Criterion Additions

I would love to see a collection of Jem Cohen's films released by Criterion, but I'm certainly not holding my breath.

Once again, I refer you all to the wonderfully great Criterion messageboard of http://pub125.ezboard.com/bcriterioncollectionforum/

Try that...

I just ordered my copy - $18. on DVD-R. Natch. - along with a copy of <em> F is for Fake </em> from
www.pimpadelicwonderland.com

Weekend is owned by New Yorker films but no plans for a DVD have been made. It may come on Region 2 at some point.

And because they can - they've got the name and the identity to hook in film geeks, where else are you going to turn, New Yorker?

I haven't seen it, but supposedly it was aimed at the special effects mavens out there. Also I recall reading an interview with one of the Criterion folks who said that the revenues from the Armageddon allowed them to fund a lot of other less-popular titles.

Here's just the start of the relevant section:

Specifically, with "Armageddon": You'd be silly to overlook blockbusters as a genre and leave them out of a film library. They drive so much. They drive tastes and shooting styles and visual references that appear all over the world in commercials and on TV as well as on movie screens. They're part of a huge cultural cross-pollination. And special effects are one of the most important aspects of a certain kind of contemporary filmmaking.

Is The Rock Criterion still in print? I'd much rather have that than Armageddon.

Those were the days when you actually got your $140 million dollars worth out of your production budget.

I miss the days when a budget topping $80mln was big news and a reason to go see the film. Now that barely buys you a romantic comedy.

it depends on how you look at it. it my mind, there's no need for it to necessarily become somethi@5{te the suggestion that short films/music videos/avant-garde & experimental work are just a "warm-up" for a feature length narrative. it's kind of absurd to but a limitation of film that it has to be 90-180 minutes long with actors, dialogue & a plot. at least 50% of my favorite cinematic works don't fit into the categorization, and whenever i hear about people complaining about a lack of innovation in film, it's usually because all they watch are feature length narratives.

but as for the idea of the innovation in these works not "catching on" in the mainstream, you simply have to look around you to see their influence: magazines, billboards, popular films and music, even architecture. it's everywhere, and most of the good, innovative feature filmmakers will be the first to admit that they've been influenced by someone like michel gondry, spike jonze, jem cohen, etc.

two words: HOLY SHIT.

so rejoice, damn you.

WKW thing comes out today !

caught streetwise / tiny double feature early last year and I think of different things from streetwise all the time

like the prisoner dad at his son's open casket funeral and in that moment he mainly just wants to drink soda

July: La Piscine, Bringing Up Baby, Deep Cover, Working Girls, and...Mirror!!!

Their last two months' slates seem to indicate they took that NYT article from last year to heart. Good!

I know it's not universally beloved around here (xpost ;) but I am very excited they're doing BUB

The cover of Deep Cover is awesome, but I don't remember that being particularly good. It has been a long time though: it's quite possible I saw it on VHS

Bringing Up Baby and Mirror have been expected for years, right?

I keep waiting in vain for Trouble in Paradise to get an upgrade, gahdamn glaring hole in my Lubitch collection, grumble grumble

There must be a reason for that--I'd figure there's no way they would upgrade Heaven Can Wait before TIP if they had the option

There was just some discussion about upgrading Trouble In Paradise over on the Criterion Forum: apparently the elements were an issue, but technology has advanced enough that a restoration premiered in '18, and a European Blu is due in May.

MIRROR

The cover of Deep Cover is awesome, but I don't remember that being particularly good. It has been a long time though: it's quite possible I saw it on VHS

I saw it recently and it's got that urban dystopia vibe that a lot of action films from that era have, bordering on horror in its OTTness. The twist I guess is that it inserts some pretty explicit black militant and leftist messages into that context. I've seen ppl try to reclaim it as a noir but eh, it has voiceover but just feels too operatic for the genre. A curio rather than a masterpiece imo but definitley worth seeing and at this stage I have little investment in Criterion only putting out masterpieces - impossible if they keep doing complete editions of directors anyway, no matter how canonical.

AUGUST: Beasts of No Nation; Original Cast Album Company; After Life; and a Blu Upgrade of Ashes and Diamonds.

I was already going to get Company anyway, but that they included Co-Op and the cast reunion thereof just makes it an essential purchase.

Melvin Van Peebles box set in September.

True to form, Criterion knew that I had a DVD copy of Watermelon Man sitting in an online shopping cart. Thankfully for once they dropped the announcement before I pulled the trigger.

Titles Included: The Story of A Three-day Pass; Watermelon Man; Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song; and Don't Play Us Cheap

https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/4787-melvin-van-peebles-four-films

Oh, and Baadasssss!

Yeah, I was planning to buy a DVD copy of that one, as well.

