Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

Vinegar Syndrome, Deaf Crocodile, Imprint, Cinema Guild, and more.
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swo17
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#51 Post by swo17 » Mon Jan 04, 2021 1:58 am

I'll second Ladybug, Ladybug, which is my favorite episode of Boy Meets World

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#52 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:55 am

Nominate the Glengarry Glen Ross Shout! cover for worst

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swo17
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#53 Post by swo17 » Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:56 am

I'll second that!

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domino harvey
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#54 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jan 04, 2021 3:16 pm

I mean, I don't love it but I wish I lived in a world where that was the worst cover I saw last year

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knives
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#55 Post by knives » Mon Jan 04, 2021 3:20 pm

Hell, even the worst shout cover.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#56 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Jan 04, 2021 3:27 pm

knives wrote:
Mon Jan 04, 2021 3:20 pm
Hell, even the worst shout cover.
I'm just nominating what comes to mind, feel free to nominate a worse one

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MichaelB
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#57 Post by MichaelB » Mon Jan 04, 2021 3:31 pm

This one's pretty astonishing...

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...mainly for its sheer laziness: this is a film set in 1962, but that image of London is decidedly 21st-century (those buses obviously aren't from the Sixties, and neither is Portcullis House, which began construction in the 1990s and opened in 2001, so at the absolute absolute earliest we're still talking a minimum of thirty years after the film was made, and my money's on fifty or more). The designer presumably did a Google image search for "London" and thought "yeah, that'll do".

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#58 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Jan 04, 2021 3:45 pm

Alright these are worse:

Image

Collateral is actually a man's deodorant subway ad

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Just look at Hepburn's hands fused together... looks like Zoidberg's mouth, and genuinely makes me queasy. I think this is the laziest cover I've ever seen, and the worst of the year hands down.

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Ribs
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#59 Post by Ribs » Mon Jan 04, 2021 3:55 pm

The Collateral cover is a fan cover.

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swo17
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#60 Post by swo17 » Mon Jan 04, 2021 4:14 pm

Whoever made that was no fan of the film

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#61 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Jan 04, 2021 4:58 pm

MichaelB wrote:
Mon Jan 04, 2021 3:31 pm
...mainly for its sheer laziness: this is a film set in 1962, but that image of London is decidedly 21st-century (those buses obviously aren't from the Sixties, and neither is Portcullis House, which began construction in the 1990s and opened in 2001, so at the absolute absolute earliest we're still talking a minimum of thirty years after the film was made, and my money's on fifty or more). The designer presumably did a Google image search for "London" and thought "yeah, that'll do".
It's even more ironic since the only thing the movie has going for it is how Quine uses his architectural competence

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knives
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#62 Post by knives » Mon Jan 04, 2021 5:42 pm

I like it.

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swo17
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#63 Post by swo17 » Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:37 pm

I'd like to nominate Kino's Confidence for Best Upgrade and MoC's Five Graves to Cairo for Most Disappointing (because of the transfer)

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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#64 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:50 pm

That reminds me (although this will probably read as obnoxious, it's not my intent) I'd like to nominate MoC's Five Graves to Cairo for Best Upgrade. I thought it looked fine, but after watching it on the shittiest DVD for years, I'm not picky on this one and it's by far the best DVD upscale I can think of offhand for the year (though I understand some prefer Kino's I haven't seen it)

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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#65 Post by swo17 » Mon Jan 04, 2021 10:58 pm

Well then I will double down and nominate the Kino for Best Upgrade! (I just watched the MoC with the commentary--which I thought was fine but not exceptional--and was struck by how drab the image looks.)

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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#66 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Jan 04, 2021 11:24 pm

Yeah it wasn't exceptional, but I haven't listened to many commentaries this year so it'd still likely get my vote, if only for Adrian Martin validating my "adult fairy tale" auteurist reading from the Wilder list project that was spurned by the forum

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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#67 Post by Ribs » Mon Jan 04, 2021 11:53 pm

OK, I will have more additions in a month as I work through stuff (like Indicator's entire second-half-of-year output) but I just wanted to put in a word on what I felt were the best releases this year, some of which no one has mentioned. I'm not entirely sure who has or hasn't nominated or seconded whatever but would like these to count if no one has mentioned them:

-Kwaidan, Masters of Cinema (Limited Edition)
Just immaculately presented, with a completely fascinating accompanying text (who knew the 'w' was silent in the title?) and a great set of main features for a movie that really benefits from them despite being one of the established classics of its country/genre.

