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That's a big reason why I still appreciate the show - the extras on Shout Factory's Pee-Wee's Playhouse box set are worth revisiting partly to see how that came together. The designers the show had from Gary Panter to Wayne White is really astounding, and in the case of White it was pretty much the start of his professional career so he didn't really have any artistic reputation just yet. I think many of them felt burned out after doing the show, particularly Panter, but it's telling that personnel who were more experienced in television at the time were surprised by the massive amount of design work they constantly generated for the show - one wonders if they were simply doing far more work than what was expected of them.

criterionsnob wrote: Thu Sep 11, 2025 3:55 pm Apparently, they had these to sell before release date at the TIFF mobile closet and someone posted an unboxing video.

Why are these things always so long? And he doesn't even take the shrink-wrap off until 5 minutes in.

FrauBlucher wrote: Wed Aug 20, 2025 8:20 pm

Zot! wrote: Tue Aug 19, 2025 12:01 pm

felipe wrote: Tue Aug 19, 2025 11:37 am
This might be their weakest November lineup I can recall. November is usually a month for hugely-anticipated titles, but not this time.

I similarly am nonplussed about EWS, and remember it as a big let down when the Gen X Kubrick film arrived after much fanfare (the Chris Isaak trailer campaign was memorable), but this is a huge Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman/Kubrick movie that people are still talking about...so yeah, huge and anticipated...just not by us. To return to the discussion, the cover does look half-baked...the red C looking like a weird finial to the red box. But cool about the historical relevance.

I feel the same. Not a big EWS fan. I don't mind the cover. I think it would've been better without the names. Not necessary... And as a whole this coming November's releases are not the big name, seminal films we usually get for the month... As for the cover I love is El. Very foreboding. And good grief, the Hell's Angel cover. That may be A Jean Harlow but it's not THE Jean Harlow

While the November releases seemed somewhat disappoint, December seems more packed than usual so it's likely some of these were originally meant for November but got pushed back.

Got these last week but wasn't able to post them up until today:

This Is Spinal Tap [4K] (Booklet)
High and Low [4K] (Booklet)
Born in Flames
Flow [4K]
Read My Lips [4K]
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Isle of Dogs [4K] (Poster)
The French Dispatch [4K] (Booklet + Poster)

Also have Misericordia, which I'll get up as soon as I can. The design more or less replicates what the Janus Contemporaries were doing (minimal design), but the spine now matches closer to Criterion's branding with the wacky C, just without a spine number, and "Criterion Premieres" in place of "The Criterion Collection".

might be one of the best months for packaging since the dual format year?

cdnchris wrote: Tue Sep 16, 2025 5:26 pm Got these last week but wasn't able to post them up until today:

This Is Spinal Tap [4K] (Booklet)
High and Low [4K] (Booklet)
Born in Flames
Flow [4K]
Read My Lips [4K]
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Isle of Dogs [4K] (Poster)
The French Dispatch [4K] (Booklet + Poster)

Also have Misericordia, which I'll get up as soon as I can. The design more or less replicates what the Janus Contemporaries were doing (minimal design), but the spine now matches closer to Criterion's branding with the wacky C, just without a spine number, and "Criterion Premieres" in place of "The Criterion Collection".

As a digipak fan I am eating good this month.

Eyes Without a Face [4K] (Booklet)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me [4K] (Booklet)
A History of Violence [4K]
Altered States [4K]
Deep Crimson [4K]
Nightmare Alley [4K]

Cute that they have the film's release date as the diner check number in the History of Violence booklet.

Altered State looks really striking in Chris's photos. I like the FWWM digipak though the blue rose burning makes no sense.

Who's the dude on the cover of Captain Blood?

Best month in a little while - so glad I didn't bite on that Imprint Huston set, but also frustrated that an Under the Volcano upgrade seemingly isn't a priority.

Oh yeah, and the, uh... covers are fine.

That's the best they could muster for Kiss of the Spider Woman!?

I feel the same about Birth

I'm curious, does Errol Flynn have a five o'clock shadow in Captain Blood?

therewillbeblus wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 4:29 pm I feel the same about Birth

Birth is a full-on Kellerhouse text-over-face-closeup special. (Just like his Social Network and Salt posters, and his covers for F for Fake and Cleo from 5 to 7.) Anyway, he's Fincher's regular guy so they probably let him do what he wants.

Kidman now has two extreme close up covers, you'd think it's contractual at this point but I can't see that being the case!

They should've just recycled the logo from Marvel's Spider-Woman comic.

hearthesilence wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 11:20 pm They should've just recycled the logo from Marvel's Spider-Woman comic.

Woman at my screening of the remake thought that's what she was getting! Thank god she enjoyed it anyway.

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote: Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:16 am

hearthesilence wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 11:20 pm They should've just recycled the logo from Marvel's Spider-Woman comic.

Woman at my screening of the remake thought that's what she was getting! Thank god she enjoyed it anyway.

LMAO. If I ever have kids, I'll take them to The Iceman Cometh and say it's an X-Men spin-off.

New look at the packaging for Pee-wee's Big Adventure

Does anyone know if the Blu-ray only release of Isle of Dogs comes in the digipak too?

It's a standard case, as is the Blu-ray only edition for The French Dispatch (and Flow, also from last month).

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote: Wed Oct 15, 2025 4:25 pm That's the best they could muster for Kiss of the Spider Woman!?

The whole "part of the image is in B&W/monochrome and other part in color" thing very seldom looks good. This technique was a staple of Twilight Time's artwork which is almost universally godawful. I know it echoes the themes of the film in this case but it's still ugly to look at/not done very well.

cdnchris wrote: Wed Oct 22, 2025 5:50 am It's a standard case, as is the Blu-ray only edition for The French Dispatch (and Flow, also from last month).

Thanks, I suspected this was another Paper Moon/Anora situation — guess I’ll be future proofed for these Andersons against my will!