Re: Criterion goes BluRay

Shemp was fantastic, no argument here. Plus he was once in a film with Honus Wagner, and not many people can say that.

The Stooges were 4-deep in talent. Joe Besser, well... never mind. Curly Joe wasn't as good as Curly or Schemp but exuded nice guy aura and was eminently likable.

criterion is not all that its fan-boys claim it is. far from it.

the company has a terrible track record with regards to movies from asia, africa, the middle east, oceana, etc. many of the movies should also be released as home-vision cheapies rather than as premium-priced titles. for example, "the sword of doom" is a terrible movie, but you gotta pay more than $25 to buy it new. there are no extras other than a trailer and an apologist essay.

I don't know . . . I think Criterion is a lot like Starbucks -- it all started out as the undergound buzz, but now that everyone knows about it, it's just not quite that special anymore.

Yes, Criterion can be criticized for what they have left out. But if you look at what they have done, it's all superb work. Their omissions only become a problem if you consider the "Criterion Collection" to be canonical instead of just another studio brand. They've released the definitive editions of hundreds of films - I wish someone else would release equally great R1 editions of Asian and African film too. New Yorker has a great catalogue - too bad their production facilities are so limited.

chris,

actually, even though i hate sony, i have to give props to sony classics for releasing a lot of asian and european movies. sony classics certainly has a better track record than miramax or the weinstein company.

eddie

p.s. why are you a criterion apologist all of a sudden?

[Post edited by posters5 on May 8, 2008]

Quote:
I don't know . . . I think Criterion is a lot like Starbucks -- it all started out as the undergound buzz, but now that everyone knows about it, it's just not quite that special anymore.

lol. haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa haha too much.

not interested in those movies. will leave those to you

It's refreshing to see that some things never change. Youth still believes that anything made before they were born cannot be any good.

John

Just notice this on HighDefDigest's website....



> 'Indie' Disributor KINOWELT to go Blu-ray this Fall...

Top foreign film distributor Kinowelt has become the latest indie to jump into high-def, announcing that they will begin releasing titles on Blu-ray in 2008.

Although they offered no exact street date, Kinowelt has confirmed that their first Blu-ray release will be Wong Kar Wai's 'Fallen Angels,' which is due sometime this fall.

One of the largest distributors of foreign and indie films on DVD throughout the past decade, Kinowelt (aka Kino Video) says it plans to support the format, with a number of Blu-ray releases in the works. Possessing a diverse library of classic films, documentaries, and rare silent shorts, some of the highly-desirable titles in its catalog include early Laurel & Hardy productions, Harry Houdini films, 'The Wonderful Horrible Life Of Leni Riefenstahl,' and Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis.'

Years ago I rented that incredible Kino doc about the somewhat famous Leni Riefenstahl... supposedly Jodie Foster is wanting to make a feature film one day about her life, primarily known as "Hitler's filmmaker", notably for one her major propaganda films, TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. She died in 2003 not long after turning 101 years old.

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-JIMI McLovin (the Voodoo Child)

Kino doesn't have the facilities to make competent SD releases right now. They might want to wait a little while before pulling the BR trigger.