The Criterion Channel -- Film and Content Discussion

[beamish14]

September 2024 Lineup

Would’ve been nice if the Mastroianni retrospective included Giuseppe Tornatorre’s Everybody’s Fine, which has never had a DVD release despite its pedigree and the fact that it spawned both a Hollywood and a Chinese remake

[fiendishthingy]

Yes, it looks like the vast majority of the Mastroianni selections are films that are on the channel all the time, which is disappointing. I think the only two exceptions are La dolce vita and We All Loved Each Other So Much (where his role is just a brief cameo, as I recall). Oddly, too, the collection doesn’t include several other films that seem to be permanently available on the channel, like La nuit de Varennes, Intervista and the documentary Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember.

[yoloswegmaster]

Crazy good month, especially with the Youssef Chahine retrospective, Kansas City Confidential, Pictures of Ghosts, My Heart Is That Eternal Rose, and Victims of Sin.

I just watched this on the Channel and I'm pretty sure that this was sourced from a recent restoration. I compared it with the screenshots from the 2011 blu release and it wipes it, as it's much sharper, has nicer contrast and density levels, noticeable grain, and has very few print damages outside of a few faint tramlines and a noticeable hairline scratch at the end of the film. Does anyone know if those later blu releases (including the 2019 French release) use the same transfer as the 2011 bluray?

[dwk]

October 2024

[knives]

Rothman is exciting to see brought in. The Velvet Vampire was one of the high points in my Corman fest a couple years back.

[beamish14]

Deep Crimson and Kiss of the Spider Woman are big ones that I keep hoping will get physical releases

[dwk]

I found it very funny that the Stephen King set includes The Lawnmower Man which he sued to get his name removed from because it has nothing to do with his short story.

[beamish14]

I found it very funny that the Stephen King set includes The Lawnmower Man which he sued to get his name removed from because it has nothing to do with his short story.

Don’t remind me of his absolutely nonsensical, bullshit story

[domino harvey]

Yes, this is one of the rarer cases where not adapting the source with fidelity without a doubt made for a much better film (and this remains true even if you hate the movie)

SpoilerShow

I don’t think anyone needed Jeff Fahey gromping on grass and animals for the length of a feature

[knives]

I think King’s specific complaint was that they put his title and name onto a film that was already completed just for marketing purposes.

[domino harvey]

Oh, for sure he had every right to object to what was a clear and unambiguous attempt to do just that

[CSM126]

Lawnmower Man was a bad story that became a horrendous movie which somehow inspired a sequel which can best be described as a cinematic holocaust. Nothing good comes from The Lawnmower Man.

[domino harvey]

I didn’t even know there was a sequel! Casting Max Headroom as Jeff Fahey is incredible

[swo17]

The pair just got a deluxe edition from 101 Films

[371229]

When will Evil Does Not Exist be available for streaming? All we are able to watch is the trailer???

[dwk]

I see that the main page has a 2 minute run time, the film is there

[Lowry_Sam]

Speaking of Stephen King, I was a bit excited to see him be a featured theme for this month, only to select it and be so completely underwhelmed by the selection. No Salem's Lot, The Stand, Carrie, The Dead Zone, The Shining, Cujo, Children Of The Corn or Misery ... Is Halloween cancelled this year? Then I clicked on David Cronenberg, and the same was true for his selection, only I think I remember Cronenberg having a curated theme early on in the channel's start, but with a wider selection. No Dead Ringers, Videodrome, Naked Lunch, eXixtenZ, not to mention the twofer The Dead Zone. What gives at The Criterion Channel programming? things seem to be slipping.

[Buttery Jeb]

November 2024

[ando]

Speaking of Stephen King, I was a bit excited to see him be a featured theme for this month, only to select it and be so completely underwhelmed by the selection. No Salem's Lot, The Stand, Carrie, The Dead Zone, The Shining, Cujo, Children Of The Corn or Misery ... Is Halloween cancelled this year? Then I clicked on David Cronenberg, and the same was true for his selection, only I think I remember Cronenberg having a curated theme early on in the channel's start, but with a wider selection. No Dead Ringers, Videodrome, Naked Lunch, eXixtenZ, not to mention the twofer The Dead Zone. What gives at The Criterion Channel programming? things seem to be slipping.

I’ve said this for the past couple of years. Either they’re severely hamstrung by rights issues or they need a new (imaginative) programming staff. Probably both. (Hit me up if you need assistance! )

It’s still the best streaming platform for world classics by far but their American director retrospectives are generally poor. When the promos are narrowed in subject but wide in selections I really get exited (like the one on legendary cameraman, James Wong Howe). In addition to the scant rep of Horror film directors you’ve mentioned , however, I was also surprised to only see three (lesser) films by John Carpenter. And they’ve not highlighted many horror classics that have been in monthly rotation for a while (Vampyr, The Living Skeleton, Spider Baby, The Blob, etc.).

Perhaps with such a deep library it’s a challenge to highlight as many as they’d like but geez, my searching has often yielded more interesting promo eligible titles than the ones featured. So (to be positive) the promos are probably best regarded as starting points rather than definitive examples of whatever genre/topic is featured for the month.

[Matt]

I thought it was a little hilarious that there is a made-for-TV horror film collection with…two films in it. Like, go girl, give us nothing!

[dwk]

I think it can take a year from an idea for a series to it getting on the channel, so it probably is the case that stuff falls through and you get things like that odd Stephen King selection. I remember a year or two back they randomly had Blackenstein. Something so random that it had to have been intended as part of a series that ultimately didn't happen.

[Lowry_Sam]

I thought it was a little hilarious that there is a made-for-TV horror film collection with…two films in it. Like, go girl, give us nothing!

I had thought of this too but didnt include it in my post & it would have made The Stand & Salem's Lot twofers and The Dead Zone a threefer. Very odd that they have a made-for-TV theme for only 2 titles.

Another weird thing I have noticed with the channel is titles showing up in the "leaving this month" & so I watch them, only to see them pop up again in the "new this month" theme the very next or the subsequent month with no discernible change in the quality of the video (which would at least make some sense).

But I would disagree about the international titles, maybe the channel has the odd theme now and then (e.g. an anniversary or death) but the new & leaving themes have much fewer international titles than they used & those that are on the channel you have to search for. On the other hand there does seem to be many more US indie & major studio releases from the 70s-00s than there used to be.

[colinr0380]

I’ve said this for the past couple of years. Either they’re severely hamstrung by rights issues or they need a new (imaginative) programming staff. Probably both. (Hit me up if you need assistance! )

Mentioning Maximum Overdrive would have to be essential to proving you know your Stephen King! (And double billing it with the 1997 TV movie remake Trucks would seal the deal hopefully!)

[yoloswegmaster]

Leos Carax’s ‘It’s Not Me’ will start streaming on the Channel on December 10

[dwk]

December's slate