1736 - Funny Games
1737 - The Seventh Continent
1738 - 71 Fragments of a Chronology of a Chance
1739 - Benny's Video
1740 - The Castle
EDIT: I did find some other films that are mysteriously absent unless you search the director's name -- Fassbinder, Jarmusch, and Powell, just to name a few -- but the IDs are in the 1300s/1400s and I figure they've been on the website for quite some time.
A week or so ago alot of people posted about films they would like to see Criterion release. Alphaville was one of my pics, which Kino will release, another was The Seventh Continent. Perhaps it's safe to say that Criterion will be releasing that one in time.
(I've never seen Funny Games '97, but U.S. is absolutely amazing. And from what I understand it's closer to Haneke's original vision. I do need to check out the '97 version sometime though.)
A week or so ago alot of people posted about films they would like to see Criterion release. Alphaville was one of my pics, which Kino will release, another was The Seventh Continent. Perhaps it's safe to say that Criterion will be releasing that one in time.
(I've never seen Funny Games '97, but U.S. is absolutely amazing. And from what I understand it's closer to Haneke's original vision. I do need to check out the '97 version sometime though.)
If you enjoyed the US version, you'll enjoy the '97 version, I feel it's safe to say. There are differences, of course, and different casts obviously. But bother are very good, challenging films IMO.
I wonder if the order of Janus Films's ID numbers are relevant.
For example:
1880 - Tokyo Olympiad (DVD Spine #155, re-released on Blu-ray in 2017)
1881 - La Ciénaga (released on Blu-ray in 2015)
1882 - Baal (released on Blu-ray in 2018)
1883 - The Color of Pomegranates (released on Blu-ray in 2018)
1884 - Touki bouki (released on Blu-ray in 2013)
1885 - Manila in the Claws of Light (released on Blu-ray in 2018)
1886 - Redes (released on Blu-ray in 2013)
1887 - Cold Water (released on Blu-ray in 2018)
1888 - Monsieur Verdoux (released on Blu-ray in 2013)
1889 - Sunnyside (A sequence of the film is a Special Feature in The Great Dictator release but I don't believe it's available in full elsewhere)
1890 - M (released on Blu-ray in 2010)
1891 - One Sings, the Other Dances (forthcoming on Blu-ray)
1892 - The War Room (released on Blu-ray in 2012)
1893 - Wanda (releasing on Blu-ray in 2019)
1894 - A Story from Chikamatsu (released on Blu-ray in 2018)
1895 - Irma Vep (forthcoming on Blu-ray; active phantom page)
1896 - À propos de Nice (released on Blu-ray in 2011 and re-released theatrically in 2018)
1897 - N/A
1898 - N/A
1899 - Taris (released on Blu-ray in 2011 and re-released theatrically in 2018)
1900 - The Baker's Wife (forthcoming on Blu-ray)
1901 - Police Story (forthcoming on Blu-ray)
1902 - Police Story 2 (forthcoming on Blu-ray)
1903 - N/A
1904 - More (forthcoming on Blu-ray; inactive phantom page)
1905 - The Valley (forthcoming on Blu-ray; inactive phantom page)
1906 - Detour (releasing on Blu-ray in 2019)
1907 - The Cranes are Flying (released on DVD in 2002)
1908 - N/A
I gave up after searching up to 1950, all of which were 404'd.
I also have reason to believe that Criterion will be re-releasing The Complete Jean Vigo with the new masters. The previous three advertised film sets -- The Apu Trilogy, The Marseille Trilogy, and Ingmar Bergman's Cinema -- received home video releases. And while the Vigo films have already been released on Blu-ray, I don't see why Janus would go through all of this work of promoting the new masters and releasing the films theatrically if they weren't planning something.
I still have some backend work to take care of, namely identifying those releases that need scans. I also have to update the films' master movie IDs in order to clean up unnecessary text (actors/directors should never be listed in a movie's synopsis) and add theatrical release dates, for example.
The first thing you'll notice is that almost all of the artwork has been updated. When Criterion redesigned their website this year they added 1288x1600 or 1600x1988 scans for all of their titles. These are much larger than the old ones, which were a standard 300 or 400 by something or other and much better than Amazon's stock photos, which often utilize the obnoxious blue stickers. Furthermore, the color grading is much better on Criterion's website, another added benefit.
I maintained the same template as I had in the past.
There are 860 confirmed Criterion Blu-ray entries in the database. The site lists 895 as of this present moment (I'm sure it'll be updated to 896 once my entry for Irma Vep is updated). These other 35 entries are rumored/confirmed releases with no release date, such as the "Police Story" films.
