Dazed And Confused: Criterion? (1 Viewer)

[Vincent-P]

This appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of today's Austin American Statesman:

"2003 marked the 10th anniversary of Richard Linklater's enduringly great 'Dazed And Confused,' and the film's hometown - Austin - partied in appropraite manner with a thronged anniversary soiree thrown by the Austin Film Society. Having the cast and the producers in town for the bash made it easy to film all the key players in one place, and that's what AMC did for the new doc 'Making Dazed,' premiering at 9pm, Sunday on cable channel 63.
Shot at Linklater's bucolic home outside Austin, the fun, illuminating program includes behind the scenes footage of a shaggy haired Linklater at work in 1992 and new interviews with actors whose careers were launched by the movie: Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, Ben Affleck, and Adam Goldberg. Hear about the passion, the struggles, and the '70s wigs in this festive slice of Austin movie lore.
And keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming deluxe DVD of 'Dazed And Confused' from Criterion."

I know Linklater was really mad about Universal's rush job on the "Flashback Edition" of Dazed and was lobbying for them to license it to Criterion after the great job they did with Slacker. I guess he's actually convinced them to do it. Anybody else know anything more?

 

[Will_B]

Sweet!

(Dude!)

Sweet!

(wrong movie, but still, sweet!)

 

[TravisR]

I'm glad I love that movie so much or I'd be more pissed about buying it a (possible) third time.

 

[Bradley-E]

Other than the better transfer the Universal re-issue is awful. Good news indeed!

 

[David Jay]

Sheesh! What's next, an Evil Dead II Criterion?

 

[RobertM.Fleming]

before sunrise criterion

before sunrise criterion

before sunrise criterion


...a guy can hope cant he?

 

[Haden]

Not while Anchor Bay still gets to milk it for all its worth.

 

[Matt Harrison]

Come on

Been waiting a long time for this. In my top 10 of all time favourite movies. What a film.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Before Sunset Criterion -- that's what I really want (both together would be best, obviously).

Ted

 

[Rodney]

I would buy D&C for the third time if Criterion put it out. Otherwise I will wait for the HD edition.

 

[Page]

This will be the fifth time for me to buy this wonderful movie if it materializes.

First time--the VHS tape (no DVD available at that time)
Second time--the original NTSC DVD version which was non-anamorphic
Third time--the PAL DVD version which was anamorphic
Fourth time--the improved NTSC DVD version which was anamorphic and had a few extras
Fifth time--the Criterion version--lots of extras I hope

I also have the "Dazed & Confused" yearbook/script/scrapbook/whatever you call it.

Guess that makes me a fan.

 

[Kevin M]

.....I like Dazed & Confused and all of that.......but Criterion? ......really? Maybe it's just me but there are about a thousand other films out there that deserve the Criterion treatment before D&C.....but again that's just my opinion.

 

[GuruAskew]

Allow me to be the first person to bring up "The Rock" and "Armageddon". If they were worthy of the Criterion treatment, "Dazed and Confused" is more than worthy.

 

[Kevin M]

Well I said the same thing when those were released....and I'm saying it about this.

 

[Jim_K]

D&C is much more worthy of the CC treatment than Slacker - IMO. In fact there's quite a few films in the Criterion Collection that D&C is more worthy of.

and I'll definitely be adding it to my collection if this turns out to be true.

 

[Rodney]

You were the first Bill, but you won't be the last.

 

[Daniel P]

I'd love to know the titles you're referring to Jim_K

 

[Jon Martin]

Criterion is just a company. They aren't something like an AFI list or the Library of Congress Collection. They have put out PLENTY of films that aren't the greatest (and not just the Michael Bay ones. A lot of the titles by big foreign directors they release aren't even their best films. They've released a lot of B grade titles).

DAZED is one of the better films of the 90's. I'd certainly buy it (for the 4th time or so, having bought the previous editions and the laserdisc). The SLACKER Criterion DVD was in my opinion the best DVD of last year.

But, before I get all excited, is there any confirmation except for one newspaper story? Universal did recently release the new version. I can't see them being too eager to license it out.

 

[Jim_K]

I'm dying to see this list of 5000 films.

 

[Dane Marvin]

Jim_K makes the most sense in this debate.

He did happen to name several films I own or owned at one time in his list of titles less deserving than "D&C", and I would rather have a Criterion of "D&C" than any of those above. In one review, someone referred to the production of the title "Fiend Without a Face" as "Criterion goes slumming". It was a pretty funny assertion, but I actually enjoyed the extremely great care given this B-grade schlock film (which does manage to separate itself from the rest, much like the original "The Blob").

Criterion needs to keep a wide variety of films available, and "D&C" is certainly superior to "Slacker" though it is more conventional filmmaking. People need to realize that once a director has a DVD produced by Criterion, the door is usually open for other films by the same director to be produced. This rumor should not have been unexpected.