Archive for the 'The Criterion Collection' Category
January 15th, 2020 by Aaron Neuwirth
This April, check in to The Grand Budapest Hotel: Wes Anderson’s extravagantly nostalgic caper, widely hailed as one of the greatest films of the 2010s, will join the Criterion Collection. Miranda July’s playful and transgressive Me and You and Everyone We Know, one of the most original debut features in recent memory, will make its Blu-ray debut. A marvel of studio craftsmanship, Destry Rides Again pairs Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart for a boisterous comic western, presented here in a new 4K restoration. Juraj Herz plumbs the horrors of fascism in the black-as-ashes comedy The Cremator, a macabre marvel of the Czechoslovak New Wave, long unavailable on home video. And that’s not all: Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows, widely hailed as the summit of the director’s career and the greatest film ever made about the French Resistance, returns to the Collection.
Continue reading ‘Wes Anderson, Miranda July & More Coming to The Criterion Collection April 2020’
December 16th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
Next March, John M. Stahl’s singular Hollywood masterpiece Leave Her to Heaven– a stunning Technicolor melodrama infused with the darkness of film noir and graced with a chilling performance by Gene Tierney- will join the Criterion Collection, making its Blu-ray debut in a new 2K restoration. Spike Lee’s provocative satire Bamboozled, a scathing indictment of racism in American pop culture, will also appear on Blu-ray for the first time. Irene Dunne and Paul Robeson star in James Whale’s beloved screen version of Show Boat, Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern’s classic American musical, featuring Robeson’s soul-shaking rendition of “Ol’ Man River.” Director-producer-star Barbra Streisand’s The Prince of Tides, an emotionally wrenching adaptation of Pat Conroy’s best-selling novel, will appear in a new 4K restoration. And that’s not all: the Maysles brothers’ Direct Cinema classic Salesman and Mikhail Kalatozov’s visually exhilarating Soviet-cinema landmark The Cranes Are Flying will arrive on Blu-ray, newly restored.
Continue reading ‘Spike Lee, Streisand & More Coming to The Criterion Collection March 2020’
November 15th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
Next February, the Criterion Collection is proud to present Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar-winning masterpiece Roma, making its home-video debut in a director-approved edition packed with special features. Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman collects a trio of the renowned special-effects fabulist’s most enchanting films- Journey to the Beginning of Time, Invention for Destruction, and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen– newly restored and in a limited-edition deluxe Blu-ray set featuring gorgeous pop-up art. Jennie Livingston’s wildly influential Paris Is Burning, an extraordinary celebration of 1980s Harlem’s vibrant drag-ball culture, will make its Blu-ray debut in an edition featuring more than an hour of never-before-seen outtakes. Teorema, a provocative and poetic treatise on sexuality, faith, and the bourgeois family from enfant terrible Pier Paolo Pasolini, will appear in a new, restored 4K digital transfer. And that’s not all: Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Antonio Gaudí, a hypnotic tribute to the visionary Catalan architect, will make its first appearance on Blu-ray.
Continue reading ‘Roma, Teorema, Paris Is Burning & More Coming to The Criterion Collection February 2020’
October 16th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
In January, the Criterion Collection will kick off the New Year with one of Pedro Almodóvar’s most beloved films: All About My Mother, the Spanish auteur’s Oscar-winning ode to maternal love and female fortitude. George Cukor’s effervescent romantic comedy Holiday, starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in one of their most memorable pairings, will appear on Blu-ray for the first time in a new 4K restoration. Jean-Luc Godard’s long-unavailable sophomore feature Le petit soldat, the director’s first collaboration with his iconic muse Anna Karina, represents a major rediscovery from a legendary career. And that’s not all: we’ll celebrate Sidney Lumet with a new 4K restoration of his arresting nuclear-war thriller Fail Safe and a Blu-ray edition of his Tennessee Williams adaptation The Fugitive Kind, starring Marlon Brando and Anna Magnani.
