2022 Criterion Forum Awards

[geoffcowgill]

I’m participating in the voting this year because I bought all of Criterion’s releases this year (save from UHD upgrades I already had on Blu-Ray and the Haneke collection [because of expense and near certainty that I wouldn’t likely include it in the voting; it can wait for a flash/BN sale]). While I have failed to completely watch all of the supplements (I’ve got about ten titles in various states of finishing, definitely including the seemingly endless featurettes on Wall-E), I feel I’ve put in the work to have a considered ballot.

BEST RELEASE
1- Raging Bull
2- Malcolm X
3- Pink Flamingos
4- Exotica
5- Three Films by Mai Zetterling

Runners up:
The Celebration, The Worst Person in the World, The Piano, Miller’s Crossing, The Girl Can’t Help It, Double Indemnity, Shaft, Written on the Wind, Cure, Love Affair

This was very difficult to establish clear, consistent criteria for evaluating. Raging Bull is one of my favorite films of all time, and the CAV laserdisc was my most prized home video possession for a long time in the early days of my interest in the medium, so its return to the Criterion Collection holds a lot of sentimental value appeal for me. So my list is a hodgepodge of films I love and exemplary presentations with meaningful supplements of films that I at least quite like.

BEST BOXED SET
Three Films by Mai Zetterling

Runner-up: Infernal Affairs Trilogy

BEST MODERN FILM
The Worst Person in the World
This just beats Power of the Dog and Drive My Car; in 2022 Criterion released several of my favorite films from the last couple of years, and, really, most of the modern film releases have been very good

BEST COMMENTARY
The Velvet Underground
Maybe it’s largely because I listened to it most recently, and maybe because it has the camaraderie that adds so much to some of the best group commentaries.

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Divine Trash

Runners-up: Calendar, The Market King

BEST BOOKLET
Pink Flamingos

Honorable mention to Daddy Longlegs, which is conceptually interesting without quite pulling it off.

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
Tour of locations on Pink Flamingos

Runners-up: (not counting bonus films, as that’s its own category)
Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier on the Dick Cavett Show on Buck & The Preacher
Conversation between Megan Abbott and the Coen brothers on Miller’s Crossing

BEST UHD RELEASE
Raging Bull
I don’t have the eyesight to really feel the difference between a Blu-Ray and UHD picture while I'm engrossed in a film, to be honest, so I’m just going with my favorite film in 4K; they all looked great, though

BEST REISSUE
Written on the Wind

BEST UPGRADE
Le Corbeau

BEST COVER
Daisies

WORST COVER
Eve’s Bayou
I find the cover of Frownland to be the most aesthetically unpleasant, but it fits the film pretty well. Eve’s Bayou completely fails to do service to the movie, though, and just appears lazily executed.

BEST PACKAGING - NON-BOXED SET INDIVIDUAL RELEASE
PInk Flamingos
Runner up- The Celebration

BEST PACKAGING - BOXED SET
Infernal Affairs

BEST DISCOVERY
Night Games
I hadn't previously seen any of the Zetterling movies, and I could just as easily have cited The Girls for this.

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
Arsenic and Old Lace
This just feels like a Warner Archives release and probably should have been one. The supplements (the radio adaptation and an at-times gratingly cutesy commentary) are not up to snuff, and there are numerous other much more worthy Golden Age studio rescues to be done.

Runners up: Faya Dayi was very much not my cup of tea (or khat, I suppose), and I would have been fine if Frownland had been a supplement on Daddy Longlegs.

MOST FLAWED RELEASE
In The Mood for Love UHD
I haven’t seen this new WKW revision, so I don’t know if the vitriol is justified, but I’ll go ahead and pile on the hate. On the subject of directorial revisions, though, I don’t mind the re-edit of Miller’s Crossing and actually appreciate that it may have, even if extremely subtly, improved the film by making it more tonally consistent.

MOST CONSPICUOUS ABSENCE
Denzel Washington stars in three of the films released in 2022 and appears in not a single new supplement.

[DeprongMori]

One of these days I’ll participate in a year end poll, but most of my viewing energies these days have gone to the Criterion Channel and UK releases. Having seen such a tiny fraction of the year’s Criterion Collection releases doesn’t provide me enough perspective to select many “Bests”. So, I will limit myself to the one category I’m comfortable with, and that’s BEST DISCOVERY — La Llorona.

