2013 Criterion Forum Awards

[Minkin]

I'm finally able to post this, after a few things I was waiting for finally arrived/were gifts. Anyway:

BEST RELEASE
1. Safety Last!
2. The Man Who Knew Too Much
3. Pierre Etaix
4. 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman
5. To Be or Not to Be

BEST ECLIPSE
Kobayashi Against the System (Count me as "Give me Blu Eclipses or give me Death")

BEST BOXED SET Not including Eclipse
Zatoichi: the Blind Swordsman (the sort of thing boxsets were made for)

BEST MODERN FILM
Pina (the modern IFC titles this year were disappointing though)

BEST COMMENTARY
N/A

BEST ESSAY
The Uninvited – Lewis Allen

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Pinkus's Shoe Palace (came out of nowhere, but I love randomly included bonus films)

BEST (NON-COMMENTARY, NON-ESSAY, NON-BONUS FILM) SUPPLEMENT
Alternate Gaylord Carter score (Safety Last!)

BEST R1 RESCUE
The Man Who Knew Too Much - Criterion released the first non-PD bandit release!

BEST REISSUE
Autumn Sonata (Damn did Criterion ever improve the special features. Probably one of the best reissues in terms of added supplements)

BEST UPGRADE
Eyes Without a Face (this was one of the best years for Blu upgrades, except for one)

BEST DISCOVERY
Pierre Etaix

BEST COVER
Charulata

BEST PACKAGING
Zatoichi: the Blind Swordsman

SECOND-MOST DISAPPOINTING RELEASE
Oh dear, there's quite a lot to choose from but I'll go with:

Fassbinder Eclipse - For licensing films and then releasing something worse than Wellspring or Arrow did like 5 years ago.

Also rans:
Jubal - same lackluster features (Criterion, you should include more than just a booklet with any release) + this film is only single layered.. ugh
3:10 to Yuma (for being overpriced and totally pathetic with special features - don't try this again Criterion)
Tin Drum - For dropping almost all of the supplements from the previous edition - forcing me to buy that one as well. People should just get the Arrow set instead.

BEST THREAD
Twilight Time thread..... jk.
Probably the Animation list project (that or my own tv on blu-ray tracking thread )

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Moe Dickstein (sorry Ian)

RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD
InterFilmArt

----------------------------------------
Best of the year
Getting everything that I hoped for last year (Lloyd!!, Demy/Tati -still to come, Warner Bros)
Discovery of MeTV (Svengoolie, etc)
Dual format decision (saves me a lot of money)
I got a ton of amazing bargains this year- Twilight Zone blu, Lawrence of Arabia, Network sale, etc
Arrow Video sales (plus the new website's rewards system)
This was the most difficult top 5 Best Release awards to ever assemble. This really was one of Criterion's best years in a while.


Worst of the year
Dear Criterion, please do not remove special features on a reissued/upgraded title
Shout getting Herzog (at least the BFI also got them).
Criterion dropping the ball on special features vs pricing. Less than an hour of content should not cost the same as Lonesome (the gold standard of value)
I honestly think MoC took a huge downgrade in quality this year - and it was easily their worst year. Please bring back Nick
All the fucking overlap between companies.
Continuance of Eclipse series unchanged (ugh, Fassbinder Eclipse)
Companies deciding to go "limited edition" AKA price gouge everybody.
Barnes and Noble's Criterion sales
2013 was mostly a flop outside of Criterion/Arrow. All of the exciting stuff I picked up this year came out in 2012!
Whoever thought it was a good idea to pull a Children of Paradise again with the horrible Earrings transfer. They should be fired immediately.
Quite a few things I had hoped would go to Criterion were passed on/went elsewhere

Hopes for 2014:
Juzo Itami (Tampopo, The Funeral), the Jacques Cousteau films, La Dolce Vita, Flaherty, and some Avant-Garde set

Best non-Criterion label/releases
Arrow Video wins this hands down. Whereas most labels went seriously downhill in 2013, Arrow is hitting success after success.
I should also give a huge round of applause to Network, for being absolutely brilliant with their Tv on Bluray releases (although they didn't release any in 2013).

Wicker Man Final Cut (love the included soundtrack, though I'm not sure who would buy sheetmusic as advertised on an included insert)
Black Sunday (plus all of Arrow's Bava titles)
Fall of the House of Usher
Foxy Brown
Spider Baby
Nosferatu blu (MoC)
House on Straw Hill (mostly just for the fucking VHS that I got when I ordered it from Severin's website)
Gorgo (VCI)
Hands of the Ripper (Synapse)
The Lost Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis
New Zealand archive Treasures
Dracula prince of darkness blu
MST3K 25th Anniversary set

-------edit
Sorry Domino. The only thing that changed was the "2nd most disappointing release" - nothing else has been or will be changed.

