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While h_double figures out how to flip his cover art around, let's get some specs: #462 - THE LAST METRO • New, restored high-definition digital transfer (uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition) • Two audio commentaries: one featuring Annette Insdorf, author of François Truffaut, and one with actor Gérard Depardieu, historian Jean-Pierre Azéma, and Truffat biographer Serge Toubiana • Deleted scene • French television excerpts of interviews with Truffaut, actress Catherine Deneuve, Depardieu, and actor Jean Poiret • New video interviews with actresses Andréa Ferréol, Sabine Haudepin, and Paulette Dubost, assistant director Alain Tasma, and camera assistants Florent Bazin and Tessa Racine • Une histoire d’eau, Truffaut’s 1958 short film co-directed by Jean-Luc Godard • Theatrical trailer • New and improved English subtitle translation • PLUS: A new essay by Armond White #463 - IL GENERALE DELLA ROVERE • New, restored high-definition digital transfer • New video interviews with Isabella, Renzo, and Ingrid Rossellini, as well as film scholar Adriano Aprà • New visual essay by Tag Gallagher, author of The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini • Original theatrical trailer • New and improved English subtitle translation • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic James Monaco and an excerpt from a 2000 interview with Indro Montanelli, author of the story that inspired the film #464 - DANTON SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES: • New high-definition digital transfer • Video interviews with director Andrzej Wajda, screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, and Polish film critic Jerzy Plazewski • Wajda’s Danton, a 42-minute behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the film • Original theatrical trailer • New and improved English subtitle translation • PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Leonard Quart #465 - DODES'KA-DEN • New, restored high-definition digital transfer • Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create, a 36-minute documentary created as part of the Toho Masterworks series, about the making of Dodes’ka-den, including interviews with director Akira Kurosawa, script supervisor Teruyo Nogami, actor Yoshitaka Zushi (who played Rokkuchan), and other members of the cast and crew • Theatrical trailer • New and improved English subtitle translation • PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film historian Stephen Prince and a new interview with Nogami My take: The Last Metro - One of Truffaut's least interesting films, but I'll probably get it anyway. Insdorf is kind of a fruitcake, but I always enjoy her commentaries. Generale Whoever - Yawn, more Rossellini. Danton - I keep hoping to find a Wajda film as amazing as Kanal. Maybe this will be the one. Dodes'ka-den - I haven't seen this for 15 years, so I'm looking forward to a second viewing... even though, in my memory, it was pretty dull. If these specs are accurate (I copied them from criterionforum.org, can't find them on the official site) it'll be the only Criterion Kurosawa besides The Hidden Fortress without a commentary track. Which is a goddamn shame, because there's a lot of fascinating context for this one (the Four Horsemen, Tora Tora Tora, suicide attempt). I don't know anything about Shimizu, but I'll check out the Eclipse set of course.
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Dec 16, 2008 17:49
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FitFortDanga posted:
I think I've asked you this before, but why don't you like Ashes and Diamonds as much as Kanal?
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Dec 16, 2008 21:38
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Mike_V posted:I think I've asked you this before, but why don't you like Ashes and Diamonds as much as Kanal? Too political for my tastes, and most of it is dull as dirt. Nice lighting and framing, though.
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Dec 16, 2008 22:24
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So I guess the blu-rays came out today (Tuesday)? Anybody got them yet? Since I am unwilling to part with my old Third Man (reissue, I don't want to buy it a third time... lol and as I speak it's on TCM right now) and The Man Who Fell to Earth, I'll probably pick up either Chungking Express (which I have the Tarantino version) or Last Emperor. And on top of that I might get Missing or The Spy Who Came in from the Cold or Europa. Goddamnit why did I miss that DeepDiscount 25% off sale?
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Dec 17, 2008 07:44
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Cacator posted:So I guess the blu-rays came out today (Tuesday)? Anybody got them yet? Since I am unwilling to part with my old Third Man (reissue, I don't want to buy it a third time... lol and as I speak it's on TCM right now) and The Man Who Fell to Earth, I'll probably pick up either Chungking Express (which I have the Tarantino version) or Last Emperor. And on top of that I might get Missing or The Spy Who Came in from the Cold or Europa. Goddamnit why did I miss that DeepDiscount 25% off sale? I rented the Chungking Express Blu-Ray and it's gorgeous. (In case you don't read the blog, the transfer has Christopher Doyle's approval, even though they got it too late to say so on the packaging.) I'm definitely going to trade up from the Miramax DVD. The transfer is still the Tarantino version, if that means anything (which is to say the credits include Rolling Thunder Presents or whatever).
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Dec 17, 2008 07:52
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I've got Bottle Rocket, Chungking and Third Man on the way. Will probably have them by Friday.
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Dec 17, 2008 18:18
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I just got The Third Man today and the whole things looks perfect.
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Dec 18, 2008 00:39
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Criterion changed their listing for Magnificent Obsession again. It was listed as 1.33:1 first, then changed to 2.00:1 and now it's back at 1.33:1 again. I'm hoping the nimrods at CF didn't bully them into going open matte. At the same time, the BluRay of The Last Emperor is now listed as 2.35:1 instead of 2.00:1. 
