Criterion Random Speculation Vol.4

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aox · #976 Post by **aox** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:20 pm

There's no chance that Antonioni's "Blow-Up" would ever get a Criterion treatment, right? It's owned by Warner Brothers.

ellipsis7 · #977 Post by **ellipsis7** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:51 pm

re. BLOW-UP...

To give it it's due, Warner have released it in R1US & R2UK, the latter being the better transfer (see Beaver comparison) both including very decent Peter Brunette commentary & isolated music track plus 3 language dubbs...

Just looking at Maryon Park, Charlton, London (where the crucial scenes were shot) on Google Maps satellite image - fascinating...

kaujot · #978 Post by **kaujot** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:06 pm

aox wrote:There's no chance that Antonioni's "Blow-Up" would ever get a Criterion treatment, right? It's owned by Warner Brothers.

Right. Though I thought I heard somewhere that WB would be re-releasing it sometime in the near future.

HerrSchreck · #979 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:33 pm

DrunkenGaijin wrote:Seeing Wenders in the collection would be incredible. There is a surprising lack of his films readily available, or maybe I'm blind...

Who is this avatar? Is this a very young Fassbinder? I used to actually (dont laugh) think that was the man behind poster Jean Luc Garbo.

Color me oblivious.

#980 Post by **zedz** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:01 pm

HerrSchreck wrote:Who is this avatar? Is this a very young Fassbinder?

Yep.

I used to actually (dont laugh) think that was the man behind poster Jean Luc Garbo.

!! Not laughing, but I'm afraid I've got to break some bad news to you regarding skuhn8. . .

Wittsdream · #981 Post by **Wittsdream** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:20 am

Gigi M. wrote:El Sur is a better a film than Beehive. An absolute masterpiece of a film.

Absolutely concur with this assessment of El Sur. Erice's mise-en-scene is breathtaking. Had the chance to watch it again tonight (w/English subs), and came away from this viewing with the sense that I've seen one of the most organic displays of storytelling ever committed to film.

Not sure if there's ever been a filmmaker that so eloquently renders the experience of childhood, and the forebodement of the adult world quite like Erice (Tarkovsky is certainly a contender and Loach is perhaps more politically committed).

HerrSchreck · #982 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:57 am

zedz wrote:
HerrSchreck wrote:Who is this avatar? Is this a very young Fassbinder?
Yep.
I used to actually (dont laugh) think that was the man behind poster Jean Luc Garbo.
!! Not laughing, but I'm afraid I've got to break some bad news to you regarding skuhn8. . .

Skuhn8 is Lilian Gish, and I will not entertain any other theories or ideas.

His previous avatar of the DVDVerdict dude was the best avatar on the forum.. period. Ever.

davebert · #983 Post by **davebert** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 12:05 pm

Not sure where to post this, but I have it from an inside source that Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire are stone cold confirmed for Criterions, which would explain why the Wings of Desire disc went OOP a short while ago. Dunno if anyone already posted this, but there's your Wenders.

What A Disgrace · Sat Jul 12, 2008 1:27 pm

I hope Criterion manages to secure this film as a special feature for Wings of Desire. Sort of seems like a no brainer.

I also hope Criterion can secure more than these two Wenders films. I'm not a huge fan of his work, but for Pete's sake, what do I have to do to see Kings of the Road? I was about sold on the upcoming R2, when this happened, and now I'm convinced there may be a Criterion release somewhere down the road.

sidehacker · #985 Post by **sidehacker** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:00 pm

I thought Anchor Bay had the rights to Kings of the Road but they were a bit busy preparing their 15th release of The Evil Dead.

Cronenfly · #986 Post by **Cronenfly** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:01 pm

davebert wrote:Not sure where to post this, but I have it from an inside source that Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire are stone cold confirmed for Criterions, which would explain why the Wings of Desire disc went OOP a short while ago. Dunno if anyone already posted this, but there's your Wenders.

Color me dead wrong.

justeleblanc · #987 Post by **justeleblanc** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:56 pm

More Peter Falk in the collection!

#988 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 4:21 pm

davebert wrote:Not sure where to post this, but I have it from an inside source that Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire are stone cold confirmed for Criterions, which would explain why the Wings of Desire disc went OOP a short while ago. Dunno if anyone already posted this, but there's your Wenders.

I'm surprised to see Criterion tackling those since they were already available with commentary tracks, deleted scenes, etc. Does Wenders hold the copyright to his films like his buddy Jarmusch does? It certainly seems that way since his production company is generally the only credited copyright holder. I wonder if he produces and owns his own supplements as well. If that's the case, the commentary tracks and other features from the studio-produced versions of Wings and Paris could be ported to the Criterions. The Big C is going to really have to knock my socks off with these packages if they want to convince me that it's worth paying three times what I did for the original releases to upgrade them.

colinr0380 · #989 Post by **colinr0380** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 4:24 pm

What about a big boxset including both Wings of Desire and Faraway, So Close? That would satisfy the requests for both more Wenders and extra Peter Falk!

