godardslave wrote:You're getting confused, they are normally like that.
maybe you are floating the wrong way in the bathtub today?
Fearing for my sanity, I went back and checked, and from the top of my head (and my collection), Fanny and Alexander, My Own Private Idaho, and Mr. Arkadin are all definitely open on the left side.
Gigimongas, or anyone, I don't have D&C -- does it in fact open to the right or am I going after Amazon for false advertising?
Dazed and Confuzed opens to the left side like Arkadin and Idaho. I just wanted to tell you that's probably an image of the set. I'm pretty sure Seven Samurai will open to left side.
gigimonagas wrote:I'm pretty sure Seven Samurai will open to left side.
...Unless it turns out to be that beloved triple-wide amaray
I like the boxes for Burden of Dreams and Mr. Arkadin better than the Battle of Algiers and Idaho. It's got the extra fold at the top and bottom that make it a bit sturdier. I'm hoping for that, though I guess at this point I'm just nitpicking...
I cleared out my email recently, but I'm almost positive lipson told me in an email it was going to be digipak, I remember him confirming the new brazil 3 disc was digipack, and that both the reissue of brazil and seven samurai would follow the battle of algiers case style, with samurai having a thicker book ofcourse.. As for the logo on the side, it could be the logo from the seven samurai title card on all current criterion prints of it, just reworked with the red. although the fact that the cover is black and white and the logo gets to be red, puts me off a little. hopefully the photo is just miscolored, and the red is actually a megenta placeholder for silver, to make it look like a shiny seal of approval...
Maybe Seduced and Abandoned, as well as all upcoming Criterion releases will be released in digipack-like packaging, like the individual case packaging in the Rohmer, Cassavetes, and Fassbinder releases? In the August issue of Time magazine, there is a review for it, and unless it is not the actual product, it looks like a book, with the cover going all the way to the edge, like a digipack, or maybe something like the Mr. Show dvd cases
I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion is doing slipcases for all releases now. It's the new "value added" thing to do (see all of Fox's Cinema Classics discs).
I realize you're being facetious, but how's it supposed to be "value added"? Isn't it just a slip of cardboard holding an amray with the same cover? I usually throw these away.
But they are usually embossed! It does seem a bit of a waste of cardboard though in these environmentally friendly times we are supposed to be living in. Perhaps it's done as some sort of aid for the blind?
Last edited by colinr0380 on Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
matt wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if Criterion is doing slipcases for all releases now. It's the new "value added" thing to do (see all of Fox's Cinema Classics discs).
I realize you're being facetious, but how's it supposed to be "value added"? Isn't it just a slip of cardboard holding an amray with the same cover? I usually throw these away.
Yes, you're right, they're entirely useless. And there is absolutely no reason for them to exist at all. And most people would rightly just throw them out. However, they can give the impression of luxury--if they're actual slipcases and not just cardstock sleeves (open at the top and bottom)--even though they probably add no more than 10 cents per item to the production cost.
In a marketplace where every DVD comes in the same identical plastic case, a slipcase can be a way of "elevating" a product above its mass-market milieu. Like the new Penguin Deluxe Classics paperbacks. They're still just paperbacks, but now they have French flaps and embossed covers. Same book, just tarted up a bit to give it an "air of distinction." Which I am a total sucker for, by the way.
Criterion seem to have been pretty good at this sort of feeble packaging - only really indulging to either get round corporate artwork (The Royal Tenenbaums) or a genuinely witty package design (Videodrome).
Mind you, their booklets are padded to shit with stills and big-gap text.
In addition to the "quality" look and feel, I would also think the new packaging (not to mention the new design and logo) is well timed to coincide with the release of HD DVD and Blu-Ray products.
God, all 3 are incredibly beautiful. I would go as far to say that the art they're coming up with under the new banner is some of the best stuff they've come up with yet...
This may not be the appropriate thread, but I'm taking "packaging" to mean everything but the contents of the discsc themselves.
Did anyone else notice that each of the November releases list a BOOK as part of the contents? I checked my shelf, and the only other releases that use the word book as opposed to "booklet" are the ones packaged outside of the amaray. This means that the worst case scenario is that they'll look like Burden of Dreams (which is still awesome), and best case is that we'll get some sort of Man Who Fell to Earth/Mr. Arkadin affair. It's a shame none are confirmed as two discs... Yet.
Maybe since they were punning on the title of Pandora's BOX, they also meant "book" to be interpreted loosely as yet another literary adaptation -- which The Fallen Idol is.
Unless, of course, they're still planning on issuing a coffee-table book, as other posters have predicted. Or perhaps all the extras haven't been listed yet and a real honest-to-goodness book is still coming.
Not that they're not beautiful, but what is the significance of the two bubbles on the Veronique cover (other than the obvious double life bit)? At first glance, it looks like she's making a spit bubble.
Narshty wrote:Whither Baines on The Fallen Idol? It's a good shot I suppose, but not particularly indicative of the sheer richness of the film.
I don't know. Reed does such a masterful job of conveying the whole sordid tale from Phillipe's point of view that I think it's kind of appropriate that Baines isn't on the cover. I especially like the child's perspective evoked by the composition, with Phillipe's eyes just barely able to peek over the bottom of the frame.
matt wrote:Not that they're not beautiful, but what is the significance of the two bubbles on the Veronique cover (other than the obvious double life bit)? At first glance, it looks like she's making a spit bubble.
They're V/W's magic marbles, both a significant plot device and an occasional auxiliary lens for the camera. By rights they should be fish-eye distorting the image behind them (and have a star on the surface, if I recall correctly), which would make them look less like soap-bubbles.
Or maybe Robot Monster is lurking just out of frame.
A very nice selection of covers this month, anyway, especially The Fallen Idol.
zedz wrote:They're V/W's magic marbles, both a significant plot device and an occasional auxiliary lens for the camera. By rights they should be fish-eye distorting the image behind them (and have a star on the surface, if I recall correctly), which would make them look less like soap-bubbles.
Magic MARBLES?!? Clearly I need to see this film again. I only ever saw it once on Bravo about 12 years ago. I obviously wasn't paying attention because I know I would remember a movie about magic marbles.
But I didn't recognize them, either, so I think the art dept needs to do something else with the cover. A little odd, I think. I don't think the still of Jacobs is all that stunning. And she's usually always stunning.
