Full specs will be forthcoming, along with the artwork for Luis Bunuel's The Milky Way.


(I'm thrilled about this! One of Mamet's best, and the current DVD is terrible.)

Man that cover artwork for House of Games is NICE.

Agreed...very well-done.

I wasn't expecting them to release "House of Games", so that's a very pleasant surprise (and a must-buy for me.)

And more Bunuel is always a good thing.

Specs:

The Milky Way

The first of what Luis Buñuel later proclaimed a trilogy (along with The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Phantom of Liberty) about "the search for truth," The Milky Way (La voie lactée) daringly deconstructs contemporary and traditional views on Catholicism with ribald, rambunctious surreality. Two French beggars, present-day pilgrims en route to Spain's holy city of Santiago de Compostela, serve as Buñuel's narrators for an anticlerical history of heresy, told with absurdity and filled with images that rank among Buñuel's most memorable (stigmatic children, crucified nuns) and hilarious (Jesus considering a good shave). A diabolically entertaining look at the mysteries of fanaticism, The Milky Way remains a hotly debated work from cinema's greatest skeptic.

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• Video introduction by screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière
• New video interview with film scholar Ian Christie
• Theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitles
• More!
• PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Carlos Fuentes and Mark Polizzotti, and a reprinted interview with Luis Buñuel
_________________________________________________________________
Cria Cuervos
Carlos Saura's exquisite Cría cuervos heralded a turning point in Spain: Shot while General Franco was on his deathbed, the film melds the personal and the political in a portrait of the legacy of fascism and its effects on a middle-class family (the title derives from the Spanish proverb: "Raise ravens and they’ll peck out your eyes"). Ana Torrent (the dark-eyed beauty from The Spirit of the Beehive) portrays the disturbed eight-year-old Ana, living in Madrid with her two sisters and mourning the death of her mother, whom she conjures as a ghost (played by an ethereal Geraldine Chaplin). Seamlessly shifting between fantasy and reality, the film subtly evokes both the complex feelings of childhood and the struggles of a nation emerging from the shadows.

Special Features

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• Portrait of Carlos Saura, a documentary on the life and career of the Spanish auteur
• New interviews with actresses Geraldine Chaplin and Ana Torrent
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar Paul Julian Smith

_________________________________________________________________

House of Games

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter David Mamet first sat in the director's chair for this sly, merciless thriller, one of the most original and acclaimed films of the eighties. Mamet's witty tale of a therapist and best-selling author (Lindsay Crouse) who must confront her own obsessions when she meets an attractive cardsharp (Joe Mantegna) is as psychologically acute as it is full of twists and turns, a rich character study told with the cold calculation of a career criminal.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Juan Ruiz Anchia
• Audio commentary by director David Mamet and consultant and actor Ricky Jay
• New video interviews with actors Lindsay Crouse and Joe Mantegna
• David Mamet on "House of Games," a short documentary shot on location during the film's preparation and production
• Storyboard detail from the deleted scene "The Tap"
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kent Jones and excerpts from Mamet’s introduction to the published screenplay

Spines 399, 401 and 402...guess Criterion's holding off on the big 400 until September. Should be interesting.

About-freakin'-time for House of Games to get the Criterion treatment. I love this movie. I hope all of Mamet's movies get a Criterion DVD release. This is a must-buy for me.

Side-note: My mother stills calls this movie "Driven" by mistake.

I have seen only one film by Carlos Saura which was Ana and the Wolves so the Criterion release of Cria Cuervos will be a great opportunity to check out his other works in a good DVD treatment.

I wonder if it wasn't for his surgeries over the last year, if Roger Ebert would have done a commentary for House of Games, since it was his #1 movie of 1987 and #10 of the 1980's.

I've never seen it, so if my local video store has the old DVD for rent, I'll check it out before August.

Wonder if #400 will be Breathless (which was announced in the newsletter today).

Really? Sweet!

Though that is a pretty good possibility, I've also been hearing quite a lot of speculation that #400 will be the megaset of "Berlin Alexanderplatz"...

Only time will tell, of course...

Hmmmm...

I enjoyed House of Games but it's not something I would pay more than $15 for....

Carlos Saura...outstanding!!! This will immediately replace my Spanish disc. I will not be updating my Bunuel disc as the Optimum transfer is top-notch!!

So, so happy about Saura!

Pro-B

I think its unlikely they would keep a hole open for a few months since in the March newsletter they mentioned Ace in the Hole 4 months before its release and in Jan they mentioned Sans Soleil 5 months before the release so we probably shouldnt expect Breathless till sometime late summer/early fall.

How come Criterion always releases movies that I've never heard of?

So you can get to know them?

what they said.

I'm up for the spanish film and breathless if that is the missing title.

Great surprise!

Would love to see more Mamet on Criterion also!

More Bunuel AND House of Games - THANK YOU SIR, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER? (One of my all-time favorite lines)

They like to annoy you.


House of Games is a fine movie, but I can't see myself buying it.

Now, if we can get Mamet's Homicide, I'd be a happy camper.

interesting titles, not earth shattering IMO.




Come on Criterion: more Pasolini, some Greenaway titles including the 'Tulse Luper Trilogy', Ken Loach's 'My Name is Joe', Bille August's 6-hour miniseries cut of 'The Best Intentions' .... just a thought (I'm thinking out loud)

Any word on what month we'll see Last Emperor from Criterion??