[James43]

BEST RELEASE
1. Investigation of a citizen above suspicion
2. 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini starring Ingrid Bergman
3. Marketa Lazarova
4. Pierre Etaix
5. The Big City

BEST ECLIPSE
no vote

BEST BOXED SET
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project 1

BEST MODERN FILM
Frances Ha (for Greta Gerwig)

BEST COMMENTARY
David Kalat – Things To Come
honorable mention: Philip Kemp – The man who knew too much

BEST ESSAY
Guy Maddin – I married a witch

BEST "BONUS" FILM
The Coward

BEST (NON-COMMENTARY, NON-ESSAY, NON-BONUS FILM) SUPPLEMENT
The making of Autumn Sonata

BEST R1 RESCUE
Many rescues in 2013, but I’ll go for SECONDS

BEST REISSUE
Autumn Sonata

BEST UPGRADE
Eyes without a face

BEST (RE-)DISCOVERY
Chronique d’un été

BEST COVER
The man who knew too much

BEST PACKAGING
Repo Man

SECOND-MOST DISAPPOINTING RELEASE
Tokyo Story – video transfer lacks depth and sharpness in my opinion


BEST THREAD
Heat (1995)

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Mr Sausage

RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD
no vote

[vsski]

BEST RELEASE

• 1. A Man Escaped
  2. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
  3. Pina
  4. The Kid With a Bike
  5. Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project #1

BEST ECLIPSE
Kobayashi Against the System

BEST BOXED SET
3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman

BEST MODERN FILM
Pina

BEST COMMENTARY
David Kalat on "Things to Come" for bringing to life what is otherwise for me a very mediocre film

BEST ESSAY
Babette’s Feast – Isak Dinesen - I loved to be able to compare the movie with the original story

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 p.m.

BEST (NON-COMMENTARY, NON-ESSAY, NON-BONUS FILM) SUPPLEMENT
The Making of "Autumn Sonata"

BEST R1 RESCUE
Seconds

BEST REISSUE
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

BEST UPGRADE
Wild Strawberries

BEST DISCOVERY
Pierre Etaix

BEST COVER
Nashville

BEST PACKAGING
City Lights - for me I will never vote for anything that has slots and nothing that is a digipack (have yet to receive one that isn't dinged at least slightly when shipped) - here is to hoping that CC will discover the 3 or more disc plastic cases for their future dual releases that are widely in use elsewhere

SECOND-MOST DISAPPOINTING RELEASE
Early Fassbinder - what was the point of this, reissuing films that were widely available for a long time in R1 in versions that are only marginally better than before, and that can be debated - for me an utter waste of resources, especially since the transfers are good enough for a BD upgrade

BEST THREAD
Twilight Time / TT and Olive Business Models - interesting and amusing to read, as I have never seen so much anger vented against a company for selling overpriced products of movies which frankly most folks apparently weren't even that interested to begin with

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
cdnchris - for actually looking thoroughly at a disc before writing a review unlike so many other sites and taking Criterion and Gaumont to task over the "Madame de.." atrocity and being one reason that Gaumont is now redoing the transfer and hopefully doing that amazing film justice - a big thank you!!!

RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD
InterFilmArt - now here is some so called company that truly deserves all the anger one can bestow upon them

Favorite non-Criterion blu rays:
Mizoguchi box (MoC)
Arrow's Mario Bava releases
Arrow's "Time Bandits"
Cinema Guild's "Leviathan"
Cohen Collection's "The Damned"

Edited based on Domino's feedback that split votes aren't counted!

[TMDaines]

BEST RELEASE:
1) 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman
2) Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto
3) Marketa Lazarová
4) The Man Who Knew Too Much
5) To Be or Not to Be

BEST BOXED SET: 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman

BEST "BONUS" FILM: Schuhpalast Pinkus as all Lubitsch features should come with some of these bonus shorts.

BEST (NON-COMMENTARY, NON-ESSAY, NON-BONUS FILM) SUPPLEMENT: Interview with Elena Dagrada on the differences between the cuts of Europa '51 was pretty exhaustive and enlightening. However, it is years old and comes from the old Italian DVD.

BEST UPGRADE: Bande à part for saving us from the French release.

BEST DISCOVERY: Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto just takes it for the fact that there was already an English-friendly Blu-ray release of Marketa Lazarová.

