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Archive for the 'The Criterion Collection' Category

Underground Railroad, Bound, Blue Velvet 4K, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection June 2024

Coming in June from The Criterion Collection: Bound, Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s hyperstylish, sapphic heist thriller; Querelle, a delirious depiction of gay desire from Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Victims of Sin, a vibrant Mexican musical-melodrama-noir from Emilio Fernández; and The Underground Railroad, Barry Jenkins’s monumental reimagining of American history through the eyes of an enslaved woman. Plus: Blue Velvet, David Lynch’s unforgettable vision of innocence lost, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam’s feverish psychedelic odyssey—now on 4K UHD.

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The Heroic Trio / Executioners – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

At a time in the 80s/90s, when Hong Kong cinema was making names out of Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat, Donnie Yen, and many others, it’s not as though women were left out of the conversation. Already stars in their own right, the combined talents of Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, and Michelle Yeoh led to two very stylish, comic book and fantasy film-influenced films, The Heroic Trio and its sequel, Executioners. Both movies originally released in 1993; director Johnnie To has been honored by the Criterion Collection once again, with a 4K UHD released for both films in one killer set, complete with new transfers, extra features, and more.

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Anatomy of a Fall, Girlfight, Peeping Tom 4K & More Coming to The Criterion Collection May 2024

Coming this May: Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène, three powerful 1970s works by the trailblazing Senegalese auteur; Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet’s masterful examination of the line between truth and fiction; and Girlfight, Karyn Kusama’s singular tale of a young woman’s path to self-realization. Plus: a Blu-ray upgrade of A Story of Floating Weeds / Floating Weeds: Two Films by Yasujiro Ozu, a silent classic from one of cinema’s greatest directors alongside his color remake, and Peeping Tom, Michael Powell’s still-shocking masterpiece of British cinema, now on 4K UHD.

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Trainspotting – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

One of the best films of 90s British cinema, let alone the 90s in general, Danny Boyle’s sophomore effort, Trainspotting, is a well-respected cult classic for good reason. Along with helping break out Ewan McGregor (among others), this film has a terrific sense of style and kinetic energy that would define much of Boyle’s career while also capturing modern life for a particular generation. Seeing the Criterion Collection put out a 4K UHD release of the film brings me great joy, as it is a favorite of mine and can ideally inspire many to once again choose life, or at least choose 4K Blu.

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La Haine 4K, Picnic At Hanging Rock 4K & More Coming to The Criterion Collection April 2024

Coming this April: Werckmeister Harmoniesa hypnotic parable of societal collapse from auteur Béla Tarr and codirector-editor Ágnes Hranitzky; I Am Cuba, Mikhail Kalatozov’s dazzling work of radical political cinema; and Dogfight, a bittersweet tale of love and war in the 1960s, directed by Nancy Savoca. Plus: La HaineMathieu Kassovitz’s gritty landmark of 1990s French cinema, and Picnic at Hanging Rock, Peter Weir’s disquieting work of poetic horror, now on 4K UHD.

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Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

It’s a continual joy to know the Criterion Collection is happy to be in the Guillermo del Toro business, as the Oscar-winning filmmaker is so happy to delve into his films for the sake of having proper transfers, as well as deliver a bevy of extra content. Pinocchio, his latest Oscar-winning feature that was originally a Netflix streaming release (after a brief stint in theaters), is another example of how the fantasy-obsessed storyteller found a way to channel his imagination into material that seems so perfectly fitting for him. The results are a stunningly animated feature with a layer of darkness informed by history that allows for a unique approach to this classic tale. Now that it’s on 4K Blu-ray UHD, it’s only more apparent how beautifully crafted this film is.

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To Die For, Saint Omer, The Runner & More Coming to The Criterion Collection March 2024

Coming in March: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, a powerful documentary from Laura Poitras about art and activism; Saint OmerAlice Diop’s morally and emotionally complex courtroom drama; The Runner, Amir Naderi’s lyrical portrayal of childhood in postrevolutionary Iran, and To Die For, a deliciously subversive media satire from Gus Van Sant. Plus: All That Money Can Buy (a.k.a. The Devil and Daniel Webster), William Dieterle’s stylish take on the Faust legend, now on Blu-ray.

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Heroic Trio, Nothing But a Man, Altman 4K & More Coming to The Criterion Collection February 2024

Coming in February: Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons, a quartet of bittersweet tales about the follies of the human heart; The Heroic Trio / Executioners, two dazzling superhero sagas from martial-arts auteur Johnnie To; Nothing but a ManMichael Roemer’s civil rights–era American classic; and The Roaring Twenties, one of the most influential crime films of all time, directed by Raoul Walsh. Plus: Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Millera brilliant deglamorization of the American Western, now on 4K UHD. 

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Boyle, Akerman, Sayles, the Coens in 4K & More Coming to The Criterion Collection January 2024

Coming in January: Chantal Akerman Masterpieces, 1968–1978, the revolutionary first decade of a singular filmmaker; Mudbound, an American tragedy set in the Mississippi Delta of the 1940s, written and directed by Dee Rees; Trainspotting, the 1990s British indie phenomenon directed by Danny Boyle, and John Sayles’s Lone Star, a neo-western mystery set in a small Texas border town. Plus: Satyajit Ray’s milestone of world cinema, The Apu Trilogy, and Joel and Ethan Coen’s scorching neo-noir, Blood Simple—now on 4K UHD.

