DVD/BD Lounge

[Lonewolf2003]

Criterion July releases:
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Marriage Story (2019)
The Lady Eve (1941) (upgrade)
Taste of Cherry (1997) (upgrade)
Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits box-set, feat.: The Big Boss (1971), Fist of Fury (1972), The Way of the Dragon (1972), Enter the Dragon (1973) & Game of Death (1978)

[kongs_speech]

I'm probably not going to pick up any of the July releases, which is fine considering how many of the May and June releases tickle my fancy. They can't all be winners. This is a neat batch of films, just nothing that I have to have.

[Lonewolf2003]

Living in Europe I will wait until it's known which ones will get a UK release. Of this list I'm mainly interested in Taste of Cherry, haven't seen it yet, been waiting on a upgrade for that. Maybe in a far future I will pick-up the Bruce Lee boxsets when it's cheaper on a sale.

[funkybusiness]

it's finally actually maybe happening

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=26721

[Knaldskalle]

https://severin-films.com/shop/lenzi-baker-collection/

[Timec]

Criterion just announced "The Complete Films of Agnes Varda" for August.



Like the Bergman set, it looks like this doesn't have a spine number - so probably no need to update the ICM list.

[Nathan Treadway]

A good lot of them are already in the collection.

[Ebbywebby]

"Nausicaa, a once-banned 1970 television film directed by Varda"

I wonder why this is presented as a bonus feature, rather than one of the prime items.

[funkybusiness]

maybe it's not been restored?

[OldAle1]

And continuing with the mega-box-set treasure troves...well, I dunno if treasure is exactly the right word for this:

[OldAle1]

Criterion September:

Beau Travail
The Elephant Man
Christ Stopped at Eboli
The Naked City (upgrade)
Brute Force (upgrade)

Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project 3:
* Lucia (Humberto Solas - Cuba)
*After the Curfew (Usmar Ismail - Indonesia)
*Pixote (Hector Babenco - Brazil)
*Dos monjes (Juan Bustillo Oro - Mexico)
*Soleil O (Med Hondo - Mauritania)
*Downpour (Bahram Beizai - Iran)

Personally most excited about the World Cinema set - the last two films listed are among my favorites. Very exciting especially to finally get a Beizai film in HD.

[brokenface]

Surprised things like Pixote and Lucia can't get standalones, though i guess they maybe use the known known titles to draw people in to the set.

[OldAle1]

Could be, but I wonder how even a "well-known" film sells these days. Also may have something to do with print quality - the Turkish film in one of the previous volumes looked worse than anything else on the label, and I think they probably would never have released it stand-alone for that reason - and what supplements they can produce or have on hand. I'm sure it's a complicated decision process.

[Ebbywebby]

I haven't seen any of those World Project films...interesting. I'm guessing Pixote, Lucia and Dos Monjes would appeal to me more than the other three.

In fact, I've only seen Beau Travail and Elephant Man out of all those titles.

[Timec]

That's a great month for Criterion - I'll probably pick up all but one or two of those titles.

I love the concept of the World Cinema Project, so these box sets are some of their most exciting releases, imo. I've never even heard of After the Curfew or Dos Monjes, so it'll be great to see them for the first time in new restorations.

[Knaldskalle]

Why weren't the World Cinema titles added to the Criterion list? All the titles in the previous two sets were added and they all have a spine number.

[joachimt]

Ask PA

[OldAle1]

New Criterion special release, "Essential Fellini" - 14 films. I presume they couldn't or didn't want to get the rights to everything? Anybody knows, chime in.

https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/3626- ... nt=fellini

[Knaldskalle]

New Criterion special release, "Essential Fellini" - 14 films. I presume they couldn't or didn't want to get the rights to everything? Anybody knows, chime in.

https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/3626- ... nt=fellini

Arrow holds the rights to some of his titles (Orchestra Rehearsal and Voice of the Moon are out on blu) and Raro holds rights to I Clowns (also on blu). They already have a relationship with Arrow (splitting rights, releasing each others masters), but if they couldn't get a deal with Raro, it might not have been worth it to Criterion to make a deal with Arrow... Who knows?

In any case, this is a tempting release, even if I'm not a fan of Fellini's later self indulgence (Satyricon is such a boring film).

EDIT: It's a bit puzzling, though, since he only did make two dozen movies, it's not like his complete works would've impossible to put out in one box.

EDIT 2: And it's coming out on my birthday! Must be a sign...

[weirdboy]

I do not think I am a big enough fan of Fellini to get a box set of his films. There are a few I like quite a lot but so many more that are either outright crap or self-indulgent masturbatory crap.

[Knaldskalle]

I do not think I am a big enough fan of Fellini to get a box set of his films. There are a few I like quite a lot but so many more that are either outright crap or self-indulgent masturbatory crap.

I totally get where you're coming from, but let me run some numbers by you...

I haven't seen all of his movies, but the ones that I've seen that are worthwhile (to me) are The White Sheik, I Vitelloni, La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Roma and Amarcord. The first two are perhaps the least interesting of what I've seen but still good. So let's say that they're all priced at $20 (Criterion sale level), that's $160 for all eight, $120 if you drop the first two.

This set has an MSRP of $250, which means it'll be $125 on sale. If you think all eight movies are worth owning, you get the rest for free, essentially, and still come out ahead compared to buying them individually. If you only think six of the eight titles are worth buying, you get the remaining 8 movies in the set for only $5 extra compared to just buying the ones you want.

