2021 Criterion Forum Awards

[DarkImbecile]

2021 CRITERION FORUM AWARDS



IMPORTANT NOTE
Voting starts once the last release of December is available to the plebes: Tuesday, December 14th. You may post in this thread before that, but any lists posted early will, as always, be deleted and your message replaced with alternate Uncut Gems covers.

Please either post your votes in this thread or PM me, DarkImbecile. You may or may not vote in most categories, but you must provide a ranked Top Five to be counted at all. No ties will be counted in any category, so make the hard decision if you want your vote to matter. In future years with more options, we'll likely have separate Blu-Ray and UHD Upgrade/Reissue categories.

NO VOTING UNTIL: DECEMBER 14, 2021
VOTING CLOSES: JANUARY 14, 2022

Your 2021 Criterion Forum Awards categories are:

BEST RELEASE Numbered in order from 1-5. Must vote for five titles to have your ballot counted. Boxed sets can also be voted for in this category

BEST BOXED SET
BEST MODERN FILM "New" (2017-2021) films released by Criterion

BEST COMMENTARY New commentaries only, not ports of existing discs from other labels/studios (see list below)
BEST "BONUS" FILM See list below
BEST BOOKLET
BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA

BEST UHD RELEASE
BEST REISSUE
BEST UPGRADE Former titles upgraded to a new format without new features

BEST COVER
WORST COVER
BEST PACKAGING - NON-BOXED SET INDIVIDUAL RELEASE
BEST PACKAGING - BOXED SET

BEST DISCOVERY For the film that is, as the NBC commercials used to say, new to you
MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE For the film that didn’t need to join the Collection, either for personal reasons (you hate it) or because Criterion’s additions added little to already available editions
MOST FLAWED RELEASE For Criterion's treatment, not the film itself

BEST THREAD For the discussion that yielded the most interesting insights or entertainment this year
MEMBER OF THE YEAR For the member with the best contributions to the forum this year
RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD For the member with the worst contributions to the forum this year

2021 RELEASES
1061 Minding the Gap
1062 Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
1064 The Parallax View
1065 Mandabi
1066 Man Push Cart
1067 Chop Shop
1068 Smooth Talk
1069 Céline and Julie Go Boating
1070 Secrets & Lies
1071 Defending Your Life
1072 History Is Made at Night
1073 Memories of Murder
1074 Irma Vep
1075 Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1076 Merrily We Go to Hell
1077 Flowers of Shanghai
1078 Nightmare Alley
1079 Streetwise
1080 Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell
1082 The Signifyin Works of Marlon Riggs
1083 Pariah
1084 Mirror
1085 Bringing Up Baby
1086 Deep Cover
1087 Working Girls
1088 La piscine
1089 After Life
1090 Original Cast Album: "Company"
1091 Beasts of No Nation
1092 Throw Down
— Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films
1093 The Story of a Three Day Pass
1094 Watermelon Man
1095 Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
1096 Don't Play Us Cheap
1097 Love & Basketball
1098 The Damned
1099 High Sierra
1100 The Incredible Shrinking Man
1101 Uncut Gems UHD
1102 Devi
1103 Once Upon a Time in China: The Complete Films
1104 Citizen Kane UHD
1105 Menace II Society UHD
1106 One Night in Miami...
1107 The Learning Tree
— World of Wong Kar Wai


REISSUES
—Three Films by Luis Buñuel
102 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
290 The Phantom of Liberty
143 That Obscure Object of Desire
107 Mona Lisa
162 Ratcatcher
224 Pickup on South Street
226 Onibaba
285 Ashes and Diamonds
435 The Furies
685 Touki Bouki
1063 The Ascent
1081 Visions of Eight

UPGRADES
44 The Red Shoes UHD
308 Masculin féminin
480 The Human Condition
779 Mulholland Dr. UHD

