Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 5

[jwd5275]

Sorry. To clarify, by 'pull together' I meant something planned / scheduled in the near future already, but moved up to today...

Also in regards to Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, I just checked the current MOMA retrospective and it is shown as a Janus film too..

[Vegeta84]

Sorry. To clarify, by 'pull together' I meant something planned / scheduled in the near future already, but moved up to today...

Also in regards to Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, I just checked the current MOMA retrospective and it is shown as a Janus film too..

I'm confused? This is really exciting if it's true, but are you just basing this one your own instinct or has Criterion hinted that they are moving this up?

[Lowry_Sam]

Even if they had planned on announcing some Oshima films I imagine that would be postponed. Criterion would more than likely want to avoid being seen as crass, exploitative, or attempting to "cash in" so close to the director's death.

I have the opposite take on this. After all, it is not like Oshima will get recognition outside of those who are particularly interested in film, particularly older titles. While it might seem like "cashing in", waiting until the news story is off the radar, also means that such releases aren't as economically feasible & less likely to succeed.

[Vegeta84]

Even if they had planned on announcing some Oshima films I imagine that would be postponed. Criterion would more than likely want to avoid being seen as crass, exploitative, or attempting to "cash in" so close to the director's death.

I have the opposite take on this. After all, it is not like Oshima will get recognition outside of those who are particularly interested in film, particularly older titles. While it might seem like "cashing in", waiting until the news story is off the radar, also means that such releases aren't as economically feasible & less likely to succeed.

I agree with this. Now would be the best time to release it and this is when THEY SHOULD release it, as more people will likely watch these films.

[bamwc2]

Sorry. To clarify, by 'pull together' I meant something planned / scheduled in the near future already, but moved up to today...

Also in regards to Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, I just checked the current MOMA retrospective and it is shown as a Janus film too..

I'm confused? This is really exciting if it's true, but are you just basing this one your own instinct or has Criterion hinted that they are moving this up?

As best as I can tell, this would never happen. Their business model is not to sit on a release after its ready, but rather to put the product in stores whenever it is ready. If there is an Oshima title announced today, it would be coincidental and have nothing to do with his death.

[Finch]

DEVIL'S BACKBONE definitely happening though not as part of today's (tomorrow's?) announcements:

And "Devil's Backbone" is something you're revisiting for a new Criterion disc. What do you have planned for that?
A.: We've done a new transfer, we're doing a new sound mix. Criterion is really streamlined about the extras – they don't want to put a lot, they only want to put the good stuff. So they are really, right now, designing what they want. We know we want to do a second part for the "Bleak House" [Guillermo del Toro's office, which is stuffed to the gills with monster-related bric-a-brac and macabre miscellanea] because we have so many rooms left. There's a whole second half of the house!

[matrixschmatrix]

I hope they haven't 'streamlined' the commentary out, del Toro's one of the best (to the degree I wish he'd show up on other people's movies more often)

[mfunk9786]

Eclipse Series 38: Up All Night Handwringing with Nagisa Oshima

[colinr0380]

I hope they haven't 'streamlined' the commentary out, del Toro's one of the best (to the degree I wish he'd show up on other people's movies more often)

My hope would perhaps be the original commentary (with del Toro and the cinematographer) and perhaps a new retrospective one, although that might end up repeating too much of the same information. Maybe a retrospective interview such as the ones on the Qatsi trilogy, might be better.

[PfR73]

There are actually already 2 commentaries for The Devil's Backbone. Sony put the film out twice on DVD & each had a different commentary. One was Del Toro & Navarro, the other was Del Toro solo. I hope both find their way to the Criterion release.

[jedgeco]

They're up....

[criterion10]

I'll definitely be picking up Naked Lunch and Repo Man. The others I need to look further into before purchasing, as I haven't seen any of them. (Then again, I haven't seen Repo Man, but it seems like a pretty safe blind buy.)

[knives]

Yay, more Kobayashi!

[Paupau]

Finally some Kobayashi! Been years since the last film i saw from either MoC or CC

[matrixschmatrix]

The Etaix set is in an interesting spot between Eclipse and full release- the price per film seems in line with Eclipse, right?

[captveg]

Richard III will be mine. l need to see the other films, but that Kobayashi Eclipse set looks fantastic.

[movielocke]

I just watched HaraKiri a few weeks ago, and when I was reading the booklet I thought, "The Thickwalled room" sounds like a perfect title for eclipse. Glad to see I'll be able to watch it soon. disappointing there's no lord of the flies, but this is the best month of the year, so far, I'll buy all the releases except naked lunch.

[matrixschmatrix]

I think I'll wind up buying everything but Gate of Hell, and that I'll skip only because I've already got the MoC. It feels like a short month for new titles, but I think that's because most of them are either repeats from MoC or bundled into the Eclipse and the Eclipse-esque Etaix set- so I can't really complain.

[zedz]

The Etaix set is in an interesting spot between Eclipse and full release- the price per film seems in line with Eclipse, right?

It's also an interesting mule in that it's a multi-feature box set (not a 'lead feature plus others' like Lonesome) where the individual films don't seem to have their own spine numbers.

Personally, I think this is a great move, since it gets around the awkward 'no extras on Eclipse!' rule that compromised the Downey set.

[Tommaso]

Oh dear, again the stand-out release is an Eclipse set. I admit I don't know about Etaix, but the re-production of two excellent MoC releases just feels very lame. At least they could have added some extras to the Kinugasa to put some little bit of special value to it (and I'm not necessarily thinking of "A Page of Madness" exclusively... ). But all right, Kobayashi is a must buy.

[jwd5275]

I know, it's so lame that people who are region 1 locked can now get these...

[Tommaso]

Being region-locked on DVD is the definition of lame... (just kiddin', I see where you come from, but I don't take back my initial statement).

[TMDaines]

I like how being region locked is often lamented like it's a disability you're born with.

[swo17]

And I like how being region-free is sometimes not acknowledged as being a luxury.

[domino harvey]

There's no excuse for being DVD region-free, as the majority of retail DVD players have this capability via remote control code. Blu-ray region-free-ness is far more sticky, and thus thine sins are absolved on that front, my children