Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol.3

[mfunk9786]

Seriously, where are the spine no. threads for the new titles?

[dad1153]

I feel better about the six different times I picked up Battle for Algiers on blu at B&N last november and july and then put it back down, saying, "no, surely they'll take this one blu in the next year or so."

Same here. "If..." was also in my greedy paws quite a few times during the B&N sales. It pays to be conflicted and undecided.

[Jun-Dai]

BBS box set aside, I was gonna say that seven titles on blu-ray ties with with this current month of May.

I don't think this is such an amazing month from the sheer number of releases (despite the fact that the "bonus" films are better than some of their standalone titles), so much as for the quality of the titles. Complete Vigo? That's a gem that I've only dreamed of seeing on Criterion (shame about the cover). The Killing? ditto.—that was my favorite Kubrick for a long time. If…. and Battle of Algiers are "just" upgrades. I've not seen the Lee film nor any of the Kurahara films, but I'm quite excited about them all. The only one I'm meh about is Orpheus, although to be honest it's sat on my shelf for a decade now and I've never bothered to see it—I'm not sure why.

BBS Set is an apt comparison, though in this case it's not one big splurge, but the love is spread around a few titles.

I don't think "number of Blu-rays" is much of a relevant metric for how good a month is (May being an excellent example of why). This is one of the best monthly announcements in a long time, IMO.

[zedz]

And yet it still pales into insignificance alongside the other big forthcoming release news of the day. It's funny how these things work out!

[HistoryProf]

Damn, I shouldn't have changed my guess from The Killing at the last minute! Anyway, it's really amazing that it's being packaged with Killer's Kiss, too. I was wondering just earlier today when Criterion was going to get around to restoring that one. (I guess now they only have worry about restoring Fear and Desire to complete their early Kubrick collection.)

This month is solid and well worth this past sleepless night. (The artwork for Secret Sunshine sucks hard, though. Still, it's a good movie.)

you know that monthly predictions are not a contest, right? and waiting for the August titles announcement kept you up all night? Bill?

[HistoryProf]

I feel better about the six different times I picked up Battle for Algiers on blu at B&N last november and july and then put it back down, saying, "no, surely they'll take this one blu in the next year or so."

Same here. "If..." was also in my greedy paws quite a few times during the B&N sales. It pays to be conflicted and undecided.

I've deliberately put If.... and This Sporting Life down numerous times over the last year waiting for blu rays. they both seem slam dunks for upgrades....awesome news to get one of the two!

Truly an impressive month just in terms of quantity - while the quality is pretty phenomenal as well. The Eclipse set looks great - i LOVED the Oshima Outlaw Sixties set, and this looks fairly similar in scope and content. Anyone in the know able to compare the two?

[HistoryProf]

I'm simply amazed at how much product they are putting out in August.

if they can put out that much mainline stuff and a five disc eclipse, why do we have lean months on the mainline accompanied by no eclipse (says the guy who wants an eclipse release every month, or at least ten a year)?

because sometimes things take longer than they expect and other times things are ready to go so they go ahead and release them.

I'm perfectly happy with the 7-8 eclipse sets a year though....ten would be hard to keep up with!

[Jeff]

Seriously, where are the spine no. threads for the new titles?

Wanted to do it as soon as they were up, but Other Job (the paying one) beckoned. It's all up now.


No one is allowed to bitch and moan about the releases this month:

L'Atalante
Zero for Conduct
A propos de Nice
Killer's Kiss
The Killing
Secret Sunshine
Cul-de-Sac
Orpheus
The Battle of Algiers
If...
Intimidation
The Warped Ones
I Hate but Love
Black Sun
Thirst for Love

That's 15 films right there. Not to mention Taris, and all the feature length docs on Vigo, Algiers, and Orpheus. Criterion is transferring a shitload of film this month - most of it in high-def.

You can feel free to bitch about the paltry supplemental content on Secret Sunshine and Cul-de-Sac though.

[movielocke]

sometimes things take longer than they expect and other times things are ready to go so they go ahead and release them.

I'm perfectly happy with the 7-8 eclipse sets a year though....ten would be hard to keep up with!

Oh I know about pipeline issues for the mainline, but I sort of suspect that there are fewer issues holding up eclipse on the technical side of things. :-p

And I would be THRILLED if we regularly had 7-8 eclipse releases in a year, sadly we tend to get 5 or 6, only the second year we got 7 releases.

It would be cool if they were capable of saying, "damn, that big set won't make it for our target release, hmm, well let's push up an eclipse to fill out the month."