Continue reading ‘Almodóvar, Lumet, Cukor & More Coming to The Criterion Collection January 2020’
September 23rd, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
Godzilla is on the way and I cannot wait. As detailed previously, all 15 films from the original Showa Era of the Godzilla franchise are heading to Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The 1000th spine from The Criterion Collection will arrive in stores October 29th, but for now, enjoy this all-new trailer to keep you psyched for this monster release. You get a good look at the many foes Godzilla has taken on, along with a reminder of who the king of the monsters really is. Enjoy!
– Continue reading ‘NEW TRAILER – GODZILLA: THE SHŌWA ERA FILMS from The Criterion Collection’
September 16th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
This December, the 287-minute director’s cut of Wim Wenders’ magnum opus Until the End of the World, a globe-trotting sci-fi epic featuring a dizzyingly eclectic soundtrack, will appear on home video for the first time in a new 4K restoration. Kelly Reichardt’s breakout feature Old Joy, a revelatory microbudget indie, will make its Blu-ray debut in a new 2K restoration. Never before available on Blu-ray or DVD, the riveting pre-Code melodrama The Story of Temple Drake stars Miriam Hopkins in an astonishing adaptation of William Faulkner’s most controversial novel. And that’s not all: Ronald Neame’s classic military drama Tunes of Glory, starring Alec Guinness and John Mills at their finest, will appear on Blu-ray in a new 4K restoration.
Continue reading ‘Wenders, Reichardt & More Coming to The Criterion Collection December 2019’
August 22nd, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
This year, Academy Award-winning writer-director Spike Lee’s 1989 modern classic, Do the Right Thing celebrated its 30th anniversary. With all the acclaim received by the prolific filmmaker just recently for his Oscar-winning film BlacKkKlansman, it’s incredible to look back at one of his earliest films and not only see how far Lee has come but to what degree things have changed. Having previously been released by the Criterion Collection on LaserDisc and DVD, the film has finally received its Blu-ray upgrade. This fantastic package features both a stunning technical presentation, as well as a great film diving into racial tension on a hot summer day.
Continue reading ‘Do The Right Thing – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
August 15th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
This November, the Criterion Collection will celebrate the incomparable Bette Davis, one of Hollywood’s greatest stars, with two releases that demonstrate her extraordinary range. The swoon-inducing melodrama Now, Voyager, appearing on Blu-ray for the first time, finds her at the height of her reign as the queen of the women’s picture. Then All About Eve, Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s beloved theater-world satire, features Davis in an acid-tongued comeback performance, a turn that now defines her legacy. Also coming in November: Paweł Pawlikowski’s sweeping, Oscar-nominated Cold War, a tumultuous, passionate love story that traverses the Iron Curtain, debuts on home video. Béatrice Dalle stars in Betty Blue, Jean-Jacques Beineix’s intoxicating tale of amour fou, appearing in its three-hour director’s cut. And Greg Mottola’s irresistible comedy The Daytrippers – starring Hope Davis, Parker Posey, Anne Meara, Liev Schreiber, and Stanley Tucci – will appear in a new 4K restoration.
Continue reading ‘All About Eve, Cold War & More Coming to The Criterion Collection November 2019’
July 18th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
Spine number 1000 will be announced next week, but for now, this October, John Sayles’s galvanizing labor saga Matewan–starring Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, David Strathairn, and Mary McDonnell–will join the Criterion Collection in a new restoration. When We Were Kings, the indelible portrait of Muhammad Ali’s late-career journey to Africa for the Rumble in the Jungle will appear in an edition featuring Soul Power, a documentary on the all-star concert that accompanied the fight. Häxan, Benjamin Christensen’s occult history of witchcraft, one of the most bizarre and captivating films of the silent era, will appear on Blu-ray in a new restoration, just in time for Halloween. And three mesmerizing silent-film classics by Josef von Sternberg–Underworld, The Last Command, and The Docks of New York–will make their Blu-ray debuts in a collector’s set.
