criterionforum.org

Yet more March release cover art:

Wow. I'm fairly easygoing on covers, but the Ford one is something else.

Matches the style of their Quiet Man release, though yes, leaves some to be desired.

Per blu-ray.com, the King miniseries has been cropped from 1.33:1 to 1.78:1

As the review says, it was probably shot with widescreen being a possibility for international theatrical release.

On the Quiet Man documentary. I have the UK version on DVD, and the clips from the movie they used are awful. I wonder if they have replaced the clips from the movie from the HD print.

According to this link:

http://www.rakuten.com/prod/let-there-b ... 06080.html

Olive is releasing Huston's "Let There Be Light" in May.

Funny how Facts of Life and How to Beat the High Cost of Living have the same cover motif. Either the original film posters were coincidentally similar or Olive has grown even lazier with their releases.

SpiderBaby wrote:

nolanoe wrote:This may be a bit off topic - but what happened to the Fassbinder BDs they wanted to release?

I have been waiting for the release of The Stationmaster's Wife since they announced it 4 or so years ago.

They also told me they would get around to upgrading 'I Only Want You to Love Me' to blu-ray, but that was a year or so ago, so......

I actually wonder if it has to do with the recent restorations of Petra von Kant (ugh) and Angst Essen Seele Auf (yay). Juliane Lorenz (his editor and last documented partner) is the rights holder, and VERY keen on restoring and releasing his work - it's not like these films are super hard to acquire, but that she's overseeing the process. So I figure the issue is with other, "more important" works getting the main focus (though finally seeing a decent copy of Bolwieser is VERY high on my to-do-list).

That being said, I am more than sad that Olive didn't go for the "director's cut" version of Despair. Michael Ballhaus (Fassbinder's DP for much of his work) went on to say that both of them walked out of the premiere, as the studio decided to cut it down by about 40 or so minutes.
Then again, there's also the apocryphal story (told by Lorenz) that there was a cut of Querelle that was an entire hour longer.

Finally "Without A Clue" in Widescreen. I always felt dirty having a pan and scan DVD on my shelf.

So I guess that's it for Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. If Criterion didn't want it when they had the chance to put out an exclusive release, there's no way there's any money in it now for them or anyone else, most probably. Which really sucks, one of my fave Altmans. I saw the UCLA restored version a few months ago and it looked much, much better than the caps on bluray.com.

April BD releases:

Harry & Son
Hollywood Shuffle
Little Man Tate
Lord of the Flies '90
Teachers
Bio-Dome
Blue Sky
Cooley High
Dance with Me, Henry
Firewalker

Cooley High isn't anything special visually, but the existing DVD is, I believe, full-frame, so the Blu-Ray should be a notable improvement. it's a rather sweet film, an explicit attempt to do an American Graffiti for urban African America (notably, there are a lot fewer cars). if it had been made a decade later, its wall-to-wall Motown soundtrack (years before The Big Chill) probably would have been prohibitively expensive to license.

Plus it led to What's Happening!!, which I still remember fondly from my childhood.

What's Happening!! opening

Still puts a goofy grin on my face every time

It! The Terror from Beyond Space from MGM library on May 19

Also on the the same day:

Creature (1998)
Erik the Viking (1989)
Extremities (1986)
Flawless (1999)
Ski School (1990)
Yellowbeard (1983)

I never got around to seeing Extremeties but I still vividly remember my mom retelling the entire film to me when I was probably six or seven years old. Apparently rape revenge films were the natural progression from fairy tales in my household!

Spelling has never been their strong suit....

6/16/15

The Last American Virgin (1982)

Surprised this flew under the radar, but Olive released King of the Hill seasons 9 and 10 yesterday. Hopefully we'll get the remaining seasons soon.

7/28/15

Roar (1981)

I'm confused about Roar. I thought it's being released by Drafthouse Films. Unless they changed distributor to Olive...

Just going by the Amazon listing

Drafthouse Films has partnered with Olive Films to release the Noel Marshall's sole––and career-derailing-–directoral effort, the notorious 1981 family affair with big cats, Roar. The film will have a limited theatrical release across the US this spring, and will be available on Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand platforms later this summer

I think Drafthouse is helping get the film theatrical and non-theatrical bookings, while Olive is obviously putting out the physical media.