sorry, those images are too small, can't tell what it is. Can you post bigger ones please?

Looks normal on my phone.

So what, you stole that disc from Netflix?

Nah, I just kept it and they charged me like $14.99.

Criterion's opening UHD salvo for 2024:





...and their BD-only January releases:

Sometimes you wish the closet pick videos were feature length :

And another cult movie icon visits the closet, at 97 years old! No stories he hasn’t told before, but glad he’s still around to tell them again.

One of my San Diego Comic-con memories was years ago, I was walking the exhibit floor. Surprisingly, there was Roger at a booth. I wasn't expecting him to show up so I didn't have a movie for him to sign but I said hello. I can't remember why he was there but it was cool to see him.

Finally on The Heroic Trio / Executioners!

Heroic Trio/Executioners looks interesting, I might grab that during the next sale.

I’m definitely disappointed in the extras for this set. I’m actually relieved, though, that there’s no commentary, as I don’t see Sam Deighan as an expert on Hong Kong cinema and culture so much as someone who gets to widen her cred as an overall film scholar with gigs like this, so an interview segment is probably fine. And interviews with Anthony Wong have historically been hit or miss, so I hope Criterion’s contractors were able to catch him in the right frame of mind to be interesting. And just trailers beyond that? When these movies came out, the three leads were at peak popularity in Hong Kong and across the diaspora (and the then-fanbase of HK cinema in the west). While it was inevitable that none of them would be available for interviews (Anita’s dead, Maggie’s pretty reclusive, and Michelle’s undoubtedly busy) but this would’ve been an ideal opportunity for a featurette devoted to the positions these three held in the industry at that time (with clippage). I’m sure Deighan will delve into it in addition to whatever discussion she provides about Johnnie To’s career and style as well as presumably exploring the general underperformance of sci-fi films in HK cinema (including these two), but really a standalone video essay on the actresses within their industries (keeping in mind that Anita Mui was the top pop star at the time) would’ve been a worthy value add to this long-expected double feature.

Given the high profile of the first film at the time, regardless of its ultimate box office fate locally, and of the three leads teaming up, surely there was contemporary making-of footage or interviews that could’ve been accessed? I feel like the folks at Eureka or 88 Films might have gone down that rabbit hole.

Hopefully you'll find yourself along me in the minority camp that much prefers the bleaker Executioners, although both are great films.

Knew these were coming when we screened them at my film festival a year ago and both began with the Janus Films logo.

I legit screamed when I saw Nothing But a Man listed. I love this film so much I've written about it, twice.

Props to Udo for bringing out two laserdiscs. I own both, even though I've since upgraded my copies of the films to Blu-Ray.

Kinda prefer the first one, I’m afraid, but by a small margin. I found the tonal shift between the movies and their characters too jarring, I suppose. I’ve always given To credit, though, for making EXECUTIONERS bleaker than TRIO simply because there was little else like it in HK cinema at the time. Parts of it almost felt like more experimenting to find the ‘style’ which eventually gelled several years later.

I got these on Tai Seng VHS back in the day (which I believe were letterboxed), followed by their Laserdiscs when I could afford them, then non-anamorphic and later anamorphic DVDs from HK, so I’m still looking forward to the Criterion set. I just wish it was more of a ‘final’ edition, because now I’m certain one of the UK labels will take a crack at them later on.

Fucking hell. "Texasville" looks GLORIOUS in black and white. It takes on a whole new life. This is how it should have been released in theaters. Sure, it's not in the same league as "The Last Picture Show", but I enjoyed it. It was a just little too sitcomish and over the top here and there, specifically all that crying. But it was a fine sequel. And I loved revisiting this town and these characters. I consider "The Last Picture Show" as the one of the greatest American films ever. And it's a top 10 favorite of mine. I didn't get to see it until the 80's because I was a kid when it was originally released.

McCabe in 4k is nice.

I didn't see it posted with the other January releases (unless I missed it), but I see that Lone Star has a 4K/BD release as well.

^ I take it that artist has never seen a human skull before?

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say the skull is only half buried. The lower jaw is in the dirt.

The occipital openings still seem off kilter, like it melted from the heat but bone wouldn’t do that from just sun exposure.

It looks like the skull is on its side, facing the viewer. I wonder if the artist started painting it facing straight up and then changed course without completely redrawing it, changing the second eye socket into the zygomatic and temporal bones on the fly.

I still have my Heroic Trio/The Executioners Universe Laser/Media Asia DVDs that I picked up in Hong Kong many years ago. I haven't watched them in years though.

The extras don't look very compelling, but I will happily upgrade these on Criterion. Now we need an upgrade of Saviour of the Soul

I’m probably in the minority, but I’m not a fan of To Do For. I think I saw it once on DVD and just didn’t resonate with it. Although I’m not really a fan of quirky dark comedies.