criterionforum.org

TMDaines wrote:

Tribe wrote:When did this yearly thread become a general list posting thread...where any list about anything in particular was fair game?

Maybe because more people here now care about the quality of a release being the overriding factor rather than just whether it has had a C slapped on the front or not?

Maybe it's just me but surely this forum has a lot wider scope than just being a celebration of Criterion-only releases.

Lame.
Entitlement.
I bought exactly two CC releases in 2010 and voted accordingly (not a fan of CCs shithead blu policy) but Id say this threads modus is clear enough to follow along. please keep with the simple train of thought here. If folks want to they can create another voting thread.

Are you talking about the region coding when you say shit head policy?

knives wrote:Are you talking about the region coding when you say shit head policy?

dont want to start a flame out but yes. they region code when they dont have to. BFI. MOC. The good guys. Shit--WB is more progressive than CC on this front.

skuhn8 wrote:

knives wrote:Are you talking about the region coding when you say shit head policy?

dont want to start a flame out but yes. they region code when they dont have to. BFI. MOC. The good guys. Shit--WB is more progressive than CC on this front.

Well, if nothing else, it allows other companies to take part. I'm rather happy with the region encoding policy (being primarily region 1 myself) but it also allowed MoC to release a better version of M. Criterion could pull a Kino and flood the market with their region free releases (which causes other companies to not have a chance... the Buster Keatons). Sure it is all unfortunate for the Region 2 people, but I had to go region free for Blu to get some great MoC and BFI releases, so why not everyone else?

Because everyone else is a shithead...?

Ooh, I think I'm getting this now!

Come on, guys. This is supposed to be something celebratory. Why does it need so much bickering and arguing? The harshness of some of the responses outweighs the stimulus, which is just slight differences of opinion on non-essential matters.

Now let's all get drunk and enjoy ourselves. It is the holidays, after all.

Best Releases
Josef Von Sternberg
Modern Times
Rossellini's War Trilogy
Vivre Sa Vie
Lola Montes
Bigger Than Life
Paris, Texas
Close-Up
The Night of the Hunter
Red Desert

Best Eclipse
Oshima's Outlaw Sixties

Best Reissue
The Red Shoes

Best Cover
Louie Bluie

Best Packaging
Rossellini's War Trilogy

Best (Re)Discovery
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

Most Disappointing Release
Everlasting Moments

Member of the Year
swo17

Best Releases:
1. Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy
2. 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
3. Night of The Hunter
4. Everlasting Moments
5. Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu

Best Eclipse
Eclipse 24: The Actuality Dramas of Allan King

Best Reissue
The Red Shoes

Best Supplement
Charles Laughton Directs “The Night of the Hunter" (although "Welcome To Bleak House" on Cronos was considerable fun.)

Best Cover
The Magician

Best Packaging
Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu

Best (Re)Discovery
Bigger Than Life

Biggest Disappointment
Night Train To Munich. Generally I love Carol Reed's work, but this film seemed endless and the return of Charters and Caldicott added to my misery. It now looks as if I may never watch that second film on The Lady Vanishes!

Had to watch NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH recently after it getting slaughtered in this awards thread, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a lovely old British film, with a nice tight script, fine wit, and great acting. It doesn't deserve the takedown it's getting!

peerpee wrote:Had to watch NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH recently after it getting slaughtered in this awards thread, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a lovely old British film, with a nice tight script, fine wit, and great acting. It doesn't deserve the takedown it's getting!

Absolutely agree - I enthused about it on the relevant thread. I suspect it resonates rather more with British viewers (and especially those well versed in the peculiar psychology of the "phoney war" period during which it was made), but it's a far more interesting film than the casual dismissals above are making out.

MichaelB wrote:

peerpee wrote:Had to watch NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH recently after it getting slaughtered in this awards thread, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a lovely old British film, with a nice tight script, fine wit, and great acting. It doesn't deserve the takedown it's getting!

Absolutely agree - I enthused about it on the relevant thread. I suspect it resonates rather more with British viewers (and especially those well versed in the peculiar psychology of the "phoney war" period during which it was made), but it's a far more interesting film than the casual dismissals above are making out.

