^ That's great!

Yeah, I was surprised by that, too.

I'll rephrase. In 2017, Dead Presidents seems out of Criterion's wheelhouse. It's a film that hasn't grown much in esteem since its release.

I love the Election fan art. Great news on that title since I never managed to snag the old release

I think there was a 4k remaster that was done after the initial release.

i'll get Election for sure...

The new Criterion doodle has one lamb silencing another. Perhaps we'll finally get that Jonathan Demme commentary back in print?

I too am assuming that points to Silence of the Lambs getting a new Criterion BD release. About F'n time. Seems every prior DVD/BD release by MGM has had some kind of issue with the audio or video in addition to never having that commentary track. And now maybe it will be a new 4k scan.

As soon as Rebecca came back to Criterion it was rumored that many of the MGM titles would be rescanned and released by Criterion.

Rebecca is part of the ABC library (along with the other OOP Hitchocks and Straw Dogs) and really has nothing to do with Silence of the Lambs. That doesn't change the fact that Criterion was able to reacquire the rights to all of them, but I'm just pointing it out for clarity's sake.

Criterion actually had the opportunity to bring back Silence of the Lambs years ago, but they declined due to the fact that they didn't think they could add anything to the existing release. The new 4k scan apparently was enough to get them to change their mind.

Source?

They were wrong. Based on the mediocre reviews I have read, I have never upgraded to the BD from my custom combo pack of the MGM DVD and the Criterion DVD. Which of course long term worked out in my favor. But it's always been likely Criterion would have put out a far superior BD than the MGM disc.

I actually sold off my old DVD because it wasn't 16x9. If this is from a new 4K scan then it will definitely be worth an upgrade.

A question though - didn't MGM do their own commentary for their DVD? I wonder if Criterion could get the rights to include that so this would really be a complete release?

Not on the Collector's Edition DVD set I have. Which I seem to remember being pretty comprehensive when it came to what was available outside of the Criterion disc. Lots of awesome documentary features. Which is why I kept both till now.

I'm holding out hope for This is Spinal Tap and Robocop; I hate having number gaps on my Criterion shelf. #firstworldproblems

1. I didn't mean that. What I did say was that the rumor was all the old Criterion/MGM distributed films were being rereleased. Why, because the word on the Criterion forum is Spellbound and Notorious are both being set for next year.

2. I heavily doubt that as most Criterion titles sell in low volume, and that would be one of their best sellers. Look at a lot of Criterion's announcements lately. Seems they are heavily concentrated on re releasing old spine numbers going further.

You just made it seem like the two things were related. I just wanted to clarify that the Rebecca rights (and the rights to the other two Hitchcocks and Straw Dogs) are separate from the MGM licensed titles (Silence of the Lambs, Robocop and Spinal Tap) so that people reading this would understand that one doesn't necessarily guarantee the other. Spellbound and Notorious are almost definitely coming because, again, Criterion reacquired those along with Straw Dogs and Rebecca from ABC (not MGM), likely as part of a package. Whether or not the other MGM titles come back probably has more to do with whether or not Criterion feels like it's worth it due to the fact that MGM will license just about anything to anyone at this point.

I think it was at one of their Wexner Center talks that this was brought up. I can't remember if it was Peter Becker or one of the producers, but that's what they said. I wish I could find the clip, but I don't think the streams for those events are archived anywhere. At the time (This was a few years ago. Maybe 2012 or 2013?) there was no new transfer available and there was nothing for them to add to the existing MGM blu-ray release in terms of extras. It would have essentially been the existing blu-ray re-released with a Criterion label.

The re-mastered Robocop BD is pretty awesome, but I would definitely be down for a Spinal Tap upgrade.

Barry Lyndon reviews are coming out. No one has stated if Criterion restored the correct WB logo.

Got Barry Lyndon. Not sure why exactly, but I like Kubrick, it is more revered now and sounds like some good extras. I think I saw a piece of it. Seemed fancyfree or maybe bad recollection. But, we’ll see...

I have the UK version that came with the mini-amp that goes to 11. It also restores the original audio commentary by the band over the menu that only the previously released DVD had. I remember being upset that when the U.S. BD of that film came out it was barebones and did not have the audio commentary over the menu.

January 2018 Announcements

Westfront 1918
The Breakfast Club
I, Daniel Blake
Kameradachaft
Claude Autant-Lara Eclipse Set
Young Mr. Lincoln

Definitely in for The Breakfast Club.

The Breakfast Club (1/2/18)
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
* 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
* Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray
* Audio commentary from 2015 featuring actors Anthony Michael Hall and Judd Nelson
* New interviews with actors Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy
* New video essay featuring director John Hughes's production notes, read by Nelson
* Documentary from 2015 featuring interviews with cast and crew
* 50 minutes of never-before-seen deleted and extended scenes
* Rare promotional and archival interviews and footage
* Excerpts from a 1985 American Film Institute seminar with Hughes
* 1999 radio interview with Hughes
* Segment from a 1995 episode of NBC's Today show featuring the film's cast
* Audio interview with Molly Ringwald from a 2014 episode of This American Life
* PLUS: An essay by critic David Kamp


Young Mr. Lincoln (1/9/18)
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
* New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
* New audio commentary featuring film scholar Joseph McBride (Searching for John Ford: A Life)
* Omnibus: John Ford, part one: director Lindsay Anderson's profile of the life and work of director John Ford before World War II
* Talk show appearance by actor Henry Fonda from 1975
* Audio interviews from the seventies with Ford and Fonda, conducted by the filmmaker's grandson Dan Ford
* Academy Award radio dramatization of the film
* PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien and an homage to Ford by filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein

I, Daniel Blake (1/16/18)
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
* New high-definition digital master, supervised by director Ken Loach, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
* Audio commentary from 2016 featuring Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty
* How to Make a Ken Loach Film, a 2016 documentary on the production of I, Daniel Blake, featuring interviews with Loach, Laverty, actors Dave Johns and Hayley Squires, director of photography Robbie Ryan, producer Rebecca O'Brien, and casting director Kahleen Crawford
* Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach, a 93-minute documentary from 2016, directed by Louise Osmond
* Deleted scenes
* PLUS: An essay by critic Girish Shambu
* Trailer

Westfront 1918 (1/30/18)
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
* New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
* Hour-long French television broadcast of World War I veterans reacting to the film in 1969
* 2016 interview with film scholar Jan-Christopher Horak
* New restoration demonstration featuring Martin Koerber and Julia Wallmüller of the Deutsche Kinemathek
* New English subtitle translation
* PLUS: An essay by author and critic Luc Sante

Kameradschaft (1/30/18)
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
* New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
* New interview with German film scholar Hermann Barth on the film's production
* 1988 interview with editor Jean Oser
* 2016 interview with film scholar Jan-Christopher Horak on the historical context of the film
* New English subtitle translation
* PLUS: An essay by author and critic Luc Sante and the 1930 story by Karl Otten on which the film is based

wow! The Breakfast Club sounds fantastic!!

Those are some great new extras on The Breakfast Club. Going to have to double dip on that one. Hopefully they do Sixteen Candles eventually as well.

I'm happy to double dip and support Criterion, but the least they could do is port over everything from the 30th Anniv disc, so their release could be the definitive version and I could get rid of the disc I have. I'm on the fence.

Soooooooo stoked about I, Daniel Blake though. As well as Young Mr Lincoln.