The Criterion Collection

[lilboyblu]

Going to speculate (as others already have) that we’ll be seeing a Criterion release of Sorry, Wrong Number sometime this year too.

[captveg]

Originally Posted by Mister_Kidd

I thought the reason that they hadn't released The Lady Eve on BD is that the existing elements weren't in good enough condition. Does this mean they found better elements?.

They likely did a scan of the best elements they could get (the safety dupe negative in the Universal vault). As Lee Kline said last summer, it will be an improvement over the old DVD for sure, but it won't be the revelation that some other titles are. I think their release of Stagecoach is a good comparison.

You can hear Kline talk about it here at 52:20.

[Himmel]

Def in for War of the Worlds.

[Stoicdelon]

Does anyone have a clue how the Japanese Blu-ray release of Taste of Cherry looks? Will be the same transfer done by Ritrovata I suppose? Is it yellowish? (the cover certainly doesn't give any confidence in this regard )

[yoloswegmaster420]

Just noticed that the English-language titles have subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. Have they done this with other English-language titles?

[captveg]

Originally Posted by yoloswegmaster420

Just noticed that the English-language titles have subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. Have they done this with other English-language titles?

Pretty standard, I believe. They just don't usually call it out on the special features.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by yoloswegmaster420

Just noticed that the English-language titles have subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing. Have they done this with other English-language titles?

Yes. Sometimes films that are included as extras may not have English SDH subtitles but general English language film features have them.

[thebalconyfool]

Originally Posted by Mister_Kidd

I thought the reason that they hadn't released The Lady Eve on BD is that the existing elements weren't in good enough condition.

I thought this as well so I bought the DVD at the last sale. Groan, bad timing. Happy to see a blu-ray release all the same.

[huskersports]

WotW loses the actors' commentary from the Paramount DVD, though, so that's a bummer.

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by dkelly26666

"American Boy" is a HOOT. You spend an evening with Steven Prince, who many will recognize as the gun salesman in "Taxi Driver", who also had been road/tour/career managers for both Neil Diamond and Neil Young. He is a natural born storyteller (and BS artist), and the tales he spins are so vivid and hilarious and frightening that you feel like you've SEEN, rather than heard, his tales. Look for George Memmoli, too, a character actor who was the "This guy is a mook" guy from "Mean Streets". Everyone, including Scorsese, seems zonked out of their minds the whole time, LOL. Like hanging out with some high friends while they tell anecdotes. No spoilers on the stories told, but my favorite one involves a gas station in the desert in the middle of the night, LOL. You'll see....

No, overall, these are all worth having, and the bonus stuff looks interesting, too.

There’s also a 2009 follow up, American Prince.

[CelestialAgent]

Originally Posted by DimitriL

I'm usually not all into new 5.1 soundtracks for classic films, but when I read Ben Burtt was doing it, they had my attention.

And an interview with Orson and H.G. Wells? I wasn't aware that existed and I'm all in for that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i83I...ature=youtu.be

[SuperBrinstar]

OMG! So excited for War of the Worlds to finally see a release here in the states! Childhood favorite of mine. Day one!

[Scholer]

Okay, with such stunning covers for all the other releases for July, I have to point out just how shitty the cover for The Lady Eve feels to me! How on Earth that got through quality control, I’ll never understand.

[spudeus]

Pal's War of the Worlds coming out of left field (for me anyway!). Must-have, though in many ways I enjoy The Time Machine even more.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by MJD64

They did. BLADE RUNNER back in the day - which I believe was one of the earliest titles released in "letterbox", preserving that glorious widescreen framing.

It was an early letterboxed release, but it depends on how you want to define "one of the earliest". The first actual letterboxed home video titles were a handful of the RCA CED (the so-called "NeedleVision" discs) in 1984. At least, in the US (not sure about Japan). Word is that Fellini's Amarcord was the first of those.

Woody Allen's Manhattan was one of those, too, and later the same year, it was also the first US laserdisc to be released letterboxed. I've heard that there was a Japanese release that was the first worldwide letterboxed LD, but if I ever knew what the title was, I've long ago forgotten.

The first letterboxed Criterion LD was Invasion of the Body Snatchers in 1986, followed by Lola Montès. In 1987, they released The Hidden Fortress, The Graduate, and then Blade Runner.

[Bolo Seagull]

Originally Posted by zw94

I would love to see the following films get releases, especially since none of them have Blu-rays in North America, and some of them don't have Blu-rays at all:

1. Maelstrom (Denis Villeneuve, 2000)

Villeneuve himself doesn't like the film. I don't know if he would go so far as to block it being released on blu ray, but I doubt they would get a lot of the filmmaker support and input that Criterion pride themselves on.

I recently sold off my DVD of this and watched it one last time before shipping it. The film doesn't have anything to say and it's mostly just Villeneuve aping two high profile European filmmakers that he obviously admired (Kieslowski and Jeunet). But it's really not bad at all.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by MJD64

They did. BLADE RUNNER back in the day - which I believe was one of the earliest titles released in "letterbox", preserving that glorious widescreen framing.

I attended a seminar at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the 90's which featured many of the top cinematographers of the day discussing their art. To a man, each agreed that if it hadn't been for LaserDiscs and letterboxing there would likely have been no more movies made in 2:35. They said directors were sick and tired of seeing their films bastardized with panning and scanning on TV screens. Scorsese had said pretty much the same thing when he made CAPE FEAR, his first 2:35 film. He had no interest in that aspect ratio until LaserDiscs made it viable for watching those films at home.

I wonder how many people nowadays are aware of the role played by LaserDiscs and Criterion in the preservation of widescreen aspect ratios?

[graced_steak564]

Everytime I see new Criterion releases, I so wish that someone there could get the license for Mamoru Oshii's Angel's Egg.

[Bolo Seagull]

Originally Posted by graced_steak564

Everytime I see new Criterion releases, I so wish that someone there could get the license for Mamoru Oshii's Angel's Egg.

I think it's currently with Lionsgate. But Criterion don't really release much anime anyway. When it comes to rescuing old anime, you're better off praying to Discotek for a release.

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

I attended a seminar at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the 90's which featured many of the top cinematographers of the day discussing their art. To a man, each agreed that if it hadn't been for LaserDiscs and letterboxing there would likely have been no more movies made in 2:35. They said directors were sick and tired of seeing their films bastardized with panning and scanning on TV screens. Scorsese had said pretty much the same thing when he made CAPE FEAR, his first 2:35 film. He had no interest in that aspect ratio until LaserDiscs made it viable for watching those films at home.

I wonder how many people nowadays are aware of the role played by LaserDiscs and Criterion in the preservation of widescreen aspect ratios?

Unfortunately, they now get to see the same thing on many streaming platforms...