Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

[therewillbeblus]

One False Move and The Watermelon Woman play it relatively safe adhering to variances on original poster art - they're fine, but unspectacular. The Boetticher set is nice, and After Hours is about as great as it could be - appropriately in step with the tone, and I love how the overwhelming stimuli seems branded in the form of the newspapery plaster within the film

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

The desperate look in Dunne's face is perfection. What a terrific way to sell the film.

[ryannichols7]

that's a brilliant Sister Hyde job on After Hours - very convincing sell and I love the boldness of the pink

personally think One False Move is a very bad cover. way too many credits and the clash of the images is off

[colinr0380]

Love all the covers for this month. I wonder if the One False Move cover was done by the same artist who did the Old Joy and Certain Women covers.

[Matt]

Nope. Old Joy and Certain Women were by Riccardo Vecchio (who also did Danton and Master Builder). One False Move is by Vlad Rodriguez (first cover for Criterion, I believe).

[Computer Raheem]

MONTHLY COVER THOUGHTS: July 2023

• The Watermelon Women: It's rather simple, but it's still fairly effective. I like how it does center the video interludes present throughout the film and places the partially-satirical drawing of Dunne in some form of context. The text is a little basic and bland for my taste (and I do think it should've been a brighter shade of green to offset the hot pink background), but it's a minor quibble, especially if if gives us better artwork than the original theatrical poster

• After Hours: It's perfect... I've always been a fan of Sister Hyde's work (she's my second favorite of the recurring Criterion cover artists, behind only the great Greg Ruth), so seeing her grungy style used for this film is more than appropriate. In all honesty, it reminds me of a really good Mondo poster (R.I.P. Mondo, btw), and the photocopier-esque quality to it gives it a rambunctiousness that suits the film's tone even more than the original poster did. I also love how the title is clearly just taken from the poster, complete with artifacts from resizing it after the fact. The best cover of the bunch, and it's not even close imo

• The Ranown Westerns: Five Films by Budd Boetticher: It's a great idea with slightly disappointing execution. The main issue is that it's the same image over and over again - I get why it is (the idea of these films being a sort of genre-film cycle), but that idea would have worked better had it incorporated parts of each individual film. Then again, the idea works well even with the reoccuring image; I just wish it was a bit less narrowed with its image choice. Then then again, it will probably look better in person...

• Breathless: OLD COVER ALERT! This cover is a perfect example of why we should always wait to see the physical copy in-person, because by itself, this cover is disgustingly basic. However, having the Blu-ray in my hands, and the usage of color and patterns throughout, the simplicity of the cover begins to make sense - it's a sort of Trojan horse to the chaotic nature of the rest of the packaging, the same way the crime plot of the film is a Trojan horse for the genre deconstruction Godard is more interested in. I've always liked this packaging, and I'm happy to see it retained; I am intrigued by how the extra disc will affect my favorite part of the packaging - the imprint of the disc art on the box itself (though Criterion's loose booklets do weaken the bit somewhat!)

• One False Move: While I'm all for a painted cover, I'm not a fan of the composition. I think just the bottom half - with the dead man and the police car - would have been a perfect bit of less is more. With Cynda Williams' face hogging up much of the cover, it's rather unbalanced for my taste. Ironically, the former idea - just the police cars - is closer to the original theatrical poster (with a nice sunset color scheme, to boot!) and the actual cover is closer to the DVD cover, which sloppily slaps William's face above the OG poster. At least this looks more well-thought out?

Despite all of my (many) nitpicks, I do generally enjoy all of these covers; they're just not as great as I think they could be. Now the films themselves? The best month Criterion's had in a minute - gimme gimme gimme

[RustyPatriot]

A bit of old news now, but I've always loved the cover for Inland Empire, I'm glad they kept with using that one. I just think it's fitting with the movie's low budget and amatuer-ish lo-fi look, the image with the text being suddenly cut off. I agree that maybe the Criterion sidebar could be more transparent so it doesn't make the title look awkwardly positioned. Kind of disapointed it isn't a digipak cause as far as I know every other Lynch film has been one, but I guess that's fitting with the rough aesthetic of the film too (but maybe I'm making too many excuses at this point)

[FrauBlucher]

How would folks feel about this being the Criterion cover?

I get it, but it doesn’t excite me.

[therewillbeblus]

I can't think of a better one, other than a gif of the first scene's planetary lecture spin

[aox]

I'm a bit torn on that one.

