The Non-Criterion Boutique Label Battle Royale: There Can Only Be (202)1

[swo17]

Btw swo, you left out Jazz on a Summer's Day (Kino) from overall releases

And I'm the one who seconded it! Thanks for catching that. Incidentally, I'm curious why you voted for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold as Best Alternative--not that I'm questioning your pick, I just haven't read anything about how it compares to the Criterion

[Maltic]

Well, there's the Martin commentary. Tbh I haven't even got the Criterion BD, but as I understand, the presentations are about the same. There wasn't many of the others I cared hugely about or felt like rewatching (e.g. the Bergmans or Naked). The Bank Dick might've taken top spot since it's a first on BD, although an old master was used. I suppose I could've given The River a nod, now that it included the Rossellini film as well. Naked is the obvious choice, a clear upgrade of a classic, it'll probably win without my votes (if anyone does vote besides Finch and me )

FTR, I don't have UHD

[swo17]

Hey, if you'd like to kill two birds with one stone, you can both vote for your favorite non-Criterion releases last year and test out this new survey interface that I'll be using more for the lists project. For the record, I'll count votes submitted in any fashion, at this link, in this thread, etc., through the end of March

[tenia]

This survey is quite a nice fashion to summarize what can be a complex poll and seemed vastly easier for me to fill than the regular fashion I used since this yearly poll was launched.

[swo17]

Thanks, I like it too

[therewillbeblus]

BEST BONUS FILM

On Memory (World of Tomorrow)

BEST OVERALL RELEASE

1. Twentieth Century (Indicator)
2. Jeremy (Fun City)
3. I Start Counting! (BFI)
4. Francisca (Grasshopper)
5. Sátántangó (Arbelos)
6. Shawscope Vol. 1 (Arrow)
7. Arrebato (Altered Innocence)
8. Hill of Freedom/Woman on the Beach (Grasshopper)
9. Her Smell (Gunpowder & Sky)
10. Columbia Noir #2-4 (Indicator)

BEST UPGRADE

1. Some Came Running (Warner Archive)
2. Good News (Warner Archive)
3. Baby Doll (Warner Archive)
4. The Straight Story (Imprint)
5. Mr. Jealousy (MVD)
6. The Naked Spur (Warner Archive)
7. Night Has a Thousand Eyes (Kino)
8. The Web (Kino)
9. The Window (Warner Archive)
10. Come September (Kino)

BEST BOXSET

Shawscope vol 1

BEST ARBELOS RELEASE

Sátántangó
Damnation

BEST ARROW RELEASE

Shawscope Vol. 1
All the Masumura

BEST EUREKA RELEASE (Don't feel qualified to vote, as I haven't see Duel to the Death or Spooky Kind yet, but if they're anywhere near as good as they look, they would best Viy for me)

BEST IMPRINT RELEASE

The Straight Story

BEST INDICATOR RELEASE

Twentieth Century

BEST KINO RELEASE

Bedtime Story

BEST SECOND RUN RELEASE

Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea

BEST LABEL

I don't know, everyone has either been wildly inconsistent lately, or doesn't release enough films for me to feel comfortable casting a vote their way, or I haven't delved into their catalog enough yet (Eureka). So Arrow I guess.

BEST COMMENTARY

Alex Ross Perry & Elisabeth Moss (Her Smell, Gunpowder & Sky)

BEST COVER



BEST PACKAGING

Her Smell (Gunpowder & Sky)

BEST ALTERNATIVE TO A CRITERION RELEASE

The Bank Dick (Kino) - because... of course? New Blu-ray > Old DVD


In general, I didn't take nearly as much time to explore these releases as I'd have liked to this year. I'm particularly excited to dig into the Eureka Classics line that's been really interesting and grabbed my attention with Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain. I greatly appreciate those who have seen the films for recommending them directly and indirectly in this thread, and please let me know if there are others aside from Duel to the Death or Spooky Kind that I should pick up blind based on my taste for gonzo fun.

