Criterion announces first Blu-ray titles - Page 28

Now that MGM UA titles are coming,Lets get " Last Tango in Paris"  ,Storraro can't ruin his wonderful work with cropping

this one!

Where are these Criterion discs that are on sale at B&N? I've been to 2 stores and I didn't see them. What I did find were DVDs and Blu-rays at full MSRP!  Who do they expect will pay forty dollars for a movie these days, clueless tourists? This is why places like Tower and HMV closed down. Stick to selling books.

^ I didn't notice any signs or stickers saying that there was a sale but they were on sale.

Evidently the sale has been pretty successful. The B&N web site is showing 'The Red Shoes' as out of stock, with no encouragement to order anyway, at the sale price. Instead, I was directed to search local stores in my area. After doing so, 10 of the 15 stores are likewise out of stock. I drove a few miles and snagged a copy. I have a feeling this will become more common as the sale winds down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TravisR 

^ I didn't notice any signs or stickers saying that there was a sale but they were on sale.

I guess I was expecting to find a separate Criterion section just for this sale. Anyway, I'll go back and hunt for the Criterions amongst the regular overpriced drivel :-)

B&N's typically have a separate "Criterion" section alongside the non-criterion foreign films and the British films.  Criterion blu-rays are also tagged in a group among the other blu-rays.

I pre-ordered The Red Shoes and The Black Nacissus at my B&N store once the sale was first announced.  I expect Black Narcissus to get sold out as well.

every BN I've been to with a separate DVD/Music section has a very large section of Criterion DVDs and a separate smaller section of Criterion blurays.  Every BN I've been to during the sale (4 stores) has marked every Criterion DVD with a 50% off sticker, every store has had signs both at the store entrance and all over the Music/DVD section about the 50% off sale.  Strangely these signs say they exclude bluray, though every store has included bluray (as does online).

I've gone a bit nuts in this sale. I get a minimum of 55% off since I'm a BN member, and I've been making liberal use of the $5 coupons, using them successfully on 17 out of 22 titles I've purchased. I was only shot down once on one coupon, and the other four times I didn't try to use a coupon.  The coupons have brought down the average cost to $8.78/movie or $16.37/title with an overall discount of 65.67% off list. and an average price per title on blurays (pretax) of 14.07, which includes the Yojimbo Sanjuro set, that I nabbed for 26.49.

Black Narcissus ,don't understand why this needs to be a Blue Ray,can one even tell the

difference in it over the DVD,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Neski 

Black Narcissus ,don't understand why this needs to be a Blue Ray,can one even tell the

difference in it over the DVD,

What size is your screen and from what distance are you viewing this technicolor film at?  It may not be as good looking as The Red Shoes on BRD, but it is better than its SD DVD.

Crawdaddy

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Neski 

Black Narcissus ,don't understand why this needs to be a Blue Ray,can one even tell the

difference in it over the DVD,

Pardon, if I come across as a smart-ass...but I can't believe you're serious. This is one outstanding Blu-ray.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Neski 

Black Narcissus ,don't understand why this needs to be a Blue Ray,can one even tell the

difference in it over the DVD,

Huge improvement, why would you think it wouldn't be?   The DVD is decent enough, but far from stellar. 

Two Criterions I can't wait to see in hi-def are Brazil and Element of Crime. Anyone with me? What else are you guys hoping to see hit Blu-ray?

Has anyone else experienced any playback issues with their copy of Black Narcissus? The color saturation level "pulsed" between normal and a little higher throughout the film when I watched it last week. I was wondering if it was just a compatibility issue with my setup or something inherent in the transfer. I do not have this issue with any of the other 250+ BD titles I've watched on the same setup.
 

I noticed that too, but I've since read that it's in the original, or was something that couldn't be totally stabilized in the restoration process. Hey, I'm not the techie; someone else will pop in and explain, but your eyes were not deceiving you. It was subtle but noticeable in some places.

I've heard it called "color breathing", or some similar term, having to do with the 3-strip Technicolor restoration process. Evidently the flaw is impractical to stabilize, or that's my impression. I'm no techie, either.    

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luisito34 

Two Criterions I can't wait to see in hi-def are Brazil and Element of Crime. Anyone with me? What else are you guys hoping to see hit Blu-ray?

