The Criterion Collection appreciation thread

Also, depreciation thread for being so expensive.

But seriously, this company deserves another thread. They're the best dvd company in the world.

My favorite Criterion Collection release is Ran.

Anyway, appreciate the best in the business.

*appreciates*

I wish they would get the rights for the Apu trilogy and some fucking Werner Herzog movies. Also, more Martin Scorsese would be nice.

i have some pretty good Criterion releases ... i wish they wouldn't charge so damn much

Last month, when Barnes and Noble ran 50% off Criterions (10% off more if you're a BN member), I just handed B&N my wallet. Man, I just raided my local store lol.

I don't know if you guys have heard of them, but the UK has their own "Criterion Collection" called the Masters of Cinema series. I've just got into them recently, and I really like them so far. Excellent packaging, nice essays, lots of supplements, and fantastic transfers. Plus, most are actually cheaper than Criterion. The problems are they're not region free and they're PAL. Plus, shipping sucks.

Just like Criterion, they just got into producing blu-rays, and they're region free NTSC discs. I ordered Tokyo Sonata from amazon.co.uk. Hopefully it'll be awesome.

Seconded that they need Werner Herzog movies.

I was also pretty pissed when they ran a 4 choice "Which should we release on blu-ray?" poll and Picnic at Hanging Rock lost.

Criterion is the best. They dont have Herzog movies? Damn, thirded.

love criterion

Indeed, all of their movies are 5 stars.

They really are the best, and you can generally trust that if they're putting it out it's worth watching.

I just read that they've partnered with IFC films and will start putting out some more contemporary arthouse/indie/foreign films, which is cool. Like for example apparently they'll be releasing some deluxe complete version of Soderberg's Che later this year or early next.

FUCK

I love Criterion mostly because they released the best versions of Hard Boiled and The Killer to date. I have a pretty sick Criterion t-shirt with the giant C on the front, all silver and sparkly, and it reads CRITERION COLLECTION written vertically down the spine. It's hot shit.

Both out of print now, sadly

Yeah, but that can only be good news for the people who already own them

I guess that's true, and I do (well actually just Hard Boiled, but my dad has The Killer). Still I'd prefer if they were in print, I don't care that much about collectables.

Three Criterions are getting released next week...Fuck!

Can't wait 'til Wings of Desire gets its blu-ray release.

Wow, Monsoon Wedding is getting a Criterion release. Random, but cool.

last month i was totally into the idea of buying "The Discreet Charms of the Borgeouisie" until i realized it's $35.99

ebay that shit mofo

I once picked up five Bunuel Criterions for $75. It's possible to get wicked awesome deals there.

Wait, Criterion got the rights to Wings of Desire? MGM put out a damn good DVD edition a few years back too...

MGM's dvd has been OOP for a while. I'm glad I never bought it.

Here's Criterion's link to Wings of Desire:
http://www.criterion.com/films/200

I picked it up for $10, and the bulk of those features are on the MGM version. Criterion's is surely a slight upgrade, and the packaging is fucking amazing, but it's not worth the double-dip. I'd definitely consider if I didn't already own it though.

I found a used copy of Robocop at Suncoast for SIXTEEN DOLLARS today!

Holy shit, nice pick up.

They're too expensive for me, generally, but my public library buys a lot of them, so I can still benefit, plus I often find Criterion films at one of my local used shops, though not usually the ones I want. I'm often tempted to just buy them anyway, just because they'd obviously be good (except for Armageddon).

This week I checked out Yasujiro Ozu's "An Autumn Afternoon" from the library.

Anyone have the Complete Monterey Pop Festival Blu-rays? If so, give a review, please.

Anyone who doesn't have Brazil from Criterion needs to get it nao

I have it. I only had the time to watch the Otis Redding set so far, which was amazing. Unfortunately the whole concert is shot in 4:3.

So what is it that makes these DVDs so much better than others?

Well for one they are usually really limited editions, so people who are big on collecting automatically want them. Besides that, they are usually remastered and optimized for widescreen TVs, and include a shitload of special features and interviews with the cast. They are basically just awesome.

I am sort of obsessively compelled to buy special editions of things, but Criterion is worth it for the picture quality alone.

They have the best selection of movies, and most of their dvds get approved by the film makers. The picture and audio quality is fantastic, mastered at a very bit-rate. They get very good commentary tracks for most of their movies, either from film scholars or from the filmmakers (sometimes both). A lot of their dvds have a ton of special features. The packaging is very nice also.

