2007 Criterion Forum Awards

[Cronenfly]

Release of the Year:

1. La Haine (subtitles aside, I felt this was the best all-around package this year)
2. Under the Volcano
3. Ace in the Hole
4. Two-Lane Blacktop
5. Days of Heaven

Best Eclipse Release:
N/A (haven't gotten around to seeing any of them yet)

Best Box Set:
Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara

Best Reissue:
Yojimbo/Sanjuro

Most Disappointing Release:
If.... (strictly features- and package-wise [for the movie alone it would've topped my top 5]; the commentary was decent [mostly because of McDowell], but I didn't feel anything on the 2nd disc was very worthwhile [even Thursday's Children left me unimpressed]. Not only that, but the package design, though in the style of the movie, was pretty uninspired, and the booklet was just okay. The exclusion of the male nudity, though probably unavoidable, was also a disappointment. It's probably just because the movie was so long in arriving on DVD that I felt let down by Criterion's release; luckily, the features on This Sporting Life look significantly better, so I'm happy)

Best Commentary:
Under the Volcano (the select scene tracks and the producer's full-length collectively)
Runner Up: Days of Heaven

Best Single Supplement (not a commentary):
James Quandt's video essays on the Teshigahara set

Best Package Design:
Two-Lane Blacktop
(Days of Heaven deserves special mention for its excellent menus)

Best Surprise:
Fires on the Plain
Runner Up: La Haine
(special mention to Under the Volcano, House of Games, and Days of Heaven; Criterion's releases [due to supplements, improved transfers, etc] reversed my previously indifferent-to-negative views of those three films)

Forum Member of the Year:
zedz

[GringoTex]

Voting ends at COB* today.

*COB means whatever time I drag my hungover ass out of bed tomorrow to count votes.

[kinjitsu]

Release of the Year
1. Army of Shadows
2. Sansho the Bailiff
3. Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara
4. Bicycle Thieves
5. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

Best Eclipse Release
Late Ozu

Best Box Set
Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara

Best Reissue
The Third Man

Most Disappointing Release
Avoidance and/or disinterest prevailed

Best Commentary
Donald Richie for Drunken Angel & When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, plus Ginette Vincendeau for Army of Shadows

Best Single Supplement (non-commentary)
The books accompanying Bicycle Thieves & Sansho the Bailiff, plus Portrait of a 60% Perfect Man (Ace in the Hole)

Best Package Design
Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara

Best Surprise(s)
Raymond Bernard, House of Games & Two-Lane Blacktop

Forum Member(s) of the Year
David Hare, Herr Schreck & Scharphedin2

Richard Cranium Award
125100 & paulterranova2000 aka penguin guy

[colinr0380]

Forum Member(s) of the Year
Scharphedin2

I forgot to add this section to my list so I'll second Scharphedin2's nomination!

[cdnchris]

Release of the Year
1. Ace in the Hole
2. Army of Shadows
3. Breathless
4. Days of Heaven
5. Under the Volcano

Best Eclipse Release
Late Ozu

Best Box Set
Didn't get any of the box sets this year.
EDIT: Just recalled I got the Monsters and Madmen set, so that one by default.

Best Reissue
The Third Man

Most Disappointing Release
If.... was a little a disappointing in the supplement department. I think that was the one I was let down most by.

Best Commentary
Days of Heaven commentary

Best Single Supplement (non-commentary)
Wilder doc on "Ace in the Hole"

Best Package Design
Breathless

Best Surprise(s)
House of Games (in the fact they were able to licence it) and Green for Danger (never seen, never heard of it, but really enjoyed it)

[Mr Pixies]

Release of the Year - Sweet Movie, W.R. Mysteries of the Organism

Best Eclipse Release - Late Ozu

Best Box Set - 369-Paul Robeson: Portraits of an Artist

Best Reissue - Yojimbo and Sanjuro

Most Disappointing Release - none,

Best Commentary - W.R. Mysteries of the Organism was good, but more of an essay? I nominate both commentaries from Border Radio too

Best Single Supplement - Kino '84: Jim Jarmusch from Stranger Than Paradise

Best Package Design - Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara boxset

Best Surprise - La Haine

[dx23]

Release of the Year
1. Bicylcle Thieves
2. The Third Man re-issue
3. Breathless
4. Ace in the Hole
5. Two-Lane Blacktop

Best Eclipse Release
Samuel Fuller Set

Best Box Set
Monsters and Madmen

Best Reissue
The Third Man

Most Disappointing Release
La Jette/Sans Soleil

Best Commentary
Donald Richie for Drunken Angel

Best Single Supplement (non-commentary)
Bicycle Thieves booklet

Best Package Design
Third Man reissue

Best Surprise(s)
Ace in the Hole

Forum Member(s) of the Year
all mods for keeping this forum great year after year, domino harvey

