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Criterion Random Speculation Vol.4

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:39 pm
by Jeff

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:16 am
by Magic Hate Ball
HURR THE FOUNTAIN HURRRRR

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:49 am
by LightBulbFilm
With the acquisition of a bunch of Artisan titles and the bringing forth of Zentropa, what are the chances of Breaking the Waves?

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:44 pm
by Gigi M.
LightBulbFilm wrote:With the acquisition of a bunch of Artisan titles and the bringing forth of Zentropa, what are the chances of Breaking the Waves?
Sorry, but where did you hear that Criterion acquire a bunch of Artisan titles?

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:39 pm
by CSM126
Gigi M. wrote:
LightBulbFilm wrote:With the acquisition of a bunch of Artisan titles and the bringing forth of Zentropa, what are the chances of Breaking the Waves?
Sorry, but where did you hear that Criterion acquire a bunch of Artisan titles?
I take it he's mistaken the acquisition of The Last Emperor (from the Recorded Picture Company) for an acquisition from Artisan (who distributed the shitty old DVD).

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 3:08 am
by LightBulbFilm
CSM126 wrote:
Gigi M. wrote:
LightBulbFilm wrote:With the acquisition of a bunch of Artisan titles and the bringing forth of Zentropa, what are the chances of Breaking the Waves?
Sorry, but where did you hear that Criterion acquire a bunch of Artisan titles?
I take it he's mistaken the acquisition of The Last Emperor (from the Recorded Picture Company) for an acquisition from Artisan (who distributed the shitty old DVD).
Ah, my mistake.

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:34 pm
by paulterranova2000
How about something off the beaten track for criterion, say an african movie titled "Ceddo" by Ousmane Sembene? The only reason why I mention it is because criterion has not released any continental african movies as a part of their film catalogue. Just a thought or suggestion of course.

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:25 pm
by Cinephrenic
As if there is hundreds of African films and Criterion hasn't indulged in it yet. With an exception of Ousmane, is there anything else worthwhile that is African cinema not on DVD?

I want films from Antartica, and it better not be another penguin movie. :wink:

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:45 pm
by Tribe
Cinephrenic wrote:As if there is hundreds of African films and Criterion hasn't indulged in it yet. With an exception of Ousmane, is there anything else worthwhile that is African cinema not on DVD?

I want films from Antartica, and it better not be another penguin movie. :wink:
I'm still waiting for all those aborigine movies someone complained years ago that Criterion wasn't carrying.

Tribe

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:41 pm
by LightBulbFilm
What about: Ouedraogo

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:23 pm
by paulterranova2000
WHAT ABOUT "BAB EL HADID" (1958)? SAW THIS FILM LAST YEAR AND IT WAS REALLY INTERESTING. AS FAR AS THE SARCASM ON PREFERING MOVIES FROM ANTARTICA INSTEAD. AFRICA HAS A LOT MORE TO OFFER THAN JUST PENGUINS (ALTHOUGH THEY ARE GREAT ANIMALS). CHECK OUT THIS OTHER FILM WHICH I THINK WOULD BE A GREAT ADDITION TO THE CRITERION CATALOGUE:

ALI ZAOUA, PRINCE OF THE STREETS (2000) DIRECTED BY NABIL AYOUCH. ALSO, DIDN'T YOU SEE "YESTERDAY" (2004) OR TSOTSI (2005)?

I COULD GO ON AND ON BUT WOULD BE THE POINT IN EXPLAINING THIS TO A CLOSE-MINDED PSUEDO-CINEPHILE?!?! BROADEN YOUR HORIZONS AND INFORM YOURSELF BEFORE RIDICULING AND PASSING SARCASTIC JUDGMENTS.

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:34 pm
by zedz
OK, I agree with you. There's no need to shout.

Lots of great African cinema (don't forget Tunisia and Arabia), and it's definitely one of Criterion's several blind spots, but these arguments have been hashed and rehashed several times before and we haven't seen any action.

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:45 pm
by cdnchris
DUDE, THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR CAPS LOCK. YOU SHOULD LOOK INTO FIXING THAT.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:54 am
by Cinephrenic
I COULD GO ON AND ON BUT WOULD BE THE POINT IN EXPLAINING THIS TO A CLOSE-MINDED PSUEDO-CINEPHILE?!?! BROADEN YOUR HORIZONS AND INFORM YOURSELF
AFRICA HAS A LOT MORE TO OFFER THAN JUST PENGUINS
BEFORE YOU INFORM ME ON AFRICAN CINEMA, LET ME INFORM YOU THAT THERE ARE NO PENGUINS IN AFRICA. GLOBAL WARMING HASN'T ADVANCED THAT FAR YET. #-o

