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Criterion in September - Page 2

post #31 of 139
6/15/06 at 10:21am

Re: Criterion in September

Quote:
2. New Spine Numbers?

When The 400 Blows was relreleased with an anamorphic transfer, it still retained its old spine number.

Quote:
Seven Samurai on three discs? Does that mean the film will be spread over two?

That makes sense. Split the film at the intermission and spread it across 2 discs. I'm definitely picking this up, as the previous SS disc leaves alot to be desired transfer wise.

I'm also picking up the new 3 disc Brazil. I'm glad I held off on the previous release.
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post #32 of 139
6/15/06 at 10:30am

Re: Criterion in September

Has Criterion been bought out by Omni Consumer Products? Because that 'C' looks very similar to the brand name logo on my piece-of-junk ED-209 that's been sitting in my garage. Damn thing can't climb stairs and nearly laid waste to the neighborhood when the paper carrier accidentally hit it.



Still, I'm there for the Seven Samurai and Brazil remasters.
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post #33 of 139
6/15/06 at 10:44am

Re: Criterion in September

Utterly FANTASTIC news! 'Seven Samurai' is a must, and this may tip the scale for me on 'Brazil.' Criterion certainly knows its audience!

I'm hoping this 'Samurai' announcement is a prelude to refurbished transfers/new supplements for 'Yojimbo' and 'Sanjuro' as well. Those two are in just as desperate need of an overhaul.
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post #34 of 139
6/15/06 at 11:27am

Re: Criterion in September

Quote:
Originally Posted by Haggai
Really? I've seen it a couple of times in theaters, but I don't remember there being an intermission. When does it happen?

I'd have to look at my DVD, and right now I'm at work. I don't recall exactly, but I believe it's after Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
the death of the first samurai


Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick H.
I'm hoping this 'Samurai' announcement is a prelude to refurbished transfers/new supplements for 'Yojimbo' and 'Sanjuro' as well. Those two are in just as desperate need of an overhaul.

Criterion has already said Yojimbo and Sanjuro are being remastered. That really only leaves High & Low as the only Criterion released Kurosawa film that is in need of a remaster.
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post #35 of 139
6/15/06 at 11:39am

Re: Criterion in September

Actually the intermission occurs when

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
some of the farmers try to break away from the group but the samurai stop them and the leader (Takashi Shimura) gives an impassioned speech about sticking together.
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post #36 of 139
6/15/06 at 11:59am

Re: Criterion in September

What's shakin', Hagster? Haven't seen you in Lex Vegas lately?

This is a damn good month. I'll definitley get Seven Samurai and the anamorphic Brazil.
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post #37 of 139
6/15/06 at 12:46pm

Re: Criterion in September

Aww, shit yeah! Been holding off on buying the Criterion Seven Samurai (for inexcusable reasons), so this is a wonderfully happy accident.

Too, I'll certainly be upgrading my 3-disc Brazil with the new 16:9 single-discer...mad love to Criterion for doing this. August and September just got way more costly (Samurai, V for Vendetta, Brazil, Kicking and Screaming, Battlestar 2.5, A Fish Called Wanda) than what I was expecting.
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post #38 of 139
6/15/06 at 1:35pm

Re: Criterion in September



Nifty.

By the way - here are the spine #'s for these releases:

#2 - Seven Samurai
#4 - Amarcord
#51 - Brazil (3-disc)
#112 - Playtime
#351 - Brazil (1-Disc)
#352 - The Spirit of the Beehive
#353 - Jigoku

Interesting that the single-disc Brazil would be 351 and not 51.1 like it is in the box set.
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post #39 of 139
6/15/06 at 1:44pm

Re: Criterion in September

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon Conway
Interesting that the single-disc Brazil would be 351 and not 51.1 like it is in the box set.

That is kind of strange. Damn you, Criterion! No original spine number, NO SALE!!

