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All gorgeous, but Chilly Scenes of Winter is next level. Captures the movie so beautifully, and with delightful detail. So happy to see more from Marc Aspinall at last.

Awful font for Last Hurrah for Chivalry but decent month otherwise.

Am I being gaslit right now that no one thinks that Inland Empire cover is hideous? The other two new covers are good, if unexceptional

Inland Empire's, like Lost Highway's, is just the original poster, so I don't think it's Criterion producing misguided art or anything

I wouldn't say "hideous" but the Criterion sidebar is pretty distracting.

therewillbeblus wrote: Thu Dec 15, 2022 6:02 pm Inland Empire's, like Lost Highway's, is just the original poster, so I don't think it's Criterion producing misguided art or anything

Bad then is bad now

I mean, the movie is a lo-fi nightmare, I'd say the cover/poster nicely matches that even if the face behind the lettering has always been a bit wonky. For what it's worth, I like the movie a lot as someone who thinks about half of Lynch's features are pretty bad (still haven't seen The Return or The Straight Story)

I still need to watch my copy of the UK Blu!

They should have blown it up so the font meets the edges and made the criterion tab thing transparent. Right now it just looks weirdly cropped.

domino harvey wrote: Thu Dec 15, 2022 6:00 pm Am I being gaslit right now that no one thinks that Inland Empire cover is hideous? The other two new covers are good, if unexceptional

It legit looks like a swimminghorses cover. It's so awful.

I agree with DRW.mov on Chilly Scenes of Winter. It's a wonderful cover.

Inland Empire's cover is fine, if only placed weirdly alongside the Criterion branding. They could have gone with one of the versions of that poster with the title between two images of Laura Dern's character.

Never Cursed wrote: Thu Dec 15, 2022 6:17 pm even if the face behind the lettering has always been a bit wonky.

All this time and I've never noticed that was a face back there! I just thought it was some early-2000s shiny metal Photoshop effect behind the text (in keeping with the lo-fi aesthetic of the film....)

Is it a good/bad design? Eh, I kind of view it like I do with some Kubrick's poster designs, such as The Shining: it's not what I would have voted for but Lynch and Kubrick seem to know what they're doing so I'll let them do their thing.
I think most (if not all) of Lynch's releases have either used the original poster art or something very close to it, so it should be no surprise that this is the cover.

It's bad but nobody cares because its the original lo-fi poster as per Lynch's direction just like the last release and people aren't really going to critique Criterion's work and choices when they didn't make any.

I love the idea behind Chilly Scenes of Winter, it’s very fitting to the movie’s tone and thematically rich

My thoughts on the covers:

INLAND EMPIRE : *flips table*
LAST HURRAH FOR CHIVALRY : John Woo's films are usually pretty grandiose, so this cover feels waaay too plain and simple. Still, the fact that we're getting more John Woo in the collection is reason enough to celebrate. (WOO!)
CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER : This is beautiful. I might have liked it more if there was a little more contrast (the item in the man's hand and the figure in the window are a liiitle hard to see), but those are just nit-picks. This is the best cover of the bunch, hands down.

Overall decent covers this month, but the INLAND EMPIRE cover is just another missed opportunity. That said, I guess I can't complain too much, since the original posters/artwork for Lynch's movies are pretty iconic on their own (in fact I kinda wished they'd used the original Mullholland Dr., as opposed to what they came up with), and work perfectly fine as blu-ray covers. It is what it is.

Not having seen Chilly Scenes of Winter the circle of leaves (which I mistook for flames in a split-second glance) has me curious of it's significance, though I'm guessing it's there to visually anchor the illustration at least.

acroyear wrote: Fri Dec 16, 2022 1:03 am Not having seen Chilly Scenes of Winter the circle of leaves (which I mistook for flames in a split-second glance) has me curious of it's significance, though I'm guessing it's there to visually anchor the illustration at least.

I don't think it's really a spoiler to say the basic plot: that the main character is delusionally still trapped in a previous season of the relationship than his ex-partner is currently in. But that blunt concept wouldn't make it a great cover- it's the film's particular tones (that both subvert and play into rom-com conventions) make the specific seasons alluded to hold a deeper meaning. I don't know if it would be possible to properly convey that effect with some cognitive-propelled explanation in written form, but it's more of a feeling that works in step with the film. So, like the best paintings/drawings, it's effective as an indescribable feeling

I barely remember the film (not a dig against it - this happen way too often) but it's one of my favorite covers Criterion have put out recently.