ELIGIBLE BONUS FILMS
Once Upon a Time: "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (Three Films by Luis Buñuel)
The Producers: Serge Silberman (Three Films by Luis Buñuel)
Nước (Minding the Gap)
The Homeland of Electricity (The Ascent)
Larisa (The Ascent)
A Talk with Larisa (The Ascent)
Islands (The Ascent)
More Than Love (The Ascent)
Tauw (Mandabi)
Praise Song (Mandabi)
Backgammon (Man Push Cart)
Girls at 12 (Smooth Talk)
Clorae and Albie (Smooth Talk)
Contras' City (Touki bouki)
Jacques Rivette: Le veilleur (Céline and Julie Go Boating)
The Hand (World of Wong Kar Wai)
Incoherence (Memories of Murder)
Musidora, the Tenth Muse (Irma Vep)
Les vampires: Hypnotic Eyes (Irma Vep)
Man Yuk: A Portrait of Maggie Cheung (Irma Vep)
Dorothy Arzner: Longing for Women (Merrily We Go to Hell)
Tiny at 20 (Streetwise)
Erin (Streetwise)
Streetwise Revisited: Rat (Streetwise)
The Amazing Plastic Lady (Streetwise)
Long Train Running: The Story of the Oakland Blues (The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs)
I Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon Riggs (The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs)
On Location with "Visions of Eight" (Visions of Eight)
Howard Hawks: A Hell of a Good Life (Bringing Up Baby)
Andrei Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer (Mirror)
The Dream in the Mirror (Mirror)
Islands: Georgy Rerberg (Mirror)
Fifty Years Later (La piscine)
Original Cast Album: "Co-Op" (Original Cast Album: "Company")
Stitches (Love & Basketball)
Progress (Love & Basketball)
Bowl of Pork (Love & Basketball)
Baadasssss! (Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films)
Three Pickup Men for Herrick (Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films)
Sunlight (Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films)
Cinq cent balles (Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films)
How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It) (Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films)
Visconti: Man of Two Worlds (The Damned)
Colorado Territory (High Sierra)
The True Adventures of Raoul Walsh (High Sierra)
Bogart: Here’s Looking at You, Kid (High Sierra)
Auteur on the Campus: Jack Arnold at Universal! (The Incredible Shrinking Man)
Goldman v. Silverman (Uncut Gems)
"Question & Answer" (Uncut Gems)
Once Upon a Time in China and America (Once Upon a Time in China)
From Spikes to Spindles (Once Upon a Time in China)
The Complete "Citizen Kane" (Citizen Kane)
The Hearts of Age (Citizen Kane)
My Father: Gordon Parks (The Learning Tree)
Diary of a Harlem Family (The Learning Tree)
The World of Piri Thomas (The Learning Tree)
Unstoppable (The Learning Tree)

ELIGIBLE COMMENTARIES
Minding the Gap (cast)
Minding the Gap (director)
Streetwise
Visions of Eight
After Life
Original Cast Album: "Company" (Sondheim)
Beasts of No Nation
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Uncut Gems
Citizen Kane (Naremore & Rosenbaum)

COVER ROUND-UP


Cover Round-Up, lists of bonus films and commentaries, and brutally unforgiving feedback graciously provided by swo17

[soundchaser]

I, for one, welcome our new DarkImbecile overlords.

[criterionsnob]

The Mona Lisa Blu-ray reissue is missing from the list.

[domino harvey]

I may have passed the baton, but Gossip Girl GIFs are forever

[yoloswegmaster]

Can I post alternative Uncut Gems posters and Gossip Girls GIFs?

[Matt]

Seems like there would be only one serious contender for Most Flawed but the year is not over yet.

[criterionsnob]

I’d suggest renaming the category forever:

WONG KAR WAI AWARD FOR MOST FLAWED RELEASE

[omegadirective]

Why are these listed as reissues and not upgrades?