As long as you're at the level of liking 5-6 of his movies enough to want to own them, this set is a heck of a value proposition. Just don't bother with the ones you don't like or give them a second chance for free (or near free, for $5 extra you get to own 8 movies on blu-ray, which is less than a movie rental!).

So even as someone who's not a fan of his self-indulgent stuff it's really tempting to get this... The value is incredible.

[GruesomeTwosome]

Latest round of Criterion announcements (November releases):

Girlfriends (1978, Claudia Weill)
Moonstruck (1987, Norman Jewison)
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999, Jim Jarmusch)
The Irishman (2019, Martin Scorsese)

And then of course there’s also that “Essential Fellini” box set mentioned by OldAle above.

[brokenface]

Girlfriends, nice! What took them so long? Also ghost dog

[Lonewolf2003]

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai Really hope that one gets a UK release too. Otherwise I will get this one.

[weirdboy]

I do not think I am a big enough fan of Fellini to get a box set of his films. There are a few I like quite a lot but so many more that are either outright crap or self-indulgent masturbatory crap.

I totally get where you're coming from, but let me run some numbers by you...

I haven't seen all of his movies, but the ones that I've seen that are worthwhile (to me) are The White Sheik, I Vitelloni, La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Roma and Amarcord. The first two are perhaps the least interesting of what I've seen but still good. So let's say that they're all priced at $20 (Criterion sale level), that's $160 for all eight, $120 if you drop the first two.

This set has an MSRP of $250, which means it'll be $125 on sale. If you think all eight movies are worth owning, you get the rest for free, essentially, and still come out ahead compared to buying them individually. If you only think six of the eight titles are worth buying, you get the remaining 8 movies in the set for only $5 extra compared to just buying the ones you want.

As long as you're at the level of liking 5-6 of his movies enough to want to own them, this set is a heck of a value proposition. Just don't bother with the ones you don't like or give them a second chance for free (or near free, for $5 extra you get to own 8 movies on blu-ray, which is less than a movie rental!).

So even as someone who's not a fan of his self-indulgent stuff it's really tempting to get this... The value is incredible.

Well I might agree with you more if I did not already own the ones I liked enough to purchase, which have already been released on Criterion. That makes the value proposition far less palatable for me.

[Knaldskalle]

Well I might agree with you more if I did not already own the ones I liked enough to purchase, which have already been released on Criterion. That makes the value proposition far less palatable for me.

Yes, that does indeed change the value proposition in your case. But as someone who doesn't own any of his movies it's so tempting to go for this...

[Lonewolf2003]

For all the noir aficionados a special release in noirvember

[weirdboy]

This looks like they reshuffled the previous Columbia Noir boxsets.
I really would prefer an update/re-release of the original DVD Columbia #1 which has Murder by Contract and The Big Heat on it.

[peeptoad]

courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome

[Knaldskalle]

courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome

I don't know this one at all. Should I be excited?

[peeptoad]

I don't know this one at all. Should I be excited?

It was screened at Cannes in ~1989 where an American producer saw and it supposedly ripped the idea for Home Alone, which was released two years later (causing at least one law suit against 20th Century Fox). It's a hidden gem imo, and far better (and with a very different tone than) Home Alone.

[GruesomeTwosome]

Criterion's December Blu-ray releases announced, including two upgrades from past DVDs:

Mouchette (1967, Robert Bresson) - upgrade
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Two Takes (1968 and 2005, William Greaves) - upgrade
Crash (1996, David Cronenberg)
Amores perros (2000, Alejandro Inarritu)

[Knaldskalle]

Crash? A pleasant(?) surprise - but Arrow is releasing that one on UHD in the UK. I even like the Arrow cover better - and Arrow often have terribly bad covers for their releases. Just too bad I don't have a UHD setup...

[Timec]

I'm not a videophile, but I do find Criterion's refusal to go 4K a bit frustrating - especially now that a bunch of other indie labels (Arrow, Kino, Shout Factory, Blue Underground, etc.) are embracing the format. It makes releases like Crash, The Elephant Man, and Parasite seem a bit redundant.

[weirdboy]

Yeah they are downconverting transfers for every release nowadays.

[PeacefulAnarchy]

How do 4K blurays work for people who don't have 4k displays/players? Are they backward compatible?

[Timec]

You need a 4K player to play 4K Blu-ray discs, but most 4K releases at this point still come bundled with a regular Blu-ray disc.

(Otoh, you can connect a 4K player to a non-4K display - but any 4K discs are going to look washed out if it the monitor doesn't support HDR.)

[Timec]

Side note: All 4K discs are region-free, so you can import from anywhere in the world without any stupid, anti-consumer region restrictions.

[Knaldskalle]

Side note: All 4K discs are region-free, so you can import from anywhere in the world without any stupid, anti-consumer region restrictions.

That is... until the Powers That Be decide to activate the built-in region control, which they haven't so far. It's in there, it's just not activated in any firmware.

[Timec]

Side note: All 4K discs are region-free, so you can import from anywhere in the world without any stupid, anti-consumer region restrictions.

That is... until the Powers That Be decide to activate the built-in region control, which they haven't so far. It's in there, it's just not activated in any firmware.

Wasn't aware of that - good to know. I guess that's one advantage of it being a relatively niche format (for now.)