Wish I had a Fry's .

Faye Wong switches the labels on Tony Leung's cans/fish. One of the cans is a fish with a bean flavor or something, and the other was the can that he was used to.

So when the scene occurs when he eats the switched can, he says in the subtitles something like "Even the swordfish tastes different." My friend said that the actual line was like "The fish even has a bean taste to it." Subtle, and not that big a deal, but it's a different line. Then again, I didn't notice that it was a bean related can in the first place last night, so maybe my friend noticed that it was written on the can. In that case, it would have required a separate subtitle for the can in order to get the payoff.

Oh yeah, and as I was writing my previous post, The Third Man came in. Saw it, great movie! One thing though: Did anybody else experience the Bogdanovich introduction to be strangely framed? As in, I understand that it's a 480i/p presentation of his introduction, but on top of that, the sides of the 4:3 frame were also blocked off.

"The 400 Blows" MSRP is only $30, their cheapest BR yet. I hope this is the beginning of a Criterion Blu trend.

Love Fry's. I can find literally anything there.

so wait... there are no February bluray releases ??

Correct. Not too surprising, really. I'd expect Criterion's Blu-ray output to be quite minimal for a long time.

List price for the Blu-ray titles is the same as their SD counterparts.

Don't worry, El Norte will probably be delayed.

DVDBeaver has comparisons of "The Last Emperor" up.

Shit, the Blu-ray doesn't come with the TV version of the film? I can understand the liner notes being cut from 90 to 16 pages, but I absolutely effing hate losing content like this...

Between that and Storaro's revisionist aspect-ratio, it looks like The Last Emperor is the real loser of this first wave of Criterion discs. What a shame.

How so? There is a good reason why Storato did what he did. And a good reason why the BD offers the same cut found on the DVD.

Was the DVD version also a loser?

Pro-B

Storaro has been accused by a fair number of critics of having a revisionist look at his past work, though.

...but the most extensive DVD set offered more than the Blu-ray does. That's the point of contention.

there's 2 versions of the DVD. a 3-disc set, and a 1-disc set. The BD is of the 1-disc set.

Accusations and reality are two different things. In the audio commentary Bertolucci wasn't supportive of the accusations you mention above.


As far as I know the television version isn't approved by anyone, neither Storato nor Bertolucci (or at least that is what my DVD cover reveals), which is a far more questionable issue to debate compared to what a few critics think of Storato's work.

Pro-B

what happened to the promised 5.1 mix??

could they not locate the 5 channel soundmix done for the 70mm theatrical soundmix?

It's not a dealbreaker for me. I already have the Blu-ray set on order regardless. I do prefer that a Blu-ray release be "definitive" -- that I can give the DVD it's replacing to a friend rather than feeling I have to hold onto it because extras or an alternate cut hadn't been carried over -- and I can see why Criterion slimming down this package would be such a disappointment to others.

I believe that would have been a 6 channel mix, if it were 70mm.

Yeah I noticed that line it actually went like "Even ketchup sardines have a bean taste". The cans are recognizable because i guess the canned sardines are a pretty popular item, I use to eat them a lot. But yeah, I don't blame them for not translating it all the way, because the audience probably won't even understand.

The criterion translation is a huge improvement over the Rolling Thunder edition, I just watched the RT version for the first time and it was just terrible .

There is? And what on Earth would that be?

Meanwhile, the reason he cites is moot vis-a-vis Blu-ray, so even if you're willing to justify it for DVD (which I am not), it's irrelevant to this release.

As far as the OAR issue goes, yes, it was.

Right, and George Lucas always intended to have CG crap flying all over the screen in the original Star Wars movies. Because, you know, he said so.

Not that it's a deal breaker for me (it's already pre-ordered), but I will agree with those upset that the TV version wasn't included with the Blu-ray. I mean, Blu-ray consumers are already accustomed to paying more than average for a disc. I realize that Criterion is pricing their Blu-rays like their DVDs, but the point I'm getting at is that most of us, whether we like it or not, are used to spending more and would probably be willing to do so again if the more extensive version were available.

I think it just shows the uncertainty that Criterion might have regarding Blu-ray at this time.

I think it's somewhat of a test for Criterion as well as them trying to bring their costs down. We have to remember, Blu-Ray is a niche product and Criterion is essentially a niche of that niche. So they'll be doing pretty small sales numbers.

Who the fuck cares? It's a worthwhile extra that's on the DVD and not on the blu-ray and, I feel, it is far more important to the package than the higher resolution.

Do you seriously not understand why this is an issue?