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Release of the Year (5 Choices)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Brand Upon the Brain!
Series 11: Larisa Shepitko
Antonio Gaudi
The Thief of Bagdad

Best Eclipse Release
Series 11: Larisa Shepitko

Best Reissue
High and Low

Best Commentary
Bruce Eder on The Thief of Bagdad - although I did enjoy the Coppola / Scorcese commentary for the enthusiasm and the reflections (particularly from Coppola) upon what the film meant to them in their childhood, and how much it still means to them now.

Best Single Supplement (not a commentary)
The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima

Best Cover
Patriotism

Best Package Design (including DVD menus)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

Best (Re)Discovery
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

Most Disappointing Release
The Model Couple

Best Non-Criterion Release (5 Choices)
Still Life (BFI)
Salo (BFI)
Mad Detective (MOC)
Picnic at Hanging Rock: Deluxe Edition (Second Sight)
Round-Up (Second Run)

Release of the Year (5 choices) (Eclipse titles eligible)

Mon Oncle Antoine
Pierrot le Fou
Silent Ozu
Mizoguchi's Fallen Women
Autumn Afternoon

Honorable mention to the Lubitsch musicals and Kaurismaki set and Kurosawa set

Best Eclipse Release -- Series 10: Silent Ozu—Three Family Comedies

What a wonderful year for Eclipse. Lots of contenders, I hate slighting Mizoguchi and Lubitsch (among others) -- but this is the one I love most.

Best Reissue -- none seen yet (but I hope I get H&L for xmas)

Best Commentary (inlcudes selected scene commentaries and visual essays)

Bordwell --Autumn Afternoon

Best Single Supplement (not a commentary)

Claude Jutra: An Unfinished Story

Best Cover

n/a

Best Package Design (including DVD menus)

n/a

Best (Re)Discovery (for a film you knew little or nothing about before the Criterion release)

n/a

Most Disappointing Release (for releases that Criterion dropped the ball on: bad transfer, poor supplements, etc.)

n/a

Forum Member of the Year

Hard choice -- but I think MichaelB provided the most interesting information on the most consistent basis.

Richard Cranium Award

n/a

Best Non-Criterion Release (5 Choices)

Hiroshi Shimizu (both Shochiku box sets -- does this count as 1 pick or 2?) As far as I'm concerned, the most important release of the year world-wide (Mon Oncle Antoine being the most important release in the US itself)

MOC's Mizoguchi double-header containing Chikamatsu monogatari and Uwasa no onna

VAP's Megane / Eyeglasses (Naoko Ogigami) -- wonderful film with delightfully over-the-top packaging -- and subtitles

Geneon's Tenten / Adrift in Tokyo (Miki) -- no subs, alas.

Shochiku's Kaabee / Our Mother (Yamada) -- wonderful film, nice package, subtitles

Should have listed last year -- but didn't get it until this year -- the Philippine release of Ishmael Bernal's Himala -- only a so-so DVD, to be generous, but passable compared to other releases of Philippine films of similar vintage -- but at last this spectacular film is available on DVD (with burnt-in subs -- in English on the bottom and, on the right side vertically, Japanese).

Release of the Year:
01. Missing
02. Pierrot le fou
03. Bottle Rocket
04. Brand Upon the Brain!
05. This Sporting Life

Best Eclipse Release: Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals
Best Reissue: Cleo from 5 to 7
Best Commentary: Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson on Bottle Rocket
Best Single Supplement: Multiple narration tracks on Brand Upon the Brain!
Best Cover: Vampyr
Best Package Design: Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Best Discovery: Missing
Most Disappointing Release: (tie) The Model Couple for aspect ratio issues, and Chungking Express for lack of substantial extras
Forum Members of the Year: (tie) domino harvey and swo17
Richard Cranium Award: kevyip

Best Non-Criterion Release:
01. Stanley Kubrick Director's Series Box (Warner)
02. Sports Night: The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
03. Zodiac Director's Cut (Paramount)
04. Wall-E 3-Disc (Disney/Pixar)
05. Bonnie and Clyde: Ultimate Collector's Edition (Warner)

