Archive for the 'The Criterion Collection' Category
January 18th, 2022 by Aaron Neuwirth
In April, Jayne Mansfield rocks Frank Tashlin’s jukebox musical The Girl Can’t Help It with a who’s who of 1950s radio idols, and bebop legend Dexter Gordon anchors one of the most beloved jazz films ever made, Bertrand Tavernier’s ’Round Midnight. A stunning 2020 debut from Lagos, Nigeria, Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) brings a neorealist eye to the modern megacity, while the original neorealist, Vittorio De Sica, offers up a special-effects-laden fairy tale, Miracle in Milan, set in a postwar shantytown. Plus: a 4K UHD release of the best moon movie ever made, For All Mankind, and a Blu-ray upgrade of Alex Cox’s daring, subversive, unforgettable biopic, Walker.
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Continue reading ‘Walker, Miracle in Milan, Round Midnight & More Coming to The Criterion Collection April 2022’
December 22nd, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
“I think I’ve figured out how to shrink this thing down.” What a foolish thing I told myself, once again… This is the first full year I’ve had to enjoy not only new Blu-ray releases but 4K UHD discs as well. Having all the modern format options like my fellow Why So Blu writers (in addition to a region-free player) has allowed me the optimal viewing experience to go along with these excellent releases. As usual (see: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020), this list has a key rule – I have to have gone through the disc as far as assessing the audio and video quality, along with the special features available. There are releases that I’m sure are terrific, but I just haven’t had the time to watch everything (I mainly focused on the ones I knew would satisfy the most). With that said, I have plenty of bonus sections as well. So, here we go!
Continue reading ‘Super-Sized Top Ten: Aaron’s Exceptional 4K & Blu-ray Picks For 2021′
December 15th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming in March: The Last Waltz, a genre-defining concert doc by music lover Martin Scorsese; Adoption, the 1976 stunner that made Hungarian auteur Márta Mészáros the first woman to win the coveted Golden Bear; love jones, Theodore Witcher’s singular tale of Black love and poetry in 1990s Chicago; and The Flight of the Phoenix, a psychologically charged Saharan survival epic featuring World War II flying ace James Stewart and an all-star cast. Plus: Le cercle rouge, Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterpiece of cool crime cinema, starring Alain Delon, returns to the Collection, now in 4K UHD.
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Continue reading ‘The Last Waltz 4K, Le Cercle Rouge 4K & More Coming to The Criterion Collection March 2022’
December 12th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
Upon hearing the announcement of The Criterion Collection’s first set of 4K UHD Blu-ray releases, I was excited by all that was being offered (Citizen Kane! Menace II Society II), but I was most interested in seeing The Red Shoes in 4K. Looking at the list of archival releases put out in 4K in this year alone, I had little doubt that Criterion’s 4K presentation of the classic Powell and Pressburger drama would be the technicolor feast I had hoped for. I was not wrong. Without putting down the other recent 4K releases from Criterion (the ones I’ve seen are pretty great), The Red Shoes looks stunning. It also happens to be a spectacular feature, with sequences representing some of the best that cinema offers.
Continue reading ‘The Red Shoes – The Criterion Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)’
November 15th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
In February, The Criterion Collection is bringing out two classics of romance and melodrama, Leo McCarey’s Love Affair and Douglas Sirk’s Written on the Wind; the Coen brothers’ Prohibition-era gangster saga, Miller’s Crossing; and Ann Hui’s heartrending, humanist look at the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Boat People.
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– Continue reading ‘Miller’s Crossing, Love Affair & More Coming to The Criterion Collection February 2022′
October 15th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
This January, the Criterion Collection is ringing in the New Year with major works by three fiercely imaginative women filmmakers: The Piano, Jane Campion’s sensual tale of a woman’s inner awakening, now in 4K UHD; Dick Johnson is Dead, Kirsten Johnson’s inventive, deeply moving love letter to her father; and Time, Garrett Bradley’s poetic look at one family and the devastating toll of mass incarceration. Plus: Thomas Vinterberg’s lacerating chamber drama The Celebration, which launched the Dogme 95 movement, and the 4K UHD release of A Hard Day’s Night, Richard Lester’s wildly entertaining Beatles showcase.
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Continue reading ‘The Beatles, Dick Johnson, The Piano & More Coming to The Criterion Collection January 2022’
September 15th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming to the Criterion Collection this December, Academy Award-winning actor Regina King, in her directorial debut, brings to cinematic life an imagined 1964 meeting between four African American icons in One Night in Miami…, and renowned photographer turned filmmaker Gordon Parks weaves a spellbinding coming-of-age story in The Learning Tree—the first Hollywood studio film by a Black director. And Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s singular Technicolor fantasia The Red Shoes arrives in dazzling 4K Ultra HD.