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Dec 18, 2008 02:10
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Egbert Souse posted:Criterion changed their listing for Magnificent Obsession again. It was listed as 1.33:1 first, then changed to 2.00:1 and now it's back at 1.33:1 again. I'm hoping the nimrods at CF didn't bully them into going open matte. I wouldn't make much of either of those things.
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Dec 18, 2008 04:34
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Egbert Souse posted:At the same time, the BluRay of The Last Emperor is now listed as 2.35:1 instead of 2.00:1. DVDBeaver review shows it as 2.00:1
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Dec 19, 2008 18:10
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Looks like Le Corbeau, Variety Lights, and Quai Des Orfevres go back in print on March 10th. http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v1_list_studio.asp?userid=99366380583724&studio_id=57
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Dec 31, 2008 06:28
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Well I got Harlan County USA the other day and really enjoyed it. While not exactly packed with features, the commentary was great and so were the features. I would have liked for them to go back to Harlan County. In fact, I really wish Criterion would take on more documentaries as their treatments for F for Fake, Hoop Dreams, and Harlan County USA have all been pretty drat amazing.
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Dec 31, 2008 07:39
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Review of El Norte. God, I can't wait to get my hands on this. As many times as I've seen this movie, it'll be my first time in OAR. Some kinda/sorta Criterion-related stuff: Kino is prepping special editions of Fallen Angels and Happy Together for March 31st. Kino's quality is hit and miss, but I think they'll do a pretty good job on these. No word on a possible Blu-Ray release. DVDBeaver has a review up of the new release of my favorite Powell & Pressburger film: A Matter of Life and Death. FitFortDanga fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Jan 1, 2009 |
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Jan 1, 2009 17:28
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FitFortDanga posted:Kino is prepping special editions of Fallen Angels and Happy Together for March 31st. Kino's quality is hit and miss, but I think they'll do a pretty good job on these. No word on a possible Blu-Ray release. Thank God for this. I can think of few DVDs that need a remaster more than Fallen Angels.
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Jan 5, 2009 03:56
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Jon Mulvaney confirms that Criterion will release In the Realm of the Senses and Jeanne Dielman "at some point in the future". My take: both rentals. I think Realm is a bit overrated but I'd be willing to partake in whatever supplements they come up with. Dielman is fascinating and in many ways brilliant, but really really loving hard to sit through. A second viewing might convince me to buy it.
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Jan 6, 2009 17:04
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DVDBeaver's review of El Norte.
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Jan 7, 2009 19:25
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I wonder when they'll be announcing the next blu-rays.
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Jan 8, 2009 04:02
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Shampy posted:I wonder when they'll be announcing the next blu-rays. They announce two a month. The Last Metro and The 400 Blows were they most recent ones they announced. I think El Norte and The Last Emperor come out this month. When they first announced they were even doing blu-rays, they posted a list of ones that would probably get released this year. The Last Metro wasn't on there, so it's more than likely they'll slip some more surprises in there too. All I remember about the list is that Contempt and Walkabout were on it too.
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Jan 8, 2009 04:59
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I'm very interested to see how For All Mankind turns out on bluray, I don't know what kind of film NASA shot in though. And if anyone is part of "the auteurs", this month's festival of free criterion movies is focused on "killers" and has a very nice selection. I highly recommend The Vanishing if you haven't seen it, and Branded to Kill looks like it has a far superior transfer than the DVD, at least on a smaller screen.
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Jan 10, 2009 03:18
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Cacator posted:I'm very interested to see how For All Mankind turns out on bluray, I don't know what kind of film NASA shot in though. I watched Branded to Kill last night, which was awesome. Judging from the dvdbeaver screencaps, the transfer I watched was way better than the existing dvd. They also have some articles on Godard's Made in USA. I guess the auteurs aren't useless after all. Jack Does Jihad fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Jan 10, 2009 |
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Jan 10, 2009 03:55
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Cacator posted:I'm very interested to see how For All Mankind turns out on bluray, I don't know what kind of film NASA shot in though. For added fun, watch the original Vanishing, and then watch the impossibly lovely American remake. It's astonishing how badly they missed the point, which is doubly baffling because the same guy who directed the original directed the remake.
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Jan 10, 2009 07:02
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Awesome news... Marilyn Brakhage says that they are working on another collection of 29 Stan Brakhage films. Among them will be: The Machine of Eden (1970, 16 mm, silent, 11 min) "He was born, he suffered, he died" (1974, 16 mm, silent, 7 min) Burial Path (1978, 16mm, color/silent, 15min (18fps)) Visions in Meditation #4 (1990, 16 mm, silent, 19 min) Boulder Blues and Pearls and... (1992, 16 mm, Sound by Rick Corrigan, 23 min) Persians 1-3 (1999, 16 mm, silent, 8 min) Chinese Series (2003, 35mm, silent, 2 min) I remember the Persian series from a Brakhage retrospective a few years ago, they're excellent. Can't recall seeing any of the others. Hopefully it will a Blu-Ray release with a concurrent Blu-Ray release of the first collection.
