criterionforum.org

knives wrote:

CSM126 wrote:Don't you talk about Clue. Clue is fucking great.

Don't under exaggerate. It's the fucking greatest.

Just went to a midnight showing of Clue & while there were some funny moments, I didn't find it as uproariously funny as the rest of the (mostly college student) crowd. Unlike The Life Of Brian, Airplane!, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or The History Of The World Part 1, it wasn't something I envision revisiting. Then again the taste of kids today (judging by midnight movie offerings) seems rather pedestrian (John Hughes fare & 1980s sci fi or horror blockbusters) in comparison to the midnight movie offerings when I was their age (John Waters, Rocky Horror, Make Them Die Slowly, Querelle, Salo)

On the other hand, I just finished watching the Dietrich "box" which I thoroughly enjoyed. Would love to see Criterion pick up at least The Devil Is A Woman which I thought was even better than The Scarlet Empress. Why Paramount put 4 movies on a dual-sided dvd & then one film (one of the weakest of the set) on a single dvd is inexplicable. Would love to see Criterion do a von Sternberg/Dietrich box.

I can just about guarantee an audience sympathetic to Clue grew up with it-- it's only a generational thing in terms of proximity, not taste

As expected, Indiana Jones collection will be released later this year.

I'm astonished that the thing everyone is complaining about at that site is having to double dip on Crystal Skull.

Quite. On the contrary, the inclusion of Crystal Skull is enough to dissuade me from buying the set. I'll maybe pay for two films I don't really want, but not three.

Instead of Crystal Skull, they should just license the South Park parody for the fourth disc.

That wouldn't need a license since they're both Viacom though it's far from the worst in the series.

Got my copy of To Catch a Thief and I can not BELIEVE how good it looks. This has always had a spotty home video record, as it always seemed like the masters were a couple generations old, but this transfer is a revelation. I am in awe

Not surprised - I saw a DCP "print" a couple months back, and my knee-jerk dislike of digital projection (and Grant's striped shirt) aside, it looked pretty phenomenal. They would have really had to screw up badly for the Blu-ray to be anything less than excellent.

I think this thread at HTF is worth sharing. Check the last few posts out.

DVDBeaver on Chinatown

knives wrote:

CSM126 wrote:Don't you talk about Clue. Clue is fucking great.

Don't under exaggerate. It's the fucking greatest.

Damn right. Clue now has an announced date of August 7 and is available for pre-order at Amazon.

Has anyone here seen the Chinatown blu ray for sale anywhere? I was going to just pick it up in a store, but the Barnes and Noble and Best Buy near where I work in NYC didn't have it, nor was it at Princeton Record Exchange in NJ or an FYE in Philly I went to over the weekend. These places all have Criterions, Hitchcock blus, Woody Allen blus, Buster Keaton, etc. etc.

Just wondering if anyone here has actually seen it for sale!

Drucker wrote:Has anyone here seen the Chinatown blu ray for sale anywhere? I was going to just pick it up in a store, but the Barnes and Noble and Best Buy near where I work in NYC didn't have it, nor was it at Princeton Record Exchange in NJ or an FYE in Philly I went to over the weekend. These places all have Criterions, Hitchcock blus, Woody Allen blus, Buster Keaton, etc. etc.

Just wondering if anyone here has actually seen it for sale!

In Canada, I've seen it at HMV, and at Best Buy (where I purchased it).

Drucker wrote:Has anyone here seen the Chinatown blu ray for sale anywhere? I was going to just pick it up in a store, but the Barnes and Noble and Best Buy near where I work in NYC didn't have it, nor was it at Princeton Record Exchange in NJ or an FYE in Philly I went to over the weekend. These places all have Criterions, Hitchcock blus, Woody Allen blus, Buster Keaton, etc. etc.

Just wondering if anyone here has actually seen it for sale!

Best Buy would be your best bet, but they're currently doing the trade and save promo ($5 off of any blu-ray with dvd trade-in), so copies of it are likely rather scarce at the moment. Suggest trying their website to see at which "nearby" stores it may still be available.

eerik wrote:

Such a missed opportunity for a triple feature combo pack.

Catch Me if You Can!! A film that desperately needs a new transfer despite the fact that is isn't even a decade old. You guys take your flashy Spielberg Blu-rays, this is the one I'm most excited about.

That's kind of expected now that Ron Smith left. I've stopped buying Paramount titles since Chinatown and lost hope in them. Wait and see what they will do with Sunset Blvd.

andyli wrote:That's kind of expected now that Ron Smith left. I've stopped buying Paramount titles since Chinatown and lost hope in them. Wait and see what they will do with Sunset Blvd.

I know I've asked it before, but I'll ask again: is Chinatown blu ray that bad? Still haven't gotten it, partially because of the mixed reviews...

Well, if you can get it cheap, it'll be nice to hear that David Fincher commentary, but if you have the most recent DVD, not really. I think the Blu-Ray may use the same transfer that's been broadcast on TCM, and I know plenty of people who recorded that, so if you have the setup, you can probably find it easily on-line and transfer it to TiVo/ReplayTV/etc. If you have that and the most recent DVD, I'd just wait until they put out something better. It's not a bad transfer, but you get the nagging feeling that they should've knocked this one out of the park instead of using something they did years ago.

I have I think the first DVD edition, without all the special stuff. Still, I guess I'll hold out for the time being!