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Continue reading ‘One Night In Miami, The Red Shoes 4K & More Coming to The Criterion Collection December 2021’
August 31st, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
Following the announcement of the Criterion Collection’s first set of 4K UHD releases, we now have an update regarding the Safdie’ Brother’s acclaimed 2019 film, Uncut Gems. The Adam Sandler-starring thriller, which was already set to come out this year, has been upgraded to a 4K release, complete with new artwork as well. The 4k UHD + Blu-ray combo will arrive in stores and online on November 23. Continue on to catch up on all the supplements and more arriving with this release.
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Continue reading ‘**UPDATE** Criterion Announces Uncut Gems 4K For November – This Is How They Win’
August 16th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
The 4Ks are coming! This November, Orson Welles’s dazzling debut Citizen Kane will appear in a deluxe edition, eighty years after it changed the course of cinema history and thirty-seven after it launched Criterion’s laserdisc line. The raw and riveting first feature by Albert and Allen Hughes, Menace II Society sent shock waves through American cinema and hip-hop culture with its searing portrait of life and death in Watts, Los Angeles. Our box set Once Upon a Time in China: The Complete Films collects one of the pinnacles of Hong Kong cinema’s golden age, a series that launched Jet Li to international fame and set a new standard for martial-arts spectacle thanks to brilliant director Tsui Hark. Appearing on standalone Blu-ray for the first time, Federico Fellini’s heart-wrenching fable La strada cemented its director’s poetic vision of life as a bittersweet carnival. And David Lynch’s surreal, enthralling masterpiece Mulholland Dr. will debut in 4K Ultra HD, marking Criterion’s entry into the format along with Citizen Kane and Menace II Society.
Continue reading ‘Citizen Kane 4K, Once Upon A Time In China & More Coming to The Criterion Collection November 2021’
August 11th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
After years of waiting for a push to the 4K UHD Blu-ray format, the Criterion Collection is thrilled to announce their 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 their November 2021 announcement next week, with others to follow in subsequent months.
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– Continue reading ‘CITIZEN KANE & More To Lead The Criterion Collection’s First 4K Slate’
July 18th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
The great thing about this surprise Criterion Collection choice, Bill Duke’s 1992 undercover cop thriller Deep Cover, is that it’s a great film, regardless of its placement in Criterion’s extensive library. As much as I dig the collection, it’s not hard to see a curious lack of films directed by Black Americans. Whether or not this is the first in a series of attempts to help change up that balance (remember, a Melvin Van Peebles box set is coming soon), getting a chance to revisit this well made 90s film was certainly worthwhile, and the work done to restore the movie has paid off immensely.
d Continue reading ‘Deep Cover – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
July 15th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
This October, the Safdie brothers will join the Criterion Collection with their acclaimed adrenaline rush of a thriller Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler in a manically brilliant dramatic role. Humphrey Bogart gives a star-making turn alongside Ida Lupino in the gritty crime picture High Sierra, directed by action-movie master Raoul Walsh. A highlight from the early career of Satyajit Ray, Devi stages the clash between faith and reason as a sublime and shattering fable. Pulp master Jack Arnold’s existential sci-fi classic The Incredible Shrinking Man deploys ingenious special effects to ask what it means to be human. And that’s not all: Kaneto Shindo’s chilling erotic folktale Onibaba and Lynne Ramsay’s hauntingly beautiful coming-of-age tale Ratcatcher will make their Blu-ray debuts.
Continue reading ‘Uncut Gems, High Sierra & More Coming to The Criterion Collection October 2021’
June 15th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
This September, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s groundbreaking coming-of-age film and beloved sports romance Love & Basketball will join the Criterion Collection in a new restoration. Never before available on home video, the genre-blending judo tale Throw Down is a perfect introduction to Hong Kong’s most prolific and offbeat auteur, Johnnie To. Luchino Visconti’s most savagely subversive film, The Damned traces the rot of Nazism through the decline of one decadent family. And Neil Jordan’s Mona Lisa, a dreamlike journey through London’s criminal underworld starring an Oscar-nominated Bob Hoskins, will appear on Blu-ray. Plus: our previously announced box set Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films celebrates a cinematic renegade whose uncompromising vision established a new model for Black creative independence.
