Don't you love Criterion

[Guest Dmann2000]

Yes, the biggest fault is they're overpriced. 2nd biggest fault is many early titles are Out of Print. But I still think that for consistancy these guys know what they're doing. And it looks like they're going back and rereleasing earlier catalogue titles. The Brazil set is near perfect (if only it was anamorphic).

[Guest Banky]

Considering 85% of the titles are $59.99 or more, Criterion doesn't exactly rule my world.

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

Man, is someone exaggerating here or what?

 

Actually, the average MSRP price for a Criterion dvd is between $29.99 and $39.99. And it isn't especially hard to find them much cheaper than those prices.

 

The only Criterion discs that are even close to $59.99 are Brazil (it's three discs), The Orphic Trilogy ($79.95, 3-disc), Carl Th. Dreyer ($79.95, 4 discs), Eisenstein: The Sound Years ($79.95, 3-disc) and The Complete Monterey Pop Festival ($79.95, 3-disc).

 

Seeing as how I doubt you'll be picking up any of those titles, you can't really complain about Criterion prices. For the most part they're fairly reasonable for the better-than-average DVDs they release.

 

The most expensive ones I own are Armageddon and Spartacus (MSRP, $49.99) but I didn't pay that price for either. Just this past Tuesday I bought Akira Kurosawa: Four Samurai Classics boxed set for $80 at Best Buy. It's a damn good bargain considering that most of the discs in the set are $30-40 if you buy them seperately.

[Guest teke184]

Considering 85% of the titles are $59.99 or more, Criterion doesn't exactly rule my world.

85% are 59.99 or more? Only if you're using Canadian currency.

 

The only Criterions available at RETAIL, not OOP, for that price or more in US$ are Brasil ($59.99), Cocteau Trilogy ($59.99, I think), Carl Th. Dreyer set ($120?), Eiseintein: The Sound Years ($59.99?), and a few others. (Some of those others are box sets consisting of Criterions already released as single discs but packaged together at a discount, like the Kurosawa films)

 

The vast majority of them retail for $29.99 or $39.99 US.

 

 

As for the OOP titles, shit happens.

 

400 Blows went out of print because Fox Lorber got the rights but it is being re-released in the new Antoine Donel set. The Killer and Hard Boiled also belong to Fox Lorber now but I don't know about a re-release.

 

Robocop, Sid and Nancy, Silence of the Lambs, This Is Spinal Tap, and Unbearable Lightness of Being all belong to MGM now, as most of these belonged to the Orion films catalog that MGM is just now asserting their rights over. Before MGM asserted their rights, the Orion catalog was split between Criterion, Image, and Artisan / Live Entertainment.

 

Charade went out of print because a remake, The Truth About Charlie, was being released. This is especially strange considering that Charade was thought to be public domain and NOT the property of the studio that made Charlie.

 

Salo was in release for a short time before director Pier Paolo Pasolini's family filed suit and had it pulled from the market. There was a rights issue over it and it was a big mess.

 

I'm pretty sure Dead Ringers went out of print because Warner Brothers got the rights to it from Anchor Bay, although they've done nothing with it.

 

The Tati Trilogy (M. Hulot's Holiday, Playtime, Mon Oncle) went out of print suddenly when the rights were transferred to a new company.

 

 

I don't blame Criterion for most of these going OOP because the company they were licensing the rights from resold them to another company who refused to renew the agreement for most of these (all but Salo IMHO). At least they're trying to re-release them when possible, such as putting out a new 400 Blows several years after their original version went OOP.

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

Teke, thanks. I completely forgot to address the OoP issue.

 

You can't really say that it's a "fault" of Criterion, because as Teke so eloquently pointed out, that's not really up to Criterion as a company and is rather a decision that is determined by any number of other factors, mainly concerning the different studios, film rights, a plethora of legal issues, etc.

 

My advice would be to just snatch up the discs that you really want when they're first released and then you don't have to worry about it or it's off to eBay for you. I have several OoP Criterion discs including: Robocop, Silence of the Lambs, The Killer and Hard-Boiled.

 

So I think we've killed Oop titles as a fault and we've knocked out the "overpriced" argument. (well, I will concur that I thought them rather pricey at first but considering that each release gets better and better and the prices continue to hover at around $29.99, I would say you get your money's worth compared to the majority of other DVDs released these days that have a nearly identical asking price but are way inferior in terms of quality and supplements)

 

Anyone have anything else to say positive or negative about Criterion?

[Guest NoCalMike]

I have the Robocop criterion dvd and it rules.

 

I have The Killer/Hard Boiled, but I believe they are just the standard ones.

[Guest teke184]

Hard Boiled is a special edition, but it is an early one and isn't very good as a result. Most of the early "special editions" were just the movie, a commentary, a restoration demonstration, and a trailer.

 

The best example I can think of for this is Seventh Seal.

