Criterion Additions

I really liked Amores Perros at the time, but that formula really got overdone in the 2000s (Babel didn't help!) so it might not hold up as well in 2020.

Sweet. I wish there was more stuff on the Symbiopsychotaxiplasm disc, the DVD they have out is fine

As with all of the DVD-only titles I want, I've been on the fence about buying it for a little while but kinda honestly didn't expect to see a blu-ray release. Their upgrade priorities are a mystery (to me, at least).

Man, Crash has been in the pipeline since the mid-aughts.

It's weird, Arrow already do a Region 2 Crash 2 Blu with different extras:

https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/crash-limited-edition-blu-ray/FCD2073

I saw that elsewhere, along with a third Canadian (?) release.

Criterion was all but confirmed to have it as part of their Fine Line deal in the mid-'00s, which brought Short Cuts, My Own Private Idaho, and Naked into the collection (plus Simple Men & Spanking The Monkey over at Home Vision), but it gradually fell off the radar.

Normally it's the commentary track that decides which disc version I buy, but in this case I'm torn as both Cronenberg and Adrian Martin give good chat and would perfectly compliment each other. Funnily enough one of the few movies I've double dipped on is Videodrome - Criterion DVD for the Cronenberg commentary, Arrow Blu Ray for the Tim Lucas commentary - again, they compliment one another.

In the UK you can also get Stalker and Solaris from both Criterion and Artifical Eye, but in this case the Criterion releases are superior in every way.

Movie rights are the zone of confusion.

Amores Perros can't have aged well.

As with all of the DVD-only titles I want, I've been on the fence about buying it for a little while but kinda honestly didn't expect to see a blu-ray release. Their upgrade priorities are a mystery (to me, at least).

― Don't be such an idot. (Old Lunch), Tuesday, September 15, 2020 2:41 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah only thing I can think of is the movie and Greaves are mentioned frequently in Charlie Kaufman's new novel Antkind, oh and Greaves is only 1 of.....4? Black American filmmakers in the CC?

But the DVD is fine and this has nothing new

xp: The best predictor of whether a title will get a Criterion blu-ray release is if one of the UK arthouse distributors (Arrow, Artificial Eye, BFI, Eureka...) has already released a transfer. In some cases Criterion tweaks color balance, but in many its identical, just with a different set of licenced extras.

Yeah, I figured someone was going to issue Crash in the US after Arrow announced their UK-only release. I'm thinking more of the older Criterion DVD releases that they presumably still have the rights to. There's a slew of those (Trouble in Paradise, Jigoku, a couple Cocteaus, etc.) that I'd like to get but keep kicking down the road in hopes of a blu-ray release...sometime?

There is quite a lot of stuff on Criterion that has never been issued in the UK - Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, for example.

Yeah, I've been waiting on a blu-ray reissue of Written on the Wind for over a decade now, but the DVD version from 2001 remains stubbornly in-print. I thought this had to be the oldest one they hadn't upgraded yet but the one they did in 1998 for David Lean's Summertime (spine #22) is still in print, which means it's been available in four different decades at this point.

haha I had no idea Summertime was still in print, I thought I scored big when I found a copy at my parents' house early in quarantine.

Still haven't watched it, any thoughts?

I love it to pieces, and was thinking of showing it to our film club before pandemic and ill health busted that up. It's a great example of different acting styles conveying different meanings and emotional tones; Hepburn starts out all cornfed, corny and gosh-wow, but as the film goes on she and her character settle into a deeper, more naturalistic, more emotional groove. Weirdly, I think it would be a good double feature with Mulholland Dr.

Summertime might be my favourite Lean.

Hmm

WRITTEN ON THE WIND (1956) 🌹 pic.twitter.com/2vDaxtXfyf

— Criterion Collection (@Criterion) September 26, 2020

wow, great capture

FINALLY

A ton of Joan Crawford available on Criterion.

Also Marlon Riggs and Jenni Olson!

Even without all the '70s horror, maybe their gayest month ever.

I wonder if the flash sale is going to happen this fall

Usually happens this week

I have been wondering too. Doesn't it often correspond with the timing of a big release? If so, maybe October 27th (Parasite).

I wish Criterion would accept Paypal. I have a balance there I keep forgetting about, the very definition of fun money to buy blu-rays with.

January: Minding the Gap, The Ascent, Rolling Thunder Revue, Three Films by Buñuel set (Discreet Charm, Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object)

So very happy to see the Shepitko.

Is this the first time an Eclipse title got promoted to the main collection?

Minding the Gap destroyed me.

the skater doc? saw that the year it came out, really strong

sps:

Most of Eclipse Series 1: Early Bergman found its way into the Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema box set. Scanning the Eclipse titles, I'm not seeing others.

I can totally see most of the Aki Kaurismäki (Eclipse Series 12 and 29) getting promoted (at least as a box set), as UK Artificial Eye already has this out.

the Varda eclipse set

There's probably more of those upgrades coming down the pike, like Daisies and some of the other Czech films.

minding the gap deserves it. can't wait to see what liu does next.

That huge Criterion Varda box strikes me as one of the least commercial releases they've ever done. Hope they're selling enough Godzilla and Wes Anderson titles to keep doing this sort of thing.

Yeah, I'm going to buy a copy in the next half-price sale even though all its content is available on the Channel.

the Varda box is 50 bucks cheaper than the Bergman box, I realize he's been canonized for over half a century but the Varda box doesn't strike me as much different. Then again, she's enjoying a resurgence in popularity among younger people who probably can't afford to buy the box, unlike Bergman+Fellini sets. IDK

24 hour flash sale has started.

and the site is down

i usually have a hard time justifying buying from the flash sale bc used dvd copies on ebay and amazon usually still end up being cheaper than 50% off, but I may pull the trigger on the Dietrich & von Sternberg set this time

Frustrated because Elephant Man and Beau Travail were already out of stock, but picked up the Varda box and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

B&N sale is on.

Oh, I figured someone would've already made the announcement earlier.

Planning to pull the trigger on Dietrich and Von Sternberg if the the dumbass B&N mobile site will ever actually complete my order.

By the way for those interested, they're running a simultaneous 50% sale on Arrow titles. Get some giallo to go with your snoot flicks, why dontcha.

Very excited about The Parallax View getting a proper re-release, been out of print for too long. Glad there's more Ousmane Sembene coming, too--Mandabi is great.

FEBRUARY: Smooth Talk; Chop Shop; Man Push Cart; Mandabi; and The Parallax View.

Awesome news on Mandabi!

https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/4117-world-of-wong-kar-wai