(um, just kidding)

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post #40 of 139
6/15/06 at 1:54pm

Re: Criterion in September

Better quality covers courtesy of Criterion:




No Brazil yet; it should show up last, as it's uploaded by Criterion...
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post #41 of 139
6/15/06 at 3:10pm

Re: Criterion in September

I'm waiting for the HD versions, myself. Given these are spanking new xfrs, I have to believe the HD won't be far behind. I can wait a year or two.
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post #42 of 139
6/15/06 at 4:25pm

Re: Criterion in September

I already have the current Brazil set and the anamorphic R3K version of Brazil. I'll hold out for an HD-DVD version. Will buy Seven Samuari on the day of release AND rebuy it in HD-DVD.
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post #43 of 139
6/15/06 at 6:16pm

Re: Criterion in September

Where is this info? On the Criterion site, the coming soon titles as of this writing, only includes 3 for September, not including Playtime.
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post #44 of 139
6/15/06 at 6:36pm

Re: Criterion in September

Quote:
Originally Posted by george kaplan
Where is this info? On the Criterion site, the coming soon titles as of this writing, only includes 3 for September, not including Playtime.

The press release has been posted at www.davisdvd.com/bin/cc_0906.html:
Quote:
The Criterion Collection

September 2006


Amarcord (2-Disc Edition)

Director: Federico Fellini
Cat #: CC1632D
Spine#: 4
SRP: $39.95
Release Date: September 5, 2006

Year: 1973
Run Time: 127 minutes
Video: 1.85:1 Anamorphic
Audio: Italian Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English

Synopsis

In his carnivalesque portrait of provincial Italy during the Fascist period, Federico Fellini satirizes his youth and turns daily life into a circus of social rituals, adolescent desires, male fantasies, and political repartee, all set to Nino Rota's classic, nostalgia-tinged score. The Academy Award-winning Amarcord was one of Fellini's most popular films and remains one of cinema's enduring treasures.

Special Features

All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer
Commentary by scholars Peter Brunette and Frank Burke
New 45-minute documentary, "Fellini's Homecoming"
Video interview with star Magali Noel
Fellini's drawings of characters in the film
"Felliniana" collection devoted to the film
Audio interviews with Fellini, his friends and family
New restoration demonstration
American release trailer
Optional English-dubbed soundtrack
New and improved English subtitle translation
Book featuring Fellini's memoir La Mia Rimini and essay by Sam Rohdie


Brazil (1-Disc Edition)

Director: Terry Gilliam
Cat #: CC1631D
Spine#: 351
SRP: $29.95
Release Date: September 5, 2006

Year: 1985
Run Time: 142 minutes
Video: 1.85:1 Anamorphic
Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Synopsis

Pitting the imagination of common man Sam Lowry against the oppressive storm troopers of the Ministry of Information, this bitter parable for the Information Age has come to be regarded as an anti-totalitarian cautionary tale equal to the works of George orwell, Aldous Huxley, and Kurt Vonnegut. Gathering footage from both the European and American versions of his celebrated masterpiece, Terry Gilliam has assembled the ultimate 142-minute director's cut of Brazil - now in a gorgeously remastered new transfer.

Special Features

Audio commentary by Terry Gilliam
All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer
Optional English subtitles
Essay by Jack Mathews


Brazil (3-Disc Edition)

Director: Terry Gilliam
Cat #: CC1630D
Spine#: 51
SRP: $59.95
Release Date: September 5, 2006

Year: 1985
Run Time: 142 minutes
Video: 1.85:1 Anamorphic
Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles: English

Synopsis

Pitting the imagination of common man Sam Lowry against the oppressive storm troopers of the Ministry of Information, this bitter parable for the Information Age has come to be regarded as an anti-totalitarian cautionary tale equal to the works of George orwell, Aldous Huxley, and Kurt Vonnegut. Gathering footage from both the European and American versions of his celebrated masterpiece, Terry Gilliam has assembled the ultimate 142-minute director's cut of Brazil - now in a gorgeously remastered new transfer.

Special Features

All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary by Terry Gilliam
Optional English subtitles
An essay by Jack Mathews
30-minute on-set documentary, "What Is Brazil?"
"The Battle of Brazil: A Video History"
Storyboards, drawings, and publicity and production stills
Raw and behind-the-scenes footage
Video interviews with the production team
Theatrical trailer
94-minute "Love Conquers All" version
Audio essay by journalist David Morgan


Jigoku

Director: Nobuo Nakagawa
Cat #: CC1651D
Spine#: 353
SRP: $29.95
Release Date: September 19, 2006

Year: 1960
Run Time: 101 minutes
Video: 2.35:1 Anamorphic
Audio: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English

Synopsis

Shocking, outrageous, and poetic, Jigoku (Hell) is the most innovative creation from Nobuo Nakagawa, the father of the Japanese horror film. After a young theology student flees a hit-and-run accident, he is plagued by both his own guilt-ridden conscience and a mysterious, diabolical doppelganger. But all possible escape routes lead to Hell - literally. In the gloriously gory final third of the film, Nakagawa offers up his vision of the underworld in a tour-de-force of torture and degradation. A striking departure from traditional Japanese ghost stories thanks to its truly eye-popping (and gouging) imagery, Jigoku created aftershocks that are still reverberating in cinema around the world today.

