Criterion Collection on DVD. Recommendations please.

Black Narcissus
Branded to Kill
Brazil
Cries and Whispers
High and Low
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Rebecca
The Red Shoes
Rushmore
Seven Samurai
Shock Corridor
Wages of Fear

Also highly recommended--I haven't seen all of these specifically on Criterion, but they're great (or at least very interesting) movies:

Band of Outsiders
Contempt
Diabolique
Double Suicide
Elements of Fear
The Grand Illusion
The Hidden Fortress
I Know Where I'm Going
K(w)aidan
The Lady Vanishes
Last Temptation of Christ
M
Rashomon
The Shop on Main Street
Seventh Seal
Straw Dogs (when it comes out in March)
Time Bandits
The Vanishing (original movie)
Wild Strawberries
Yojimbo

High and Low, one of my favorite s, looks *fantastic*.

I keep thinking about picking up the CC version of 'The Rock' because I wonder WTF every time I see it and my curiosity just keeps growing and growing.

Also: Tokyo Drifter. Fucking GREBT or whatever the kids are saying these days. I wish CC would go back and do all of Wong Kar Wai's flicks. And some anime, too.

I'd also recommend the new Trouble in Paradise Criterion DVD as it is not only a wonderful film, but an additional Lubitsch film (a silent one) is tacked on. Likewise Under the Roofs of Paris: a great film, and the DVD also includes René Clair's Paris qui dort. Really it depends what your tastes are. My favorite Criterion is the Dreyer box set, but I understand many people would find his later films too slow, or what have you.

If you see the three Jacques Tati Criterions, snatch them up. They are not only wonderfully films and nice DVDs (all with additional short Tati films), but they are now '"rare," having recently gone out of print.

Also, be on the lookout for a 2-DVD set of films by Stan Brakhage, coming out in February I believe.

Also love Sullivan's Travels, Hidden Fortress, Le Trou, Le Million and Vagabond. I AM PSYCHED to see that they're releasing Band Of Outsiders

1) Kurosawa's "Ikiru"
2) Bunuels's "Exterminating Angel"
3) Powell & Pressburger's "Tales of Hoffman"

and (not that it will ever happen, but...) Peckinpah's "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia".

hmm. why not? I wouldn't be surprised at all if this were Criterion'd.

Pretty much my thought. To my sheer delight, I've been able to find a number of Critierion releases used...at a local outlet of the Wherehouse, no less! (Picked up Black Orpheus there recently.) This is especially important in that the one problem with the company are their ridiculously high prices new -- have they ever offered an explanation as to why? I've seen just as fine discs (mastering, bonus stuff, etc.) from small companies at much cheaper prices.

Because the expense of licensing the films, obtaining the best available prints, doing digital restoration, etc. is very high. Not to mention hiring someone to do new subtitles as they often do, plus all the bonus materials that come with many of their releases. I think their DVDs look and sound on average much nicer than those from such companies as Fantoma, etc. I think Fantoma tends to license more obscure films, and the costs are lower as a result. Anyway, Criterions aren't really much more expensive than, say, Kino's DVDs, which tend to be mastered poorly by comparison.

Believe it or not, Ikiru and Tales of Hoffmann are each set to be released sometime in the next 18 months.

(*crossing fingers* Now, you know I'm hoping my luck holds and I get the job I'm up for, just so I can say I've a budget to break!)

Oh, beyond sweet.

Recheck that catalog again, Nichole -- Sid and Nancy has been OOP for a while. There are a number of DVDs no longer available (the John Woo selections, the original Spinal Tap release)...

my faves are
contempt
band of outsiders
hiroshima, mon amour
discreet charm of the Bourgeoisie
george washington
ratcatcher

i am sure there are more i cant think of

According to the CC discussion board, they might re-release The Seven Samurai as a 2-disc (from better sources), which is both great news and sucky news 'cause I HAVE THE OLD ONE-DISC, DAMMIT.

I really love the Brakhage collection, more than I thought I would (though I might never watch The Act of Seeing... ever again, except to gross people out, which actually I did a few days ago). If you take stills from Dog Star Man, then you have a year's worth of 4AD album covers (and that year would be 1984). According to Brakhage, Eye Myth was made over the course of one year. One year! For a 9 second film! The transfer looks great, but maybe some of the source materials could've been in better shape. I mean, Mothlight had all sorts of crud on the film that they didn't sweep off, like grass, insect parts, etc.! (heh. *grin*)

Aside from a few commentaries and making-ofs - especially if it's an in-depth thing, like the Three Colors trilogy - I don't care about extras. I'd much rather have a $24.95 one-disc version of Brazil w/ the Criterion transfer and a commentary or two than the $50+ three-disc box set.

the criterion release i saw most recently (and loved more than anything i've seen lately): band of outsiders

I've had ridiculous luck with a number of Criterion releases turning up used in my neck of the woods -- most recently, Andrei Rublev and The Third Man.

As for prices/extras: keep in mind that Criterion has to license the rights to these films and then does their best to work with the top of the line prints, people, and equipment to make the best transfers possible. This costs a lot of money for discs that generally don't exactly fly off of a standard retailer's shelves. That is why the discs are expensive, not the extras. The extras are added both because the hard-core cineastes appreciate them and because they help justify the price a bit more. But most of those extras cost very little extra to produce or obtain. It's the transfers themselves that are the largest expense. Take Playtime, for example. It's going to be re-released in a few months, but the delay is because they have finally gained access to a 65mm telecine machine - something that is extremely rare and not at all cheap. The transfer will be that much better for it, but if you think that the CC is raking in the dough, I can assure you that they are not.

That all being said, don't trust the prices on the official site. I highly recommend buying through Deep Discount DVD, who generally have the best prices on most titles and offer free US shipping.

Oh, and just as a matter of point, Straw Dogs also just went out of print last week.

My girlfriend gave me Criterion's Band of Outsiders for our 4-year anniversary. Great gift.

The Tubi Van is a 1998 Plymouth Voyager with the TV/VCR/DVD combo upgrade, 4 storage tubs of VHS tapes, and a binder full of bootleg DVDs. pic.twitter.com/eT0pmYKFL3

— Nathan (@Humanstein) September 13, 2024

No Country For Old Men and Eastern Condors coming in December

50% Flash Sale live at criterion.com until midday tomorrow.

Picked up the Lady Snowblood two-fer and the Todd Haynes VU doc.

B&N sale running now through December 2nd.

Julia Garner has a loaded tote bag:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsB1e2aV4Vo

Barry Jenkins is still the Champ tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7HLpe65fHY

GRAB THEM BOX SETS, KING!

Is Anora the first time they've had the Best Picture winner in the Collection on its initial physical release?

One of these days, someone has to keep pushing the envelope to see what it takes for Criterion to say "all right, I think you've taken enough."

Too bad Adam Yauch didn't get a chance to enter the closet:

Sometimes I get free DVDs from Criterion, but not always. I wanted to get one of each, you know, like the whole collection, but they said, “No, Adam, we don’t do that.”

(RIP MCA)

XP I think so. IIRC, Parasite had a bare-bones studio release available ahead of the Criterion.

Just got my email with a $10 off code, which means there is likely a sale brewing. The new code expires in a year, which is new; in the past they had no expiration. On the plus side, I don't think I've ever actually used one of their codes before. I've accumulated quite a few and I believe they are stackable ...

Any of you with the collecting bug/compulsion, the Criterion 40 set is currently on sale at Amazon (I know ...), 44% off with an additional 20% off coupon. Maybe to coincide with (apparently) today's Criterion flash sale? Anyway, that lowers the price down to around somewhere less than $400, with free shipping. Which is of course not at all cheap, but it works out to less than $10 a blu-ray, if one is looking for justification. Caveat being that it's a seemingly/bizarrely random selection of titles.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/aplus-media-library-service-media/32c67c72-2d1a-46f0-81fd-431b02644d48.__CR0,0,970,600_PT0_SX970_V1___.jpg

Pretty good selection though! No real connection between them other than "arthouse favourites", true.

Supposedly those titles are the most reached-for in the Criterion Closet videos.

I was just watching Carrie Coon talking about Wanda, from the closet

Not a single Kurosawa, conspicuously.

Flash sale has begun but it's a little glitchy so unless you're trying for a high demand item like a newer release, it may be a good idea to wait until the number of people accessing the site settles down.

It was kind of hard to land on a strategy, but since I have the streaming service I figured I'd focus on titles that don't always show there due to likely licensing issues, like Wes Anderson (whose sets are always packaged nicely, too). I was reading one of the forums and people are super psyched to buy ... Godzilla vs. Biollante? Different strokes, I guess.