[Black Hat]

BEST RELEASE
1- Three Films by Mai Zetterling
2- Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project No. 4
3- Boat People
4- Mr. Klein
5- The Girl Can't Help It

BEST BOXED SET
Three Films by Mai Zetterling

BEST MODERN FILM "New" (2018-2022)
La llorona

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
Eddie Muller and Imogen Sara Smith on Double Indemnity

BEST REISSUE
Written on the Wind

BEST UPGRADE
Le Corbeau

BEST COVER
Written on the Wind

WORST COVER
Malcolm X

BEST DISCOVERY
Night Games

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
In the Mood for Love

MOST FLAWED RELEASE
In the Mood for Love

BEST THREAD
Sight & Sound

RICHARD CRANIUM
Cinephile guy, hilarious moron

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
swo is the man

[Omensetter]

BEST RELEASE
01. The Girl Can't Help It
02. Double Indemnity
03. Raging Bull
04. Lost Highway
05. Zetterling

BEST BOXED SET — Zetterling
BEST MODERN FILM "New" (2018-2022) — Drive My Car

BEST "BONUS" FILM — Calendar
BEST BOOKLET — The Girl Can't Gelp It
BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA — Muller/Smith, Double Indemnity

BEST REISSUE — Written on the Wind
BEST UPGRADE — Le corbeau

BEST COVER — The Girl Can't Help It
WORST COVER — The Worst Person in the World
BEST PACKAGING - NON-BOXED SET INDIVIDUAL RELEASE — The Girl Can't Help It
BEST PACKAGING — WCF #4

BEST DISCOVERY — La llorona
MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE — Cooley High
MOST FLAWED RELEASE — In the Mood for Love

[therewillbeblus]

I don't think we're going to overtake Scorsese, but I appreciate the sudden wave of advocacy promoting Zetterling as the true queen of the box sets

[pianocrash]

BEST RELEASE
1 / Lost Highway
2 / The Girl Can't Help It
3 / Pink Flamingos
4 / The Celebration
5 / Rouge

BEST BOXED SET / Mai Zetterling
BEST MODERN FILM / La Llorona
BEST COMMENTARY / Time
BEST "BONUS" FILM / Divine Trash
BEST BOOKLET / The Girl Can't Help It
BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA / Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie discuss Frownland
BEST UHD RELEASE / Lost Highway
BEST REISSUE / Summertime
BEST UPGRADE / Le Corbeau
BEST COVER / Daddy Longlegs
WORST COVER / Daddy Longlegs
BEST PACKAGING - NON-BOXED SET INDIVIDUAL RELEASE / The Celebration
BEST PACKAGING - BOXED SET / Infernal Affairs Trilogy
BEST DISCOVERY / La Llorona
MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE / WALL-E
MOST FLAWED RELEASE / Miller's Crossing

BEST THREAD / Hong Kong Cinema
MEMBER OF THE YEAR / feihong
RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD / Israeli Cinema Expert Guy
BIGGEST SQUANDERING OF OTHERWISE OBVIOUS CURB APPEAL / Denzel Washington x 3 releases (MIA on supplements, poor design/cover art choices, no hints of Heart Condition UHD)
BEST MENU FEATURE / Sound Of Metal Chapter Stops
BEST IN THE MOOD FOR WOODY ALLEN MOVIE BUT WE CAN'T VIEW HIS OEUVRE ANYMORE SO INSTEAD HERE'S / The Worst Person In The World

[ryannichols7]

BEST RELEASE
05 The Celebration
04 Rouge
03 Cure
02 Mississippi Masala
01 Exotica

not a great year for Criterion at all but I have to say the five releases above are pretty stellar stuff. the two biggest issues with basically all of these are the two things you'll see me complain about constantly on the board: A. lack of UHD releases with HDR (obviously doesn't apply to #5!) and B. lack of scholarly supplements. all five of these editions were director approved and have nothing in the way of scholarly supplements aside from their respective essays. this is especially irksome in the cases of Exotica and Cure, both two of my new favorite films of the 90s, that are remarkably layered and nuanced, absolutely ripe for discussion. Cure is the better film than Masala but I felt Criterion's edition on the latter was more "complete". Mira Nair's film is a joyous delight (and very underrated on this board) and I think the supplements are compiled with a wonderful care (more on that in a minute) that a lot of directors don't always go the length to on their releases. The Celebration is not the best film but the edition is phenomenal and very well stacked, it's arguably the best release of the year in the way of supplements, but I did take the enjoyment of the films into my account. spoiler, Rouge is my vote for best discovery up ahead so it takes a spot here, I'll write it up below. but it's Exotica that wins for me, not only is the film perfect but the transfer is incredible and the supplements are extremely rich. Atom Egoyan being a great interview subject made this an easy one, and I'm a sucker for short films - Criterion rocked it.

