the "new Hollywood" generation. Trying to defend Tarantino with alternative facts doesn't work. You actually have it backwards though — the fact is, many of them actually GREW as filmmakers and changed styles and tried new things, while Tarantino is still doing the exact same thing he did in the early 1990s, and it's completely worn thin.

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by jayembee

As far as I know, Criterion doesn't have any licensing arrangement with Paramount, who owns that film. And, unfortunately, Kino's arrangement with Paramount doesn't include titles that Paramount have released themselves on DVD (with they did with Miracle). If it's ever going to get out on Blu-ray, Olive Films seems like the best bet.

Which is too bad. It's a wonderful film. And as a Betty Hutton fan, it sucks that not one of her films has been released on Blu-ray. The best bet for that is if Warner Archive releases Annie Get Your Gun.

Actually Criterion is one of the only companies that seems to have access to Paramounts classic catalog which is why the released stuff like Nashville, Dont Look Now, Seconds, La Dolce Vita and Harold and Maude among many others. A lot of speculation that Criterion may also have the rights to A Place In the Sun and Roman Holiday.
Theres a good chance they may have that as well considering their love of Sturges.

[malakaheso]

Bates: You seem to be under the impression that I'm defending Tarantino, I'm not. Fincher is good but he does not have a singular style. Neither does Aronofsky. Aronofsky is a polystylist. Moreoever, they can't all be trying new things but have a singular style at the same time. Which is it? Wes Anderson does have a singular style, I'll give you that and so does Jarmusch, but neither of them have had the success or the reach of QT.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by jayembee

As far as I know, Criterion doesn't have any licensing arrangement with Paramount, who owns that film. And, unfortunately, Kino's arrangement with Paramount doesn't include titles that Paramount have released themselves on DVD (with they did with Miracle). If it's ever going to get out on Blu-ray, Olive Films seems like the best bet.

Which is too bad. It's a wonderful film. And as a Betty Hutton fan, it sucks that not one of her films has been released on Blu-ray. The best bet for that is if Warner Archive releases Annie Get Your Gun.

Thanks. Annie Get Your Gun has quickly risen in my favorite musicals catagory after first seeing it a couple of years ago. I only knew Betty Hutton from film snippets of her singing songs like Murder, He Says and I thought (mistakenly) she's only a novelty act similar to Virginia O'Brien with her monotone delivery of a song. Polar opposites in delivery, but a gimmick just the same. I saw Annie and that changed everything-she could sing a love song and make you tear up and also do her trademark style and it fit perfectly with the character. According to Betty, it was pure hell to make and she was treated badly but that doesn't show on the screen. Getting back to Criterion-I thought since they were releasing Paramount Sturges titles Morgan's Creek might be a distinct possibility. I guess we can still hope for the best.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

Bates: You seem to be under the impression that I'm defending Tarantino, I'm not. Fincher is good but he does not have a singular style. Neither does Aronofsky. Aronofsky is a polystylist. Moreoever, they can't all be trying new things but have a singular style at the same time. Which is it? Wes Anderson does have a singular style, I'll give you that and so does Jarmusch, but neither of them have had the success or the reach of QT.

I think Jarmusch manages to incorporate new things within the style he adopted early in his career. His work starting with "Dead Man" is far more serious and ambitious than his early films IMO, as good as his early stuff is. I prefer most of Jarmusch's stuff pre-2000, but I do admire him for not sitting back and just re-creating the formula of "Stranger than Paradise" and "Down by Law" over and over, which would be easy to do. Tarantino and Wes Anderson are similar in that everyone knows exactly the kind of films to expect from them at this point. There is nothing surprising. I suppose it keeps their most die-hard fans happy though.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by jayembee

As far as I know, Criterion doesn't have any licensing arrangement with Paramount, who owns that film. And, unfortunately, Kino's arrangement with Paramount doesn't include titles that Paramount have released themselves on DVD (with they did with Miracle). If it's ever going to get out on Blu-ray, Olive Films seems like the best bet.

Which is too bad. It's a wonderful film. And as a Betty Hutton fan, it sucks that not one of her films has been released on Blu-ray. The best bet for that is if Warner Archive releases Annie Get Your Gun.

Criterion have released quite a few Paramount titles including Days of Heaven and Downhill Racer among others. I'd wish they'd release more though because there's a slew of Paramount titles I'd love to see on blu-ray, many of them would be Criterion appropriate (The Parallax View being my top pick).

