The Criterion Collection

[ShellOilJunior]

I viewed THE GAME last night (recorded from showtime) and enjoyed it a lot. It will make for an excellent BR.


As for Salo, I hope Criterion doesn't waste (no pun intended) a release on it.


Would rather see Criterion get around to Hulot's Holiday and some other "warm weather films" for the summer months.

[greekak229]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I viewed THE GAME last night (recorded from showtime) and enjoyed it a lot. It will make for an excellent BR.


As for Salo, I hope Criterion doesn't waste (no pun intended) a release on it.


Would rather see Criterion get around to Hulot's Holiday and some other "warm weather films" for the summer months.

I really wouldn't mind Criterion releasing Salo on Blu-ray. I, personally, like the film, but there are definitely a lot more titles I would like to see out first.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

As for Salo, I hope Criterion doesn't waste (no pun intended) a release on it.

Do we really need to list stuff they "waste" releases on? Because I can. Salo isn't one though.

[dag]

I'm more than a little ticked off with Zip.ca. They haven't received a single January Criterion release. They got the two December Blus (although not the America Lost and Found series) and three newer Eclipse sets, but nothing since. I hope they get back to picking up these titles - I love them, and almost always specially reserve the new releases.

[Hartley]

@dag: Good luck trying to get any of the new Criterion releases on their actual release up here now. I'm in Oakville and I've noticed online and also at all the BB, FS, HMV, etc. that all of Criterion's releases over the past month-ish have been delayed by 2 weeks up here. For example, check out the FS website and you'll see that "Sweet Smell of Success" won't be in stock until March 8th. No idea why...

[horseflesh]

I sat down this evening to watch Modern Times and asked my 3 boys (aged 9, 6 and 5) if they wanted to watch it with me. Only the 5 year old joined me, the eldest lad (and his friend) were in the other room playing Xbox and the 6 year was in there drawing pictures. About 2 minutes in the middle boy wandered in a started watching, then a few minutes later the friend was in, and within 8-9 minutes they were all happily watching.
And they all loved it and didn't get bored for a second, it was great to hear their genuine heartfelt laughter

Originally Posted by Hartley

@dag: Good luck trying to get any of the new Criterion releases on their actual release up here now. I'm in Oakville and I've noticed online and also at all the BB, FS, HMV, etc. that all of Criterion's releases over the past month-ish have been delayed by 2 weeks up here. For example, check out the FS website and you'll see that "Sweet Smell of Success" won't be in stock until March 8th. No idea why...

Is it not a great time to be importing from the US with the currencies at parity??

[italy12]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

I sat down this evening to watch Modern Times and asked my 3 boys (aged 9, 6 and 5) if they wanted to watch it with me. Only the 5 year old joined me, the eldest lad (and his friend) were in the other room playing Xbox and the 6 year was in there drawing pictures. About 2 minutes in the middle boy wandered in a started watching, then a few minutes later the friend was in, and within 8-9 minutes they were all happily watching.
And they all loved it and didn't get bored for a second, it was great to hear their genuine heartfelt laughter

That is awesome!!

[Arkadin]

just scored a copy of OOP Orphic Trilogy on amazon.
just came across it--it has been out of stock for weeks--and it was "in stock" with 1 copy available.
it's mine now.
so excited! it was the main OOP Criterion piece I was lacking.
(I don't have all the OOP titles by any means, but I do have all the ones that don't have blu-ray release or better dvd release)

[BasicGreatGuy]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

just scored a copy of OOP Orphic Trilogy on amazon.
just came across it--it has been out of stock for weeks--and it was "in stock" with 1 copy available.
it's mine now.
so excited! it was the main OOP Criterion piece I was lacking.
(I don't have all the OOP titles by any means, but I do have all the ones that don't have blu-ray release or better dvd release)

Good score. At the right place at the right time as they say.

[Hartley]

@ Horseflesh: Completely agree, I tend to buy most of my Criterions from the US these days, even with shipping it tends to be cheaper.

Great to hear your boys enjoyed "Modern Times" as well!

One of my favourite movie moments that I've shared with others is when I was in a room with about 120 other fellow animation students last semester for a Film History class that very few people even seemed remotely interested in (partly because the teacher was awful and partly because it was a mandatory elective), but when "Sherlock Jr." was screened, that room just lit up with laughter and applause by the end of it! It was a fantastic experience!

[Icemouth]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

Is it not a great time to be importing from the US with the currencies at parity??

Any price difference is immediately evened out with the terrible shipping rates ($12 on amazon). Plus the chance that you can be hit with duty for absolutely anything whenever they feel like it.

[horseflesh]

Originally Posted by Icemouth

Any price difference is immediately evened out with the terrible shipping rates ($12 on amazon). Plus the chance that you can be hit with duty for absolutely anything whenever they feel like it.

Not $12 per title though surely??
If you plan it right shipping charges can be minimised, I try to order in batches so that the shipping works out to maybe $3-$4 per title, which I can live with if I'm getting decent prices.
As for your second point, I'm lucky in that regard in that the Irish customs/postal authorities hardly ever hit anything that I've ordered; literally maybe 7-8 packages have been stopped in 14 years (and many hundreds of packages) of importing DVDs/BDs.

