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cowboydan wrote: Tue Dec 08, 2020 1:19 pm I hope this giant post about Fallen Angels is acceptable.

Here's a google drive link to a folder with 157 screenshots. They're not all in chronological order, but some are. To be fair I chose both: shots that work decently well, and shots that showcase majors issues such as distortion, bad framing, revisionist colors, etc.

Below in the spoiler tag are 14 examples of what I would consider funny looking faces or objects due to the outer edge distortion they utilized (in some of the shots to achieve the aspect ratio conversion) [of course they used wide angle lenses at close range, so things already looked distorted in the original, but this brings it even further. Too far IMO]

Here are some direct comparisons to the original version:

criterionsnob wrote: Tue Dec 08, 2020 5:36 pm Thank you for sharing. The colourizing select elements in the frame is the most revolting thing to me, as well as some of the cropping (heads and clocks getting completely cropped out), not to mention grain reduction and some of the stretching looking really off.

Drucker wrote: Thu Dec 10, 2020 5:47 pm Where do you see the special features listed?

SEVEN-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION COLLECTOR’S SET FEATURES
• New 4K digital restorations of Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love and 2046, approved by director Wong Kar Wai, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks
• New 4K digital restorations of As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• New program in which Wong answers questions submitted, at the invitation of the director, by authors André Aciman and Jonathan Lethem; filmmakers Sofia Coppola, Rian Johnson, Lisa Joy, and Chloé Zhao; cinematographers Philippe Le Sourd and Bradford Young; and filmmakers and founders/creative directors of Rodarte Kate and Laura Mulleavy
• Alternate version of Days of Being Wild featuring different edits of the film’s prologue and final scenes, on home video for the first time
• Hua yang de nian hua, a 2000 short film by Wong
• Extended version of The Hand, a 2004 short film by Wong, available in the U.S. for the first time
• Interview and “cinema lesson” with Wong from the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
• Three making-of documentaries, featuring interviews with Wong; actors Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Chang Chen, Faye Wong, and Ziyi Zhang; and others
• Episode of the television series Moving Pictures from 1996 featuring Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle
• Interviews from 2002 and 2005 with Doyle
• Excerpts from a 1994 British Film Institute audio interview with Cheung on her work in Days of Being Wild
• Program from 2012 on In the Mood for Love’s soundtrack
• Press conference for In the Mood for Love from the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival
• Deleted scenes, alternate endings, behind-the-scenes footage, a promo reel, music videos, and trailers
PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including a perfect-bound, French-fold book featuring lavish photography, an essay by critic John Powers, a director’s note, and six collectible art prints

New cover by Nessim Higson

senseabove wrote: Thu Dec 10, 2020 5:51 pm ...in their initial version for posterity..."

artfilmfan wrote: Thu Dec 10, 2020 5:50 pm Simply Irresistible! I change my mind again about buying this set.

Pavel wrote: Thu Dec 10, 2020 5:47 pm The good news is that the comment sections of Criterion's announcements on social media won't be full of bitching and moaning about the lack of a WKW set anymore.

domino harvey wrote: Thu Dec 10, 2020 6:05 pm No aspect ratio info for 2046... are there more unpleasant surprises to come??

domino harvey wrote: Thu Dec 10, 2020 6:10 pm Change my mind: Criterion not including the original versions of these films is the biggest blunder in the history of the label. I hope sales are impacted enough to send a message about this kind of thing, though I fear the blind label lovers will just buy it regardless