Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[DRW.mov]

Neon co-financed No Other Choice along with CJ Entertainment, so it wouldn't surprise me if they wanted to recoup more on their investment. They also held onto Oldboy so who knows. It's been my understanding that Neon is more controlling than other licensers and brings titles to Criterion rather than them requested titles off of their slate.

[yoloswegmaster]

Point Blank has been confirmed to be forthcoming as per this post:

[ryannichols7]

now that sounds like a commentary track. Martino is a wealth of knowledge on LA

[Blutarsky]

It’s already been confirmed alongside Deliverance, but this post has me really excited about this release. I wonder if both Jarmusch and Soderbergh did a commentary together, and if they will include the previous commentary with Boorman and Soderbergh?

Hopefully this gets announced tomorrow.

[yoloswegmaster]

It’s already been confirmed alongside Deliverance

A user on here saying that Criterion have the rights to both titles (alongside Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore) isn't an actual confirmation, even if I have little doubt that it will be released by them.

[Beloved Aunt]

I wonder why there hasn't been a big fancy edition of Once Upon a Time in America from anyone? If Warners, or whichever the hell studio owns it now, presumably isn't interested in doing one, then you'd think they wouldn't be that against licensing it out to Criterion or Arrow (and I'm pretty sure Arrow would do a better job at this point) or someone, and that there would be considerable interest in such a thing from probably many boutique labels. It would be a big seller for whoever put it out guaranteed. Warners hasn't really been a studio in the past that likes to sit on valuable high-profile reputation-burnishing properties and do nothing with them and not let anyone else do anything with them either very much, have they, but then I don't even know if they still own it.

[Beloved Aunt]

now that sounds like a commentary track. Martino is a wealth of knowledge on LA

I hope their edition includes something about the film's fucking incredible sound design, the most powerful and brilliant I've ever heard in my life.

[Beloved Aunt]

Should have won an Oscar

[DRW.mov]

I wonder why there hasn't been a big fancy edition of Once Upon a Time in America from anyone? If Warners, or whichever the hell studio owns it now, presumably isn't interested in doing one, then you'd think they wouldn't be that against licensing it out to Criterion or Arrow (and I'm pretty sure Arrow would do a better job at this point) or someone, and that there would be considerable interest in such a thing from probably many boutique labels. It would be a big seller for whoever put it out guaranteed. Warners hasn't really been a studio in the past that likes to sit on valuable high-profile reputation-burnishing properties and do nothing with them and not let anyone else do anything with them either very much, have they, but then I don't even know if they still own it.

Answer is Disney owns it now.

[Beloved Aunt]

Really!? Well, that means it will never happen, then.

[andyli]

Just get the Italian fancy edition that's out last month. It'll do for the time being.

[Hogfather]

I wonder why there hasn't been a big fancy edition of Once Upon a Time in America from anyone? If Warners, or whichever the hell studio owns it now, presumably isn't interested in doing one, then you'd think they wouldn't be that against licensing it out to Criterion or Arrow (and I'm pretty sure Arrow would do a better job at this point) or someone, and that there would be considerable interest in such a thing from probably many boutique labels. It would be a big seller for whoever put it out guaranteed. Warners hasn't really been a studio in the past that likes to sit on valuable high-profile reputation-burnishing properties and do nothing with them and not let anyone else do anything with them either very much, have they, but then I don't even know if they still own it.

Answer is Disney owns it now.

That, and there's also the eighteen minutes of footage that Scorsese said he was trying to get ahold of... back in 2012. Whatever happened there? I have literally nothing about it published after 2012. All that's happened has been the further dissemination of the 229-minute and 251-minute versions.

[Hogfather]

Really!? Well, that means it will never happen, then.

If there's any movie that Criterion should release now that they're putting out stuff like Network that WB would have released themselves less than a decade ago, it's The Insider. But Disney owns that too, and they've done nothing with it. Aggravating.

[criterionsnob]

Janus 4K restoration trailer for Satyajit Ray’s Days and Nights in the Forest.

[Walter Kurtz]

I'm not much of a physical media guy but damn - April is simply outstanding.

Also... I feel like I'm looking at a B&W negative... the whole forum part of the site is in some kind of radiated underworld?

[domino harvey]

I'm not much of a physical media guy but damn - April is simply outstanding.

Also... I feel like I'm looking at a B&W negative... the whole site is in some kind of radiated underworld?

Go to your control panel and you can turn the classic board style back on if you don’t like the dark one

[Walter Kurtz]

Thanks!

[ryannichols7]

only a little bit suspect that all the mainline titles are in English and those produced elsewhere are on sub-lines. but it's still a good month, just the trend we're seeing a bit

[DimitriL]

only a little bit suspect that all the mainline titles are in English and those produced elsewhere are on sub-lines. but it's still a good month, just the trend we're seeing a bit

The majority of last month's announcements were foreign language: The Blade, A Man and a Woman, Classe Tous Risques and Viridiana. Only Killers of the Flower Moon and Testament were in English.

[ryannichols7]

only a little bit suspect that all the mainline titles are in English and those produced elsewhere are on sub-lines. but it's still a good month, just the trend we're seeing a bit

The majority of last month's announcements were foreign language: The Blade, A Man and a Woman, Classe Tous Risques and Viridiana. Only Killers of the Flower Moon and Testament were in English.

checkmate! just the luck of the draw this time. maybe only a little bitter Tanaka isn't mainline, but at least it was announced on Eclipse and after several years speculating when we'd get it, it's here

[rrenault]

What's the backstory behind a bunch of Warner films ending up with Fox? This happened to Heat, as well. I'm out of the loop.

[jt938]

What's the backstory behind a bunch of Warner films ending up with Fox? This happened to Heat, as well. I'm out of the loop.

They were owned by Regency who Fox bought from Warner in the 2010s.

[onedimension]

The video at the bottom of Point Blank's listing can stream in 2K or 4K. First time I've seen that option - wonder if it means they're ramping up to stream Criterion Channel content in UHD..

[hearthesilence]

Definitely. It's inevitable given the way streaming is evolving.

[onedimension]

Definitely. It's inevitable given the way streaming is evolving.

But do they want to cannibalize their own disc sales? They can always control what they make available on the Channel, but picture quality is still a differentiator. 4k - especially as codecs mature and bandwidth increases - significantly arrows the gap between streaming content and physical media.