Criterion Coming Soon and Discussion Redux

^ Yeah, I thought we were about due for it by now. Oh well. I can wait. I can just sit and stare at my poster if I need to:

@ Captain

They’ve already done two covers for it:

. . . so maybe they couldn’t justify doing a third just because they’re doing BD.

Great line up for August! Glad to see Weekend in the mix. Yeah, I know it is not the Godard version. But we will get it soon enough.

OMG Royal Tennenbaums is just soooo terrible. Although I have to admit it is really fun to hate.

Wow, this is beyond disappointing.

Looks like Quadrophenia is coming out today! :)

This Wes Anderson/Whit Stillman obsession they’ve got at Criterion just mystifies me — I just don’t get it. At all. I mean, they must make money on them, right?

Isn’t that second Criterion cover that Matt posted just the inside cover of the original? I could’ve sworn that cover looks familiar to me.

@ Roscoe -

Yeah, the hipster faction at Criterion has been flexing it’s muscle lately. Add Harold and Maude to the mix and you got yourself a Silverlake Film Festival in the comfort of your own home.

Yeah, both those covers are from one release, the first one is the outer cover.

Hmm, yeah, that’s what I suspected.

this is the BESTEST slate in a long time, despite getting the wrong WEEKEND! DOH!

Love that they’re releasing the Mailer stuff…I’m always recommending the insane WILD 90.

@Santino—

I don’t have a problem with HAROLD AND MAUDE, which seems to me to be the movie that actually does what Anderson thinks he’s doing. The combination of whimsy and pain is one that Ashby brings off far better than the unspeakable Anderson.

Right, the top one is the slip cover art, the bottom the actual case art (by Anderson’s brother, I think) . . . so if they just forego the slip cover with the new packaging, it has a “new”, different look on the shelf (and I doubt they’re going to bump his brother’s work just to freshen up the cover.

@ Roscoe -

I don’t have a problem with Harold and Maude either. I’m just pointing out that it’s a hipster’s wet dream and one of the pioneers of modern day hipster cinema.

@Santino

Cool. H&M definitely has ups and downs, but I’ll take it over RUSHMORE or ROYAL TENENBAUMS any day.

Nobody is better than Ruth Gordon.

Not Bill Murray.

Not Gene Hackman.

Not even Jason Schwartzman.

Well, I’m happy about Rosetta and La Promesse. Also, Lonesome has been on my radar for a while, so that’ll be nice to see.

Yes, finally, we get Weekend!

Wait a minute…

GODDAMMIT

Yeah, the “new” cover for Royal Tenenbaums was the old case cover. Something about them just removing the old slip cover to present the new BD with the old case art rubs me the wrong way. Whatever, it really doesn’t matter. The artwork they will be using is fine, and it actually fits in well with the other Wes Anderson release artwork (especially if they were all done by Wes’ brother), so I guess I understand.

What’s with all the Wes Anderson hate? He has had a relationship with Criterion for (I’m guessing) 10 years now, as I believe that Tenenbaums was his first CC release, and everything else he’s done except Mr Fox has been released on Criterion, so it was inevitable that TRT would get a BD eventually. Plus, since his films are fairly well known, I’m sure that Anderson has provided a pretty good amount of revenue for Criterion, allowing them to release more obscure things. Of course I personally really like Mr Anderson :)

“Yes, finally, we get Weekend!

Wait a minute…

GODDAMMIT"

This^.

I was incredibly excited for a second. Still, I was going to buy the AE Rosetta, but now a friggin’ criterion Blu! And I like Mailer because everybody hated him, and made him into their villain. But no Tough Guys Don’t Dance?!

Try this on for size: Moonrise Kingdom is hitting Cannes and will be released in American theaters soon. So, logic says, “Release The Royal Tenenbaums on BD!”

I love Wes Anderson, so I have no real problem with Criterion putting his movies out, but I fail to understand how anyone here could fail to understand why they would be doing it.

I wonder if Focus is going to allow Criterion to release Moonrise Kingdom. My feeling is that Universal can use all the revenue they can get.

Negativity sucks.

1) Blu-Ray updates of movies like The Royal Tenenbaums makes Criterion money so they can release other less financially viable movies. Stop acting like the wacky C is some holy right that isn’t deserved by the films you dislike.

2) You all ask for new and interesting stuff and yet completely ignore the fact that two three movie sets were announced this month: Lonesome and the two other movies on there, and the Norman Mailer set. How do these releases not reflect exactly what you’re asking for?

3) They announced two previously unreleased Dardenne Brother movies! Come on!

They didn’t announce the specific stuff that I was hoping for, but to call this month boring or crappy in anyway is obnoxious.

Not unreleased, Drew, just out of print.

Threads hatin’ on Wes Anderson and luvin’ on Bergman—reminds me of when I first came to town . . . deja vu all over again.

*unavailable

How come there are never trailers for the films anymore? An incentive to buy them for the extras?

@DREW, thank you!

August is a definite step up from July. Weekend is a fantastic movie and we’re eventually getting Godard’s Weed End too so whining seems pointless. Janus was still circulating that new weekend print here just in March.

I just now looked closer at the Lonesome set, and just realized it has two other Fejos films on it! I will definetly be buying this set now, to see those films as well as watch Lonesome again, because I watched it on YouTube a while back, and the quality was terrible, the uploader had put an awful score over it, and the talking scenes weren’t included. But despite all of that, it’s one of the best silent films I think I’ve ever seen. I haven’t been this excited over a Criterion release in forever!

“don’t have a problem with Harold and Maude either. I’m just pointing out that it’s a hipster’s wet dream and one of the pioneers of modern day hipster cinema.”

How did you reach that conclusion exactly?