Criterion Discs review on DVDtown

Hello DVDTown Reviewers,

Why don't we see new Criterion DVD reviews at dvdtown? I was eagerly waiting for Ikuru, and Stray dog. Plus I don't see many Criterion reviews except for the Hitchcock DVDs and few others. Any reason?

--Ranjan

Hi, Ranjan:

Yes, there are reasons why I haven't been covering Criterion a lot lately:

1) Criterion's been on a tear releasing a lot of obscure stuff that no one but die-hards have heard of.

2) Lack of time in terms of reviewing priorities.

3) Lack of personal interest in some titles.

However, I'm working on reviews of "Tunes of Glory" and "Stray Dog" right now. They should be up sometime today. :)

Eddie

That explains it :). I am looking forward to these reviews. I agree Criterion has been releasing crappy stuff lately. I am sure there is a reason for that - maybe the US movie studios like to market their own stuff. The licensing fees that Criterion has to pay for releasing the movies might be very high. For example Robocob and Silence of the Lambs was on Criterion collection couple of years ago but they are now replaced by the MGM SEs. Also Hitchcock box set is officially OOP and MGM will release it as a bare bone release. Criterion should seriously reduce the cost of these DVDs:)

The funny thing about those Hitchcock DVDs from MGM is that several of them are actually owned by Buena Vista (Disney's parent company) through ABC (yes, the TV channel). The movies are being released by MGM as part of a deal that has MGM distributing some of Buena Vista's DVDs. Some of these were originally released by Anchor Bay (such as "Candleshoe", "Rebecca", "Spellbound", and "Notorious"), whose deal to distribute some Buena Vista properties has expired.

At any rate, public domain Hitchcock like "The Lady Vanishes" and "The 39 Steps" will still be carried by Criterion. It's a good thing, too--those cheapo versions of "The Lady Vanishes" and "The 39 Steps" are almost unwatchable.

once again, it doesn't matter if they're "available" on DVD if only the super rich can afford to buy them! Or view them, you can't even rent the behemoths!

Just because you haven't doesn't make it a bad system at all. There probably would never have been as wonderful a version of "Fear and Loathing," the definative director's version of "Brazil" along with controversial films like "Straw Dogs." Masterworks like Kurosawa's films, Samurai and otherwise (like Ikiru).

uh huh, well it's a bad system if you ask me. Never bought a criterion (although sometimes tempted, but they are just too darn expensive!), and probably never will at that price.

Because they put a lot of time and effort into cleaning up the audio and video of these films and putting together unique documentaries and extra features on films that would otherwise be lost to the ages. They don't have major studio money backing them, so they need to recoup costs of production through the sales of the discs so they can keep producing special sets. Basically, their pricing structure is a throwback to the days of laserdisc when it wasn't unusual to pay 100 dollars or more for a single movie. It was easier to subsidize their costs then.

Why are criterion so expensive? I don't see the need to bay $80 for a film that is "artistic" but shallow and boring. Its just silly. As well, they never stock enough, so you have to buy online and stuff, It's just such an obscure company that everyone's heard of!

no no, I'm a baragin hunter, more than a third of those I got under $15 Canadian, even the rare ones (ebay, previously viewed, bins), I've probably never spent more than $25 Canadian for a DVD (I can't be sure, but over 150 yes), so when I see a film go for $79 Canadian as a discount for Criterion... oh what the hell, I dont care anymore