Updated my post with cover art and dates for all, great month!

Glad I held off buying more Kurosawa on DVD than I have already. Yojimbo/Sanjuro are all I have on BD thus far. I don't own High and Low at all, and am definitely interested in that one.

I have so many Kurosawa films on DVD and Blu-ray... and so far I haven't had to double dip on anything at all! I doubt that will last forever (actually, I hope it won't) but so far I have done a pretty good job of picking the right titles to purchase on DVD. It will be a delight to see High and Low on Blu-ray soon and to add it into my Kurosawa collection. I haven't seen any of the other announced titles yet but they seem like a nice variety of films from quality film-makers so it will be nice to experience them in High Definition for the first time.

High and Low? Hell yes. And please, more Kurosawa this year.

Satyajit Ray? I am interested.

decent month...HIGH AND LOW is a must purchase.

I think I'm getting all of those, except for the Solondz; probably his weakest effort.

Pretty good month as I might end up doing several blind buys. Only film I've actually seen on the list is Naked. High and Low looks great. So does Leon Morin and Life During Wartime. I'm definitely buying Beauty and the Beast.

The more Kurosawa on Blu-ray, the better.
I'm now glad I never bought the AK100 box set. It was very tempting during the last B&N sale.

Beyond "The Apu Trilogy," I would say it's among his two or three most well known works. It's one of a small handful of his films that regularly places on those "Greatest Movies" lists (the Cahiers du Cinema list, the They Shoot Pictures list, Roger Ebert's list), and it's also one of his major films that has never had a decent release ("The Apu Trilogy," and several of his other films have had decent R2 releases.) I would, of course, also love to see "The Apu Trilogy" (and many of his other films) get a Blu-ray release, but this isn't exactly an obscure choice (at least as far as Ray goes - he's always been a bit overlooked.)

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On a different note, I effing hate that cover for "Naked." It's one of my all-time favorite films, and I'll certainly upgrade, but that cover is, to my eyes, kind of atrocious. I'm glad other people seem to like it, but...

Beyond that, this is a pretty good month, though not as good as June. I'll probably pick up all of them eventually, though "Beauty and the Beast" (which I never picked up on DVD), "The Music Room," and the Melville will be priorities.

High & Low - It's Kurosawa. Automatic buy.
Beauty & The Beast - Looks amazing from the screencaps I have seen, definite purchase.
Leon Morin, Priest - I am already invested into Melville, so why not? Buy.
The Music Room - I have never seen or heard of him, but this sounds particularly interesting. Buy.
Naked - It looks interesting and seems to be held in high regard from critics. Eh, I'll think on it.
Life During Wartime - The trailer really did not do anything for me. Pass.

Damn, quite a lot I want out of these.

Naked didn't impress me much; don't think I'll upgrade.

LDW is the only Solondz film I haven't seen yet, but I'll blind buy it without question.

Never got B&B or H&L on DVD, so those are two definites.

More Melville? Yes, please.

Satyajit Ray in HD. Best news for me.

I can finally get into Ray and that Melville and Kurosawa news if great.

High & Low is an automatic buy....when the B&N is on.

Glorious.

Honestly, I would love to see that. I know if Blue Underground still had the rights, they would do a great job (unfortunately, the Weinsteins aren't doing shit with it), but Criterion doing it would be epic.

Knowing that Warner is probably the most catalog-friendly major studio when it comes to Blu-Ray releases, it's almost a given that, at the very least, Rebel Without A Cause, will get a Blu release.

I agree that I would love The Apu Trilogy to get a Criterion Blu release, but at this point, I'm happy one of his films is even in the collection at all.

I was beginning to think I was the only one when reading this thread. The new art doesn't work for me at all. Mind you, I'll certainly upgrade, as Naked is one of my favorite films in the collection. I would have liked the previous art more, though.

You should read their facebook and other forums, people are going nuts over the Naked art, maybe they will change it...they did just recently change the art for The Makioka Sisters after a ton of people spoke out against that art. But I agree, I am not a fan of the Naked cover.

Funny that Criterion set the bar so high for packaging, while Kino keeps putting out terrible art and its just accepted and expected.

I think it is because Criterion has the more psychotic/neurotic fan base, so that Criterion collectors will be more apt to bitch and moan about something like cover art whereas those who buy Kino Blu-rays are more or less just happy to get something like Steamboat Bill, Jr. released on Blu-ray at all. So, as long as the actual disc is good, no one gives a shit about the cover art.

And besides...Criterion caters to and plays up that neurotic fanatic base through their site and now facebook as they tend to make posts about cover art or the evolution of a certain cover art. If they didn't make the initial big deal about it, I doubt the fans would be doing it now.

This coming from someone who loves Criterion and buys Kino as well.

I agree, not a fan of the Naked cover.

I also wish Criterion would stop letting Daniel Clowes design really ugly and inappropriate cover art for movies that deserve something classier.

Couldn't agree more - I dig Clowes as a comic book artist, but his Criterion covers are shit. Totally inappropriate style for the Fuller movies, and even if his style matched, all he did was recreate a scene or two from the movie for a cover (a spoiler even for Naked Kiss) - no thought put into it what so ever, not from a perspective of design or mood.

You're right. I was just referring to The Apu Trilogy.

Were it not on their site, I think I would've mistaken it for a parody Criterion cover.

True, the movie is excellent, and that's why I'll still get it regardless. I guess I'm disappointed simply because this cover art doesn't work for me, whereas the previous art used on the DVD was just fine.

Ray on Blu-ray, very nice. Also in for the Kurosawa and Melville double-dips.

If you consider any initial Blu-ray release of a catalog movie a "double-dip", you're really removing all practical value from the term. Would you have them just say, "Well, it's already on DVD- just buy that"? A double-dip is an attempt to cash in on a title that's already been released on the same video format. It's a failing because, the thinking goes, it should've been handled "correctly" the first time it was released on the format. The previous times the movies you cite were released, Blu-ray didn't yet exist.

/pedantic_off-topic_rant_you've_probably_heard_before