Criterion Newsletter Discussion

[criterionmaster]

[criterionmaster]

Send in your haikus!!!!

[criterionmaster]

We will now use this thread to discuss the newsletters that come out. Here is the newest one:




FOR FIFTY YEARS, THE PREEMINENT U.S. DISTRIBUTOR OF FOREIGN AND CLASSIC FILMS THAT HAVE COLLECTIVELY SHAPED THE ART OF CONTEMPORARY CINEMA



DEAR CRITERION VIEWERS.

Janus Films’ extensive library of classics has always been an important part of the Criterion Collection. Now, we are pleased to announce and celebrate Janus’s fiftieth anniversary—and the festivities have already begun. From an upcoming DVD box set to cable-TV series and theatrical road shows, celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of the legendary distributor will be everywhere this fall.

On September 30, the forty-fourth annual New York Film Festival, run by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, kicks off with a monthlong sidebar featuring all-new 35mm prints of classic Janus titles. This series, titled 50 Years of Janus Films, will feature a wide variety of great movies, from the iconic—The Seventh Seal and La strada—to the less well-known, many of which haven’t been seen in years and are unavailable on DVD, including Carlos Saura’s Cria cuervos and Mario Monicelli’s The Organizer. It is rediscoveries like these that continue to make Janus Films fresh and exciting today.

You can read more about the films in this series here, but even if you don’t live in New York, you can still see these movies on the big screen: 50 Years of Janus Films will subsequently tour to Boston; San Francisco; Berkeley and San Rafael, California; Chicago; Pleasantville, New York; Seattle; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Toronto; and other cities in the United States and Canada in the coming year.

And our friends at Turner Classic Movies are currently presenting a grand selection of Janus films throughout the month of September, from classic Akira Kurosawa to “hidden gems” like Juan Antonio Bardem’s Death of a Cyclist. And on the heels of that series, the Independent Film Channel will celebrate Janus with programming from October through December.

To top it all off, in October, Janus releases its deluxe collectors’ box set Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films. Do you remember the first time you had your eyes opened to the wonders of great movies—perhaps in college or at your local cinematheque? Essential Art House is that experience and more, providing an extraordinary collection of undisputed masterpieces that have changed the way people make and watch movies. The package features fifty classic films on DVD and a lavishly illustrated hardcover book that tells the story of Janus Films through an essay by film historian Peter Cowie, a short tribute from Martin Scorsese, and extensive notes on all fifty films, plus cast and credit listings and U.S. premiere information. Ingmar Bergman, Kurosawa, François Truffaut, Jacques Tati, Jean Renoir, Michelangelo Antonioni, David Lean, Alfred Hitchcock—the whole family’s here.

This gift set is certainly the most cost-effective way to discover, or rediscover, and own the films that have shaped the history of cinema over the past seven decades (with each film averaging out to about thirteen dollars). So, if you like the idea of owning your own library of the classics, to share with friends and family, this set offers a unique opportunity to take in the great breadth of cinema history—at an affordable price.

And now is the best time to get your copy: There’s currently a special, early fall preorder offer on Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films, which includes a significant discount off the retail price, complimentary T-shirts or hats, and free shipping. Plus you’ll be entered into a raffle for twenty-five free Criterion DVDs! Go to janusfilms.com for more information!

Happy viewing . . ..

[criterionmaster]

?

[criterionmaster]

[criterionmaster]

I believe the quote is referring to the film The Naked City, now as for the pig???

[ie]

When I think of pigs, I think of one hundred disc box sets.

[criterionmaster]

That's funny, I think of ptahole.

[criterionmaster]

[criterionmaster]

Oh, goodie! I hear that this means that 5 DVD's might be re-released, including The Seventh Seal.

[criterionmaster]

Two new movies announced here.

[ie]

You know, they're right in that newsletter. The Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films epic box set is like the volumes of the world's greatest world literature that are published from time to time. Unfortunately, the Essential Art House does not feature the wealth of extras or packaging that owning each DVD individually would have.

Also, literature volumes like that are purely for show. You're not going to bring your literature volume copy of the Divine Comedy on the road when you can bring your worn-out copy. On the DVD end, if you have the Essential Art House copy of the Seven Samurai and the three-disc copy, you're probably going to be more likely to bring out the three-discer, unless you want to watch the whole thing on one disc.


I might have been a bit late there, but I thought there should be some comment on the New York Times article, which I thought was really well done.

[criterionmaster]

If they release that film I would be so excited, I would also have to buy it right away, partly because it looks fantastic, but also because of how much you love the film.

EDIT:

[captainofbeef]

I love Criterion's little hint illustrations.

[ie]

Oh fuck, 12 Monkeys?

