Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[Gregory]

Historically, December has been a small slate with just one or two solid titles (and, some years in the old days, none at all). If they announce two decent releases for the month, I think that counts as a great Criterion December. With Speedy and the Burroughs doc alone, they've hit that threshold.
There have been some years that were exceptions to this, likely due to delayed titles that had been originally planned for a November release such as the BBS set most likely.

[swo17]

To wit:

1998
The Long Good Friday
Flesh for Frankenstein
Blood for Dracula

1999
nothing

2000
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

2001
8 1/2

2002
Contempt

2003
nothing

2004
M reissue
The King of Kings

2005
Shoot the Piano Player
Forbidden Games

2006
The Beales of Grey Gardens
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm

2007
Two-Lane Blacktop
Bergman repackage

2008
White Dog
Europa
The Third Man upgrade (delayed)
The Man Who Fell to Earth upgrade (delayed)
Bottle Rocket BD (delayed)
Chungking Express BD (delayed)

2009
Gimme Shelter upgrade
A Christmas Tale (delayed)
AK100

2010
Videodrome upgrade
Cronos
BBS DVD (delayed)

2011
The Lady Vanishes upgrade
Design for Living
Branded to Kill reissue
Tokyo Drifter reissue

2012
Brazil upgrade
Purple Noon
Following
The Qatsi Trilogy

2013
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
Nashville
Grey Gardens upgrade
WCF Vol. 1

2014
Time Bandits reissue
The Night Porter reissue
Safe
Tootsie (delayed)
Kinoshita Eclipse

2015
Downhill Racer upgrade
Jellyfish Eyes
Speedy
Burroughs: The Movie

[Luke M]

2001 and 2002 were huge.

[ryannichols7]

So, that's only 1 (real) boxset for 2015 ? Quite a step backwards compared to the previous 4-5 boxsets per year.

exactly. it's not like their sales have gone down or anything, what a very alarming rate here. especially with a decent number rumored in production

no big upgrades really either. I don't see any of these four titles being hot sellers at Christmas (I know Harold Lloyd is cool and all but I work at a B&N and The Freshman didn't exactly fly off the shelves) as opposed to Time Bandits/Tootsie/Safe last year.

Kurosawa upgrade works but I was surprised to not see something like Mishima/Ugetsu or even the War Trilogy which I thought was rumored.

[Gregory]

1999
nothing

Bracing for the Y2K bug?

2000
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Which turned out to be one of the worst months because the sole release was unfortunately riddled with subtitle typos and had to be replaced with a new printing.

2002
Contempt

That was a year of heightened complaining on the old forum about Criterion's selections the rest of the year, especially The Horse's Mouth, Hopscotch, Ratcatcher, Man Bites Dog, and overall a perceived "lackluster" year. This was a year of one box set (Monterey Pop) IIRC, yet it was widely thought that the single December release of Contempt made up for earlier disappointments. Imagine folks today thinking that a single film announced in December could make up for anything or even be enough. In 2003 it was the era when got less than three dozen films released in a year, and many months saw only two titles announced.

2004
M
The King of Kings

M was of course a DVD upgrade of a title from Criterion's first DVD year. The King of Kings was understandably met with disappointment and derision. (I eventually bought it when I found it somewhere used for a dollar or $1.50.)

[Self]

Seems as if A Fuller Life will be coming 2016

Samantha Fuller Twitter

[FrauBlucher]

Critics favorite Criterion discs from Indiewire

[chatterjees]

Seems as if A Fuller Life will be coming 2016

Samantha Fuller Twitter

Can't be a mainline feature, can it?

[Newsnayr]

A Pickup on South Street upgrade has been rumored, so it could be on that.

[kristophers]

A Pickup on South Street upgrade has been rumored, so it could be on that.

That's where my money is.

[dwk]

This may not be Criterion related, but until I know for sure, I figure I'll stick this here.

It seems that Marc Walkow is in Japan shooting interviews for an upcoming Blu-ray and he posted the following pics on twitter:



It kind of looks like Kazuo Koike in the first picture, but I'm not 100% sure. I think it is Norio Osada in the second picture. So, if it is Criterion related and it is Kazuo Koike, this is likely for Lady Snowblood. If it isn't Kazuo Koike, but still Criterion related, then this could be for Blackmail is my Business (Blackmail is my Life) or Under the Flag of The Rising Sun.

