The Cassavetes box is an excellent release; I might have to upgrade...

They are common, yeah. What I meant is that for a release to be priced at $30, it usually has to have no special features, including essays. I'd assume that they have to also pay certain rights to include those.

Which releases don't have an essay? I'm pretty sure all of the $30 releases have them.

I was wondering. Do you keep the Criterion Collection stickers from your releases? Specifically, I mean the little circular blue ones that are affixed to the cellophane wrapper.

I keep any of them that are "Director Approved" with the director's signature. I painstakingly peel them off of the wrapper, and then affix them to the Blu-ray case. I did the same thing for DVD editions that had stickers with the director's signature (those were usually square stickers). I find that the Blu-ray ones come off pretty easily for transfer. The DVD ones were a little more difficult, with some of them tearing or being otherwise difficult to transfer without bending or damaging. I don't keep the ones that don't have the director's signature.

nice lineup although I have been picking up the BFI releases of the Cassavetes films as they have released them.

I keep the ones with the director's signature. I just cut around the plastic wrapper and stick it on the inside with the booklet, though.

I know! I'd be curious about the quality...

Hmm... I'm a little frustrated by the Cassavetes box, being confident that it means no individual releases for those titles. Like the BBS box, I only want some of the titles and, also like the BBS box, I probably won't be buying it.

Yeah, all mainline releases have essays, including the lower-tier titles like The Organizer, Letter Never Sent, and The Moment of Truth.

Titles generally only go into the lower tier if they have absolutely no other extras besides the booklet. (Though The Moment of Truth does at least have a short (13 minute) interview with the director.)

I just wish they would be a little bit more flexible with what goes into a lower tier. I know it's only a five dollar difference during the B&N sale, but...

EDIT: ...And they've updated their site to reflect the lower price point for those two releases. Woo-hoo.

I'm excited about the Cassavettes box upgrade, but I'm definitely going to wait for a BN sale and try to get it as cheaply as possible since I already have the SD set. Rest of the releases are kind of "meh" for me aside from Le Notte.

But, even that announcement isn't as great since Masters of Cinema has had that title out on Blu-ray for months now. I think MoC has gotten a lot stronger while that annoying IFC deal has diluted Criterion to an extent.

Precisely what I do as well.

Just out of curiosity, why?

We all collect various things even within our shared overarching hobby. Never heard of this one.

I used to be really neurotic about saving the back slip on digibooks (the ones that were sticky tacked to the case) by removing the sticky tack and sliding them inside the digibook. One day, I had a moment of clarity (or got annoyed with the way they stuck out of the book) and just tossed them.

MoC's La Notte BD actually isn't out yet (they kept delaying it for unexplained reasons) - MoC and Criterion will be releasing their editions about two months apart.

Anyways, both labels seem to go through periods of being kind of boring (in my eyes) and periods of focusing on more interesting titles. I though last year was one of MoC's worst, with a large portion of their releases being titles that were already readily available in decent DVD editions. This year, on the other hand, has been a lot better - with a greater focus on films that are a bit harder to come across in good editions (though I can't quite understand the decision to release Simon Killer, which I thought was kind of terrible.) In an ideal world, they would have the resources to release as many titles as Criterion every year.

As for Criterion... Some months are a lot better than others (June was one of their best in a long time, in my opinion.) I don't think the IFC deal has weakened them that much (they only release four or five IFC titles a year, if that - though we do have that deal to think for Tiny Furniture ), but I do think that they've been fairly conservative since they committed to releasing all mainline titles on Blu-ray.

Overall, they're both still my favorite specialty labels in the world (along with a small handful of others,) but I think both companies have been playing it safe-ish as of late. It probably has something to do with the fact that not as many people are buying home media. Studios also seem to be more willing to license bigger titles, hence MoC's Wilder releases and Criterion's Badlands and upcoming It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World releases. I can understand why those kinds of titles would be attractive to smaller labels, and I bet they help them financially justify riskier releases - but it's always a bit disappointing (to me) to see them choose to release something that already has a good edition over one of the many hundreds of good-to-great films available to them that have never even seen a decent DVD release (though, once again, I understand the financial necessity of having some bigger titles to offset the more obscure ones.)

But still, I find plenty to be excited about from both companies: Le Pont du Nord, La Poison, The Murderer Lives at 21, City of Women, Marketa Lazarova, the Rossellini/Bergman set, the Pierre Etaix set, the restored Satyajit Ray films, etc.

Amateurs. Except for the price tags and security tags, I save all of the stickers from each new release, whether Criterion or not. Clip 'em off the shrinkwrap and slip 'em right under the clear plastic of the case. I've been doing the same thing since I was just a kid with cassette tapes and then CDs ... The way I see it, they're just another part of the packaging!

You know, you could just fold the slip before you stick it inside the digibook. Then it won't stick out.

I don't understand why you'd want to throw out something that's clearly part of the package (not to mention something that lists specs and features you won't find listed anywhere else in the packaging), but to each their own.

I rarely keep stickers, but I keep back slips and the likes.

It's so easy to do, why not? The stickers look cool, and having a copy of the directors signature is pretty neat (even though it's not actually signed or anything).

It's so easy to do, why not? The stickers look cool, and having a copy of the directors signature is pretty neat (even though it's not actually signed or anything).

when I bought Lord of the Flies this morning - the B&N employee said that 'The Devil's Backbone' has been bumped up a week to the 23rd.

this is awesome news!!

it's not the first time Criterion and Barnes and Noble have had an agreement to sell a DVD/bluray before the other stores - I know they did it with 'Quadrophenia' - there might have been some others, but that's the one I most remember.

Cause I think it looks cool with "Director Approved" and the director's signature.

Most stickers on movie releases bug me, and I peel them off (if they're on the case or slipcover), but these specifically I like to keep.

I myself am one of those that keep the Criterion stickers. I peel them off, easy to do so, and stick them behind the BD on the plastic case. Why? No reason, just one of those things I do.

My OCD in this area has gotten worse over the years. For the last few years I have saved pretty much everything in the DVD 'package'. Any sticker, even the top spine title sticker and useless generic advertising stickers like 'now on blu-ray' get saved inside the case or insert. The only things I throw away are the plain plastic wrap, and for certain generic titles that go in binders, the plain cases.

It really bothers me that for a few years I occasionally threw those top spine stickers away. I'm a mess.

Wow, buying mainly used will cure you of that type of problem really quickly. The biggest problem I have is getting rid of stickers on the cases, and having to deal with replacing them if they're broken.

And so many of my Criterions are purchased used also, so all I make sure of is it has any liner notes and such, nevermind any stickers.