'Forthcoming' Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.2

[Matt]

The Alliance DVD actually looks pretty good, maybe not quite as good as the Miramax DVD, but they're both from 10 years ago and could look a lot better now, even in SD.

[domino harvey]

I could care less about Videodrome but it'd be nice if Criterion could port over the extras on eXistenZ from the Canadian OOP edition and put it out in Blu-- my favorite Cronenberg film by far

[Zot!]

You hate Videodrome? It's funny how everybody agrees that eXistenZ is one of the best Cronenbergs. Why is this such a badly marketed movie, considering it's reputation? Definitely begging for a Criterion.

[domino harvey]

It had the misfortune of coming out around the same time as the Matrix

[knives]

The Matrix was a real killer. As much as I love eXistenZ, James Woods beats Jude Law any day of the week. (also incidentally my favorite Cronenberg would have to either be Dead Ringers or Eastern Promises)

[HistoryProf]

It'd be cool if they had another Cronenberg title to release alongside Videodrome on BD. Crash would be good, and Scanners and The Brood are certainly good bedfellows for Videodrome.

I'm just wondering if they are going to do Naked Lunch with it a la Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. That would be a sweet double bill on blu for sure. And just imagine all that mugwump jism in 1080p glory!!

[flyonthewall2983]

I'm hoping for Crash, as it's my favorite Cronenberg film (as stated before here). I've only seen Videodrome in full (and bits and pieces of his other films elsewhere), and was quite impressed with certain visual aspects but grossed out by others to the point where I can safely say I wouldn't mind if I never saw it again. As epitomized by my admiration for his latest work, I find his transition from surrealistic horror to the actual horror of the human condition a little more acceptable to digest.

[CSM126]

As regards the debate over whether or not House is coming on blu, I'm leaning towards yes. I attended a screening of the film last night and the folks hosting it explicitly stated that they were projecting the film from a blu-ray disc sent by Janus in lieu of a print. So there's a 1080 master ready to use, and a good one at that (they showed House on an IMAX screen, blown up to fill the whole thing, and it looked great for a film of that vintage being shown so huge).

[FerdinandGriffon]

Does anyone else slightly dread announcements weeks because they worry that their most anticipated titles will be announced, but too early for them to be given blu releases? For example, I'm really worried that Criterion's remaining Bressons will be announced in the next six months and be DVD only.

[domino harvey]

I'm worried they might actually release the Gorin box, and then what would I guess every month?

[HistoryProf]

for you guys that know the studio deals far better than I, what about Anthony Mann's The Tin Star? Seems like a perfect companion to The Furies, adds another western to the collection, and rescues yet another outstanding film that Paramount inexplicably let slide into the OOP ether. Is this something they *could* get given their relationship w/ Paramount?

[HistoryProf]

Does anyone else slightly dread announcements weeks because they worry that their most anticipated titles will be announced, but too early for them to be given blu releases? For example, I'm really worried that Criterion's remaining Bressons will be announced in the next six months and be DVD only.

i don't understand the question. last few months only one title has been released SD only w/ the rest of the month all in blu...why would it be "too early" for them to be on blu? That doesn't make sense.

[Peacock]

Does anyone else slightly dread announcements weeks because they worry that their most anticipated titles will be announced, but too early for them to be given blu releases? For example, I'm really worried that Criterion's remaining Bressons will be announced in the next six months and be DVD only.

i don't understand the question. last few months only one title has been released SD only w/ the rest of the month all in blu...why would it be "too early" for them to be on blu? That doesn't make sense.

Because as you have said, one title didn't get a Blu release. Perhaps next year Criterion will start releasing Blu-only titles instead of SD-only?

[MyNameCriterionForum]

Perhaps next year Criterion will start releasing Blu-only titles instead of SD-only?

In which case they'll see their total sales (particularly to libraries, but also among individuals) plummet outrageously.

[edit]: My mistake, I thought you were implying their entire slate would be blu-only... I can see one title (of any month's six) on blu-only (though I think that's still foolish at this point)

[Peacock]

Very true, and seeing as one of Criterion's biggest sellers was the Golden Age of Television set, I retract what I said!

[HistoryProf]

Does anyone else slightly dread announcements weeks because they worry that their most anticipated titles will be announced, but too early for them to be given blu releases? For example, I'm really worried that Criterion's remaining Bressons will be announced in the next six months and be DVD only.

i don't understand the question. last few months only one title has been released SD only w/ the rest of the month all in blu...why would it be "too early" for them to be on blu? That doesn't make sense.

Because as you have said, one title didn't get a Blu release. Perhaps next year Criterion will start releasing Blu-only titles instead of SD-only?