REISSUES
—Three Films by Luis Buñuel
102 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
290 The Phantom of Liberty
143 That Obscure Object of Desire
107 Mona Lisa
162 Ratcatcher
224 Pickup on South Street
226 Onibaba
285 Ashes and Diamonds
435 The Furies
1063 The Ascent

[domino harvey]

They presumably contain some kind of new content, thus are reissued in a new version. An upgrade only maintains the pre existing content of the initial release. Previous iterations of the list did not always count new essays towards reissue content.

[swo17]

It's very simple actually--if you visit the page for each of those releases, you will see that there is at least one new special feature that wasn't on the original DVD release. Often, but not always, there will also be new cover art

[omegadirective]

Ah, gotcha.
I had the definitions swapped in my mind.

I was thinking “upgrade” meant more, “reissue” was the same except for transfer or format.

[swo17]

It might be better to label them as "format upgrades"

[domino harvey]

"Reissue" could also be called "Revamp" to make it clearer as well

[movielocke]

I like the idea of "format upgrade" because it's both more clear and can easily encompass both bluray format upgrade and 4k format upgrades under one umbrella term.

Re-vamp is fun and in my mind more clear than "re-issue". I tend to think of re-vamps as "second editions" but I think "second edition" is almost as unclear as "re-issue"

[omegadirective]

There are a few covers missing from the picture.
Red Shoes and Furies

[swo17]

That's because they aren't new this year. Granted, Ratcatcher doesn't have a new cover image either, but its layout with the logo is subtly different. Pickup on South Street is also very similar to the earlier version, but with an updated aesthetic

[omegadirective]

La a Strada is also missing from the upgrades/reissues

[swo17]

That's because it's neither--that and Trances are merely standalone editions of releases from previous years. The only new thing about them are the covers, so that is the only category in which they are eligible

[Finch]

Can we have a category for WORST PACKAGING (not in terms of design but practicality)?

[swo17]

Best Release
1. The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs
2. Mirror
3. The Ascent
4. The Learning Tree
5. Devi

Runners-up: Streetwise, Céline and Julie Go Boating, Original Cast Album: "Company," Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films, Bringing Up Baby

Best Boxed Set
The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs

Best Modern Release
Uncut Gems

Best Commentary
Stephen Sondheim (Original Cast Album: "Company")

Runners-up: Streetwise, Uncut Gems

Best Bonus Film
The Homeland of Electricity (The Ascent)

Best Book/Booklet
The Learning Tree

Best Other Supplement
TK

Best UHD Release
The Red Shoes

Best Revamped Release
The Ascent

Best Format Upgrade
The Red Shoes

Best Cover


Runners-up:


Best Standard Packaging
Uncut Gems

Best Boxed Set Packaging
Once Upon a Time in China

Best Discovery
Don't Play Us Cheap

Best Thread
Auteur List: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Forum Member of the Year
EddieLarkin

[domino harvey]

01 High Sierra
02 Nightmare Alley
03 Smooth Talk
04 the Parallax View
05 Masculin feminin

Best Cover: Smooth Talk
Best Packaging: Nightmare Alley, for the tarot cards
Best Upgrade: Masculin feminin
Best box: Marlon Riggs

My vote for any and every category with the word “Worst” in it: WKW box, the most misguided failure of a release to ever come from this label. I know January is a long time ago but please don’t forget what they did.

And to me this was the least interesting year of releases for the label since I’ve been a member of this forum. Congrats to those who feel otherwise, as they definitely expanded their scope to fit many different kinds of films and I’m glad for those who found it a bountiful harvest. But I saved a lot of money this year…

[Never Cursed]

BEST RELEASE:
1. Celine and Julie Go Boating
2. The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs
3. Once Upon A Time In China
4. High Sierra
5. Nightmare Alley

BEST BOXED SET: The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs
BEST MODERN FILM: Uncut Gems

BEST COMMENTARY: Stephen Sondheim, Original Cast Album: "Company"
BEST "BONUS" FILM: Colorado Territory

BEST REISSUE: Buñuel Box
BEST UPGRADE: The Red Shoes (not that I own it)

