I'm not sure if the rumors are true or not, but Criterion has a habit of acquiring the rights to films and sitting on them for years and years. So even if you got confirmation, there's still no guarantee we'd see either of 'em anytime soon.

Criterion's December releases are usually thin.

Even if they do have the rights and really want to release them, they very likely could be facing issues finding good source elements for the transfer, or gathering material for the bonus features.

I'll take the Haneke trilogy. 71 Fragments is not as good as the other two.

The one that's interesting to me is The Velvet Underground, because that's an Apple TV+ movie. Makes me wonder if we might see other Apple TV+ movies released physically by Criterion, such as Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth.

I am a huge Velvet Underground fan, would anyone recommend the doc?

I'm a fan as well and watched it on Apple TV+. It's worth a watch for sure, but not necessarily compelling enough for me to want to revisit it again. I think it's very cool that Criterion is releasing it though and actually this one extra makes me want to own the disc:
Edit: Ok, after just watching the clip on Criterion's website, I kind of do want to watch the doc again. They were such a great band and I could listen to John Cale talk all day long. He's got a Herzog-ian voice that would be great for narration.

Is Cooley High worth a blind buy? That sounds interesting to me.

Yes. It's a great coming of age film.

My body, mind and soul are ready for the Criterion Lost Highway BD.

If you have HBO max, it's streaming there if you want to check it out

The three Haneke films are on Criterion Channel. I watched The Seventh Continent. Not one I'd ever revisit, but it was interesting. I started Benny's Video and got to the part where he brings the girl over to watch videos. Stopped there, but I know where that scene was headed. Haneke, man.... damn.
I'll finish it along with 71 Fragments, but I think I can safely say this is probably a trilogy I don't need to own.

recommend to watch, but not worth the buy. didn't elevate the material much more than a VH1 special.

January announcements are up on Criterion's website.

January 3rd: The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen (UHD)
January 10th: Imitation of Life
January 17th: Lars von Trier's Europe Trilogy
January 24th: This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection
January 31st: Bergman Island

Very excited for Bergman Island! I've been wondering why it didn't get a Blu release.

Nice to finally upgrade those von Trier films.

The Element of Crime was one of the very first Criterion dvds I ever bought back in the early 2000s. I still haven't watched it.

It was one of the first Criterions I bought as well. It was also the first DVD I returned (back then HMV accepted open DVDs for return/exchange).
It bored me to the point where I almost slipped into a coma.

I should have been more specific, and that is to say that I watched the first 15 or 20 minutes and fell asleep and never put it in again.

Along similar lines, I first saw Europa (under its original American release title, Zentropa) and thought it was one of the most idiotic movies I'd ever sat through. The premise of it seems to be "a Hitchcock movie, if Hitchcock were a total moron."

So, if you all remember my post ordering 7 discs from the last Criterion sale...all arrived scratched?
Well, one was a pre-order: Lost Highway

It arrived yesterday. Also scratched!



As a side note: My replacements all came ok, save for Night of the Living Dead (which had a minor scratch but I played it and it played ok so I decided to keep it instead of the hassle of exchanging with Unobstructed View again / Criterion itself sent me the Barry Lyndon replacement).

That's just bizarre. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd say UV is getting 'seconds' at a discounted price.

Ouch.
Yeah, the halcyon days of people gobbling up physical movies is long over.

I haven’t been excited about a Criterion announcement in ages. All the other boutiques are getting the cult classic titles and Criterion is stuck with the “academic” classics.

It’s no wonder they’re doing things like Wall*E (which I will be getting) but they also might need to consider adjusting their prices too.

To take away from the conspiracy Barry Lyndon was from Amazon.com so...

To add to it, each time I place a UV Criterion disc in my player it brings up DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE FROM BEFORE...