Holy crap! This may be the awesometasticest month ever. If it weren't for that meddling The Blob, this would be the first month I'd say, "Give me ALL OF THEM!"

Disappointed at the lack of extras on most of these, but I'll still be picking them up all - including, maybe, The Blob.

I'm also kind of missing the Eclipse sets - this is the fourth announcement in a row without a new one.

I'd miss them, too, if they were Blu-ray discs.

Maybe the best announcement ever?

I've decided that I don't like that Badlands cover. It doesn't work for me.

I'll still buy DVDs for things like the Czech New Wave films that are unlikely to get a BD release any time soon.

Though maybe the delay between releases is because they're planning to start releasing everything, including the Eclipse sets, simultaneously on DVD and BD...?

A delay isn't really evidence of that, but one can hope/pretend.

Yeah, it's utterly hideous.

Looking forward to seeing Badlands - had been planning to track down the old DVD. Does that complete the Malick filmography on Blu?

Yep.

He did make one short film before Badlands, but he apparently doesn't want anybody to see it (possibly because he actually acts in it.)

I'm undecided about upgrading The Blob but I will certainly be buying the rest. I almost bought the UK version of Colonel Blimp from Amazon UK recently; I'm glad I waited.

what a great month. Badlands and Weekend were always my two most wanted, now they both are. I guess McCabe and Mrs Miller is all I'm waiting for now.

2 out of 5....not too shabby

i'll take all 6 of 'em!

The New World theatrical edition is missing from Blu-ray. I like the extended version but I prefer the original version.

Those is some good releases!

I've followed Criterion on Facebook for a little over a year, maybe 1.5 at this point, and, every month, they post up a notice, "MONTH release list due X date ... what do you hope is on it?"

Every month, I write, "Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear."

So ... well, holy shit. Oh, and "yay."

Getting all of them.

BTW, that cover for Badlands is absolutely putrid.

and here's all the extras and stuff:

THE BLOB – Blu-ray Edition
A cult classic of gooey greatness, The Blob follows the havoc wreaked on a small town by an outer-space monster with neither soul nor vertebrae, with Steve McQueen (The Great Escape) playing the rebel teen who tries to warn the residents about the jellylike invader. Strong performances and ingenious special effects help The Blob transcend the schlock sci-fi and youth delinquency genres from which it originates. Made outside of Hollywood by a maverick film distributor and a crew whose credits mostly comprised religious and educational shorts, The Blob helped launch the careers of McQueen and composer Burt Bacharach, whose bouncy title song is just one of this film’s many unexpected pleasures.

1958 • 82 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.66:1 aspect ratio

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• Two audio commentaries: one by producer Jack H. Harris and film historian Bruce Eder and the other by director Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. and actor Robert Fields
• Trailer
• Blobabilia!, a gallery of collector Wes Shank’s rare trove of stills, posters, props (including the blob itself!), and other ephemera
• PLUS: An essay by critic Kim Newman

TITLE: The Blob (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2235BD
UPC: 7-15515-10331-2
ISBN: 978-1-60465-699-2
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 3/12/13

~~

MINISTRY OF FEAR – Blu-ray
Suffused with dread and paranoia, this Fritz Lang (M) adaptation of a novel by Graham Greene (The Third Man) is a plunge into the eerie shadows of a world turned upside down by war. En route to London after being released from a mental institution, Stephen Neale (The Lost Weekend’s Ray Milland) stops at a seemingly innocent village fair, after which he finds himself caught in the web of a sinister underworld with possible Nazi connections. Lang was among the most illustrious of the European émigré filmmakers working in Hollywood during World War II, and Ministry of Fear is one of his finest American productions, an unpredictable thriller with style to spare.

1944 • 87 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.37:1 aspect ratio

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the
Blu-ray edition
• New interview with Fritz Lang scholar Joe McElhaney
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Glenn Kenny

TITLE: Ministry of Fear (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2236BD
UPC: 7-15515-10341-1
ISBN: 978-1-60465-700-5
SRP: $29.95
STREET: 3/12/13

~~

BADLANDS – Blu-ray
Badlands announced the arrival of a major talent: Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven). His impressionistic take on the notorious Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate killing spree of the late 1950s uses a serial-killer narrative as a springboard for an oblique teenage romance, lovingly and idiosyncratically enacted by Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now) and Sissy Spacek (Carrie). The film also introduced many of the elements that would earn Malick his passionate following: the enigmatic approach to narrative and character, the unusual use of voice-over, the juxtaposition of human violence with natural beauty, the poetic investigation of American dreams and nightmares. This debut has spawned countless imitations, but none have equaled its strange sublimity.

