Do you think they would debut the Eclipse line with 1 film?I think Eclipse is a one-release-a-month kinda thing (wasn't it stated that there would only be twelve Eclipse releases a year?), so five discs in spring would be out of the question, I think.
Those two titles are some of Woo's best work, and were visually fantastic films. If their reputations have suffered in recent years, it's only because a) John Woo inspired a legion of slavish hacks who imitated him relentlessly, and b) John Woo himself turned into a self-imitating hack, especially after he came to the States. But Hard Boiled is great.skuhn8 wrote:And to be honest I don't see the Woo's happening even if they could get the rights back. I think they've grown out of that (ow...contentious).
Twelve a year doesn't automatically equate to one a month. They could just as easily come in batches every few months. Which would still make 5 at once a bit unlikely, but just because they might be doing five films by the same director doesn't mean that they intend to release them all at once either.CSM126 wrote:I think Eclipse is a one-release-a-month kinda thing (wasn't it stated that there would only be twelve Eclipse releases a year?), so five discs in spring would be out of the question, I think.
skuhn8 wrote:And to be honest I don't see the Woo's happening even if they could get the rights back. I think they've grown out of that (ow...contentious).
Criterion "growing out" of something? That makes no sense. Those two films from Woo are two of the most important films to ever come out of the country of Hong Kong, have inspired countless filmmakers, and are both masterpieces of the action-genre. Was not part of Criterion's reasoning for saying Salo will be re-released due to its absurd price-tag? Last I checked both of those Woo films were fetching upwards of $150 on eBay, so one would think Criterion would be willing to pursue such a re-release. No company has made any effort to re-release those films in the States nor have I heard anyone trying, and I'd much rather Criterion do the job well and replace my craptastic Winstar versions.jbeall wrote:That said, I agree that they'll never be re-released, nor should they be. There are plenty of folks who can and will be happy to put these films out, and you're right, criterion has kinda grown out of this.
Weinstein's have both the Killer and Hard Boiled as part of their Dragon Dynasty label, so it's pretty unlikely that Criterion will be releasing them againMusashi219 wrote:Alot being said after this newsletter and I have to offer my take.
Criterion "growing out" of something? That makes no sense. Those two films from Woo are two of the most important films to ever come out of the country of Hong Kong, have inspired countless filmmakers, and are both masterpieces of the action-genre. Was not part of Criterion's reasoning for saying Salo will be re-released due to its absurd price-tag? Last I checked both of those Woo films were fetching upwards of $150 on eBay, so one would think Criterion would be willing to pursue such a re-release. No company has made any effort to re-release those films in the States nor have I heard anyone trying, and I'd much rather Criterion do the job well and replace my craptastic Winstar versions.
The answer is here.SncDthMnky wrote:I completely believe it to be the early bergman's as five separate releases for eclipse, but wasn't spine 1 criterion's 20th release or something? is there a way we can find out which spines were actually released to public before spine 11? cause that could truly reinforce or kill that speculation, if not even 5 of the films before spine 11 that haven't been reissued were released before 7th seal.
This is the point I was going to make. If we rule out the films that have already been re-released (Seven Samurai, Amarcord, 400 Blow and Beauty and the Beast), the one which is not in fact a pre-Seal release (Grand Illusion), the one which is fine as it is and not in need of an upgrade (Night to Remember), and the two for which rights are unlikely to be available (the Woos), this only leaves two titles for which an upgrade is likely or necessary. There has been some evidence that both of these titles are in Criterion's sights (but didn't the recent allusion to Walkabout suggest that a rerelease was not imminent?), but there's far more evidence that early Bergman is approaching the out-tray. The Eclipse guess seems plausible - start the line off with a bang: minor films from a major name, for which supporting materials are likely to be scarce. Five at once still sounds like a box set, or collector's set, to me, so this could be Criterion's best bargain to date.SncDthMnky wrote:I completely believe it to be the early bergman's as five separate releases for eclipse, but wasn't spine 1 criterion's 20th release or something? is there a way we can find out which spines were actually released to public before spine 11? cause that could truly reinforce or kill that speculation, if not even 5 of the films before spine 11 that haven't been reissued were released before 7th seal.
Code: Select all
but I want my Forgotten Ancestors, dammit.
1998 Mar
4 Amarcord
5 The 400 Blows
Apr
8 The Killer
May
3 The Lady Vanishes
7 A Night To Remember
10 Walkabout
Jun
6 Beaty and the Beast
9 Hard Boiled
Jul
12 This is Spinal Tap
13 The Silence of the Lambs
14 Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
15 Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple
16 Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island
Aug
2 Seven Samurai
17 Salò
18 The Naked Kiss
19 Shock Corridor
Sep
22 Summertime
Oct
20 Sid & Nancy
21 Dead Ringers
23 Robocop
24 High and Low
25 Alphaville
29 Picnic at Hanging Rock
30 M
Dec
26 The Long Good Friday
27 Flesh for Frankenstein
28 Blood for Dracula
1999
Jan
31 Great Expectations
32 Oliver Twist
33 Nanook of the North
Feb
11 The Seventh Seal
[/quote]
Personally however, I think the idea about new Bergman releases is the most plausible. An eclipse is a shadow and the mentioning of spring fits in with the promise of a new label being launched in the spring of 2007. Whether it will be a boxset or five separate releases time will tell.
An eclipse set wouldn't neccesairly be expected/need to have supplements.Tribe wrote:If Eclipse is a lower-tier line price-wise with little to no supplements, it wouldn't make a lot of sense for them to be releasing box sets.
Tribe