Richard Cranium Award
penguin guy

[Panda]

Release of the Year

Days of Heaven
Bicycle Thieves
Fires on the Plain
La Jetee/Sans Soleil
Breathless

Best Eclipse Release

Raymond Bernard

Best Box Set

Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara

Best Suprise

Cria Cuervos

Best Reissue

The Third Man

Panda

[tavernier]

Release of the Year
1. Cria Cuervos
2. Fires on the Plain/Burmese Harp
3. Mouchette
4. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
5. Sawdust & Tinsel

Best Eclipse Release
Early Bergman

Best Box Set
3 Films of Hiroshi Teshigahara

Best Reissue
None

Most Disappointing Release
Night on Earth, Stranger than Paradise

Best Commentary
If....

Best Single Supplement (non-commentary)
John Simon essay on "Sawdust & Tinsel"

Best Package Design
Days of Heaven

Best Surprise(s)
Sweet Movie, WR: Mysteries of the Organism

[GringoTex]

2007 CRITERION FORUM AWARDS RESULTS

Release of the Year
Ace in the Hole

Runners-Up
2. Berlin Alexanderplatz
3. Army of Shadows
4. Sansho the Bailiff
5. Breathless
6. La Jetee & Sans Soleil
7. Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara
8. The Threepenny Opera
9. Days of Heaven
10. Bicycle Thieves

Best Eclipse Release
Raymond Bernard

Best Reissue
The Third Man

Most Disappointing Release
Border Radio

Best Commentary tie
House of Games - David Mamet and Ricky Jay
Army of Shadows - Ginette Vincendeau

Best Single Supplement (non-commentary)
Berlin Alexanderplatz by Phil Jutzi

Best Package Design
Sansho the Bailiff

Best Surprise
Cría cuervos

Best Boxed Set
Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara

Member of the Year
HerrSchreck

Richard Cranium
125100

[domino harvey]

2007 CRITERION FORUM AWARDS RESULTS

Best Commentary tie
House of Games - David Mamet and Ricky Jay
Army of Shadows - Ginette Vincendeau

This was the only category I really cared about, so I'm glad that the Mamet/Jay commentary won, but the tie upsets me-- I guess it's unfair but I didn't even rate the two Melville titles since these commentaries were already found on the excellent BFI DVDs.

[Cinephrenic]

Best Surprise
Cría cuervos

Seriously, guys...I mean didn't we all know that this was a Janus title for years and was one day going to make it to DVD?

[tavernier]

I think that means that people who weren't familiar with Saura's work were surprised at how good it was.

[Jeff]

Best Surprise
Cría cuervos

Seriously, guys...I mean didn't we all know that this was a Janus title for years and was one day going to make it to DVD?

There has been some debate in the past about what the "best surprise" category means. It can either be:

1. "I was not familiar with this film until Criterion released it, and wow was it good! Thanks, Criterion!"

2. "Holy Shit! I didn't see that coming! Whoever thought that Criterion would get the rights to that?"

I think most people voted in the mode of option one. The second option makes it tougher to define what is a surprise. We got a few months warning on most of the Paramount titles, for example. The only thing I can think of that was a complete surprise on the day of the official announcement was House of Games. It has become harder to surprise the forum membership in that capacity lately, as our sources have become more adept at getting scoops and the Criterion brass has been more forthcoming with the advent of the blog and newsletter.

[domino harvey]

I've always thought it meant option number one.

I still say we should have had a category of Best Rescue, which would be when Criterion "saves" an existing DVD title with their release (see Breathless, House of Games, Days of Heaven, etc)-- maybe this year, so we can all vote for the Ice Storm lol

[HerrSchreck]

(fidget.. cough)...

Dave and I will hafta rehearse our vaudevillian routine of the passing of the accursed rhinestone tiara he been wearing the past year... Scuze me while I slip outa here....

(flmp!)

[HerrSchreck]

From what I hear Dave coming offa public access cable-porn (unconverted region four betas sent to NYC in true lo budget style)-- if I hafta wear the damnable thing-- it'll hafta function as a pinky ring... after six months lab bath in hydrochloric acid boil of course...

And they'll hafta hammer an extra three links into it just to get it to fit.

(You guys roast me since I'm now Target Numero Uno, I'll roast last year's winner haw haw haw...)