[tenia]

If it is Koike, the 6 Lone Wolf & Cub in proper BD releases would be neat.

[Calvin]

I think Marc Walkow is producing Arrow's upcoming Battles Without Honor and Humanity set, so it could also be something for them.

[dwk]

Could be something for Arrow, which is why I waited an extra day before posting anything here. But, I'm leaning towards this being for Criterion, especially if that is Kazuo Koike in the first picture.

[giovannii84]

One of the worst lineups I have ever seen but I got a huge laugh thay one of the special features for Jellyfish Eyes is a trailer for the sequel.

Coming from Criterion in Decenber 2016 or December 2017 ](*,)

[jindianajonz]

The most disappointing part of December is still no World Cinema Project vol 2, two years after the first was released.

[feihong]

There's no World Cinema Project vol. 2 anywhere else, either, right? MOC isn't announcing a volume 2 either, I think.

[Saturnome]

The first volume is one of my favorite releases, at this point I'd really love that someone get some news from either Criterion or MoC whether a sequel is coming or not.

[dwk]

If it is Koike, the 6 Lone Wolf & Cub in proper BD releases would be neat.

I know I've mentioned this before, but now that I know they've interviewed Koike, and the phantom page for Yoshiyuki Kuroda that went up last December, I actually do have some hope that they are doing a Zatoichi-esque box dedicated to some adaptations of Kazuo Koike's manga. Even if it were just limited to Toho, that would be Lady Snowblood 1&2, Hanzo the Razor 1-3, Lone Wolf and Cub 1-6, Demon Spies, & Kôkôsei burai hikae 1-3.

[knives]

They definitely have the Hanzo series.

[jedgeco]

Podcast interview with Jonathan Turell where he confirms they are working on The In-Laws and Here Comes Mr. Jordan and maybe confirms Shampoo, says they want to do The Princess Bride but haven't been able to figure out what they could add to the current release, and hints that they are working on expanding to other regions/markets.

Anyone who skipped the interview and just read the headlines on future releases should check it out for Turrell's discussion of how Criterion approaches streaming video versus how they think about packaged media, which were very thoughtful.

[FrauBlucher]

Highlights....
So, Jonathan Turrell is responsible for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.... He thinks the blu ray market will be around for a long time..... Sounds like Criterion may be doing something for the overseas market, stay tuned..... Possibly launching their own channel.....Peter Becker has seen every movie in the collection, Turrell has not...... Would love to get The Third Man back in the collection.....

[jwschwarz]

I saw Tokyo-Ga today at the Wim Wenders IFC retrospective and before the feature they showed the short Reverse Angle: Ein Brief aus New York. I had never heard of this before today but it was pretty great and I noticed it had a Janus logo before the film. I was wondering if anyone had any information on this short. I could easily see it being added as a special feature on a future Wenders release; maybe something like Notebook on Cities and Clothes. It's a shame Tokyo-Ga doesn't have it's own spine number because it was the perfect companion to that film.

[ryannichols7]

I saw Tokyo-Ga today at the Wim Wenders IFC retrospective and before the feature they showed the short Reverse Angle: Ein Brief aus New York. I had never heard of this before today but it was pretty great and I noticed it had a Janus logo before the film. I was wondering if anyone had any information on this short. I could easily see it being added as a special feature on a future Wenders release; maybe something like Notebook on Cities and Clothes. It's a shame Tokyo-Ga doesn't have it's own spine number because it was the perfect companion to that film.

there's this great movie called Late Spring, and it has a wonderful blu-ray release...

[zedz]

I saw Tokyo-Ga today at the Wim Wenders IFC retrospective and before the feature they showed the short Reverse Angle: Ein Brief aus New York. I had never heard of this before today but it was pretty great and I noticed it had a Janus logo before the film. I was wondering if anyone had any information on this short. I could easily see it being added as a special feature on a future Wenders release; maybe something like Notebook on Cities and Clothes. It's a shame Tokyo-Ga doesn't have it's own spine number because it was the perfect companion to that film.

there's this great movie called Late Spring, and it has a wonderful blu-ray release...

I think he meant that, if Tokyo-Ga had its own spine number [and wasn't just an extra], then there would be a good place to include the short he liked. I thought the same thing you did until I reread the original post.