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Jan 14, 2009 17:15
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I just got the Breathless Criterion edition a few days ago and I love it. I am kind of a nerd for packaging art/menu art, and the simple designs of the DVD case, book, and menus are some of the best I've seen. It says that it has been remastered to its original ratio (and notes on widescreen TV's you should have black bars on the sides), but it still stretches on my TV to fit the 16:9. I think it might just be my relatively old DVD player from 2002 that is doing it. The sound quality and amount of scratches seems to be cleaned up a bit from an older DVD I saw. I already started watching some of the extras. I never knew what a sad life Jean Seberg had, and how much the French film industry crushed her. It was really  M, 8 1/2, Bicycle Thieves, and Rules of the Game are on their way. I'm looking forward to them; I have a few Kino DVD's which are great, but judging just from Breathless it looks like Criterion is higher quality.
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Jan 15, 2009 06:07
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TheYellowFog posted:It says that it has been remastered to its original ratio (and notes on widescreen TV's you should have black bars on the sides), but it still stretches on my TV to fit the 16:9. I think it might just be my relatively old DVD player from 2002 that is doing it. That's almost definitely caused by your TV, not your player.
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Jan 15, 2009 09:30
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April titles: #466 - The Hit  * 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 #467 - Science Is Fiction: 23 Films by Jean Painlevé  * 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 #468 - Empire of Passion * 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 #469 - In the Realm of the Senses (also Blu-Ray)  * 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 Hmm. The Painlevé is the most enticing thing here. Sounds like an interesting collection. Like I said before, I'm not crazy about Realm, but I'll give it a rental, along with the other Oshima. The Hit might be good, I dunno. Frears is usually pretty solid. The Wages of Fear comes out on Blu-Ray April 21st. No new Eclipse set. FitFortDanga fucked around with this message at 06:10 on Jan 16, 2009 |
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Jan 16, 2009 06:08
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FitFortDanga posted:April titles: poo poo, I've ordered the UK version of this last week, directly from YLT's website. And it wasn't very cheap.
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Jan 16, 2009 15:11
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The Criterion website is showing a different cover for Science is Fiction. http://www.criterion.com/films/1286
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Jan 16, 2009 21:26
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Cacator posted:The Criterion website is showing a different cover for Science is Fiction. http://www.criterion.com/films/1286 They changed it since last night. I liked the old one more.
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Jan 16, 2009 21:45
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FitFortDanga posted:They changed it since last night. I liked the old one more. I agree. Also, I love the cover for Realm, really makes me want to check it out.
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Jan 16, 2009 22:03
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Yeah, the old one was better. The new Science is Fiction cover has "23" made up with seahorses, but I'm pretty sure 90% of people will see it as "NW".
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Jan 16, 2009 23:55
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My copy of it actually arrived today. Only did a quick look of it, but the transfers of that version are already quite gorgeous. It is only a double-pack though, looks like I'm gonna have to double-dip if I really like it. I already know the music well and it is quite beautiful.
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Jan 17, 2009 00:36
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FitFortDanga posted:#469 - In the Realm of the Senses (also Blu-Ray) And while it's cool to see Criterion releasing some Oshima, I'd really rather see them do something like an Eclipse box of a couple of his earlier films than the `mainstream' (and comparatively easy to find) titles like this. FitFortDanga posted:* Deleted footage
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Jan 17, 2009 02:06
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SubG posted:So is this the first Criterion title to feature full-on penetration? I think so. Maybe Fat Girl and/or WR (I'm pretty sure there isn't any in Sweet Movie)... I can't recall. I feel certain that I've seen a Brakhage film with penetration, but I don't think it was any of the ones in the Criterion set. Never seen either of the I Am Curious movies, but I don't recall hearing about anything terribly graphic in either one.
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Jan 17, 2009 02:37
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FitFortDanga posted:They changed it since last night. I liked the old one more. Ahaha, they changed it back to the original today. And here's Empire of Passion: 
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Jan 17, 2009 08:45
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http://www.criterion.com/contact_us Heh.
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Jan 18, 2009 04:46
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Wow! That Empire of Passion cover is the best I've seen in a while.
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Jan 18, 2009 12:06
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 From the most recent Criterion Newsletter. It's Wings of Desire. 
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Jan 24, 2009 03:38
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Padriag posted:
If there isn't immediately a Blu-Ray, I'll... well, I'll just be really sad.
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Jan 24, 2009 04:01
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Sheldrake posted:If there isn't immediately a Blu-Ray, I'll... well, I'll just be really sad.
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Jan 24, 2009 04:15
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drat it, I'm still not getting the frickin' newsletters. I really like Wings of Desire, out of the four Wenders films I've seen, it's by far my favorite (Kings of the Road a distant second). But I'm not sure if I like quite enough to buy it unless it's on Blu-Ray (yeah, I have lower standards for BR). It's not a particularly daring choice for Criterion, but it's a crowd-pleaser.
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Jan 24, 2009 06:39
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