Release of the Year:
01. Brand Upon the Brain!
02. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
03. Bottle Rocket
04. Vampyr
05. Chungking Express

Best Eclipse Release: Postwar Kurosawa
Best Reissue: Salo
Best Commentary: Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson on Bottle Rocket
Best Single Supplement: Multiple narration tracks on Brand Upon the Brain!
Best Cover: : Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Best Package Design: Vampyr
Best Discovery: Patriotism
Most Disappointing Release: The Lovers

Why aren't the Blu-rays considered for best release/reissue?

dx23 wrote:Why aren't the Blu-rays considered for best release/reissue?

They have the same (or less) content as their SD counterparts and the same transfers, so they don't really qualify as reissues.

It goes without saying that the Blu-ray discs have better resolution, but that's about it. If you were to vote for Chungking Express, or Bottle Rocket, or whatever for the best release this year, you would be voting for the film, the transfer, the supplements, etc. Obviously everyone should buy the version with the best resolution their system can handle.

Criterion Release of the Year 2008
1. 4 by Agnès Varda
2. Pierrot le Fou
3. Missing
4. Brand Upon the Brain!
5. White Dog
Best Eclipse Release
Unfortunately the only Eclipse set I've been able to break into is Klein's, which I have to file under worst release anyway...so no best Eclipse vote from me.
Best Reissue
Cleo from 5 to 7
Best Commentary
Gorin's Pierrot Primer
Best Single Supplement
Godard, l’amour, la poésie
Best Cover
Brand Upon The Brain!
Best Package Design
Vampyr
Best Discovery
(tie)Brand Upon the Brain! & Le Bonheur
Most Disappointing Release
The Model Couple
Forum Member of the Year
The three Michaels: Michael, Kerpan, and B all are very deserving but I'll go with "Michael".
As an aside, my favorite member that joined this year is swo17.
Richard Cranium Award
kevyip
Best Non-Criterion Release
1. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Second Run)
2. Wall-E 3 Disc (Disney/Pixar)
3. The Fall (Sony)
4. Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (Mutant Enemy)
5. Bonnie and Clyde: Ultimate Collector's Edition (Warner)

For me at least, this was pretty clearly not Criterion’s year, and several labels outperformed them – some on different scales, it’s true, but some even on a release-by-release basis. So this exercise seems particularly artificial to me this year, and I’ll be setting up (or finding) a Best International DVD Releases of 2008 thread to give some more space to the other worthies.

I still have yet to catch up on several Criterion releases, including some presumably good ones, so this is all provisional, anyway.

Release of the Year (5 choices) (Eclipse titles eligible)

Not that it was a bad year, and particularly not for Eclipse, which seemed much more consistently exciting than the parent line. The problem for me was the same as for a lot of people: too many films already available in fine editions. It’s hard to get up much enthusiasm for incrementally improved transfers or a few more extras.

4 x Agnes Varda – They got off to a great start with one of their best ever box sets. A great, sympathetic and personal set of extras. Two were already available, but the transfers and presentation were well overdue for an upgrade. I was pathetically grateful to finally see La Pointe-Courte, even though it didn’t wholly work as a film.

Silent Ozu – An essential release, and this represents in one blow the most silent films Criterion has released in any year. Only one of these films was previously available with subs, and that was in a very ropey edition. This is what Eclipse is all about.

Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women – Ditto. Only the ready availability of Street of Shame (third time for me, and probably for several others around here) took the shine off.

The Furies – A much anticipated title for me, and one of the few Criterion releases this year that really went above and beyond the call of duty.

Larisa Shepitko – Something of an arbitrary choice, as this is Eclipse’s slenderest release to date, but I’d much rather see more bare-bones double-features of obscurities like this than bloated bells-and-whistles releases of self-regarding Oscar bait.