The films listed in "no release dates" are those films that are available on Blu-ray, as part of the main feature, and not available for individual release. These are mainly the box set exclusives - the three "Before" films, the 25 "Zatoichi" films, and more. These do not include the films included as extras within a release, such as "Killer's Kiss" (The Killing) and "The Front Page" (His Girl Friday). I have added some hidden keywords to these releases, though, so that if you search "The Underneath", for example, you'll come across the "King of the Hill" release.
3. Misc.
Special exceptions (1)
The only film in this category is the first pressing of "Dressed to Kill". The disc was faulty and re-issued, and another review was produced (hence the second pressing entry).
Out of print releases (10)
Discontinued releases (29) - namely those Dual-Format releases that were re-released as Blu-ray only.
Replacement cases (10) - releases originally housed in cardboard DigiPacks before replacement plastic cases were offered.
I'm sure I'll come across some other things I can spike out in the future, but for the time being, this is it folks.
If you have any feedback or ideas for improvement, please do not hesitate to let me know via comment or PM.
The BFI release is great & includes Ordet, Gertrud & 7 (of 8) of his short films as well as Master of the House (both Danish & English versions) in 1080p UNLIKE Criterion which ONLY has it in 1080i.
Well worth getting.
The BFI set is definitely worth getting, although it features masters from around 2008 for the sound films. As for Master of the House, the 1080i is consistently used as a container (with a progressive transfer) for numerous silent films because of their non-24 FPS framerate. The BFI have added duplicate frames to maintain the 1080p container. There should be no difference in quality due to the container (although the BFI is slightly better encoded IMHO).
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is still $17.84 on Amazon. So you can pick it up for even cheaper than the B&N and Criterion half off sale if you don’t yet have it or want it. Just an FYI.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is still $17.84 on Amazon. So you can pick it up for even cheaper than the B&N and Criterion half off sale if you don’t yet have it or want it. Just an FYI.
That probably sets the record for the cheapest Russ Meyer DVD ever. Used OR new.....
That probably sets the record for the cheapest Russ Meyer DVD ever. Used OR new.....
It seems like a love hate type of thing with this one from some of the people in my Criterion Facebook group. I have never seen any of his work so I’m told I’m in for a surprise.
But when a Criterion Blu goes that low I usually pounce. If I don’t like it I’ll pass it off on someone in a few years for more than I just bought it for new.
The BFI release is great & includes Ordet, Gertrud & 7 (of 8) of his short films as well as Master of the House (both Danish & English versions) in 1080p UNLIKE Criterion which ONLY has it in 1080i.
It’s a GOOD thing when Criterion uses interlacing on silent films. Or at least it usually is, Master of the House doesn’t seem to have the benefit that their other interlaced silents do (maybe there was some technical obstacle.) Interlacing is the only way to get smooth motion on non-24fps silent films, which should be the rational goal as these are motion pictures and not frame capture toys (perfect frames was a dumb argument to begin with - I pause interlaced films all the time and get perfect images.) Compare Criterion’s 20fps Passion of Joan of Arc to Masters of Cinema’s - MOC’s is jerk city, Criterion’s is silky smooth. Safety Last and The Phantom Carriage also benefit from this. Check out the frame rate primer on their edition of The Kid and you’ll see what could have been with the Mutual shorts had Criterion handled them (who wouldn’t want smooth motion during the skating scenes in The Rink?)
Interlacing is affected by the player’s capability to de-interlace properly. Not all players do this like they should. Combing, especially on Blu-ray, isn’t the problem it’s made out to be; buy a PlayStation and you’ll never see any combing (unless there’s something seriously wrong with the disc.)
So many people lied about what interlacing actually is and does back in the 2000s that most of these people complaining about it probably have never actually tried to do it right. It doesn’t help that reviewers don’t either and never discuss the issue.
After our Janus Films discussion yesterday, I decided to type up a list of every single film on Janus Films's website. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
I highlighted those "hidden" films with phantom pages (404) in red.
The films appear to begin with ID #1011 (Revanche) and end with #1908 (La Haine). There is a large gap of mysteriously absent pages from #1770-1796.
Disclaimer: I'm more than likely going to clean up the format at some point, but I just wanted to get this out as soon as possible.
There's a lot to like there including all the Ozu films, but the two I would love to see would be The Scarlet Pimpernel and Knight Without Armor neither which I believe haven't had a decent home video release.
Last edited by StarDestroyer52; 12-30-2018 at 10:39 PM.
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
The reinserted scenes are in especially bad shape.
Linear Mode
