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I don't see what the brouhaha is: yes, it's annoying that, when you take a disc out, you actually have to keep the box horizontal!
But I think most people can handle that.

O come on guys, stop being such Criterion jingos. It's not the end of the world, it's not cause for murder, but it was a pretty stupid design move, considering it's a virtual innovation versus settled industry standard for packaging this kind of presentation.

It's just a dumb design, and no amount of hypersimplified sniffing can negate it. When you stick the box up in your shelf or wall unit, the titles' spines are not displayed like the vast bulk of box sets housing individual independent titles. The "box" is going to get beaten to high hell because you cant leave it on your shelf while happily removing your desired disc-- you've gotta take the whole schplotz down over & over again every time you wanna watch one, leading to excessive wear and tear on this flimsy housing. I've tons of boxed sets, none of them, from the most expensive to the cheap shit Image Ed Wood box, require that I haul the whole box down from my wall unit each time I wanta thread a single disc out.

Sure-- if some city designed a grid of sidewalks where the mailbox was always dead center of the thoroughfare, some snide zoning & planning soul would come on along the same line with "Uh.. maybe.. aim the feet a little uh to the right (or even the left! see all the wonderful choices?) and Veer Softly Around The Mailbox. See uh how simple that (cough) is? But I guess we can't win around here. Instead of making Muhammad go to the mailbox, we brought the mailbox to Muhammad... but I guess you can't satisfy everybody."

The box is also dumb because if all the discs are not in it, you've got to skwish the thing hard when picking it up or the discs will plop everywhere. And skwishing it will dent and crease it. And when it's full you've gotta pay attention to grip it properly when you grab it-- in other words it's less convenient than every other kind of box in the world-- otherwise the discs will still splat around your feet.

Ease Of Use, ergonomics, etc... it's a genuine science and art, and whomever came up with putting the openings on the bottom--hiding the spine titles and loosing the thinpaks-- versus the settled convenience and pleasing display aesthetic of open sides, was just Yachting Through The Sea Of Dumkopf.

HerrSchreck wrote:Yachting Through The Sea Of Dumkopf.

Sorry, I just wanted to see that again. Sounds like one of the great lost films of the Czech New Wave.

zedz wrote:

HerrSchreck wrote:Yachting Through The Sea Of Dumkopf.

Sorry, I just wanted to see that again. Sounds like one of the great lost films of the Czech New Wave.

'Twas the prequel to Sledz and two Kopfs.

HerrSchreck, is your life always filled with such slapstick? You must find the world a very frustrating place. I really can't see how a slip case can really cause anyone so much difficulty. Maybe you need to stop thinking of Eclipse releases as box sets, and think of them as budget releases of obscure Films. Let me repeat Films. I wouldn't mind if they skipped the slip case all together and just wrapped the films together in shrinkwrap. It would save even more money. I promise this is the last time I will comment on this subject. Because whether or not there is a piece of cardboard on the bottom or top of the outer packaging is really not important enough to be concerned with. The films look great, the selection is great, the price is cheap. I can't wait for the next release.

Derek Estes wrote:HerrSchreck, is your life always filled with such slapstick? You must find the world a very frustrating place. I really can't see how a slip case can really cause anyone so much difficulty. .

Ding ding ding ding ding! We have just identified the wounded soul that designed the Eclipstrip!

DEREK ESTES-- inventor
Resume

Patents:
1) The All Steel Bouncing Egg Shipper
2) Teen Beat Steel Wool Toilet Paper
3) The Jack Daniels All-Glass Racecar
4) The Marble Basketball
5) The Combination Soldering Iron/Douche Wand
6) The Criterion Producer Genitalia Lollipop

Now that's comedy.

HerrSchreck wrote:The "box" is going to get beaten to high hell because you cant leave it on your shelf while happily removing your desired disc-- you've gotta take the whole schplotz down over & over again every time you wanna watch one, leading to excessive wear and tear on this flimsy housing. I've tons of boxed sets, none of them, from the most expensive to the cheap shit Image Ed Wood box, require that I haul the whole box down from my wall unit each time I wanta thread a single disc out.

You should have a go at the Hitch masterpiece set. Its like a freaking Japanese puzzle box. Worse still is the Alien Legacy set. If you want to get at the last disk then you need a room thats 50ft wide/long to unfold the buggering packaging.

