THE 2019 CRITERION FORUM FPTP BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION CLUSTERFUCK AWARDS

[zedz]

I guess we’re not doing most unnecessary release, because that reminds me I’d def nom Bells

I ditched that last year as a Criterion-specific category, because when you're looking at the total output of an entire market, I'd like to think that none of us are even aware of the genuinely least necessary releases!

[swo17]

Colin, that's a lot of choices-- are you saying you would vote for all of those? We're not just mentioning eligible titles but nominating titles this year-- it's a bit confusing for me too!

Ah, I thought this was just the first round of saying what might be nominatable before an actual ballot was submitted. I'm planning to do an actual vote in a week or so.

You can't submit an actual vote until we have determined all of the eligible nominations, which the first post says will happen on or around January 13

[alacal2]

No wonder proportional representation ever took off!

[zedz]

I just took a look at it and I'll second Model Shop for worst cover. Yikes!


EDIT: Actually, there seems to be another, black and white, cover posted online. Did the above monstrosity actually make it into production?

[swo17]

The B&W is the reverse cover

[domino harvey]

If I flip the disc over, is there a reverse film too?

[zedz]

If I flip the disc over, is there a reverse film too?

The reverse film of Model Shop is

SpoilerShow

Jerzy Skolimowski's Identification Marks: None

and it's fantastic.

[tenia]

I propose to nominate as eligible titles the following :

Best releases :
Three Films with Sammo Hung (Eureka)
Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Koreeda (BFI)
Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount, 1930-1935 (Indicator)
Miracles (88 Films)
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (Arrow)
A Blonde in Love (Second Run)
The Andromeda Strain (Arrow)
Time Without Pity (Indicator)
Donbass (Eureka)
90° in the Shade (Indicator)

There are also some worthy Studio Canal releases, though not as many as last year : Losey's The Criminal and The Go-Between, Cocteau's Le testament d'Orphée and Le sang d'un poète, their Don't Look Now and Apocalypse Now releases, and possibly also The Doors.

Best boxsets :
Derek Jarman Vol. 2 (BFI) (seconded from swo)
Early Women Filmmakers (BFI)
Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Koreeda (BFI) (seconded from swo)
Ring Collection (Arrow)
Akio Jissoji (Arrow) (seconded from swo)
Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount, 1930-1935 (Indicator) (seconded from swo)

Best booklets / books :
Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount, 1930-1935 (Indicator)
Betrayed (BFI), for that accurately and transparently pointing out all the issues of the movie you just bought !
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (Second Run)

Best covers :
Der Golem (Eureka)
Demonlover (Arrow) (seconded from therewillbeblus)
The Possessed (Arrow) (seconded from swo)
Cujo (Eureka)
Three Films with Sammo Hung (Eureka)
The Snake Pit (Indicator)

Worst covers :
So Dark The Night (Arrow)
The Bells of St Mary (Arrow) (seconded from therewillbeblus, swo)
Hold Back the Dawn (Arrow)

Best packagings :
Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount, 1930-1935 (Indicator)
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (Arrow)
Crimson Peak (Arrow) (though I know it didn't please everyone, I find it gorgeous)

Best discoveries :
Time Without Pity (Indicator) (seconded from soundchaser)
Demonlover (Arrow) (seconded from therewillbeblus)
The Possessed (Arrow) (seconded from zedz)
The Damned (Indicator)
Dave Made a Maze (Arrow)

Most flawed releases :
The Song of Bernadette (Eureka) : the new restoration is problematically typical of Fox' technical tampering and the release in itself is also quite light so there isn't many extras to redeem the technical disappointment.
Stranger in the House (BFI) : I'm vastly unconvinced by the overly bright aspect of the BFI presentation, despite the interest of having a version 10 min longer than the Kino disc.
Mélo (Arrow), and its typically over-blue Eclair restoration.
Cruising (Arrow), and its filtered restoration.
Nightbreed (Arrow) and not using the DC newly restored material for the TC but instead a much inferior source.
The Far Country (Arrow). I still don't know what happened here but I still fail to understand how a 4K restoration of a 35mm OCN could be competent AND yield such a poor result.
I also think there is something problematic in their Kind Hearts and Coronets re-release in terms of brightness/contrast.

