Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 6

[domino harvey]

I'm commenting on upgrading my Fassbinder collection, not really concerned over the amount of upgrades. Sorry for my excitement?

Apology accepted

Oh you.

[mteller]

Anyone seen Sundays and Cybele? It sounds promising.

Yep, it's really good.

[manicsounds]

Yet another month without an Eclipse set... Is the line dead?

[flyonthewall2983]

Eraserhead: http://www.criterion.com/films/28382-eraserhead" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Macbeth: http://www.criterion.com/films/28020-macbeth" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BOOM!

I don't think we'll see them on TNT anytime soon.

[criterion10]

A light month no doubt, though I am happy to finally see the announcement of Eraserhead, even if the package is less than anticipated. I watched Polanski's Macbeth after we read the play in school a few years ago and enjoyed it, though it didn't exactly knock me over. I'll have to consider whether or not a purchase is necessary for that one.

I have not yet seen the other films, but I'm hoping to check them all out soon, the Fassbinder especially. I've actually owned the BFI Blu-Ray of The Innocents for a while now, so I'll probably give that a watch before deciding whether or not to pick up the Criterion.

Looking ahead to next month, my guess is that we'll see the announcements of The Brood and The Vanishing in honor of Halloween, and that Midnight Cowboy will end up being one of November's big titles.

[R0lf]

Is BOOM! forthcoming?

Amazing.

[bamwc2]

Anyone seen Sundays and Cybele? It sounds promising.

Yep, it's really good.

I'll second that! I was only one of two people who voted for it in the most recent 60s project. Last time I looked (probably over two years ago), it was up on Youtube in its entirety.

[bamwc2]

Another month without a right guess, but I very nearly did put down Ali: Fear Eats Soul. Oh well.

[Minkin]

Janus also has the rights to the "Dumbland" shorts, so I imagine that there's another Lynch film up their sleeves (perhaps the rumored Mulholland Drive).

Great month with some heavy hitters. Looks like Criterion managed to make a package for The Innocents that will require fans to double-dip. Appears Macbeth will have another of Criterion's new feature-length documentaries that they've started doing this year (made up of interviews mostly) - should be excellent. Plus who knows how many/how long the interviews will be on Eraserhead. Will be great to rewatch Eraserhead -my first and only time seeing it was with my Chinese friend, who sat through it patiently; and after the film ended, he just said "What The Fuck?" and walked away. Good times.

[Roger Ryan]

Janus also has the rights to the "Dumbland" shorts, so I imagine that there's another Lynch film up their sleeves (perhaps the rumored Mulholland Drive)...

The first five short films included on the ERASERHEAD release are logical given they all preceded the making of the feature whereas "Premonitions..." comes twenty years after Lynch's first feature film. It seems that it might have made more sense to hold onto to that one for a possible MULHOLLAND DRIVE release, but I'm happy to have it sooner than later.

[swo17]

Cowboy and the Frenchman also seems like it would be a better fit for Mulholland Drive, thematically anyway.

[captveg]

Eraserhead: http://www.criterion.com/films/28382-eraserhead" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Macbeth: http://www.criterion.com/films/28020-macbeth" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BOOM!

I don't think we'll see them on TNT anytime soon.

Apologies for expressing excitement at release news after a long day of anticipation. I'll be sure to ask your permission to express any emotion in the future, good sir.

EDIT: As pointed out, I was likely reading into this a bit (er, a lot) too much. Apologies. And moving on...

[domino harvey]

BOOM!

I don't think we'll see them on TNT anytime soon.

Apologies for expressing excitement at release news after a long day of anticipation. I'll be sure to ask your permission to express any emotion in the future, good sir.

Calm yourself, he was referring to TNT's new slogan:

[captveg]

Obviously. But if I had posted "YES" would he have made a reference to watching a Yankees ball game? These are the deeper questions one must ask...

[domino harvey]

Not to give you the long distance runaround but you're close to the edge. I've seen all good people spend time and a word on roundabout bickering, and you and I know that the owner of a lonely heart can quickly find themselves approaching the gates of delirium!

[criterion10]

Cowboy and the Frenchman also seems like it would be a better fit for Mulholland Drive, thematically anyway.

I remember reading somewhere a while back that the rights for Cowboy and the Frenchman are with a different company than before (hence, the short wasn't even included on the Japanese Blu-Ray of Eraserhead).

[flyonthewall2983]

Not to give you the long distance runaround but you're close to the edge. I've seen all good people spend time and a word on roundabout bickering, and you and I know that the owner of a lonely heart can quickly find themselves approaching the gates of delirium!

You referencing "Gates" might be the most shocking thing I've read here.

