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That makes sense. My comp doesn't do the mousing over thing with these images for some odd reason.

Only Rashomon and the Eclipse set for me this month. Can't stand Godard and Pasolini doesn't appeal to me (exception is Gospel According to Matthew) while Heaven's Gate intrigues me but not a blind-buy.

I'm really happy with the Eclipse, looks very fun. this is the first year with seven eclipse releases since 2008, glad to see they've marginally increased their effort (though with two two disc eclipse sets this year, maybe they didn't really make any additional effort).

Trilogy of Life looks like a great set, and I'm looking forward to picking up Rashomon. Shame about how sparse catalog blurays have been in 2012, I loved the 2011 frenetic pace of upgrades. Considering its reputation, I won't be blind buying Heaven's Gate.

my only complaints are the fact that we're getting Heaven's Gate (a terrible movie with not nearly enough bonus features) and not On the Waterfront AND there's only one upgrade. 2011's upgrade output kills this year. not that they haven't been good/needed upgrades, just way less frequent.

otherwise i'm buying Rashomon, Week End, Trilogy of Life (blind buy but those covers..), and probably the Eclipse.

ryannichols7 wrote:my only complaints are the fact that we're getting Heaven's Gate (a terrible movie with not nearly enough bonus features)

Food was lousy, portions small, etc.

I think Heaven's Gate is a mesmerizing film, inspire of its (arguable) flaws. I thought its reputation had risen over the years -- Kevin Thomas liked it, Scott Foundas defends it, Jonathan Rosenbaum sees some value in it, Michael Atkinson, Z Channel and Film Forum revived it, and the initial home video release of the long cut allegedly launched a "cult following."

But not here, I guess.

In any event it's a film you must see and make up your own mind about, rather than dismissing it based on its "reputation."

Bad reputation? This makes me think of Lindsay Anderson's Sight & Sound review of 'On the Waterfront'.

6 releases? That's all? I expected November to be a big month, specially after we got only 4 releases in October. If we compare this to last year:

October and November 2011: 14 main line releases
October and November 2012: 10 main line releases

The Trilogy of Life was clearly giving them trouble so its safe to assume all of their energy went there. No need to kevetch when you have gold.

felipe wrote:6 releases? That's all?

Not sure where you're getting six. There are five new releases, though they comprise ten films and eleven discs.

swo17 wrote:

felipe wrote:6 releases? That's all?

Not sure where you're getting six. There are five new releases, though they comprise ten films and eleven discs.

He's adding Rashomon to get to six, counting releases not new releases.

they've said in the past that a re-do of a catalog title takes as much resources as a new release.

And it's 15 discs for the mainline releases this month (dvd and bluray combined), not sure where you got eleven.

Holy shit, it's been awhile since I wanted all of the releases! Thank god for that Rashomon upgrade, though. I almost bought it last month.

movielocke wrote:

swo17 wrote:

felipe wrote:6 releases? That's all?

Not sure where you're getting six. There are five new releases, though they comprise ten films and eleven discs.

He's adding Rashomon to get to six, counting releases not new releases.

they've said in the past that a re-do of a catalog title takes as much resources as a new release.

And it's 15 discs for the mainline releases this month (dvd and bluray combined), not sure where you got eleven.

Rashomon is one of the five (that plus the trilogy, Weekend, Heaven's Gate, and the Eclipse). Eleven discs is just for the Blu-ray releases and the Eclipse. All combined, Criterion is producing 19 new discs in November.

That's my count, too

Rashomon: 1 DVD, 1 BD
Trilogy of Life: 4 DVD, 3 BD
Weekend: 1 DVD, 1 BD
Heaven's Gate: 2 DVD, 2 BD
Eclipse 37: 4 DVD

DVD: 12, BD 7

19 total

I can't relate to the griping this month. In terms of the quality of the films alone -- even if some were previously on DVD at the CC or elsewhere -- this is an amazing month. And I'll be happily picking up all the mainline Blu-rays.

knives wrote:The Trilogy of Life was clearly giving them trouble so its safe to assume all of their energy went there. No need to kevetch when you have gold.

