The Criterion Collection

[Antonmassacre1]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

same thing happened to me.
I got mine from Criterion so
I'm guessing they never pressed regular plastic case versions.
I guess I'll be getting a replacement case for that one.
very frustrating.

I actually saw a copy of Bottle Rocket in a plastic case at HMV the other day so I guess it depends on the popularity of the title.

[Xtempo]

Originally Posted by JediFonger

just received my copies of Man Who Fell to Earth ordered from a few days ago. Ummm, STILL in cardboard cases! does this mean that the initial wave of Blu-Rays in cardboards NEVER SOLD OUT OF STOCK?

Possibly. I had to buy it in the cardboard too however I did ordered the plastic case from Criterion and after they shipped it got it 3 days later though I had to wait a couple weeks for them to ship it since they apparently didn't have any.

I think the only one I've seen is Bottle Rocket and the ones that never had a cardboard case to begin with such as AK's movies.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by JediFonger

-Red Shoes. er... probably not this one. not a big fan of ballet & movies about 'em.
s

I wouldn't dismiss Red Shoes so quickly. The film concerns ballet but most of the screen time is for the dramatic elements---- although the ballet is superb!

I've seen The Red Shoes restoration print and it is SPECTACULAR. One of the best prints of a classic film I've ever seen.

Red Shoes will be Blu-ray of the year, imo.

[BaronVH]

Criterion is now my single favorite company releasing Blu-rays now. The Stagecoach release was excellent. Revanche was one of the best movies I have ever seen. Now I hear they are releasing Del Toro's Cronos. That has really made my day.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by JediFonger

just received my copies of Man Who Fell to Earth ordered from a few days ago. Ummm, STILL in cardboard cases! does this mean that the initial wave of Blu-Rays in cardboards NEVER SOLD OUT OF STOCK?

Of the Criterion Blu-Ray releases thus far I'd probably say The Man Who Fell to Earth is my least favorite. The movie just didn't work for me for some reason.

[IronFingaz]

Has Criterion fixed the Walkabout Blu-Ray?

[italy12]

Went to my local B&N the other night to pick up 3 more B2G1 Criterions...I asked the lady to order "Mystery Train" since the store does not carry it for some reason. So, she orders it and it is supposed to arrive at the location by Monday the latest, and then I could buy that plus get the 2 others for the deal.

I get an email to today stating that the order could not be fulfilled. I went to the store again today after work to find out what happened, and another lady said they could not know at the store level and it was probably a "warehouse" thing. I'm a little upset I could not score this title!

So, I picked up "Days of Heaven" instead, along with "Red Desert" and "Close-Up".

Another thing was weird: I had originally picked up "Wings of Desire" instead of "Days..." and once it was all rung up, I noticed "Wings..." was priced at $49.99 instead of $39.99. Anyone else notice this at their B&N?

On a side note, the lady I dealt with today is really cool. She's probably in her 50's and everytime I go to check out, she sees that I'm buying Criterion Blus and she always says "how great these things are!" Last time she was telling me about the one she owned called "The Thief of Baghdad" and how great it was. Today, she started telling me again, and she reached below the counter and pulled out her copy to show me! She was so cute about it!! It had ner name written across the front cover in big black marker.

I love my B&N!

-Dave

[retablo]

Originally Posted by Antonmassacre1

I actually saw a copy of Bottle Rocket in a plastic case at HMV the other day so I guess it depends on the popularity of the title.

I saw Bottle Rocket in the plastic case as well, at Barnes & Noble in Los Angeles.

[kineticsolace]

Originally Posted by Belloche

I am hoping they decide to take the plunge and start at least releasing all new movies on blu. They just announced The Friends of Eddie Coyle on DVD. Criterion discs aren't cheap and I can't justify paying those kind of prices for DVDs at this point. They also have a bunch of catalouge titles that I'm going to wait out to see if they give them the blu treatment.

I completely agree. I purchased the 4 disc set of Last Emperor and couldn't justify the double dip. I really would love to see Bicycle Thieves and Rules of the Game get the blu treatment!

[chetripley80]

Originally Posted by kineticsolace

I completely agree. I purchased the 4 disc set of Last Emperor and couldn't justify the double dip. I really would love to see Bicycle Thieves and Rules of the Game get the blu treatment!

In all fairness though, when they use the same transfer for DVD and blu-ray releases, the difference in picture quality isn't exactly mind-blowing. I noticed much more drastic differences in picture quality in the original criterion DVDs of "Seven Samurai" and "The Third Man," and their restored, re-released DVDs.

Now, since I'm pretty OCD about my collection of criterion discs, I almost always update to the blu-ray releases if I previously bought the DVD. But at the same time, if they decide to release something exclusively on DVD I'm not too upset. While I haven't been able to watch and judge the AQ/PQ of "Night Train to Munich" yet, I can't imagine "Eddie Coyle" would look or sound much better on blu.

[zany6669]

Originally Posted by chetripley80

In all fairness though, when they use the same transfer for DVD and blu-ray releases, the difference in picture quality isn't exactly mind-blowing. I noticed much more drastic differences in picture quality in the original criterion DVDs of "Seven Samurai" and "The Third Man," and their restored, re-released DVDs.