-Made in Hong Kong, Masters of Cinema
I didn't actually engage with the extras of this release as I often really can't make the time for it, but just releasing this title is so wonderful as it's a really special film. I passed on seeing the new restoration as Metrograph released it theatrically earlier this year because I thought it wouldn't be for me but this is a really special movie I only checked out because of MoC's release.

-The Man Who Laughs, Masters of Cinema
This is my pick for cover of the year, specifically the slip, for whatever it's worth. Again, just a fairly basic pair of two features complementing an immaculate presentation brings this release to the fore and is, probably, the best of a great year for the MoC line.

-Three Films by Edgar Allen Poe Starring Bela Lugosi, Masters of Cinema
I double dipped having gotten the Shout set that had two of these titles, but I love these having actually substantive features along with the extremely slight increase in quality from a sharper encode. But the real thing that's so great is the official presentation of the alternate cut of the first film, wonderfully tucked away as an easter egg, but just a treat to be able to see done in an official capacity. The movies are so good, too - I appreciated them in the past but they really shined upon revisiting them.

-Operation Condor: Armour of God II and Dragons Forever, 88 Films
I mentioned the former in my earlier post, but just wanted to call out these two releases as the undeniable highlights of 88's amazing year for these Jackie Chan releases. I picked Operation Condor specifically as it's my favorite of the films released, and I found the lengthy booklet interview done in place of video interviews due to COVID really interesting. Dragons Forever is the release that best epitomizes 88's extremely cool commitment to making sure every possible way anyone wants to see the movie(s) are available in the best possible quality (it's also a great movie, which helps).

-John Ford at Columbia, Indicator
Don't really need to say anything for this one, have a hard time imagining another release besides another specific Indicator set that will get so much love here. So I'll just also register an enthusiastic thumbs up.

-Force 10 at Navarone, Indicator
I specifically wanted to shout this out because I thought Indicator did such a good job despite contractually being obligated to a more dated master to the Kino that somehow the presentations end up being about even because of Indicator's technical skill at presenting every release the best it can be. I liked the bonuses here that I watched also but nothing comes to mind in particular, though it's also a favorite cover of mine.

-Cinema Paradiso 4K, Arrow Academy
Arrow had a pretty meandering year as others have observed, with some great releases especially of Japanese titles, but the 4K slate has obviously been a real highlight. And having watched the first three discs this is the clear highlight of the bunch - as I repeated in the thread, I'm extremely disappointed that the in my mind considerably superior extended cut wasn't able to be included in 4K as well but this presentation is just absolutely remarkable no matter how you slice it. I am so, so excited to see Arrow and their competitors do releases like this for the rest of the major art house titles in their library, hopefully in the near future.

-Tony Curtis Collection, Kino Lorber Studio Classics (upgrade category I guess)
I've loved these star-themed sets from Kino (other than Deanna Durbin, which I passed on, obviously), but this was somewhat unexpectedly the highlight. I haven't listened to the commentaries included herein but I think the first two movies in this set are both actually quite good and cannot imagine a context I would have seen them without a set like this putting them in front of me. And the third movie has Disneyland, albeit confusingly having Tony Curtis the entire movie going "I'm not taking you to Disneyland," making me feel like Milhouse just desperately awaiting the promise of the fireworks factory as Disneyland was definitely the main thing I was interested in seeing at the movie. But this set is great, and the Cary Grant and Barbara Stanwyck sets are too (though all have a "two of the movies are good!" problem, to my mind). Really hopeful this trend continues from Kino's new deal.