[Rustle]

No potential CC releases are more interesting to me than further installments of the Czech New Wave project. Zoltan's /Szinbad/ (Second Run edition), /Marketa Lazarova/, and /Daisies/ are among the most rewarding things I've ever watched. Sadly, the Pearls of the Czech New Wave thread has had no traffic for a year and a half except for a few comments that Chytilova had died. I do hope that project is not dead also.

[Zot!]

No potential CC releases are more interesting to me than further installments of the Czech New Wave project. Zoltan's /Szinbad/ (Second Run edition), /Marketa Lazarova/, and /Daisies/ are among the most rewarding things I've ever watched. Sadly, the Pearls of the Czech New Wave thread has had no traffic for a year and a half except for a few comments that Chytilova had died. I do hope that project is not dead also.

Zoltán Huszárik is firmly Hungarian.

[Cinephrenic]

Criterion clearly has access to some other Czech films (on Hulu), so I wouldn't call it dead. However, the lack of Eclipse is worrysome. Perhaps they don't sell well?

[ianungstad]

I think one of the biggest mistakes Criterion ever made was bailing on Eclipse as a line of cult and genre films. Instead they've more or less used the line as catalog dumping. Many of the Eclipse sets are worthwhile and have great films but let's be honest; they are titles that Criterion felt were unmarketable or else came as part of licensing packages. With the move to streaming media; the physical market for unrestored and obscure art films is pretty much kaput. I am not a US citizen so I don't have access to Hulu but from what I gather; the Hulu transfers are of the same quality of the Eclipse sets and those that have better transfers are found on their eventual mainline releases.

I still think they should do that cult line. The market is perfect for such an enterprise and while there is competition from labels like Shout! they tend to have a narrow focus and almost always exclude foreign films besides the giallos.

The lack of solicitations of Eclipse releases pretty much indicates that whatever commercial hopes they had simply didn't materialize. What I would like to see Criterion do is actually reach out to their contributors and see who would be willing to contribute video essays free of charge or other low cost supplements and attach them to their Hulu streams; which I think would further attract people to discovering lost classics on hulu. Increased Hulu traffic would probably mean more money when their exclusive agreement comes up for renewal. Creating online supplements is probably cheaper than pressing physical discs and might set a precedent for supplemental content in a primarily streaming-based world in the future.

A cult line would also fill a void in an arena with plenty of licensing opportunities.

[Rustle]

No potential CC releases are more interesting to me than further installments of the Czech New Wave project. Zoltan's /Szinbad/ (Second Run edition), /Marketa Lazarova/, and /Daisies/ are among the most rewarding things I've ever watched. Sadly, the Pearls of the Czech New Wave thread has had no traffic for a year and a half except for a few comments that Chytilova had died. I do hope that project is not dead also.

Zoltán Huszárik is firmly Hungarian.

Indeed. I was ingnoramufied by my personal grouping of such films as Pearls of Beauty from the World of Freezing Mud and Hard Drink.

[Rustle]

With the move to streaming media; the physical market for unrestored and obscure art films is pretty much kaput.

There is a horrifying statistic about the quantity of data (as a summary term for transcriptions, artistic content, author's intent, etc.) that is lost with every shift in technology. Modern libraries may never recover from the microfiche fiasco of the 80s in which tons of original documents were trashed as they were transferred to this swell (blurry) new (dead) permanent (gone) medium of the future. The entire world erroneously believes it has access to a treasure trove of rare manuscripts digitally reproduced online, unaware that the real gems of insight are found in the notes jotted in the margins of the originals by centuries of other scholars. The Residents invested everything in becoming The Kings of MultiMedia and managed to sell a handful of copies of /Freak Show/ and /Bad Day on the Midway/ a month before the internets made software-based computer interaction a joke.

Put titles on hard reliable media so that they can be properly viewed, kept and enjoyed, and also stream them on Hulu or whatever as an alternative to playing Bejeweled, if that brings in some bucks to help finance the pressings.

[Yaanu]

Criterion clearly has access to some other Czech films (on Hulu), so I wouldn't call it dead. However, the lack of Eclipse is worrysome. Perhaps they don't sell well?

I think it's because Criterion has been busy with larger box sets that they don't have the time to properly produce Eclipse sets.

[jindianajonz]

Criterion clearly has access to some other Czech films (on Hulu), so I wouldn't call it dead. However, the lack of Eclipse is worrysome. Perhaps they don't sell well?

I think it's because Criterion has been busy with larger box sets that they don't have the time to properly produce Eclipse sets.

Towards the end of last year that was certainly true, but I feel like their box set output has gone down quite a bit since the beginning of the new year. We've seen releases through September, and in 9 months there's only been the Demy. I was one of those that clung to hope last Christmas that maybe the glut of boxes had pushed Eclipse aside, but the 2014 release schedule is starting to convince me that the line is just dead.