Criterion Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7

[nicolas]

The upcoming KPop Demon Hunters Blu-ray can now be pre-ordered. This film was finished in 2K, so it's likely that they'll only do a BD.

[bainbridgezu]

Anyone who attends Waters' speaking events, please keep your ears open, and your hands raised for questions: while Cry-Baby and Serial Mom are currently tied up, here's hoping we finally get Pecker, Cecil B. Demented, and A Dirty Shame now that the two we knew were coming have finally been announced!

[domino harvey]

Cecil B Demented recently got a deluxe edition from Umbrella— they even got Melanie Griffith to sit down to talk about it

[Lowry_Sam]

No correct guesses...but 9 titles is a new record (Hairspray fell off my radar at this point)...and a move in the right direction.

[Finch]

Cry-Baby and Serial Mom are currently tied up

Who's got Serial Mom? Kino? (if so, fuck)

[dwk]

Shout Factory released Serial Mom on Blu-ray nine years ago

[Finch]

I really should have remembered Shout because I have their disc! (facepalm)

[FrauBlucher]

I just finished watching the bluray Moonage Daydream and it got me thinking that Criterion seems to have one music release a year. Any guesses at what the music release could be this year?

[Matt]

It will never happen, but a fun release would be an Eclipse set of the several classical music documentaries Albert Maysles (and his other regular collaborators like Charlotte Zwerin and Susan Froemke) made in the late-'80s and early-'90s: Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic, Ozawa, Horowitz Plays Mozart, Jessye Norman Sings Carmen, The Met in Japan, Soldiers of Music: Rostropovich Returns to Russia, and Baroque Duet. I think they were all essentially promotional films made for Sony Classical.

[TechnicolorAcid]

I just finished watching the bluray Moonage Daydream and it got me thinking that Criterion seems to have one music release a year. Any guesses at what the music release could be this year?

Does the Lubitsch Musicals upgrade count or are you simply referring to movies about music? If it’s the latter then I can imagine Tokyo Melody feeling that category.

[Lowry_Sam]

Madonna's Truth Or Dare
Pink Floyd's The Wall
The Chris Cunningham Collection
Porgy & Bess
West Side Story
Soft Cell's Non-Stop Exotic Video Show (complete with banned original Sex Dwarf video restored)
Home Of The Brave

[cantinflas]

Cocksucker Blues
Mouth Music / Hamper McBee: Raw Mash (these are by Sol Korine who is Harmony's dad)
Sun City Girls: Cloaven Theater
Last Days

[FrauBlucher]

I just finished watching the bluray Moonage Daydream and it got me thinking that Criterion seems to have one music release a year. Any guesses at what the music release could be this year?

Does the Lubitsch Musicals upgrade count or are you simply referring to movies about music? If it’s the latter then I can imagine Tokyo Melody feeling that category.

I wasn't really referring to classic movie musicals. More like docs and concert films. Although I do consider A Hard Days Night in my grouping

[Lowry_Sam]

I wasn't really referring to classic movie musicals.

I don't think there are many classic musicals that Criterion would actually release. I think the most likely candidates would be those films that had a significant cultural impact or strayed from the classic formula & had critical success. There was a rumor for a while that Criterion had West Side Story, it & Porgy & Bess are 2 of the most iconic musicals about the American experience (in addition to Show Boat & Street Scene). Busby Berkeley musicals (especially the Gold Diggers series) would be another not just for the content, but also because of their impact on visual composition, technical innovation & prioritizing the collective over the individual. The other candidates would be off-beat musicals that gained critical/cult status (The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, Hedwig And The Angry Inch, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hair, Hairspray, The Little Shop Of Horrors).

[FrauBlucher]

I guess my choice of words was off. By classic movie musical I meant any era, that was a narrative story with music in it. I was strictly suggesting that we seem to get once a year are thingies like Festival, Don’t Look Back, Monterey Pop, Velvet Underground, Poem Is a Naked Gun and Thelonius Monk and others like it

[Lowry_Sam]

On that front, I think Home of the Brave: A Film by Laurie Anderson would be high on the list as it's never been released on blu-ray and Criterion has worked with her before. Space Is The Place is another likely candidate as its been on the channel. One + One/Sympathy For The Devil doesn't have a US release and how could Criterion pass up a film by Godard featuring The Rolling Stones in the rehearsal studio. Cocksucker Blues would probably be more popular, if Criterion could get the approval on all involved (not likely).

[beamish14]

On that front, I think Home of the Brave: A Film by Laurie Anderson would be high on the list as it's never been released on blu-ray and Criterion has worked with her before. Space Is The Place is another likely candidate as its been on the channel. One + One/Sympathy For The Devil doesn't have a US release and how could Criterion pass up a film by Godard featuring The Rolling Stones in the rehearsal studio. Cocksucker Blues would probably be more popular, if Criterion could get the approval on all involved (not likely).

Home of the Brave was supposed to be part of a box set of Anderson’s work with WB that was announced on her website but never materialized.

Gorgeous movie.

Tom Waits Big Time has long been on my wish list. I thought MGM had it, but I’m not sure. It was produced by Chris Blackwell’s Island Films

[Mark L.]

Space Is The Place is another likely candidate as its been on the channel.

Ashley Clark just personally presented this, The Wiz and West Indies in NY tied to his book launch, so that’s where I’d put my money.

[Lowry_Sam]

My Island Films top choice would be Grace Jones: A One Man Show if someone could only find the original elements to restore it. Some of her other videos from the 80s or the Citroen Ad would help add to the run time as it's under an hour.

[jt938]

Maybe there was some sort of elements issue at the time that prevented them from doing it but it's always baffled me that Criterion never released Stop Making Sense.

[FrauBlucher]

One + One/Sympathy For The Devil doesn't have a US release and how could Criterion pass up a film by Godard featuring The Rolling Stones in the rehearsal studio.

If I'm not mistaken this is Dominos least favorite Godard. Haha So, he'd be all in

[therewillbeblus]

One Plus One has a blu-ray release through abcko which is solid, and I believe most Godard fans love this one, domino included

[Lowry_Sam]

If I'm not mistaken this is Dominos least favorite Godard. Haha So, he'd be all in

As a documentary of how one of the greatest rock songs came to be it works, as a film it's not something I'd think of putting on to watch if I was in the mood for The Rolling Stones or Godard. I think it would probably work better in a box of Stones documentaries from the period.

Maybe there was some sort of elements issue at the time that prevented them from doing it but it's always baffled me that Criterion never released Stop Making Sense.

A24 released it on (limited) UHD.

[jt938]

Maybe there was some sort of elements issue at the time that prevented them from doing it but it's always baffled me that Criterion never released Stop Making Sense.

A24 released it on (limited) UHD.

I'm aware, I was just saying I'm surprised Criterion never did it.

[FlickeringWindow]

Maybe there was some sort of elements issue at the time that prevented them from doing it but it's always baffled me that Criterion never released Stop Making Sense.

A24 released it on (limited) UHD.

I'm aware, I was just saying I'm surprised Criterion never did it.

It's likely they didn't consider it due to the film elements being missing until recently. The camera negative was thought to be lost until it turned up in an MGM vault (they had it all this time without knowing due to the purchase of Island Films). The Palm master was from an interpositive created for the 1999 reissue, which I assume was made from an internegative. Not exactly great materials to work with.