Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 5

[matrixschmatrix]

The 'coming soon' page says Eyes Without A Face is getting a DVD and Hulu (?) something release, no mention of blu-ray.

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Blood of the Beasts, Georges Franju’s 1949 documentary about the slaughterhouses of Paris (new high-definition digital restoration on the Blu-ray edition)
Archival interviews with Franju on horror, cinema, and the making of Blood of the Beasts
New interview with actor Edith Scob (Blu-ray only)

[criterion10]

Damn, even La Notte is pretty light on special features. Only two interviews...

[domino harvey]

So, best case scenario is three Eclipse sets this year, assuming one comes out next month, since to the best of my knowledge they've never released an Eclipse in December. I don't understand why there isn't an Eclipse set every month-- there's no extras and no hi-def reconfigurations and Janus is sitting on hundreds upon hundreds of titles. But 2-3 a year? Seriously, what has happened to this company?

[vsski]

Definitely disappointed about this month - I will get Married a Witch just because I love the movie, but CC better seriously rethink their pricing strategy or they lose some of the non-hardcore fans.
And I still don't feel that many of their BD upgrades are really warranted, I'd much rather have them release new titles.

[Graham]

The 'coming soon' page says Eyes Without A Face is getting a DVD and Hulu (?) something release, no mention of blu-ray.

New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Blood of the Beasts, Georges Franju’s 1949 documentary about the slaughterhouses of Paris (new high-definition digital restoration on the Blu-ray edition)
Archival interviews with Franju on horror, cinema, and the making of Blood of the Beasts
New interview with actor Edith Scob (Blu-ray only)

Thanks. Guess I should click on 'learn more' before making foolish posts next time.

[Finch]

I have to agree that they can't go on forever with charging premium prices for barebone titles like the Daves westerns and now I Married A Witch without losing some goodwill among their customers.

[vsski]

So, best case scenario is three Eclipse sets this year, assuming one comes out next month, since to the best of my knowledge they've never released an Eclipse in December. I don't understand why there isn't an Eclipse set every month-- there's no extras and no hi-def reconfigurations and Janus is sitting on hundreds upon hundreds of titles. But 2-3 a year? Seriously, what has happened to this company?

And one of the two sets that will be released this year (Fassbinder) already has all of the discs out in Region 1 (even if they are OOP). Eclipse was almost always an interesting mix of new and unreleased titles to look forward to - truly disappointing year.

[knives]

Hell, the Daves are some of my favorite films they've released this year and I still can't understand why anyone would upgrade.

[Moe Dickstein]

at Least Casavettes is well timed for the November BN sale

[matrixschmatrix]

It's funny, I'm not bothered when MoC releases a full priced blu with nothing beyond a booklet- but it feels like Criterion has the resources and the muscle to get more stuff on a disc, and it's frustrating when they don't bother.

[criterion10]

I'll say this, if both I Married a Witch and The Uninvited were at the lower price point, I easily would have blind bought them during the next B&N sale.

[matrixschmatrix]

I'm still going to buy them, but now I'm going to be really ticked off about it.

[FakeBonanza]

I looked at the extras of the new releases, and then immediately checked the price point, surprised each time that not one was a $29.99 title.

This month might as well be an advertisement for the November Barnes & Noble sale.

I would say so! I'm interested in all of these titles, but there is no way I would pay full price for these barebones releases. La notte looks like it belongs in the once rumoured Antonioni box set.

[The Narrator Returns]

I'm still going to buy them, but now I'm going to be really ticked off about it.

To show them, I'm going to buy two copies instead of my normal three. And I may even use a coupon for one of them!

[movielocke]

I'll probably pass on Uninvited as a blind buy, if it had been at the 29.95 price point I'd try it, though.

So now that criterion has popped their box set upgrade cherry, what's the next box set to get upgraded next year? Bergman trilogy? Dreyer? Eisenstein?

[Minkin]

Is there any reason Criterion hates film trailers all of a sudden (Uninvited, Jubal, To be or Not to Be, etc etc)? I know they often put them on their website, but sheesh, the film trailer is like the most basic of expected special features.

