Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[ShempTCat]

I also love Pee-Wee and would be thrilled to have Criterion release it. It is also probably the only reasonable Tim Burton film they could release since Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands are both owned by Disney.

Mars Attacks! would like a word

Mars Attacks! is great, but that seems more like an Arrow release.

[Beloved Aunt]

(Not so) hot take: Edward Scissorhands sucks and is nowhere near as good as Pee-wee. I second a Criterion Pee-wee release by the way, at least if they actually add some substantial stuff to it.

[FrauBlucher]

Coming to the Collection...

per the TCM Film Festival

Hud - world premiere restoration
"DCP courtesy of Paramount Pictures Archive and Janus Films."

[domino harvey]

Can't wait for the sole extra to focus on toxic masculinity in present day westerns

[black&huge]

One of my biggest wishful thinking/i can just feel it'll be a criterion dreams has come true. Cannot wait for the inevitable Hud 4k

[beamish14]

I hope we get something from Tracy Daugherty, author of the amazing new biography of Larry McMurtry

Would be nice to have a deep dive into the collaborative relationship between Martin Ritt and Irving Ravetch/Harriet Frank, Jr.

[captveg]

Coming to the Collection...

per the TCM Film Festival

Hud - world premiere restoration
"DCP courtesy of Paramount Pictures Archive and Janus Films."

Finally! This had become my top Paramount classic missing in action on Blu-ray. Like Paper Moon, to go from DVD to UHD for Hud should be a revelation.

[domino harvey]

There was a German Blu-ray, but it appears it was just an upscale

[crimlaw]

Hud, along with Paper Moon and Catch 22 was, for years, one of my routine Monthly Quarantine Paramount title suggestions. I wonder when we’ll finally see the long rumored Catch 22 enter the collection.

I guess the only remaining Paramount Silver Age titles that are possibilities are either one of the Sturges’s; some former Republic titles (Letter from an Unknown Woman; Johnny Guitar); and Sunset Boulevard. Maybe even Elaine May’s The New Leaf?

[domino harvey]

I wonder when we’ll finally see the long rumored Catch 22 enter the collection.

This feels like a film we'll see from that VS offshoot that releases Paramount titles

[crimlaw]

Maybe. If not Criterion, I would expect (and prefer) Arrow before VS.

[Elizabeth Corday]

I am distressed. I fear we will never get the Kinuyo Tanaka boxset. It sounds silly I know. I am hoping though, with the success of shows like Shogun, games like Assassin's Creed Shadows, etc that Criterion realizes Japanese media is currently in vogue.

[Matt]

I am distressed. I fear we will never get the Kinuyo Tanaka boxset. It sounds silly I know. I am hoping though, with the success of shows like Shogun, games like Assassin's Creed Shadows, etc that Criterion realizes Japanese media is currently in vogue.

As I think I said elsewhere on the forum, Japanese media with swords or ghosts or Godzilla is in vogue. Everything else, even Ozu, is not. Unless I’m overlooking something, the last black-and-white, new-to-the-Collection Japanese film Criterion released was The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice in 2019!

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

I am distressed. I fear we will never get the Kinuyo Tanaka boxset. It sounds silly I know. I am hoping though, with the success of shows like Shogun, games like Assassin's Creed Shadows, etc that Criterion realizes Japanese media is currently in vogue.

They did say at the SXSW Criterion Closet truck that there a lot of boxes on the way. I wouldn’t lose all hope yet since we got Akerman, Rohmer, and Berri sets recently too.

[dwk]

The Movie Crypt podcast has posted a Patreon exclusive early access interview with Curtis Tsui. I assume the shortened public version will post on Monday.

[dwk]

Thanks to another forum member, I can share some highlights of the Curtis Tsui interview:

No titles were leaked, but he said he is producing "a pretty big one" that might come at the end of the year.

• His job starts once the title has been chosen and scheduled and is typically assigned to a particular title
• Commentaries are now starting to come back after focusing on video pieces for years
• Some living filmmakers don’t want commentary tracks and just want essays
• If doing interviews with people involved with the film, then they want there to be a bit of distance of time between the interview and from when it was released. If interviewed close to the release date, then the interviewee is still in press mode and gives the same answers they did when they were on the press tour
• For GvB, Toho is very controlling of Godzilla and want to know what is being said on the commentary
• One of the criteria for the commentator is that they are inviting and that they can provide information that can be digested for people watching it for the first time
• They create a script for the film, then send it to Toho’s Godzilla expert, the expert goes over the script, and they cannot deviate from that script
• This is the same for the liner notes
• Says he’s a fan of labels like Third Window and Radiance. Specifically praises Adam from Third Window for renegotiating contracts so that the people involved with the film get more money, as well as releasing titles that haven’t been released since VHS
• Also praises the The Hitcher release from Second Sight and says he watched it with a colleague at the Criterion viewing room
• One challenging title to work on was the Equinox due to the internal workload (e.g. QC, editorial process), but he still had a lot of fun working on it
• Another challenging release to work on was Barry Lyndon due to the scale of the work and how much time he was allowed. He created a lot of video pieces that had to be cut down, as well as getting access Stanley Kubrick’s library but not getting full approval by the estate on what images to add to the release
• All the extras had to be approved by Jan Harlan
• He worked at Kubrick’s house and was mandatory lunch at 12:30 together
• Dining room table is The Shining table
• Most proud release to work on was Rumble Fish, and said biggest challenge was trying to create extras that wouldn’t duplicate from the extras that already existed
• They don’t add extensive galleries anymore since the images are already added to visual essays
• Joe Lynch was the biggest reason why Shout released The Blob, as he kept asking them to do it
• There is a limit now on how many titles guests can take when they are in the Closet
• Dream release for Curtis is for Devil’s Temple by Kenji Misumi and would be thrilled if he could have a hand in the restoration for it

[andyli]

Has been a fan of Curtis Tsui since the early days of Yi Yi DVD. Kudos to everybody involved!

[Hogfather]

First July announcement: All We Imagine as Light

[domino harvey]

That's a Janus Contemporary title, they always get announced separate from the mainline releases. We have a thread going here for it

[crimlaw]

No Quarantined Monthly Forum for July?

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

No Quarantined Monthly Forum for July?

Was just about to ask this as well!

[Hogfather]

That's a Janus Contemporary title, they always get announced separate from the mainline releases. We have a thread going here for it

Thanks for the heads up about the thread. I still am curious what it might mean that we're getting a Janus Contemporary release ahead of the main slate because so far they've always been announced with or after the other titles.

[therewillbeblus]

Just doing a quick rundown, it looks like most Janus Contemporary titles are announced towards the end of the month, with a few announced in the first or second week, but not 'with' the main slate

[eerik]

They're up:

The Big Heat 4K
Barry Lyndon 4K
The Adventures of Antoine Doinel 4K
Carnal Knowledge 4K
You Can Count on Me 4K

[jt938]

Boring month aside from Carnal Knowledge and Barry Lyndon.