BEST COVER: Charulata stands out, but not a vintage year for cover art.

BEST PACKAGING: Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto looks pretty awesome in your hands, but I'd much prefer keep cases. Getting Criterions overseas in the condition they should be in is going to be a chore now.

SECOND-MOST DISAPPOINTING RELEASE: Fassbinder Eclipse - why bother? A waste of man-hours and the Arrow set is a far more sensible purchase.

BEST THREAD: The various TT threads are of interest as to how the consensus on them has noticeably swung.

---

LABEL OF THE YEAR: Arrow, and it's not even close. What a stunning turnaround from infuriating inconsistency. I thought the BFI were shaping up to have a sterling year early doors but many of their most exciting announcements have quietly been dropped or abandoned.

FIVE NON-CRITERION, MOC, BFI, SECOND RUN AND ARROW HIGHLIGHTS

1) A really slow year for Edition Filmmuseum but their releases are still of paramount significance. They've done wonders to make the works of one auteur in Kluge available, and now they're work on Werner Schroeter (Der Bomberpilot & Nel Regno di Napoli) is proving invaluable. Let's hope 2014 proves to contain a lot more of the same.
2) While Warner and other majors insultingly are releasing more of their back catalogue on DVD-R, Cristaldi Film in Italy are trawling their archives and have released dozens of their catalogue on DVD for the very first time worldwide. Of particular mention is the neorealist classic Due lettere anonime.
3) Universum's worldwide first releases of the German silents Im Kampf mit dem Berge and Richard Wagner. Just a shame that these aren't Blu-rays, as we have the awkward situation where the HDTV rips floating about online are preferable. Surely, there has to be a label out there who can take advantage of the HDTV restorations that Arte TV premieres. There's a handful of stunning restos just begging for Blu-rays.
4) Despite the occasional screw-up, Gaumont are still proving to be one of the best Blu-ray labels out there. They've blown Criterion's release of Antonioni's Identificazione di una donna out of the water by including some real extras and working on the colour, and they've rescued Visconti's Gruppo di famiglia in un interno from Raro US' DNR'd abomination. English subtitles on both!
5) DMMS in Poland have started a new series of restored DVDs and Blu-rays of Polish masterpieces, all of which have English subtitles. So far we've had three Wajda films and two Has. Hopefully 2014 will prove just as fruitful with four more titles in the pipeline.

[aox]

BEST RELEASE
Tokyo Story
3:10 to Yuma
La Notte
City Lights
A Man Escaped

BEST ECLIPSE Flip a coin
Kobayashi Against the System

BEST BOXED SET Not including Eclipse
3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman

BEST MODERN FILM
Frances Ha

BEST COMMENTARY
City Lights – Jeffrey Vance

BEST ESSAY
A Man Escaped – Tony Pipolo

BEST "BONUS" FILM
His Royal Slyness

BEST (NON-COMMENTARY, NON-ESSAY, NON-BONUS FILM) SUPPLEMENT
Documentary on Chishu Ryu at Shochiku’s Ofuna studios

BEST R1 RESCUE For a film already released in R1 by a label other than Criterion
3:10 to Yuma

BEST REISSUE
217 Tokyo Story

BEST UPGRADE
Wild Strawberries

BEST DISCOVERY
Shoah

BEST COVER
The Big City

[HerrSchreck]

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
David Hare and cdnchris - for actually looking thoroughly at a disc before writing a review unlike so many other sites and taking Criterion and Gaumont to task over the "Madame de.." atrocity and being one reason that Gaumont is now redoing the transfer and hopefully doing that amazing film justice - a big thank you to both of you!!!

This should probably be redone for a straight vote for Chris (unless Chris already won before too) as bro David has already won . . . can't vote for previous winners apparently, so guys like swo, Domino, me, zedz, and David are no go. We all have worn/stained the rhinestone tiara and ruined the platinum cock ring.

[swo17]

Michael Kerpan has also already won.