BEST COVER: Generally a good year for covers, but I'll give it to Once Upon A Time In China
WORST COVER: World of Wong Kar-Wai - disregarding everything else about the set, a truly hideous cover and set of photos to use
BEST PACKAGING - NON-BOXED SET INDIVIDUAL RELEASE: Nightmare Alley - those tarot cards are neat!
BEST PACKAGING - BOXED SET: Once Upon A Time In China

BEST DISCOVERY: Celine and Julie Go Boating
MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: Fast Times at Ridgemont High
MOST FLAWED RELEASE: World of Wong Kar-Wai. Somehow in a year when Criterion bungled their blu-ray of the single most well-known Golden Age film of all time, there were still greater depths for Criterion to plumb with the help of a deeply misguided auteur

BEST THREAD: EDIT: No, the Preminger and Deneuve lists were very good, but the best thread has to be the Bogdanovich thread for the insane story of Martha Coolidge's debut feature City Girl
MEMBER OF THE YEAR: knives - how on earth has he not won yet! Honorable mentions to deserving past winners domino, Dark Imbecile, and therewillbeblus, the last of whom I was lucky enough to spend a cold day in New York with just a bit ago.
RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD: I don't think anyone did anything really egregious this year, so I guess I'll throw my vote to Wong Kar-Wai, for causing real archival harm to his own films. Nice going.

[therewillbeblus]

BEST RELEASE
1. Mirror
2. Masculin féminin
3. Bringing Up Baby
4. The Parallax View
5. Deep Cover
(Runner Up: Smooth Talk, which could switch places with Deep Cover regarding Best Discovery as well, depending on the day)

BEST BOXED SET: The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs

BEST MODERN FILM: Uncut Gems

BEST REISSUE: Pickup on South Street

BEST UPGRADE: Masculin féminin

BEST COVER: Smooth Talk

WORST COVER: Defending Your Life

BEST DISCOVERY: Deep Cover

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: The Damned

MOST FLAWED RELEASE: WKW Box Set obviously takes the cake, but Memories of Murder's obnoxious red-muting is the one that's most glaring to me personally (because I only bought one of them!)

BEST THREAD: Preminger List Project Thread

MEMBER OF THE YEAR: Never Cursed, for always contributing carefully-combed insights into films, politics, various internet content, current events, etc. (somehow) with both self-conscious restraint and persistent spirit. He might not post every day, but the posts are always welcome, often the highlight of a day's read on here, and donate significant value to the academic aspects of what makes this site so special.

[DRW.mov]

Best Release
1. Citizen Kane
2. Three Films by Luis Buñuel
3. History is Made at Night
4. Bringing Up Baby
5. Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films

Best Boxed Set
The Signifyin’ Works of Marlon Riggs

Best Modern Release
Uncut Gems

Best Commentary
Citizen Kane (Naremore & Rosenbaum)

Best Bonus Film
Original Cast Album: Co-Op (Original Cast Album: Company)

Best Booklet
Three Films by Luis Buñuel

Best Other Supplement
Restoration Demonstration (History is Made at Night)

Best UHD
Menace II Society

Best Reissue
Three Films by Luis Buñuel

Best Format Upgrade
The Red Shoes

Best Cover
Mona Lisa

Runners-up:
Incredible Shrinking Man
Menace II Society
The Damned

Best Standard Packaging
Menace II Society

Best Boxed Set Packaging
World of Wong Kar Wai

Best Discovery
Tongues Untied

Most Unnecessary Release
Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Most Flawed Release
World of Wong Kar Wai

[Therewolf]

BEST RELEASE
1) High Sierra
2) Mirror
3) The Parallax View
4) Memories of Murder
5) Nightmare Alley

BEST BOXED SET
Once Upon a Time in China

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Colorado Territory

BEST REISSUE
The Furies

BEST COVER


BEST PACKAGING - NON-BOXED SET INDIVIDUAL RELEASE
Mirror

BEST PACKAGING - BOXED SET
World of Wong Kar-Wai

BEST DISCOVERY
Throw Down

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
Love & Basketball