[swo17]

Hey, if you'd like to kill two birds with one stone, you can both vote for your favorite non-Criterion releases last year and test out this new survey interface that I'll be using more for the lists project. For the record, I'll count votes submitted in any fashion, at this link, in this thread, etc., through the end of March

Reminder that today is the last day to vote, however you choose to do so (though to be honest, I may not get to tabulating until later in the weekend). There's been a good response to the survey form linked above, with seven ballots having been cast that way so far

[therewillbeblus]

I totally forgot about that option, glad to hear we're having a better response rate than what's listed in this thread! Selfishly, if you recorded your responses in the new survey interface and included some rarer recommendations, I'd love to hear about them here (or in their dedicated threads), as one thing I really appreciate about public list submissions in these or decade or mini-list threads is seeing others' tastes and picking out films that weren't on my radar before to prioritize viewing. I'd hate to see an anonymous list interface blind some opportunities for indirect publicity there, again for entirely selfish reasons.

[swo17]

Well, you kind of get all the obscure recommendations during the first couple months of discussion in this thread. By definition, no one is voting for anything now that wasn't already brought up twice

[therewillbeblus]

I mean, I suppose I get that in theory, but was there really excitable cheerleading around those Eureka titles in this thread? I just had no idea even Irezumi was thought so highly of compared to the other Masumuras, without any praised writeups in its dedicated thread or here aside from a flat nomination and someone monotonously seconding it along with a bunch of other titles. Sometimes such a nomination and a second feels to me like, "eh, okay sure, I liked that enough" (I think you even pitched a similar 'seconding' to my passionate one for Arrebato, an ambiguously framed statement that led me to believe you didn't really care for it that much but would allow me to vote for it as an act of kindness!) So when I saw a couple posters rank those Eureka titles high up on their lists I immediately moved to preorder due to perceived inflated enthusiasm not otherwise expressed (likewise Irezumi). No one is under any obligation to do anything, I'm just asking that if something aside from Shawscope or Satantango or those popular releases topped your list, it would be cool to see that! Not intending to pressure or game or whatever.

On a somewhat related note, are people welcome to post their lists publicly in dedicated threads if they use these new list systems, or will that get too confusing for tabulation? I'm asking because I'd probably prefer to go that route personally in the future, but I also want to publish just how much I love Fun City's Jeremy, for example, in case that placement motivates others to purchase it vs. a mere mention of the title in the rote nomination process.

[swo17]

I'm sure the end results will make clear the love for Irezumi or whatever else might surprise you, but I get where you're coming from. People are welcome to post their lists in both places and it won't mess me up

[therewillbeblus]

I appreciate that, thanks! Not to beat a dead horse, but beyond selfish reasons, I also think exposure on here to boosting the lower-selling films on an individual level assists a long-stated ethos that you probably champion hardest on this forum and that I wholly agree with ethically- which is picking up certain films to help boost sales of certain titles/directors in the hopes that collectively buying them supports those labels releasing more of that kind of film. For example, I think last year you put Zu in your no. 1 slot, a film I never heard of, and I immediately went out and bought it because I was wowed by such a placement, and this revelation that these kinds of films existed at all made me gear my attention towards other Eureka Classics titles that might look similar- a line of Eureka I unjustly ignored in favor of MoC until that moment. If I saw Zu come in at no. 7 or whatever on the final tally, I may not be as motivated to seek it out due to less visibility, but your public posting of your ranked list, and my trust in your tastes, caused me to support that label and also keep an eye on it for more releases of its kind. So yeah, in short, the added bonus of posting ranked lists here vs. the mini and decade lists thread is that it brings subjective awareness to likeminded tastes on a selfish level, but also provides the opportunity to support these labels/releases on a macro business level too. I want to get exposed to all kinds of idiosyncratic stuff that might not rank high on an aggregated groupthink list but rocked your individual worlds!

