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Danton has changed/improved:

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2053/Danton_348x490.jpg[/img]

He looks like he stole some clochard's clothes. Not sure why they absolutely insist on putting some kind of cartoonish, sketchy art on the cover.

Now THAT is atrocious... compositionally in tune with elementary school. With the minimalism over 90% of the piece, what's all this busy business around the fucking vest?

They shoulda stuck w the last one. That is RETARDED and would be torn to smithereens in a basic Design & Composition class.

Can't wait to pick up my copy of dan/on.

Man, this artist is dreadfully bad.

I am oddly nostaligic for the Library of America edition.

I love Criterion for not getting at all any of the criticisms of the previous covers and redesigning it in the wrong direction. You go girl

HAHAHA oh my god.
amazing, swo =D>

A+

[additional praise] Still cracking up audibly at that, swo. Bravo.

He forgot the Wacky C tho

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict The Taking of Power by Louis XIV will be one of Criterion's worst sellers. A costume drama with a boring, academic cover. Perhaps it was a Criterion staffer's labour of love. I just don't see many being interested in the subject matter if their eye is actually taken by the cover.

Dunno, Criterions most exciting offers of late seem to be the bare-bones Eclipse titles, of which, it seems, many would pay good money to have given 'the proper' Criterion treatment.

Magnificent Obsession DVD packaging
El Norte DVD packaging

ryan11 wrote:I'm going to go out on a limb and predict The Taking of Power by Louis XIV will be one of Criterion's worst sellers. A costume drama with a boring, academic cover.

There's actually more than meets the eye to the cover design and the whole package...

The booklet explains - 'The type throughout this release is based on the original model letterforms for Romain du Roi, a typeface commissioned by Louis XIV for the Imprimerie royale (Royal Printing House) in the early 1690's.'... The original engravings of the letters on finely meshed grids by Louis Simmoneau - 'Construction des Lettres' - are reproduced on the inside covers of the booklet, an upper case alphabet and a lower case one... The cover is based on the individual capital letter engravings, against their grids, assembled together to read THE TAKING OF POWER BY LOUIS XIV...

Those look absolutely gorgeous. I'm about to commit the blasphemy of admitting that I'm beginning to prefer the figure-8 cases to digipaks.

ryan11 wrote:I'm going to go out on a limb and predict this will be one of Criterion's worst sellers. A costume drama with a boring, academic cover. Perhaps it was a Criterion staffer's labour of love. I just don't see many being interested in the subject matter if their eye is actually taken by the cover.

Dunno, Criterions most exciting offers of late seem to be the bare-bones Eclipse titles, of which, it seems, many would pay good money to have given 'the proper' Criterion treatment.

I received my copy today and it looks much better than on the various Web pages, where the white background of the cover does get lost on the most often white backgrounds of Web pages. It is simple, stylish and elegant. But you are correct in saying it is not very commercial. Who knows: perhaps its very simplicity will make it stand our amongst all the other garish ones in the bins.

Of course, appreciation of DVD covers is a highly personal matter. Of the upcoming Criterions, I'll single out two examples: I find the Generale Della Rovere design to offer a very beautiful image, also managing to illustrate the dramatic situation at the heart of the film. Whereas the Danton cover reminds me of some cheap and ugly French history books of a few years ago.

But I am sure others will have quite opposite reactions to the same covers.

Buy anyway, I don't think Criterion was expecting this particular title to be a very good seller anyway, nor the Rossellini Eclipse box set (now, there's one with a combination of colors that... stands out, to say the least).

You're not the only one brother. The only complaint i have with the eights is that they overlap. God that is obnoxious.

It's about that time of the month for this.

Am I the only one who all of a sudden doesn't care, now that the thrill of the hunt is gone? What fun is it when the releases'll be meted out over the next four days like last time

You know, that's a very good point. I forgot that they changed their method of posting films.

What a downer to start my day with.

kaujot wrote:You know, that's a very good point. I forgot that they changed their method of posting films.

What a downer to start my day with.

Well, in the interest of being hopeful, last month was the first time they updated with the new site. I'm hoping that what happened then was just a result of working out the kinks in the system.

That said, when the 15th happens so close to the end of the week, it's pretty common for the announcement to happen on Friday. I wasn't really expecting anything today.

You guys are giving up already? Just more chance for me to be the one that breaks the new covers.

For me, figuring out what the April Criterions will be (and bitching about their cover art) is a secondary pursuit to discovering the Coachella lineup. Has anyone else seen that message board? Our compulsive speculation around here the middle of every month pales in comparison to that particular brand of lunacy.

Tom Hagen wrote:For me, figuring out what the April Criterions will be (and bitching about their cover art) is a secondary pursuit to discovering the Coachella lineup. Has anyone else seen that message board? Our compulsive speculation around here the middle of every month pales in comparison to that particular brand of lunacy.

some crappy '90s band
some crappy '80s band
a bunch of crappy new bands
the desert heat

Mystery solved.

Now what I really want to know is which not very impressive Depardieu movie I will be adding to my Netflix queue next, so I can make biting comments about an image I will only ever see in thumbnail form.

Long live the 15th!

swo17 wrote:You guys are giving up already? Just more chance for me to be the one that breaks the new covers.

I guess I can just start refreshing this page of the forum then