Best Arrow releases :
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
The Possessed (econded from swo, zedz)
Khrustalyov, My Car! (seconded from swo)
Demonlover (seconded from swo, zedz)
The Andromeda Strain (seconded from colinr0380)
The Running Man
An American Werewolf in London (seconded from colinr0380)

Best BFI releases :
Comes A Horseman. Despite its mediocre transfer (without even an additional clean-up pass done by the BFI), the extras make up for it.
Moulin Rouge : I didn't like the movie a lot, but the release is excellent. (seconded from swo, domino harvey)
Spetters : same as above (seconded from colinr0380)
Legend of the Witches & Secret Rites (seconded from colinr0380)

Best Indicator releases :
Immaculate Conception (seconded from colinr0380)
The Reckless Moment (seconded from therewillbeblus)
Dragonwyck
No Orchids for Miss Blandish (for the extras)
Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount, 1930-1935 (seconded from swo, zedz)
90° in the Shade (seconded from swo, soundchaser)
Birdy
Time Without Pity (seconded from swo, soundchaser)
The Last Movie
Scum (seconded from swo, zedz)

Best Eureka releases :
Donbass (for the movie being released that quickly on a good BD release) (seconded from swo, zedz)
Last Hurrah for Chivalry + Hand of Death
The Fate of Lee Khan (seconded from domino harvey)
The Incident
Der Golem (seconded from swo)
--- Addition --- Three Films by Sammo Hung (seconded from swo)
I'd also like to mention Cujo. While the movie and its transfer are what they are, it's hard not to mention how loaded the release is.

Best Second Run releases :
Ikarie XB-1 (seconded from swo)
A Blonde in Love (seconded from criterionsnob)
The Ear (seconded from swo, zedz)
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (seconded from swo, zedz)

[swo17]

Thanks for contributing tenia, though it would be helpful if you could distinguish between nominations that you are the first to bring up and other people's nominations that you are seconding

[swo17]

I'll second The Golem for best cover and So Dark the Night for worst. I'd also like to nominate Second Sight's World on a Wire for best release, cover, and packaging

[tenia]

Thanks for contributing tenia, though it would be helpful if you could distinguish between nominations that you are the first to bring up and other people's nominations that you are seconding

Sorry for this. I'm out this weekend so will edit my post on Monday if that's OK.

[swo17]

I actually went through your post anyway and reflected the seconded items in the first post. Hopefully I didn't miss anything

[tenia]

I actually went through your post anyway and reflected the seconded items in the first post. Hopefully I didn't miss anything

I've updated my post to notify every nomination that actually were a seconded one.
I've also added Three Films by Sammo Hung as a best Eureka release, seconded from you.

[swo17]

Thanks

[swo17]

I'd like to nominate for Best On-Disc Non-Commentary Extra Miss Blandish and the Censor from Indicator's release of No Orchids for Miss Blandish. It's a fascinating look at the BBFC, British censorship in general, and the film's journey from book to screen. If you haven't seen it, you really should -- it's probably better than the film itself.

I watched this on your recommendation and will second it. Very entertaining and informative, though I'm still not entirely clear how complete the film on disc is. (I gather it's missing a few cuts the BBFC demanded to secure an A certificate?)

[MichaelB]

The problem with pre-1960s titles is that the BBFC no longer preserves the full correspondence for individual films, so it’s impossible to find out exactly what was cut. From the early 1960s onwards, there’ll be detailed descriptions.

I don’t know when the files were junked, but presumably it was before the digitising era as a space-saving expedient - but as far as I’m concerned it was historical and cultural vandalism. Especially since the verbal description of what was removed may be all we have to go on, as the footage was probably destroyed decades ago.

[therewillbeblus]

Now that I’ve seen Arrow’s restoration of The Far Country for myself, I’ll second tenia’s nomination for Most Flawed Release.

I’ll also nominate the following for release of the year:

Model Shop (Arrow)
Secret Ceremony (Indicator)
A Fistful of Dynamite (Duck You Sucker!) (Eureka/MoC)

I second swo’s nomination of Dead Cat for Best Bonus Film (Jarman vol. 2) and his nomination of Journey to the Beginning of Time (Second Run)

Lastly I’ll beg for someone to read the demonlover booklet

[swo17]

Fistful of Dynamite does look like an improvement over existing editions and a definitive release other than being slightly censored for horsefalls

[swo17]

Lastly I’ll beg for someone to read the demonlover booklet

OK, I'll throw you a bone and second this. The Anne Billson essay is very well written, and I like what she had to say about Connie Nielsen's hair

I'd also like to nominate A Short Vision from How I Won the War for best bonus film

[therewillbeblus]

Lastly I’ll beg for someone to read the demonlover booklet

OK, I'll throw you a bone and second this.

Thanks- that’s all I wanted for Christmas

[therewillbeblus]

I'd also like to nominate A Short Vision from How I Won the War for best bonus film

I'll second this

[swo17]

As a reminder, the nomination process for this awards thread closes "on or around Monday." We currently have nominees in every category but best commentary, and a few other categories have only one nominee, which will win by default if no other competition arrives

[zedz]

Thanks to swo for doing the hard work of tabulating the nominations so I can do the easy work of tabulating the winners (especially with a number of categories failing to make the grade). So here they are, your

2019 CRITERION FORUM FPTP BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION CLUSTERFUCK AWARDS FINALISTS

Vote in this thread or by PM to me before Monday 3 February.


