Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.3

[dad1153]

Any chance we will get a non-yawn month this year from them?

You mean besides May? Rimshot... seriously though, "Diabolique," "Solaris" (which I've never seen) and "Pale Flower" make for an OK Criterion month, but compared with 2010 we're already way behind the quality quota.

[Murdoch]

Any chance we will get a non-yawn month this year from them?

Tarkovsky and Shinoda on blu is a yawn month? :-k

[matrixschmatrix]

What do we still have left from the New Year's illustration? White Material, Solaris, and The Great Dictator were all hinted at on there, right?

[aox]

God, I have never in my life hated movies more than right now!

[perkizitore]

"George Washington" on Blu would shake heads, but for a server-melting freakout nothing would top a "Border Radio" or "Hopscotch" BD announcement. It would become this website's 'cats and dogs living together' mass hysteria moment de jour.

Mind-blowing here is a good thing: George Washington is a beautiful-looking film. Fat Girl is an abomination

I thought you liked your fatties, Dom

[swo17]

What do we still have left from the New Year's illustration? White Material, Solaris, and The Great Dictator were all hinted at on there, right?

Still unannounced:

Kiss Me Deadly
Carlos
Kuroneko
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Zero de conduite/L'atalante
Bitter Rice
Insignificance
Wild Strawberries
Cul-de-sac
Y tu mama tambien

[perkizitore]

I wonder if they are still releasing Nolan's Following.

[SpiderBaby]

Any chance we will get a non-yawn month this year from them?

Tarkovsky and Shinoda on blu is a yawn month?

In a 7 releases month, only 2 you can name, 1 of which is an upgrade, yes it is a yawn month then.

This year is really the worst releases in a year I can think of, if you take out all of the upgrades out of your heads. What do you have to show for? Sweet Smell of Success, which most of us either owns or has seen many times. Shinoda? sure. Senso? maybe. Blow Out? same as Sweet Smell and it isn't Blow Up. Thats about it.

It's sad when the Jan Eclipse >>>>> everything else this year so far (not counting upgrades).

[matrixschmatrix]

Uh... Basil Dearden and Naruse box set, a major Chaplin on blu, a major Mike Leigh on blu, Kes, and what might as well be two entirely new Fuller releases...

They definitely haven't been pumping things out in the quantity of some other years so far, and I'd be surprised if we got another month as astonishing as last November, but this year has definitely had a good number of really excellent releases.

[perkizitore]

If Chaplin, Bergman and Clouzot in HD is 'yawn' for you, then you are at the wrong forum. It's like you recently discovered that Criterion doesn't take many risks and they really like upgrading their older titles!
(i was far too young to speak proficient English back in 1998 let alone buy Criterion laserdiscs , but i am sure people were using the same arguments back then)

[Tom Hagen]

This year is really the worst releases in a year I can think of, if you take out all of the upgrades out of your heads. What do you have to show for? Sweet Smell of Success, which most of us either owns or has seen many times. Shinoda? sure. Senso? maybe. Blow Out? same as Sweet Smell and it isn't Blow Up. Thats about it.

What should they be doing instead?

[SpiderBaby]

This year is really the worst releases in a year I can think of, if you take out all of the upgrades out of your heads. What do you have to show for? Sweet Smell of Success, which most of us either owns or has seen many times. Shinoda? sure. Senso? maybe. Blow Out? same as Sweet Smell and it isn't Blow Up. Thats about it.

What should they be doing instead?

Is this going to be when I say a title, you reply saying it's rights' issues? Because if you can't think of films that deserve attention rather than re-releasing stuff, I can write a list, starting with Philippe Garrel.

[matrixschmatrix]

I think we may have been spoiled, as last year was probably the single best release year I can think of. It seems like they're focusing more on catalog upgrades and more mainstream movies they've just gotten access to- the Demme, the De Palma, and the Brooks come to mind there- but hell, if they're putting out a silent Naruse boxset they're not playing it entirely safe.

I do wish they'd hurry up with the Chaplin, though, at the pace of one every six months it's going to take forever. I'm anxious to see how they present the shorts, and whether we get to watch the original version of the Gold Rush, goddammit.

[Tom Hagen]

This year is really the worst releases in a year I can think of, if you take out all of the upgrades out of your heads. What do you have to show for? Sweet Smell of Success, which most of us either owns or has seen many times. Shinoda? sure. Senso? maybe. Blow Out? same as Sweet Smell and it isn't Blow Up. Thats about it.

What should they be doing instead?

Is this going to be when I say a title, you reply saying it's rights' issues? Because if you can't think of films that deserve attention rather than re-releasing stuff, I can write a list, starting with Philippe Garrel.

No, I'm not looking to refute you on x or y title you suggest. I'm just trying to figure out what's so lackluster about the 2011 slate thus far. For me, its been a wildly successful year so far. They've achieved a pretty remarkable balance of eras and genres, they've also hit a good balance of mainstream vs. obscure, and they have gone full throttle on Blu-ray.

[swo17]

In a 7 releases month, only 2 you can name, 1 of which is an upgrade, yes it is a yawn month then.

With as much product as they're releasing now in a month (actually 12 new releases in May, counting DVD and BD releases separately) and as varied as they all are (for instance, each decade since the '40s is represented at least once, other than the '90s), it's hardly fair to criticize the percentage of releases that interest you. I mean, I hate one of the films being released in May, but I'll still definitely be buying at least four of the other titles, and it wasn't so long ago that you'd be lucky if Criterion even announced that many in a month.

[Jun-Dai]

If Chaplin, Bergman and Clouzot in HD is 'yawn' for you, then you are at the wrong forum. It's like you recently discovered that Criterion doesn't take many risks and they really like upgrading their older titles!
(i was far too young to speak proficient English back in 1998 let alone buy Criterion laserdiscs , but i am sure people were using the same arguments back then)

I'm sure the laserdisc -> DVD overlaps seemed like an "upgrade" to a lot of people, they didn't seem like it to me, since laserdisc was a format that was never really an option to me (since I had no TV, just a computer, and laserdiscs also cost a lot more). Criterion's decision not to reboot the spine numbers seems to support the idea that the DVD/BR's really are the same collection, whereas Laserdisc was totally different audience and world of rights.

Also, there's a difference between a format upgrade, and a full-blown revisitation. So this month we have:

New spine numbers:
* The Great Dictator
* Something Wild
* Pale Flower

Revisited titles:
* Diabolique

Format upgrades:
* Solaris
* Fat Girl
* Smiles of a Summer Night

I'm inclined to think of it as a bit of a yawn month as well, but only while readily admitting that it's because we've been spoiled. Given all the fuss we used to have here about barebones releases 8 years ago, this is quite a nice yawn month. But given the stuff waiting in the wings, and given what we were treated to last year, this year has been fairly slow so far. Whatever. I'm still happy about the Naruse set and Still Walking.

[Tribe]

Format upgrades:
* Solaris

I'm confused now. Is the new Solaris the same edition with just a new cover?

[Napier]

Format upgrades:
* Solaris

I'm confused now. Is the new Solaris the same edition with just a new cover?

It should definitely be a re-visited title.

[swo17]

Format upgrades:
* Solaris

I'm confused now. Is the new Solaris the same edition with just a new cover?

The new DVD of Solaris will have the same extras but a new transfer with the B&W scenes tinted blue.

[Peacock]

I agree with CG, 2011 is dull for Criterion so far because pretty much everything released, announced or hinted at already has releases, or has in the past on DVD. Exceptions being the Naruse set, Mikado, some of the Dearden films possibly, Senso (with english subtitles, in an acceptable edition unlike the appalling old UK dvd), Bitter Rice (?)... any more? Even among these the only one which really stands out is the Naruse.

The World Cinema set will help I guess but it's still pretty disappointing so far.
I like Blu-ray upgrades as much as the next guy but it's always going to be more exciting to get hard to see things like Paisa + Germany Year Zero, Sing a Song of Sex + other Oshima, Docks of New York + other Sternberg, Colossal Youth + Tarrafal, Rabbit Hunters, Make Way for Tomorrow, 2 Films by Ozu, Story of a Cheat + other Guitry, Warrendale + other Allan King, The Traveller, the Brakhage's etc.....

[What A Disgrace]

I wonder if we'd be complaining so much today if Blow Out came out last year in Night of the Hunter's Place, and Night of the Hunter was announced last month.

[SpiderBaby]

Peacock, add Dillinger is Dead as well, being my fav release last year.

But Tom, here is a QUICK list of titles that Criterion (or anyone else) hasn't scratch the surface with for you to go through:

Le berceau de cristal
Le révélateur
Le bleu des origines
Le lit de la vierge
The Inner Scar
Chelsea Girls
The Last Movie
Johnny Guitar
Black God, White Devil
Antonio das Mortes
Warhol? (I would really love to have Vinyl and Poor Little Rich Girl)
Greed
Black Moon
Out 1
Céline and Julie Go Boating
Merry-Go-Round
MORE Pialat
MORE Ferreri
MORE Fassbinder
And what the heck is it with Criterion being afraid to release "POST NEW WAVE" GODARD?

I'm sure they can find and get rights to some of those. I mean they haven't touched Rocha, Garrel, Hopper (non Easy Rider), Rivette, and later Godard.

[swo17]

Criterion could have their best year ever next year without releasing any of those.

[fdm]

I agree with CG, 2011 is dull for Criterion so far because pretty much everything released, announced or hinted at already has releases, or has in the past on DVD. Exceptions being the Naruse set, Mikado, some of the Dearden films possibly, Senso (with english subtitles, in an acceptable edition unlike the appalling old UK dvd), Bitter Rice (?)... any more? Even among these the only one which really stands out is the Naruse.

The World Cinema set will help I guess but it's still pretty disappointing so far.
I like Blu-ray upgrades as much as the next guy but it's always going to be more exciting to get hard to see things like Paisa + Germany Year Zero, Sing a Song of Sex + other Oshima, Docks of New York + other Sternberg, Colossal Youth + Tarrafal, Rabbit Hunters, Make Way for Tomorrow, 2 Films by Ozu, Story of a Cheat + other Guitry, Warrendale + other Allan King, The Traveller, the Brakhage's etc.....

My lame response to this post: I couldn't agree more.

[SpiderBaby]

Criterion could never release any of those and still churn out a handful of great films every month.

Is that hate on the films I listed, or are you backing up that they can find tons more great films?