Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[FrauBlucher]

The O Lucky Man speculation started when If... was released on dvd, but offhand I don't rmember any supporting details.

O Lucky Man came from this list about 15 years ago around the time Kim Hendrickson said Criterion had a deal with WB at a Wexner Q&A. Around this time this list of WB DVDs went OOP. As you can see it's taken a very long time for this list to get released

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid UHD
The Roaring Twenties UHD
Lone Star UHD
Round Midnight
The Philadelphia Story
Hedwig & The Angry Inch
Bringing Up Baby
Arsenic and Old Lace
Mean Streets UHD
Barry Lyndon UHD
Captain Blood UHD

NOT YET
O Lucky Man

[Lowry_Sam]

One head-scratcher is why Criterion didn't release more from the popular Warner dvd box sets: Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Val Lewton, Noir, Gangsters, Busby Berkeley....we only got 1 or 2 titles (and no Busby Berkeley) from multiple boxes.

[rrenault]

This list seems rather random to me. There are some films on it that have either been confirmed or have been attached to Criterion based on prior lists (O Lucky Man). But most just seems to be wishing

The O Lucky Man speculation started when If... was released on dvd, but offhand I don't rmember any supporting details.

Bullitt, Deliverance, What's Up Doc?, Bonnie And Clyde, Dog Day Afternoon, Magnolia, and The French Connection, like Lolita, Network & Sorcererhave been on the channel frequently. But so have All The President's Men & One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and we didn't end up with Criterions for those. Those WB titles that first got digibooks for their blu-rays seem like good candidates, but it's not definitive. One (flawed) digibook release I've never heard speculated is Chariots Of Fire, which seems to be another former arthouse favorite now despite its Academy Award status.

Body Heat is another channel favorite frequently speculated, as has Star 80 & Roger & Me, but can't remember if those 2 were on the channel.

The French Connection is Disney/Fox.

Side question: This is maybe common knowledge, and I'm just out of the loop, but why is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with WB when every other UA release from that era is owned by MGM today?

[captveg]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is owned by the Saul Zaentz Company, who have repeatedly re-upped their license with WB over the years (along with Amadeus and a few others, IIRC).

[JSC]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is owned by the Saul Zaentz Company, who have repeatedly re-upped their license with WB over the years (along with Amadeus and a few others, IIRC).

Who have also seemingly decided to release both of those films in UHD format only.

[captveg]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is owned by the Saul Zaentz Company, who have repeatedly re-upped their license with WB over the years (along with Amadeus and a few others, IIRC).

Who have also seemingly decided to release both of those films in UHD format only.

Pretty standard for WB for the last few years with upgrades. They stopped doing dual format UHD/BD releases around 2023.

[JSC]

What I meant is there doesn't seem to be any stand-alone blu-ray release for either film (and Amadeus: The Theatrical Cut
has been out for quite a while now).

[ryannichols7]

well, it appears the Apple code has been hacked

[rrenault]

I'm on the fence about Viridiana, since I bought Radiance's boxset a year ago, and I can't imagine Criterion's 4K being a massive upgrade over Radiance's 4K-sourced blu-ray.

I may get Killers of the Flower Moon at some point but probably not on day one.

Also, I assumed A Man and A Woman had a 4K restoration that screened at Film Forum a few months back.

P.S. It's interesting they added a 4K-sourced blu-ray-only release to the mainline this month. I assumed those were over.

Speaking of Viridiana, should we be careful from here on out with 4k-sourced blu-rays from labels like Radiance, BFI, Carlotta et al., since Criterion will likely just do a native 4K release at some point? I'm thinking of titles like Le Nottie Bianche, Floating Clouds, etc.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

This might just be me but does Janus Contemporaries/Criterion Premieres just not make sense to anyone anymore? They still release relatively barebones releases for recent films and they can’t just put the C in the corner and release it in the mainline? I’m disappointed that masterpieces like About Dry Grasses and All We Imagine As Light don’t have more care put into the releases.

[Finch]

Especially when they already had Cronenberg in the proper canon, they could have added two more extras or so and put the big C on The Shrouds, and release it in 4K. I'm grateful that films like Totem get a disc release at all but why not go the extra mile? I suppose there's only so much you can realistically put out in any given year and even Criterion's resources aren't unlimited. If that's the compromise, those discs or none at all, I'm more or less okay with it but it does feel a bit unfortunate in cases like The Shrouds. I imagine they crunched the numbers after the theatrical release and figured it wouldn't sell enough units on 4K.

[DeprongMori]

This might just be me but does Janus Contemporaries/Criterion Premieres just not make sense to anyone anymore? They still release relatively barebones releases for recent films and they can’t just put the C in the corner and release it in the mainline? I’m disappointed that masterpieces like About Dry Grasses and All We Imagine As Light don’t have more care put into the releases.

Honestly, they’ve been doing this for about 11 years now, starting IIRC with Blue Is the Warmest Color, which was released immediately in the wake of the film’s festival showings, with no supplements and promises of a fuller release down the road. While the strategy continues, they have been struggling with how to brand it.

The Janus Contemporaries line was a way for Janus to release physical media for their new acquisitions while using the more familiar “Criterion” association for distribution, and that morphed into Criterion Premieres to make the tie more explicit while still separating it from the mainline “canon”.