I'm betting that Criterion won't get the BD rights for Brazil, which is a shame. It would be pure heaven to get a BD equivalent of their magnificent Brazil DVD boxed set. So far as 'Element of Crime', I wonder how much improvement there would be in the dark, murky imagery, but I'd still like to have it, along with any other of von Trier's work. Sounds like his 'Antichrist' will arrive on BD via Criterion, but there's no release date thus far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luisito34 

Two Criterions I can't wait to see in hi-def are Brazil and Element of Crime. Anyone with me? What else are you guys hoping to see hit Blu-ray?

I'd like to see an Ace In The Hole Blu-ray and since I'm kinda lowbrow, it would be fun to see an HD version of The Blob (1958).

They're afraid to release "The Bob" in HD because you'll see the stretch marks.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by TravisR 

I'd like to see an Ace In The Hole Blu-ray and since I'm kinda lowbrow, it would be fun to see an HD version of The Blob (1958).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luisito34 

Two Criterions I can't wait to see in hi-def are Brazil and Element of Crime. Anyone with me? What else are you guys hoping to see hit Blu-ray?

I'd also really, really love to see Criterion release Brazil, my favorite Gilliam film, on Blu. Another title that would be on my list is My Own Private Idaho, and I can't wait for the Seven Samurai and Paths of Glory releases in October and Charade in September.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hollywoodaholic 

I noticed that too, but I've since read that it's in the original, or was something that couldn't be totally stabilized in the restoration process. Hey, I'm not the techie; someone else will pop in and explain, but your eyes were not deceiving you. It was subtle but noticeable in some places.

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Wilkins 

I've heard it called "color breathing", or some similar term, having to do with the 3-strip Technicolor restoration process. Evidently the flaw is impractical to stabilize, or that's my impression. I'm no techie, either.    

Thanks, Wayne and David. I wasn't sure how best to describe what I was seeing, but using the term "pulsing" was at least close enough to get me an answer. While the effect was not too extreme, once I noticed it I had difficulty in trying to ignore the "breathing" while watching the film.

At least it's not an issue with my equipment.

Scott:

The color pulsing/breathing issue was commented upon HERE in the discussion which followed Matt's review of the title.

Black Narcissus is from 1947 and is far from a great transfer,the reason I asked why BR

was because I only saw the new dvd,and Found its image soft looking which I guess is

the way it always looked,and was wondering if people saw a improvement in the BR

I can understand why People like the Look of the Film,But this is only 2 years before

"She wore a Yellow Ribbon" which speaking of the transfer only is far nicer

I bought the Pierre Le fou Blue Ray ,and it still blows my Mind how good the Transfer

is ,Theres only a few scenes in the whole film ,where the film transfer isn't stunning

There are many other factors--aside from the age of the film--Peter, that are going to determine what the film looks like on Blu-ray.  More than I'll ever fully comprehend, that's for sure. 

Originally Posted by Peter Neski 

There's only two years between Grindhouse and Avatar and they look very different.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Neski 

Black Narcissus is from 1947 and is far from a great transfer,the reason I asked why BR

was because I only saw the new dvd,and Found its image soft looking which I guess is

the way it always looked,and was wondering if people saw a improvement in the BR

I can understand why People like the Look of the Film,But this is only 2 years before

"She wore a Yellow Ribbon" which speaking of the transfer only is far nicer

 

I bought the Pierre Le fou Blue Ray ,and it still blows my Mind how good the Transfer

is ,Theres only a few scenes in the whole film ,where the film transfer isn't stunning

 

Peter,

Have you actually seen Black Narcissus on BD (or at least a few screen caps)?  You can find some screen caps at DVDBeaver for one.

I've never seen the DVD before -- it was a great treat to see it for the first time on this Criterion BD -- but the BD looks very good to me outside of the occasional, minor distraction of the "color breathing".  If the DVD looks soft even by DVD standards, then this BD must be a big improvement over the DVD.  I think someone also mentioned that the "color breathing" is a bit less noticeable on the BD than the DVD.

FWIW, I thought I saw some EE haloes in places, but maybe it's not really EE, but some sort of optical aberration or whatever other film defect.

_Man_

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Frezon 

Scott:

 

The color pulsing/breathing issue was commented upon HERE in the discussion which followed Matt's review of the title.

Thanks, Mike. I looked for a review here, but missed it my search. Chalk it up to "user error".

The specifics of the "color breathing" were never really discussed, though. The specifics haven't been covered, even in RAH's write-up. But in all fairness, this probably isn't the right thread for discussing it, anyway.