Criterion News and Discussion

[72teeth]

eh...i'd be happier with a criterion "Stoned Age" rather than this...

[life_boy]

It is alot deeper, in my opinion, than just a simple stoner flick, although it serves that purpose as well.  You guys are right though....

You're welcome to give an "in defense of" instead of caving to peer pressure.

[md]

ok ill take a hit, just a small one...

[life_boy]

Young Mr. Lincoln cover is up...

[Gold Trumpet]

Wow, that even impressed me. Maybe the most emotional cover they've done.

[Gold Trumpet]

OK, in the new insert catalogue, 3 titles are confirmed for a 2006 release. Could this be in Febuary?

322- Mr. Arkadin $39.95
324 - La bete humaine $29.95
325 - Kind Hearts and Coronets $29.95

Another Welles, a long anticipated Renoir and finally an Ealing comedy. Providing I have money, I may pick up a few.

[Gold Trumpet]

[Gamblour.]

Did Wes Anderson's bro draw that?

[The Perineum Falcon]

I wish they sold posters.

[Gold Trumpet]

I wish they sold posters.

The biggest wish by some. I say we get a petition going.

[Gold Trumpet]

Is Criterion going to begin releasing films of experimental black cinema? The title in question is Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One. This could be a future release of Eclipse, but for now we'll have to go by the Criterion tag it has. Here is the official report:


"In addition to numerous documentaries, the company has also produced several feature films including the classic Ali, The Fighter and the critically-acclaimed under-ground film, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, which is currently being released theatrically by Janus Films and will be distributed to the home video market by The Criterion Collection."


http://www.williamgreaves.com/about.htm

Finally, looks like Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin (AKA Confidential Report) will be getting the royal treatment of a 3 disc set. Jonathan Rosenbaum confirms with this:

It will be a three-disc set including the Corinth version of the film
(with a commentary by James Naremore and myself), CONFIDENTIAL REPORT, and a new edit by Stefan Droessler (of the Munich Film Archives) that will draw material from a variety of sources. Each version will have separate liner notes--by me, Francois Thomas, and Stefan, respectively--and I believe the set will also include some radio shows and a reprint of the novel (although there's new and more conclusive
evidence, that will be cited, that Welles didn't write the latter).

[Gold Trumpet]

Releases for Febuary?


La Bête Humaine - One of Jean Renoir's most successful films, La bête humaine stars icon Jean Gabin in a role that captured the dark mood of a nation. In this blend of poetic realism and film noir, Gabin plays a train engineer whose chance for love is doomed by the tainted blood of his forefathers. Based on the popular Emile Zola novel and filmed aboard the trains of Le Havre, Renoir delivers a suspenseful ride into the psyche of a working-class tragedy.

Metropolitan - In an Upper East Side Manhattan apartment, a group of upwardly-mobile, twentysomething friends get together frequently to talk about social climbing, play bridge and discuss politics. Cynic Nick, philosophical Charlie, party girl Sally and Jane Austen-loving Audrey are joined by the much simpler Tom, who is critical of their way of life. A brilliant film of words and ideas, and one of the most important American independent films of the 1990s.

Kind Hearts and Coronets - A humorous satire on the British aristocracy, and one of the most sophisticated black comedies ever filmed. Louis Manzzini's mother told him as a child about how she was rejected by her aristocratic D'Ascoyne family. Once an adult, Louis avenges her by becoming the next Duke of the family and murdering every potential successor to the title. Alec Guinness's deft handling of eight different roles earned him worldwide acclaim.

Viridiana - Banned in Spain and denounced by the Vatican, surrealist genius Luis Buñuel's hilarious vision of life as a beggar's banquet is regarded by many as his masterpiece. Young novice Viridiana does her utmost to maintain her Catholic principles, but her lecherous uncle and a motley assemblage of paupers force her to confront the limits of her idealism. Winner of the Palme d'or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, this anticlerical free-for-all is as shocking today as ever.

[Gold Trumpet]

No Beyond the Valley of the Dolls for Criterion?

A long story gets longer.....

"Other "Cinema Classics Collection" titles coming in early 2006 from Fox include The Charlie Chan Collection: Volume One (a box set with different titles that those MGM released in their Chanthology set), The Jayne Mansfield Collection (a box set including The Wayward Bus, The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?), and new special editions of Valley of the Dolls and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls."

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#1102

The latest news has been that Criterion would release the film, but on a slimmer special edition disc. Reports surfaced of many special features being dropped. Question came into whether the Ebert commentary would even make it. And after all of this, word was Criterion was still going to release the film or hand it over to the Eclipse label.

With this announcement, maybe Criterion will not be releasing it after all. Maybe they weren't going to stomach a slim release as Fox wasn't going to go after getting the special features.

I have a feeling the story hasn't ended here though.

[Gold Trumpet]

My work never stops here.

Someone at CCForum is reporting the reason MGM has taken Jim Jarmusch's Stranger than Paradise out of print is because Criterion is currently working on a special edition. This is an enticing rumor.

Stay tuned, fellow geeks.

[hedwig]

awesome if it's true. the down by law criterion is crazily cool. (its coolly crazy, too. the shit's weird, it's got recorded telephone conversations between waits and jarmusch, stuff like that. i love that dvd.)

GT is the Mac of the Criterion thread.