[yoloswegmaster]

We already knew that they had the rights to it but Criterion/Janus have performed a new 4K restoration of Kira Muratova's The Asthenic Syndrome, which will be screening at the TIFF Lightbox next month.

[Roger Ryan]

I'm pretty sure this new 4K restoration is the one currently playing on the Criterion Channel. I watched it a few weeks back after discussion on this site indicated the current home video release looked appalling and was very surprised at how good the version on the Channel looked.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

Bill Hunt says Monty Python Life of Brian 4K upgrade for Q2 2026.

[rapta]

well, it appears the Apple code has been hacked

I didn't think The Tragedy of Macbeth would become a possibility before The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, but here we are. I wonder what the hold-up with Netflix is, but at least with Apple they could perhaps get On the Rocks, or Highest 2 Lowest (again, figured we'd have Da 5 Bloods by now).

Bill Hunt says Monty Python Life of Brian 4K upgrade for Q2 2026.

Nice, obviously great news. There's probably room for a Python films box set (The Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life) but it sounds like they're going to do them individually, initially at least. Sony seem to have the first two films, and Universal have the third.

[DimitriL]

This might just be me but does Janus Contemporaries/Criterion Premieres just not make sense to anyone anymore? They still release relatively barebones releases for recent films and they can’t just put the C in the corner and release it in the mainline? I’m disappointed that masterpieces like About Dry Grasses and All We Imagine As Light don’t have more care put into the releases.

I’ve felt there needed to be a space for films that got some measure of buzz, were interesting in some way, but maybe no one was really convinced they were all-timers destined to be in print for 25 years. I’m thinking of Criterion LD releases like Bodies, Rest and Motion and Five Corners. Worth seeing? Probably. Maybe. Were those important contemporary films, as the mission statement goes? I kind of think not.

[nicolas]

Especially when they already had Cronenberg in the proper canon, they could have added two more extras or so and put the big C on The Shrouds, and release it in 4K. I'm grateful that films like Totem get a disc release at all but why not go the extra mile? I suppose there's only so much you can realistically put out in any given year and even Criterion's resources aren't unlimited. If that's the compromise, those discs or none at all, I'm more or less okay with it but it does feel a bit unfortunate in cases like The Shrouds. I imagine they crunched the numbers after the theatrical release and figured it wouldn't sell enough units on 4K.

Saw your post just now. In case you’d like to get the film in 4K, I’d highly recommend the French 4K. The Criterion BD apparently has banding which the 4K doesn’t have. It’s SDR only but looks stunning. The French label also recorded an exclusive interview with Cronenberg.

[yoloswegmaster]

I was at the TIFF Lightbox and they have a display there that shows the containers that are used to transport film prints, and I noticed that one of the containers in the display was used to transport Aguirre: Wrath of God, which came directly from Criterion:



Obviously it doesn't matter now since Shout has released it but I thought that it was interesting that they were in possession of a print and decided to donate it to TIFF. They also had donated a container used for The Battle of Algiers:

[yoloswegmaster]

Nice, obviously great news. There's probably room for a Python films box set (The Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life) but it sounds like they're going to do them individually, initially at least. Sony seem to have the first two films, and Universal have the third.

Doubt a boxset is coming since The Holy Grail and The Meaning of Life already have standalone 4K releases.

[beamish14]

I was at the TIFF Lightbox and they have a display there that shows the containers that are used to transport film prints, and I noticed that one of the containers in the display was used to transport Aguirre: Wrath of God, which came directly from Criterion:



Obviously it doesn't matter now since Shout has released it but I thought that it was interesting that they were in posession of a print and decided to donate it to TIFF. They also had dontainer a container used for The Battle of Algiers:

Such a shame that Herzog’s films from the 70’s and 80’s never screen in celluloid anymore.

TIFF loaned out their gorgeous print of In a Year of 13 Moons that I was lucky to catch

[beamish14]

Nice, obviously great news. There's probably room for a Python films box set (The Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, The Meaning of Life) but it sounds like they're going to do them individually, initially at least. Sony seem to have the first two films, and Universal have the third.

Doubt a boxset is coming since The Holy Grail and The Meaning of Life already have standalone 4K releases.

I do hope that we get more Terry Gilliam. Was Terry Jones’ Personal Services announced for Kino some time back?

[yoloswegmaster]

Such a shame that Herzog’s films from the 70’s and 80’s never screen in celluloid anymore.

TIFF loaned out their gorgeous print of In a Year of 13 Moons that I was lucky to catch

TIFF also has a print for Effi Briest, which they screened earlier this year. I'm a bit upset at myself for missing it since it was likely to be the last time screened due to print deterioration.

I do hope that we get more Terry Gilliam. Was Terry Jones’ Personal Services announced for Kino some time back?

I've been trying to find some confirmation on this but I can't find anything, so I don't actually think it was announced by KL. I figure it will be released by Lionsgate under the Vestron line.

[yoloswegmaster]

Found this on the other forum from dwk:

Watching Rob Burnett's interview with producer Roy Lee on his Burnettwork YouTube channel and 19 minutes in Burnett asked him about a physical media release of Barbarian and Mr. Lee said they told him they did a deal with Criterion.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ECaNApAM2A4

Interesting pick-up... Would have thought that Disney would have been the ones to release it.

[FrauBlucher]

What are the chances Criterion will release Haneke’s Time of the Wolf? I see the Strand Releasing edition is going for $75