All right, I watched the Jimi Hendrix set and it was fantastic. I'm watching the main feature right now and it sounds really nice. The only problem is, like I said earlier, the whole thing is 4:3.

Oh my shitting delicious:

http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/67...Collection Newsletter - October 2009 _ hrjkju

I hate living in Australia/my budget.

I want that so hard and so bad. But, I'm trying to curb by DVD purchases and build a BD collection instead. Then again, who knows how long it'll take them to move all of these to BD.

It's only $300 on Amazon. Amazing.

FUCK

I hear you like Japanese things

I hear I like good movies.

I would get that set if I didn't have a whole crapload of Kurosawa Criterion dvds already. If they were blu-rays instead of dvds, I would def. buy it.

I'll probably end up getting it. The only Kurosawa Criterion I actually own is Kagemusha on BD. I've seen many of the others and have perfect DVD9 copies of some, but having that entire set would be...boner.

Some dude on Amazon said all of these discs are bare bones films only and contain no extras that the single releases have. I find that hard to believe, and that sounds very unlike Criterion.

Any info, guys?

edit: Also, I just ordered the Ran Criterion from Amazon since it is out of print. That would have been amazing on BD. It's a shame they lost the rights when they were almost ready to release it.

I'd say it's very possible. If you look on the website, the boxset isn't listed as a Criterion Collection release, it's "other", so you won't see the C logo on the box and I'm pretty sure you won't get any supplements either. On the website, the bonus feature is the book. If you look at individual releases and boxsets, they list every bonus feature on the discs.

Great movies but a lot of the DVDs have that shitty 4:3 with black bars aspect ratio that my annoying TV can't zoom properly.

...

You're not supposed to alter the aspect ratio of films when you watch them.

I don't think you understand. A lot of the CC dvd's I've rented were made for 4:3 tv's only. That means a 4:3 picture with the black bars to make it look widescreen. Works great on a 4:3 tv, not so much on my widescreen. The right zoom mode would retain the aspect ratio of the picture while filling up the whole horizontal space of my screen, but Samsung didn't think it'd be a good idea to include that as one of the zoom options. The end result is that I have to watch those DVD's with a smaller picture and space at the sides, which is why I wish they made them for 16:9 tvs'.

Either I'm not all the way awake or you're still not being clear enough, or both. Where are you seeing black bars? Above and below or on the sides? Or both?

Criterion never alters films' aspect ratios to fit 4:3 screens. But, some of Kurosawa's films (usually the older, lower budget ones) were shot in 4:3, not in a wide scope.

edit: and every Samsung screen I've ever used supports numerous types of zooming and stretching.

Both. I would say MOST of the CC dvd's I've rented had that. What's it called? Letterboxing? And yeah my tv was a good buy but it's pretty gay that it happens to be one where they fudged the zoom settings.

Yes, that would be letterboxing. I'm always confused by letterboxing of a 4:3 aspect. I'm not certain if the issue is with the DVD, the DVD player, or the TV.

Are you sure you can't zoom or adjust your ratio? Maybe you're just missing something in the menu. What model is your TV?

edit: you may be able to zoom with your DVD player controls.

I think the tv is a model LNT-4053. There is a button on the remote called P. Size. Pressing it cycles through the different zoom modes. The ones that fill up the screen also stretch out the picture. I haven't checked to see if the PS3 has zoom options that might help. The Phillips DVDp I used to use didn't have one that worked. Overall it's an inconvenience I can live with.

AFAIK the DVDp (PS3 in this case) outputs a 4:3 picture, which the TV automatically displays using the full height. As for P. Size 16:9 looks like that... 4:3 is squashed, Zoom 1 and Zoom 2 stretch it out and skew the aspect ratio.

Overtone is talking about non-anamorphic widescreen. When there are bars on all four sides, that is "windowboxing" as opposed to letterboxing. My copy of Robocop is, sadly, windowboxed. Most Criterions don't have the issue though, only the really early run.

The issue is probably a combo between the DVD player and the TV. When I watch a non-anamorphic widescreen DVD, I have the TV set to "16:9" (since the TV ratio is actually 16:10 as it doubles as a computer monitor) and my Xbox 360 DVD program set to "Native resolution". This keeps it windowboxed, and even though it's kind of a pain, I'd rather watch it smaller and NOT stretched than mess with weird warping.

A lot of players (and TVs) don't really offer full native resolution options, which is kind of a pain. I'd recommend a TV/monitor like mine that can handle 1-to-1 pixel mapping, and a DVD player with native options.