They'll never catch me, man, cause I'm fuckin innocent!

Will get back to this, have to finish OT and then end it with Rise of Skywalker (3D)

Director Wong Kar-Wai oversaw some major restorations to his films. Reception I've read so far has been negative.




What remains unknown if Criterion will be releasing just the new versions, or if both the new and original cuts will be on the discs.

I was really looking forward to this set, but the more I see, the more it feels like a disaster waiting to happen. Glad I didn't sell off my standalone blus for In the Mood for Love and Chunking Express.

I sold my Kino Fallen Angels and Happy Together discs. I feel like I'm gonna end up regretting it.

The Criterion Blu Ray I want most right now is The Bad Sleep Well...

I seriously doubt I'd buy that set. Just way too much fiddling around, especially the new "consistent" titles, the apparent cuts (?) to at least one film, that weird spot-colorization/decolorization shit on FALLEN ANGELS, and the sickly yellowing of IN THE MOOD. Was he just making work for himself because he was bored during the pandemic? Perhaps he's too old now to make actual new films? It's been seven years, so one wonders. Surely he knew there would be massive blowback on this, even if he is entitled to treat them as he pleases. I agree, the previous Criterions of IN THE MOOD and CHUNGKING are now keepers, as rocket noted above, as are the earlier Kinos of HAPPY TOGETHER and FALLEN ANGELS, I suspect.

His closing comments about "these are not the same films and we are no longer the same audience" is beyond pretentious. He really thinks "we" are craving rebuilt versions of his key films and are just dying to join him as he "starts afresh"?

Those screenshots are certainly worrying. Like many, I was really looking forward to that set. I tend to be a little more forgiving than most with some of the color timing updates that other directors have done in the past, but this update looks really extreme. He should call William Friedkin and ask him how it went when he gave the French Connection a fresh new look.

Do you think the people at Ritrovata just sit around every day scratching their heads wondering why no one else in the world has figured out that every movie ever made has a yellow tint? Every time Warner Archive or the Film Foundation or whoever put out an amazing new restoration are they just like "Wrong! What a bunch of dummies!"?

TIFF's 'Cinematheque' up here is offering one-week digital screenings of the WKW restorations, but at $13.55 CDN I can't be bothered. However, I can imagine plenty of house-bound people will take the plunge without having seen – or being able to remember – the originals, and they probably won't suspect that something's amiss. Really, though $93 CDN to rent seven movies is ridiculous, even if some of it does go to assist TIFF (not sure if it does). Their email blast rather cagily states that each film comes with over two hours of bonus features, but in reality all six films come with the same bonus features: a lengthy Chris Doyle interview conducted at TIFF some time back, and a WKW A-Z by one of their programmers.
https://digital.tiff.net/page/tiff-c...eque-presents/

I'm hopeful that Criterion will release a Kurosawa box set like they did for Berman and Felini.

They that DVD set a bunch of years ago, but I agree. I have most of Kurosawa's films now, but I'd easily pay for a complete filmography box set and donate my existing discs to the library.

Just received The Irishman today. Was checking out the bonus content and noticed they edited 4 minutes of the roundtable discussion with Scorsese, DeNiro, Pacino & Pesci which was previously on Netflix and titled In Conversation .This one is 19 minutes, but the original is almost 24 minutes.

Sounds like the longer one is a Netflix "exclusive."

And it is listed as:

• Newly edited roundtable conversation among Scorsese and actors Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, originally recorded in 2019

Like others, I was looking forward to that Wong Kar Wai set but I'm very happy I didn't sell off any of my BDs or DVDs.

I haven't been to Cinematheque Ontario in years, since it was up at the AGO. What does a regular movie ticket cost nowadays, BrianT?

I haven't seen a Criterion Blu-ray in a long-time (sure i buy the ones i love, but haven't, for reasons i have yet to discern, actually watched them) and I am so sorry I didn't. Moonstruck is a revelation. It looks so fucking good and sounds so fucking amazing. It is a sublime movie that got a sublime treatment. If anyone who doesn't have this and loves this movie, this is the version to get. Short of 4K, obviously, this movie looks stunning. Absolutely stunning for a 33 year-old movie. Just glorious. I'm going to make it a point to watch more Criterions if the transfers are this fantastic. I saw the movie in a whole new light and loved it all over again.