special mention to Márta Mészáros' Adoption which was Criterion's first Hungarian film release ever. I didn't vote for it because I felt the edition (which I did buy anyway) didn't do too much to compliment the existing Second Run disc (which they usually do a good job on - I always double dip these titles), but they provide a great crash course on Mészáros (which I vote for ahead), her short Blow-Ball (which is a bit much), and a nice cover. The Piano wins "best edition for a film I don't love", they did a fantastic job with the supplements there, and the exhaustively extensive interview with Michael Nyman was a nice surprise. again, the "director approved" deal strikes, as I feel that's another film ripe for discussion. and then there's Arsenic and Old Lace, a film I really do enjoy but I feel like the release dropped the ball. more on that ahead in other categories but I am glad it was laserdisc rescued. I think that covers it..if I didn't mention it I will ahead.

and Wall-E was a great release, sits gladly on my shelf. just doesn't need a vote! it wins the award for BEST RUNNER UP IN ALL CATEGORIES ahead basically.

BEST BOXED SET
Three Films by Mai Zetterling

this one's for you twbb - I am a Scorcese hater and a lover of lesser seen film that doesn't need the picks to be curated by him! I have only seen Flickorna but this "box"'s existence was a really nice surprise at the end of the release slate, it absolutely takes my vote for surprise of the year too.

BEST MODERN FILM "New" (2018-2022)
Drive My Car

this is one of my favorite films of the new millennium (though I've yet to write up all my thoughts as to why) so it's no brainer this is my vote here. the interview with Hamaguchi on here is really good, even though I know he'd done a million interviews already about this film. just, as always, wish it had more by way of supplements, but I like the cover and design of the package too.

BEST COMMENTARY
Mississippi Masala

the Arsenic commentary was the only new "scholarly" commentary of the year and it felt like a KLSC/Bogdanovich style trivia track rather than anything too insightful, which certainly fits the film but when you compare it to Linda Ehrlich's phenomenal track for After Life (my 2021 vote), there's just no way. so I voted for Mira Nair here, who like Wes Anderson before her, is clearly a Criterion fan and listens to these kinds of tracks herself. I enjoy a lot when director's pack their own tracks with details and insight, and Nair feels like she's playing her own scholar here, both reading into the film as well as providing production details. she has a great pace and is a fantastic speaker (as usual) and she's very amusing too. if all director commentaries were this good, I'd have less negative things to say about them, no contest this was my favorite.

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Still Love You After All These

no one else voted for this so I will, I personally read Rouge as a film all about Hong Kong's identity (that felt weirdly predictive), and this was a phenomenal accompaniment! Yang ± Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema is also great but this worked for me well. both great features that added a lot of value. I was going to vote for one of the Chytilová films (as I like them more than I do Daisies!) but these were too good to not vote for, and got even less love than those, which at least had twbb banging the drum. Calendar is surely going to win and is great as well. a good year on this front from Criterion, the doc on The Celebration is great too and overall they gave us a good value for our money with these bonus films at the least.

BEST BOOKLET
The Funeral

this film was a huge letdown for me as I mentioned in its respective thread, but the booklet was really in depth and a really nice surprise. the essay is fine but I love having production diary work in booklets (and it feels like such an easy thing to add, but is so rarely hear) and Tsutomu Yamazaki's rememberance of Itami was lovely. the only other contenders in this category were Mississippi Masala and Wall-E. the former won enough votes from me, and the latter I feel doesn't need to be recognized on too many things, but what do they have in common with the winner? production diaries! seriously Criterion include these and I will stop complaining about your skimpy booklets! they are simple but add a lot of value, look at Do the Right Thing or the glorious Hitchcock/Selznick correspondence for Rebecca. hopefully the Indicator, Eureka, and Radiance (a newcomer, already showing them up two releases in) booklets motivate them in 2023 to actually try when it comes to printed material, something you'd think they care about being a physical media company, but I digress - I could go on and on about this all day, and my poor girlfriend and dustybooks hear this complaint enough.

