Criterion News and Discussion

[last days of gerry the elephant]

They sold off their stock and reprinted them when they moved to the new office.

Stop complaining and pick them up while your still can.

I don't want to pay $25.
That's too high for a poster to me.
The chance to get them on sale was the only thing that got me interested again.

wow.

[tpfkabi]

They sold off their stock and reprinted them when they moved to the new office.

Stop complaining and pick them up while your still can.

I don't want to pay $25.
That's too high for a poster to me.
The chance to get them on sale was the only thing that got me interested again.

wow.

It's a simple thing.
When someone looks at a product they weigh whether or not they think it's worth the purchasing price.
I don't think it is.
Obviously a lot of people felt the same as they sold out when they lowered the price.

[john]

The Man Who Fell To Earth Blu does not come with the book that the standard disc has. Why?

I felt the same why. I presume it keeps printing costs down so they can release the Blu-Rays at the same price as the standard DVDs.

Since I already have Criterion's Man Who Fell To Earth, I didn't mind not receiving an additional copy of the book, though it does keep me from selling my original DVD.

I also admire anyone who had the restraint not to buy Third Man and Man Who Fell To Earth. After enjoying Criterion's Blu treatment of Chungking Express and Bottle Rocket so much last week, I picked up the two others today. I am both satisfied and disgusted with myself.




I do kinda think the smaller boxes are pretty neat, though.

[Bethie]

I had a few of my kid family members stay with me the other night and one of my nieces came to me and said, "why do you have a dvd that says, "see, bottle rocket?" haha, that obnoxious "C"!!!!

[tpfkabi]

Does anyone here send in recommendations for titles to Criterion?

I haven't in a while, but I think I'm going to recommend a movie that was on TCM Underground last week:

Sonny Boy

That is one of the most unique films I've ever seen.

I think I might also recommend:

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T

which I've also seen on TCM a couple times in the last few months - the first time a pick from Rainn Wilson as guest.

I think there is a DVD, but it's so bizarre and I'd really like to see it have a nice treatment.

[edison]

New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director of photography Mike Molloy
Commentary featuring director Stephen Frears and actors John Hurt and Tim Roth
Parkinson One-to-One: "Terence Stamp," a 1988 television interview with the actor
Original theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Graham Fuller


New, restored high-definition digital transfer (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
New audio commentary with film scholar Tony Rayns
New interview with actor Tatsuya Fuji
A 1976 interview with director Nagisa Oshima and actors Fuji and Eiko Matsuda, and a 2003 program featuring interviews with consulting producer Hayao Shibata, line producer, Koji Wakamatsu, assistant director Yoichi Sai, and film distributor Yoko Asakura
Deleted footage
U.S. trailer
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by Japanese film scholar Donald Richie and a reprinted interview with Oshima


THREE-DISC SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
New, restored digital transfers
The Sounds of Science, an original score by Yo La Tengo to Jean Painlevé's films, plus an interview with the band
More than two hours of interviews with the filmmaker, drawn from the eight-part television series Jean Painlevé au fils de ses films, directed by Denis Derrien and Hélène Hazera
New and improved English subtitle translations
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Scott MacDonald and notes on all the films by Painlevé

also Empire of Passion from Nagisa Oshima: no cover art yet
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
New video essay by film historian and critic Catherine Russell
New interview with actors Kazuo Yoshiyuki and Tatsuya Fuji
An interview program from 2003 featuring production consultant Koji Wakamatsu and assistant directors Yusuke Narita and Yoici Sai
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Tony Rayns and a reprinted interview with Nagisa Oshima

[w/o horse]

Don't know anything about Jean Painlevé.  Does anyone?

Looks great.

[tpfkabi]

Any Godard on tap for 2009?

2 or 3 Things is showing around, and I just checked Rialto for the first time in a while and see that Made in USA is being shown in the US for the first time.

http://www.filmforum.org/films/made.html

More Karina...*swoon*

[Gold Trumpet]

Any Godard on tap for 2009?

2 or 3 Things is showing around, and I just checked Rialto for the first time in a while and see that Made in USA is being shown in the US for the first time.

http://www.filmforum.org/films/made.html

More Karina...*swoon*

I honestly expected (and hoped) 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her would have been released last year. There is usually a 9 month window between the Rialto release and the Criterion DVD, but that's not always the case. I'd definitely expect it this year at some point. Well, I'd expect something by Godard to be released this year. Criterion admits they have a few premiere directors they want to release something by every year so Godard always fit into their schedule.

[w/o horse]

[Stefen]

God, that's beautiful.

[tpfkabi]

God, that's beautiful.

no joke.
i honestly don't know anything about that film, but that definitely catches my eye.

[pete]

it's pretty sexy.

[Alexandro]

I saw Empire of Passion once and it's one disturbing little film, I remember being actually scared, because the guilt the characters feel is pretty intense. And this is gonna look decent differing from the vhs I saw back then, it's gonna blow my mind I'm sure.

[edison]

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
New interviews with actor Brad Dourif, writer Benedict Fitzgerald, and writer-producer Michael Fitzgerald
Rare archival audio recording of author Flannery O'Connor reading her short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"
Creativity with Bill Moyers: "John Huston," a 28-minute television program from 1982 in which the director discusses his life and work
Theatrical trailer
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by author Francine Prose


DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:
New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Peter Yates
Audio commentary featuring Yates
Stills gallery
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Kent Jones and a 1973 on-set profile of Robert Mitchum from Rolling Stone


Pigs and Battleships, The Insect Woman, and Intentions of Murder

New, restored high-definition digital transfers
Introductions on all three films by critic Tony Rayns
Conversations between Shohei Imamura and critic Tadao Sato about The Insect Woman and Intentions of Murder
"Imamura, the Free Thinker," a 1995 episode from the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps
New and improved English subtitle translations
PLUS: Booklets featuring essays by film critics Audie Bock, Dennis Lim, and James Quandt