Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 6

[Yaanu]

So, is Watership Down just coming to iTunes or will it eventually get a physical release as well?

The implication is that it will eventually trickle down to a physical release, yes. I don't see why they wouldn't, anyways.

[swo17]

My guess is that Criterion will most likely be doing this for most dual-format titles, and then discontinuing the dual-format editions.

I should think that they would reserve this treatment for the dual-format titles that have sold the best, perhaps most of the way through their initial print runs already. They aren't going to want to sit on all that unsold stock just to provide instant gratification to picky collectors.

[swo17]

October 2014 just became one of the hallmark reference-level months for releases

Just to numericize this point, this month's announcements include (according to TSPDT's current rankings) the 31st, 47th, 140th, 281st, 335th, and 504th best films of all time. Has any other month come close to matching this? (That wasn't a rhetorical question, interns.)

[domino harvey]

Previous most impressive month ever September 2006 had the 10th, 47th, 77th, 123rd, and 225th (I refuse to acknowledge TSPDT as any sort of significant marker, though) (There goes any potential internship) (These were the only interns that ever mattered anyways)

[swo17]

Not bad, although all but one of those were reissues. (Granted, so are three of this month's.) The other big contributor to this being such a satisfying month is that all of these releases came as a surprise in some respect--either being so comprehensive (Tati), coming so soon (La dolce vita), or coming from Criterion at all (Clementine, quietly suspected but never confirmed).

Oh, and you just implicitly acknowledged TSPDT as legitimate by responding to my post!

[domino harvey]

I just want to say, since one of the guys who runs TSPDT posts here and has invited me to participate in things for it, that I'm just being rude for no particular reason and I feel about the list in question as much or as little as any other canon list. Also swo was clearly just trying to explain why he loved October 2014 using numbers because it was so close to being actual math that he hoped it would slide by unnoticed. TOUGH LUCK BRO

[swo17]

I assume you're referring to the preacher. He actually runs the Doubling the Canon supplement to the TSPDT list, which is not quite the same thing. The TSPDT list doesn't solicit contributors and is on solid mathematical ground, I assure you.

[domino harvey]

I meant John David Theyshootpicturesdontthey. He posts as "rex reed's chair"

[Cremildo]

The last Eclipse was in January. Can it be buried already?

We can only hope.

Care to elaborate on that selfish remark?

[FrauBlucher]

I don't think Moe means anything by it. Moe is a notorious button pusher. It makes him feel all warm and fuzzy.

[Moe Dickstein]

If it's button pushing to express my legitimately held position then so be it.

I think it's ridiculous to be releasing things on disc in 2014 and only being on DVD. If you can't get it on Blu as well then leave it on Hulu - there aren't extras anyway.

I'll be as thrilled when they give up the past it's use by date Eclipse concept as I was saddened by the demise of Dual Format.

[knives]

It's a position, but I don't see it as terribly legitimate given reality and the flaws in your own argument. Not every film has been restored for HD and to prevent it a physical release only because of that is absurd. Basically your position is as legitimate as believing the world is flat.

[swo17]

One of the absolutely most essential/gorgeous home video releases of 2014 is DVD-only: Potemkine's Jean Epstein set. If you don't agree, you are legitimately a terrible person.

[criterion10]

I think it's ridiculous to be releasing things on disc in 2014 and only being on DVD. If you can't get it on Blu as well then leave it on Hulu - there aren't extras anyway.

Sometimes a Blu-Ray isn't always possible, and it would be silly to deny a film a home video release if it could only be on DVD. If all distributors thought this way, something like Ken Russell's The Devils would still be rotting away in the Warner Dungeon.

[Gregory]

If you look at the realities of the market, DVD hasn't gone away and clearly is not likely to anytime soon, so the Eclipse line fills the same need it has all along as a budget line for films they can't feasibly make special editions of, as a way to get a lot of their holdings out onto the market in totally acceptable presentations (unless one is a Blu-only zealot of course). I don't use Hulu for movies because I'd have to cope with glitches and buffering, which would ruin the experience for me. That or start paying a bunch more money every month for high-speed internet and change my viewing room to accommodate streaming. To release Blu versions of the Eclipse sets they'd have to do a lot more work to create new scans and do restoration work, and then charge a much higher price than the DVD sets. There wouldn't even be a big enough market for a lot (most?) of those films on Blu-ray, even if Criterion could obtain HD masters of them.

[Moe Dickstein]

My point is, though perhaps I may be alone in holding my views - they are not expressed for the point of causing a stir but because they are sincerely held. I don't feel that anyone who disagrees with me about philosophy of home video is a terrible person either xxx

[knives]

You lead with my point is... and don't provide any follow through on it. Also while this probably goes to a different debate, but not all stances are created equally and yours is emphatically and absolutely wrong. Saying a film is better to go unreleased on a physical format than on DVD is simply as wrong a statement as calling the earth the center of the universe. It doesn't take much effort to disprove that. So while you may sincerely believe what you are saying it doesn't make you any less incorrect.

[Mr Sausage]

My point is, though perhaps I may be alone in holding my views - they are not expressed for the point of causing a stir but because they are sincerely held. I don't feel that anyone who disagrees with me about philosophy of home video is a terrible person either xxx

Posting one-line provocative statements with no explanation is against the rules and very much disliked here. The sincerity of your views has no bearing on this.

[Arrow]

You lead with my point is... and don't provide any follow through on it. Also while this probably goes to a different debate, but not all stances are created equally and yours is emphatically and absolutely wrong. Saying a film is better to go unreleased on a physical format than on DVD is simply as wrong a statement as calling the earth the center of the universe. It doesn't take much effort to disprove that. So while you may sincerely believe what you are saying it doesn't make you any less incorrect.

Exactly, I'm not always in a place where I can stream Wooden Crosses.

By that logic Second Run wouldn't exsist at all and then why are any of us here?

[EddieLarkin]

It's also a huge run around to get Hulu to work outside of North America, whereas importing DVDs is comparatively easy.

[Ashirg]

The Golden Age of Television should have never been released cause it can't be mastered in HD. They should just erase all those tapes...

[domino harvey]

Moe has been chastised many times for popping in, rattling off a ridiculous/contestable viewpoint, and then going, "Whaaat, I'm just sayin' is all!" It's best to just let his posts slip past rather than engage him in a battle you won't win

[zedz]

Moe has been chastised many times for popping in, rattling off a ridiculous/contestable viewpoint, and then going, "Whaaat, I'm just sayin' is all!" It's best to just let his posts slip past rather than engage him in a battle you won't win

When in doubt, consult the Marvelettes:
"Who knows what evil lurks within the hearts of men? / It's vanity, insanity to play when you can't win."

[MichaelB]

I've just received one of my regular packages from Merlin in Poland, in which DVDs outnumber BDs by a ratio of about 3:1. If I waited for most of this stuff to make it to BD, I'd be waiting forever.

[Yaanu]

I thought Eclipse was going two-a-year for a while.