Special Features

Poster galleries from selected Nakagawa and Shintoho Studio films
Theatrical trailer
New, restored high-definition digital transfer
"Building the Inferno," new documentary on Nakagawa and the film
New and improved English subtitle translation
New essay by noted Asian cinema critic Chuck Stephens


Playtime

Director: Jacques Tati
Cat #: CC1650D
Spine#: 112
SRP: $39.95
Release Date: September 19, 2006

Year: 1967
Run Time: 124 minutes
Video: 1.85:1 Anamorphic
Audio: French Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English

Synopsis

Jacques Tati's gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in the age of technology reached their creative apex with Playtime. For this monumental achievement, a nearly three-year-long, bank-breaking production, Tati again thrust the endearingly clumsy, resolutely old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, along with a host of other lost souls, into a bafflingly modernist Paris. With every inch of its superwide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, Playtime is a lasting testament to a modern age tiptoeing on the edge of oblivion.

Special Features

All-new restored, high-definition digital transfer
Video introduction by writer, director and performer Terry Jones
"Cours du Soir," a 1967 short written by and starring Jacques Tati
New and improved English subtitle translation


Seven Samurai (3-Disc Edition)

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cat #: CC1649D
Spine#: 2
SRP: $49.95
Release Date: September 5, 2006

Year: 1954
Run Time: 207 minutes
Video: 1.33:1
Audio: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English

Synopsis

One of the most beloved movie epics of all time, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabits hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride - featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura - seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.

Special Features

All-new restored, high-definition digital transfer
Commentary by film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Donald Richie and more
Commentary by Japanese film expert Michael Jeck
50-minute documentary, "Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful To Create"
Two-hour conversation between Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima
New documentary, "Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences"
Theatrical trailers and teaser
New and improved English subtitle translation
Essays by Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Kenneth Turan, Sidney Lumet and more


The Spirit of the Beehive

Director: Victor Erice
Cat #: CC1633D
Spine#: 352
SRP: $39.95
Release Date: September 19, 2006

Year: 1973
Run Time: 99 minutes
Video: 1.66:1 Anamorphic
Audio: Spanish Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles: English

Synopsis

The Criterion Collection is proud to present Victor Erice's The Spirit of the Beehive (El espiritu de la colmena), widely regarded as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970s. In a small Castilian village in 1940, directly following the country's devastating civil war, six-year-old Ana attends a traveling movie show of Frankenstein and becomes haunted by her memory of it. Produced by one of cinema's most mysterious auteurs as Franco's long regime was nearing its end, The Spirit of the Beehive is both a bewitching portrait of a child's inner life and an elusive, cloaked meditation on a nation trapped under tyranny.

Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
"The Footprints of a Spirit" documentary
Director interview, "Victore Erice in Madrid"
Interview with film scholar Linda Ehrlich
Interview with actor Fernando Fernan Gomez
New and improved English subtitle translation
New essay by film schol Paul Julian Smith

Some are questioning the specs for Playtime since they appear identical to the OOP edition, while the price has increased from $29.95 to $39.95, and most were expecting a loaded special edition. Guess we'll have to wait for Criterion to post the official specs on the website.
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post #45 of 139
6/15/06 at 7:53pm

Re: Criterion in September


My procrastination in putting off (and putting off and putting off) purchasing the Brazil paid off. Very cool!
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post #46 of 139
6/15/06 at 8:07pm

Re: Criterion in September

Some are questioning the specs for Playtime since they appear identical to the OOP edition, while the price has increased from $29.95 to $39.95, and most were expecting a loaded special edition. Guess we'll have to wait for Criterion to post the official specs on the website
Yes, I had been led to believe that this would be a worthy upgrade, not just a slight change in the cover, which is the only difference I see so far. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for something worthwhile.
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post #47 of 139
6/15/06 at 9:28pm