BEST RELEASE (NUMBERED IN ORDER FROM 1-10) - You must vote for ten titles from the following list in order to have your ballot counted.

An American Werewolf in London
The Andromeda Strain
A Blonde in Love
The Buddhist Trilogy
A Case for a Rookie Hangman
Dawson City: Frozen Time
demonlover
Derek Jarman Vol. 2
Diamonds of the Night
Donbass
Dragonwyck
The Ear
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On
Immaculate Conception
The Fate of Lee Khan
The Fifth Cord
The Golem
Ikarie XB-1
Journey to the Beginning of Time
Khrustalyov, My Car!
Legend of the Witches & Secret Rites
Lilith
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount
Moulin Rouge
90° in the Shade
Nuri Bilge Ceylan: The Complete Films
Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Kore-eda
The Possessed
The Reckless Moment
The Ring Collection
Scum
Secret Ceremony
The Snake Pit
Spetters
They Made Me a Fugitive
Three Films with Sammo Hung
Time Without Pity
Track 29
The Triple Echo
The White Reindeer

BEST ARROW RELEASE (VOTE FOR 1)

An American Werewolf in London
The Andromeda Strain
The Buddhist Trilogy
demonlover
The Fifth Cord
Khrustalyov, My Car!
The Possessed
The Ring Collection

BEST BFI RELEASE (VOTE FOR 1)

Derek Jarman Vol. 2
Legend of the Witches & Secret Rites
Moulin Rouge
Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Kore-eda
Spetters

BEST INDICATOR RELEASE (VOTE FOR 1)

Dragonwyck
Immaculate Conception
Lilith
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount
90° in the Shade
The Reckless Moment
Scum
Secret Ceremony
The Snake Pit
They Made Me a Fugitive
Time Without Pity
Track 29
The Triple Echo

BEST MASTERS OF CINEMA or EUREKA RELEASE (VOTE FOR 1)

Donbass
The Fate of Lee Khan
The Golem
Three Films with Sammo Hung
The White Reindeer

BEST SECOND RUN RELEASE (VOTE FOR 1)

A Blonde in Love
A Case for a Rookie Hangman
Dawson City: Frozen Time
Diamonds of the Night
The Ear
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On
Ikarie XB-1
Journey to the Beginning of Time

BEST BOXED SET (VOTE FOR 1)

The Buddhist Trilogy
Derek Jarman Vol. 2
Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount
Nuri Bilge Ceylan: The Complete Films
Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Kore-eda
The Ring Collection

BEST COVER (VOTE FOR 1)



ELIMINATED CATEGORIES (Failed to attract five or more nominees):

BEST "BONUS" FILM
BEST BOOKLET OR BOOK
BEST COMMENTARY
BEST DISCOVERY (which wouldn’t actually really work in this voting format anyway)
BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
BEST PACKAGING
MOST FLAWED RELEASE
WORST COVER (Let’s just give it to Model Shop)

[zedz]

I'll go first:

BEST RELEASE:
1. The Buddhist Trilogy
2. Donbass
3. The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On
4. Derek Jarman Vol. 2
5. Khrustyalov, My Car!
6. Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount
7. demonlover
8. The Possessed
9. Diamonds of the Night
10. Nuri Bilge Ceylan: The Complete Films

BEST ARROW RELEASE:
The Buddhist Trilogy

BEST BFI RELEASE:
Derek Jarman Vol. 2

BEST INDICATOR RELEASE:
Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount

BEST MOC / EUREKA RELEASE:
Donbass

BEST SECOND RUN RELEASE:
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

BEST BOX SET:
The Buddhist Trilogy

BEST COVER:
Der Golem

[swo17]

Best Release
01 Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Kore-eda
02 Khrustalyov, My Car!
03 The Buddhist Trilogy
04 Derek Jarman Vol. 2
05 Donbass
06 The Triple Echo
07 They Made Me a Fugitive
08 Nuri Bilge Ceylan: The Complete Films
09 demonlover
10 Marlene Dietrich & Josef von Sternberg at Paramount

Best Boxed Set
Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Kore-eda

Best Cover
Der Golem

Best Arrow
Khrustalyov, My Car!

Best BFI
Of Flesh and Blood: The Cinema of Hirokazu Kore-eda

Best Indicator
The Triple Echo

Best Eureka
Donbass

Best Second Run
A Case for a Rookie Hangman