[Professor Wagstaff]

The 2011 releases have been very exciting so far, particularly June through August. It's funny to think that at the beginning of the year there were so many complaints and speculations that 2011 would be nothing but IFC titles and Region 1 reissues.

[kaujot]

And yet it still pales into insignificance alongside the other big forthcoming release news of the day. It's funny how these things work out!

I seem to have missed something.

[Peacock]

And yet it still pales into insignificance alongside the other big forthcoming release news of the day. It's funny how these things work out!

I seem to have missed something.

Just a little film

[Tom Hagen]

My enthusiasm is dampened by my lack of ability to speak and read French or German.

[zedz]

Understandable, but at least this thing that many of us thought we'd never see in our lifetime now actually exists, and it's a much more modest step for somebody to release it with subs. And I'd say it's safe to assume that a project on this scale had some international partners lined up before it commenced (and there's been pretty strong indication that one of those partners was Criterion).

[domino harvey]

Just getting the film preserved and out there in a non-degradable media format is an enormous, unbelievable, pinch me I'm dreaming achievement. Isn't there only one circulating print in existence? I've been scared as hell that something would happen to it and then poof, there it goes.

[Tom Hagen]

Head count: who here has actually seen it?

[swo17]

Not to brag, but I have watched it on a boat.

[zedz]

I will not watch it on a boat.
I will not watch it with a goat.
I cannot watch it on the go,
I cannot, Mister Swo-and-Swo!

I've had the ropey version that's been floating around for a while, but I've been saving myself either for a actual honest-to-God screening or a proper, properly subtitled, professional transfer. After all these years of expectation, you might as well do the film justice.

[HistoryProf]

is "Out 1" like a sequel to Capricorn 1 or something? never heard of it.

[knives]

You've been on this forum longer than myself and have never heard of Out 1! Time to turn in your card I think.

[movielocke]

the 1 stands for a 525,600 minute running time, right?

although this list doesn't have current years, this month looks to be one of the all time best months, up there with April of 2001.

so I think their pre-announcement claim that this is one of their best months ever is pretty accurate.

[Tommaso]

Head count: who here has actually seen it?

I have. And I don't want to be heretic (I'm terribly excited about this release, as you know) but I'd seriously advise to watch a few other Rivettes before "Out 1", should you be new to the director. The film is amazing, but also very demanding, and that has nothing to do with its length, but more with the way Rivette constructs - or does not construct - his narrative. Almost a little too free-floating for my taste. There are lots of similarities to later films, particularly "Celine et Julie" and "Le pont du Nord", which however are far more accessible. In this respect, I'm really curious about the "Spectre"-version to see where it's a bit more ...ehm...organised.

[cinemartin]

The Spectre version is even more radically constructed than the long version. I think the long version is, aside from its length, one of the more accessible Rivette films. There are a lot of characters and a lot of digressive scenes, but because of the length of the film you can excuse it. The brilliance of the film lies in its length coupled with Rivette's sort of free form non-construction. It's pretty amazing after watching a movie for 3 hours how your mind begins to grasp on to any narrative thread you see emerging, even if it's not really there. And when you suddenly look around at, at about 7 hours in, and you're knee deep in this intrigue and conspiracy that you can feel but not really see, that's what makes Out 1 so great for me. It's like an analogy that Barthes used in his Mythologies - you're looking out the window of a car watching the scenery go by. If you rack your focus you can see the window with its specs of dirt and maybe your reflection in it. I think that suits Out 1 pretty well.

[justeleblanc]

Head count: who here has actually seen it?

I saw SPECTRE in DC a few months before the complete OUT 1 in NY during the touring Rivette retrospective in 2007. I agree that anyone interested in this should watch other Rivette films first... namely CELINE AND JULIE and LA BELLE NOISEUSE.

OUT 1 is far more challenging in that it forces you to develop a viewing strategy where you can appreciate its meandering characters and absent plot for a sustained period of time. The first 100 minutes or so are spent building this viewing strategy, and it's a horribly frustrating experience. For the next 200 minutes or so you are sort of in a second wind, and you seem not to care that the film isn't going anywhere. The plot begins to take off at around 300 minutes, and this has an extraordinary effect given your patience and new viewing strategy. The rest of the film is rewarding and awesome, but it really takes effort to withstand the pace. His other films do this to a much smaller extent, and several of my friends really can't stand these prolonged plot structures.

[aox]

I am sure this is very ignorant, but is there any comparison with Out 1to the somewhat meandering, but wonderful, Satantango by Tarr?