Couldn't tell you offhand. Been a few years since I've attended an official "Cinematheque" screening, and that was at the Lightbox not Jackman Hall, so prices have probably changed since then. Outside of the festival, I usually don't differentiate between 'programs' when I see stuff there. If it looks interesting, or has guests I'm willing to listen to, or makes for an enjoyable date night, I'll pay the going rate. Mind you, I suspect it'll still be a while before that happens.

With his lush and sensual visuals, pitch-perfect soundtracks, and soulful romanticism, Wong Kar Wai has established himself as one of the defining auteurs of our time. Next March, we are celebrating his swoon-worthy cinema with the most comprehensive box set of his work ever released, including new 4K digital restorations of his acclaimed feature films As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, and 2046.

This deluxe set also contains an extended version of Wong’s 2004 short film The Hand, a new Q&A with the director, archival interviews, making-of documentaries, deleted scenes and alternate endings, a French-fold book featuring lavish photography, an essay by critic John Powers, six collectible art prints, and much more.

• New 4K digital restorations of Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love and 2046, approved by director Wong Kar Wai, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks
• New 4K digital restorations of As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• New program in which Wong answers questions submitted, at the invitation of the director, by authors André Aciman and Jonathan Lethem; filmmakers Sofia Coppola, Rian Johnson, Lisa Joy, and Chloé Zhao; cinematographers Philippe Le Sourd and Bradford Young; and filmmakers and founders/creative directors of Rodarte Kate and Laura Mulleavy
• Alternate version of Days of Being Wild featuring different edits of the film’s prologue and final scenes, on home video for the first time
• Hua yang de nian hua, a 2000 short film by Wong
• Extended version of The Hand, a 2004 short film by Wong, available in the U.S. for the first time
• Interview and “cinema lesson” with Wong from the 2001 Cannes Film Festival
• Three making-of documentaries, featuring interviews with Wong; actors Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Chang Chen, Faye Wong, and Ziyi Zhang; and others
• Episode of the television series Moving Pictures from 1996 featuring Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle
• Interviews from 2002 and 2005 with Doyle
• Excerpts from a 1994 British Film Institute audio interview with Cheung on her work in Days of Being Wild
• Program from 2012 on In the Mood for Love’s soundtrack
• Press conference for In the Mood for Love from the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival
• Deleted scenes, alternate endings, behind-the-scenes footage, a promo reel, music videos, and trailers
• PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including a perfect-bound, French-fold book featuring lavish photography, an essay by critic John Powers, a director’s note, and six collectible art prints

Release: 3/23/21
https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/41...f-wong-kar-wai

So no Ashes of Time and no alternate versions except for Days of Being Wild. There isn't even a single mention of the fact that the Fallen Angels "restoration" is a completely new presentation of the movie.

I want to love this set so badly, but unfortunately it's going into the "wait and see pile". If the 6 films aside from Fallen Angels are presented as they should be (questionable color timing changes aside), I'll probably pick this up at some point. I still have my original In the Mood For Love and Chunking Express discs if need be.

Ashes of Time is getting a release if you want to import:
Welcome to joyful online shopping!

It’s weird though because it is mentioned in the notes WKW put out. It is also part of the retrospective that is playing in virtual theatres.

What a clusterfuck. I love WKW, but I have no interest in revisionist versions of his films.

I just double checked the TIFF retrospective of his films and ASHES isn't there. Maybe it's only in certain cities or countries? I can kind of see it being left out as the others are all set in contemporary times (or close enough to it), and collectively can sort of be perceived as inhabiting the same universe, a way of thinking that Wong is clearly trying to reinforce with the matching title screens, recolouring, etc.

Also, that Korean ASHES Blu-ray is just the Redux version. While I didn't dislike it, I still prefer the original, but after seeing what Wong's doing with his other films, the odds of seeing the original ASHES restored on Blu-ray are probably nil.

As for the Criterion box, zero interest here. Way too much revisionism, as mentioned before, and that packaging looks about as flimsy (fancy designs and lush photography notwithstanding) as the Bruce Lee set which I also can't be bothered with. This growing aversion to plastic is silly. It wouldn't be so bad if they produced sets with plastic cases in solid hard-stock cases, similar to Arrow.

At this rate, it seems likely that MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS may one day stand as the only film that Wong hasn't decided was supposed to be something else entirely long after he made it. Or . . . will it?

What a bummer. Looks like I'll have to rebuy the Kino discs and be content with my 2046 dvd.