-Lorenzo's Oil, Kino Lorber Studio Classics (upgrade category I guess)
I just really appreciated having this complete and total masterpiece in a good-looking HD presentation. It's perfectly possible one of the UK labels could do a better release at some point down the line with a full suite of extras, but I am so glad to have this title on the shelf just in case that never happens. I don't like George Miller's other movies for the most part, but this one's special to me.

-The Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Beau Geste, Kino Lorber Studio Classics (upgrade category I guess)
Another great trend from Kino's Universal output were the sampling of 30s adventure movies put out around March and the 40s and 50s technicolor adventure movies (like Against All Flags, Ali Baba) they put out around July - I hadn't seen pretty much any of these but picked up essentially all these releases are the exact cross-section of my interests, and these two were the best, and I'm glad Kino was able to present them. I actually did listen to the commentary for the former here, which I found likeable and informative, but it's really just the basic and pure good of Kino putting these studio 30s movies out that for a long time just seemed consigned to snail's pace releases from other boutiques that might never get around to them.

-Dial Code Santa Claus, Vinegar Syndrome
Vinegar Syndrome has never really been a label that's struck my fancy but they had several releases this year that really caught my eye and this has to be the bell of the ball. A proper great movie I had truly never heard of that (to me, anyway) is inexplicably given a 4K UHD transfer with no discernible faults, presented almost surely better than it ever has been including in any theatrical release it may have gotten in the US in the first place. There's something so wonderful about taking a title that's barely on home video at all (which they also did for Rad, but I was not part of the exclusive club that got one of those) and upgrading it to a status better than many of the greatest films of all time will probably ever get, and I am so glad that's how this movie is now available.

-Columbia Classics Volume 1, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
This type of set is made for someone like me, I love all these movies (well, I don't *love* Mr. Smith, but it's not like I'm upset at it's inclusion), and Sony didn't miss with any of these transfers and clearly carefully picked a line-up that both made sense and would be a great sampler for the possibilities of the format. I really do think these titles look so much better than they did in the past, which considering most are using the same transfer as the previous release is a considerable achievement that speaks to the strengths this format can provide.

I never make long posts but just wanted to elaborate/nominate the above if they haven't been already. And for covers I want to nominate The Man Who Laughs' slipcover and the Indicator Force 10 from Navarone.

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swo17
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#68 Post by swo17 » Tue Jan 05, 2021 1:17 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Wed Dec 30, 2020 9:17 pm
BEST OTHER ON-DISC EXTRA
The Guardian Interview with Melvin Van Peebles (Watermelon Man)
I'll second this

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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#69 Post by Yakushima » Fri Jan 15, 2021 12:50 am

I'll second The Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Britannia Hospital (Indicator).

For the best on-disc extra: A Creation Myth: appreciation by author and film historian Neil Sinyard (On Indicator's "Eve").

I'll second "Roman Holiday" for the most hideous cover, and also would like to second it for best upgrade.

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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#70 Post by Maltic » Fri Jan 15, 2021 11:08 pm

Rio Grande (Stephen Prince (RIP), MoC/Eureka)
Last edited by Maltic on Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

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swo17
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#71 Post by swo17 » Fri Jan 15, 2021 11:27 pm

I have the latter and will have to give it a listen. Did that end up being his last?

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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#72 Post by Maltic » Fri Jan 15, 2021 11:39 pm

I suppose so. It's the last one listed on his website, in any case.

http://www.stephenprince.org/audio%20commentaries.html

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swo17
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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#73 Post by swo17 » Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:42 am

Maltic wrote:
Fri Jan 15, 2021 11:08 pm
Rio Grande (Stephen Prince (RIP), MoC/Eureka)
OK, I'll easily second this. It's a very informative and well researched track on its own, and Prince's enthusiasm makes it kind of touching given his recent passing

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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#74 Post by alacal2 » Sun Jan 17, 2021 6:37 am

I'll second " Creation Myth" the Sinyard appreciation on Indicator's "Eve" as best extra.

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Re: Man Shall Not Live by Criterion Alone: The Other 2020 Forum Awards

#75 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:02 pm

I'll nominate several supplements on Crash (Arrow) for the following categories:

Best Commentary (Adrian Martin)
Best Book/Booklet
Best Bonus Film ("Nightmare Angel")

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