Archive for the 'The Criterion Collection' Category
January 15th, 2025 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in April: Anora from The Criterion Collection, a whirlwind anti–Cinderella story, and Prince of Broadway, a moving exploration of the illusory nature of the American dream, from the singular modern auteur Sean Baker; Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring, a sprawling tale of greed and betrayal amid the French countryside, directed by Claude Berri; and Basquiat, Julian Schnabel’s impressionistic portrait of the celebrated artist. PLUS: Ugetsu, an exquisite ghost story directed by Kenji Mizoguchi; Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express, a defining work of 1990s cinema; and Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot, one of the funniest, most beloved films of all time—now on 4K UHD.
Continue reading ‘Anora, Basquiat, Chungking Express 4K, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection April 2025’
December 27th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Sitting as one of the premiere entries in their filmography, if not the greatest one they’ve made, No Country for Old Men is an incredible film from Joel and Ethan Coen. Adapted from the 2005 novel by the late Cormac McCarthy, this neo-noir western thriller finds the brothers exploring fate, self-determination, nihilism, and circumstance, not unlike many of their other features but handled brutal sincerity and pitch-black humor. The film would go on to be one of the Coens’ biggest successes in terms of both box office and critical acclaim, as it would go on to win many major awards, including Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The Criterion Collection has now seen fit to bring this masterpiece to 4K, complete with a terrific new transfer and a few new extras. That’s good enough for a coin toss.
Continue reading ‘No Country for Old Men – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
December 13th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in March to the Criterion Collection: A Woman of Paris, Charlie Chaplin’s long-overlooked silent masterpiece; Godzilla vs. Biollante, a high point in the mythology of the King of the Monsters, directed by Kazuki Omori; Night Moves, Arthur Penn’s haunting 1970s neo-noir; and Choose Me, a seductive neon dream about human desire, directed by Alan Rudolph. PLUS: Michael Mann’s Thief, the American auteur’s stylish debut, and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear, one of the greatest thrillers ever made—now on 4K UHD.
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Continue reading ‘Godzilla vs. Biollante, Night Moves, Thief 4K and More Coming to The Criterion Collection March 2025’
December 1st, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Like Godzilla, the other Criterion Collection film recently released on 4K UHD, Seven Samurai also turns 70 this year. It’s been treated to a full-on 4K restoration that was toured worldwide in theaters. Often regarded as the “Best Japanese Film of All Time” and one of the greatest and most influential films in cinema history, Akira Kurosawa’s epic samurai action classic is easily one of my favorite films. Whether it’s the story, the characters, the action, the grand sweeping nature of the film, or just the excitement and fun that comes with this story, it is satisfying in pretty much any way I look at it, along with being as essential as plenty of other classics, be it Citizen Kane, The Battle of Algiers, or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now presented with a new restoration, the film looks better than ever at home, with the continued presence of the terrific extras that have accompanied previous releases.
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Continue reading ‘Seven Samurai – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
November 29th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
At this point, it’s pretty clear that I’m happy to talk about anything Godzilla-related. I’ve written my share of posts on Why So Blu regarding the King of the Monsters. The original 1954 Gojira was previously released by the Criterion Collection on Blu-ray over a decade ago at this point, followed by a massive Showa Era collection release for Criterion’s #1000 spine. A 4K upgrade for director Ishiro Honda’s classic made plenty of sense. Fortunately, it delivers as well as it can. Along with maintaining the fun extras from the previous release, this newest version has stomped its way onto a UHD disc and looks and sounds excellent as a result.
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Continue reading ‘Godzilla – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
November 18th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming to the Criterion Collection in February: King Lear, Jean-Luc Godard’s radical anti-adaptation of Shakespeare; Crossing Delancey, a love letter to 1980s Manhattan directed by Joan Micklin Silver; Drugstore Cowboy, Gus Van Sant’s lyrical Pacific Northwest addiction drama; and Performance, a transgressive journey to the dark side of London bohemia, directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg. Plus: Cronos, Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy about the seductiveness of immortality, and Punch-Drunk Love, the giddily off-kilter romantic comedy from Paul Thomas Anderson, now on 4K UHD.
– Continue reading ‘Jean-Luc Godard, Gus Van Sant, Paul Thomas Anderson and More Coming to The Criterion Collection February 2025’
October 15th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in January from the Criterion Collection: The Mother and the Whore, the long-unavailable 1970s magnum opus from Jean Eustache; Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, a lacerating self-portrait by legendary comedian Richard Pryor; The Grifters, Stephen Frears’s pulpy, dark-hearted neo-noir; and Winchester ’73, Anthony Mann’s landmark, genre-redefining western. Plus: Yojimbo/Sanjuro, two of the most iconic and influential samurai films, by Akira Kurosawa, now on 4K UHD.
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– Continue reading ‘The Grifters, Winchester ’73, Yojimbo 4K, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection January 2025′
September 16th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in December: No Country for Old Men, Joel and Ethan Coen’s riveting West Texas borderlands noir, and Eastern Condors, Sammo Hung’s bazooka blast of Hong Kong action spectacle. Plus, now on 4K UHD: Paris, Texas, a visually exquisite study of a drifter in the American Southwest, directed by Wim Wenders, and Federico Fellini’s 8½, one of the greatest films about film ever made.
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Continue reading ‘Coens, Fellini, Wenders & Hong Coming to The Criterion Collection December 2024’
August 15th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in November to the Criterion Collection: Funny Girl, a musical screen debut for the ages, directed by William Wyler; Paper Moon, one of American cinema’s unlikeliest criminal double acts, directed by Peter Bogdanovich; Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, a swooning monster movie with a heart; Scarface, Howard Hawks’s gangster film that set the standard for the genre; and, now on 4K UHD, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, one of the most thrilling warrior epics of all time, and Ishiro Honda’s Godzilla, a cult phenomenon that spawned over thirty sequels. Plus, our recently announced forty-film CC40 box set!