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Again, MOST of them have a singular style and "even fewer did anything novel?" Have you watched any of their films? Many of them are Oscar winners, like Tarantino, so saying none of them besides him did anything novel is also ridiculous. And while Spike Lee "peaked" in 1989, he was still part of the "new Hollywood" generation. Trying to defend Tarantino with alternative facts doesn't work. You actually have it backwards though — the fact is, many of them actually GREW as filmmakers and changed styles and tried new things, while Tarantino is still doing the exact same thing he did in the early 1990s, and it's completely worn thin.

I agree it's kind of silly to disregard those other filmmakers. Tarantino emerged during a wave of many great creative talents. That being said, I don't think he's doing exactly the same thing since the early 90s. In the past decade he's become even more steeped in the pop culture references than he was in his early career. I thought his last two films were really quite enjoyable though.

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Thanks. Annie Get Your Gun has quickly risen in my favorite musicals catagory after first seeing it a couple of years ago. I only knew Betty Hutton from film snippets of her singing songs like Murder, He Says and I thought (mistakenly) she's only a novelty act similar to Virginia O'Brien with her monotone delivery of a song. Polar opposites in delivery, but a gimmick just the same. I saw Annie and that changed everything-she could sing a love song and make you tear up and also do her trademark style and it fit perfectly with the character. According to Betty, it was pure hell to make and she was treated badly but that doesn't show on the screen. Getting back to Criterion-I thought since they were releasing Paramount Sturges titles Morgan's Creek might be a distinct possibility. I guess we can still hope for the best.

Annie Get Your Gun is a lot of fun and I'd love to see that on blu-ray. Hopefully Warner Archive will bring it out. Betty Hutton is so fun to watch in that film. She was treated badly by a lot of people who didn't like her replacing Judy Garland though she had nothing to do with Judy's departure. That's unfortunate because I'm a fan of many others on that film including Howard Keel and it's disappointing to know they treated her poorly.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by mja345

I think Jarmusch manages to incorporate new things within the style he adopted early in his career. His work starting with "Dead Man" is far more serious and ambitious than his early films IMO, as good as his early stuff is. I prefer most of Jarmusch's stuff pre-2000, but I do admire him for not sitting back and just re-creating the formula of "Stranger than Paradise" and "Down by Law" over and over, which would be easy to do. Tarantino and Wes Anderson are similar in that everyone knows exactly the kind of films to expect from them at this point. There is nothing surprising. I suppose it keeps their most die-hard fans happy though.

I think J.J's films are quite similar but he changes the background often. The foreground doesn't seem change much though. He just refined his style over time. Dead Man and The Limits of Control stand out more than others in his filmography for their conceptual ambition.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

Annie Get Your Gun is a lot of fun and I'd love to see that on blu-ray. Hopefully Warner Archive will bring it out. Betty Hutton is so fun to watch in that film. She was treated badly by a lot of people who didn't like her replacing Judy Garland though she had nothing to do with Judy's departure. That's unfortunate because I'm a fan of many others on that film including Howard Keel and it's disappointing to know they treated her poorly.

That was my exact thought also-"I like these guys and that's really sad and mean." The thing is I think Betty was better suited for the role and even after seeing the sequence that Judy filmed I feel the same.

I'm turning this into a Betty Hutton thread so I'll stop but ideally Criterion would release Morgan's Creek and include those Vitaphone shorts or some radio broadcasts she made back then as extras.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Getting back to Criterion-I thought since they were releasing Paramount Sturges titles Morgan's Creek might be a distinct possibility. I guess we can still hope for the best.

In the late 40s, Universal purchased the bulk of the Paramount catalog, so all of the other Sturges titles Criterion has done they got from Universal. For some reason I'd never been been clear on, Paramount kept the rights to The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. However, when I mentioned this once before in this thread, Blu-Velvet mentioned that they probably kept it to maintain the rights to the story, which they eventually remade in the late 50s as a Jerry Lewis vehicle.

But JoeBuck and baheidstu have rightfully pointed out that Criterion has done several Paramount titles, so who knows?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I'm turning this into a Betty Hutton thread so I'll stop but ideally Criterion would release Morgan's Creek and include those Vitaphone shorts or some radio broadcasts she made back then as extras.

I'd love to have on disc the short "Army-Navy Screen Magazine #20" (a.k.a. "Strictly G.I.") made by the Armed Forces Radio Service in 1943. It appeared on DVDs of a couple of Bob Hope films, but the short was edited to remove songs done by Hutton and Garland, most likely because they were too expensive to license. I have a several SVHS recordings made from TCM broadcasts with the full version of the short. Hope refers to Hutton as "a vitamin pill with legs".

