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My prediction is that there won't be any black people in the Criterion announcements either. Watch them burn me by announcing Do the Right Thing, Boyz n the Hood, Carmen Jones, and an Abderrahmane Sissako film all on the same day.

swo17 wrote:Something with Yumeko Aizome might be announced today.

A release of Ball at the Anjo House would be...something else.

As someone noted earlier, Odd Man Out is still appearing on the "coming soon" portion of the main page.

Cries and Whispers appears to have slightly updated cover art.

RSTooley wrote: Cries and Whispers appears to have slightly updated cover art.

And it's still fucking terrifying.

The Odd Man Out page has been taken down.

Clearly, I guessed the wrong Melville yesterday.

And an Ozu Eclipse which mirrors the BFI Gangster Set.

Not completely unless they include the excerpt also.

captveg wrote:Sullivan's Travels upgrade

YES! Been waiting SO LONG for this one.

Friends of Eddie Coyle upgrade!

That's it?! Nothing new to the collection but the Ozus?

And the Melville. And the Reed.

Nothing for me this month except perhaps The River but Arrow's announcement of Blood and Black Lace and Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne makes up for it.

Brian C wrote:And the Melville. And the Reed.

Wow. I would've sworn both of those were Criterion DVDs already. Le Silence de la mer because of the MOC, but Odd Man Out because, ah, I'm starting to lose it, I guess?

I love the surge of Sturges.. Maybe 'The Lady Eve' soon?

Perhaps Arrow and Criterion could collaborate to get a 4k or 2k scan done of The Lady Eve and Miracle of Morgan's Creek etc.

knives wrote:Not completely unless they include the excerpt also.

True, but I would expect the Criterion scores to be a big improvement over the ones on the BFI, which I was very disappointed with.

Brian C wrote:And the Melville. And the Reed.

That still doesn't do much to dissipate the impression that it's Retreads Month at Criterion. All the 'new' films are already available in English-friendly editions which are generally equivalent or superior to what Criterion's offering.

The BFI version of the Ozu set included an additional Ozu film and a special feature. Arrow's Sturges set is pretty close to what's on offer here (it probably comes down to the relative quality of the commentaries), as is MoC's Melville (though Criterion would presumably win on points for people who didn't already have 24 Hours in the Life of a Clown). Only Odd Man Out seems to be clearly superior than the readily available and perfectly fine UK edition.

I can't begrudge Criterion releasing all these in R1, but for the non-region-locked this is a terribly dull month.

Ribs wrote:I am quite amused by the related films being The Third Man, The Fallen Idol, and Hunger.

Why? They're all quite obviously related, and I can't think of any more obviously related films in the collection that they missed out.

Perkins Cobb wrote:

Brian C wrote:And the Melville. And the Reed.

Wow. I would've sworn both of those were Criterion DVDs already. Le Silence de la mer because of the MOC, but Odd Man Out because, ah, I'm starting to lose it, I guess?

Odd Man Out was previously in the Collection as a laserdisc. I've got the Network blu sitting around unopened, and I may not buy any of the others either, as I already have good releases of them all, with the exception of Friends of Eddie Coyle, which I haven't seen yet.

Zedz, I echo your sentiment. Oh well, there is always Feb 15th.

Christ, what an utterly shite month. A bit more originality and pushing the envelope would be nice. In the grand scheme of the home video world, Criterion are becoming less and less essential by the month.