[swo17]

Well if it helps satisfy your curiosity, here was my ballot (cutting off extra tiebreaker votes and omitting categories where you can discern the pick from my overall top 10):

Best Overall Release
01 Sátántangó (Arbelos)
02 Ken Jacobs Collection (Kino)
03 The Dungeon of Andy Milligan (Severin)
04 Son of the White Mare (Arbelos)
05 Collaborations: The Cinema of Zhang Yimou & Gong Li (Imprint)
06 Shawscope Vol. 1 (Arrow)
07 All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror (Severin)
08 Cinema of Discovery: Julien Duvivier in the 1920s (Flicker Alley)
09 World of Tomorrow: The First Three Episodes (Bitter Films)
10 The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection (Severin)

Best Upgrade
01 The Web (Kino)
02 The Window (Warner Archive)
03 Good News (Warner Archive)
04 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Kino)
05 Deep Red (Arrow)

Best Eureka Release
Viy

Best Indicator Release
Columbia Noir #2-4

Best Second Run Release
Beauty and the Beast

Best Label
Severin

Best Commentary
Irene González-López (Giants & Toys, Arrow)

Best Bonus Film
India: Matri Bhumi (The River, BFI)

Best Collection of Short Films
All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror (Severin)

Best Other On-Disc Extra
Deleted scenes with optional commentary by Joe Dante (Explorers, Shout)

Best Cover
Damnation (Arbelos)

Best Packaging
Shawscope Vol. 1 (Arrow)

Best Late Discovery
The Wolf House (Kimstim, 2020)

Best Alternative to a Criterion Release
Mulholland Dr. (StudioCanal)

[therewillbeblus]

And here I am shaking my head for overlooking the World of Tomorrow set when voting, but what's more shocking is that nobody nominated (or seconded) On Memory for bonus film from that set, myself included

[swo17]

Yep, not sure why I didn't think of that at the time

[Yakushima]

On Memory is brilliant! I thought I have nominated it, but it was my memory playing tricks ](*,)
Swo17, could you please create an additional category, something along the lines of "the best extra we forgot to nominate"?

[swo17]

Tell you what, anyone that wants to change their Best Bonus Film vote to On Memory is welcome to do so right now. You have until I post results to do so, which will probably happen sometime tomorrow. Let me be the first to do so:

Best Bonus Film
On Memory (World of Tomorrow, Bitter Films)

[brundlefly]

Wait, can we revise things on the questionpro survey form? Because I clicked through and entered my user name and my previous answers weren't there. But yes, I'll change my vote from 'Crying Blue Sky' to "On Memory."

[therewillbeblus]

I edited mine, and placed the category up top where it belongs. That way everyone will remember how good On Memory is

[swo17]

Wait, can we revise things on the questionpro survey form? Because I clicked through and entered my user name and my previous answers weren't there. But yes, I'll change my vote from 'Crying Blue Sky' to "On Memory."

Not sure, and I don't want to experiment and risk losing people's votes. (It's not on the form anyway, and I don't think I can change the form mid-vote.) Just post here and I'll catch it

[Yakushima]

Swo17, I am officially changing my vote to "On Memory", and moving "Crying Blue Sky" to the very close second place. Thanks!

[therewillbeblus]

It's pretty amazing and ironic (or fitting to the film?) how many people apparently forgot how much they loved On Memory, enough to forget about its existence entirely!

[brundlefly]

Swo17, could you please create an additional category, something along the lines of "the best extra we forgot to nominate"?

Or maybe an all-encompassing one called "Biggest Regret?" I wish I'd gotten to Oscilloscope's blu for Tom Noonan's What Happened Was... in time to second that nomination. A perfectly weird and aching study in unbridgeable, calcified loneliness too invested and methodical to be slapped with a simple cringe tag. Never saw it on its original run despite selected effusive raves -- people who love it really love it, and I'm not surprised to find out Charlie Kaufman is one of those people -- but it looks great here. There are more left-field visual flourishes than you'd expect from a single-location piece, the color shifts are insidious. So that's my early and probably ineligible entry for next year's Best Late Discovery.

Anyway, like twbb, I appreciate the drum-banging for the more easily overlooked single releases.

Wait, can we revise things on the questionpro survey form? Because I clicked through and entered my user name and my previous answers weren't there. But yes, I'll change my vote from 'Crying Blue Sky' to "On Memory."

Not sure, and I don't want to experiment and risk losing people's votes. (It's not on the form anyway, and I don't think I can change the form mid-vote.) Just post here and I'll catch it

Okay, thanks. Let me know if I accidentally wiped out my previous ballot by logging in again and I'll pretend I remember how my votes fell.

[swo17]

brundlefly, all I show for you is one ballot submitted yesterday evening.

You're welcome to nominate What Happened Was... for Best Late Discovery next year

[brundlefly]

Thanks!