Criterion Additions

So not "out of print" like Nashville et al. but "CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE" like Eddie Coyle

I can't find the post now, but there was another CriterionForum user reckoning that "Currently Unavailable" just means between pressings, and it's happening with more titles because of Covid-related issues at pressing plants, where priority is given to new titles and repressing for the time being is reserved for faster sellers. A relatively obscure title like Medium Cool just isn't a priority for them right now.

JUNE: Pariah; Streetwise/Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell; The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs; Visions of Eight; and upgrades of Pickup On South Street and The Human Condition Trilogy.

Good news about Streetwise. I remember renting a creaky VHS copy for the ILX '80s filmpoll back in the day.

Yeah I caught that at a rep screening in September 2019. Great, great movie. Excited to see the follow-up.

You can get the Medium Cool blu-ray at Barnes and Noble if you don't mind paying MSRP. I'm going to email Criterion and ask what's up with that title in particular; they're usually pretty forthcoming when asked.

Also, it's happening less now since they're mostly finished, but if a title was released during the period when blu-rays were released in dual format (bundled with a DVD), they would go temporarily OOP while they were repackaged as blu-ray only.

That's exciting news about Streetwise, I've been wanting to see that for decades.

I'd never heard of Pariah but the clip on the Criterion site looks gorgeous

"Hi Ryan,
Thank you for writing to us!

MEDIUM COOL Blu-rays are due to be available again on our site the mid April:
https://www.criterion.com/films/28426-medium-cool
The title is not due to be out of print.

As a note, any time that we sell out of a film and we still have the distribution rights for it, we will always produce more inventory. You'll know a title is due to be restocked in the future when you see "Currently Unavailable" or "On Back-order" on the film's page. Titles that have sold out and for which we no longer hold the rights will be designated as "Out of Print" (OOP).

As I think you're aware, the following titles recently went out of print for us due to licensing:
DAYS OF HEAVEN
DON'T LOOK NOW
HAROLD AND MAUDE
LA DOLCE VITA
NASHVILLE
ROSEMARY'S BABY

As usual, if we should ever recover the rights to any of our out-of-print titles, we will happily re-release them.
We do not typically disclose things that are about to go out of print, but I can assure you that there is nothing else in our catalog that is due to be OOP in the near future.

That said, obviously if there's something you've had an eye on, it's always a good idea to purchase it sooner than later, as we do not announce upcoming OOP status or packaging changes.

Hope this puts your mind at ease but please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Best,
Kseniya

really glad I snagged a Harold & Maude from B&N right after this went down

oh hell yeah

https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/4430-streetwise-tiny-the-life-of-erin-blackwell

I don't know if I'm ever going to stop kicking myself for selling my Chungking Express disc right before the particulars of the Wong Kar-Wai box set were announced >_<

Stopped at the Tupelo B&N today while running errands and snagged their last (only) La Dolce Vita blu. I don't even like Fellini -- I may leave it sealed and try to flip it for $$$ at some point.

WKW thing comes out today !

caught streetwise / tiny double feature early last year and I think of different things from streetwise all the time

like the prisoner dad at his son's open casket funeral and in that moment he mainly just wants to drink soda

July: La Piscine, Bringing Up Baby, Deep Cover, Working Girls, and...Mirror!!!

Their last two months' slates seem to indicate they took that NYT article from last year to heart. Good!

I know it's not universally beloved around here (xpost ;) but I am very excited they're doing BUB

The cover of Deep Cover is awesome, but I don't remember that being particularly good. It has been a long time though: it's quite possible I saw it on VHS

Bringing Up Baby and Mirror have been expected for years, right?

I keep waiting in vain for Trouble in Paradise to get an upgrade, gahdamn glaring hole in my Lubitch collection, grumble grumble

There must be a reason for that--I'd figure there's no way they would upgrade Heaven Can Wait before TIP if they had the option

There was just some discussion about upgrading Trouble In Paradise over on the Criterion Forum: apparently the elements were an issue, but technology has advanced enough that a restoration premiered in '18, and a European Blu is due in May.

MIRROR

The cover of Deep Cover is awesome, but I don't remember that being particularly good. It has been a long time though: it's quite possible I saw it on VHS

I saw it recently and it's got that urban dystopia vibe that a lot of action films from that era have, bordering on horror in its OTTness. The twist I guess is that it inserts some pretty explicit black militant and leftist messages into that context. I've seen ppl try to reclaim it as a noir but eh, it has voiceover but just feels too operatic for the genre. A curio rather than a masterpiece imo but definitley worth seeing and at this stage I have little investment in Criterion only putting out masterpieces - impossible if they keep doing complete editions of directors anyway, no matter how canonical.

