Criterion Random Speculation Vol.1

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denti alligator · Fri Feb 18, 2005 1:02 pm

On a related note, he made reference to Beyond the Valley of the Dolls as "coming later this year."

From Criterion, right? (just want to be sure Ebert also specified this)

souvenir · #127 Post by **souvenir** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 1:55 pm

he didn't specify, but he wasn't asked either. Someone asked him a question by saying the film was misogynist and violent and whether those aspects were in his script or added by Russ Meyer. He first responded that everything in the film was from his script, but then said that Fox studio employees needed work so they created a decapitated head to be used even though neither it nor the shooting was originally in the script.

Theodore R. Stockton · Mon Feb 28, 2005 8:18 pm

greatest supplement description:

featuring Werner Herzog fulfilling a bet

solaris72 · #129 Post by **solaris72** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:59 pm

Is it too much to hope that the New Line deal might have included Night on Earth? I'm dying to own this on DVD, and I'm not multiregion yet. A 2-disc release as fully featured as Down by Law would be nice, but I like this film enough that I'd even pay $39.99 MSRP for a one disc bare-except-for-useless-Peter-Cowie-commentary bones release. Almost my favorite Jarmusch (it would be, if not for a certain Tarkovskian western he went and made).

milk114 · #130 Post by **milk114** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 1:55 am

Night on Earth with Permanent Vacation as a "supplement," which I believe Jarmusch owns outright.

Richard · #131 Post by **Richard** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:15 pm

Question: is it possible that Criterion's releases of David Lean's films (Brief Encounter, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist) wil go OOP now that MGM plans to release their own box of early Lean's, of which all of these films will be a part?

Cinephrenic · #132 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:19 pm

I'm wondering when will the MGM deal go down. I hope Paths of Glory (w/Scorsese Commentary), The Killer's Kiss, and The Killing is in it.

Sai · #133 Post by **Sai** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:33 pm

cinephrenic wrote:I'm wondering when will the MGM deal go down. I hope Paths of Glory (w/Scorsese Commentary), The Killer's Kiss, and The Killing is in it.

I doubt that MGM would sell such profitable and well known titles off, except for a huge price that an independent as Criterion would never in a million years be able to cough up.

chaddoli · #134 Post by **chaddoli** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:40 pm

Is there an MGM deal coming? Or are you just randomly speculating?

FilmFanSea · #135 Post by **FilmFanSea** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:28 am

Richard wrote:Question: is it possible that Criterion's releases of David Lean's films (Brief Encounter, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist) wil go OOP now that MGM plans to release their own box of early Lean's, of which all of these films will be a part?

MGM was to have released that collection last September, but cancelled it (I haven't heard any info about it being rescheduled). I suspect the box was cancelled because Criterion holds the rights for those three films (licensed from Carlton International [Brief Encounter] and the Rank Organization [Great Expectations and Oliver Twist]).

Cinephrenic · #136 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:43 am

Is there an MGM deal coming? Or are you just randomly speculating?

Randomly speculating ofcourse.

chaddoli · #137 Post by **chaddoli** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 6:02 pm

Now here's some random speculation if you ever saw it:

Wes Anderson's next film is The Fantastic Mr. Fox. It is being made by Sony, the same company that owns Bottle Rocket and who won't licence it to Criterion. Now, since this film will not be made by Touchstone, we cannot for sure say there will be a Criterion dvd. But now that Anderson has some power, perhaps when he was negociating his new deal with Sony he stipulated that the new film must be released by Criterion and maybe got it so Bottle Rocket would be too!

Wow, that is the most elaborate wishful thought I've ever had.

DrewReiber · #138 Post by **DrewReiber** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 9:17 pm

chaddoli wrote:But now that Anderson has some power, perhaps when he was negociating his new deal with Sony he stipulated that the new film must be released by Criterion and maybe got it so Bottle Rocket would be too!

That's not the kind of power they would give him. Licensing product from a multi-national entertainment conglomerate is solely up to the people who operate the company. If anything is likely, Columbia/Tri-Star's obsession with doing special edition tie-ins to recent releases will cause for a decent edition of Bottle Rocket to hit DVD with the Fantastic Mr. Fox... and that's *if* they feel the market for an animated film will care about the director's live-action work. A lot of if's.

pianocrash · #139 Post by **pianocrash** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 7:59 am

The Hal Hartley shorts disc brings up a lingering question:

What about Trust? Could or could this not be part of the Fine Line deal, or does Hartley himself now own all the rights? It would seem like a title that would cause quite a buzz brewing (like every other title in this thread), but maybe I'm just dreaming?

criterionsnob · #140 Post by **criterionsnob** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 6:25 pm

According to Hal Hartley's website, sales of Trust are through his new company Possible Films and/or a company called Zenith Productions in London.

criterionsnob · #141 Post by **criterionsnob** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 1:22 am

Well, now we know...:

Hi Criterionsnob, Criterion would love to release Trust on DVD, and we
would love to have them do it. We just need to get Paramount (the US
rights holders) to agree to license it to Criterion, which is an uphill
battle and will definitely not happen before the end of 2005. Something
might happen next year though. In the meantime, it will be released in
France and Australia this year.