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
The World of Márta Mészáros

lack of scholarly material was a huge issue this year across the board. this was one of the few features and I thought did a great job of providing a crash course on Mészáros. Second Run's lovely edition of Adoption featured only Mészáros' own perspective so it was nice hearing a scholar speak about her the way Jonathan Owen or Peter Hames would do for other central European directors on other discs. props to you Catherine Portuges! I am still new to Mészáros' films (being more involved with her ex husband Miklós Jancsó so far, and I'll take a Chris moment here to plug Kino's release of his films from this year in case you missed it) and look forward to going through them throughout our 1970s project and beyond, though I do wish Criterion had released a boxset of them...hint hint (ditto Kinuyo Tanaka!)

Imogen Sara Smith and Eddie Mueller rock but enough of you guys voted for that so I wanted to give some love elsewhere. Andrew Stanton's three pieces on the Wall-E disc were phenomenal stuff, some of the best material involving a director I've ever seen from Criterion, and I give him props for having three different appearances in each supplement! the interviews on Mississippi Masala are engaging and fun and cover all areas of the production well. as for the several director/fellow director interviews this year, I prefer the Kurosawa/Hamaguchi teacher/student one on Cure. Hamaguchi is a great interviewer and I'd love to see them bring him in for future opportunities here too, and it's one of the best interviews I've seen with Kurosawa, who is a lot looser than usual. the Egoyan/Polley one on Exotica is fun (both have a good energy) but it gets a little schmoozy to be my favorite.

more scholarly video essays please! in addition to commentaries obviously! even these "crash courses" add tons of value - one on Stanley Kwan or Ann Hui would've been very welcome from Tony Rayns or someone of the sort. ditto something, anything on Cure or Exotica. and I'll echo some of the other posts shaming Denzel Washington for not showing up for any of his releases. he's not even that busy these days! no excuse!

BEST UHD RELEASE
Double Indemnity

didn't vote for it above as I felt the supplements did the All About Eve thing where Criterion just did a really good job of bringing a lot of archival material together. but come on, this is still one of the best films of all time, looking better than ever, and was easily the best new spine number UHD of the year. everything else in that regard is not my cup of tea, so this is an easy winner, no runner up (aside from "best upgrade")

(the essay in the insert was very bad, though)

BEST REISSUE
Summertime

I like this underrated film more than Written on the Wind but I admit my trouble in accepting that it's in 1.33:1. I have no basis on this, it just looks clearly framed for 1.66:1 to my eyes, but obviously I've lost this battle. it looks fantastic, has some nice supplements, a nice cover...all lovely and long deserved improvements over their original barebones DVD. well, well worth the wait and I hope others enjoy this film as much as I did - if not, Venice looks as stunning as ever, and beating a dead horse into the ground but it should've in HDR too...

BEST UPGRADE
For All Mankind

I'm so glad The Tales of Hoffmann and Le Corbeau came back into print, both fantastic films that got an awesome upgrade in the A/V department. but no new supplements? really? Blow Out was also a contender here and it does look phenomenal (and is only one of two De Palma films I like, so good call) but there's no way For All Mankind doesn't get the call here. it may not have gotten new supplements, but the film looks nearly biblical on the new format, a huge upgrade over the previous edition and proof that UHD/HDR can do so much! but seriously, the option to watch this in 1.85:1 was incredible and the film is a religious experience in both formats. hearing Eno, Lanois, and co's score in glorious quality while taking in the breathtaking imagery on my OLED is honestly addicting. a fantastic upgrade and one I'm super super excited about even still!

BEST COVER
Mississippi Masala

it was between this and Exotica, and when I gave that film #1 I made sure to vote Masala #1 cover (it already won commentary too) as a consolation prize. both are wonderfully colorful affairs that fit their respective films. Exotica gets bonus points as all the art that film had received to date had been generally terrible, but Masala is just breathtakingly good, and really nails the nature of the film. love the Arsenic cover a lot, which helps justify that film's release over a Warner Archive edition (as I feel Criterion dropped the ball elsewhere). the Wall-E cover is sublime, I love Boat People's (despite not enjoying the film!), and these were great too: The Funeral, Double Indemnity, Shaft, Written on the Wind, Summertime, Take Out, and Daisies (which did a nice job of almost beating the original Second Run DVD!). while releases were not up to par, the covers had a good year I think!

