Criterion Goes Blu!!! - Page 82

Not only is the Badlands art terrible, but the kerning on the title lettering is awful. Is it possible this isn't really the final art?

Just wanted to say I watched FOLLOWING and was impressed. It's a superb representation of B&W 16mm. The sound remix was terrific (not overblown) and I enjoyed the interview. The commentary started off well but I felt Nolan kind of ran out of steam.

I have yet to watch the 'chronological cut' of the film.

Blimp is a must own!

I loved Colonel Blimp too. 10 Stars out of 10.

Colonel Blimp is great; so is Monsieur Verdoux. The Ministry of Fear is pretty cool, but probably not at criterion prices. And considering the film stock used, I'm not sure a Blu-ray of The Blob is the best use of one's simoleons, at least if one has the DVD.

Bet Blimp is the same restoration as the UK disc

When I first saw Colonel Blimp on BD it was a rental from someplace so today I ordered the UK Restoration edition BD from Amazon UK. It's a Region B disc but I have an all regions BD player so that's not going to be a problem. Really looking forward to owning this wonderful old movie. It looks like the Criterion BD of Colonel Blimp won't be released until March. Not only was the UK edition immediately available it was cheaper than the Criterion Edition will be. I suspect, though, that it won't have the Extras the Criterion Edition offers but it will be the same transfer. That's the way it was with the UK edition of A Night to Remember, which I also bought from Amazon UK. It's another great old film.

Chungking Express -- one of the first titles to be released on Blu-ray by the Criterion Collection -- is now out of print for both BD and DVD formats, according to Criterion's website. Link:
http://www.criterion.com/films/226-chungking-express

AFAIK, this is now the fourth CC title to go OOP since Criterion started publishing its catalog on Blu-ray.

The BD is still available at Amazon, priced at $20.99 as of today. Link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004KVXC64

Come on guys, how could you miss this? You could been somebody instead of a bum. On the Waterfront:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/On-the-Waterfront-Blu-ray/44136/#Review

Over the caps look nice, kinda weak hair detail. Not sure why they bothered with 1.67:1.

Careful with your hands, The Blob:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Blob-Blu-ray/53721/#Review

I suspect this has been brightened, would be interesting to see it compared to a previous version color grade wise. Otherwise has some decent detail in the caps, some of the later ones look of lower quality.

Hope this has not been postd yet, anyway Paramount vs Criterion with Rosemary's Baby:

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/comparison.php?cID=1568

Even though there appears to be a slight detail increase in the Criterion BD I suspect they were using a Paramount made master since they are very very similar in these caps.

Criterion did the transfer -- the booklet credits Criterion personnel as the transfer supervisors. No doubt Paramount put up at least part of the cost and gets to use the same transfer for international releases, TV airings, online streaming, etc. (In fact, Paramount probably owns the transfer and Criterion is licensing it from them.)
Edited by Dan Average - 2/27/13 at 7:54pm

They really went back and redid the color timing for Badlands. I think the film is a true testament to how young Malick was because honestly it doesn't hold up very well at all imo. Weak acting, script, and cohesion. The film just resembles an aimless murder thriller that isn't really that realistic or thrilling but has the characteristic Malick sensibility in its infancy. But I do want to see the new transfer. The colder tone makes it quite a bit different.

I have seen some screenshots somewhere on the net and was very impressed.
The ugly grain structure and more realistic color timing looks great (when compared to the dvd).

Oddly, the detail over the dvd isn't jaw-dropping.
Doesn't matter....I have been waiting for this for a long time.

EDIT: Here is where I saw the shots:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare4/badlands.htm

Monsieur Verdoux:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Monsieur-Verdoux-Blu-ray/62272/#Review

The caps have nice film grain and detail as well no noticeable artifacts but.... brightened mid-tones, dang I am getting to be a broken record on this but now Criterion is doing it too?

Got to work and this was waiting for me. Never seen it, but Melville is a favorite of mine. Pretty damn excited to watch it.

June titles:

Marketa Lazarová (1967, František Vláčil)
Safety Last! (1923, Fred Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, starring Harold Lloyd)
Shoah + A Visitor from the Living/Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 p.m./The Karski Report (1985/1999/2001/2010, Claude Lanzmann)
Things to Come (1936, William Cameron Menzies)
Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Bergman)

Watched Badlands last night and thought the presentation was excellent (considering the source).

The realistic color timing is beautiful and great detail in this transfer as well.
Very VERY natural look to the video and it helped pull me into the story.

The LPCM mono gave me new appreciation for mono sources.

The movie itself is also superb and I prefer it to Days of Heaven.

After watching the movie, I listened to Springsteen's song "Nebraska."
Based on the Starkweather/Fugate spree too, it's the perfect capstone to Badlands and I quote it below:
"Sheriff, when the man pulls that switch … You make sure my pretty baby is sitting right there on my lap.”

I liked Badlands too, although not enough to buy the BD. It's my third favorite Malick film, next after Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line.

Criterion vs StudioCanal:

http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleiche/comparison.php?cID=1614

Criterion smokes SC but then again that's like shooting fish in a barrel.

From Facebook, confirming something long suspected:

Speechless.

Things to Come (1936):

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Things-to-Come-Blu-ray/68384/#Review

I have been hard on the blu-ray site but at least here there was an effort to have the same shots as in the Network version review making comparison easier. In the caps the UK BD has more detail in the same images in stuff like railings, fences, eyebrows, etc without sharpening artifacts. Greyscale grading is a bit of a toss up, Criterion has more contrast but also crushed blacks while Network is more lifted in the darker areas. The supplements for both are 'historians' so I do not get the impression it would make a different which one to buy on that count.

There are claims it is a different source for both but the scratches have are the same size and have the same rings around them so I suspect the source is the same.

Is it because they don't filter their caps like DVD Beaver?

Thanks for the bitter off-topic delusion Steen, but do not worry I will continue to source beaver amongst others just to please you.

And when beaver makes claims of special algorithms for 4K TVs I will slag it too.

Are you paid a specific amount each time you link to DVD Beaver?

You should see how much blu-ray.com pays me but thanks for the trolling flame bait. Ranting about beaver when I link to a different site... Do not worry though I will keep on doing what I am doing.
Edited by wuther - 6/3/13 at 5:48pm

I just picked up about a dozen Criterions before the sales tax hits on Amazon. Damn, Days of Heaven is glorious. I had heard some claim that it had a lot of EE but found out this was due to original photography so that eased my mind a bit. Stunning Transfer.