Kyle Gilman
Possible Films

Gregory · #142 Post by **Gregory** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:36 am

Mundo Deprivados:
There are a number of great films in Arabic that I've seen, but when you say Arabian, I wonder if you mean specifically films from the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Yemen, etc.) which I know less about.

Either way, given the diversity of many of Home Vision's recent releases, I think it's far more likely that they would release some of those films than Criterion ever seriously looking into it. My point is just that e-mailing title suggestions to Home Vision is also a good idea.

denti alligator · Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:19 pm

I just re-watched the Tartan DVD of one of my favorite recent films: Liv Ullmann's Faithless. This DVD ranks among the worst transfers of a recent film, ever.

The R1 disc looks better but is pan & scan. It's put out by First Look Pictures. What are the odds of Criterion getting this? I mean it fits perfectly: Bergmann screenplay; female director (what ever happened to tha Ladeez?). This needs a proper DVD release so badly.

Cosomatli · #144 Post by **Cosomatli** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 3:02 am

i dont know if this has been discussed before but...

what are the chances for criterion to release more Richard Linklater films? Suburbia?

chaddoli · #145 Post by **chaddoli** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 5:45 am

Cosomatli wrote:i dont know if this has been discussed before but...

what are the chances for criterion to release more Richard Linklater films? Suburbia?

I wish, I love Surburbia, but both it and Before... are owned by Warner Bros.

There's a pretty good chance for a Dazed and Confused Criterion, though.

justeleblanc · #146 Post by **justeleblanc** » Sat Mar 12, 2005 3:48 pm

Maybe we can see School of Rock on Criterion as well. Then on the back of the DVD they can write "Jack Black is Hilarious!"

Cosomatli · #147 Post by **Cosomatli** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 8:15 pm

JusteLeblanc wrote:Maybe we can see School of Rock on Criterion as well. Then on the back of the DVD they can write "Jack Black is Hilarious!"

that was funny

is Suburbia available on dvd though? i dont think i´ve ever seen it anywhere..if its not...maybe theres a small chance.

Gordon · #148 Post by **Gordon** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:38 pm

How likely is it that Criterion own or will own the rights to Antonioni's, Red Desert and thus complete the Isolation Trilogy?

The old Image DVD goes for, like, $300 on Amazon's marketplace and Ebay. Ridiculous. If Criterion don't now own the rights, who does?

Dr. Mabuse · #149 Post by **Dr. Mabuse** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:54 pm

The Criterion web sites lists several forthcoming screenings incl. an interesting Samuel Fuller at War retrospect. Could there be a boxset in the making?
http://www.criterion.com/asp/

"This series highlights four of Fuller’s war pictures, including several rarely screened classics. All films directed by Samuel Fuller.

Merrill’s Marauders (1962) 98min
Fixed Bayonets (1951) 92min
The Steel Helmet (1950) 85min
The Big Red One 158min (1980) Reconstructed Full-length Version!"
http://www.bam.org/film/Fuller.aspx

davida2 · #150 Post by **davida2** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 6:34 am

Mundo Depravados wrote:
Gregory wrote:Mundo Deprivados:
There are a number of great films in Arabic that I've seen, but when you say Arabian, I wonder if you mean specifically films from the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Yemen, etc.) which I know less about.

Either way, given the diversity of many of Home Vision's recent releases, I think it's far more likely that they would release some of those films than Criterion ever seriously looking into it. My point is just that e-mailing title suggestions to Home Vision is also a good idea.
Interesting, didn't think of Home Vision having a Mulvaney of their own, though it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't take suggestions.

I was referring specifically to the Arabian Peninsula, however I'm also interested in Arab-American films, or French films dealing with Arab colonialism, or probably whatever else you have experience with. I'm just very curious about filmic representations from these and other third-world areas, because one doesn't hear as much about them as, say, European or Asian films (at least not in my part of Central/Northern California), but I'm sure they're as interesting.

I've never seen Cairo Station, but have seen some of Chahine's 80s/90s films, and suggested his name to Criterion - based on those viewings - over a year ago. Very glad to see that someone else has; I've been wanting to see his (more highly regarded) 50s-70s films for some time, and have been hoping that Criterion would - in a more general sense - be able to introduce us all to some worthy film from S. Asia, the Middle East, Africa or Latin America. At least Chahine's name is now on their radar.

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Criterion Random Speculation Vol.1