September Criterions!
06-28-04, 11:41 AM
#51
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Originally posted by Novasonic
The other difference is that you guys probably have 1000s of dvds and bottomless wallets. I only have about 300 dvds.
The other difference is that you guys probably have 1000s of dvds and bottomless wallets. I only have about 300 dvds.
06-28-04, 12:03 PM
#52
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Originally posted by Novasonic
I just saw that one guys post earlier in this thread about "Criterion, please marry me" and couldn't take it any more. In all honesty, I wouldn't spend anymore than $15-20 on a DVD unless it was LOTR EEs, multi-movie box sets (i.e. - Alien Quadrilogy, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, etc.), or TV show season box sets (Simpsons, Family Guy, etc.). That's just me though. You guys probably don't share the same opinion. Sorry for expressing my opinion, but I thought this was the "DVD Talk" section. Next time I won't say anything.
I just saw that one guys post earlier in this thread about "Criterion, please marry me" and couldn't take it any more. In all honesty, I wouldn't spend anymore than $15-20 on a DVD unless it was LOTR EEs, multi-movie box sets (i.e. - Alien Quadrilogy, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, etc.), or TV show season box sets (Simpsons, Family Guy, etc.). That's just me though. You guys probably don't share the same opinion. Sorry for expressing my opinion, but I thought this was the "DVD Talk" section. Next time I won't say anything.
So none of your comments are remotely connected with the actual post that started this thread.
And I say that as a fan who owns the two LOTR EEs, the Alien box, the Indiana Jones box, and the Simpsons sets. (I won't buy the new 'Star Wars' discs, though, unless I find them for $15-$20, and even then, I'd have to be really bored.)
06-28-04, 04:59 PM
#53
DVD Talk Legend
Once again:
Most Criterion discs can be purchased (and shipped) for under $26, and many under $20. So all this whining about them being "overpriced" really makes me laugh.
Because as we all know, there's such a HUGE market out there for Ozu, Visconti, and Bresson.
Disney can retail Pirates of the Carribbean at $30 and stores can sell it for $15 because millions of people will be buying it. How many people are going to pick up the magnificent special edition of Floating Weeds? The Leopard? Diary of a Country Priest? In the thousands or tens of thousands, at best. Not to mention the fee they had to pay to aquire the property and monies poured into clean up the transfer and soundtrack, as well as produce supplemental material.
Even better, if you don't like the films, don't buy them.
Back to the topic at hand, I am so salivating at the chance of owning The Battle of Algiers in that 3-disc set that I am this close to eating my own face!
Most Criterion discs can be purchased (and shipped) for under $26, and many under $20. So all this whining about them being "overpriced" really makes me laugh.
Because as we all know, there's such a HUGE market out there for Ozu, Visconti, and Bresson.
Disney can retail Pirates of the Carribbean at $30 and stores can sell it for $15 because millions of people will be buying it. How many people are going to pick up the magnificent special edition of Floating Weeds? The Leopard? Diary of a Country Priest? In the thousands or tens of thousands, at best. Not to mention the fee they had to pay to aquire the property and monies poured into clean up the transfer and soundtrack, as well as produce supplemental material.
Even better, if you don't like the films, don't buy them.
Back to the topic at hand, I am so salivating at the chance of owning The Battle of Algiers in that 3-disc set that I am this close to eating my own face!
06-28-04, 07:33 PM
#56
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by slop101
Let's do some math:
Cassavetes set = $125 - (35% @ dvdplanet) = $80... that's $16 per film, not to mention the 2 discs of extras.
How is that too expensive?
Let's do some math:
Cassavetes set = $125 - (35% @ dvdplanet) = $80... that's $16 per film, not to mention the 2 discs of extras.
How is that too expensive?
06-28-04, 08:26 PM
#57
I was talking to my friend about Criterion today. They are by far the best DVD company. Every release comes with a booklet usually with an essay written by a critic or a film professor. (Most companies don't even provide inserts.) Every release has beautiful original cover art. (Big faces is the choice of other studios.) Every release is in its original aspect ratio. (Disney and Warner release kids films in full frame only.) There are plenty more reasons why Criterion rules but those are just some. I wish Criterion would release Star Wars and charge us $39.95. Because then we would get 3 different versions all in the same set.