Well, I for one expected "bigger" releases for November. I mean, Heaven's gate and Trilogy of life could be considered big but they're not November big. I expected releases on the line of Brazil, On the waterfront, Y tu mama tambien, Wild strawberries blu, and so on...

felipe wrote:

knives wrote:The Trilogy of Life was clearly giving them trouble so its safe to assume all of their energy went there. No need to kevetch when you have gold.

Well, I for one expected "bigger" releases for November. I mean, Heaven's gate and Trilogy of life could be considered big but they're not November big. I expected releases on the line of Brazil, On the waterfront, Y tu mama tambien, Wild strawberries blu, and so on...

That just shows your priorities rather than the effort and 'bigness' of the releases. I certainly would consider for myself Heaven's Gate to be of more worth than an On the Waterfront release. That's just my priority again though. Point is that these are enough releases that took enough effort that they should be satisfactory to anybody.

Not only is it the best month of releases in a while, but it's perfectly timed with the BN November sale.

I'm bored and was curious what else was left, so I went through and looked for the 'wrong' guesses. A shame December is never a big month:

Eclipse:
Etaix
Rossellini History v2

Main Line:
On the Waterfront
Eraserhead
Mulhulland Dr.
Pina
Foreign Correspondent
Wenders Road set
Red River
Y Tu Mama Tambien
City Lights
Madadayo
King of Comedy
A Man Escaped
Immigrants/New Land
Shooting/Hired Hand
Bitter Rice

Re-releases & upgrades:
Brazil
Spartacus
Le Samourai
Wild Strawberries
Band of Outsiders
Life & Death of Colonel Blimp
Tokyo Story
Ikiru
Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Last Wave
Les Enfants Terribles
Gray Gardens
I am Curious
The Blob

Additional Wrong guesses from before this round of guessing (I went back to look for the posts of people guessing the rest of the year from a few months ago).

Eclipse
Czech new Wave vol 2
Frank Perry

Main Line
Ministry of Fear
The Tenant
The Uninvited
Short Films of David Lynch
Cure
Taking Off
Lili Marleen
Ghost World
The Soft Skin
4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days
Following
Qatsi Trilogy
Paris Belongs to Us
Naked Island

re-releases & upgrades
Grey Gardens/ Beales of Grey Gardens
Cria Cuervos
Kwaidan
Tin Drum
Life Aquatic
And the Ship Sails On
Knife in the Water
Bicycle Thieves

With regards to my guess of "The King of Comedy", someone here posted back in the spring that they were talking to Thelma at a signing for the Hugo dvd about Criterion (and other special edition's of Scorsese's work) and asked if anything was in the works and she said "The King of Comedy" but the poster noted that she didn't specify if "The King of Comedy" was going to be a Criterion release or a special edition that Fox was going to do on their own. Fox has been in the doldrums for awhile but their plans for 2013 seem more ambitious, so I would guess maybe 50/50? It's not unlike the speculation regarding Spike Lee's 25th Hour.

I think it's amazing that we managed to guess just about as many films for November as Criterion is likely to release in six months! :-p

I was wondering about why King of Comedy cropped up in several different places.

ianungstad wrote:As for Mike Nichols...I think Janus has the rights to Day of the Dolphin and released it through HVe and they probably have Nichols & May: Take 2 from Westchester which would be a great supplement on a mainline release of Mikey & Nicky. (which was also a HVe release)

Dolphin was a StudioCanal license, so who knows how much longer they might have it.

Has there been any confirmation if Criterion will be releasing The kid with a bike?

A great month. Heavens Gate and Sci-Fi Eclipse are a must buy.

Still, there are so many Japanese films that Criterion has on Hulu that need releases.

Still shocked that there is no R1 of Bandits Vs Samuri Squadron out there. Feel like Criterion has been holding on to that film for so many years. Hunter In The Dark would be nice as well.

felipe wrote:Has there been any confirmation if Criterion will be releasing The kid with a bike?

Just that, as an IFC property, it's theirs if they want it.