Best Eclipse Release

A tie between Ozu and Mizoguchi (see above). Who’d want to be without either of these sets?

Best Reissue

High and Low - Obvious extras, but a solid, comprehensive package and long overdue.

Best Commentary

I feel like voting for Gorin on Pierrot simply because I generally prefer these kind of essays to full commentaries (and Gorin is always great), but I thought Bruce Eder’s ultra-trad commentary on The Thief of Bagdad was exemplary, and perfectly counterpointed Scorsese’s more personal comments on the other track (the less said about Coppola the better).

Best Single Supplement (not a commentary)

This is where my memory conspires with my kevyip to render my opinion meaningless. Instinctively, I’ll go for the Powell memoirs audio on Thief of Bagdad. On the strength of its extras, this turned out to be a surprisingly worthwhile redo, and I don’t even particularly like the film.

Best Cover

Patriotism – though I haven’t seen Vampyr in the flesh yet.

Best Package Design

Mishima and Patriotism – Unlike some, I’m glad these were separate releases, but I like the way in which their packaging relates to one another.

Best Discovery

The Fire Within – Every other Malle film I’d seen had been good, bad or (the majority) indifferent, but this was truly great. I didn’t know he had it in him, and I apologise to David Hare for ever doubting his recommendation!

Most Disappointing Release

Nobody seems to agree on just what this category is for. My gut instinct is to go for an Ophuls, on the grounds of the weird packaging, pricing and non-boxing of them, but those decisions have actually held me back from buying any of them yet, so I can’t really do that in good conscience.

Instead, I’ll puncture that overstuffed ottoman The Last Emperor. I really don’t like the film, so that’s part of it, but the disappointment comes home to roost when I think that this is the film that they really went to town on this year, and there’s the fatal flaw of attempting to do an absolutely authoritative, exhaustive release of a film but failing to deliver it in its original aspect ratio. And that decision does seriously compromise the film: far too many of the compositions look awkwardly cramped at the sides, though often spacious in the middle of the frame – a bizarre sight in a widescreen film.

Forum Member of the Year

I typically fudge this one, but in a year in which there were so many disagreeable incidents and newbies burning across the sky like shit comets, and in the interests of proposing a model for good forum behaviour, I’m going to vote for somebody whose contributions to the forum are almost exclusively positive: Michael. May his enthusiasm continue to infect us for years to come.

Richard Cranium Award

I realize Kevyip is a shoo-in - he may have launched his campaign early, but the launch was thermo-nuclear – but this was a year in which we could really have done with a top-five (or fifteen) approach to this category and a ‘For Your Consideration’ thread. So many trainwrecks, and they have to coincide with the Titanic going down.

Best Non-Criterion Release (5 Choices)

5 choices!? You’re insane. I’m taking these toys to another sandpit.

Release of the Year (5 choices) (Eclipse titles eligible)
1. Vampyr
2. The Furies
3. Trafic
4. Brand Upon the Brain!
5. Chungking Express

Best Eclipse Release
Kenji Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women

Best Reissue
High and Low

Best Single Supplement (not a commentary)
Brand Upon the Brain! Narration

Best Cover
Vampyr

Best Package Design (including DVD menus)
Vampyr

Best (Re)Discovery (for a film you knew little or nothing about before the Criterion release)
The Furies

Most Disappointing Release (for releases that Criterion dropped the ball on: bad transfer, poor supplements, etc.)
Patriotism

Release of the Year:
1) Vampyr
2) The Furies
3) Silent Ozu
4) Postwar Kurosawa
5) Kenji Mizo

Best Eclipse:

Silent Ozu

Best Reissue: though I haven't seen it, hasta be High and Low

Best Commentary: don't listen to em seriously enough to vote

Best Cover: The Furies

Best Package Design: The Furies

Best Discovery: The Furies

Member of the Year: zedz-- I look forward to chucking this honor onto your head, z. I can be a little less (rubs hands) civilized once again. We all have our moments but I think you've been pretty consistent not only this year (despite some reduced-- is it just my imagination?-- input) but ever since I joined in 2005. Honorable mentions go to those quiet behind the scenes members who have graciously covered my lazy ass with some of the most beautiful films I've seen and asked nothing in return, except maybe I post about them. I've made some great friends here-- truly nice people. You guys know who you are. I'm also glad that I managed to twist the arm (with some forum help) of last years winner and convince David Hare to come back. I only wish I could do the same for Kinsayder. On a directly related note:

Richard Cranium award: I have to say we've seen some whoppers this year. The Universal goon squade, kevyip, orange crush... ThomasJ who wasn't actually as truly bad as he seemed.. Feng...

but this years award has to go to Mr_sausage. He's the single administrative blot on an otherwise generally sublime forum. He's a terribly inconsistent and bullying moderator who nearly caused me to quit this year in disgust, is the only moderator to get regular open complaints on the suggestion box and on threads, has chased away some good people this year by his humorless manic insecurity. I know he goes a long way back with some of the pre-phbb/EZ-board crew, but personally I think he's more trouble than he's worth. The guy has no sense of humor, which a moderator desperately needs... so: for all of the above, for raiding my inbox, for not hewing to our bargain and (sniping with a smile now) this one's for you sausage! MOD EDIT: HAHA. Oh christ, that's awsome.
Most Disappointing Release: the whole year on CC.

Best non-CC release: Ford At Fox, or Murnau/Borzage, depending which falls where.

HerrSchreck wrote: I can be a little less (rubs hands) civilized once again.

Waitaminute. That was (slow intake of breath) civilized??

(reads rest of post)

Oh, now I get it!

Wise guy. Wait-- is it too late to take back my vote?

Cue Freaks strongman:

"Ungrateful little traammmp!"

Richard Cranium award: I have to say we've seen some whoppers this year. The Universal goon squade, kevyip, orange crush... ThomasJ who wasn't actually as truly bad as he seemed.. Feng...

but this years award has to go to Mr_sausage. He's the single administrative blot on an otherwise generally sublime forum. He's a terribly inconsistent and bullying moderator who nearly caused me to quit this year in disgust, is the only moderator to get regular open complaints on the suggestion box and on threads, has chased away some good people this year by his humorless manic insecurity. I know he goes a long way back with some of the pre-phbb/EZ-board crew, but personally I think he's more trouble than he's worth. The guy has no sense of humor, which a moderator desperately needs... so: for all of the above, for raiding my inbox, for not hewing to our bargain and (sniping with a smile now) this one's for you sausage!

I think its unfair and close to denunciation - and i must admit that self-righteous and egocentric personal suggestions do more danger to certain discussions. However i can only judge from the "open" board and do not know what you are exchanging via PM etcetera…but i can truthefully not second Shrecks nomination! (Sorry for going off topic, but i really thought Shrecks post on Saussage was unfair and should have at least been posted to the Suggestions Thread - i personally don't think its funny.)

(By the way - i am talking about certain threads and therefore could easily vote for Shreck as Best Member (silents for example) and RCA (contempt for example) in this/same year.)

You've lost me a little bit there on that. Why is my vote unfair?

Release of the Year
1. 4 by Varda
2. An Autumn Afternoon
3. Pierrot le fou
4. The Fire Within
5. Trafic

Best Eclipse Release
Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies

Best Reissue
High and Low

Best Commentary
Jean-Pierre Gorrin on Pierrot le fou

Best Single Supplement (not a commentary)
Visual Effects, a documentary about the technical achievements of The Thief of Bagdad, featuring interviews with special-effects masters Ray Harryhausen, Dennis Muren, and Craig Barron

Best Cover
Le Plaisir

Best Package Design
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

Best (Re)Discovery
Missing

Most Disappointing Release
Miss Julie

Forum Member of the Year
zedz

Richard Cranium Award
kevyip

Best Non-Criterion Release (5 Choices)
1. Still Life / Dong (BFI)
2. Police (MOC)
3. Ballad of Narayama (Animeigo)
4. The Devil Probably (Artificial Eye)
5. Chop Shop (Kock Lorber)