06-29-04, 08:28 AM
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Living in the über-suburban town that is Canberra and having a choice between waiting for the theatrical re-release of The Battle of Algiers to arrive on 29 July, or waiting another couple of months for what looks like an awesome 3 disc set, the choice is now (unfortunately) easy. Much as I want to support my local art-house cinema, I won't be buying The Battle of Algiers because it's a Criterion - I'll be buying it because it offers a much more engrossing experience than seeing this solely on the big screen ever could.
06-29-04, 04:39 PM
#60
DVD Talk Hero
Too bad the Cassavetes set could have been a lot better:
excerpt from: http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/shadows/chasing.shtml
where a Cassavetes expert, who found the long-lost first cut of Shadows, explains how Cassavetes' widow, Gena Rowlands, has kept him from having a hand in the set:
For the record, here is one final illustration of Rowlands’s response to my attempts at truth-telling. For the past eight months I have served as the scholarly advisor to Criterion Video for their upcoming Cassavetes box set. I have devoted an enormous amount of time and effort to making sure that every aspect of the project was done to the highest possible standards of excellence, advising them on the choice of prints, traveling to New York to record audio voice-over commentary, and writing material for the booklet to accompany the DVDs. It has been a labor of love.
I talked to Criterion about the value of including variant texts of Cassavetes' films. I attempted to persuade Ruban and Rowlands to include alternate versions of all of the available Cassavetes films: the long version of Faces, the first version of Shadows, and both versions of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. It was an uphill battle all the way. As Criterion relayed their conversations with Ruban back to me, at every point, Ruban (speaking for Rowlands) resisted these suggestions and shot them down. (To be perfectly clear about the Shadows print in particular: This was emphatically not a money issue with me. I was willing to provide a Digibeta copy of the first version of Shadows for free to Criterion, at no cost to them. Click on this link for more about my views of the money side of the question.) Ruban and Rowlands refused to allow it. They sent both me and Criterion "lawyer's letters" forbidding the inclusion of the first version of Shadows in the Criterion box set. Reluctantly, even though it went against my personal wishes, I resigned myself to accepting their decision on the matter. But that was apparently not good enough for them. They were apparently determined to retaliate for the fact that I had wanted to include alternate versions of Faces and Shadows at all. They were apparently determined to get back at me for the fact that I hadn't expunged references to these prints from my work, that I hadn't taken them off my web site, as they had told me to.
Gena Rowands recently learned three things about my involvement in the project: First, that my voice-over commentary on the Shadows disk mentioned the "first version" of the film; second, that in my capacity as advisor, I privately expressed reservations to Criterion about including Charles Kiselyak's documentary, A Constant Forge, in the box set (which because of its fairy-tale/soap opera rendition of Cassavetes' life has aptly acquired the nickname of "A Constant Forgery" among perceptive viewers); and, third, that since Kiselyak's romanticized/ Hollywoodized version of the filmmaker was going to be included in any case, I intended to offer a different view of Cassavetes' life and work in the written material I was providing.
If, as T.S. Eliot wrote, "humankind cannot take much reality," I guess it's even more true of movie stars than the rest of us. Rowlands's response to the above information can be seen in the text of the following email I recently received from Peter Becker, the President of Criterion Video concerning my work on the project:
From: Peter Becker
President of Criterion Video
The Criterion Collection
Subject: Bad news
Dear Ray,
I'm sorry to have to tell you that we won't be including your commentary or essay in the Cassavetes box. Gena Rowlands feels that you have violated her rights and failed to respect John Cassavetes' wishes, and she has informed us that under the circumstances, she will not participate in or approve the release with you as a part of it. Cassavetes entrusted his legacy to Gena, so for us, her word is final. I wish it hadn't come to this.
Sincerely,
Peter
excerpt from: http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/shadows/chasing.shtml
where a Cassavetes expert, who found the long-lost first cut of Shadows, explains how Cassavetes' widow, Gena Rowlands, has kept him from having a hand in the set:
For the record, here is one final illustration of Rowlands’s response to my attempts at truth-telling. For the past eight months I have served as the scholarly advisor to Criterion Video for their upcoming Cassavetes box set. I have devoted an enormous amount of time and effort to making sure that every aspect of the project was done to the highest possible standards of excellence, advising them on the choice of prints, traveling to New York to record audio voice-over commentary, and writing material for the booklet to accompany the DVDs. It has been a labor of love.