[llj]

Originally Posted by Gerby

Baby Face

Not to be confused with this one, of course:

[MifuneFan]

Damn gurl

[Musicguy]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Thanks. Annie Get Your Gun has quickly risen in my favorite musicals catagory after first seeing it a couple of years ago. I only knew Betty Hutton from film snippets of her singing songs like Murder, He Says and I thought (mistakenly) she's only a novelty act similar to Virginia O'Brien with her monotone delivery of a song. Polar opposites in delivery, but a gimmick just the same. I saw Annie and that changed everything-she could sing a love song and make you tear up and also do her trademark style and it fit perfectly with the character. According to Betty, it was pure hell to make and she was treated badly but that doesn't show on the screen. Getting back to Criterion-I thought since they were releasing Paramount Sturges titles Morgan's Creek might be a distinct possibility. I guess we can still hope for the best.

Yes, bring on "Annie Get Your Gun"! Which was MGM's biggest grossing musical film during the 50s.
(Of course this belongs in the Warner Archive thread)

[Knaldskalle]

Originally Posted by octagon

The Lady from Shanghai says 'hi, boyo'.

*waves back*

[jw007]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

Bates: You seem to be under the impression that I'm defending Tarantino, I'm not. Fincher is good but he does not have a singular style. Neither does Aronofsky. Aronofsky is a polystylist. Moreoever, they can't all be trying new things but have a singular style at the same time. Which is it? Wes Anderson does have a singular style, I'll give you that and so does Jarmusch, but neither of them have had the success or the reach of QT.

Originally Posted by mja345

I think Jarmusch manages to incorporate new things within the style he adopted early in his career. His work starting with "Dead Man" is far more serious and ambitious than his early films IMO, as good as his early stuff is. I prefer most of Jarmusch's stuff pre-2000, but I do admire him for not sitting back and just re-creating the formula of "Stranger than Paradise" and "Down by Law" over and over, which would be easy to do. Tarantino and Wes Anderson are similar in that everyone knows exactly the kind of films to expect from them at this point. There is nothing surprising. I suppose it keeps their most die-hard fans happy though.

I had to get in on this discussion being a huge Jim Jarmusch fan.

In response to malakaheso: When you say that "neither of them have had the success or the reach of QT", are you referring to financial success? Because both Anderson and Jarmusch have had massive artistic successes with every film they've directed in my humble opinion. I can't think of one bad Wes Anderson film (or one bad Jim Jarmusch film for that matter!). Of course, its all subjective too. Tarantino on the other hand still has major financial success because he's always been provocative with his genre-bending films. I believe all 3 filmmakers are "auteurs", in that they all have stylistic choices in their art that you see appearing over and over in their movies. But ultimately, I wouldn't judge a film being good or bad based on how many tickets it sells at the movie theater or how many people purchase it on iTunes. Jarmusch's films, compared to Tarantino's, are independent gems and aren't aiming for the heavens. He makes small films but he makes them well.

mja345: Well put, but keep in mind we're talking about 3 very, very, very different filmmakers here.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by jw007

Iare you referring to financial success?

Aye. Financial success and cultural influence. J.J was of course extremely influential on the American 'indie' movement though, if it can even be classified as a 'movement'.

As for your comment about not judging films by ticket sales, c'mon, most of us here know that! Just look at my top ten films since 2010 list. There isn't a box office success among them! :-)

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by jw007

I had to get in on this discussion being a huge Jim Jarmusch fan.

Does that mean you can tell me if I should buy the 6 film UK blu-ray set or the 12 film German blu-ray set?

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Knaldskalle

*waves back*

You're kind of making my point though. I'm region-free as well so yeah, it's great that there's a region-locked import available but there's a place for a cheaper region-free release too. Same with some of the Sony stuff that went OOP. Mill Creek slaps them on a disc and charges eight-ten bucks. There's a place for that. Same for things like Consenting Adults and The Anderson Tapes and Billy Bathgate. Do I wish those releases were better? Sure. But they're not bad either.

And some of their TV stuff is pretty decent too.

Are they my favorite company? Do I shout 'woohoo' when I read that they've gotten the rights to something? Of course not.

But they serve a purpose.

Caddyshack- The World Need Ditch Diggers, Too - YouTube

[MifuneFan]

MC's release of the Daimaijin trilogy is great. Solid PQ on all 3 movies, plus over 1.5 hrs of extras. Releases like that are few and far between unfortunately , but I do agree with octagon, that there is a place for labels like that.