[Moe Dickstein]

I can't remember the last time I looked at a trailer

[EndsInThemselves]

Hey film people. Thought I'd finally stop lurking and write my first post after years of following these boards. I'm surprised and just a little saddened to see that nobody really cares that La Notte has gone Criterion. I will say that extras are lacking but I've been waiting years for this film. Antonioni is one of my 10 favorite directors and his "Ennui Trilogy" is perfect in my view. Anyways, I'm surprised that hard to find films like La Notte aren't met with much excitement. Maybe you guys have seen it and don't care for it, but it seems the same happened for other hard to find films like Journey to Italy, Medium Cool, Week-End (1967), Seconds, etc.

Not to knock on any particular upcoming film, but I'd rather see Criterion get impossible to find films like Underground (1995), The Mother and The Whore, Chimes at Midnight, anything by Theo Angelopoulos, Abbas Kiarostami, and maybe even a Russ Meyer film. Also, I have my fingers crossed for A Brighter Summer Day and The Apu Trilogy.

Well, hopefully I won't upset too many people with this post :)

[MongooseCmr]

Is there any reason Criterion hates film trailers all of a sudden...

Because it the least exclusive kind of special feature.

[Jeff]

I'm surprised and just a little saddened to see that nobody really cares that La Notte has gone Criterion...Anyways, I'm surprised that hard to find films like La Notte aren't met with much excitement. Maybe you guys have seen it and don't care for it, but it seems the same happened for other hard to find films like Journey to Italy, Medium Cool, Week-End (1967), Seconds, etc.

I think most people around here have seen La notte and the other films you listed. If excitement seems muted, it was because we knew about most of them months in advance (Seconds was something of a surprise) and the enthusiasm had dissipated. None of those were "hard to find." With the exception of Journey to Italy, they'd all even had commercial U.S. DVD releases, so it was what Criterion would do with the high-def transfers and supplements that made them interesting.

Also, we're a curmudgeonly and irascible bunch by nature, and generally respond with grumbling and complaining.

[knives]

I respond by complaining then grumbling. An important difference I believe.

[zedz]

I'm surprised and just a little saddened to see that nobody really cares that La Notte has gone Criterion...Anyways, I'm surprised that hard to find films like La Notte aren't met with much excitement. Maybe you guys have seen it and don't care for it, but it seems the same happened for other hard to find films like Journey to Italy, Medium Cool, Week-End (1967), Seconds, etc.

I think most people around here have seen La notte and the other films you listed. If excitement seems muted, it was because we knew about most of them months in advance (Seconds was something of a surprise) and the enthusiasm had dissipated. None of those were "hard to find." With the exception of Journey to Italy, they'd all even had commercial U.S. DVD releases, so it was what Criterion would do with the high-def transfers and supplements that made them interesting.

Also, we're a curmudgeonly and irascible bunch by nature, and generally respond with grumbling and complaining.

There will always be some people who will complain about whatever Criterion releases. Even in months when almost everybody is over the moon, there will be some people who just aren't interested.

I think the other big factor is a lack of surprise and / or novelty. Especially when there's an absence of an Eclipse set (which would often highlight more marginal and unfamiliar material), it's hard to get excited about a month of titles that have already been released by Criterion / on BluRay in another territory / on R1 DVD. I Married a Witch is the only vaguely 'rare' title this month, but it's hardly been hard to see and we've known it's been coming for years, so the reaction is more like "At last!" than "Oh my God!"

[Gregory]

I Married a Witch is the only vaguely 'rare' title this month, but it's hardly been hard to see and we've known it's been coming for years, so the reaction is more like "At last!" than "Oh my God!"

Or more like "We waited years so they could round up an old audio interview and a booklet essay?" and "$40 SRP for this?"

[matrixschmatrix]

Yeah, I think for me that one of the reasons it's exciting when a title is released by Criterion rather than some other company is that Criterion makes really excellent special features, and is often voluminous with them- no matter how interested I am in the title, something nearly barebones for a high price point is never going to make me jump for joy as much as the really amazing package they put together for Things to Come, a movie that would never be in my top 100. Particularly because with something like La Notte, there's already a blu ray coming out from MoC- it would only be exciting if Criterion meaningfully bettered it.

[knives]

And as already stated it would cost Criterion zero dollars to better their I Married a Witch disc since they already have a perfect film as supplement for it with a good HD transfer ready.