MON ONCLE ANTOINE / JutraHIGH AND LOW reissue / KurosawaTRAFIC / Tatiand the biggie (for me, at least)...
VAMPYR / DreyerSpecs & such through the links.
It should be noted that
Masters of Cinema will have their VAMPYR disc out in July or August, sourced from the same telecine; they haven't announced their extra features yet.
Is it me, or does it seem that Criterion's releases are getting to be a little tired? Re-releases of their old titles; films which are already out on DVD in other regions; those tiresome seen-that-design-variant-before photoshop covers (although the cover for TRAFFIC is a belter!)
In my mind they were superceded by Masters of Cinema as the number 1 quality niche DVD company a while ago. I would be very surprised if their version of VAMPYR was superior than the MOC version.
Any thoughts, anyone?
| QUOTE |
| In my mind they were superceded by Masters of Cinema as the number 1 quality niche DVD company a while ago. I would be very surprised if their version of VAMPYR was superior than the MOC version. |
The MOC releases are looking very nice but are they still releasing VAMPYR? I ask because I don't see the cover anymore in their catalogue (it used to be there). I don't remember what Spine # it was supposed to be but there are a lot of blank ones. Maybe they're redesigning the cover. The Criterion specs look great for this title, though. The liner notes only reprint "Carmilla" to compare to the screenplay but the film actually drew from more than one story in IN A GLASS DARKLY (I think some prints say that its based on that rather than specifically "Carmilla").
One thing I'm not liking is their digipack cases. I prefer the plastic ones, even the thin ones.
| QUOTE (Martin Brooks @ Apr 18 2008, 03:41 AM) |
| Is it me, or does it seem that Criterion's releases are getting to be a little tired? |
Hmm. I'm 50/50 on that. Most of the re-releases seem completely justified and vast improvements, and there are some things - M, THE THIRD MAN, the Kurosawas - that I've simply accepted I will buy over and over forever. In a given month approximately half the titles are still must-owns, which seems par for course.
Their cover art has always been a mixed bag, some designers leaning heavily on design software, some on illustration. The number of evocative-still-with-title slapped-on designs has generally decreased since the DVD line began.