Criterion was handed a non-anamorphic transfer from Buena Vista; they had no say over whether or not they could issue an anamorphic DVD.

That having been said, Criterion has taken a lot of flack over their early lack of anamorphic transfers. Do remember that, back in the early days of DVD, almost every studio with the exception of Warners, New Line, Dreamworks and Columbia was releasing non-anamorphic discs. Fox, Paramount, Disney were the biggest violators.

Also keep in mind that Criterion's Armageddon is over four years old, and they have been pretty consistent with releasing anamorphic transfers since their release of Insomnia in 1999.

And it is a lovely transfer, make no mistake. Along with Fox's The Abyss, it's pretty much one of the best non-anamorphic video presentations out there.

Armageddon is okay but I like Tia Leone and Morgan Freeman more in Deep Impact, besides it has Eligah Wood (Lord of the Rings) in it.


P.S. I have one Criterion "Hopscotch" for the money I should have got a minimum of stereo sound not, Criterion cheap monaural.

It is a great presentation, just not anamorphic. I LOVED the movie, and the Criterion is definitly worth it. It has a couple extra scenes added in, nothing to make it worth buying just for that, but the commentaries are great. The DD track is outstanding, and the extras on the other disk are great. I would highly recommend this title to anyone. Along with that, I would recommend the Rock Criterion.

Get it, if only for comic impresario Ben Affleck on the commentary...

The venom comes from those (including me) that believes that "stupidly entertaining" is an oxymoron. I can't be entertained by Armageddon because for me it is stupid.

I'm not trying to make this a "love/hate Armageddon" thread, as was mentioned, just trying to honestly explain why some people don't like it.

You have a different opinion, and should get the best version of the film. If non-anamorphic is not a huge problem for you, then you should listen to what everyone else is saying and get the Criterion.

Great, all the anti-Bay lines have been used already...

I also like this movie for what it is, brainless action. I was one of the lucky ones who was able to get this from Columbia House, but I wouldn't have had a problem getting it for around $25 or so. The gag reel is one of my favorite dvd extras ever, "Sorry Mr. Willis, Kevin Costner became available..."

Armageddon and The Rock are so damn fun to watch, in a brain-dead coma type of way...

You can literally shut down 95% of your brain and still have a blast. I'm kind of glad they put these out as Criterions, because otherwise I'd most likely not own them.

This is easily my favorite "popcorn" action flick - the extras on the Criterion set are just the icing on the cake.

That's what really sold me on this one and that commentary track is hilarious. If you like the movie and you're into extra features then it's certainly worth it. If you don't like the movie or extras aren't really your thing, I wouldn't spend the extra $$$.

Was Hopscotch originally released in stereo? I have no clue myself, jus' askin'.

while the DVD has great extras, my DTS laserdisc is the cat's meow (I've always wanted to add this to a sentence) - for burning up your home theater's receiver and speakers. The meteor shower in Manhattan is much more intense with significently more treble that is noticeably absent from the Dolby Digital soundtrack of the DVD. When the Chrysler Building crashes down on the sidewalk, the center, right and right surround channels emit a soundeffect that is brutal and ear-cracking. It literally sounds like someone throw a huge plate of glass against the side wall.

The biggest problem with the Criterion version of ARMAGEDDON is that it contains the film ARMAGEDDON. That's reason enough to skip this disc in my book.

I really appreciate everyones feedback. I decided to plunk down $25.99 for the Armageddon Criterion. Ill let you guys know what i think of the movie.

No, this is just danol being danol. He wants everything colorized and fake-stereo processed.

I'd be curious to know if anyone here has seen the movie "Meteor" and what they think of that. Both are just the typical run of the mill 'disaster' flicks. "Armageddon" the more OTT of the two. While one could dismiss these as flawed 'popcorn' films but the fact of the matter is that so much of film's anatagonism is vague and more directed toward director Michael Bay than the films content. My complaints dwell on the fact that this film is ridicoulously pro-American and every other country is portrayed incompetent, it doesn't help that at the end of the film Bay portrays the world's populace in typical 'cliched' stereotypes. Secondly, the film's editing is very probalmatic in that many of the film's actions scenes, again, near the end when all the chaos is erupting on the impending destruction of the asteroid, looks like it was cut at the 11th hour and over one too many coffees.

My complaints about the movie are many, and are not just specific to Michael Bay. Really, the only thing this movie is good for is having an MST3K-type party where you and all your friends sit around and heckle its idicoy.

In Michael Bay's world, it's easier to train a group of illiterate oil-workers to fly the space shuttle than it would be to train a team of highly-skilled astronauts to drill a hole!

I've got to hand it to you, Josh. I love Armageddon, both as a fun movie to watch and as a fun movie to tear apart, and I thought I'd figured out all of it's flaws. It turns out I missed the most obvious one!

But the group of "illiterate oil workers" was never trained to fly the space shuttle. If I remember correctly, they were just trained to use the drilling equipment and how to adapt to the space environment.

When Michael Bay was making fun, if brainless, action flicks, he came up with fun, fun films like Bad Boys, The Rock, and Armageddon. Sure, they aren't exactly the deepest, most thoughtful films in the world, but where they lack in brainpower they make up for it with sheer kineticism. Let's be frank here: Armageddon revels in its idiocy. I mean, the opening CGI sequence which is supposedly 65 million years ago has the continents in their modern positions! Armageddon isn't trying to portray anything realistically; that's not its intent. If it's realism you're after, go watch a space shuttle launch in Florida. The whole point of Armageddon is sheer mindless entertainment, and certainly that aspect of it succeeds brilliantly.

Go back and watch Chapter 15 again on the Criterion DVD. (Fun fact: the singing of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" was ad-libbed by the actors.) If we cheerfully neglect the factual errors in the President's speech ("Armageddon" means "the mountain of Megiddo" and not "the end of all things") and ignore the fact that people wouldn't go to the Taj Mahal to pray (it's a tomb, not a religious site), then what you see is a remarkable montage of images that successfully captures the emotions of an emsemble cast in a few minutes. Nice shots include the shepherd listening to his radio in Normandy France, the little kid standing on the deserted streets of NYC looking up and shielding his eyes from the sun's glare, the brief shot of Billy Bob Thornton leaning his head against the Vietnam memorial, and of course the sequence where the kid goes "Look, that salesman's on TV!" and the mom says "That's not a salesman, that's your daddy." That chapter of the film alone is a remarkable film school in about 3 minutes.

I happen to like Armageddon very much, and the Criterion Collection edition DVD occupies a shelf space next to the Criterions of Seven Samurai, The Last Temptation of Christ, Chasing Amy, Life of Brian, and The Rock.

Unless you are prone to motion sickness, Michael Bay is arguably the technically innovative film director working today. He really, really, should just be a cinematographer, because he obviously has no taste in movie scripts, and it's really only the visual aspects of his filmmaking which are good anyways.

That said, Pearl Harbor was glossy, shiny crap. I hope Bad Boys 2 will return Bay to his run-and-gun action roots.

Now THAT'S sig material right there.

I agree!

You won't be sorry.

Armageddon Criterion
Armageddon regular