Archive for the 'The Criterion Collection' Category
September 4th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
Coming at audiences with a one-two punch this month from The Criterion Collection is a double-dose films from famed and once-blacklisted director Jules Dassin. Both The Naked City and Brute Force have finally been given the Blu-ray upgrade, and what fantastic work it is to see these 70+-year-old films get proper treatment in their restorations. Speaking to 1947’s Brute Force specifically, this prison-set crime drama stars Burt Lancaster in a movie that may feel somewhat standard these days. However, the intensity for its time makes for a good watch and a still-relevant critique of the American incarceration system. This new Blu-ray presentation features the film, complete with a terrific restoration and more.
– Continue reading ‘Brute Force – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
August 18th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
This November, the Criterion Collection will bring Martin Scorsese’s elegiac, Academy Award–nominated mob epic The Irishman to home video in an edition featuring extensive interviews with the cast and crew and behind-the-scenes programs on the film’s production. An Oscar-winning Cher stars alongside Nicolas Cage in the beloved romantic comedy Moonstruck, appearing in a new 4K restoration. Claudia Weill’s trailblazing Girlfriends, an independent classic that has become a touchstone for subsequent generations of filmmakers, will appear on Blu-ray for the first time. Forest Whitaker stars in Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Jim Jarmusch’s radically eccentric take on the hit-man thriller, appearing in a new 4K restoration approved by the director. And that’s not all: our previously announced Essential Fellini centenary box set brings together fourteen films from one of art-house cinema’s most legendary showmen, including new 4K restorations, feature documentaries, extensive supplements, deluxe packaging, and much more!
Continue reading ‘Irishman, Ghost Dog, Moonstruck & More Coming to Criterion Collection November 2020’
August 11th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
Joining in the international celebration of
Federico Fellini’s 100th birthday,
Criterion is thrilled to announce
Essential Fellini, a fifteen-Blu-ray box set that brings together fourteen of the director’s most imaginative and uncompromising works for the first time. Alongside new restorations of the theatrical features, the set also includes short and full-length documentaries about Fellini’s life and work, archival interviews with his friends and collaborators, commentaries on six of the films, video essays, the director’s 1968 short
Toby Dammit, and much more.
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July 15th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
This October, Bong Joon Ho’s international sensation Parasite, winner of the Palme d’Or and four Academy Awards, will join the Criterion Collection in a director-approved edition packed with special features. Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones star in Claudine, a big-hearted romantic comedy that empathetically explores Black working-class life, with a chart-topping soundtrack composed by Curtis Mayfield and performed by Gladys Knight & the Pips. Henry King’s morally complex western The Gunfighter, starring Gregory Peck in an elegiac twist on the genre, will appear in a new 4K restoration. And that’s not all: Jean-Luc Godard’s era-defining road trip Pierrot le fou returns to the Collection in a new restoration; and Stephen Frears’s taut, stylish thriller The Hit makes its Blu-ray debut.
Continue reading ‘Parasite, Claudine, The Gunfighter & More Coming to The Criterion Collection October 2020’
July 11th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
Here’s another screwball classic getting the Blu-ray upgrade from The Criterion Collection. The Lady Eve is a wonderful romantic comedy about a con gone wrong due to feelings getting in the way. Preston Sturges is in peak form with this film, knocking it out the same year as another one of his classics, Sullivan’s Travels. The combined screen energy from Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda is already enough to deliver something worthwhile, but thanks to sharp writing and a sense of poignancy, the film has many raising it to much higher ground.
– Continue reading ‘The Lady Eve – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
June 15th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
This September, Claire Denis’ long-unavailable, ravishingly sensual masterpiece Beau travail will join the Criterion Collection in a new, restored 4K digital transfer. Turning forty this year, David Lynch’s atmospheric, Oscar-nominated The Elephant Man, stars John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins in the poignant true story of John Merrick. Never before available on home video, the full version of Francesco Rosi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli is a revelatory humanist epic set in the dark days of fascist Italy. Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project No. 3 will gather six newly restored gems from around the world: Héctor Babenco’s Pixote, Humerto Solás’s Lucía, Usmar Ismail’s After the Curfew, Bahram Beyzaie’s Downpour, Med Hondo’s Soleil Ô, and Juan Bustillo Oro’s Dos Monjes. And that’s not all: two hard-hitting noir classics from genre master Jules Dassin, Brute Force and The Naked City, will make their Blu-ray debuts in new restorations.
