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The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

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The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Old 05-03-12, 10:10 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD
Criterion is so hipster nowadays. "Dude, I just scored Spine 352! Let's go be ironic at the local Starbucks wearing are skinny jeans rolled up and thick glasses even those we have lasik!"
Who gives a shit? The Third Man is a great movie. If hipster sheep want to watch it, more power to 'em.
Old 05-03-12, 10:11 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by Doctorossi
Who gives a shit? The Third Man is a great movie. If hipster sheep want to watch it, more power to 'em.
Sure, if hipsters had $150 to purchase the Criterion Blu-ray. But that's far too ironic for them, don't you think?
Old 05-03-12, 10:25 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD
I don't, however, think that everything Criterion releases deserves the appreciation some give them. Lots of artsy fartsy flicks that are just not very good, IMO. It's an opinion - much like slop101 has for Harold and Maude.
Well, you're right that it's an opinion. It does seem a strongly generalized opinion, since, as I said above, those "artsy-fartsy" films actually cover a whole variety of styles and filmmaking eras, and the only thing they share in common is the Criterion banner. In other words, there's a huge difference between, say, Bresson and, say, Suzuki. Many of these films weren't considered "artsy" when they were first released, and they're only called that now because they're old and foreign. That is to say, filmmakers like Renoir and Kurosawa and Clouzot and De Sica and Visconti and Lang and Clair were actually pretty mainstream (at least within their native countries) back in their day.
Since Criterion typically releases films the big studios won't touch, you are probably in the minority of thinking Criterions releases are "good" movies. Because if they were, they would be released by the respective studios so they could earn the profit from them (since many were flops). Shit, this isn't Battlefield Earth discussion.
In other words, you have no idea how film distribution works. Good to know.

There's a lot that's wrong here, but I'll try to clear up some misconceptions.

A. What world do you live in where Hollywood decides what to release based on how good a film is? But yes, we're "in the minority" of thinking these movies are good - but only in the sense that most people haven't seen the movies. On the other hand, judging by things like IMDb ratings and critics' "greatest movies" lists, ours is the majority opinion among those who have actually seen the films. Which is a far more interesting and relevant way of judging such things.

B. Much of the time, it's not that the major studios sold or gave away the rights to these films because they decided most people didn't like them - it's that they never owned them in the first place. In many cases, Criterion's sister company, Janus Films, outright owns the rights to these films - and that's been the case since they were founded in the 1950s. And since Janus is still around more than 50 years later, I imagine that distributing these films has actually been profitable for them. For the record, back in the 60s people would line up around the block to see the latest Fellini or Antonioni or Truffaut or Bergman. They didn't do as well as the Hollywood blockbusters, but they could sometimes still rake in a few million dollars.

C. If you look internationally, many of these films are still being distributed by their "respective studios" - within their native countries. Toho and Shochiku are, in fact, releasing DVDs of films by Kurosawa and Naruse and Ozu and Kinoshita. Same goes for a lot of the French studios, a lot of the German studios, etc. Just like how Warner and Universal and Paramount have actually released a lot of classic films from their own catalogs (even if they still have a lot of work to do on that front.)

D. A lot more goes into the major studios' decision-making processes than whether or not people like a film. That's why Battlefield Earth has a DVD release, but The Wind - which is generally regarded as one of the greatest of all silent films - does not. That's why it took so long for The African Queen to get a DVD release. That's why the first Best Picture winner, Wings, just barely became available. It's not because most people have seen The Wind and disliked it, but rather the studio has deemed a release of it "economically unsound." Silent and foreign films - no matter how great - just aren't going to sell as well as modern Hollywood product.

E. There's a whole world of genuinely great films - you would probably call them "artsy-fartsy" - that the major studios don't own and that, even if they did, they would deem too "obscure" for a DVD release. That's where great companies like Criterion and Masters of Cinema and Blue Underground and Flicker Alley and Kino and Second Run and Artificial Eye and BFI step in.
Criterion is so hipster nowadays. "Dude, I just scored Spine 352! Let's go be ironic at the local Starbucks wearing are skinny jeans rolled up and thick glasses even those we have lasik!"
Yes, we get it - you feel a lot of animosity towards hipsters. Your fictional scenario still doesn't make an effective condemnation of Criterion, nor does it prove that Criterion is "so hipster."

Last edited by Sondheim; 05-03-12 at 11:44 AM.
Old 05-03-12, 10:35 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

do people still care about the Spine numbers? I thought that was more in the DVD era. I think it kind of died down. CC hitting the BD era has gotten more...open w/ their selection choices.
Old 05-03-12, 10:54 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by Solid Snake PAC
do people still care about the Spine numbers? I thought that was more in the DVD era. I think it kind of died down. CC hitting the BD era has gotten more...open w/ their selection choices.
I thought this was the only reason why people collect Criterion's. Or maybe it's the hippy crowd at Starbucks that do that. I dunno know anymore...
Old 05-03-12, 10:55 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by Solid Snake PAC
CC hitting the BD era has gotten more...open w/ their selection choices.
Good news, Gizmo- maybe their ratio will go down to only 94% crap!
Old 05-03-12, 10:59 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by trespoochies
I thought this was the only reason why people collect Criterion's.
I don't know about collecting them. I buy them and watch them... but only when they're movies I want to own.