[HerrSchreck]

DONT TALK TO ME ABOUT HI-DEF!!! I KNOW ABOUT HI DEF! NOT ONLT AM I HI-DEF BUT I'm JUST FUCKING FLAT OUT DEF! DON'T POST ABOUT HI-DEF WITHOUT TOTAL ATTRIBUTION AND PAGES OF LINKED-IN FOOTNOTES! YOU'RE A SLANDER ON THE WHOLE HI-REZ-HIGH COMMUNITY. IN FACT YOU'RE JUST A HOLE!

(Sinister David Hare thinks he knows about hi-def. Pwah!.. now back to facts & figures... um... phone fucking ringing. "Oh hi cdnchris, howarya?...")

I actually hope someday to read all those tectonic ten deleted pages. I missed that whole blow up.

And yes I know the ring "shrunk". To fit you, of course.

[Thomas J.]

Best Surprise
Cría cuervos

Seriously, guys...I mean didn't we all know that this was a Janus title for years and was one day going to make it to DVD?

There has been some debate in the past about what the "best surprise" category means. It can either be:

1. "I was not familiar with this film until Criterion released it, and wow was it good! Thanks, Criterion!"

2. "Holy Shit! I didn't see that coming! Whoever thought that Criterion would get the rights to that?"

I think most people voted in the mode of option one. The second option makes it tougher to define what is a surprise. We got a few months warning on most of the Paramount titles, for example. The only thing I can think of that was a complete surprise on the day of the official announcement was House of Games. It has become harder to surprise the forum membership in that capacity lately, as our sources have become more adept at getting scoops and the Criterion brass has been more forthcoming with the advent of the blog and newsletter.

It should mean option 2 because otherwise the category would have little to do with Criterion and mostly to do with the movie outside of Criterion's participation...and they are called the Criterion Awards after all.

[miless]

It should mean option 2 because otherwise the category would have little to do with Criterion and mostly to do with the movie outside of Criterion's participation...and they are called the Criterion Awards after all.

I guess in that case I'll change mine to Days of Heaven... even though the film was not much a surprise, having seen it before and being obsessed with Malick.

[Lemmy Caution]

It should mean option 2 because otherwise the category would have little to do with Criterion and mostly to do with the movie outside of Criterion's participation...and they are called the Criterion Awards after all.

I really don't follow that logic.

A film you were previously unaware of, which CC releases, and it totally wows your socks off seems to be a nice surprise that has everything to do with Criterion's efforts.

But welcome aboard anyway TJ.

[Matt]

As the "originator" of these storied awards, I've always maintained that "Best Surprise" meant a film, released on Criterion DVD, that you enjoyed and that you were heretofore unacquainted with. I've also tried to maintain that "Most Disappointing Release" was not based on the quality of the film but on the total quality of Criterion's work, which is why Diary of a Country Priest and Jules and Jim were the first "winners" of this award. Border Radio might be a shitty film (dunno, haven't seen it), but there's no denying that Criterion put together a hell of a package for it. It's not like it has as its only supplement a totally useless commentary (DoaCP) or has a VHS-quality transfer (KoKo). A more appropriate candidate for this award might have been Mala Noche on account of the transfer screw-up or the Bergman set for the inclusion of the wrong disc and the sense of it cashing in on B's death.

[colinr0380]

A more appropriate candidate for this award might have been Mala Noche on account of the transfer screw-up or the Bergman set for the inclusion of the wrong disc and the sense of it cashing in on B's death.

Yes that is the way I'd see it: major errors first (transfer issues, wrong aspect ratio, or to put it another way the first Playtime release! Or the first Yojimbo), then minor though still important issues when considering whether to pick up the disc (Such as production SNAFUs like the Bergman box. The missing scene from Jigoku and the missing booklets from Clean, Shaven come to mind from 2006. The brief colour shots missing from the first Mala Noche would also fit here), then issues with extra features (quibbles with the quality of what is there: Peter Cowie's Diary Of A Country Priest commentary, and Koko not being put into more than a filmic context for example, or the lack of what seems to be a crucial supplement - i.e. if Criterion had issued Ran without A.K. that wouldn't be an issue with the film but it would be a disappointment that might be worth mentioning)

Then thinking the film was terrible, having a problem with the packaging and thinking the cover art was disappointing all come in a distant fourth, fifth and sixth place!

[Michael]

Crias cuervos was the only 2007 CC release I didn't see before voting because my mom (knowing how much I love Spirit of the Beehive, the DVD she also got me for Xmas 2006) told me she'd get me the DVD for Christmas so I was waiting for that. Finally the package came yesterday and I watched the film immediately.

My god. I'm killing myself for not being able to vote for Crias. The film is AMAZING and just as spectacular and gorgeous as my 2007 fave Mala Noche.