Also, I wasn't saying anything bad about African cinema, nor am I ignorant on diverse cinema, but I was just pointing out a long argument on why Criterion is not releasing any films from that region of the world. Like I said, there just aren't plenty of it...and the few films (most of them you've mentioned) are already on DVD.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:57 am
by paulterranova2000
i know the movies were released by hbo and other aforementioned studios. i was just making an example of the richness in variety and quality of he movies coming out of africa. next time you want to take part in a rebuttal, at least try to understand what you are reading before making asinine/idiotic statements.

by the way, i am sorry for leaving my caps on. i was not bitching or venting. all i was aiming at was sparking an interest in some of the films i lke and/or believe deserve attention. ousmane sembene is one director i believe should get some attention from criterion. but i am not angry about it though. if this subject was rehashed already in a previous forum, again, i'm sorry for repeating stuff already discussed.

before i go, let me throw another suggestion that will probably make the people in this forum balk and that is a collection of the films by michael snow, such as "wavelength" (1967). this would be a similar release to that of the stan brakhage criterion release, which i thought was awesome.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:02 am
by miless
An obscure film (with some really odd elements) that I would love to see released (by anyone, of course) is [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055646/]Ã

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:06 am
by paulterranova2000
again, cinephrenic, my comments are taken out of context. i believe i am well aware that penguins haven't quite made it to africa. i do apologize for making that statement. but it was made in direct response to your sarcastic remark about basically saying that the isolated/desolated frozen tundra that is antartica would have more to offer (besides penguins) than the vastly rich and eclectic/heterogeneous cultures that are existent today in africa.

however, thanks for educating me though on their being no penguins in africa. DOH!

can we get back to discussing movies now?

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:30 am
by paulterranova2000
i found african penguins on wikipedia. this is for cinephrenic;

The African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus), also known as the Blackfooted Penguin (and formerly as the Jackass Penguin), is found on the south-western coast of Africa, living in colonies on 24 islands between Namibia and Algoa Bay, near Port Elizabeth, South Africa, with the largest colony on Dyer Island, near Kleinbaai. Two colonies were established by penguins in the 1980s on the mainland near Cape Town at Boulders Beach near Simon's Town and Stony Point in Betty's Bay. Mainland colonies probably only became possible in recent times due the reduction of predator numbers, although the Betty's Bay colony has been attacked by leopard seals. The only other mainland colony is in Namibia, but it is not known when this was established.

Boulders Beach is a popular tourist attraction, for the beach, swimming and the penguins. The penguins will allow people to approach them as close as a meter (three ft), and so are often photographed.

The closest relatives of the African Penguins are the Humboldt and Magellanic penguins found in southern South America and the Galápagos Penguin found in the Pacific Ocean near the equator. African Penguins like warm weather. how you like them apples!!!

i heard about animas trujanos. this movie does sound rather interesting. i see it was also nominated for an oscar for best foreign language film. cool. of course this movie will never see he light of day unless criterion really reaches for this one. would eclipse make sense if they package it up with other mexican films from the 1960's? long shot either way.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:39 am
by domino harvey
paulterranova2000 wrote: all this penguin talk is putting me in the mood to watch "march of the penguins" again.
:shock:

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:19 am
by Cold Bishop
[quote="miless"][url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055646/]Ã

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:47 am
by Cinephrenic
The penguin guy has talked! I must say, you did good in Burton's film. I'm sticking to Emperor penguins though. They can't take the heat.

I'm interested in Animas Trujana. A Mexican film starring Mifune can't be bad. I mean we've seen Tom Cruise as a samurai in Japan, so why not a Mifune in Mexico. Thanks for bringing it up. Only if we can find a source to view it.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:54 am
by flyonthewall2983
paulterranova2000 wrote:all this penguin talk is putting me in the mood to watch "march of the penguins" again.
Burgess Meredith played a more convincing penguin.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:08 am
by glaswegian tome
Is there some reason that Peter Greenaway has never made it to the collection? I always thought that he would be a given. It doesn't seem like rights would be an issue. Many of his films are unavailable and i would think that if Criterion really wanted to release one of them, they certainly could....

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:22 am
by miless
glaswegian tome wrote:Is there some reason that Peter Greenaway has never made it to the collection? I always thought that he would be a given. It doesn't seem like rights would be an issue. Many of his films are unavailable and i would think that if Criterion really wanted to release one of them, they certainly could....
If one Greenaway film were to be released by Criterion it'd probably be The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover. It was his most popular, and most successful film (although definitely not his best).
I could see them possibly releasing Prospero's Books, The Pillow Book or Drowning By Numbers (as most of the others are far too obscure to be straight up Criterion... if even they're interested). Eclipse would be a godsend regarding his rarer fare (hell, anyone other than Facets would due at this point... and Zeitgeist seems the most likely source for any upcoming Greenaway DVD's)

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 8:50 pm
by glaswegian tome
I don't think they could release Prospero's Books if they wanted to. The rights to it are owned by Miramax, who've been sitting on it forever......