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Del Toro’s Pinocchio 4K, The Red Balloon & More Coming to The Criterion Collection December 2023

Coming this December: The Red Balloon and Other Stories, a collection of wide-eyed fantasies for the whole family, directed by Albert Lamorisse; and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the classic fable reinvented through boundary-pushing stop-motion animation. Plus: Blast of SilenceAllen Baron’s blackhearted noir set in Manhattan at Christmastime—now on Blu-ray.

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Jackie Chan, Socrsese 4K, Malick 4K & More Coming to The Criterion Collection November 2023

Coming this November: Jackie Chan: Emergence of a Superstar, a six-film, early-career celebration of the Hong Kong martial-arts phenom; Mean Streets, Martin Scorsese’s electrifying vision of sin and redemption; and La cérémonie, Claude Chabrol’s riveting study of class dynamics and the psychology of crime. Plus: Days of Heaven, Terrence Malick’s dreamlike turn-of-the-century idyll, and The Last Picture Show, Peter Bogdanovich’s aching portrait of a dying American West—now on 4K UHD.

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The Others, Freaks, Videodrome 4K & More Coming to The Criterion Collection October 2023

Coming this October: Freaks / The Unknown / The Mystic: Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers, three pre-Code spine-chillers from a master of the morbid; The Others, a gothic supernatural tale set on a remote country estate from Alejandro Amenábar; and Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny, a haunting modern-day fable of cultural dislocation in New York City. Plus: Videodrome, David Cronenberg’s ingeniously prescient 1980s body-horror vision, and Don’t Look Now, Nicolas Roeg’s unforgettably disturbing psychodrama—now on 4K UHD.


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La Bamba, Bowie, Princess Bride 4K & More Coming to The Criterion Collection September 2023

la bambaComing in September to The Criterion Collection: Brett Morgen’s ecstatic tribute to a shape-shifting rock iconoclast, Moonage Daydream; Luis Valdez’s rapturous biopic of a Mexican American musical trailblazer, La Bamba; and legendary director Orson Welles’s feverishly inspired take on Kafka, The Trial. Plus: Rob Reiner’s charming, endlessly quotable fairy-tale classic, The Princess Bride, and Nicolas Roeg’s hypnotic story of survival in the unsparing Australian outback, Walkabout—now on 4K UHD.

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Kurosawa, Wang, Widerberg & More Coming to The Criterion Collection August 2023

Coming in August: Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, a bittersweet family portrait by Wayne Wang set in San Francisco’s Chinese American community; Drylongso, a rediscovered 1990s treasure of dynamic DIY filmmaking by Cauleen Smith; and Bo Widerberg’s New Swedish Cinema, a quartet of poetic, political films by the pivotal Swedish auteur. Plus: Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams, a visually sumptuous journey through the imagination of the beloved director, now on 4K UHD.


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4Ks for After Hours, Breathless, One False Move & More Coming to The Criterion Collection July 2023

Coming in July: a selection of American classics including After Hours, a Kafkaesque NYC nightmare by Martin Scorsese; One False Move, a razor-sharp neonoir by Carl FranklinThe Watermelon Woman, a trailblazing Black lesbian meta-comedy by Cheryl Dunye; and The Ranown Westerns: Five Films Directed by Budd Boetticher, a collection of five taut, unexpectedly profound westerns starring Randolph Scott. Plus: the dazzling debut that helped launch the French New Wave, Breathless, by Jean-Luc Godard—now on 4K UHD.

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Small Axe – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)

It was an absolute delight to learn director Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology series would be coming to Blu-ray via the Criterion Collection. Aired as a 5-week event on the BBC in the U.K. and having debuted on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S., this was rightfully deemed event viewing in the realm of empowering stories addressing race relations during a particular time period in London’s West Indian community. Taken as a whole, Small Axe would emerge as my number one pick for the best 2020 had to offer, with at least two of the entries earning their regard as the best the decade will have to offer. This Blu-ray set features all five films, along with a lengthy documentary, proving to be one of the most exciting releases I was happy to get my hands on.

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Renoir, Jenkins, Gilliam & More Coming to The Criterion Collection June 2023

Coming in June: Medicine for Melancholy, the sublime San Francisco–set feature debut of love and connection by Barry Jenkins, rubs shoulders with The Servant, Joseph Losey’s savagely witty British class-war classic, while two favorites—The Rules of the Game, Jean Renoir’s merciless critique of French society, and Time Bandits, Terry Gilliam’s fantastic odyssey to the limits of the imagination—arrive on 4K UHD. Plus, our recently announced nine-film box set Pasolini 101!

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Hollywood Shuffle – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)

Fed up with his experiences as a black actor in Hollywood, comedian and performer Robert Townsend delivered his feature directorial debut built around those challenges. The result was 1987’s Hollywood Shuffle, a satirical and semi-autobiographical comedy reflecting what it meant to be a black actor that wasn’t Eddie Murphy or Denzel Washington at that time. The Criterion Collection has given this film proper treatment, complete with a new 4K digital transfer and a collection of extras to further expand Townsend’s vision, ideally opening it up to new audiences and reflecting how little things have changed. At the same time, a funny comedy is contained within, featuring many memorable moments and characters.

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