– Continue reading ‘4Ks For Seven Samurai, Godzilla, Paper Moon & More Coming to The Criterion Collection November 2024’
July 15th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in October from The Criterion Collection: I Walked with a Zombie / The Seventh Victim, a pair of moody horror milestones from visionary producer Val Lewton; Demon Pond, a folk-horror fantasia from Japanese New Wave renegade Masahiro Shinoda; and Gummo, a transgressive portrait of angelic and devilish souls in America’s rural underbelly from Harmony Korine. Plus: Pandora’s Box, a sensationally modern melodrama from master of early German cinema G. W. Pabst—now on Blu-ray.
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Continue reading ‘Harmony Korine, Val Lewton, Pabst & More Coming to The Criterion Collection October 2024’
July 13th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
It was an absolute pleasure to review The Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray release of this film back in 2017, and now here we are again with the 4K UHD release. Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï is one of a couple of films from this timeframe that brought a modern sense of cool to practically all the movies about contract killers, hitmen, and assassins that proceeded it (I would also look to Point Blank and Tokyo Drifter). Thanks to a blend of elegance, straightforward storytelling, well-handled tension, and pitch-perfect lead performance, Le Samouraï is a true masterpiece that skillfully blends 40s gangster/noir sensibilities and the evolving nature of 60s new wave cinema. Now on a 4K Blu-ray and presented in HDR, the film can be experienced and enjoyed on an even grander level.
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Continue reading ‘Le Samouraï – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
June 17th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in September to the Criterion Collection: Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, a trio of films from the New Queer Cinema renegade; All of Us Strangers, Andrew Haigh’s metaphysical exploration of queer love and loneliness; and Happiness, Todd Solondz’s disturbingly funny portrait of middle-class suburbia. Plus: The Long Good Friday, John Mackenzie’s landmark of British crime cinema, and Repo Man, Alex Cox’s quintessential 1980s cult comedy—now on 4K UHD.
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Continue reading ‘Araki, Cox, Solondz 4Ks & More Coming to The Criterion Collection September 2024’
May 15th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in August: Brief Encounters / The Long Farewell: Two Films by Kira Muratova, two long-suppressed features by the fearless Ukrainian iconoclast; Not a Pretty Picture, a metacinematic experiment in recreating trauma from Martha Coolidge; Real Life, a satirical mockumentary about attempting to document the life of an ordinary American family, from Albert Brooks; and Mother, a comic portrait of a struggling novelist who decides to move back in with his mother, also from Brooks. Plus: The Last Emperor, Bernardo Bertolucci’s powerful Academy Award–winning epic set in Qing-dynasty China—now on 4K UHD.
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Continue reading ‘Bertolucci, Brooks, Coolidge & More Coming to The Criterion Collection August 2024’
April 30th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Originally released in America as its translated title, “Hate,” director Mathieu Kassovitz’s brilliant 1995 social thriller, La Haine, has endured for a few reasons. It’s not because of the alarming tone the title implies but because the film is a well-produced commentary on urban riots in France, as well as an engaging character piece, expertly studying the cultural volatility of the times while finding some ways to derive entertainment value, in addition to the stylish filmmaking on display. The film has received multiple releases from the Criterion Collection. Now, it has found its way to a 4K UHD Blu-ray release, allowing the film to look and sound better than ever. Of course, not much else has changed, but that includes the effectiveness of this film.
– Continue reading ‘La Haine – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
April 15th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming to The Criterion Collection in July: Black God, White Devil, Glauber Rocha’s blistering existential western from Brazil; Perfect Days, a serene ode to everyday life in Tokyo directed by Wim Wenders; Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Sam Peckinpah’s blood- and dust-caked elegy for the American West; Farewell My Concubine, a breathtakingly intimate saga in twentieth-century China, directed by Chen Kaige; and Risky Business, Paul Brickman’s sly satire about a suburban Chicago prepster. Plus: Le samouraï, Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterpiece of cool about a contract killer with samurai instincts, now on 4K UHD.
– Continue reading ‘Peckinpah, Wenders, Melville 4K & More Coming to The Criterion Collection July 2024’
April 7th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
Originally known as The Devil and Daniel Webster, based on the original 1936 short story by Stephen Vincent Benét, All That Money Can Buy was previously released by the Criterion Collection in 2003 on DVD. This Blu-ray release, featuring a brand-new 4K restoration, looks to bring new life to the Oscar-winning 1941 supernatural feature. Its presentation of a Faustian-like bargain through the lens of 19th-century America has an interesting place in history, and I was pretty fascinated with how this whole thing played out. On top of that, this new home release has plenty of worthwhile extras to accompany the feature. It’s quite the deal (fortunately not with the Devil).
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Continue reading ‘All That Money Can Buy – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
March 15th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
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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Continue reading ‘Underground Railroad, Bound, Blue Velvet 4K, and More Coming to The Criterion Collection June 2024’
February 27th, 2024 by Aaron Neuwirth
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.
– Continue reading ‘The Heroic Trio / Executioners – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
Coming in April: Anora from The Criterion Collection, a whirlwind anti–Cinderella story, and Prince of Broadway, a moving exploration of the illusory nature of the American dream, from the singular modern auteur Sean Baker; Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring, a sprawling tale of greed and betrayal amid the French countryside, directed by Claude Berri; and Basquiat, Julian Schnabel’s impressionistic portrait of the celebrated artist. PLUS: Ugetsu, an exquisite ghost story directed by Kenji Mizoguchi; Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express, a defining work of 1990s cinema; and Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot, one of the funniest, most beloved films of all time—now on 4K UHD.