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Continue reading ‘Scorsese, Lynch, Dassin & More Coming to The Criterion Collection September 2020’
May 15th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
This August, Paul Schrader’s seductive thriller
The Comfort of Strangers– adapted by Harold Pinter from the novel by Ian McEwan- will join the Criterion Collection in a new 4K restoration. A landmark of poetic realism that went on to influence the French New Wave, Jean Renoir’s Provence-set drama
Toni will make its first appearance on Blu-ray and DVD. Also debuting on home video is Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker’s
Town Bloody Hall, an electrifying record of second-wave feminism and its discontents that captures a legendary 1971 debate between Norman Mailer and four prominent female thinkers and activists. Volker Schlöndorff and Margarethe von Trotta’s urgent political thriller
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum will also debut on Blu-ray. Plus, our
previously announced fifteen-Blu-ray box set The Complete Films of Agnès Varda will collect the life’s work of an artist who never stopped expanding the notion of what a movie can be.
Continue reading ‘Renoir, Schrader, Varda & More Coming to The Criterion Collection August 2020’
May 11th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
The
Criterion Collection is celebrating the boundless creative vision of
Agnès Varda with a comprehensive collection of her genre-blurring, culture-shaping films. Bringing together all thirty-nine of her features, shorts, and documentaries for the first time, this fifteen-Blu-ray box set also contains extensive special features- many created by Varda herself- including introductions to the films, interviews with and tributes from family and friends, once-banned and unfinished works, behind-the-scenes footage, archival programs, and more. The edition is accompanied by a lavishly illustrated 200-page book, with notes on the films and essays on Varda’s life and work, as well as a selection of her photography and images of her installation art.
The Complete Films of Agnès Varda captures the restless curiosity and radical imagination of a true original who invented a new cinematic language.
Continue reading ‘This August – The Criterion Collection Celebrates THE COMPLETE AGNÈS VARDA, A 15-Disc Collectors Set’
April 15th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
This July, Byron Haskin’s genre-defining sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds, an Oscar-winning adaptation of H. G. Wells’s influential novel, will join the Criterion Collection in a new 4K restoration. One of the most acclaimed films of 2019, Noah Baumbach’s bittersweet Marriage Story will make its home-video debut in an edition featuring behind-the-scenes footage and extensive interviews with the cast and crew. The battle of the sexes takes a breezier turn in Preston Sturges’s screwball classic The Lady Eve, starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, which will appear on Blu-ray for the first time. Also making its Blu-ray debut is Abbas Kiarostami’s Palme d’Or-winning masterpiece Taste of Cherry, a gorgeously complex meditation on mortality. And that’s not all: our previously announced Blu-ray box set Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits will collect five kung-fu classics starring the international martial-arts legend, along with a dizzying array of supplemental features.
Continue reading ‘Marriage Story, War of the Worlds & More Coming to The Criterion Collection July 2020’
April 13th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
The Criterion Collection couldn’t be more excited to announce our tribute to the life and work of the iconic Bruce Lee with five dazzling, action-packed kung-fu landmarks starring the international martial-arts legend. Capturing Lee at the height of his artistry and superstardom, this seven-disc Blu-ray box set is loaded with special features, including alternate versions of the films, interviews with Lee’s collaborators and admirers, documentaries about his life and philosophies, commentaries, promotional materials, and so much more! Coming this July, Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits is a collection of high-flying classics from the ultimate fighter, whose unmatched persona and influence in cinema live on.
– Continue reading ‘The Criterion Collection Tribute to BRUCE LEE: HIS GREATEST HITS, A 7-Disc Collectors Set of Kung-Fu Classics’
April 10th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
Back in the 00s, after years of short films and performance art, Miranda July wrote and directed her first feature film, Me and You and Everyone We Know. The offbeat comedy-drama was met with a lot of acclaim, including a win for the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It has since held a lot of respect for arthouse film fans, while July has continued producing films and being involved in various projects. The Criterion Collection now has a Blu-ray upgrade for the feature, complete with a set of extras that include some of July’s shorts, and more.
