gglass4269

that is soooooooo false.

Dan Average

Criterion themselves have said as much and they've already dropped some printed material from the BD editions of The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Third Man and The Last Emperor. (The Ran BD was also supposedly missing an essay from the DVD release, but that's a moot point for now.) I doubt we'll be seeing anything like the big fat Pandora's Box or Earrings of Madame de... booklets in the future.

theWitcher

I wonder if this will be a factor in what gets released when on BD vs DVD.

For example, if they have lots of great print materials for a particular title will they delay the publication of the BD version, or forgo publication altogether, if the quantity of stuff doesn't fit into a BD booklet/case (or in the case of video supplements -- on the BD disk)?

All the complaints in this thread about the now-cancelled (delayed?) 'Ran' dropping the "Kurosawa's Continuity" piece seemed to ignore the fact that the feature appears on Disk 2 of the DVD set. Criterion has previously stated that they anticipate that customers who upgrade their DVD sets will simply remove the DVD from the DVD cases and replace it with the Blu-ray disk. In this scenario, no one loses a featurette and no one loses any content from their booklets. (And it is implied that fans of Kurosawa or cinema already own these DVD special editions.)

Presumably any Blu-rays published at the same time as the DVD version will have the same content, both on the disk and in the accompanying print materials.

Dan Average

This strikes me as cutting off your nose to spite your face, seeing how Criterion claims BD makes up a disproportionate amount of their sales (in other words, BD is a higher percentage of Criterion's sales than it is in the overall market). It's far more likely that they will do exactly what they've said they'll do and put the material online instead. As for supplements, they've already dropped one major supplement from a BD release (the TV version of The Last Emperor) and of course they were going to do the same with Ran.

That's a pretty lame assumption, if that is indeed what they're assuming. I never bought the Criterion Ran -- I bought the admittedly crappy Wellspring release, watched it once, and never felt compelled to watch it again -- but I most likely would've picked up the BD. In any case it's not like they dropped the other disc 2 supplements from the BD release, hence the deletion of that one particular supplement being a bit of a sore spot for folks. It's also short-term thinking, since over the years a sizable number of new viewers will come around to Kurosawa (or whoever) and those viewers will be increasingly inclined to go for the BD edition as the HD market matures.

MTRodaba2468

With all due respect...



...on both counts (I know I'm in the minority here, but I just don't see The Game as that good of a movie).

DonnachaOne

With all due respect...

... "due" respect.

PopcornTreeCt

I didn't care much for The Game. It ranks just a tad higher than Alien 3 for me.

MTRodaba2468

Not much sleep this weekend. Fixed.

GoldenJCJ

Ok, so I just received my SD version of Ran and I'm about to unwrap it so the Blu-ray hold up should be resolved in the next day or two.

tlwizard

I don't think The Game is his best movie but I think it's better then Button, and Fight Club/Seven already have super duper editions out.

And I'm all for Criterion releasing Button if it allows them to keep doing what they do in general (btw I can't wait for In the Realm of the Senses). I just don't want all the people who have been poo-pooing on Armaggedon and The Rock all this time to delude themselves into thinking they are buying a better quality movie with Button. But, perhaps another thread should be started discussing how Fincher has started to lose his ability and interest in story as he has further pursued technical niches in film (starting with Panic Room, continuing downhill with Zodiac, and ending here at the bottom with Button.)

I will also take this time to say how easy a transition Criterion is making it to switch to Blu-ray. First off, their DVD releases have consistently maintained their value. Even their OOP titles have either gone up in value, or even if rereleased, have kept a big chunk of what they were worth. On top of this, the blu-rays are priced evenly with the DVD releases. So it's a no brainer not to switch, although it is a bummer when some important extra features aren't ported over, and I'm still confused as why that has to happen that way. But, in regards to Blu-ray, and some of their packaging aside, Criterion has provided the easiest and happiest double-dips from me.

tlwizard

I'm in your camp. And I think that Dreams is a lot more than just eye candy and for that reason would be deserving of the Criterion treatment to provide the scholarly support for this. It's very easy to watch some of his other movies and understand why they were made or why they are important, but I think that Dreams is much more elusive and therefore unfairly and prematurely written off.

Overpar

Some scans are up at DVD Empire...

ccfixx

If anyone hasn't seen it, yet, Pro-B has a review up for "In The Realm Of The Senses over at blu-ray.com. Sorry, still can't post links.

CC

PopcornTreeCt

Thanks for the heads up!

Giles

the screencaps for 'Realm of the Senses' are astounding!

ccfixx

DVDBeaver has their comparison review up for "The Wages Of Fear" now, too.

CC

NoirFan

Here it is.

DVD Guy ATL

Too bad he spoiled the ending of the film for those of us who haven't seen it. Some sort of warning would have been appreciated.

NoirFan

Here it is.

anomynous

Here's an update on the new cases with already released movies:

DVD Guy ATL

I guess that's the price of being an early supporter. Ah well, thanks for checking and planting a seed at least.

NoirFan

DVD Beaver on In the Realm of the Senses- screencaps NSFW

PopcornTreeCt

Greatest. Menu Shot. Ever.

ccfixx

I agree, Popcorn... that is one good "shot."

CC

ccfixx

They're in!!!!!!!!!! "For All Mankind" and "Repulsion"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CC