Archived Criterion Streaming Discussion

[Harmonov]

Just saw on FB that new Hulu titles have been added. Here's what I think is the whole list:

Three Colors Trilogy
Week-End
The Devil and Daniel Webster
Brute Force
Opening Night
Leningrad Cowboys Set
Kaurismaki's Le Havre
Lea Pool's Emporte-moi
Carne's Les Visiteurs du Soir
La Bête Humaine
Taniguchi's Snow Trail
Fukuda's Golden Eyes
Shinoda's Himiko
Kumai's Sandakan No. 8
Ray's The Stranger
Yamanaka's Humanity and Paper Balloons
Grémillon's La ciel est a vous
Allegret's Plucking the Daisy
Inagaki's Muhomatsu, The Rickshaw Man
Costa-Gavras' The Confession
Bergman's From the Life of Marionettes

By Keisuke Kinoshita:
Phoenix
Father
Fireworks Over the Sea
Danger Stalks Near
The Girl I Loved
Farewell to Spring
Thus Another Day
Big Joys, Small Sorrows
Jubilation Street
The Eternal Rainbow
Children of Nagasaki

Quite a haul and I guess we should be expecting at least two Kinoshita Eclipse sets?

[mfunk9786]

Whoa! Guys, seriously, this service is worth every penny if you're on the fence about it. Go out and buy the $50 Roku LT and sign up for Hulu Plus now.

[zeroism]

Just saw on FB that new Hulu titles have been added.

There's one more:

Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees (Shinoda)

My jaw dropped when I saw Himiko on the list. An exceedingly rare film, as far as I know not ever released on home video.

Edit: There seems to have been a Japanese VHS release.

[Perkins Cobb]

Very conflicted about this. Not my favorite way to watch, but it'll be years before this stuff comes out on disc (if ever), and to be able to binge on a ton of rare titles for $8 is a tempting deal.

If anybody has notes on image quality (especially anything that's notably subpar), please post 'em.

[mfunk9786]

Image quality is equal to or better than DVD depending on the film and the reliability of your internet connection. I'm sure someone will come on here and make some statement about how HD streaming isn't as many lines of resolution as blah blah blah... but unless you're sitting very close to a gigantic TV or something, it isn't going to matter. In other words: I'm very impressed by the service.

[jwd5275]

Two interesting things I noticed when looking at who these new films were licensed from:

1 - Brute Force is listed as directly coming from Universal, so maybe we could see some more of Criterion's Universal titles here, even some not on Criterion dvd yet...

2 - Satyajit Ray's Stranger is listed as coming from Canal+, which I had assumed would have excluded it from Criterion due to StudioCanal's deal with Lionsgate

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

The ones I've seen all look great. Mfunk is correct that it's DVD quality PQ. I'd recommend that you subscribe because the amount of quality film-making collected in one place on the Criterion channel is priceless. It should keep you busy for a few months if you're worried about running out of movies.

[mfunk9786]

The ones that stream in HD and have brand new transfers are arguably even better than DVD quality, in my opinion. To point: I think a lot of the Eclipse films (Oshima set, for example) look even better streaming than they do on disc.

[Perkins Cobb]

The ones that stream in HD and have brand new transfers are arguably even better than DVD quality, in my opinion. To point: I think a lot of the Eclipse films (Oshima set, for example) look even better streaming than they do on disc.

Well, that's the kind of info I meant. Although I guess I can see for myself which ones have an SD master.

[Dona Santa]

Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees (Shinoda)

CANNOT wait to have this in physical form straight from the CC!

[movielocke]

The ones that stream in HD and have brand new transfers are arguably even better than DVD quality, in my opinion. To point: I think a lot of the Eclipse films (Oshima set, for example) look even better streaming than they do on disc.

Are 1.33:1 films windowboxed streaming, the way they are on disc?

[knives]

No, or at least not as far as I can tell.

[Minkin]

Yeah, it's like a year later, but I just watched it and unraveled part of the mystery. I was a Teenage Zombie has Saul and Jonathan Turell in the Thank You section of the credits.

As for Hulu - I tend to run across problems every now and then where the player will glitch - be it the "press ESC to return" warning won't disappear, it won't pause correctly and it loses your spot if you've had it paused for a certain period of time - without leaving the page/etc. I haven't had the opportunity to try it on my television (thanks to my player including almost everything but Hulu) - is it any more reliable?

[mfunk9786]

Yes, I've never had a problem through Roku or through my Xbox 360. No comment on any other player's Hulu app.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

I've not seen any of his work so I'll be certain to watch them all soon, but what are the best of those Keisuke Kinoshita films to see first?

[jwd5275]

I've not seen any of his work so I'll be certain to watch them all soon, but what are the best of those Keisuke Kinoshita films to see first?

Not sure, but I was actually suprised by what Kinoshita films were omitted. I would have exepected Carmen Comes Home (the first japanese color film) or Immortal Love... both having recent rep showings, or his version of Ballad or Narayama...

[Drucker]

I placed my subscription on hold as I've been busy, but in addition to the positive feedback other people have mentioned, the layout for Hulu plus is very appealing. It looks a million times nicer than Netflix, in my opinion, and is honestly fun and not infuriating to browse through.

[Bill Thompson]

I placed my subscription on hold as I've been busy, but in addition to the positive feedback other people have mentioned, the layout for Hulu plus is very appealing. It looks a million times nicer than Netflix, in my opinion, and is honestly fun and not infuriating to browse through.

Yikes, I absolutely loathe the Hulu+ layout. It's so cumbersome and hard to navigate.

[knives]

I've not seen any of his work so I'll be certain to watch them all soon, but what are the best of those Keisuke Kinoshita films to see first?

Of the ones I've seen Phoenix is probably the best. Short, amazingly edited, and pretty great. It's like the sort of movie that Mizoguchi is accused of making.

[Drucker]

Yikes, I absolutely loathe the Hulu+ layout. It's so cumbersome and hard to navigate.

In terms of navigatability, I don't think it's any worse than Netflix, and I find that it certainly runs faster (perhaps our set-ups just are different...) and has quicker loading times.

Beyond that, I just really like the way it looks, but to each their own!

[jwd5275]

Any one else notice that they put both Opening Night and The Devil and Daniel Webster up twice?

[knives]

Two different edits in the case of the later at least.

[jwd5275]

That's what I thought at first too, especially since that was an issue with that film, but only 17 seconds difference between the two cuts..??

[jwd5275]

Kinoshita's Army
Kinoshita's River Fuefuki
Toyoda's Shozo, a Cat and Two Women

are all up now.

[knives]

Where do you see Army?