– Continue reading ‘Me and You and Everyone We Know – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
March 18th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
This June, Elem Klimov’s long-unavailable masterpiece Come and See, a harrowing child’s-eye vision of World War II, will join the Criterion Collection in a new 2K restoration. Céline Sciamma’s ravishing romance Portrait of a Lady on Fire, one of the most acclaimed films of 2019, will appear on home video for the first time. Buster Keaton will join the Collection with The Cameraman, a riotous farce that finds the silent-screen legend at the peak of his slapstick powers, appearing in a landmark 4K restoration. Jill Clayburgh embarks on a journey of self-discovery in Paul Mazursky’s heartfelt character study An Unmarried Woman, making its Blu-ray debut. And that’s not all: Tokyo Olympiad, Kon Ichikawa’s visually astonishing documentary about the 1964 Olympic Games, will appear on Blu-ray in a stunning 4K restoration. Continue reading ‘Sciamma, Keaton, Mazursky & More Coming to The Criterion Collection June 2020’
March 16th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
If ever there was a movie ready for re-examination, it’s Spike Lee’s Bamboozled. A theatrical bomb with audiences, and the recipient of mixed reviews from critics, there’s no denying a lack of ambition on Lee’s part with a film satirizing racism in American pop culture, but was the film ahead of its time or a misguided way to tackle the system? Lee has a way of taking big swings and landing them every so often. Perhaps The Criterion Collection putting out this film now is a way of showing audiences what Lee was up to back in 2000, showing just how tapped into the continued issues of the day he was aware of. Of course, being aware of certain problems doesn’t mean putting them on display automatically makes the film great. Still, it’s hard to ever say Lee isn’t trying.
Continue reading ‘Bamboozled – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
February 27th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
In considering how to adequately express my admiration for director Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the nature of epics. From a general sense of the term, classifying this Polish romantic drama as an epic would disregard some of the typical elements of this categorization. Cold War is half the length of a standard epic, with a budget that would hardly cover the catering for Middle Earth. However, the span of time covered in this film and the sweeping nature of the romantic bond shared between the two lead characters feel like more than enough reason to place this film in that realm. There’s also the backdrop of the Cold War in Europe, which is never removed from the narrative. Regardless, even if one wants to justify calling Cold War a piece of science fiction, it doesn’t take away from just how stunning a feature this is. Now The Criterion Collection has put out a terrific release for one of my favorite films from 2018.
Continue reading ‘Cold War – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
February 25th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
I was elated when The Criterion Collection announced When We Were Kings as an upcoming entry, complete with a brand-new restoration and extras to go with it. It is one of my favorite documentaries, as it does a great job tracking a meaningful event in sports history. The film puts some of what made Muhammad Ali the man that he was on display and adds in plenty of interviews from those who knew him and had thoughts on his legacy. There’s a lot to take in, and even with so many documentaries that have since covered the legendary heavyweight champion, this 87-minute documentary is both incredibly entertaining and full of insight.
– Continue reading ‘When We Were Kings – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
February 23rd, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
I suppose I have a bit of a Scottish blindspot (at least with older Scottish films). I was not aware of Local Hero until The Criterion Collection announced it. By all accounts, it’s a well-regarded film that many celebrate writer/director Bill Forsyth for, but it went unknown to me until recently. Fortunately, I found a lot to like about what this quaint film had to offer, beyond the idea of seeing Burt Lancaster, Wedge Antilles, and a young Peter Capaldi in a movie together. It’s a story about culture clashes, small-town life, and 80s greed all coming together in a lovely way.
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Continue reading ‘Local Hero – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
February 23rd, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
The Cold War period allowed many filmmakers to experiment with storytelling, filmmaking styles, and social commentary in their movies. Fail Safe is the sort of Cold War thriller that banked on cultural paranoia as much as it did skilled filmmaking and intense performances. The Criterion Collection has finally brought more justice to Sidney Lumet’s tense picture, providing a spectacular new release, restoring its cinematic quality. This will ideally give many a chance to revisit a film that seems to be regarded more for its similarity to another feature than the quality it contains.
– Continue reading ‘Fail Safe – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
February 14th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
This May, John Sturges’s World War II adventure classic The Great Escape, with a stellar ensemble cast led by Steve McQueen, will join the Criterion Collection. Scorsese Shorts will collect five newly restored short films by Martin Scorsese, including the intimate documentaries Italianamerican and American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince and three student films that illuminate the artistic development of one of our greatest directors. Feminist trailblazer Dorothy Arzner, the only woman of her time to work as a director in the Hollywood studio system, joins the Collection with Dance, Girl, Dance, a subversive backstage melodrama starring Maureen O’Hara and Lucille Ball. Husbands, John Cassavetes’s fearlessly honest portrait of American manhood in crisis, and his first collaboration with stars Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk, will make its Blu-ray debut. Paul Dano’s acclaimed directorial debut, Wildlife, anchored by a revelatory Carey Mulligan performance, will appear on home video for the first time. And that’s not all: Eric Rohmer’s wildly influential series Six Moral Tales will return to the Collection on Blu-ray.
Continue reading ‘The Great Escape, Scorsese, Wildlife & More Coming to The Criterion Collection May 2020’
