Criterion Goes Blu!!! - Page 7

*waits patiently for Videodrome*

Sharkshark.

Please explain in plain English! Il n'y a rien Ã* comprendre!

But they didn't drop windowboxing, they are still doing it. In fact they only started doing it recently. Let's hope the practice isn't carried over to Blu-ray.

alors, mon français est vraiment merdique, hien?

Can we agree that Jesus de Montreal or Leolo would be far better exemplars for the international stage to appreciate the art of cinema Canadien? (sorry, too lazy to accent on this laptop, the alt-129 almost killed me on francais... )

I'd say Egoyan is a wonderful ambassador of Canuck cinema, but with the truly repugnant Ararat he sadly has sullied his reputation to the point that I've stopped remembering his fine films fondly any longer... Sad, but true.

Other than that, I guess we can wait for the Criterion 2-disc edition of Porkys. Or maybe Bon Cop, Bad Cop.

Come to think of it, my fav Canadian film ever is probably Mckeller's Last Night, and that -would- make for a nice little Criterion disc. So, there's my vote...

Very much looking forward to Gimme Shelter on HiDef, though I know to expect the grain that is inherent in the film itself.

I must have watched this film at least a couple of dozen times in my life (I'm in my early 50's), and know it'll continue to come of the shelf a number more times in the years to come.

Stones core Rock and Roll at it's best and a documentary of some strange times that gels quite well.

I did see a copy of Jesus de Montreal at Virgin Records in San Francisco for big money, but, was unsure of the PQ, so I would be a potential buyer of a Criterion edition.


But, certianly Exotica might get more into Criterion (hey, it's Jenni from "The L Word").

...good lord, I honestly never knew that's where Mia ended up. Oh, don't get me wrong, Exotica and Sweet Hearafter are truly wonderful flicks, and even Felicia's Journey had its moments, but Ararat was -that- bad... Uwe Boll doing Schindler's List bad.

We can extend this discussion for fun to those Criterion SD that I've kept even having double dipped to the HD version. Spartacus I bought on HD despite the ranting, and it certainly doesn't look like Crank (!), but I thought it was an improvement over the SD Crit. That said, the Criterion Spec Ed. contains some of the most entertaining rants by Ustinov ever committed to film, and a Criterion BD version with an even nicer-er print would be great. Hell, it wouldn't even be my first double dip High Def release by Kubrick (FMJ of course has that "honour"). Amazing when I'm reaching 6x dips on some of these flicks...sigh.

I didn't bother getting Dazed and Confused on HD, as it the Crit. had more than its share of goodies. I really love Fear and Loathing, and the HD-DVD does a nice job with the flick, but, again, one should own the Crit if only for JD reading the back-and-forth letters between him and Hunter S.

Robocop sure as hell could use an extra or two from the Crit. SD (that I don't own, sadly)...

Additionally, I think it'll make for a very interesting test with the Gimme Shelter discs - for the same price it's of course a no brainer to get that instead of SD, but I'm not sure that the 16mm print will be noticeably better in HD. I'd like to hope that I could hold off on double dipping (as I listen to Get Your Ya Ya's out on SACD while typing), but we'll see...

Another vote, for the hell of it - Last Temptation, with Lossless audio and new features, like, say, a 90 minute documentary on PG and the team he assembled for his sublime soundtrack.

Hey, while we're dreaming, why not?

Love to get some of the Buñuel movies on Blu-ray!

I've gone down the double-dip road for the K-Man more than any other director.

Two VHSes of Barry Lyndon (first one wore out) and a DVD.
Two VHSes of 2001 (pan & scan, widescreen when I discovered what widescreen was) and then a DVD and then a HD DVD (four copies total)
And, of course, replacing most of the VHSes with a single DVD. Needless to say it will all be BD one day, once I buy a player....and good versions come out....

I just want to see The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou on Blu-Ray. Some of those claymation creatures might be really interesting to look at.

You don't have both the letterboxed and anamorphic DVDs? I replaced the letterboxed features in the crappy Kubrick Collection with the anamorphic ones as they were rereleased.

I got my DVD player in 2001, and the version of 2001 sitting on the shelves was the 2001 (copyright year) anamorphic Kubrick Collection version (replacing the earlier ones that the reviewers trashed).

Man, a lot of 2001s converged in that sentence.

heh, totally OT, and I had mentioned this in the original FMJ thread, but I'm kinda shocked that it's the one of the titles I've re-purchased the most...

VHS, LD, DVD (non-anamorphic, 1st Kubrick Set), DVD (still not anamorphic, 2nd Kubrick Set), HD-DVD, and now BD.

Rediculous. I mean, fine, SW and stuff I've bought over and over, and for SK I've owned 3 versions of the LD, but, yeah, I can't justify this... Well, maybe I can, it's a wonderful film!

"Salo" will be re-leased by Criterion in August: http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=17 (warning: pics a little risque and not work safe). Its mentioned the movie has been remastered in high-definition (a 2K transfer from a 35mm inperpositive) so a Blu-ray version is a very real possibility. Yey, human depravity at its worst in crystal-clear 1080p!