1973 • 94 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.78:1 aspect ratio

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the
Blu-ray edition
• Making “Badlands,” a new documentary featuring actors Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek and production designer Jack Fisk
• New interview with editor Billy Weber about director Terrence Malick’s unique approach to editing
• New interview with producer Edward Pressman
• Trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by filmmaker Michael Almereyda

TITLE: Badlands (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2244BD
UPC: 7-15515-10421-0
ISBN: 978-1-60465-708-1
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 3/19/13

~~

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP – Blu-ray
Considered by many to be the finest British film ever made, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (The Red Shoes), is a stirring masterpiece like no other. Roger Livesey dynamically embodies outmoded English militarism as the indelible General Clive Candy, who barely survives four decades of tumultuous British history (1902 to 1942) only to see the world change irrevocably before his eyes. Anton Walbrook (The Red Shoes) and Deborah Kerr (Black Narcissus) provide unforgettable support, he as a German enemy turned lifelong friend of Blimp’s and she as young women of three consecutive generations—a socially committed governess, a sweet-souled war nurse, and a modern-thinking army driver—who inspire him. Colonel Blimp is both moving and slyly satirical, an incomparable film about war, love, aging, and obsolescence shot in gorgeous Technicolor.

1943 • 163 minutes • Color • Monaural • 1.37:1 aspect ratio

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New 4K digital master from the 2012 Film Foundation restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Audio commentary featuring director Michael Powell and filmmaker Martin Scorsese
• Video introduction by Scorsese
• A Profile of “The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp”
• Restoration demonstration, hosted by Scorsese
• Interview with editor Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, Michael Powell’s widow
• Gallery featuring rare behind-the-scenes production stills
• Gallery tracing the history of David Low’s original Colonel Blimp cartoons
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Molly Haskell

TITLE: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2238BD
UPC: 7-15515-10361-9
ISBN: 978-1-60465-702-9
SRP: $39.95
PREBOOK: 2/19/13
STREET: 3/19/13

~~

A MAN ESCAPED – Blu-ray
With the simplest of concepts and sparest of techniques, Robert Bresson (Au hasard Balthazar) made one of the most suspenseful jailbreak films of all time in A Man Escaped. Based on the memoirs of an imprisoned French resistance leader, this unbelievably taut and methodical marvel follows the fictional Fontaine’s single-minded pursuit of freedom, detailing the planning and carrying out of his escape with gripping precision. But Bresson’s film is not merely process-minded—it’s a work of intense spirituality and humanity.

1956 • 101 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • In French with English subtitles • 1.33:1 aspect ratio

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Bresson: Without a Trace, a 1965 episode of the television program Cinéastes de notre temps in which the director gives his first on-camera interview
• The Essence of Forms, a forty-five-minute documentary from 2010 in which some of Bresson’s collaborators and admirers, including actor François Leterrier and director Bruno Dumont, share their thoughts about the director and his work
• New visual essay with text by film scholars David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Tony Pipolo

TITLE: A Man Escaped (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2242BD
UPC: 7-15515-10401-2
ISBN: 978-1-60465-706-7
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 3/26/13

~~

MONSIEUR VERDOUX – Blu-ray
Charlie Chaplin plays shockingly against type in his most controversial film, a brilliant and bleak black comedy about money, marriage, and murder. Chaplin is a twentieth-century Bluebeard, an enigmatic family man who goes to extreme lengths to support his wife and child, attempting to bump off a series of wealthy widows (including one played by the indefatigable Martha Raye, in a hilarious performance). This deeply philosophical and wildly entertaining film is a work of true sophistication, both for the moral questions it dares to ask and the way it deconstructs its megastar’s loveable on-screen persona.

1947 • 124 minutes • Black & White • Monaural • 1.33:1 aspect ratio

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
• New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the
Blu-ray edition
• Chaplin Today: “Monsieur Verdoux,” a 2003 program on the film’s production and release, featuring filmmaker Claude Chabrol and actor Norman Lloyd
• Charlie Chaplin and the American Press, a new documentary featuring Chaplin specialist Kate Guyonvarch and author Charles Maland
• New video essay featuring an audio interview with actress Marilyn Nash
• Radio advertisements and trailers
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky and reprinted pieces by Chaplin and critic André Bazin

TITLE: Monsieur Verdoux (BLU-RAY EDITION)
CAT. NO: CC2240BD
UPC: 7-15515-10381-7
ISBN: 978-1-60465-704-3
SRP: $39.95
STREET: 3/26/13

definitely one of their best months in recent times.

A great month and I will be buying all of them.

And I agree, that cover for Badlands is disappointing.

I actually like the Badlands cover. I'm getting that and Colonel Blimp.

While I appreciate the artist's talents, I hate that Badlands cover. Maybe it's just the font of the logo that's throwing me? It's totally wrong for the film. Perfect for, say, Flash Gordon, but not my beloved Badlands!

i have no issues with the BADLANDS cover. looks like a postcard from the 50's....which makes perfect sense to me.

I've never seen Monsieur Verdoux, but I may have to get it for the coverart alone.

In for Badlands, possibly The Blob, too. Not sure if I need to upgrade that one or not.

Forgot about that. I've only seen it once and I think it was the theatrical cut. So that extended is not a "true" director's cut I take it?