AUGUST: Beasts of No Nation; Original Cast Album Company; After Life; and a Blu Upgrade of Ashes and Diamonds.

I was already going to get Company anyway, but that they included Co-Op and the cast reunion thereof just makes it an essential purchase.

Melvin Van Peebles box set in September.

True to form, Criterion knew that I had a DVD copy of Watermelon Man sitting in an online shopping cart. Thankfully for once they dropped the announcement before I pulled the trigger.

Titles Included: The Story of A Three-day Pass; Watermelon Man; Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song; and Don't Play Us Cheap

https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/4787-melvin-van-peebles-four-films

Oh, and Baadasssss!

Yeah, I was planning to buy a DVD copy of that one, as well.

"story of a three-day pass" was my first movie back in the theater last month! it's slight and some of the acting is not great but there are fun french new wave-influenced experiments throughout

and great music

In addition to the Van Peebles set, September will bring us Love and Basketball, Throw Down, The Damned, and Mona Lisa.

(PS The first word I saw in the announcement email was 'basketball' and I initially misread it as 'BASEketball'.)

Genuinely thrilled to see Love and Basketball in the collection.

Yeah, loved that movie

BORDER RADIO: THE LONG RIDE OF AN L.A. CULT CLASSIC

Now in the Criterion Collection

https://pleasekillme.com/border-radio-cult-classic/

ope, 50% sale at Barnes & Noble! I just scooped the new WKW box, which is out of stock but also half-off on Amazon.

Did some Criterion half-off crimes today at the Tupelo B&N: The Gunfighter, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Flowers of Shanghai, Rushmore, Memories of Murder, Destry Rides Again, The Furies. (lol @ me hating westerns as a kid)

October: Onibaba (my patience has paid off! now upgrade Jigoku!), Uncut Gems, Devi, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Ratcatcher, High Sierra

Arrow issued an Incredible Shrinking Man blu ray (I guess region 2 only) not that long ago, complete with the obligatory Tim Lucas commentary track, so I don't think I need another edition of that. Similarly,. the Eureka/Masters of Cinema Onibaba is good enough for me.

High Sierra is bundled with Colorado Territory Walsh's own Western remake from 1949.

4K ANNOUNCEMENTS 4 NOVEMBER (& BEYOND): Citizen Kane; Menace II Society; The Piano; The Red Shoes; A Hard Day's Night; and Mulholland Dr.

We’re thrilled to announce Criterion’s first 4K Ultra HD releases, a six-film slate that includes Citizen Kane, Menace II Society, The Piano, Mulholland Dr., The Red Shoes, and A Hard Day’s Night. The first of these editions and their special features will be detailed in our November 2021 announcement next week, with others to follow in subsequent months.

The most dazzling debut in cinema history, Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane was Criterion’s first laserdisc release 37 years ago. It now rejoins the library after a long absence, making its first appearance in 4K Ultra HD along with Allen and Albert Hughes’s riveting breakthrough Menace II Society; Jane Campion’s Academy Award–winning The Piano, starring Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin in her breakout role; David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr., a tale of love and jealousy in the city of dreams; Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s singular Technicolor fantasia The Red Shoes; and Richard Lester’s timeless movie musical A Hard Day’s Night, which brought the Beatles’ revolutionary talent and irreverent humor to the big screen.

Each title will be available in a 4K UHD+Blu-ray combo pack including a 4K UHD disc of the feature film as well as the film and its special features on Blu-ray. Select films will be presented in Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos. Stay tuned for more details in our November announcement!

oh god am I actually going to buy The Red Shoes a third time? I guess I should be thankful I don't own the right equipment for 4K at present lol. Glad they're including the blu-ray discs

Also, I'm sure these are brain-meltingly gorgeous, but I hope they also at some point upgrade all the b&w P&P dvds, preferably in a boxed set with Edge of the World and The Spy in Black while I'm daydreaming

What do we think they'll charge for these?

My guess, just a guess, would be $50 MSRP.

The Red Shoes is an auto upgrade no matter what.

NOVEMBER: Once Upon A Time In China box set; Citizen Kane; Menace II Society; a Blu upgrade of La Strada; and Mulholland Dr. on 4K.