[Pyoko]

I didn't really pay attention when it was announced that Janus/Criterion got the rights to the Chaplin films, but did they ever mention or hint at any kind of timetable or order or anything pertaining to the Blu-ray schedule? I'm only really interested in The Great Dictator and The Kid. To me Chaplin is a bit too uneven; there will be sequences that are great, and then long passages that I find neither really funny nor moving nor very interesting. The first part of Modern Times for example is absolutely brilliant, but after he's out of the factory, the film switches gears and I think it sort of drags almost all the way to the end.

And have there been any rumorings about an HD restoration of The Passion of Joan of Arc? Who owns the rights to it anyway, or is it public domain? I find it really odd that there seem to be virtually no legit DVD releases of it at all in Europe. Wikipedia lists a dozen different scores for special screenings in the last twenty years, yet no one seems to have any interest in presenting a really good version on home video.

[Arkadin]

amazon has posted "in stock Feb 7th" on that Orphic Trilogy link right now so they seemingly have some copies on the way.
as for my purchase, not sure if I got that 1 copy or not.
still anxiously waiting for a shipping confirm.

[rezpekt]

Originally Posted by Pyoko

I didn't really pay attention when it was announced that Janus/Criterion got the rights to the Chaplin films, but did they ever mention or hint at any kind of timetable or order or anything pertaining to the Blu-ray schedule? I'm only really interested in The Great Dictator and The Kid. To me Chaplin is a bit too uneven; there will be sequences that are great, and then long passages that I find neither really funny nor moving nor very interesting. The first part of Modern Times for example is absolutely brilliant, but after he's out of the factory, the film switches gears and I think it sort of drags almost all the way to the end.

And have there been any rumorings about an HD restoration of The Passion of Joan of Arc? Who owns the rights to it anyway, or is it public domain? I find it really odd that there seem to be virtually no legit DVD releases of it at all in Europe. Wikipedia lists a dozen different scores for special screenings in the last twenty years, yet no one seems to have any interest in presenting a really good version on home video.

I don't think there is a schedule for Chaplin films but I think there was a rumor that The Passion of Joan of Arc could be released in 2011. I might be wrong...

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by Pyoko

I didn't really pay attention when it was announced that Janus/Criterion got the rights to the Chaplin films, but did they ever mention or hint at any kind of timetable or order or anything pertaining to the Blu-ray schedule? I'm only really interested in The Great Dictator and The Kid. To me Chaplin is a bit too uneven; there will be sequences that are great, and then long passages that I find neither really funny nor moving nor very interesting. The first part of Modern Times for example is absolutely brilliant, but after he's out of the factory, the film switches gears and I think it sort of drags almost all the way to the end.

And have there been any rumorings about an HD restoration of The Passion of Joan of Arc? Who owns the rights to it anyway, or is it public domain? I find it really odd that there seem to be virtually no legit DVD releases of it at all in Europe. Wikipedia lists a dozen different scores for special screenings in the last twenty years, yet no one seems to have any interest in presenting a really good version on home video.

The Great Dictator was hinted at in the New Years drawing.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by Hartley

@ Horseflesh: Completely agree, I tend to buy most of my Criterions from the US these days, even with shipping it tends to be cheaper.

Great to hear your boys enjoyed "Modern Times" as well!

One of my favourite movie moments that I've shared with others is when I was in a room with about 120 other fellow animation students last semester for a Film History class that very few people even seemed remotely interested in (partly because the teacher was awful and partly because it was a mandatory elective), but when "Sherlock Jr." was screened, that room just lit up with laughter and applause by the end of it! It was a fantastic experience!

That reminds me of a story when I was in film school, way back in the 1970s: it was the end of the term and some of the students were holding a party. My then girlfriend (eventually my spouse) didn't want to attend because she thought all anyone would do was talk about film (and even though she was an art major herself). I said, "no...after this year, everyone is sick of film!" So we go to the party and as we walk into the living room, there's a projector in the middle of the room. And the first thing they played was a Buster Keaton movie. My girlfriend laughed sarcastically the entire time. I almost broke up with her over that. She did love movies - our first date was seeing the Czech film "Closely Watched Trains" followed closely by most of the Truffaut films - but she never got into silent film, at least not back then.

[fdm]

Looks like I may have managed to shake loose my B&N copy of Shock Corridor (it was the G1 from a B2G1 order from a few weeks ago). It got back in stock a few days ago, far as I could tell, and after a few emails back and forth with their "service" department, it's now been "shipped". (Or maybe they were just about to ship it anyway. Didn't really want to wait until the middle of February to find out, though. Waited long enough.)

[mothman]

I just got back from Barnes and Nobles and got Last Year at Marienbad with the fifty percent coupon. I was hoping some of you could give me some recommendations because as of now I have bought every Criterion Blu that I was after. I currently have.

Bottle Rocket
Che
House
Last Year at Marienbad
M
The Magician
Night of the Hunter
Paths of Glory
Repulsion
Sanjuro
The Seventh Seal
Seven Samurai
The Thin Red Line
Yojimbo
Shock Corridor and the Naked Kiss (Ordered)

I have seen Antichrist, Cronos, Revanche and Gomorrah and I liked them all but I don’t consider them must buys. As of right now the only upcoming criterions that I want to buy are Blowout and Le Cercle Rouge. Are there any others I should look into? Thanks in advance.

[octagon]

I'm going to assume one of those Sanjuros was supposed to be Seven Samurai. If not...

As for upcoming stuff...I was a little ambivelant when The Sweet Smell of Success was announced but I'm really looking forward to it now. It really is an excellent film and one that will hold up extremely well to multiple veiwings, I think.

Well worth a look.