2021 Criterion Forum Awards

[DarkImbecile]

BEST RELEASE
1.) High Sierra
2.) Bringing Up Baby
3.) Mirror
4.) Memories of Murder
5.) Menace II Society

BEST MODERN FILM
Uncut Gems

BEST COMMENTARY
Uncut Gems

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Colorado Territory

BEST UHD RELEASE
Menace II Society

BEST REISSUE
Pickup on South Street

BEST UPGRADE
The Red Shoes

BEST COVER


WORST COVER


BEST PACKAGING - NON-BOXED SET INDIVIDUAL RELEASE
Menace II Society

BEST DISCOVERY
High Sierra

MOST FLAWED RELEASE
WKW

BEST THREAD
The List Projects are often the best part of the forum and there were several good ones this year, but my favorite ended what feels like years ago but was actually March of 2021

RICHARD CRANIUM
There was no bigger or more disappointing gap between a member's cumulative contribution to this forum over nearly two decades and their behavior toward other members last year than david hare's

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Never Cursed, with props to non-previous winners but always valuable contributors Finch, EddieLarkin, Drucker, knives, hearthesilence, and this Matt kid who's been such a strong presence lately.

As useful as it can be for poring over technical specs and nitpicking Criterion's business decisions and QC issues, I primarily value this forum because it's my favorite place to read smart people talking about movies with passion, excitement, humor, provocation, and eclectic tastes. So I get a little jolt of dopamine whenever I refresh the unread posts page and see these people's names as the most recent poster in a Films or List Projects or Film Club thread: sloper, mfunk9786, colinr0380, soundchaser, Rayon Vert, brundlefly, twbb, Dr Amicus, willoneill, Altair, senseabove, bottlesofsmoke, Brian C, Black Hat, Michael Kerpan, MichaelB, tenia, Ribs, movielocke, Big Ben, The Narrator Returns, PfR73, yoshimori, Murdoch, Red Screamer, and probably three dozen other people I'm negligently forgetting to include. Your contributions to the conversation here are valued.

Finally, I hope everyone realizes that the other active mods and admins (Mr Sausage, swo17, domino harvey, zedz, and cdnchris) — in addition to being some of the most knowledgeable, perceptive, and articulate writers and thinkers about film in these parts — also devote a ton of of time, energy, and thought to keeping this place fun, engaging, informative, organized, and free of spam/trolls/thread title capitalization errors. They deserve an occasional tip of the hat in recognition of their contributions — no more than occasional, though! Their egos are out of control as it is.

[Noiretirc]

Warning that you only have one week to submit your ballots and knock the WKW set from its current perch at #1 for best release oh wait I'm holding this upside down

You made my coffee travel through my nose.

[movielocke]

BEST RELEASE
well I'm caught up through most of August, but slightly bummed I fell off the criterion watching wagon this fall (lots of things happening irl) and have only seen about half the releases sept-dec.

1. The Signifyin works of Marlon Riggs
2. Citizen Kane
3. Memories of Murder
4. Bringing up Baby
5. Deep Cover

H/M Fast Times at Ridgemont High



BEST BOXED SET
The Signifyin works of Marlon Riggs

BEST MODERN FILM "New" (2017-2021) films released by Criterion
Minding the Gap

BEST COMMENTARY New commentaries only, not ports of existing discs from other labels/studios (see list below)
It's a port of the commentary that premiered streaming in 2020 so probably disqualified by arcane rules, but Company.

BEST "BONUS" FILM See list below
I Shall not be Removed

BEST BOOKLET
Bringing up Baby (including the original short story was an unexpected delight!)

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
Bringing up Baby: Scott Eyman, John Bailey, Craig Barron and Shelly Foote on Cary Grant's early Career, cinematographer Walter Metty, VFX pioneer Linwood Dun, and costumes by Howard Greer (respectively). each is so terrific I can't pick.

BEST UHD RELEASE
Citizen Kane

BEST REISSUE
Ratcatcher

BEST UPGRADE Former titles upgraded to a new format without new features
The Human Condition

BEST COVER
The Parallax View

H/M - Deep Cover, Mandabi, Visions of Eight, Devi (and lots of other terrific ones)

WORST COVER
Citizen Kane

U-H/M
Celine and Julie Go Boating

BEST PACKAGING - NON-BOXED SET INDIVIDUAL RELEASE
NIghtmare Alley

BEST PACKAGING - BOXED SET
Melvin Van Peebles

BEST DISCOVERY For the film that is, as the NBC commercials used to say, new to you
Marlon Riggs

H/M Memories of Murder (though unlike the winner which was out of nowhere, this has been on my watchlist since I missed it at a festival the year it came out!), Deep Cover

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
Celine and Julie Go Boating

MOST FLAWED RELEASE For Criterion's treatment, not the film itself
World of Wong Kar Wai

[Robert Chipeska]

BEST COVER
The Parallax View

I know this isn't the right thread for this, but: while the art is conceptually solid, the profile looks nothing at all like Beatty; in fact it looks more like Richard Gere. Then again, conceptually, it could have been even better with the slightest thought: For example, why not make the profile from torn newspaper? That's more in line with the story.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

BEST RELEASE
The Signifyin Works of Marlon Riggs
Deep Cover
Memories of Murder
Devi
Mirror

BEST COMMENTARY
Memories of Murder with Tony Rayns

BEST BOOKLET
Mandabi

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
Deep Cover with new conversation between film scholars Racquel J. Gates and Michael B. Gillespie