Continue reading ‘Muhammad Ali, Matewan & More Coming to The Criterion Collection October 2019’
June 17th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
This September, John Waters’ first studio picture, Polyester, the trash maestro’s delirious take on the Douglas Sirk-style melodrama, will appear in an edition complete with a scratch-and-sniff Odorama card. Jennifer Jones stars in the topsy-turvy comedy Cluny Brown, the final film by Ernst Lubitsch, long unavailable on home video. Ritwik Ghatak’s family tragedy The Cloud-Capped Star, a masterpiece of Bengali cinema, will appear on Blu-ray for the first time. Bill Forsyth’s offbeat small-town fable Local Hero, one of the most beloved Scottish films of all time, will arrive in a new 2K digital restoration. Charlie Chaplin pulls off an outrageous high-wire act in The Circus, featuring some of the most uproarious pratfalls and audacious stunts of his legendary career. And that’s not all: Marco Bellocchio’s provocative debut film, Fists in the Pocket, will make its Blu-ray debut in a new 4K restoration.
Continue reading ‘Lubitsch, Waters, Chaplin & More Coming to The Criterion Collection September 2019’
June 16th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
Who’s ready to put on a show? Musical comedies were huge in the 1930s, and many studios were happy to deliver. One of the highlights of this era were the many films starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, with Swing Time being looked as possibly the best of their collaborations. Winner of an Oscar for Best Original Song (for “The Way You Look Tonight”), the film has often been looked at as one of the best cinema has had to offer, and has even been entered into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Now the Criterion Collection has gone the extra mile in providing a brand-new digital restoration of the film, with plenty of terrific supplements to go with it.
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Continue reading ‘Swing Time – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
May 15th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
This August, Abbas Kiarostami’s The Koker Trilogy, an eye-opening triptych of playful films that blend fiction and reality, will join The Criterion Collection, bringing three of the Iranian master’s most sought-after works to Blu-ray for the first time. The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice, Yasujiro Ozu’s beautifully observed study of a marriage on the rocks, will appear in an edition that also features Ozu’s 1937 film What Did the Lady Forget? Lucille Carra’s The Inland Sea, a poetic and insightful meditation on tradition and self-discovery, based on Donald Richie’s renowned travelogue on Japan, will come out in a new, restored 4K digital transfer. And that’s not all: Jane Campion’s revelatory biopic An Angel at My Table and Douglas Sirk’s delirious melodrama Magnificent Obsession will appear on Blu-ray.
– Continue reading ‘Ozu, Sirk, Campion & More Coming to The Criterion Collection in August 2019’
April 21st, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
A couple of years before this Criterion Collection release of Police Story and Police Story 2, international martial arts star Jackie Chan received an honorary Academy Award for the impact he has had on cinema. Having been in the business for over 50 years, it’s only right to some of this older and most famous films get the deluxe treatment. It further helps to cement Chan’s cinematic contributions into history, which is pretty great when you can see a couple of gritty (and occasionally quite funny) martial arts flicks sit on the same shelves as classic Hitchcock or Bergman features. Whatever the case may be, read on to hear more about what this release for two entries in Chan’s classic Police Story series has to offer.
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Continue reading ‘Police Story / Police Story 2 – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
April 15th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
When the summer heats up this July, the Criterion Collection will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Spike Lee’s 1989 masterpiece Do the Right Thing with a definitive director-approved edition, featuring a new 4K restoration. Jane Fonda gives one of the most electrifying performances of her career as a sex worker in peril in Alan J. Pakula’s Klute, appearing on Blu-ray for the first time. Agnieszka Holland’s Europa Europa, a breathless adventure story set amid the chaos of World War II, will appear in a new 2K restoration. Michael Radford’s 1984 stars John Hurt and Richard Burton in the definitive screen adaptation of George Orwell’s prophetic novel, appearing in a new restoration approved by cinematographer Roger Deakins. Marcel Pagnol’s enchanting comedy The Baker’s Wife, featuring the legendary actor Raimu in a new 4K restoration. And that’s not all: Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s career-crowning BRD Trilogy — The Marriage of Maria Braun, Veronika Voss, and Lola — will return to the Collection on Blu-ray.
