The Criterion Collection

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Scottie

https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2161

I really like that poster.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I could listen to this man talk for hours. Not only great choices here, but I loved his honesty here, like saying he was bored out of his mind watching Solaris for the first time.

That was one of the best closet visit videos I've seen yet. He had all tremendous choices and comments for choosing them.

In fact, I loved SOLARIS the first time I saw it. That driving scene is a bit mystifying, but it's explained in the excellent commentary on the Criterion edition, among the all time best commentaries I've ever heard.

I don't care about awards, but I would be pleased to see Paul win Best Actor this year and hear him thank Howard Stern to the stuffy Academy.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Mose Harper

I'm considering picking up the following in the Flash sale Tuesday.
Still refining the list, but would appreciate any perspective-yay or nay- that anyone wants to offer.

Red Balloon- Haven't seen it, or the other shorts included, but I'm entranced by the short clip on the Criterion page for it.

Tokyo Story - Never seen it. Film buffs rave about it, so film-wise it seems a good bet. Is there any reason to wait for a newer remaster or some other rumored repackaging?

THE RED BALLOON is wonderful and its inherent beauty of vision and spirit is timeless. We saw it all the time when I was in grade school in the 60's and I always looked forward to the annual screening.

TOKYO STORY is brilliant and so beautifully incisive, but watch out as it's incredibly sad and not one you will be reaching for to watch again anytime soon. Its reflection of reality is so true that it almost becomes tough to witness at times and it will return to your head and heart for a long time to come. In that sense it's a masterpiece, but if you are not prepared for one of the least escapist films of all time, be on guard.

[Doctor Jack]

Shame the free shipping threshold is $75. Don’t want enough to hit that. I’ll likely wait til B&N sale.

[jordan-r]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

Dammit! I thought it was something like that ...

And they only have the two flash sales a year - in February or March and again in October, right?

That's correct, but there'll also be the Barnes & Noble sale around July.

[pikwik]

Originally Posted by HuggyBear73

Need some advice...

Here are a few of the titles I think I might grab:

Godzilla
Lone Wolf and Cub
Red River

Should I wait for 4Ks on these?

I was going to ask the same question, but also - which blu-rays are so good that a 4K would probably only be a marginal upgrade in a/v quality - like "Night of the Living Dead" from what most people say (I own the blu, and don't feel the need to upgrade to 4K).

Many of the Criterion movies I want are black and white - and I don't think a 4K upgrade will result in a significant PQ upgrade, imho.

[jshaide]

Might finally buy Ikiru, which I've been holding out on for years thinking I'll eventually have it in a nice big Kurosawa set.

I'll also probably keep it sealed, haha.

[javy]

Originally Posted by jshaide

Might finally buy Ikiru, which I've been holding out on for years thinking I'll eventually have it in a nice big Kurosawa set.

I'll also probably keep it sealed, haha.

They won't put out the boxset unless you open it 😄

[hawkikwah]

Are the coupon codes tied to the email u got them from?

[Junkie88]

I did not get an email with a new $10 coupon last week for some reason but I still have my December coupon. Do we think that one will still be valid?. I have always gotten them in the past, not sure why I did not get this one.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Junkie88

I did not get an email with a new $10 coupon last week for some reason but I still have my December coupon. Do we think that one will still be valid?. I have always gotten them in the past, not sure why I did not get this one.

Yeah, they don't expire.

[jordan-r]

Originally Posted by hawkikwah

Are the coupon codes tied to the email u got them from?

No.

[Sifox211]

These were going to be my pickups in the sale:

• Eric Rohmer's Tales of the Four Seasons (1990-1998)
• Chantal Akerman Masterpieces, 1968–1978
• Days of Heaven (1978) UHD

But the reports of shonky encoding on the first two and the subtitle problem on the Rohmer has put a spanner in the works

Also, now that Criterion are releasing UHDs in the UK, what to import and what not has become a bit of a minefield.

[DukeTogo84]

Still a bit surprised that we finally got a new to HD Japanese title from Criterion, but I've been noticing a lot more labels are jumping on the Japanese train right now. I'm curious to see if that will push Criterion to release more Japanese films. Francesco from Radiance recently mentioned that Village of the Eight Gravestones and most of Yoshitarô Nomura's films are off-limits as someone "else" has them. We have known that Criterion has had a few of his films, but having Village of the Eight Gravestones is news to me.

It makes me thinks that Criterion has the rights to A LOT more films that are not playing on the channel than we might think, and not only that, but in the UK as well.

I just hope they release a Japanese boxset of some sort soon.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jack

Shame the free shipping threshold is $75. Don’t want enough to hit that. I’ll likely wait til B&N sale.

I recall seeing several posts regarding that threshold being in the real world closer to a $50, so you might want to play around with it a bit before taking that threshold at face value.

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by javy

They won't put out the boxset unless you open it 😄

I'll have to buy a shrink-wrap machine!

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jack

Shame the free shipping threshold is $75. Don’t want enough to hit that. I’ll likely wait til B&N sale.

I'm in a position where I'm 15 bucks away from the 50 dollar loyalty code, and in the past I've done two separate orders to first activate it and then use it.

And I did the math on what's on my list, and I was about 8 bucks shy. So I figured I'd add one title, sure. But then I remembered they changed it to $75, so that was out the window.

[Taylor3978]

Originally Posted by Mose Harper

Limelight- Haven't seen it. Been flirting with picking it up for several years now.

The only film that has Chaplin and Keaton doing slapstick together. Made doubly poignant by the ending.

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by hawkikwah

Are the coupon codes tied to the email u got them from?

No

Originally Posted by Doctor Jack

Shame the free shipping threshold is $75. Don’t want enough to hit that. I’ll likely wait til B&N sale.

Originally Posted by fdm

I recall seeing several posts regarding that threshold being in the real world closer to a $50, so you might want to play around with it a bit before taking that threshold at face value.

Unless they've changed it, since they bumped the threshhold to $75 2 or 3 sales ago, the FS is calculated based on Criterion.com regular price, not the 50% off price like before or the MSRP. Add you items to cart now and see what items get FS and that should be the sale after the Flash starts UNLESS they fixed the odd calculation. 2 4K titles now get FS when it didn't before (approx 0.10 short) and that FS limit is calculated before subtracting Gift Certs or adding sales tax (if required)

So for all intents they actually slightly lowered the FS limit instead of raising it.

Originally Posted by jshaide

I'm in a position where I'm 15 bucks away from the 50 dollar loyalty code, and in the past I've done two separate orders to first activate it and then use it.

And I did the math on what's on my list, and I was about 8 bucks shy. So I figured I'd add one title, sure. But then I remembered they changed it to $75, so that was out the window.

Not necessarily

[Blu-ray Poindexter]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jack

Shame the free shipping threshold is $75. Don’t want enough to hit that. I’ll likely wait til B&N sale.

Originally Posted by jshaide

I'm in a position where I'm 15 bucks away from the 50 dollar loyalty code, and in the past I've done two separate orders to first activate it and then use it.

And I did the math on what's on my list, and I was about 8 bucks shy. So I figured I'd add one title, sure. But then I remembered they changed it to $75, so that was out the window.

In the last year of their Flash sales, there's been some add calculations for the "$75 free shipping". I spent less than that in the last 2 sales and still got free shipping, so it's worth checking out to see what they offer you.

Mar. 2023:
Screenshot 2024-02-25 at 3.11.25 PM.jpg

Oct. 2023:
Screenshot 2024-02-25 at 3.11.05 PM.jpg