[guyetgenevieve]

Thelma & Louise packaging via the Blu-ray.com forums

[Boosmahn]

I really like the interior artwork. This release just has a great color scheme overall.

[cdnchris]

Branded to Kill [4K] (Insert; Blu-ray edition had booklet)
Wings of Desire [4K] (Booklet)
Targets (Booklet)
Thelma & Louise [4K] (Booklet)
Petite maman (Insert)

[yoloswegmaster]

Branded to Kill [4K] (Insert; Blu-ray edition had booklet)
Wings of Desire [4K] (Booklet)
Targets (Booklet)
Thelma & Louise [4K] (Booklet)
Petite maman (Insert)

Chris, would you be able to post the transfer notes for Targets?

[tenia]

As a very general idea, I was wondering : Chris, what would you think of adding in the pictures one of the tech details part of the booklet ? You're already taking pics so it wouldn't cost you much time, and it'd be, I think, a worthy addition.

[yoloswegmaster]

As a very general idea, I was wondering : Chris, what would you think of adding in the pictures one of the tech details part of the booklet ? You're already taking pics so it wouldn't cost you much time, and it'd be, I think, a worthy addition.

Great idea! I was actually thinking about suggesting something like this a couple days ago. I never understood why most reviewers (besides Svet) never post the tech notes. It would definitely help curb the amount of misinformation that's been happening in regards to discussions about the people in charge of restorations.

[cdnchris]

Branded to Kill [4K] (Insert; Blu-ray edition had booklet)
Wings of Desire [4K] (Booklet)
Targets (Booklet)
Thelma & Louise [4K] (Booklet)
Petite maman (Insert)

Chris, would you be able to post the transfer notes for Targets?

Sure thing:

Targets is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:. This new 4K digital master was created from the 35 mm original camera negative, which was scanned in 4K 16-bit on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm magnetic track.

As a very general idea, I was wondering : Chris, what would you think of adding in the pictures one of the tech details part of the booklet ? You're already taking pics so it wouldn't cost you much time, and it'd be, I think, a worthy addition.

I can see about starting to do that with the next round if people would find that helpful.

Great idea! I was actually thinking about suggesting something like this a couple days ago. I never understood why most reviewers (besides Svet) never post the tech notes. It would definitely help curb the amount of misinformation that's been happening in regards to discussions about the people in charge of restorations.

I try to pick out and stress the details that are in the notes but I hate transcribing that stuff word-for-word.

I do have a place in the site's database for restoration notes (like at the bottom of this page) and keeping track of restorations but fell behind in filling them in. I guess I could at least keep up with the newer titles.

Edit: and I went about and added the details to Targets

[Matt]

Would definitely find the “about the transfer” details helpful. I’m buying less and less these days but still get excited about things with 4K OCN scans, extensive digital restorations, and such.

[cdnchris]

I'll be better about that, then. It fell to the wayside but I'll keep up with stuff as I get it and then try to update the backlog when I can. I'll get the rest of this batch in, too. The compare functionality can also compare restoration but it helps if I actually input that data.

Also, cover related, I forgot to upload the interior art for THELMA & LOUISE so I added that.

[tenia]

I'll be better about that, then. It fell to the wayside but I'll keep up with stuff as I get it and then try to update the backlog when I can. I'll get the rest of this batch in, too. The compare functionality can also compare restoration but it helps if I actually input that data.

I know this would be better as it'd use the compare functionality of the website, but it's clearly more time-consuming, which is why I suggested the picture instead.

[low]

[Banasa]

I feel like what would have been once a New Year'd Eve doodle hint made it as Wayne Wang's Dim Sum cover art.

[What A Disgrace]

I'm so glad the Bo Widerberg set doesn't have The Man On The Roof. Obviously that would contradict the actual focus of the box, as it centers on his 60s work, but my first thought upon seeing a Bo Widerberg box was that I might have to double dip.

[RPG]

I feel like what would have been once a New Year'd Eve doodle hint made it as Wayne Wang's Dim Sum cover art.

And I love it. Best of the month.

[colinr0380]

Really happy about the Bo Widerberg set, although I am going back and forth on whether actually having the shot of the baby on the cover of The Pram (aka The Baby Carriage) constitutes a spoiler! I suppose an inevitability cannot really constitute a spoiler?