Now, since I'm pretty OCD about my collection of criterion discs, I almost always update to the blu-ray releases if I previously bought the DVD. But at the same time, if they decide to release something exclusively on DVD I'm not too upset. While I haven't been able to watch and judge the AQ/PQ of "Night Train to Munich" yet, I can't imagine "Eddie Coyle" would look or sound much better on blu.

The difference in picture quality between "The Third Man" restored DVD and Blu-Ray on my 60 inch is very noticeable... I don't agree with your statement at all. I think "...Eddie Coyle", like just about every film actually shot on film, would greatly benefit from the Blu-Ray treatment.

[Gulf Western]

Originally Posted by JediFonger

just received my copies of Man Who Fell to Earth ordered from a few days ago. Ummm, STILL in cardboard cases! does this mean that the initial wave of Blu-Rays in cardboards NEVER SOLD OUT OF STOCK?

I wasn't even aware until very recently that they had reissued the early Blu-ray titles in regular cases. I have these in digipaks...

The Third Man
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Bottle Rocket
Chungking Express
El Norte
The Last Metro

Which other titles initially came this way?

[jimonee78]

Originally Posted by Gulf Western

I wasn't even aware until very recently that they had reissued the early Blu-ray titles in regular cases. I have these in digipaks...

The Third Man
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Bottle Rocket
Chungking Express
El Norte
The Last Metro

Which other titles initially came this way?

I think only The Third Man and Bottle Rocket have been reissued in the clear plastic cases so far.

The other titles that are digipaks:

Last Year At Marienbad
The Last Emperor
400 Blows

[retablo]

Originally Posted by zany6669

The difference in picture quality between "The Third Man" restored DVD and Blu-Ray on my 60 inch is very noticeable... I don't agree with your statement at all. I think "...Eddie Coyle", like just about every film actually shot on film, would greatly benefit from the Blu-Ray treatment.

I agree. However I do understand Criterion's strategy... The elements for Eddie Coyle, Downhill Racer, etc, aren't perfect... they have some print damage and age-related issues (like coloring in spots)... and I'm sure it's expensive to release on both formats, so they have to pick and choose. While I would love everything to come out on blu, and agree that every title would look superior, I'm happy to even have the DVD editions at this point.

[chetripley80]

Originally Posted by zany6669

The difference in picture quality between "The Third Man" restored DVD and Blu-Ray on my 60 inch is very noticeable... I don't agree with your statement at all. I think "...Eddie Coyle", like just about every film actually shot on film, would greatly benefit from the Blu-Ray treatment.

I'm sorry. You're completely right. I tried watching my restored DVD of "The Third Man" to compare it to my blu-ray of "The Third Man", and my eyes just about melted. It was from a totally different source, and the DVD was not mastered in high definition. I mean heck, Orson Welles kind of looked like a slightly more svelte Chris Farley in it.

But in all seriousness, there are some noticeable differences between the DVD and the blu-ray editions. Just not enough of them to get too upset if criterion decides to release a film exclusively on DVD due to licensing issues or problems with available prints. I'm just glad they're being released in a manner in which I have easy access to watching them.

[ShellOilJunior]

I think Criterion will release Richard Linklater's 'Me and Orson Welles' on Blu-ray. There's been no word of any blu/dvd release of the film which came out late last year. Given Criterion's excellent relationship with the director I think this one is inevitable.

While they're at it they should also release Before Sunrise/Before Sunset

[surfdude12]

Just watched Walkabout for the second time. Great film! Really glad I picked this up on sale for $22.

Question:

[Show spoiler]did the Aborigine die at the end? After his mating dance, the girl and boy walk over to him and find him hanging in the tree. His arms are spread out over the tree branches, but its not clear if he is dead. His eyes are visibly blinking, so it seems he is alive. Also, after the girl and boy start walking on the road, there is a cut shot back to the house which shows a large tree in the center of the screen, without the Aborigine on it. I think that is the tree he was in, and now it seems he is gone. However, off to the right of the shot is another tree, that we can't completely see, so maybe he is in that tree? Does it matter if he dead or not, for the theme of miscommunication (i.e., the girl not bothering to communicate with him, not learning what his dance was, thus leading to his hanging in the tree), despite whether he died or not?
Thanks in advance! I'm just driving myself crazy trying to figure this out

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

Just watched Walkabout for the second time. Great film! Really glad I picked this up on sale for $22.

Question:

[Show spoiler]did the Aborigine die at the end? After his mating dance, the girl and boy walk over to him and find him hanging in the tree. His arms are spread out over the tree branches, but its not clear if he is dead. His eyes are visibly blinking, so it seems he is alive. Also, after the girl and boy start walking on the road, there is a cut shot back to the house which shows a large tree in the center of the screen, without the Aborigine on it. I think that is the tree he was in, and now it seems he is gone. However, off to the right of the shot is another tree, that we can't completely see, so maybe he is in that tree? Does it matter if he dead or not, for the theme of miscommunication (i.e., the girl not bothering to communicate with him, not learning what his dance was, thus leading to his hanging in the tree), despite whether he died or not?
Thanks in advance! I'm just driving myself crazy trying to figure this out

I got the impression that

[Show spoiler]he was dead.

[SpiderBaby]

This thread seems slow the past couple of days.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by CassavetesGodard

This thread seems slow the past couple of days.

It's your fault. You havn't said anything controversial lately to start a heated discussion/argument. Come on, you know you want to dump on Wes Anderson or Kurosawa and get this party started!

Or do I need to initiate things by dumping on Godard?