Went with Evil Does Not Exist, Not a Pretty Picture, Deep Cover, Targets, and Bringing Up Baby

If there's an Eclipse set that looks interesting to you, you might want to pick it up as a few of them have recently started going OOP and probably aren't coming back/are unlikely to be upgraded domestically.

Iirc much of the Lars Von Trier stuff was just bought by Kino, so those might be on their way out, too.

They're already out of stock on the Varda box (not OOP tho)

Varda Box=The Big Blu Box of her films. Not sure on the sitch w/the old Four Films set or her Eclipse collection.

Akerman Eclipse set gone as well (OOS)

^^All of those films are available in Ackerman Masterpieces '68-'78 Blu collection.

Criterion's Official List of OOP Titles/Films: https://www.criterion.com/shop/browse/list?popular=out-of-print

^^Some of those ('70s Bunuels for example) are unavailable individually but are included in in-print boxes/collections.

A few other collections are OOS. Bergman box, Dekalog ...

Honestly, looking at eBay, a lot of the standalone titles go for around $20 used, which is what 50% brings many Criterion titles down to, plus shipping, so it's sort of the same deal (so to speak). One other nice advantage of eBay/used is that people upgrading to 4K will be unloading their blu-rays.

AFFLECK IN THE CLOSET

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TJ2BlReus0

Questlove!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFuN-Qi-FW4

You'd think these nerds with money would have all these DVDs already. I guess for sure in Quest's case, because his picks are clearly things he loves and owns.

dude you have missed the point of the criterion closet. congrats on u

lol I thought it was just an excuse to get free DVDs and talk about them!

...

As in, "'Do the Right Thing' is one of my favorite movies, it changed my life, but I've never seen 'Bamboozled.'" (puts in bag) "Friends of mine have always talked about Edward Yang, but all I've seen is 'Yi Yi,' which I loved, so this is a chance for me to see 'A Brighter Summer Day.'" (puts in bag) "I've seen 'Citizen Kane' a couple of times, but I've never heard Roger Ebert's commentary track." (puts in bag) Not, "I have seen 'Seven Samurai' 100 times, it's my favorite movie, I have a copy of it at home." (puts in bag) "And now I have another copy."

I'm hoping for someone bold enough to just take a laundry bag into the closet and empty an entire shelf with one swoop of their arm.

Me, I'd walk in there like "I remember really liking 'Before Sunrise' and I think I saw the second one, but I never saw the third one. I love just about everything I've seen from Richard Linklater, so I can't wait to dive back in." (grabs Before Trilogy boxed set) "Ooh, and 'Days of Heaven,' that is a beautiful film, but I only have the blu-ray, so I'm going to grab the new 4K of that one. And the 4K 'Barry Lyndon,' too! And while I'm here, that Bergman box, there's a lot in there I haven't seen. Same with the Varda box, can't wait to dig in and see what I've been missing!"

I haven't watched it yet, but I saw someone say that the recent Aimee Lou Wood one, she's so excited that they just cut her off, like they knew they had bitten off more than they could chew and she was going to take everything.

Criterion Closet Case

The Alec Baldwin one is interesting because at the beginning he states that he already has a huge collection, so he's going to pick out films he's going to give away as presents, explaining the "to who's and why's" as he goes along.

...and then he shoots the cameraperson.

I'm hoping for someone bold enough to just take a laundry bag into the closet and empty an entire shelf with one swoop of their arm.

Funnily enough, this went up today -- and is almost that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNUAkiIoTFk

I would definitely be in the 'I have a ton of your Blurays already so I'd like to get things I don't have and suspect I would like' category.

Re: the Lyonne vid

When you dress like that for your visit, they'll let you take whatever you want.

she’s really leaning into doing the shtick full time now, huh

I keep cracking up seeing social media posts from people who have run into NL over the years joking about how she’s putting on that persona

it sells!

xp case in point I guess

If i were on it I'd dramatically reach into and beyond the stacks to retrieve Blade Runner and other Criterion releases that only came out on laserdisc

Apparently there were a handful of Criterion titles that got released on videotape! That's the real collector shit.

I would be like Lyonne in that closet, except the first thing I would grab would be two or three more bags, the Criterion equivalent of using your first wish to ask a genie for more wishes.

Best "looting the fuck out of the closet" video remains the Safdies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSdxbBsShak

Most relatable though is Claire Denis picking up Summer With Monika, talking about how it reminds her of her lost youth and asking to have the camera turned off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ANFzjSnLo

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edCT-dyYA0s