Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 4

[Jeff]

The announcements themselves may be a bit anticlimactic now since we likely know all the new titles already:

The Gold Rush
Being John Malkovich
Summer with Monika
Certified Copy
Eclipse: "Up All Night with Robert Downey Sr."

At most, there might be one additional surprise new title and an exciting upgrade. So far, every month in 2012 has included one of the new "Essential Arthouse" style budget releases (The Moment of Truth in January, Three Outlaw Samurai in February, Letter Never Sent in March, The Organizer in April), so maybe that's a new monthly thing and we'll get one of those.

This is the most satisfying lineup for me in quite some time. And even though we may know the titles, I can't wait for confirmation of the original version of The Gold Rush and anxiously await what I suspect will be some creative Malkovich supplements.

[tarpilot]

If they can top "There is Nothing Here", I'll be happy

[jwd5275]

The announcements themselves may be a bit anticlimactic now since we likely know all the new titles already:

The Gold Rush
Being John Malkovich
Summer with Monika
Certified Copy
Eclipse: "Up All Night with Robert Downey Sr."

At most, there might be one additional surprise new title and an exciting upgrade. So far, every month in 2012 has included one of the new "Essential Arthouse" style budget releases (The Moment of Truth in January, Three Outlaw Samurai in February, Letter Never Sent in March, The Organizer in April), so maybe that's a new monthly thing and we'll get one of those.

The 'Essential Arthouse' style release will be Lumiere d'ete and the blu upgrade will be Children of Paradise...

[aox]

Have they not made the announcements yet? Is this the latest they have held out? Sorry, I have been in meetings all day.

[swo17]

Announcements were postponed until tomorrow while they sort out the Valentine's Day sale mess.

[aox]

Announcements were postponed until tomorrow while they sort out the Valentine's Day sale mess.

Makes sense. Thanks for the update. I am sure it was mentioned before... just one of those days where I really didn't have time to sort through the thread. Thanks again.

[captveg]

So far, every month in 2012 has included one of the new "Essential Arthouse" style budget releases (The Moment of Truth in January, Three Outlaw Samurai in February, Letter Never Sent in March, The Organizer in April), so maybe that's a new monthly thing and we'll get one of those.

Not that it would be coming with this month's announcements, but the eventual Madadayo release fits that slot perfectly.

[What A Disgrace]

The barebones Blu-ray releases are quite a nice little treat, considering these films would otherwise have wound up in the Eclipse series. Three Outlaw Samurai and The Organizer are things I'd have never expected to see in HD, and Letter Never Sent...I never expected to see, period.

[Askew]

I wouldn't be that surprised if Summer with Monika ends up being this month's bare-bones release.

[knives]

Yeah, I can't imagine beyond the going through the motions type stuff there's much to give to Bergman now.

[Arthur House]

Well, they could include Monika, the Story of A Bad Girl, Kroger Babb's shorter, sexier dubbed re-edit with a Les Baxter score, which is supposedly the most seen version of a Bergman film. But I imagine they won't.

[Matt]

I think it'd be a real shame if they didn't include it. That version of the film almost single-handedly invented the winking definition of "art film" in the US. It's also an interesting footnote in the history of Janus Films, who were planning to release the original cut but shelved it for several years once Babb's version came out.

[Tom Hagen]

Yeah, I can't imagine beyond the going through the motions type stuff there's much to give to Bergman now.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Cowie commentary or essay.

[swo17]

Criterion Cast leak

[knives]

Why the hell does Malkovich have a Gondry commentary? Admittedly it's not completely out of left field, but might as well put Nic Cage on the track too.

[SpiderBaby]

Putney Swope is an Eclipse release when there is already a release with commentary?

[The Narrator Returns]

They said they'd release The Gold Rush. WHY DID THEY LIE TO US?

Why the hell does Malkovich have a Gondry commentary? Admittedly it's not completely out of left field, but might as well put Nic Cage on the track too.

It'll make sense when they get Spike Jonze to do the Eternal Sunshine commentary.

[Finch]

Disappointing month IMO: Summer with Monika is the only title I fancy getting. Ah well, at least there's the Lost Souls steelbook and Ruggles from MoC.

[knives]

To be fair La Haine is a pleasant surprise. I wish there was more to the Downey set though, but beggers can't be choosers.

[Finch]

I did like the Kiarostami but just not enough to want to own it though a second viewing might change that.

[knives]

Whoever said all the praise we were giving Criterion today would be murdered at announcement time gets a quarter I guess. Really the biggest problem with this month is that they went the most boring route they could with these releases.

[HistoryProf]

They said they'd release The Gold Rush. WHY DID THEY LIE TO US?

Weird response on FB:

Great month, even if you outright lied to that one guy asking about Chaplin.

It wasn't a lie at the time...

How could they have it slated to be announced today as of yesterday, but then not announce it? wtf?

[Brian C]

How could they have it slated to be announced today as of yesterday, but then not announce it? wtf?

I dunno, but I think it's likely that whatever the holdup is, they're as frustrated as we are about it. Hopefully it's just short-term wackiness and not something that will be an ongoing problem.

[Flike]

Weird response on FB:

Great month, even if you outright lied to that one guy asking about Chaplin.

It wasn't a lie at the time...

How could they have it slated to be announced today as of yesterday, but then not announce it?

Yeah, strange... the thing I was really looking forward to. Chaplin and Kurosawa Blus have slowed to or remained at a crawl. Piffle.

[Shrew]

1) The sale obviously sent the office down the wrong end of the widening gyre. Finalization on Gold Rush's cover or extras or some other sticking point may have hit a snag during that mess.
2) Criterion's not monolithic, and the staffer who posted that message may not have been aware of changes on the higher level.
3) I imagine they have a collection of titles that are ready or at least mostly ready to go every month. They may have decided that this month is already packed as is, or realized that the next month may be lacking.

Let's take the optimistic route and hope that something new came up to make the whole thing better.