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Continue reading ‘Do The Right Thing, Klute, 1984 & More Coming to Criterion Collection in July 2019’
April 2nd, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
Silent comedy legend Harold Lloyd has had a few of his films entered into the Criterion Collection before, including The Freshman and the iconic Safety Last. The Kid Brother has the distinction of being Lloyd’s favorite of his films, and you can see why. Playing with a fun concept that incorporates comedy, romance, and adventure, this is a laugh-a-minute feature that packs in plenty of jokes, physical gags, and stunts. Now that it has been restored for Blu-ray, plenty of fans, old and new, can dive into this delightful feature starring Lloyd as the bespectacled everyman who gets into many kinds of hijinks.
– Continue reading ‘The Kid Brother – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
March 21st, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
Not too dissimilar from when the Criterion Collection finally produced a spectacular release for Night of the Living Dead, Detour’s status as an acclaimed film noir that’s remained in the public domain has made the Edgar G. Ulmer classic an ideal movie deserving of special treatment. Thanks to a substantial amount of work, detailed in one of this release’s supplements, audiences can now take in this wonderfully atmospheric feature in a whole new way. Even those who know this film well may feel they’ll be seeing an all-new version, given the care done to restore the film. That’s not a bad thing for a movie that lasts barely over an hour, yet does everything needed to work as an essential entry among the many great noir movies out there.
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Continue reading ‘Detour – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
March 15th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
This June, John Cameron Mitchell’s trailblazing queer rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch will join the Criterion Collection, making its Blu-ray debut in a new 4K restoration. Sergei Bondarchuk’s Oscar-winning epic War and Peace, an awe-inspiring adaptation of Tolstoy’s classic novel, will appear in a major new restoration. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers play out a fine romance and perform some of Hollywood’s greatest dance numbers in the irresistible musical comedy Swing Time, appearing on Blu-ray for the first time. The French iconoclast Bruno Dumont explores the human condition through the brutality and beauty of small-town life in his first two films, La vie de Jésus and L’humanité, both appearing in new 4K restorations approved by the director. And that’s not all-our year of releases commemorating Ingmar Bergman’s centennial draws to a close with a Blu-ray edition of the Swedish master’s trilogy of chamber dramas exploring faith and alienation: Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence.
Continue reading ‘Swing Time, Hedwig and the Angry Inch & More Coming to The Criterion Collection in June 2019’
February 28th, 2019 by Aaron Neuwirth
For every In the Heat of the Night, the Criterion Collection has found time to pick films to add to their library depicting black life that stays away from focusing on racial oppression, crime, gangs, or other tropes. To Sleep with Anger is an interesting choice. Not a wildly popular film, but the winner of multiple Independent Spirit Awards, and one that’s been added to the National Film Registry. It’s a slow-burn drama that puts focus on a family dealing with tensions that are beginning to boil over. There’s a poetry to what we are seeing and hearing on screen, which was undoubtedly the intention of award-winning writer/director Charles Burnett. Now the film has been restored and fitted with some new interviews and more for this wonderful Blu-ray package.
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Continue reading ‘To Sleep With Anger – The Criterion Collection (Blu-ray Review)’
This April, check in to The Grand Budapest Hotel: Wes Anderson’s extravagantly nostalgic caper, widely hailed as one of the greatest films of the 2010s, will join the Criterion Collection. Miranda July’s playful and transgressive Me and You and Everyone We Know, one of the most original debut features in recent memory, will make its Blu-ray debut. A marvel of studio craftsmanship, Destry Rides Again pairs Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart for a boisterous comic western, presented here in a new 4K restoration. Juraj Herz plumbs the horrors of fascism in the black-as-ashes comedy The Cremator, a macabre marvel of the Czechoslovak New Wave, long unavailable on home video. And that’s not all: Jean-Pierre Melville’s Army of Shadows, widely hailed as the summit of the director’s career and the greatest film ever made about the French Resistance, returns to the Collection.