Personally, I'd like to know what he means by "raiding my inbox." I think he means when I posted parts of Private Messages I'd sent to him in order to disprove the claims he'd made about them in the public forum. Shouldn't it be called "raiding my own sentbox" then? And who would complain about this except someone who knows, consciously, that he was lying? If he were right, my PMs would only confirm that and fuel his argument, so there'd be no reason to complain. Unless of course they didn't confirm what he was saying about them, in which case...

Otherwise, have at it Schrecky!

Naw that wouldn't the event I mean. We would be talking about how, when I threatened to show people the sick cursing and foul language that you sent to me in multiple threatening PM's, you (indeed) 1) posted a few inocuous lines from one of them from your sentbox copies for public consumption before I could, and 2) simultaneously went and removed all trace of everything that you sent from my inbox copies by the next day, you so feared their reprint and your exposure.

And there's no way they were deleted by incoming messages, because no incoming messages came in, and the ones that disappeared were among the newest, not the oldest.

And still and all, after speaking to chris about what you did, and after the two of us (you and I) resolving privately afterwards for the good of the forum to stay off each other's back and avoid each others posts (more like you get over me), you still can't help yourself. Now you are The Kindler Gentler Sausage, yipping thru your obsession and with a weird forced smile.

I'm flattered that you can't keep away from me, but dear, thy flattery needeth roll-on deodorant.

HerrSchreck wrote:simultaneously went and removed all trace of everything that you sent from my inbox copies by the next day, you so feared their reprint and your exposure.

I'm actually unable to do that. Ask Chris, a moderator cannot tamper with someone else's inbox. I think they were naturally deleted by incoming pms from other people, your inbox being full.

Actually, you did say the raging and cursing line I "opened" in a PM, and I gave the openings. I don't make "sick cursing" or use "foul language," but you often do, so it's a funny complaint. But I even sent said PMs to Kinjitsu once to ask if he thought there was anything inflammatory about them.

Actually, incoming pms don't delete existing pms. If the box is full the incoming pms fail to populate the inbox. But in any case, can we relocate this slap fest to the 'lowest thread in the forum'? (I'm certainly not suggesting to stop it but it's harming my delicate sensibilities during this forum's elections season.)

skuhn8 wrote:Actually, incoming pms don't delete existing pms. If the box is full the incoming pms fail to populate the inbox. But in any case, can we relocate this slap fest to the 'lowest thread in the forum'? (I'm certainly not suggesting to stop it but it's harming my delicate sensibilities during this forum's elections season.)

No, they delete them. When the new board software was implemented for a few hours it was as you say. But Matt switched it back.

And, yeah, let's not do this here, Schreck. If you'd like to air more complaints against me please do it in PM. I'll happily listen.

Criterion Release of the Year 2008
1. Pierrot le Fou
2. Le Deuxieme Souffle
3. 4 by Agnès Varda
4. Le Doulos
5. Fire Within

Best Eclipse Release
Aki Kaurismaki Prole Trilogy.

Best Reissue
High and Low

Best Commentary
Gorin's Pierrot Primer

Best Single Supplement
Godard, l’amour, la poésie

Best Cover
Miss Julie

Forum Member of the Year
Zedz

Best Non-Criterion Release
1. Demy Box set
2. Vampyr MoC
3. L’enfant nue MoC
4. Police MoC
5. PWA Wojciech Wiszniewski

skuhn8 wrote:Actually, incoming pms don't delete existing pms. If the box is full the incoming pms fail to populate the inbox. But in any case, can we relocate this slap fest to the 'lowest thread in the forum'? (I'm certainly not suggesting to stop it but it's harming my delicate sensibilities during this forum's elections season.)

Good idea. Rather than go on I've modified my last post to clarify how the mail worked.