Inland Empire is okay for what it is. They should print it on cheap paper with a school printer for maximum effect.

acroyear wrote: Fri Dec 16, 2022 1:03 am Not having seen Chilly Scenes of Winter the circle of leaves (which I mistook for flames in a split-second glance) has me curious of it's significance, though I'm guessing it's there to visually anchor the illustration at least.

These are chocolate bar wrappers. There's an ongoing motif in the film where Heard's character is buying chocolate from a blind man's concession stand whilst his internal monologue runs riot the seller is repeatedly asking 'what'll you have??' to his eternal frustration.

olmo wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 9:05 pm

acroyear wrote: Fri Dec 16, 2022 1:03 am Not having seen Chilly Scenes of Winter the circle of leaves (which I mistook for flames in a split-second glance) has me curious of it's significance, though I'm guessing it's there to visually anchor the illustration at least.

These are chocolate bar wrappers. There's an ongoing motif in the film where Heard's character is buying chocolate from a blind man's concession stand whilst his internal monologue runs riot the seller is repeatedly asking 'what'll you have??' to his eternal frustration.

That sounds hilarious, I guess I need to see this movie

domino harvey wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 9:45 pm

olmo wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 9:05 pm

acroyear wrote: Fri Dec 16, 2022 1:03 am Not having seen Chilly Scenes of Winter the circle of leaves (which I mistook for flames in a split-second glance) has me curious of it's significance, though I'm guessing it's there to visually anchor the illustration at least.

These are chocolate bar wrappers. There's an ongoing motif in the film where Heard's character is buying chocolate from a blind man's concession stand whilst his internal monologue runs riot the seller is repeatedly asking 'what'll you have??' to his eternal frustration.

That sounds hilarious, I guess I need to see this movie

Oh wow, I thought they were leaves too. Haha. That's comical.


On another note... I hope when CC upgrades The Devil and Daniel Webster and re-introducesLa Grande Illusion they leave the cover art alone.

It's a great running joke, but I think the design intentionally makes them work as leaves too, or at least stand in for them. It's too thematically relevant to be an unintended consequence of optical dissonance

MONTHLY COVER THOUGHTS: March 2023

• Mildred Pierce: I get to talk about one of my favorite Criterion covers! It's always a risk to make a color cover for a black-and-white film, but this is one of the cases where that approach works in the cover's benefit. The purple-and-yellow color scheme is eye-catching, and the actual painting balances stylization and realism. I personally love it, and personally believe that this is the template Criterion should follow for their Classic Hollywood covers (unless they can create a Greg Ruth cover factory)

• Last Hurrah for Chivalry: This is some good shit. I'm a sucker for all things watercolor, so this cover is basically designed to appeal to me. I particularly enjoy the color palette; the stark red mixed with monochrome is deeply eye-catching. If I were to nitpick, the Chinese characters look a little too digital for me, but that's a minor quibble

• Inland Empire: It's just the theatrical poster with Criterion branding. I've never been too fond of it, but given that this was (presumably) designed by Lynch himself (and, from the looks of it, quite cheaply at that), I'm willing to cut it some slack. I will admit that the Criterion branding is somewhat awkward; the cover needs a bit of re-balancing to make up for that, in my opinion. The rest of the covers make this stand out like a sore thumb lol

• Chilly Scenes of Winter: Probably the best cover of the bunch. I enjoy the blend of autumn and winter colors, and the composition is nicely balanced. It's not the most detailed cover, but it is a very pleasing one and inviting one. Here's hoping the film is the same one. It's at least better than either this nightmare of a theatrical poster for the original release or the blandness of the re-relased, re-titled poster

Save for Inland Empire, this is a very good month of covers. This month makes up for the relatively lackluster start of the year; hopefully its a sign of good things to come.

I also want to apologize for the long wait on this month's cover thoughts; I know some people look forward to these on the 15th, but life got in the way this month and I only just found the time to gather my thoughts. That probably explains why this post is a little more mannered than usual. Next time, I'll try and mention whether or not I'll be late with these in the future 8-[

I'll post pics when I can but the Europe Trilogy does have 3 individual covers.