[criterionmaster]

No, not 12 Monkeys, that would be too easy. It says "Marker" the director of La Jatee (hence the monkeys), then it talks about the sun which would be a reference to Sans Soleil. I wouldn't mind 12 Monkeys getting a release but the one out is perfect, and it is much cooler to get a release of Sans.

[ie]

Ah, true. Except for the 12 Monkeys part.

I didn't even see the "Marker" part. Too tired.


edit: This release absolutely needs La Jetee packaged in. Unless there's a hidden release somewhere, we have not seen a proper Region 1 release of La Jetee, and this would be the perfect opportunity. If it isn't, then even if the DVD is impressive, it still might not make it as a contender for release of the year.

[criterionmaster]

This is what me and misterbalco were talking about in the other thread:



Berlin Alexanderplatz
6 discs, 14 episodes
910 minutes
Hans-Dieter Hartl's on-set documentary from 1980 (45 minutes)
Restoration documentary (35 minutes)
Photo gallery from the set
Recaps that were originally shown before episodes 2-13 (they're omitted in the main feature)

[criterionmaster]

hells yes, wilder!

[criterionmaster]

DVDBEAVER:

"Criterion's latest newsletter alludes to an upcoming release of Billy Wilder's Film Noir (debatable) classic 'Ace in the Hole' with Kirk Douglas as ex-New York reporter Charles 'Chuck' Tatum."

[criterionmaster]

does anyone have any clue what this could mean?



it is a dodo.

[wkw]

criterionmaster said:

does anyone have any clue what this could mean?



it is a dodo.

Georg Wilhelm Pabst's The Threepenny Opera
www.imdb.com/title/tt0021818/

[criterionmaster]

wkw said:

criterionmaster said:

does anyone have any clue what this could mean?



it is a dodo.

Georg Wilhelm Pabst's The Threepenny Opera
www.imdb.com/title/tt0021818/

Hmm, a Pabst musical? Interesting, but not super exciting. We will see though.

[criterionmaster]

Dear Criterion viewers,

If you?ve found yourself saying ?I?ve seen it all before? about movies lately, you may be on to something. Several recently released films have taken as their subjects real-life topics that have already been treated in popular Criterion titles. For instance, years before Lasse Hallstr?span> uncovered The Hoax, which dramatizes the elaborate ruse committed by Clifford Irving?in the early seventies, Irving published a best-selling ?authorized autobiography? of the reclusive Howard Hughes that turned out to be entirely fabricated?Orson Welles featured the huckster writer himself in his fantastic free-form documentary on magic and forgery, F for Fake.

Meanwhile, the true tale of cross-country serial killers Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez had already been made into the 1970 cult classic The Honeymoon Killers, directed by Leonard Kastle, before Todd Robinson, inspired by his grandfather, a detective who worked on the Beck-Fernandez case, remade it as the recent Lonely Hearts, with Jared Leto and Salma Hayek replacing Tony Lo Bianco and Shirley Stoler in the lead roles. And Forest Whitaker?s Academy Award?winning performance as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland may have been masterful, but nothing?s more chilling than the real thing: Amin himself in Barbet Schroeder?s acclaimed 1974 documentary General Idi Amin Dada, a nuanced, intimate portrait of a dictator at the height of his terrible powers.

Now, as part of a promotion with DVD Planet, if you purchase all three of these Criterion titles?F for Fake, The Honeymoon Killers, and General Idi Amin Dada?you?ll also receive another original: your very own Criterion cap, absolutely free. This offer is only for a limited time. Visit DVD Planet for ordering information.

Happy viewing!

The Criterion Collection

End of newsletter.

As you can see, Criterion is giving away free hats!! But only for those lucky people with those three Criterions. I would gladly take this offer up if I had at least two of these, then I could just buy the other, but since I have none, I cannot do this. I do encourage all of you to do it, I mean, it is free stuff, for something you could already have.

[criterionmaster]

hmm? It can't be a Godard, could it?

Also, "Starting today, our friends at Amazon.com will begin a special promotion: 35% off on selected Criterion DVDs. Thirty titles, from Seven Samurai to Kicking and Screaming and so much in between, will be on sale until June 4. Click here to see all the Criterion films included in this promotion. Don't miss this opportunity to build your Criterion library. "

!!!!

[criterionmaster]

oh yeah, and as of now, there is still no spine #400!? I can't wait to see what it is, it has to be Berlin!

[criterionmaster]

hmm...



not sure.

[captainofbeef]

I thought of Pan's Labyrinth the minute I saw the fairies, but thats impossible...

[criterionmaster]

i think those are locusts. pan's labyrinth would be too good.

[eatawiiner]

Looks like we'll be getting Days of Heaven. Oh Joy!