Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 6

[Calvin]

Reliance MediaWorks are restoring "1000 classics and cult hits" for home video, including Bicycle Thieves, Notorious, The Third Man, Andy Warhol’s Dracula and Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein. I presume they're carrying out the work on behalf of others rather than releasing them themselves so Criterion is surely one of their clients.

[ianungstad]

Took a quick look at their website. You are correct that they do restoration work for various clients including Fox; MGM; Paramount. The website actually uses a still from For All Mankind on their film restoration page. The fact they recently worked on Blood for Dracula and Flesh For Frankenstein is fairly good evidence that Criterion picked up the Paul Morrissey catalog from Westchester.

[FrauBlucher]

When titles are announced I always head over to HTF to see the reception and to have myself a good laugh at the cinema challenged Neanderthals (can I say that?). A guy that only collects Academy nominated films was beside himself because two nominated films were announced. Another guy never heard of Les Blanks but loves documentaries so it'll be a blind buy. And of course the thread couldn't even get beyond one page.
Then I saw a thread titled Does Anyone Else Hate American Hustle? So I skimmed through and as I suspected, very little substance being written, good or bad. The best is the guy that runs that site. "It's a movie filled with odd characters BUT that's what I really liked about it."
It's good to see how the people on the other side of the tracks live.

[Grisbi]

Another guy never heard of Les Blanks but loves documentaries so it'll be a blind buy.

Not sure why this is particularly worthy of condescension. Isn't the idea of someone who loves docs and has never heard of Blank being exposed to him for the first time via this set kind of a major reason for Criterion's existence?

[FrauBlucher]

Another guy never heard of Les Blanks but loves documentaries so it'll be a blind buy.

Not sure why this is particularly worthy of condescension. Isn't the idea of someone who loves docs and has never heard of Blank being exposed to him for the first time via this set kind of a major reason for Criterion's existence?

This wasn't meant as a knock as the others were, but just a taste of what folks wrote about. Clearly the Academy Awards nomination guy deserves condescension. I should've separated the examples with a clarifier.

[criterion10]

Definitely a light November and certainly a step down from last month. L'Avventura is the most exciting release of the month (even though it is an upgrade!). It will also be nice to retire my Sony DVD of It Happened One Night. I'll need to see the other films first before deciding whether or not to purchase them, though the Hellman westerns are the only ones that immediately stick out to me.

As always, this leaves a number of titles unannounced (i.e. The Brood, Midnight Cowboy, Mulholland Dr., Time Bandits), many of which were hinted at for a release this year, and I can't see Criterion announcing all of them for December.

[FrauBlucher]

There are always a few that get hinted and then don't show up for quite a while. Midnight Cowboy is starting to look like one of those titles.

[domino harvey]

Someone here said the delay with Tootsie and Midnight Cowboy was to get Hoffman to record some supplements. Criterion (wisely) didn't want to overshadow one huge profile Hoffman film with another-- I'm sure we'll see it sooner rather than later

[chrisandy]

Hate to be that guy but what about Midnight Cowboy? That clue was a while ago and haven't seen anything from it. Unless the sick mouse was meant for something else.

Probably pushed back; along with Tootise to allow the participation of Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman is recovering from cancer.

No Hoffman participation for Tootsie release.....

[swo17]

There's a new interview with him at least.

[domino harvey]

According to Wikipedia,

Hoffman is a lifelong fan of Archie Comics and owns every single issue ever printed

Which I sincerely hope is true even though their source-link is dead

[colinr0380]

I'm particularly excited by the Olivier Assayas select scene commentary included on the L'Avventura reissue! And the Bill Krohn and Blake Lucas commentaries with Hellman on his films. Both Krohn and Lucas were very enthusiastic about Hellman's work right at the beginning of the a_film_by auteurist group. For anyone interested, it is probably worth searching through that group's archive for some of their comments and conversations on Hellman's films.

[EddieLarkin]

Reliance MediaWorks are restoring "1000 classics and cult hits" for home video, including Bicycle Thieves, Notorious, The Third Man, Andy Warhol’s Dracula and Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein. I presume they're carrying out the work on behalf of others rather than releasing them themselves so Criterion is surely one of their clients.

Most of the titles are being up-converted from existing standard definition masters to high definition, not remastered from the original negatives. In many cases, the original film elements are not available, though RMW believes they will still achieve a quality result. RMW will also restore the audio of many of the titles.

RMW will use the award-winning Lowry Process, developed by John D. Lowry for film restoration. The key to the Lowry Process is temporal noise reduction, which allows for the removal of noise and other artifacts from film without sacrificing detail or quality. The proprietary software tracks images pixel-by-pixel and across multiple frames to create the most perfect picture possible.

Meh.

[Sandman]

I'm thrilled that L'avventura is finally coming on Blu, a 4k to boot. Unlike others, I'm well satisfied with the cover art. With this along with the Tati set and La Dolce Vita, this fall's releases are more than I could have hope for. I hope I Know Where I'm Going will get an upgrade in the near future.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I'm thrilled that L'avventura is finally coming on Blu, a 4k to boot.

Does the 4k really make a difference when the final image is 1080p? It makes sense for the cinema, but not when the image is getting downgraded anyway.

[tenia]

Sourcing at 4K won't give a revolutionary PQ on BD but can yield finer grain field and details.

[EddieLarkin]

Kino's insider states that Criterion have picked up at least two of the following (with another one going to Kino): The Offence, The Music Lovers, Women in Love, Park Row, Eureka and Hi Mom!

[domino harvey]

I imagine Women in Love is one of them. Let's hope Eureka isn't! The Offence is the only one that seems like Kino material

[What A Disgrace]

I hope its Hi Mom! and Park Row.

[swo17]

Same here.

[criterion10]

Kino's insider states that Criterion have picked up at least two of the following (with another one going to Kino): The Offence, The Music Lovers, Women in Love, Park Row, Eureka and Hi Mom!

I'm not religious, but I think I might have to say a prayer tonight that both of the MGM Russell titles are with Criterion.

[ianungstad]

Probably Park Row and Women in Love. Criterion flat out said that Park Row was one of the MGM titles they wanted. They've obviously been in contact with Martin Rosen recently. I'm sure Women in Love was discussed.

[Cinephrenic]

There is a lot of Truffaut and Bergman they could release.

[chrisandy]

There's a new interview with him at least.

There is? I didn't see one mentioned on the list of special features..

[chrisandy]

Anyone else seen The Offence? I actually think it's pretty good - not great. Definitely a strange movie. I would think if they were going to end up going for a 60s Lumet, The Hill would be the more obvious choice. Wouldn't mind seeing Prince of the City on the Criterion label either.