Criterion Additions

nice!!!

no smart tv or console support, huh. i guess i can use my roku stick.

I'd never heard of VHX, the OTT platform they're using. I wonder if this is permanent or a short-term thing that lets them get up and running in a hurry.

MAY: Blue Velvet; One Sings, The Other Doesn't; Let The Sunshine In; The Heiress; Funny Games (the original); and an upgrade of House of Games.

Damn you Criterion. White Material and now Let the Sunshine In, but still no Chocolat, Beau Travail or Trouble Every Day.

So much of the Criterion "modern" catalog is minor tweaks to the UK Artificial Eye catalog. Maybe I should lobby them instead.

My first thought: "That stale Juliette Binoche-Johnny Depp nougat gets a Criterion?"

Let the Sunshine In is great... I'll take that over Trouble Every Day... any day.

Surprised by Blue Velvet, for some reason - bummed no Taste of Cherry upgrade yet.

All I want is a decent release of INLAND EMPIRE.

There was just like a deluxe Blue Velvet Blu-ray release a few years ago. Seems unnecessary.

xp Simon: Optimum Home in the UK has a well regarded Inland Empire release for £8.

There are enough UK releases of the exact same transfer as on Criterion, often for a third the price (after VAT is deducted and shipping), that its paid for my multi-region player many times over. Kieslowski's Three Colours trilogy for £13, for example. I love what Criterion does with its world exclusives, on pre-1980 titles, but their price point isn't competitive for more recent releases. Region A art film fans are a bit screwed on prices and title availability.

xp will still make $$$ and eventually all of Lynch's movies will be in the CC

I don't have a region B player, alas. xp

Also: this edition of Blue Velvet is from a spankin' new 4K resto.

flash sale starts today (March 5) at noon EST

Oy.

very strongly considering buying the Bergman set

I bought it, I'm very excited

Might have to sell my Fanny and Alexander set on ebay now

It was my big splurge of the Xmas season and I don’t regret it. It kind of seems like the great last hurrah for physical media tbh.

I caved on the Bergman set as well.

Anyone want the DVDs of Seventh Seal/Wild Strawberries/Through a Glass Darkly/Winter Light/Silence/Persona/Hour of the Wolf/Shame/Cries and Whispers? They're in discsox sleeves and the boxes are in the attic of my estranged mother, so they're pretty much unsellable, but I'll send them for postage. I've passed most of the R1 DVDs I've upgraded to my sister, but there's zero chance she'd enjoy these.

I got the Wenders Road Trilogy, and the Agnes Varda in LA set.

the Bergman set is worth every penny. happy y'all could get it for relatively cheap (I think I pre-ordered it for ~$190 on Amazon). it's an amazing art object on its own, and while I don't think it's the last gasp of physical media, it would be a fitting and worthy end if that bleak future comes to pass.

I got the Dietrich & von Sternberg set and Berlin Alexanderplatz on BR.

along with others... several others... slightly embarrassed how intoxicated these flash sales make me...

oh yeah and the Wenders trilogy & Varda box are great. I thought Wrong Move was stunning, and sits high above the other two imo. Kind of a weird match, it's very different in many respects. reminded me a lot of Antonioni.

slightly embarrassed how intoxicated these flash sales make me

I literally whipped up a giant martini last night immediately after ordering the Bergman set, I felt so giddy.

I've never seen Wrong Move, and have seen Alice only once, but Kings is a favorite.

Also, this is my first time buying in one of their sales.

My bandwidth is ~80 Mbps, and still no streaming is as good as a Blu. When I upgraded to a 1080p projector on a 110" screen I really started to notice resolution. I know that streaming will become competitive soon, but we're living in a short window where we can have the best, at a lower cost (if happy to buy used discs); and still scratch the itch to become curators.

Maybe future generations (in loin cloths?) will discover my collection, maybe yours, maybe they'll patch fragmentary damaged physical media from multiple sources, to discover what late-industrial humanity valued.

Also, there's no high-bandwidth streaming in rural areas, where I expect to spend my final decades.

Everyone assumes the blu-ray format is doomed but these boutique labels keep popping up and not going bankrupt tbh.

A few minutes into Smiles of a Summer Night and I knew I'd made a good purchase, this is solid gold! Wasn't expecting the set to be so physically enormous.

JUNE: War and Peace; Hedwig & The Angry Inch; La vie de Jesus; L'humanite; Swing Time; and an upgrade of A Film Trilogy By Ingmar Bergman.

How often do the Barnes and Noble's sales happen? Their shipping is a little less extortive in Canada compared to the official store.

November, usually the whole month; and I think July, but I can't remember if that one is shorter.

July one is shorter.

Getting tired of waiting for the Written on the Wind and Taste of Cherry upgrades tbh.

maybe all the Kiarostami stuff is coming out in August or later to coincide with touring retros

Cohen puts out Wind Will Carry Us, and if its like the other Cohen Media Group/Film Collection releases, its a bit better on transfer and a bit worse on extras than Criterion. If I had a choice whether I'd prefer Cohen or Criterion to put out the balance of, say, Claire Denis's backcatalogue on Blu-ray, I'd lean Cohen.

have you seen the Cohen edition of Intolerance? I've had that sitting around for a couple years now, 'never enough time' etc. but I've been thinking about it lately

Not sure which thread to put this on but just noticed the reveal of the photo of Maurice Chevalier when the old guy picks up the guitar at the beginning of Quai des Orfèvres.

Cluny Brown confirmed in latest newsletter.

AT LAST

always read additions as addictions

i finally ebayed the oop third man blu, lol

cluny brown an all-timer for sure; jennifer jones meowing on a couch is as sexy as sexy gets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1VtzDqP7-4

Charles Boyer and Peter Lawford's exchanges = A+

it's nice, but second-tier Lubitsch

Yeah that’s what I’ve always thought

curious about the next Eclipse set

JULY: 1984 (Radford); The Baker's Wife; Klute; Europa Europa, an upgrade of Do The Right Thing; and a reissue of The BRD Trilogy.

So does this stuff all go straight to streaming or...?

Not automatically. Some will, some won't. For some they'll get a short-term streaming deal but not a permanent addition to the streaming collection (cf In a Lonely Place, The In-Laws, and numerous others).

AUGUST: The Koker Trilogy; The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice; The Inland Sea; and upgrades of Magnificent Obsession and An Angel At My Table.