WORST COVER
Frownland

it makes me physically uncomfortable to look at this cover, which I fully recognize is the point. but it still sucks. I am pro-Worst Person cover even though I don't enjoy the film. Walker's cover was horrible, and they made poor Jayne Mansfield look foolish on The Girl Can't Help It. hate that The Last Waltz (which annoyingly I bought for some reason!) doesn't mention The Band on the cover and Scorcese dominates the damn thing. Rouge is a totally ace release but I loathe the cover (the artist won me back with his Wall-E art), and Okja came very, very close...diabolical cover I still can't believe was real. special shoutout to the horriawful new In the Mood for Love cover, just as much of a downgrade as the disc is..more on that later.

BEST PACKAGING - NON-BOXED SET INDIVIDUAL RELEASE
The Celebration

come on this had to win. only Wall-E came close, and I nearly voted for it, but we knew the moment this was revealed it was gonna be #1. top job Criterion, and please do more Dogme 95 just so you can continue this packaging, it's badass.

otherwise a shitty year on the packaging front - Pink Flamingos (a film I will not be watching) is the only one that had anything else of interest. they're listening too much to the redditors that want everything in Scanavo cases...

BEST PACKAGING - BOXED SET
The Infernal Affairs Trilogy

only boxset that required actual design so it wins by default. shame on anyone who voted for WCF vol 4!

BEST DISCOVERY
Rouge

I knew about all the films in my top 5 coming into the year except this one. in a year where Hong Kong cinema dominated, absolute props to Criterion for (shockingly) being the only label to release a non-martial arts Hong Kong film not directed by Wong Kar-Wai this year (if I missed another, please point it in my direction!) and give it a fantastic release. the transfer is gorgeous and it's lovely hearing Kwan talk about his work in the included interview. the two bonus films are both lovely (as mentioned above) and fit in with the main feature well. I wish there had been more about Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui, but hopefully there will be on future releases. Boat People would've qualified in this category, and Criterion gave a valiant effort with a mirrored edition as Rouge (with shorts and a nice interview), but I did not enjoy the film so I couldn't vote for it here. all other films I would've voted for I already knew of or enjoyed, Chess of the Wind aside but since they still haven't put the WCF vol 4 films on the channel, I couldn't vote for any of them! the set is not something I want to blind buy...

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
Okja

nobody likes this movie, even Bong Joon Ho "stans" on Reddit that came on board with Parasite all did the whole "I guess I'll pick this up" sign of enthusiasm. loathesome film, loathesome cover, and this was seriously the first Netflix UHD title? come on. Sound of Metal was a close contender here but that one (somehow!) seems to have its fans. others I rolled my eyes at upon announcement and considered for this vote: Love Affair, The Flight of the Phoenix, love jones, Eyimofe, Farewell Amor, The Worst Person in the World, Frownland, Daddy Longlegs, Raging Bull, Devil in a Blue Dress, The Power of the Dog, Cooley High. and Eve's Bayou is a horrible film and the cover is even worse. okay, I'm done being grouchy...

MOST FLAWED RELEASE
In the Mood for Love 4K

...just kidding. Wong Kar-Wai has been dead to me since he lost the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2004 to Michael MF Moore. that broke him and he never recovered from it. every time I see someone buy this release I die a little inside, and seeing redditors and Everything Everywhere All at Once fanboys/fangirls claim how "I prefer the newer restoration" makes me wish I didn't care about any of this stuff at all, as it basically is more offensive to me than practically anything else. this film, which has never been my favorite of Wong's, is now immeasurably damaged by this crowd, and I fully recognize this is a me problem, and I will cling to my 2012 Bluray of this film like a prized possession. but fuck this cashgrab moneygrabbing release so much - a HDR transfer of the real version of the film would be one of the best discs ever, but this mailed in garbage with its awful cover and total lack of effort (right down to WKW's "signature") is something I wish I could pull from every Barnes and Noble in the US.

I think I'm done. I've complained up-post about all the other flaws on these releases, and up thread about the films I felt should've been on UHD. I promise I'll remain positive the rest of the post - if you're still reading this, thank you for putting up with me.

BEST THREAD
the collected 1960s list project threads

read below for more.