Not to mention finally introoducing Mikhail Gorbachev into the Criterion Collection (maybe they could get him to do an introduction to the film?)

EDIT: Forget it, looks like Faraway is held by Sony

justeleblanc · #990 Post by **justeleblanc** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:04 pm

colinr0380 wrote:What about a big boxset including both Wings of Desire and Faraway, So Close? That would satisfy the requests for both more Wenders and extra Peter Falk!

Not to mention finally introoducing Mikhail Gorbachev into the Criterion Collection (maybe they could get him to do an introduction to the film?)

EDIT: Forget it, looks like Faraway is held by Sony

I still dont understand the relationship between MGM and Sony. Aren't they now the same company?

HerrSchreck · #991 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:31 pm

Isn't MGM distrib by Fox?

Fucking confusing, shit changes every week it seems...

What A Disgrace · Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:37 pm

This is how I came to understand it. I could be quite wrong.

- Sony bought MGM, but MGM still has some authority over its affairs.
- MGM was not happy with Sony's distribution and technical treatment of their back catalogue.
- So MGM tried letting Fox have a try at it, and Fox seem to be more up to it.

miless · #993 Post by **miless** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:47 pm

What A Disgrace wrote:Sony bought MGM, but MGM still has some authority over its affairs.

Sony was just hired to put out MGM's back catalog of titles, until the stock-holders decided they didn't like what Sony was doing and they (MGM) signed a new distribution deal with Fox.

HerrSchreck · #994 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:05 pm

The whole thing is nerve wracking, as there's some great UA stuff in there, not to mention the genuine mgm titles, and of course well-beloved Midnite Movies too. I'm always afraid the next piece of catalog whoredom is going to come down with "Due to low sales and margins, the Midnite Movies line will be discontinued. We thank our loyal consumers for their support over the years, and we hope to have better news for you in the future. Our apologies-- and ponds of tears-- but..."

Thankfully Fox have stepped up. They've actually been getting down righteously... Witchfinder General, Man of the West, not to mention the Fox line on its own, Big Trail, Ford @ Fox, coming Borzaage... they've been diddling up quite a nice mambo lately. They keep it up they're going to zap by WB, which is seriously pissing me off w the silents-- lies lies lies.

MGM is in good hands now, it seems. At least for the time being.

#995 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:31 pm

justeleblanc wrote:I still dont understand the relationship between MGM and Sony. Aren't they now the same company?

From Jameson281, our own inside man at MGM:

MGM is owned by a consortium made up of Sony, Comcast and various companies that put up financing to buy it. When MGM was unhappy with Sony's distribution of its product, it dumped them as distributor and talked to various companies to take over that work. Fox made the best offer. So they are distributor only; they "own" no part of MGM.

justeleblanc · #996 Post by **justeleblanc** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:44 pm

Does that make both of these Wenders titles Fox titles, and thus possibilities for an Eclipse set?

CSM126 · #997 Post by **CSM126** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:56 pm

justeleblanc wrote:Does that make both of these Wenders titles Fox titles, and thus possibilities for an Eclipse set?

Why would Criterion (or anyone else) do something as dumb as snatch up the rights to two movies that used to be available in special editions just to downgrade them to barebones editions?

#998 Post by **Jeff** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:58 pm

justeleblanc wrote:Does that make both of these Wenders titles Fox titles, and thus possibilities for an Eclipse set?

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that Fox can't license MGM product, since they are a third-party distributor themselves. I'm betting that MGM and Fox's distribution rights to the two Wenders titles have just expired and reverted back to his own production company. Maybe Jameson can step in and set us straight.

fdm · #999 Post by **fdm** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 7:28 pm

A couple of other Wenders titles that were supposed to be put out by Anchor Bay eons ago, that didn't subsequently make it into their box either (far as I know), were The Goalie's Fear Of The Penalty [1971] and State Of Things [1982]. Perhaps these could make it into a Criterion/Eclipse box of some sort.

(They were also going to put out Subeila's Man Facing Southeast in early 2003, supposedly).

What A Disgrace · Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:52 pm

CSM126 wrote:
justeleblanc wrote:Does that make both of these Wenders titles Fox titles, and thus possibilities for an Eclipse set?
Why would Criterion (or anyone else) do something as dumb as snatch up the rights to two movies that used to be available in special editions just to downgrade them to barebones editions?

Amen.

Eclipse is going to our brains, man.

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Criterion Random Speculation Vol.4