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So very happy to see Eclipse hasn't been axed, but a bit sad that it's wasted on Kinoshita (maybe I haven't seen the right films, but the guy puts me to sleep). You win some, you lose some.

Not a big deal for people with region-free players, but a lot of consumers with sophisticated tastes don't have them for one reason or another, so Time Bandits getting a Region A release is big. (For my money, Gilliam's first three non-Python films are still his best.)

And yes, Safe is tremendous. A masterpiece, and it has enough fans that it topped the Village Voice's poll for best film of the decade, which was a surprise even to me.

It really feels as if [Safe] anticipates ideas of social anxiety, environmentalism, family relationships (real and surrogate) and cult-versus-commune themes that have only just begun to be picked up and explored by films again in recent years: Martha Marcy May Marlene and Upstream Color for example.

Time Bandits does not look a "mega-deluxe edition" to me, at all.

Absolutely over the moon about Safe. Glad to see they kept the commentary from the Sony disc.

Wow what an underwhelming month. Except Safe, nothing for me, which is very unusual for a december line up.

Buttercream wrote:So very happy to see Eclipse hasn't been axed, but a bit sad that it's wasted on Kinoshita (maybe I haven't seen the right films, but the guy puts me to sleep). You win some, you lose some.

Jubilation Street from this set (haven't seen the others) is pretty good and enjoyable. Certainly worth at least a rental if you can.

eerik wrote:Time Bandits does not look a "mega-deluxe edition" to me, at all.

True, but Criterion is definitely taking advantage of every "Tomorrow With Tom Snyder" episode they can squeeze in.

So I think this adds up to this for 2014, 50 new releases (50 new spine numbers, at least), 3 box sets, 24 upgrades (14 are totally new editions), 400Blows & Breathless Dual Formats and 2 eclipse releases. No idea on the number of bonus films.

Looking forward to the Eclipse release and will probably try Night Porter, I might revisit Time Bandits, but it's a pretty mediocre film. No need to revisit Safe, that film is 'how I learned to stop worrying and love real medicine' and made me abandon my college days flirtation with the mountain of nonsense that is all alternative medicine/naturopathy, Safe is a little too scary/sad to take again.

Are Taste of Cherry and Armageddon the only in-print nonanamorphic widescreen transfers left from the early days?

Summertime too if I remember rightly.

Summertime is incorrectly presented in open matte by criterion, so it's not a nonanamorphic widescreen transfer

Andrei Rublev

And The Ship Sails On is anamorphic according to its cover but that film is probably in dire need of an upgrade too, maybe with the addition of the English language dub track and extras.

colinr0380 wrote:And The Ship Sails On is anamorphic according to its cover but that film is probably in dire need of an upgrade too, maybe with the addition of the English language dub track and extras.

This should be pretty feasible given there is an existing decent HD master used by Gaumont France for their BR...

It's Safe only for me as well out of this announcement but I have so many titles from previous months to catch up with that I'm not complaining.

Man, I guess Nigh Porter every other month. I came within inches of doing it again this month. 0/4 again. #-o

A bit of a light month, which is typically the case for December (I only remember last December being unusually substantial, in large part due to the inclusion of the WCF box set). Still, good to see The Night Porter, Safe, and Time Bandits get solid releases (I haven't even seen the first two titles yet, so I'll be checking those out soon).

Strictly in terms of "random speculation," I think it's interesting that both The Brood and Midnight Cowboy were not released this year. The former almost seemed guaranteed, especially with Scanners getting a release. Maybe Criterion is trying to spread them out accordingly, meaning we might not get The Brood until summer of 2015.

As for Midnight Cowboy, I'm starting to wonder if that newsletter clue wasn't for the film after all, even though it did seem much like it. (Looking back, many people did find the title of the image "11-13" rather strange and not exactly fitting in context of the film.)

Otherwise, I think the only other major titles hinted at yet to receive a release are Mulholland Dr. and Satyricon. My guess is that Lynch is taking his time with the former, and that the latter will be released either in January or February.

colinr0380 wrote:And The Ship Sails On is anamorphic according to its cover but that film is probably in dire need of an upgrade too, maybe with the addition of the English language dub track and extras.

Pretty sure And the Ship Sails On is not anamorphic.

criterion10 wrote:

colinr0380 wrote:And The Ship Sails On is anamorphic according to its cover but that film is probably in dire need of an upgrade too, maybe with the addition of the English language dub track and extras.

Pretty sure And the Ship Sails On is not anamorphic.

Just checked it and you are right. It actually says "letterbox transfer - videoscope" in the box that I was mistaking for saying anamorphic. And on playing the disc it is definitely non-anamorphic, so we can add that to the list.

criterion10 wrote:As for Midnight Cowboy, I'm starting to wonder if that newsletter clue wasn't for the film after all, even though it did seem much like it. (Looking back, many people did find the title of the image "11-13" rather strange and not exactly fitting in context of the film.)

ianungstand suggested that it was delayed due to Hoffman's health issues, which is probably correct (see also the vanishing Hoffman interview on Tootsie). Criterion and/or Hoffman probably feel more strongly about Midnight Cowboy than Tootsie, so I imagine they're making more effort to include him in that release and delayed it accordingly.
The average (mode) amount of time between newsletter clues and announcements is 3 months, so Satyricon will probably be released in January.

criterion10 wrote:(Looking back, many people did find the title of the image "11-13" rather strange and not exactly fitting in context of the film.)

The title of that image was the date the newsletter was sent out (November 2013). Criterion stopped giving the newsletter clues clever names that tied in with the film, presumably because some of them were dead giveaways even when the drawings weren't (i.e. "Wacky Rosemary").

I'm not too interested with what was announced. I'm more concerned about when we will see a 2nd WCF set. 'Limite', 'The Night of Counting the Years', 'Manila in the Claws of Light'. Maybe outside of the Koker Trilogy and a hopeful blu-ray of 'Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice', can't say I'm looking forward to anything as much as those films restored by the WCF. With no hints in sight on when/if a 2nd set will be released either, bummer.

Thrilled with Safe. Far From Heaven would also be a good choice as well.

Next month will be interesting. The night before the next announcement day will be the Wexner talks.

Ecstatic to get an upgrade of the Night Porter finally - the original release is one of the poorest in the collection. Here's hoping we get some good extras this time around.

Had to figure a Kinoshita Eclipse was coming eventually they only have 40 more unreleased titles on Hulu right now. Time Bandits is the one and only Gilliam I don't really care for, and I think Safe is in the same category as something like Clean, Shaven in terms of being purely unsettling film that I can't imagine wanting to watch again. All in all disappointing compared to last December, but it's been a fantastic year overall, so I'm hardly going to complain.

Hopefully How to Get Ahead in Advertising and Withnail and I are the next Handmade titles that Criterion releases. How to Get Ahead in Advertising has been OOP for ages.

Feego wrote:

criterion10 wrote:(Looking back, many people did find the title of the image "11-13" rather strange and not exactly fitting in context of the film.)

The title of that image was the date the newsletter was sent out (November 2013). Criterion stopped giving the newsletter clues clever names that tied in with the film, presumably because some of them were dead giveaways even when the drawings weren't (i.e. "Wacky Rosemary").

That makes sense. Surprised I didn't realize it.