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
swo17

we'll close this here on a positive note. swo has won this thing enough times as everyone has acknowledged, but he's completely changed the way I decide what film to watch every single night, and I am in love with the approach and find these monthly projects to be an incredible, incredible thing. so much more discussion on the films and participation, and while I may not get around to writing up everything before the vote (to encourage folks to hit various gems) I appreciate that others do and make those threads so much fun. so thank you swo for spearheading that and all the awesome things you do for our forum otherwise, you rock and you know it. Finch and DarkImbecile were my runners up here - Finch not only does an incredible job with the UHD thread, for my money the best resource on those discs on the entire internet, but I love that he keeps up with everything pretty well in terms of new releases and opinions and such too. DI - not only for running this ballot but I always enjoy your insights to the various films on the 60s projects and you got me a bunch of Letterboxd followers too and we all interact and team up together and it's a blast. Computer Raheem always makes me laugh, colinr's thoughts are always fun, and I love TWBB's enthusiasm. I value all of you guys really, I've really tried to make so much more of an effort when I "came back" to the forum in 2021 after a long absence, and being slightly more seasoned (though still probably one of the youngest regular posters here) has helped me both as a writer and truly even a person, as much as I've complained in this post, I want to make sure I'm always championing things I'm enthusiastic about too. this forum is such a wonder to me and a great place to come to day in and day out, so thank all of you who regularly contribute here!

[DarkImbecile]

All right, voting is closed — results later this morning after I take my kids to school

[yoloswegmaster]

All right, voting is closed — results later this morning after I take my kids to school

Can you drop me off to school as well?

[DarkImbecile]

Sigh… am I going to have to cut the crusts off your sandwich too?

[yoloswegmaster]

[therewillbeblus]

I want my crusts on, but for the love of god cut diagonally

[DarkImbecile]

Sorry, all I had in the house was peanut butter, expired mayonnaise, and iceberg lettuce.

And they're cut trapezoidally. Now get in the damn car, I'm going to be late for work!

[therewillbeblus]

Real photo of DarkImbecile this morning

[DarkImbecile]

Best Release (Number of votes out of 25 submitted ballots / total points)
01 Rouge (11 / 38)
02 Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project Vol. 4 (9 / 32)
03 Lost Highway (8 / 28)
04 The Girl Can't Help It (7 / 25)
05 Double Indemnity (5 / 24)
06 Three Films by Mai Zetterling (8 / 23)
07 Exotica (6 / 20)
08 Boat People (7 / 17)
09 'Round Midnight (6 / 17)
09 Cure (6 / 17)

Best Boxed Set


Best Modern Film


Best Commentary (THREE-WAY TIE)




Best 'Bonus' Film (TIE)



Best Booklet


Best UHD Release AND Best On-Disc Non-Commentary Extra


Best Reissue


Best Upgrade


The Best Cover In The World


The Worst Cover In the World


Best Packaging (Non-Box)


Best Packaging (Box)


Best Discovery


Most Unnecessary Release AND Most Flawed Release


Richard Cranium Award (UNANIMOUS)


Best Thread


Member of the Year


all images are clickable

[DarkImbecile]

Well, even if everyone else is already regretting their votes, I for one will congratulate swo17 and demand a stirring acceptance speech

[Maltic]

Imogen Sara Smith and Eddie Mueller rock but enough of you guys voted for that so I wanted to give some love elsewhere. Andrew Stanton's three pieces on the Wall-E disc were phenomenal stuff, some of the best material involving a director I've ever seen from Criterion, and I give him props for having three different appearances in each supplement! the interviews on Mississippi Masala are engaging and fun and cover all areas of the production well. as for the several director/fellow director interviews this year, I prefer the Kurosawa/Hamaguchi teacher/student one on Cure. Hamaguchi is a great interviewer and I'd love to see them bring him in for future opportunities here too, and it's one of the best interviews I've seen with Kurosawa, who is a lot looser than usual.the Egoyan/Polley one on Exotica is fun (both have a good energy) but it gets a little schmoozy to be my favorite.

The Gilliam/Polley one on Munchausen should be fireworks though.

more scholarly video essays please! in addition to commentaries obviously! even these "crash courses" add tons of value - one on Stanley Kwan or Ann Hui would've been very welcome from Tony Rayns or someone of the sort. ditto something, anything on Cure or Exotica. and I'll echo some of the other posts shaming Denzel Washington for not showing up for any of his releases. he's not even that busy these days! no excuse!