Continue reading ‘Love & Basketball, Mona Lisa & More Coming to The Criterion Collection September 2021’
June 10th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
Presenting the latest box set from The Criterion Collection: Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films. Director, writer, composer, actor, and one-man creative revolutionary Melvin Van Peebles jolted American independent cinema to new life with his explosive stylistic energy and unfiltered expression of Black consciousness. Though he undeniably altered the course of film history with the anarchic Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, that pop-culture bombshell is just one piece of a remarkably varied career that has also encompassed forays into European art cinema (The Story of a Three Day Pass), mainstream Hollywood comedy (Watermelon Man), and Broadway musicals (Don’t Play Us Cheap). Each facet of Van Peebles’s renegade genius is on display in this collection of four films, a tribute to a transformative artist whose caustic social observation, radical formal innovation, and uncompromising vision established a new cinematic model for Black creative independence. Also included in the set is Baadasssss!, a chronicle of the production of Sweet Sweetback made by Van Peebles’s son Mario Van Peebles—and starring the younger Van Peebles as Melvin.
Continue reading ‘The Criterion Collection To Deliver The One-Man Revolution: Melvin Van Peebles: Four Films’
June 8th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
When considering the racy nature of Merrily We Go To Hell, it’s interesting to think about how long certain struggles have been going on within a media-driven culture. While one can look to the 1960s and 70s to get more of an idea of what women went after during the counter culture days, it’s not like Susan B. Anthony didn’t accomplish plenty in the 1910s and 20s. Merrily We Go To Hell is similarly tackling early-feminist ideas on the modern marriage. The film arrived in 1932, long before growing reactions became more common coming out of the conservative American 50s. The Criterion Collection has now delivered the Dorothy Arzner-directed film on a new Blu-ray, with some extras providing further insight into what the movie was commenting on.
– Continue reading ‘Merrily We Go To Hell – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
May 30th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
What a picture! That can apply to many of these great releases from the Criterion Collection, but 1947’s Nightmare Alley is quite the film noir. This Edmund Goulding classic features Tyrone Power, cast against type, as a traveling con man who experiences both a rise to the top and a descent to the bottom. It’s an expertly crafted feature, with several solid performances and enough going on to provide a terrific reminder of how effective a movie can be when relying merely on atmosphere and angst to craft genuine thrills. This new Criterion Blu-ray features a fantastic new restoration and a nice collection of extras to go with it.
– Continue reading ‘Nightmare Alley – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
May 17th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
This August, the Criterion Collection will take you behind the scenes of a legendary Broadway recording with D. A. Pennebaker’s classic documentary Original Cast Album: “Company”—a holy grail for musical-theater aficionados featuring Stephen Sondheim, Harold Prince, and Elaine Stritch—never before available on Blu-ray. Also new to Blu-ray, After Life, the international breakthrough from acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda, asks: If you could choose only one memory to hold on to for eternity, what would it be? Cary Joji Fukunaga’s harrowing vision of the horrors of war and lost innocence, the visceral child-soldier saga Beasts of No Nation, debuts on home video. Plus, Andrzej Wajda’s gripping masterpiece of Polish cinema Ashes and Diamonds gets a Blu-ray upgrade.
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Continue reading ‘Sondheim, Fukunaga, Kore-eda & More Coming to The Criterion Collection August 2021’
April 19th, 2021 by Aaron Neuwirth
Making its return to the Criterion Collection with a Blu-ray upgrade, Anthony Mann’s 1950 western, The Furies, has arrived in a new packed set, featuring the fierce film, a cleaned-up transfer, a collection of extras, and the full 1948 novel on which the film is based. That’s certainly one way to appreciate this “Freudian Western” that pits an all-in Barbara Stanwyck against veteran Oscar-winner Walter Huston in his final performance.
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– Continue reading ‘The Furies – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
In April, Jayne Mansfield rocks Frank Tashlin’s jukebox musical The Girl Can’t Help It with a who’s who of 1950s radio idols, and bebop legend Dexter Gordon anchors one of the most beloved jazz films ever made, Bertrand Tavernier’s ’Round Midnight. A stunning 2020 debut from Lagos, Nigeria, Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) brings a neorealist eye to the modern megacity, while the original neorealist, Vittorio De Sica, offers up a special-effects-laden fairy tale, Miracle in Milan, set in a postwar shantytown. Plus: a 4K UHD release of the best moon movie ever made, For All Mankind, and a Blu-ray upgrade of Alex Cox’s daring, subversive, unforgettable biopic, Walker.
