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ianungstad wrote:They should hire Geoff Darrow to design the packaging.

I was thinking that too.

As for including another film, I think having both Gojira and Godzilla cuts would make that impossible unless they are going to do a 2-Blu-ray/3-DVD set.

The eclipse set would make a nice tie in and of course they have to realize kaiju will sell just as well if not better than samurai.

Thanks, guys.

I should mention I love the Godzilla films. There is an element of kitsch in the later ones (as in clip-o-rama fest with a cute kid story as the glue holding them together, All Monsters Attack), but several of them, especially the Ishiro Honda films, are legitimately fun masterpieces of kaiju action! Beautiful sets, great wrestling in rubber suits, cute girls and fantastic music by Akira Ifukube. What more could you ask from cinema, at times?

And the first Godzilla is absolutely harrowing with it's low lighting and painful burning, unending destruction of Japan where it's left as badly charred and flat as post-bomb Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The country is vulnerable enough in the post-war years, but efforts of nuclear energy and war perpetrates a creature of unbenevolent violence without an ounce of compassion or sense of what Godzilla does to innocent people. Plus the great Takashi Shimura shines as brightly as he ever does. It's done with grave seriousness and the concept of Godzilla as a loveable character does not exist. But this came out in an era of Japanese cinema where adults were the majority going to see movies and by the mid-sixties, it became stuff aimed toward kids when they became the new audience. Either way, both types of films are not without it's charm.

And if Criterion has been on their streak of putting second features on a disc in great 1080p transfers (Killer's Kiss and Murder a la Mod), I can easily see the Raymond Burr edition getting a fantastic transfer as well. It has its followers as well, too.

And Criterion, if you are reading this now, please, please get David Kalat for the commentary!

Now let's end this with the cutest image of all time, Godzilla with his/her (depending on what film) co-star Momoko Kochi

Kalat did an excellent commentary on one of the Godzilla DVDs, but I think the trio commentators from the DVD release (BFI and Classic Media) are worth it alone. I would think there'd be too much overlap if another person came and stepped in.

I got the BFI disc which only has the Japanese cut, never upgraded to the Classic Media 2-disc or the Blu-ray, being unsatisfied with the transfers (BFI as well, with the slightly greenish tint). Criterion would easily blow these away. I'm not aware of how the Japanese Blu-ray quality is.

manicsounds wrote:Kalat did an excellent commentary on one of the Godzilla DVDs, but I think the trio commentators from the DVD release (BFI and Classic Media) are worth it alone. I would think there'd be too much overlap if another person came and stepped in.

I got the BFI disc which only has the Japanese cut, never upgraded to the Classic Media 2-disc or the Blu-ray, being unsatisfied with the transfers (BFI as well, with the slightly greenish tint). Criterion would easily blow these away. I'm not aware of how the Japanese Blu-ray quality is.

I mentioned the Kalat in the event they can't get the rights to the other commentary. I've heard those two he did and they are excellent. I just like his commentaries as they come off as a friend talking to you about why he loves something. The Richard Pusateri on All Monsters Attack is very funny and dry too (if they release other Godzilla films).

The Japanese releases are suppose to be pretty crummy (like the Kurosawa's). The only one I've heard that's great quality is Destroy All Monsters.

There's a second Kalat/Godzilla commentary? I've got the one he did for Ghidorah, is there another?

His book on Godzilla- specifically, the revised version that just came out last year- is excellent.

I was thinking of Stuart Galbriath IV on Invasion of the Astro-Monster (my favorite movie among the classic media releases). I was sure he did more, but I could be wrong. Godzilla's Revenge, maybe?

A poster over at the Toho Kingdom forum jokingly brought this up, but I think it would be cool if, in addition to the original Japanese Gojira and the American Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, Criterion were able to include the 1970s colorized and recut Italian release Cozzilla.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah is wacky C-worthy IMO. It's like Seijun Suzuki doing a monster movie.

manicsounds wrote: Plus, where would suit-mation be without this film?

A world without Ultraman?!?

What the schuwatch is that supposed to mean? The world is a lot more fun with Ultraman around.

If High and Low were in there, I think that would be every Criterion Blu I want right now.

Criterion wrote:Dust off your cameras, we're announcing a contest tomorrow!

Criterion wrote:

Films in Context Photo Contest
By now you've probably noticed the box-shots we make for a lot of our new releases...

We'd like to see what you can do with the rest of the catalog! Through Labor Day, submit your best, preferably 16x9 framed, box-shots to our Facebook wall. On Tuesday, we'll post the ten finalists and the winner will be decided by which photo gets the most likes!
While all the finalists will win something, the winner will receive the ten new releases pictured here.

Nifty contest.

LQ's kestrel soaring through the air gripping Kes in its talons FTW.

swo17 wrote:LQ's kestrel soaring through the air gripping Kes in its talons FTW.

Where is that?

Shhhhhh! That may or may not be in the offing.

swo17 wrote:LQ's kestrel soaring through the air gripping Kes in its talons FTW.

haha, I wish it were mine, but it is my birdtrainer friend's. I'll have to ask her to whore out her bird, although it may still be whored out elsewhere in an effort to make baby kestrels, a reason far nobler than my own.

Is putting a copy of Jubilee in a toilet bowl too obvious?

Of course, this would require me to pay money for Jubilee, and I'm not that dedicated.

I'm totes going to fuck a tv with a copy of Videodrome.

Well done. I'm not even going to try, by the time I a) think of something good, and b) actually shoot it, someone else will have already submitted it. And I really don't have the time to go through the entire Facebook thread to find out if the Simpsons already did it.

Someone actually threw his Joan of arc in the fire!