Criterion News and Discussion

[Alexandro]

The original DVD boxset is actually very good. I don't know if I will be updating. Hopefully not.

It was ok. But I recently watched Double Life on Veronique on blu ray and it hit me I had never actually seen the film for real. The transfer is so colorful and sharp. I used to be under the misguided impression that Kieslowski had a good eye but wasn't a "visual" filmmaker but this was the shitty vhs's and dvd's fault. I expect these blu rays to look spectacular.

[Gold Trumpet]

Haha, I'm looking for encouragement to not have to keep buying blu rays. It involves a lot of rationalization on my part. I'm finding if your determined enough, you can mortgage a livelihood for the sake of awesome blu rays. I thought the DVD boom was tough on my finances, but blu ray sucks even more.

My happy thought is that even though corporations will try, I don't see how anything significantly better than Blu Ray will be made anytime soon. They feel like real collector items.

[edison]

[Mr. Merrill Lehrl]

3 Women announcement made my day.

[Alexandro]

very exciting releases. obviously 3 women but also the phantom carriage, awesome cover too.
when will they get it about that damn "c"?

[squints]

Oh man 3 women on blu-ray! I've been waiting for this!

And i just sold my life as a dog on amazon, so this is more incentive to pick it up again.

[P Heat]

Three Colors: red is not officially to be release but i like how criterion is giving us obvious hints that it is soon, with the hulu release of the movie which i will be watching soon.

BTW  JUST SAW the criterion HD "bluray" release of Black Moon on hulu for the first time. IT WAS OUTSTANDING!! I don't know why there's a love it or hate it thing to the movie even though its obviously getting more liked now and getting a cult following as said in the criterion site. Its also like the 4th popular in the hulu site.

anyone else seen this?

[tpfkabi]

Only today did I realize that Killer's Kiss was going to be a Bonus Feature on The Killing. Is it that lowly that it doesn't merit a cover mention? I think it's terribly underrated - but it's nice to have it thrown in there.

There have been (or soon will be?) non-Criterion Blu-Ray releases of Brazil and Contempt - does this mean they have lost the rights to them?

I had no idea Contempt was OOP until I made a video about it recently. Then looking up info came across the Blu-Ray from last year.

[Mr. Merrill Lehrl]

They lost their rights to Studio Canal films.

[tpfkabi]

They lost their rights to Studio Canal films.

Ah, now I kinda remember those announcements from about a year and a half ago.
Contempt isn't actually listed, though several Godard films are.

Brazil still is in print though.

[Mr. Merrill Lehrl]

Contempt is Studio Canal. I don't know where a list of only Studio Canal titles could be found, but here is a long list of oop Criterion titles:

Grand Illusion
The Killer
Hard Boiled
This is Spinal Tap
Silence of the Lambs
Sid & Nancy
Dead Ringers
Robocop
Alphaville
Flesh for Frankenstein
Blood for Dracula
Nights of Cabiria
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Third Man
The Orphic Trilogy
The Bank Dick
Variety Lights
The Harder They Come
Pygmalion
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Coup de torchon
Diary of a Chambermaid
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Billy Liar
Le Trou
Rebecca
Spellbound
Notorious
That Obscure Object of Desire
Bob le flambeur
Tokyo Olympiad
Contempt
Straw Dogs
The White Sheik
Diary of a Country Priest
Le Corbeau
A Woman is a Woman
Port of Shadows
Touchez pas au grisbi
The Phantom of Liberty
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Ran
The Tales of Hoffman
Forbidden Games
Kind Hearts and Coronets
The Fallen Idol
The Milky Way
Trafic
The Small Back Room

[tpfkabi]

What is the general feelings towards them taking back their licenses?
Is it them not allowing Criterion to, or raising the price to a point that Criterion will not pay, or what?

I'm assuming when they release something like the Contempt Blu (if they did, I have no idea who released it) that they are not allowed to use Criterion's extras, so it seems only film fans are hurt, the very people they should be pleasing and catering to.

[wilder]

For a while I've maintained a list of rumored and/or confirmed forthcoming Criterion titles. Only the ones I have interest in. This list isn't complete or necessarily reliable, but here's what I'm pretty sure is on the distant horizon based on rumor, hearsay, and innuendo:


Domestic / English Language

12 Angry Men (1957)
Badlands (1973)
Caught (1949)
Devils, The (1971)
Following (1998)
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
French Lieutenant's Woman, The (1981)
Game, The (1997)
Ghost World (2001)
Gold Rush, The (1925)
Heartbreak Kid, The (1972)
History is Made at Night (1937)
Immortal Story, The (1968)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
Love Streams (1984)
Ministry of Fear (1944)
New Leaf, A (1971)
Odd Man Out (1947)
Paranoid Park (2007)
Red River (1948)
Ride in the Whirlwind (1965)
Scanners (1981)
Seconds (1966)
Shanghai Express (1932)
Shivers (1975)
Shooting, The (1967)
Spy in Black, The (1939)
Taking Off (1971)
Thief (1981)
Thin Blue Line, The (1988)
Three Cases of Murder (1955)
Wedding March, The (1928)

   
Foreign

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2007)
Apu Trilogy, The
Conformist, The (1970)
Cruel Story of Youth (1960)
Devil, Probably, The (1977)
Emigrants, The (1971)
Europa '51 (1952)
Europa Europa (1990)
Fellini Roma (1972)
Un Flic (1972)
L'humanite (1999)
Identification of a Woman (1982)
Jour de fete (1949)
Kuroneko (1968)
Life of Jesus, The (1997)
Lil Marleen (1981)
Lovers on the Bridge, The (1991)
Man Escaped, A (1956)
Master of the House (1925)
New Land, The (1972)
La Notte (1961)
Olympia (1938)
Peppermint Frappe (1967)
Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
Satyricon (1969)
Le silence de la mer (1949)
El Sur (1983)
Trial of Joan of Arc, The (1962)
Two Men in Manhattan (1959)
Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The (1964)
Weekend (1967)
World on a Wire (1973)

Bergman

All These Women (1964)
The Devil's Eye (1960)
Dreams (1955)
From the Life of Marionettes (1980)
Lesson in Love, A (1954)
Monika (1953)
Rite, The (1969)
Secrets of Women (1952)
Summer Interlude (1951)

Reissues / New Transfers

Dazed and Confused (1993)
Fugitive Kind, The (1960)
Homicide (1991)
Short Cuts (1993)

Autumn Sonata (1978)
Branded to Kill (1967)
Cria Cuervos (1976)
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
La Haine (1995)
M. Hulot's Holiday (1953)
Mon Oncle (1958)
Pandora's Box (1929)
Passion of Joan of Arc, The (1928)
Rules of the Game, The (1939)
Le Samourai (1967)
Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
Tokyo Drifter (1966)
Vanishing, The (1988)
Wild Strawberries (1957)


Take this all with a grain of salt.

[Gold Trumpet]

It's actually a very good list. Couldn't find a title I could mount any huge argument against. I've heard most rumored about at sometime and even if some of the titles are beyond Criterion's ability to acquire now, I definitely believe they will eventually be close to getting them. You could also add every Stanley Kubrick film. Warners Brothers is doing its best to quickly milk him on blu ray (to my surprise) so you could see some secondary releases by a company like Criterion coming in the future. Since Warners is now willing to work with Criterion, I believe it's just a matter of time.

[Mr. Merrill Lehrl]

Shanghai Express (1932)

I hope this one soon!  Someone has to release it .....!!!!!......