The Cairns video essay on A Girl Can't Help It was one of the better ones this year, though I tend to forget the actual content of these essays quickly (or maybe I just internalize it). I do remember it convinced me that the colour grading for the release was right (but what do I know).

[swo17]

Thanks for compiling, DI! It's about time Jason Schwartzman won something. One of our finest actors

[swo17]

I for one will congratulate swo17 and demand a stirring acceptance speech

Oh wait, the award was for me? In that case:

Sit down; you're too old to be standing. Thank you, Mr. Day-Lewis. From you it exacerbates this honor to it and it blows it right out of the ballpark. Thank you so much to the Academy. As random and as subjective as this award is, it means a great deal in a year of extraordinary – yet again – extraordinary performances by women. Amy Adams, everything you do, but your performance in "American Hustle" blew my mind. And Meryl, what can I say? Sandra, I could watch that performance to the end of time, and I sort of felt like I had. Julia, #suckit. You know what I mean? And Judi Dench, I mean what a career. She's not here tonight because at the age of 79 her film was so successful that she's in India doing a sequel. I mean what a career that is, if I could hope.

And me, I'm here accepting an award in an extraordinary screenplay by Woody Allen. Thank you so much, Woody, for casting me. I truly appreciate it. I'm so very proud that "Blue Jasmine" stayed in the cinemas for as long as it did. And thank you to Sony Classics, to Michael and Tom, for their extraordinary support, for so bravely and intelligently distributing the film. And to the audiences who went to see it, and perhaps those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences. They are not. Audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. So... The world is round, people!

Thank you to my mum, to my sister, to my brother, to my three glorious sons; I would not be standing here without you. To my husband Andrew, you are a legend. Thank you to my agent Hylda Queally; you're behind the pillar somewhere up there. You are a goddess. To my agent in Australia, Robyn Gardiner, I love you so very much. To my publicist Lisa Kasteler. To the sublime Sally Hawkins and to the extraordinary cast of "Blue Jasmine," I don't know how to do this without other actors and this I share with you. To the hair and makeup people who sweated me up and tried to make me look attractive, thank you for the attempt. To Carla Meyer, for getting Sally and I together and for incredible support. To Helen Robin. To everyone involved in "Blue Jasmine," I thank you so much.

And finally, I would like to thank every single member of the Sydney Theatre Company, one of the great theater companies in the world. For me working on "Blue Jasmine," it was a real synthesis of my work in the theater and on film. And not only working with you for the last six years has been the most enormous privilege of my career, but it's made me a better actress. There is so much talent in Australia, and Michael Wilkinson and CM and I are just tonight's tip of the iceberg. Thank you so much. Thank you.

[Altair]

Honestly I can't tell if this is a parody of Cate Blanchett's Oscar speech or the real thing.

[swo17]

It's real, and it comes from the bottom of my heart

*my heart having recently been replaced by a Google search for "what's this Cate Blanchett acceptance speech everyone's been talking about?"

[colinr0380]

I thought it was based on this speech.

(Congratulations, swo!)

[Altair]

The fact that it is real makes it all the more spectacular and somehow makes me like Blanchett all the more as a performance artist.

[swo17]

If you like that you should hear the actual speech people are talking about

[ryannichols7]

with Rouge winning our poll, I suspect our call for more non-genre Hong Kong cinema will be ignored just as swiftly as our call for incredible, supplement rich editions of classic Hollywood titles/westerns was ignored when High Sierra won last year's poll. Criterion could remedy this by announcing A Chinese Ghost Story, Dumplings, or Winchester '73 any time they want!

thank you DI for compiling the poll!

more scholarly video essays please! in addition to commentaries obviously! even these "crash courses" add tons of value - one on Stanley Kwan or Ann Hui would've been very welcome from Tony Rayns or someone of the sort. ditto something, anything on Cure or Exotica. and I'll echo some of the other posts shaming Denzel Washington for not showing up for any of his releases. he's not even that busy these days! no excuse!

The Cairns video essay on A Girl Can't Help It was one of the better ones this year, though I tend to forget the actual content of these essays quickly (or maybe I just internalize it). I do remember it convinced me that the colour grading for the release was right (but what do I know).

despite this forum's love for Tashlin I couldn't bring myself to blind buy that edition, I think it deals with how much I don't like how they made Jayne Mansfield look on the cover. that said, I love David Cairns very much, and he's a perfect example of someone Criterion should be calling on to contribute more often. he's versatile and very informative with every single essay he does.