BEST REISSUE
The Ascent

BEST COVER
Mona Lisa

WORST COVER
Irma Vep

BEST PACKAGING - NON-BOXED SET INDIVIDUAL RELEASE
High Sierra

BEST PACKAGING - BOXED SET
The Signifyin Works of Marlon Riggs

BEST DISCOVERY
Deep Cover

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
World of WKW

MOST FLAWED RELEASE
Onibaba

BEST THREAD
World of WKW thread

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
feihong

[Timec]

BEST RELEASE
1. The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs
2. Devi
3. Mandabi
4. Original Cast Album: "Company"
5. Mirror

Honorable Mentions: Bringing Up Baby / Deep Cover / Merrily We Go to Hell / Secrets & Lies / Streetwise / Working Girls

BEST BOXED SET: The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs

BEST MODERN FILM: Uncut Gems

BEST COMMENTARY: Original Cast Album: "Company" (Sondheim)

BEST UHD RELEASE: Citizen Kane

BEST REISSUE: The Ascent

BEST UPGRADE: Mulholland Dr.

BEST COVER: Mandabi

BEST DISCOVERY: Deep Cover

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: Beasts of No Nation

MOST FLAWED RELEASE: World of Wong Kar Wai

[DarkImbecile]

Best Release
01 High Sierra
02 Mirror
03 The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs
04 Citizen Kane
05 Bringing Up Baby
06 The Parallax View
07 Céline and Julie Go Boating
08 Once Upon a Time in China
09 Flowers of Shanghai
09 Memories of Murder

Best Boxed Set


Best Modern Film


Best Commentary
Stephen Sondheim - Original Cast Album: "Company"

Best 'Bonus' Film


Best Booklet
Uncut Gems

Best On-Disc Non-Commentary Extra
"Restoration Demonstration" — History is Made at Night

Best UHD Release


Best Reissue


Best Upgrade


Best Cover (THREE-WAY TIE!)


Worst Cover (TIE)


Best Packaging (Non-Box) (TIE)


Best Packaging (Box)


Best Discovery


Most Unnecessary Release (TIE)


Most Flawed Release


Richard Cranium Award


Best Thread
UHD Titles Worth/Not Worth Upgrading

Member of the Year
Never Cursed

[Matt]

Congratulations to Never Cursed on a richly deserved honor. Congrats to WKW for the LOL. Congrats to everyone else for making it through 2021.

[ryannichols7]

I totally forgot to vote, my polling wouldn't have changed much but I do want to shout out Linda Ehrlich's commentary for After Life which I don't believe anyone voted for - it's a tremendous track, though obviously Sondheim is a pretty special case

has there ever been anything quite as consensus as WKW?

[DarkImbecile]

Congratulations to Never Cursed on a richly deserved honor.

[Never Cursed]

Oh, man, I don't know exactly what to say, this feels so weird (but not in a bad way)! Thank you all so much for the votes and those kind words expressed here and elsewhere; I'm so glad to hear that many of you, in one way or another, have appreciated what I've written as a member of this community. As a fairly young member of the forum (21 as of this writing, and a mere 16 when I joined), I know there have to have been many instances where my age and level of development have colored what I've posted. So I also thank all the members of this site for, in treating me as an adult thinker with all the expectations requisite of that status, giving the best gift possible to an introverted person in their adolescence. You have been kind and open-minded and rigorously critical without ever being cruel, and I can't imagine a better online space in which I could have spent the last six years. Thank you for the ideas you've shared, the recommendations and anti-recommendations you've made, the projects in which you've participated, and the resources that many of you have provided (from an exhaustive guide to an actor's filmography to the restoration of cut sequences from an underappreciated film, to name two of a great many). Selfishly I can say that all these things have made me a better and more patient and more appreciative person, but the truth is they also make the online world a more nuanced, informative, and life-affirming place too. Even though I suppose I'm the one that's being recognized in this moment, I hope all of you come away from this post with a feeling of recognition for yourselves in all that you write here. I worry that we don't say this enough to each other here despite thinking it constantly, and so I just want to end my appreciation for this website by stating it as firmly as possible.

Finally, a brief but very special thanks to user therewillbeblus, who makes this forum special with all that he posts, and who I have been lucky enough to call my friend, my real, personal friend, after connecting through this forum, even seeing an early screening of Licorice Pizza together. Thank you for being there.

Thank you all once again for all your kind words. In the spirit of remembering how my first in-depth conversations with TWBB began, if you want to recognize me more than I already have been today, please by all means watch something made by Sam Levinson released during or after 2018. Trouble Don't Last Always, the first Euphoria special, is a great medium-length expression of his powers, but anything he's made since Assassination Nation, including that movie, is a worthy (if heavily stylized) choice.

[DeprongMori]

I totally forgot to vote, my polling wouldn't have changed much but I do want to shout out Linda Ehrlich's commentary for After Life which I don't believe anyone voted for - it's a tremendous track, though obviously Sondheim is a pretty special case

has there ever been anything quite as consensus as WKW?

Be sure to pick up Milestone’s release of Kore-eda’s Maborosi for Linda Ehrlich’s excellent commentary, even though BFI’s picture is superior. Worth the double-dip (as I’m likely to do for After Life).

[Finch]

Congrats, never_cursed, and massive props to dark imbecile for compiling all of this and a brilliant picture for WKW's Richard Cranium award.

[domino harvey]

To Never Cursed and DarkImbecile

[colinr0380]

Congratulations Never Cursed on all your contributions to the forum! I don't have many appropriate gifs so I hope this image suffices:


You know I don't think I fully realised how flawed the Wong Kar-Wai cover was until after six months of looking at it I finally realised that there is a "WKW" on there!