I can't ever envision a blu-only release...that would just be economically stupid. as for one being non-blu, they've been titles like Night Train to Munich and Dillinger is Dead - more "minor" pictures if you will. I find it hard to believe they'd consider Bresson in that category and wouldn't go full treatment.

but as with anything, most important isn't the film, but the source materials. I'd imagine if they can do it HD they will. I still don't understand what "too early" means in that respect. It's not like they just announced their first BD's and can't do more than one a month.

[colinr0380]

It had the misfortune of coming out around the same time as the Matrix

Also the American remake of Fassbinder's World On A Wire, The Thirteenth Floor (I like the way that the music video with the clips from the film has the Cardigans saved from being crushed to death in the shrinking room at the last moment, while their other video without the clips ends the way you would expect it to!), with its own premise of layers upon layers of 'reality'.

And this is a bit more obscure but Koji Suzuki's final novel in the Ring series, Loop written in 1998, also has a very similar premise, albeit more medically premised than the murder mystery of 13th Floor or the political and revolutionary 'victim/terrorist interchangable personas as a game' elements of eXistenZ. So there must have been something in the air at the time.

I do really like eXistenZ (the only Cronenberg film I've seen in the cinema - with three other people! And of course The Matrix trailer playing before the screening) but some of the game controller stuff felt rather old fashioned, as if Cronenberg was attaching his fascination with organic techology (the stuff that "will grow so small that it will eventually grow right into you", as I remember J.G. Ballard saying way back in a Channel 4 documentary from 1993, with the appropriate clip from Tetsuo: The Iron Man added to illustrate the point!) with these new fangled game systems that the kids are into. Plus it didn't help that the film's advertising was tied in with the ill-fated DreamCast console.

I guess being brought up from the 80s with the ZX Spectrum and Commodore Amiga and eventually the PC, only having bought a Playstation recently mostly for its Blu-Ray capabilities, I have always felt more comfortable with the idea of programming a computer rather than just playing within predetermined boundaries as defined by a creator figure - a crucial psychological difference towards approaching computer games (as well one of the crucial differences between the programmable Videodrome protagonist and the blank slate, impressionable and malleable eXistenZ avatars).

However having said that I've nothing particularly against the film - it is certainly of a piece with Cronenberg's work (and perhaps not quite as big a disappointment as M Butterfly in the category of lesser, and broader, retreading of previous themes) and does have a lot of very interesting things to say about its subject of artificial lives and 'real world' consequences. Jennifer Jason Leigh in particular is stunning though Jude Law also gives a very finely balanced performance (this takes us back to the sometime necessity of 'callow characters' in particular narratives). It's also good to see Cronenberg regular Robert Silverman (Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, Naked Lunch) in there, as well as Ian Holm making a return after Naked Lunch.

And it was fantastic to see both Sarah Polley and Don McKellar finally working with one of the other greatest Canadian directors, given that I associated them more with Atom Egoyan at that point (Though McKellar had actually directed Cronenberg as an actor in the short film Blue, as a man obsessed with pornography!)

[Mr Sausage]

(Though McKellar had actually directed Cronenberg as an actor in the short film Blue, as a man obsessed with pornography!)

He'd also directed Cronenberg (and Polly) in Last Night, a film about the end of the world.

[colinr0380]

Thanks Mr_Sausage, I'd forgotten about that film! And it's an extremely good one too, even if I stupidly can't stop myself from continually getting it mixed up with Hal Hartley's more overtly religious millenial film Book of Life!

[What A Disgrace]

Since Criterion supposedly owns the rights to Bahma Ghobadi's first feature, A Time for Drunken Horses, I wonder if they'll release it on DVD/Blu-ray in connection with the release of No One Knows About Persian Cats...and, since that is distributed by IFC, if they'll release it as well.

[mikeohhh]

A Time for Drunken Horses

Man, what the hell happened to this one? It was definitely on the forthcoming list when I first joined the site 5 years ago and it doesn't seem like anyone's ever asked Criterion about it. This is one that I would be VERY surprised to see materialize.

[swo17]

Most likely, Criterion doesn't want to take a side in the Nothing vs. the world debates.

[HistoryProf]

so for September i'm sticking with Senso +

Antichrist
Videodrome/Naked Lunch on blu ray
Johnny Guitar

[TheGodfather]

so for September i'm sticking with Senso +


Johnny Guitar

Has it been confirmed already that they`re releasing it? would love to see a blu-ray release of it. [-o<

[Perkins Cobb]

I'm worried they might actually release the Gorin box, and then what would I guess every month?

Last I heard (and this is a few months out of date) is that Gorin and Criterion have hit a stalemate because Gorin wants to raise funds for a new digital intermediate of Poto and Cabengo, and Criterion thinks it's unnecessary for a film shot on 16mm. The other two films are ready to go.