I talked to Criterion about the value of including variant texts of Cassavetes' films. I attempted to persuade Ruban and Rowlands to include alternate versions of all of the available Cassavetes films: the long version of Faces, the first version of Shadows, and both versions of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. It was an uphill battle all the way. As Criterion relayed their conversations with Ruban back to me, at every point, Ruban (speaking for Rowlands) resisted these suggestions and shot them down. (To be perfectly clear about the Shadows print in particular: This was emphatically not a money issue with me. I was willing to provide a Digibeta copy of the first version of Shadows for free to Criterion, at no cost to them. Click on this link for more about my views of the money side of the question.) Ruban and Rowlands refused to allow it. They sent both me and Criterion "lawyer's letters" forbidding the inclusion of the first version of Shadows in the Criterion box set. Reluctantly, even though it went against my personal wishes, I resigned myself to accepting their decision on the matter. But that was apparently not good enough for them. They were apparently determined to retaliate for the fact that I had wanted to include alternate versions of Faces and Shadows at all. They were apparently determined to get back at me for the fact that I hadn't expunged references to these prints from my work, that I hadn't taken them off my web site, as they had told me to.
Gena Rowands recently learned three things about my involvement in the project: First, that my voice-over commentary on the Shadows disk mentioned the "first version" of the film; second, that in my capacity as advisor, I privately expressed reservations to Criterion about including Charles Kiselyak's documentary, A Constant Forge, in the box set (which because of its fairy-tale/soap opera rendition of Cassavetes' life has aptly acquired the nickname of "A Constant Forgery" among perceptive viewers); and, third, that since Kiselyak's romanticized/ Hollywoodized version of the filmmaker was going to be included in any case, I intended to offer a different view of Cassavetes' life and work in the written material I was providing.
If, as T.S. Eliot wrote, "humankind cannot take much reality," I guess it's even more true of movie stars than the rest of us. Rowlands's response to the above information can be seen in the text of the following email I recently received from Peter Becker, the President of Criterion Video concerning my work on the project:
From: Peter Becker
President of Criterion Video
The Criterion Collection
Subject: Bad news
Dear Ray,
I'm sorry to have to tell you that we won't be including your commentary or essay in the Cassavetes box. Gena Rowlands feels that you have violated her rights and failed to respect John Cassavetes' wishes, and she has informed us that under the circumstances, she will not participate in or approve the release with you as a part of it. Cassavetes entrusted his legacy to Gena, so for us, her word is final. I wish it hadn't come to this.
Sincerely,
Peter
06-29-04, 04:42 PM
#61
DVD Talk Special Edition
Originally posted by slop101
Too bad the Cassavetes set could have been a lot better:
excerpt from: http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/shadows/chasing.shtml
where a Cassavetes expert, who found the long-lost first cut of Shadows, explains how Cassavetes' widow, Gena Rowlands, has kept him from having a hand in the set:...
Too bad the Cassavetes set could have been a lot better:
excerpt from: http://people.bu.edu/rcarney/shadows/chasing.shtml
where a Cassavetes expert, who found the long-lost first cut of Shadows, explains how Cassavetes' widow, Gena Rowlands, has kept him from having a hand in the set:...
06-29-04, 05:01 PM
#62
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
There is a huge thread about this film in the Criterion Collection Forum that provides additional insight into the issues regarding Carney's work not being included in this set. A very interesting read. Sounds like there is a lot of bad blood there.
06-29-04, 05:22 PM
#64
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Man, that BATTLE OF ALGIERS set does look awesome, but I do wonder why there isn't an audio commentary by some film historian or something...a bit strange to leave one out in a set that seems to be the ultimate, definitive one. But I guess the extensive documentaries will pretty much cover everything that needs to be said.
06-30-04, 04:08 PM
#65
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Originally posted by paratize
Man, that BATTLE OF ALGIERS set does look awesome, but I do wonder why there isn't an audio commentary by some film historian or something...a bit strange to leave one out in a set that seems to be the ultimate, definitive one. But I guess the extensive documentaries will pretty much cover everything that needs to be said.
Man, that BATTLE OF ALGIERS set does look awesome, but I do wonder why there isn't an audio commentary by some film historian or something...a bit strange to leave one out in a set that seems to be the ultimate, definitive one. But I guess the extensive documentaries will pretty much cover everything that needs to be said.