"story of a three-day pass" was my first movie back in the theater last month! it's slight and some of the acting is not great but there are fun french new wave-influenced experiments throughout

and great music

In addition to the Van Peebles set, September will bring us Love and Basketball, Throw Down, The Damned, and Mona Lisa.

(PS The first word I saw in the announcement email was 'basketball' and I initially misread it as 'BASEketball'.)

Genuinely thrilled to see Love and Basketball in the collection.

Yeah, loved that movie

BORDER RADIO: THE LONG RIDE OF AN L.A. CULT CLASSIC

Now in the Criterion Collection

https://pleasekillme.com/border-radio-cult-classic/

ope, 50% sale at Barnes & Noble! I just scooped the new WKW box, which is out of stock but also half-off on Amazon.

Did some Criterion half-off crimes today at the Tupelo B&N: The Gunfighter, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Flowers of Shanghai, Rushmore, Memories of Murder, Destry Rides Again, The Furies. (lol @ me hating westerns as a kid)

October: Onibaba (my patience has paid off! now upgrade Jigoku!), Uncut Gems, Devi, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Ratcatcher, High Sierra

Arrow issued an Incredible Shrinking Man blu ray (I guess region 2 only) not that long ago, complete with the obligatory Tim Lucas commentary track, so I don't think I need another edition of that. Similarly,. the Eureka/Masters of Cinema Onibaba is good enough for me.

High Sierra is bundled with Colorado Territory Walsh's own Western remake from 1949.

4K ANNOUNCEMENTS 4 NOVEMBER (& BEYOND): Citizen Kane; Menace II Society; The Piano; The Red Shoes; A Hard Day's Night; and Mulholland Dr.

We’re thrilled to announce Criterion’s first 4K Ultra HD releases, a six-film slate that includes Citizen Kane, Menace II Society, The Piano, Mulholland Dr., The Red Shoes, and A Hard Day’s Night. The first of these editions and their special features will be detailed in our November 2021 announcement next week, with others to follow in subsequent months.

The most dazzling debut in cinema history, Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane was Criterion’s first laserdisc release 37 years ago. It now rejoins the library after a long absence, making its first appearance in 4K Ultra HD along with Allen and Albert Hughes’s riveting breakthrough Menace II Society; Jane Campion’s Academy Award–winning The Piano, starring Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin in her breakout role; David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr., a tale of love and jealousy in the city of dreams; Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s singular Technicolor fantasia The Red Shoes; and Richard Lester’s timeless movie musical A Hard Day’s Night, which brought the Beatles’ revolutionary talent and irreverent humor to the big screen.

Each title will be available in a 4K UHD+Blu-ray combo pack including a 4K UHD disc of the feature film as well as the film and its special features on Blu-ray. Select films will be presented in Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos. Stay tuned for more details in our November announcement!

oh god am I actually going to buy The Red Shoes a third time? I guess I should be thankful I don't own the right equipment for 4K at present lol. Glad they're including the blu-ray discs

Also, I'm sure these are brain-meltingly gorgeous, but I hope they also at some point upgrade all the b&w P&P dvds, preferably in a boxed set with Edge of the World and The Spy in Black while I'm daydreaming

What do we think they'll charge for these?

My guess, just a guess, would be $50 MSRP.

The Red Shoes is an auto upgrade no matter what.

NOVEMBER: Once Upon A Time In China box set; Citizen Kane; Menace II Society; a Blu upgrade of La Strada; and Mulholland Dr. on 4K.

Kane cover is kinda lol

Also: Not that surprising, but the new 4k titles are available as either a 4K/Blu combo, or as a stand-alone Blu, with no DVD editions.

...and the OUATIC set follows the precedent of the Van Peebles box by being Blu-only.

RIP DVDs

Was worried all 4K releases were going to be $60 SRP, but looks like $50 is the baseline.

Why is it so uniquely impossible to do a good cover for Kane?

Yeah what the hell I was specifically promised FOUR Ks

Krusty's got 'em!

https://frinkiac.com/gif/S08E13/87236/96011.gif?b64lines=

I pondered the Kane cover for a few minutes after an initial WTF?!?! reaction, and I kind of like it. The strokes are Kane tall and triumphant, followed by Kane broken.

I think this has been in the rumor mill forever, but ...

Eric Rohmer's quartet of seasonal comedies comes to the big screen @FilmForumNYC starting 9/3! ☀️🍂❄️🌷 pic.twitter.com/jUd9afhtNk

— Janus Films (@janusfilms) August 17, 2021

Uncut Gems bumped to November, now with a new cover & an added 4K edition.

Sounds like the Inland Empire announcement is imminent...

Throw Down sounds interesting, and I'm happy to see any Johnnie To movies not disappear to history. (How is Election not in print??)

December: The Learning Tree, One Night in Miami, and The Red Shoes in 4K.

Hopefully they'll follow-up The Learning Tree with Parks' Leadbelly biopic, which-iirc-hasn't been released on home media except as a download.