Hey, guess what? I just realized I have the same policy with every other Blu-ray distributor, as well! CrAzY!!!
Old 05-03-12, 11:14 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

But you only like them and want to own them because they have a spine number - before Criterion, nobody liked directors like Kurosawa or Fellini or Antonioni or Tarkovsky or Bergman or Bresson or Dreyer or Powell or Ozu or...
Old 05-03-12, 11:18 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by Sondheim
But you only like them and want to own them because they have a spine number - before Criterion, nobody liked directors like Kurosawa or Fellini or Antonioni or Tarkovsky or Bergman or Bresson or Dreyer or Powell or Ozu or...
Ok, you got me.

I'm just waiting for all the other distributors to catch on. Add spine numbers and I'll collect them all!!!

The Criterion CollectionTM - When baseball cards are just too inexpensive
Old 05-03-12, 11:53 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

I'm collecting the Criterion movies that interest me. Would I know of their existence if Criterion hadn't released them? For a good portion, probably not. Does it diminish the quality of the films in any way? Not at all.

If I were rich, I would buy all of them in a heartbeat. Not because I'm artsy-fartsy or an ironically Starbucks going hipster, but because of the ones I have watched, not a single one of them didn't hold some sort of merit that justified a purchase.
Old 05-03-12, 11:54 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by Sondheim
But you only like them and want to own them because they have a spine number - before Criterion, nobody liked directors like Kurosawa or Fellini or Antonioni or Tarkovsky or Bergman or Bresson or Dreyer or Powell or Ozu or...
I've gotten into the habit of just calling the directors by their spine numbers. It's easier than pronouncing their crazy names, anyway.
Old 05-03-12, 11:56 AM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

From the speculation thread on the Criterion Forum:
Small bit of news that everyone pretty much knew was coming out, but I can confirm that Heaven's Gate is coming out on Criterion through my source.
Old 05-03-12, 12:04 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

It's still just a rumor at this point, but I can confirm that spine number 2719 is coming out on Blu-ray! Wahoo! Gentlemen, get your Starbucks cards ready.
Old 05-03-12, 12:43 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

The only thing worse than hipsters are people who complain about hipsters.
Thinking you are better than someone else because you do or don't like a specific thing is one of the basic qualifications of being a hipster.
So basically GizmoDVD is a hipster and hates himself. He should probably start buying criterions.
Old 05-03-12, 01:21 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

If you own Criterion Collection DVD/Blu Rays you are not a hipster...

...but if you bought Tiny Furniture you are definitely a hipster.
Old 05-03-12, 02:14 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

"[Something] is so fucking hipster..." = "Lots of people seem to enjoy something I don't, and I'm way too insecure in my own convictions to accept it..."

Seriously, the whole "Criterion fans are mindless sheep who only buy things with a spine number" was played out in 1998... people are still arguing that position?
Old 05-03-12, 02:18 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by Hokeyboy
Seriously, the whole "Criterion fans are mindless sheep who only buy things with a spine number" was played out in 1998... person is still arguing that position?
Fixed.
Old 05-03-12, 03:30 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD
Since Criterion typically releases films the big studios won't touch, you are probably in the minority of thinking Criterions releases are "good" movies. Because if they were, they would be released by the respective studios so they could earn the profit from them (since many were flops).
That's quite possibly the dumbest thing ever posted in this thread. Equating Hollywood with good movies is rich. I have 2 words for you: Adam Sandler.

But I shouldn't be surprised...

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD
Let's go be ironic at the local Starbucks wearing are skinny jeans rolled up and thick glasses even those we have lasik!"
Are Jeans, Even those? Really?
Old 05-03-12, 03:57 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by jwstl
That's quite possibly the dumbest thing ever posted in this thread. Equating Hollywood with good movies is rich. I have 2 words for you: Adam Sandler.
Come on u knew this was coming

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_Prp615mmDk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Funny that's the last thing you would imagine Dr. House being called
Old 05-03-12, 07:30 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD
....and yet i just posted that I enjoyed Harold & Maude and The Graduate. I watch - and own - plenty of films from before the 80's. I don't, however, think that everything Criterion releases deserves the appreciation some give them. Lots of artsy fartsy flicks that are just not very good, IMO. !"
Name some Films that Criterion released that you think aren't very good.
Old 05-03-12, 07:56 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Better not be any Kurosawa that he doesn't like. That's like what? 50% of CC?

on a serious note..I really wish they had all his films.
Old 05-03-12, 08:13 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by Arpeggi
Name some Films that Criterion released that you think aren't very good.
[raises hand] 'Life During Wartime' ... ... sorry, that's my go to answer for this question.

Last edited by Giles; 05-03-12 at 08:34 PM.
Old 05-03-12, 08:32 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

The "hipster" comment and Gizmo's love for Wes Anderson flicks is hilarious and shouldn't be lost on anyone.
Old 05-03-12, 08:45 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by GizmoDVD
That's pretty much what I think of 95% of the crap that Criterion releases. Artsy fartsy flicks that the local hipster sitting at Starbucks being ironic would watch.
Originally Posted by Arpeggi
Name some Films that Criterion released that you think aren't very good.
Well, according to his previous post, 95% of the stuff Criterion releases is crap. According to Criterion's website, it has 175 Blu-ray releases. Maybe it would be easier to ask him to name the 5% percent he does like. That shouldn't be too hard.
Old 05-03-12, 08:50 PM
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re: The Criterion Collection 4K/Blu-ray Discussion and Release Thread

Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt
The "hipster" comment and Gizmo's love for Wes Anderson flicks is hilarious and shouldn't be lost on anyone.
Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second. He's a Wes Anderson fan making comments like this? That puts his hipster remarks into a completely different perspective. For the record, I'm a Wes Anderson fan, too.

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