Release of the Year
1. The Furies
2. Bottle Rocket
3. White Dog
4. Le deuxieme souffle/Le doulos
5. The Thief of Bagdad

Best Eclipse Release
Lubitsch Musicals

Best Reissue
High and Low

Best Commentary
Jim Kitses on The Furies


Best Single Supplement
The book included in The Furies

Best Cover
High and Low

Best Package Design
The Furies

Best (Re)Discovery
Le ronde

Most Disappointing Release
The Smiling Lieutenant from Lubitsch Musicals. Too good for Eclipse. Should have been an individual release.

Forum Member of the Year
Matt

Best Non-Criterion Release
1. Casablanca: Ultimate Collector’s Edition
2. The Thing (Blu-ray)
3. Vertigo: Universal Legacy Series
4. The Adventures of Robin Hood (Blu-ray)
5. Man of the West (poor DVD, great movie)

Lame year for Criterion, iyam.

Best DVD: I Was Born But ...
Best Eclipse: I Was Born But ...

Extras, commentaries, etc are of little interest to me.

Non-Criterion: blu-rays of The Fall, Hidden, The Getaway, Speed Racer, etc. And I really liked the BBC series "Ruddy Hell: It's Harry & Paul" [search "Harry & Paul" and "kitten stomper" on youtube, if you're interested]. And Syndromes and a Century.

Forum member of the year: Well, I always liked that fancy pants Western Scandinavian guy, but I'd also like to vote for the aquatic equines. I've never laughed so hard. And his/her/their postage stamp with the little girl in the red raincoat on the Don't Look Now cover was pure genius!

So I'm looking for this supposed nature of kevyip to justify the bashing of him here, and all I can find is his use of the word "biatch" in one of his posts from early in the year. Either I can't figure out the search function (likely, regardless) or a lot of people here have sensitivity issues.

Anyway,

Best Eclipse: tie between Kaurismaki and Shepitko -- Kaurismaki is somewhat in the canon but not really like THAT, and Shepitko just isn't. THIS is what Eclipse is supposed to be, not a dumping ground for movies from canonical directors lacking good elements and supplements. And I believe the Eclipse mission statement of all things agrees with me (but I guess these kinds of things don't matter anymore).

Best Reissue: Vagabond -- The other candidates weren't in as much need of contextualization -- and High and Low -- please, we all know the context -- and PQ and audio quality don't matter much to me, as long as it's watchable -- which is why I prefer an altogether new release over a reissue, among other reasons for not liking reissues (it reinforces the canon, capitalizes on a built-in audience for revenue purposes, etc.)

Best Cover: Vampyr -- I have never commented in the threads dedicated to box covers because I want original theatrical artwork -- no excuses -- Warner Bros. was pressured into this for their catalog releases, but CC is for some reason given a pass to draw stuff that is very hit or miss without justifying the practice in the first place ](*,) You can't make a "miss" if you just go with og .theatrical artwork. Original artwork was part of the original marketing of the film after all, so even if you don't like it from an aesthetic p.o.v. at least it adds more context to the film. In this light, CC's artwork practices are frequently revisionary. I also think critiquing box cover art as evidence that one is willing to criticize Criterion and is therefore not a Criterion sycophant is fatuous and the equivalent of attacking a political party on petty stuff instead of the big issues like third party candidates do. Having said that, Vampyr is effective, lol.

Most Disappointing Release: Postwar Kurosawa -- These are not Eclipsed movies -- Quite the contrary. People are actively drawn to them because of the director's name, so how could you argue they've been given the cold shoulder? This is when Eclipse becomes farcical.

Forum Member of the Year: tie between Matt and HerrShreck

:^o Head Award (aka Richard Cranium): Nobody. This is the Internet for crying out loud. At the end of the day, there are much more important things in life than to be calling out anonymous avatars/online personas, no matter what they may have written about you. Grow up and be magnanimous. It's more of a reflection upon the accuser than anything else.