Last time I checked, this was the cover art and packaging thread. Sure, there are lots of Criterion discs that we'd be pathetically grateful to receive wrapped in clingfilm, but this thread is specifically about critiquing their design decisions. Surely calling them out on a box set in which the "box" doesn't fulfill the expected functions of a box (i.e. holding things in place for convenient access) is a step up from font snobbery. If it pains you to read petty carping about packaging, you should avoid this thread at all costs!

HerrSchreck wrote:The box is also dumb because if all the discs are not in it, you've got to skwish the thing hard when picking it up or the discs will plop everywhere. And skwishing it will dent and crease it. And when it's full you've gotta pay attention to grip it properly when you grab it-- in other words it's less convenient than every other kind of box in the world-- otherwise the discs will still splat around your feet.

I only disagree with Schreck's post because I would have spelled the verb "skwish" as "squish."

Tribe

Herr Schrek's posts just keep getting better and funnier! =D>
One can only speculate where he might end up, but its sure fun watching, for example:

HerrSchreck wrote:6) The Criterion Producer Genitalia Lollipop

zedz wrote:Last time I checked, this was the cover art and packaging thread. Sure, there are lots of Criterion discs that we'd be pathetically grateful to receive wrapped in clingfilm, but this thread is specifically about critiquing their design decisions. Surely calling them out on a box set in which the "box" doesn't fulfill the expected functions of a box (i.e. holding things in place for convenient access) is a step up from font snobbery. If it pains you to read petty carping about packaging, you should avoid this thread at all costs!

Amen.

.. the "box" doesn't fulfill the expected functions of a box..

A genuine masterpiece of minimalism (though I might have capitalized the second use of the word "Box".. but it's zedz, who knows how to fly his own verbal plane).

I rarely care about CC/MOC etc's packaging choices and almost never chime in here. When the content is Grade A I'd buy it even if the coverart was a montage of Childbirth Cleanup.

But when folks plug their ears and scream at the top of their lungs to drown out the most basic critique of such an obvious piece of flumpery, its a little silly imho.

Looks to me the re-release has the same type of package like Bicycle Thieves. Found this at bn.com:

Of the new titles, I think Les Enfants terribles is a stunner, and very sypathetic to the film. The Teshigahara covers are also very classy. An excellent month.

Criterion sure likes their black and white on the July covers. I'm disappointed with the Ace in the Hole cover, but I'm not sure why off the top of my head. I appreciate the attempt to make it look like a newspaper, but I don't like it. The other July covers seem kind of lazy too. It doesn't help that all three Teshigaharas have the same shot used on their R2 counterparts.

I can't complain, love em'..but I really thought Cocteau's Les parents terribles would be a double feature with this one.

Cinephrenic wrote:I can't complain, love em'..but I really thought Cocteau's Les parents terribles would be a double feature with this one.

Maybe it'll be part of a boxset, along with the bonus disc of "Zero for Conduct" that I thought "If...." was going to include.

-BJ

Will likely grab Ace In the Hole; happy to see these Teshigahara films finally available stateside, but I can't help but be disappointed that they're three I already own (and like with Vengeance Is Mine, somewhat of a step down feature-wise from the wonderful R2 editions). I'll try to Netflix the bonus disc for the short films, though.

I'm a little disappointed in the Ace In the Hole cover too. I had assumed all along that they would do a mock newspaper, but there is something very lackluster about this one.

I would have preferred this at any rate:

Yeah, that Ace in the Hole cover is ug-ly! Totally buying it though, so whatever. We've all done worse. I once exchanged money for a DVD that came in a case that looked like this:

the Ivan's Childhood cover is simply beautiful... very balanced and disorienting (i know those terms are conflicting)...
it's poetic.

I'm sure the transfer will be leaps and bounds ahead of all the RUSCICO crap around (including the AE transfer)... Tarkovsky deserves the best (you listening Kino?)

the ace in the hole cover is too obvious and boring.
The other covers are all very good this month.

I'm with the majority on the new covers. Everything except Ace In The Hole is stunning, with my fave being Les Enfants Terribles. There's something about the Ace cover... it doesn't feel like a dvd cover, it feels pasted on, I can't put my finger on it.

I like the Ace in the Hole cover a lot. I agree, it doesn't feel like a DVD cover, that's what I like best of all!