Well, I'm an American, and I was delighted, but I think I enjoyed it as much for Rex Harrison's three or four performances as anything else.

Best Release
Night of the Hunter
Bigger Than Life
Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy
Vivre sa vie
Stagecoach

Best Eclipse
n/a for now. Hopefully I'll break into Guitry &/or Oshima by 1/23.

Best Reissue
Black Narcissus

Best Supplement
Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter

Best Cover
The Magician

Best Packaging
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story

Best Discovery
Louie Bluie

Member(s) of the Year
cdnchris, Sausage, Matt, Jeff, kinjitsu et al.
I adore most everyone here but to showcase anyone else but the mods in a year that saw a forum hack and a seemingly unending succession of particularly nasty Richard Craniums would be unfair. Let's hope for a more peaceful 2011.

Best Releases
Rossellini's War Trilogy
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story
Revanche
The Thin Red Line
The Night of the Hunter

Best Eclipse
Oshima's Outlaw Sixties

Best Reissue
Days of Heaven

Best Cover
The Night of the Hunter

Best Packaging
Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg

Best (Re)discovery
The Thin Red Line

Best Supplement
Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter

Most Disappointing Release
L’Enfance Nue

Best Release
01. The Night of the Hunter
02. Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy
03. Stagecoach
04. The Thin Red Line
05. Paths of Glory
06. Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu
07. The Magician
08. Modern Times
09. Bigger Than Life
10. Cronos

Best Eclipse
Oshima's Outlaw Sixties

Best Reissue
The Red Shoes BD

Best Blu-ray Upgrade
The Leopard - This transfer is a revelation

Honorable mention: Seven Samurai

Best Commentary
Terry Sanders, F. X. Feeney, Robert Gitt, and Preston Neal Jones for The Night of the Hunter

Honorable mention: Jon Lee Anderson for Che

Best Supplement
Charles Laughton Directs "The Night of the Hunter"

Honorable mentions:
Tag Gallagher's visual essays for Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy & Stagecoach
David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson for Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu

Best (Re)Discovery
The Magician

Best Surprise
Ride with the Devil

Best Cover(s)
The Magician & The Secret of the Grain

Best Packaging
Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy

Honorable mention: Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu

Member(s) of the Year
Michael Kerpan, swo, and zedz

Best Release
Red Desert
Lola Montes
The Night of the Hunter
3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy

Best Eclipse
Presenting Sacha Guitry

Best Reissue
The Red Shoes

Best Commentary
Vivre sa vie

Best Supplement
Charles Laughton directs The Night of the Hunter

Best Cover
The Red Shoes

Best Packaging
The Red Shoes

Best Discovery
Red Desert (I'd known about this film for nearly a decade before seeing it, but I can't imagine a more extraordinary presentation for my first viewing)

Best Release
1. America Lost and Found: The BBS Story
2. The Thin Red Line
3. House
4. Lola Montès
5. Close-Up

Best Eclipse
Oshima’s Outlaw Sixties

Best Reissue
The Red Shoes

Best Commentary
Close-up

Best Cover
Last Picture Show

Best Packaging
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story

Best (Re)Discovery
Revanche

Members of the Year
Mods

Best Release
1. Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy
2. The Night of the Hunter
3. Lola Montés
4. by Brakhage: An Anthology, Volumes One and Two
5. Letters from Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa

Best Eclipse
The Actuality Dramas of Allan King

Best Reissue
The Red Shoes

Best Supplement
Tag Gallagher's visual essay for Rossellini's War Trilogy

Best (Re)Discovery
The Secret of the Grain

Best Cover
Close-Up

Best Packaging
BBS Story

Best Release
1. The Night of the Hunter
2. 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
3. Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy
4. Stagecoach
5. Bigger Than Life

Best Eclipse
Oshima's Outlaw Sixties

Best Reissue
The Red Shoes

Best Commentary
The Night of the Hunter

Best Supplement
Charles Laughton directs The Night of the Hunter

Best (Re)Discovery
House

Best Cover
House

Best Packaging
3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg

Best Releases
1. 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
2. America Lost and Found: The BBS Story
3. The Night of the Hunter
4. Letters from Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa
5. Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy

Best Eclipse Release
Oshima's Outlaw Sixties

Best Re-Issue
The Red Shoes

Best Re-discovery
Make Way For Tomorrow

Best Cover
Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu

Best Packaging
Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu

Member of the Year
Lots of contenders, but this year ... Kerpan

I just remembered I still could vote if I had time ... and I actually do have some time at the moment, so here I go ...:

Favourite Releases
Letters from Fontainhas ... by Pedro Costa
Oshima's Outlaw Sixties
Three Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
Stagecoach (Ford)
Rosselini's War Trilogy

Favourite Eclipse
Oshima's Outlaw Sixties

Most Disappointing Release
Make Way For Tomorrow (I do understand that many people like MWfT, but although I've been - and still am - very interested in crisis cinema in the last years, I couldn't relate to this tearjerker in no way)

Best Supplement
I found the Ford interview to be interesting but I haven't managed to delve into the Costa features yet ...

Favourite Non-Criterion
That Kind of Girl (O'Hara, BFI – I concede that TKoG is not a great movie and I don't like O'Hara's representation of the CND activists that much, but imho that's last year's most lovely surprise and my favourite dvd edition of 2010)
Sestaja cast' mira/Odinnatcatyj (Vertov, Filmmuseum)
Bronco Bullfrog (Platts-Mills, BFI – marvelous movie and a very significant improvement over the older edition, so I add it although I found it very disappointing that I couldn't find no h-o-h subtitles for the extras …)
The Weather Underground/Underground (Siegel et.al./de Antonio, Laika)
Urban Action Collection (Warner ...cough, cough … Black Belt Jones ... errr, I would have voted for Coffret Wakamatsu 2, if the folks at Blaqout would have provided decent transfers instead of forced trailers and if I could play them without troubleshooting)

Voting closes tomorrow, results soon after

Wu.Qinghua wrote:I would have voted for Coffret Wakamatsu 2, if the folks at Blaqout would have provided decent transfers instead of forced trailers and if I could play them without troubleshooting)

Can you be a bit more specific? What exactly is wrong with them? (I thought they'd had generally good reviews.)

Wu.Qinghua wrote:I would have voted for Coffret Wakamatsu 2, if the folks at Blaqout would have provided decent transfers instead of forced trailers and if I could play them without troubleshooting)

So...if it had been a better release you would've voted for it.

otis wrote:

Wu.Qinghua wrote:I would have voted for Coffret Wakamatsu 2, if the folks at Blaqout would have provided decent transfers instead of forced trailers and if I could play them without troubleshooting)

Can you be a bit more specific? What exactly is wrong with them? (I thought they'd had generally good reviews.)

I can try to. I'd complain about three things:

a) Firstly I have major problems playing the discs on my computer - and I usually have to stick to it at the moment. Anyway, having entered the discs, everything starts out fine, that is, I can watch those two forced trailers, but then I get stuck in the menu and have to hark back to VLC player to get the movies going. But: I haven't even been able to watch 'Running in Madness, Dying in Love' yet, as this movie isn't even running with VLC. Well, this may be due to me running Linux at the moment - I have had recurrent minor problems playing DVDs in the last months -, but those Blaqout discs are really driving me crazy.

b) My second complaint is, that the discs unfortunately feature, as feckless boy claimed over at the Oshima Eclipse thread, unconverted NTSC-PAL transfers, that is, the films do look terrible on my screen playing them with VLC (ghosting etc.).

c) The third problem, which actually is a minor problem, is those forced trailers (Caterpillar and the notorious Copyright-Trailer), which I've definitively seen far too often in the last months. Lol ...

All voted up to this point counted and tallied, if you edit your post, I won't see it. Results posted sometime tomorrow, so you have 'til then to get in a last-minute addition/substitution here or via PM (NOTE: Substitutions will be a pain in the ass, so it better be worth it)