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

NoCalMike, I also have the Fox Lorber The Killer/Hard Boiled box set aka The John Woo Collection, too because the Criterion version of The Killer doesn't have an English language track (although it does have commentary in English from Woo and Chang) and it's ABSOLUTE HELL trying to introduce someone to a flick like this without it being dubbed. Perhaps I could've just bought the Fox Lorber edition of The Killer rather than both, but I saw the boxed set and just picked it up for some reason. I saw no reason to pass on an extra copy of Hard Boiled, may as well have both and make it complete.

 

Teke, I'm not quite catching your meaning when you say that Hard Boiled is a "special edition." I've never seen Criterion call or label one of their releases that. I thought they were all considered the same, so what do you mean about the early "special editions"?

 

Hard Boiled (spine #9) was the first Criterion disc I ever bought. It has a commentary track by John Woo, Terence Chang, Roger Avary and film critic Dave Kehr, one of Woo's student films, a guide to HK crime films, notes on Hard Boiled and trailers for 11 of Woo's HK films (The Young Dragons, Hand of Death, Princess Chang Ping, Last Hurrah for Chivalry, From Riches to Rags, A Better Tomorrow and it's sequel, The Killer, Bullet in the Head, Once a Thief and Hard Boiled). Much more than just a restoration demo, etc.

 

The Fox Lorber ones have pretty nice animated, musical menus (the Criterion menus are animated, but not much and also contain music from the movies) and only contain trailers for The Killer and Hard Boiled. Hard Boiled also has Notes on Hard Boiled but not the same one contained on the Criterion version.

 

Btw, as I'm sure Jay Spree can tell you, the Criterion version of Robocop is blown out of the water by its Region 2 counterpart. I like it and all, but I consider it pretty barebones for what I paid for it. And if anyone has Sid & Nancy or Dead Ringers and/or knows of someone, somewhere who wants to part with them, I'm highly interested.

[Guest teke184]

Many of the $40 editions have a silver "special edition" sticker on it, or the older ones did anyway.

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

This is true but I never really paid it any attention. Most of them come with any variation of colored stickers now with a "Director Approved" label and the director's faux signature.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

The best example I can think of for this is Seventh Seal.

Damn right! I'm a big fan of Seventh Seal, but I'm also a HUGE special features mark, and despite how good the image and sound qualities are, since my home system is shite and I have to play them on my laptop now at college (even worse...), I can't justify paying $30-40 for a DVD that doesn't have ANY special features whatsoever.

 

It breaks my heart when Criterion puts out a barebones disc. I'm sure somebody SOMEWHERE had some supplements for M, for goodness' sake. Same for the original Insomnia, especially considering that that's a recent movie and the filmmakers and actors are still alive.

[Guest Banky]

Considering 85% of the titles are $59.99 or more, Criterion doesn't exactly rule my world.

85% are 59.99 or more? Only if you're using Canadian currency.

 

Well I am from Canada, so I guess that explains it.

 

The Armageddon Criterion collection was $81.99. Thats fucking ridiculous.

 

The only Criterion ones I own are

 

Royal Tenenbaums

Chasing Amy (naturally)

Beastie Boys Anthology

 

OMG~! I'm so trendy!

[Guest El Satanico]

Anyone know if the new Criterion of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is any good? I love that movie and didn't get the old DVD because i felt that it may get a better release. SO I'm planning on getting this new Criterion version.

[Guest teke184]

The Fear and Loathing SE is good...

 

Two discs-

 

The first is the movie, three commentaries (Gilliam, the stars and some producers, and I'm not sure who else on the third) and a few deleted scenes.

 

The second is a set of extras for both the movie and the book. The movie extras are typical featurettes, stills, etc. The book extras are interesting, like Oscar Zeta Acosta (Dr. Gonzo IRL) reading excerpts from his book on TV in Los Angeles. (This book is something like Life Of The Cockroaches or something like that, and the clip in particular is about a case he worked on where a young Hispanic "hung himself" in police custody)

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

The people on the commentary tracks are director Terry Gilliam, Johnny Depp, Benecio Del Toro, producer Laila Nabulsi and Hunter S. Thompson. I'm not sure how they are divided into the three different tracks, though.

 

Personally, I enjoyed Johnny Depp reading the letters between him and Hunter S. Thompson. That is some zany stuff going on back and forth between those two and it shows just how much playing Hunter rubbed off on Depp through their correspondence. This set is just fucking cool all the way around and I've been pimping the shit out of it to anyone who will listen, especially at SNKT. I guess it's because I went through so much to get it seeing as how a lot of chains seem to either refuse to carry it or are just plain sold out all the time. Either way, it's a must-have and a keeper.

 

I dig the plastic cover with the Steadman art on it; it's just a nice touch and it makes it really stand out appearance-wise. And I wouldn't call Hunter Goes to Hollywood and Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood your run-of-the-mill "featurettes" either, with the latter being a pretty decent and interesting BBC documentary from 1978.

 

I agree that $81 for Armageddon is pretty insane but being an American I don't really have to worry about EVER seeing that sort of price. But then again, I think that paying even $5 to see it in the theater was pretty insane, too.