I watched this on my new plasma yesterday and was bowled over by the transfer. I had watched them on my old TV before and just been midly impressed, but everything changed since watching it on 42" and widescreen. My point here is that Criterion going Blu-ray is the best news I've heard in the home cinema front in a while. The list of movies out isn't gripping me so much... but The Last Emperor and Walkabout with be worth the wait. My guess is that we can expect the enhanced version of Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" this x-mas -- at least it will if Criterion likes making wheelbarrow loads of money.

well, news just hit that a new version of Salo's being released... Still no bidders from any of you for my LD, and now you can save up and buy your own! Heck, it might actually make BD, whowoulda thunk?

Plus Guy Maddin - there's a filmmaker that demands BD!

Actually, really pleased that he's getting a Criterion release, even on SD... And it's another Canadian film! Booya...

The new versions of Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro were almost certainly done with HD releases in mind, they were just released less than 2 years ago. I have to wonder why they didn't kick off the collection with at least one of those films. I hope that we will at least get a BD of High and Low by the end of this year.

I'll believe Salo only when I have a copy in my hands. Looking forward to Gimme Shelter though I agree, I don't think the picture will improve much if any but the sound should. It will be fun to compare to the SACD of YAYAS.

A lot of good movies their I hope a much better version of chasing amy comes to blu ray. I've got the DVD now.

I'm surprised the ChungKing Express isn't getting more love. I'm not sure how much better Criterion could make that film appear, but even if its a slight upgrade over the numerous atrocious versions on DVD I'll be happy because the content is amazing.

And I'm NOT surprised at the numerous "never heard of these films, but I can't wait for the Rock or Armageddon" since we are talking Blu-Ray. Feel free to flame me, but I always find it amusing when people with home theaters that would rival the director's of most of these criterion releases in both quality and price are wasted on films made by Bay. I'm no snob, either, Iron Man rocked (cant wait for the BD release) and I love me somes big budget action!...but Bay?....For real???

Sword of Doom is top on my list, though.

So is this just for niche releases or does it go further?

Don't worry, I'll PM you when the Rock hits.

...won't you be able to smell when it's cooking?

Oh, THAT rock... Sorry, misunderstood, I thought you for a moment suggested that a Duane Johnson film would be on Criterion. I mean, that'd be like a Michael Bay movie on Criterion!

Oh, wait... damn, now I'm confused...

Much love and shout out to Chunking, I've got it on SD and watch it far more seldom-ly then I should... It always reminded me of Blade Runner, in a good way, so it's all the more interesting to hear on the Ridley commentary that he had pushed to film in (1981) Hong Kong... Pre sky-scraper Hong Kong must have been a wacky place indeed...

Excuse me but there was no need for that childish remark.
It was a legitimate question.
I was wondering if this will apply to more releases that have a broader appeal, that's all.
And for your information, "The Rock" is not in my library.
Thanks, have a good day....though I suppose you are so angry that is impossible.

Google Criterion and you will have a wealth of information regarding the niche status of their library. Like Criterion or not, and its certainly fine to not like them or their releases, you should at least be aware of how important they are to cinema as a whole and the role they play in the HT world.

I know nothing about Criterion other than hearing the name before.
That is why I asked.
It was most certainly not a knock on Criterion....just a lazy effort.

Criterion are a 3rd party organization that buy the rights to films they feel are important in the world of cinema for a wide array of reasons and generally re-master them from the best source available and add quality extras to boot and release them under the numbered criterion banner.

Most will be niche if you aren't into foreign/indie films (they have over 400 films on DVD), however, they have released SOME larger films, generally to help fund the hundreds of smaller films they have released that don't put up great numbers.

Yes, I have quickly seen that it is not quite my taste for the most part.
Although I have seen a small handful of them and did very much enjoy each of those.
Unfortunately though, they were just the standard dvd releases.

...back in the LD days, Criterion invented the audio commentary with King Kong, popularized the special edition, brought letterboxing to the forefront, and basically kickstarted the cinephillic revolution in home theatre.

Then they released the Rock...

Criterion was to film what Everyman's library is to literature (http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/classics/)... Now that studios have reclaimed many of their A-list English language titles to do their own special editions, they're left to do for the most part English independent or Foreign-language classics.

Back in the LD days, the way to get 2001, King Kong, Casablanca, Blade Runner, Citizen Kane, etc. in their best forms was to by the Criterion edition... Now, you just buy the Warner copy...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...rdisc_releases
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ction_releases

That said, I highly encourage you to at least rent some of these titles - while some of their selections are not to everyone's taste, it's rare indeed that they release something that's crap. Broaden your film horizons if you'd like, and trust that if it's got Criterion on the label it's pretty much considered a classic by at least -some- cinephiles...

So you don't like a wide variety of films from over the world covering all genre's and the most respected directors?