criterionforum.org

Jem wrote:

jt wrote:I'd guess that about 30% of casual buyers won't even hold this in their hand for long enough to read the title because of its crappy font.

Funny, by my calculations 70% of casual buyers would hold the Cria cover long enough! Where are you getting your statistics?

Well, I did clearly state that it was a guess, so the stat came straight out of my ass.

domino harvey wrote:I don't even know how to argue with someone who thinks this, but I would say you should probably walk through the art/culture magazine section at your local newsstand to see how far off the path you are.

What exactly is your point here? That lots of pretentious art magazines use difficult-to-read fonts? That all CC customers are avid culture magazine readers and vice-versa and hense will have no trouble reading the title?

I'm not sure why you would compare the design of a DVD with anything other than existing DVD covers and I don't recall ever seeing one as difficult to read as this. I'm sure there are countless magazines/ books/ underground jazz-club signs etc with equally baffling fonts but that really has nothing to do with this DVD cover does it?

If "John Ford - The Searchers" was written like this, I don't think it would be much of a problem but this is a film/ director combo that lots of people will not have heard of. Factor in the foreign title in a cultured font and I just don't think Criterion are doing themselves any favours.

justeleblanc wrote:1955?

This seems to be a default year they put on designs. The same mistake happened with Sweet Movie.

From the official site:

I love the interaction in the upper left hand corner. Like the snake and baby youtube video.

That`s pretty awfull...

I doubt Skillman had anything to do with that. the arrows and the text alone, but with a different font, would be much better.

That's better than the initial version, anyway. Still, far from good, and the text is definitely a big part of the problem. I'd place bets on that not being a Skillman design, he seems to err on the side of caution/simplicity more than anything.

I'd get it anyway, of course, if I didn't already have the fine Optimum box set. It's a great film, although my least favorite of the trilogy.

sevenarts wrote:although my least favorite of the trilogy.

It's part of a trilogy?

That cover is by far the worse in the entire collection. Is even worse than the pink Viridiana cover and it doesn't say anything about the film since those arrows are a complete mess. At least some folks here liked the pink Viridiana mess. I'll bet no one here likes this piece of shit.

justeleblanc wrote:

sevenarts wrote:although my least favorite of the trilogy.

It's part of a trilogy?

It's supposed to be an informal trilogy with Discreet charm and Phantom of the liberty.

Gigi M. wrote:I'll bet no one here likes this piece of shit.

-Toilet Dcuk

the cover is now marginally better, but the weird black fill where the arrows meet still sucks and the overall concept still blows. But it's a D instead of an F, and I guess thank heaven for tiny miracles

Never heard of that trilogy. I typically group the Pinal titles in one trilogy, that's it.

And I like the cover. I think the arrows are funny and very much on the same page as the humor of the rest of the film. Of course, the picture is dull and uninspiring, certainly now would have been the time to have drawn animated characters on the cover. But I far from hate it.

I think I like the new cover . It reminds me of a Spy novel on some dusty-old bookshelf (maybe it has to do with the arrows working as a mask, covering one eye but going around the other).

Looks like one of those puzzles where you have to find the wacky C.

Cinephrenic wrote:Looks like one of those puzzles where you have to find the wacky C.

Not much of a puzzle....the arrow points right to it.

Cinephrenic wrote:Looks like one of those puzzles where you have to find the wacky C.

I'd much prefer if the C was in the same color as the criterion collection bar.

If they removed the stupid arrows, it would be better. Sure, just a screencap is sorta played out, but the pic they chose has pleasing colors, at least.

I'd give anything to see a pink Viridiana-style final art (or fan art) of that still.

I like the cover more than I like the film. The colors in particular are very nice. I agree that the black fills are still a mistake, but other than that I don't know what everybody is complaining about, at least it's not as bad as the Heaven Can Wait cover, which is positively the ugliest cover in the collection, not to mention the one that has the least to do with the film.

I can live with that cover, but can't they do better?

Derek Estes wrote:I like the cover more than I like the film. The colors in particular are very nice. I agree that the black fills are still a mistake, but other than that I don't know what everybody is complaining about, at least it's not as bad as the Heaven Can Wait cover, which is positively the ugliest cover in the collection, not to mention the one that has the least to do with the film.

I like the Heaven Can Wait cover a lot. It and the cover Caitlin Kuhwald did for Amarcord both stand out as colorful, unique breaks from the Photoshop madness that's the trend with Criterion covers. I like most of the Criterion covers, but it's nice to see something a little more imaginative on occasion.

I'm with you, Heaven Can Wait is one of my all time fav covers

Speaking of Amarcord...

I just received my copy of Sansho and the packaging is among the best in the entire collection. Absolutely beautiful. I am glad they were able to keep the same style of packaging/material/digi that Ugetsu had, which is my favorite packaging in the collection.

The Third Man is kind of boring, not much going on. Lots and lots of black on a glossier material. Needs more texture in my opinion.

And sadly, Army of Shadows is worse in person. I was hoping for a digi for this release (which would have made for quite an attractive package, especially if they used the same material as the Ugetsu digi). Aside from that, it's literally a very solid package. It feels complete and the booklet is nice.

Now...to actually play these discs...

I don't see why they can't just use one of the original posters for the Milky Way: