Forthcoming Lists Discussion and Random Speculation Vol. 5

[Lowry_Sam]

...or maybe we'll get a surprise that no one anticipated: Faust (could Kino's license be expiring any time soon?) or more likely Svankmajer's, which is out of print & given the Quay Bros. recent visit to the closet, a definite possiblity. But, regardless of how much people have talked about it, the biggest surprise still would be The Devils.

[rspaight]

616, which some argue is the actual number o' the Beast, is of course Shallow Grave.

[captveg]

Just watched Punishment Park and loved it. I notice the DVD from 2005 is from New Yorker, and while I'm aware there is a region free Masters of Cinema Blu-ray that was released last year, is there any possibility of Criterion releasing it since they picked up other titles that used to be via New Yorker?

[knives]

I'd have to double check, but I'm pretty sure New Yorker still owns it.
Edit: Actually their website doesn't list the film so maybe.

[onedimension]

Yeah, all Watkins' stuff is interesting..

Since all my Criterion dreams seem to be coming true lately (Repo Man, La Notte on the way, rustlings of Rosselini/Bergman stuff), I will throw a couple of big box ideas out there-

1) Von Sternberg & Dietrich in Hollywood (excludes The Blue Angel, but I think all the other films are Paramount or Universal)

2) Anthony Mann & Jimmy Stewart westerns- scattered across multiple studios but if Warner stuff is in play it's finally feasible..

[jedgeco]

La Notte on the way...

Has there been more confirmation here? Last I remember it was on the "Stalled Ex-Certainties" list.

[Drucker]

La Notte on the way...

Has there been more confirmation here? Last I remember it was on the "Stalled Ex-Certainties" list.

See here

[Gregory]

...2) Anthony Mann & Jimmy Stewart westerns- scattered across multiple studios but if Warner stuff is in play it's finally feasible.

Seems like anything requiring Technicolor restoration would probably be impossible to get from a studio like Warner, who settled for using a pretty lousy-looking composite of Naked Spur to get it out on DVD. I wouldn't expect a box, but it would be incredible to see some more Mann from Criterion.

[zedz]

I'd have to double check, but I'm pretty sure New Yorker still owns it.
Edit: Actually their website doesn't list the film so maybe.

I think most (all?) of their Watkins films were produced by / licensed from Project X, so that would be the place to look.

But why oh why, when a film is readily available in an excellent, affordable region-bleeding-free BluRay edition, do people still want Criterion to waste their time on a redundant duplicate? Almost all the rest of Watkins films aren't already available in HD, and several of them aren't available in any-D.

[knives]

I agree fully, but let's face it even something as 'popular' as The Gladiators is possibly too hardcore for Crit let alone something like his '90s work. Though I think Watkins has had more good fortunes on disc than you're giving credit to. It seems that really only his work between Edvard Munch and his latest is unavailable.

[zedz]

Oh yeah, we've been incredibly fortunate with what's been released, but if there's the possibility for a new release, literally the last thing we need is Punishment Park on BluRay again.

And I think you're overestimating the 'popularity' of Punishment Park, a very obscure cult film until MoC salvaged it. The only Watkins films with much mainstream traction at all are The War Game and Culloden, which are kind of legendary in the UK, and for good reason. Privilege has a decent cult and Swinging London cachet, and Edvard Munch has a couple of decades of subterranean critical adoration but still very little profile. Basically, they're all obscure. The Gladiators' hook is probably even more marketable than Punishment Park's nowadays.

[knives]

This is probably all just cultural, but I had heard of Punishment Park years before I had even heard of Watkins with the film even taking on a sort of slang nature around where I lived so at least in sections of the US (I'm thinking Ohio, Virginia and PA) Punishment Park has held some semi-popular cache which considering the local controversies makes sense in the same way the popularity of The War Game is over in the UK. Plus nowadays you have that whole Hunger Games marketing thing to go with.

[zedz]

I was actually thinking The Gladiators plugged in more snugly with the Hunger Games / extreme sports / reality TV zeitgeist. The 'trial' scenes in Punishment Park really lock it in its time - which is fine and dandy, but might make it less accessible. With The Gladiators, I feel like, if only people knew the film existed, they'd be really curious to see it.

Okay, how about a Peter Watkins' War Games 1964-1971 BluRay box set: Culloden, The War Game, The Gladiators, Punishment Park? (Each film comes with an introduction by Watkins. The same introduction. A 90 minute prepared statement on the monoform.)

[knives]

That would either be the worst or the best. I won't decide.

[warren oates]

I'm still waiting for Project X to get to Eveningland and The Journey, which was supposed to be out sometime in 2009.

[zedz]

The Journey was a big deal in the 80s, though not necessarily among cineastes. It will take somebody with deep pockets to bring that monster out, though.

[captveg]

But why oh why, when a film is readily available in an excellent, affordable region-bleeding-free BluRay edition, do people still want Criterion to waste their time on a redundant duplicate? Almost all the rest of Watkins films aren't already available in HD, and several of them aren't available in any-D.

Hey, I was just inquiring as to the possibility. If it was something that was expected within the next year and I had previously read past it because it wasn't a title I had seen I would like to know. I rarely import because I still have dozens of US releases I want that I haven't picked up. Besides, Criterion might do something unique/different with their release, or perhaps the box set of several titles that was suggested in this thread. There's more to it than Criterion just wasting their time.

[AlexHansen]

Evening Land is actually available to stream on Fandor, so there might be hope yet.

[Rustle]

But why oh why, when a film is readily available in an excellent, affordable region-bleeding-free BluRay edition, do people still want Criterion to waste their time on a redundant duplicate? Almost all the rest of Watkins films aren't already available in HD, and several of them aren't available in any-D.

Hey, I was just inquiring as to the possibility. If it was something that was expected within the next year and I had previously read past it because it wasn't a title I had seen I would like to know. I rarely import because I still have dozens of US releases I want that I haven't picked up. Besides, Criterion might do something unique/different with their release, or perhaps the box set of several titles that was suggested in this thread. There's more to it than Criterion just wasting their time.

I doubt that Knives' point was to ridicule you personally, but now that my film buying and viewing habits have become enormous I also see duplicate blu-ray releases of comparable quality to be disappointing and frustrating. When I started buying Criterions eight years ago I was giddy about special features. Now I just want the best possible versions of as many truly outstanding films as possible. I look forward to intros by Tony Rayns' on MoC titles and a few other things, but in general I just want the opportunity to buy viewing rights.

So when Criterion, like the third nail salon in a small shopping center, bravely looks at the already saturated marketplace and courageously whines "Me Too!!" with announcements of Onibaba and City of Women on blu, all I will be able to think is that Breaking the Waves and countless other titles still sit without a decent transfer. And Facebook flexes its facial muscles for Criterion releases of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and a Kevin Smith box set.

[swo17]

Someone should make a movie about a group of modern youths who cross the desert with their home video collections on their backs only to find that the Blu-ray player at the end of the line is locked to the wrong region.

[triodelover]

Someone should make a movie about a group of modern youths who cross the desert with their home video collections on their backs only to find that the Blu-ray player at the end of the line is locked to the wrong region.

Better still, the player plays everything but mysteriously forces the wrong AR on every film and displays all the subtitles in chartreuse.

[ianungstad]

Anchor Bay discontinued all of their Werner Herzog dvds a couple weeks ago. It seems they've let the rights to the Herzog catalog lapse. I would think Janus would be fairly agressive in pursuing the rights.

[matrixschmatrix]

It'd be great if we could get a combo release of an upgraded Burden of Dreams and Fitzcarraldo

[Warren D]

Here's hoping for Grizzly Man and Into the Abyss...

[knives]

Anchor Bay discontinued all of their Werner Herzog dvds a couple weeks ago. It seems they've let the rights to the Herzog catalog lapse. I would think Janus would be fairly agressive in pursuing the rights.

Except Becker dislikes Herzog's films. Seems like more of a Kino or Shout pick up.