MEMBER OF THE YEAR The past winners of this award are, in order: David Hare, HerrSchreck, zedz, domino harvey, Cold Bishop, Michael Kerpan, swo17, MichaelB. These members are humbled and honored to have been selected already, and while they would never tell you not to vote for them again, feel free to spread the wealth to other deserving candidates this year

[Matt]

Just for reference, previous Members of the Year listed by year:

2012: Michael B
2011: swo17
2010: 3-way tie between Cold Bishop, Michael Kerpan, and swo17 (there really should have been a run-off vote)
2009: domino harvey (award declined)
2008: zedz
2007: HerrSchreck
2006: David Hare
2005: Not awarded
2004: Jun Dai

[domino harvey]

You can vote for anyone you want, including past winners, it is just not encouraged (and most if not all past members are among the ones suggesting we don't need to get awarded again). Votes that split between members (or two or more titles in other categories) will not be counted, however

I haven't begun tallying anything so you can still edit your ballots/posts. I will announce in this thread when you need to PM me for edits

[rossen]

Selected only from the titles I've bought/watched:

BEST RELEASE
1 Marketa Lazarova
2 A Man Escaped
3 Chronicle of a Summer
4 Shoah
5 Medium Cool

BEST ECLIPSE Masaki Kobayashi against the system

BEST BOXED SET 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini starrring Ingrid Bergman

BEST MODERN FILM The Kid With a Bike

BEST COMMENTARY David Kalat on Things To Come

BEST BONUS FILM Kapurush/The Coward on The Big City Blu Ray

BEST NON-ESSAY NON COMMENTARY NON BONUS FILM SUPPLEMENT - Functions of Film Sound on A Man Escaped

BEST R1 RESCUE A Man Escaped

BEST REISSUE Autumn Sonata

BEST UPGRADE Cassavetes Box Set

BEST DISCOVERY Pierre Etaix

BEST COVER The Uninvited

BEST PACKAGING Zatoichi

SECOND-MOST DISAPPOINTING RELEASE Fassbinder Eclipse, pointless, the films are fine, Beware of a Holy Whore deserves a stand alone release

BEST THREAD - Twilight Time/Olive Films - very educational

RICHARD CRANIUM - InterFilmFartWhatever

MEMBER OF THE YEAR - Mr Sausage

[Perkins Cobb]

Can I vote just for the Richard Cranium Award or is that considered bad form?

[Moe Dickstein]

Please do, I'm running way behind Nazis in the vote.

[swo17]

Don't vote for him--he wants it too much!

[Moe Dickstein]

Or am I just ensuring that I lose? Who can say what my crazy motives are.

[Mr Sausage]

Or am I just ensuring that I lose? Who can say what my crazy motives are.

Serious question: do you enjoy needling people?

[Moe Dickstein]

Not really, but I sort of feel lacking for options when it's constantly coming my way for giving voice to less popular opinions.

[domino harvey]

You are not getting attacked for having "less popular opinions." You are getting attacked because you border on self-parody with your obsessive fawning over a handful of specific titles and now that you've taken on the gleeful martyr role, it's all a bit much.

[Michael Kerpan]

It's not just that your opinions are "less popular", some are just plain goofy.

[zedz]

Moe's opinions are actually more popular, it's just that they're more popular everywhere else but here. It's like someone constantly extolling how tasty a Big Mac is on a gourmet forum. Harmless gimmick poster maybe, but I know he has more to offer if he'd stop playing to an audience that isn't actually here.

[Moe Dickstein]

How might I better comport myself Domino? I figured trying to take things good naturedly in stride was one way but perhaps not.

[Mr Sausage]

Not really, but I sort of feel lacking for options when it's constantly coming my way for giving voice to less popular opinions.

It's the way you keep coming back to the same issues or inserting them into various conversations that makes me ask it, because you seem to be actively rehashing things you know are just going to rub others the wrong way.

[Moe Dickstein]

Well if anything the intent is to have a conversation or express an opinion that was spurred on by what I had read previously in a thread. No intent to rub.

[FrauBlucher]

Moe. Don't stop doing your thing. So what you rankle some folks. I look at it as good natured ribbing on both sides. This stuff shouldn't be taken so seriously. Besides it's probably giving the folks at the CC offices a good laugh.

[Mr Sausage]

Well if anything the intent is to have a conversation or express an opinion that was spurred on by what I had read previously in a thread. No intent to rub.

You really ought to have figured out by now what's going to start a conversation and what is just going to irritate the people here. I'm glad you seem to take everything with patience and good cheer, but surely you have to be aware that a post like this is going to irritate the people here and start an argument rather than a discussion. Can you please think about how this or that post is going to be received and ask yourself whether people need to be reminded, again, of your taste for a certain movie?

Just a thought. Because I'm getting a bit tired of this happening every few weeks.

[Moe Dickstein]

Sure - But that post was part of a whole group of posts advocating one or another "type" of film, be it more Japanese, more Italian, etc. I fail to see how that post is out of line in that situation? If the idea is that now that everyone knows where I stand, I should stand there silently, well then ok.