The Criterion Collection

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

the two films I want to win this year won't have a chance

What are the two films you're rooting for?

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

What are the two films you're rooting for?

Dunkirk and Call Me by Your Name

[jlk5844]

And there were several snubs. The Florida Project deserved much more, CMBYN missed out on director and cinematography, Columbus is one of the best films of last year and got zero notice (a cinematography nod would've been appreciated at least)...

[jw007]

I really thought Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri or Ladybird was going to win best picture but I'm really glad to see The Shape of Water win movie of the year at the Oscars tonight.

A shout out to Gary Oldman for winning his first Academy Award also! He was stunning in Darkest Hour.

Finally, an even bigger shout out to Guillermo del Toro for winning Best Director (aside from his movie winning too).

On a side note, I'm most excited that Icarus won for Best Documentary. Has anyone else seen this one? This is a title that ought to be in the Criterion Collection somewhere. It's one of the best documentaries I've seen in years.

[Polaroid]

Well didnt some of the voters admit to not seeing some of the films? Petty sure Jennifer Lawrence turned off Phantom Thread after 3 minutes.

Can't take The Oscars seriously nowadays lol

[mande2013]

Originally Posted by Scottie

They did re-release Playtime and Monterey Pop, though, after both underwent 4K digital restorations.

Judging from the Janus website, it appears that Belle de Jour and several Bergman titles (if not all) will be re-released, too.

The already existing Criterion release of Belle de Jour has Janus branding, so being on the Janus site I don't think really means much, and they don't specifically mention 'a new 4K restoration'. And it's Bergman's centenary, so it makes sense his films would be doing the theatrical rounds. Plenty of films in the past have done the repertory circuit via Janus with there being an already existing Criterion release that wasn't subsequently updated. I have a hard time believing they plan to rerelease Persona or Wild Strawberries with new transfers so soon, especially since the existing ones are so stunning to begin with. Likewise Belle de Jour. Criterion actually lost the rights to Playtime for a while and when they got them back, they probably figured 'what the hell, there's a new transfer available now, might as well use it'. Had they never lost the rights, I doubt they would've rereleased it on blu-ray with a different source.

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Can't take The Oscars seriously nowadays lol

At least they got this one right:

[SammyJankis]

Deakins winning made me cheer. You could tell the audience knew it was long over due, a la Scorsese. The rest of the show was a slog, and omitting Dorothy Malone and Tobe Hooper from the Memorium is just straight up bull.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

I think the teacup might be a better isolated image; the deer head is cool, but to me it doesn't particularly evoke "Get Out" over, say, "Evil Dead II".

This is amusing in hindsight because Jordan Peele was literally wearing a pin of the antlers last night.

[Casey]

i think they need to update the del toro set to a quadrilogy

[Sommerswerd]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

Columbus is one of the best films of last year and got zero notice (a cinematography nod would've been appreciated at least)...

YES! I was so disappointed that the film was almost totally ignored during the entire awards season let alone the Academy Awards.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Casey

i think they need to update the del toro set to a quadrilogy

The Trilogy (or Trilogia, to be specific) of Del Toro films put out by Criterion represents his (primarily) Spanish features.

[Count Orlok]

Out of curiosity, has Criterion ever considered releasing their titles on the 4K format, or would it be counter-productive due to costs of running a botique label?

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Count Orlok

Out of curiosity, has Criterion ever considered releasing their titles on the 4K format, or would it be counter-productive due to costs of running a botique label?

Remember when they tried to combine everything into combo packs? That was a cost saving measure and when people complained and forced them back into separate DVD / Blu-ray releases they had to cut costs elsewhere (which is why we get pamphlets instead of books nowadays). A huge bulk of their sales still come from DVD, largely because that's what most libraries and many older customers prefer and it was DVD customers complaining that forced them to go back to separate releases.

Long story short, I simply don't think that 4K sales would be strong enough for them to justify adding a third format. The ROI would just be too low.

[peschi]

plus UHD discs cant be regionlocked, wich is an obstacle for getting licensing from the major film studios.

[CyberpunkCentral]

Criterion will start putting out UHD when more people have it. But right now, 4K isn't the standard just yet.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

And there were several snubs. The Florida Project deserved much more, CMBYN missed out on director and cinematography, Columbus is one of the best films of last year and got zero notice (a cinematography nod would've been appreciated at least)...

I totally forgot about Columbus! That's a great little gem of a film. To me, it was a meditation. Just outstanding use of detail and architecture.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by peschi

plus UHD discs cant be regionlocked, wich is an obstacle for getting licensing from the major film studios.

It seems like it would be a bigger obstacle for movies that aren't owned by major studios, because they're more likely to have rights divided up across the various foreign territories. But I know studios care about stupid stuff like that, for whatever reason.

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by mande2013

The already existing Criterion release of Belle de Jour has Janus branding, so being on the Janus site I don't think really means much, and they don't specifically mention 'a new 4K restoration'. And it's Bergman's centenary, so it makes sense his films would be doing the theatrical rounds. Plenty of films in the past have done the repertory circuit via Janus with there being an already existing Criterion release that wasn't subsequently updated. I have a hard time believing they plan to rerelease Persona or Wild Strawberries with new transfers so soon, especially since the existing ones are so stunning to begin with. Likewise Belle de Jour. Criterion actually lost the rights to Playtime for a while and when they got them back, they probably figured 'what the hell, there's a new transfer available now, might as well use it'. Had they never lost the rights, I doubt they would've rereleased it on blu-ray with a different source.

Eh, the Criterion of Belle de Jour isn't stunning. I'd be happy if they rereleased it with the new 4K restoration. But yeah it's hard to imagine some of the Bergmans looking any better. I welcome it though if they are indeed improvements, just don't expect it. I'd like them to go back to their original cover art for Cries and Whispers, the new one is terrible. It'd stink to lose the covers for the others though, which I love.

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Remember when they tried to combine everything into combo packs? That was a cost saving measure and when people complained and forced them back into separate DVD / Blu-ray releases they had to cut costs elsewhere (which is why we get pamphlets instead of books nowadays). A huge bulk of their sales still come from DVD, largely because that's what most libraries and many older customers prefer and it was DVD customers complaining that forced them to go back to separate releases.

Long story short, I simply don't think that 4K sales would be strong enough for them to justify adding a third format. The ROI would just be too low.

Which is weird, because they're only saving money on staples.

But yeah I don't know if Criterion will take that risk jumping into 4K UHD anytime soon. Or, if they do it'll probably be limited to the most popular/mainstream titles.

[jlk5844]

I sincerely hope Columbus (2017) gets a Blu-ray from anyone, but it'd be awesome if Criterion were the ones to do it, cause it'd expose it to a lot more people. It'd fit right in with the collection. Also, the director Kogonada has worked with Criterion before on a video essay for Linklater's Before Trilogy, and has done others for Wes Anderson, Yasujiro Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick. You can find them quickly on Vimeo. The film's distributor Sundance Institute has an archive of film prints at UCLA including Sex, Lies, and Videotape, a forthcoming Criterion release. I'm grasping at straws a little to draw connections in the hope of a release, but dammit I'm desperate!