Re: Criterion in September

I'm definitely getting SEVEN SAMURAI (never did buy the original release), and maybe even the BRAZIL set (never bought the original of that one either). Now if Criterion would redo THE SEVENTH SEAL.....
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post #48 of 139
6/16/06 at 12:50am

Re: Criterion in September

Quote:
Two-hour conversation between Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima

Pardon my ignorance, who is Nagisa Oshima ?
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post #49 of 139
6/16/06 at 2:57am

Re: Criterion in September

For those of you who can play R2 discs, you may want to consider the excellent British Film Institute's version of Playtime, that's already available:

Commentary by film historian Philip Kemp
Short documentary 'Au-dela de Playtime'
Sylvette Baudrot on Tati and Playtime
Director biography

The print is good and even if the Criterion turns out to look better, it lacks a commentary track.

As for the other releases, I can't wait for the Seven Samurai (I have it as part of a Criterion box set, so can sort of justify the new version as well ) and the Spirit of the Beehive (there's a R2 version already available, but I don't like the print quality all that much).
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post #50 of 139
6/16/06 at 8:43am

Re: Criterion in September

Those Playtime specs aren't for the new 2-disc edition.
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post #51 of 139
6/16/06 at 8:47am

Re: Criterion in September

Playtime 2-disc specs from criterionco.com:

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES
#
All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer
#
Video introduction by writer, director, and performer Terry Jones
#
Selected scene commentary by film historian Philip Kemp
#
Au-delà de "Playtime," a short documentary featuring archival behind-the-scenes footage from the set
#
Tati Story, a short biographical film about Tati
#
“Jacques Tati in Monsieur Hulot’s Work,” a 1976 BBC Omnibus program featuring Tati
#
Rare audio interview with Tati from the U.S. debut of Playtime at the 1972 San Francisco International Film Festival
#
Video interview with script supervisor Sylvette Baudrot
#
Cours du soir, a 1967 short film written by and starring Tati
#
Alternate international soundtrack
#
New and improved English subtitle translation
#
PLUS: A new essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum
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post #52 of 139
6/16/06 at 10:00am

Re: Criterion in September

Oshima was one of the primary director's of the Japanese New Wave. His most famous or perhaps, notorious, film is In The Realm of the Senses.
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post #53 of 139
6/16/06 at 10:03am

Re: Criterion in September

Quote:
Originally Posted by oscar_merkx
Pardon my ignorance, who is Nagisa Oshima ?
Overview of career from Senses of Cinema

Oshima is one of the foremost provocateurs of Japanese cinema. His most famous (infamous?) film is probably In the Realm of the Senses / Ai no corrida (1976).

EDIT: Brook beat me to the punch...
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post #54 of 139
6/16/06 at 12:46pm

Re: Criterion in September

I wonder whether they are using the complete (restored?) 70mm print that the Tati estate aparently has for the Playtime transfer, instead of the 35mm version used for the previous release.
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post #55 of 139
6/16/06 at 1:10pm

Re: Criterion in September

They are, Jeff. That is the point of this re-release.
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post #56 of 139
6/16/06 at 2:08pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Criterion in September

Well, yes and no. This from the Criterion website:
Quote:
this new, high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from the 35mm reduction internegative, made from the restored 65mm interpositive.
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post #57 of 139
6/16/06 at 2:16pm

Re: Criterion in September

September redeemed!!!

After the sham that is Sept. 12's non-anamorphic Star Wars Trilogy release I can now once again be excited about September!

Criterion's bringing the heat!! Wow, I'm souped!

This announcement (which we've all been patiently waiting for) has me all giddy. I'll tell you, Criterion never fails. I just love them. I really do. Seven Samurai is quite possibly my favorite film of all time. I can't wait to dig into all these titles. I'm ecstatic!

Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!
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post #58 of 139
6/16/06 at 2:23pm

Re: Criterion in September

Definitely double-dipping on Seven Samurai (and I was pretty happy with the previous release).

Rob
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post #59 of 139
6/16/06 at 3:32pm

*Ignorant Question Alert*

How come Seven Samurai isn't anamorphic? Does anamorphic only apply to films that aren't 1.37 (1.33) Academy Flat? Some technical explanation would be good, because I would really like to understand how this works for that aspect ratio.
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post #60 of 139
6/16/06 at 4:02pm

Re: Criterion in September

You answered your own question basically, Eric.
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