Criterion 2016 Clues

The blu-ray restoration of Carnival of Souls is definitely fantastic. I got it yesterday and I've watched it with and without the commentary--and it's amazing how much better it looks and sounds compared to previous releases. That said, it's fair to wonder why the director's cut wasn't included via seamless branching. Although the quality of the additional footage pales in comparison to the new restoration, it's vastly superior to the restored footage in Hardy's The Wicker Man or Once Upon A Time In America. Considering how little effort it would have taken to include the director's cut via seamless branching, I think it's fair to accuse Criterion of lowering their standards.

 

Valid points but honestly I don't miss it. I'm a theatrical cut purist, for the most part.

 

I wasn't necessarily arguing that the director's cut is superior--only responding to those who suggested that Criterion isn't as conscientious as it was in years past. The Criterion label used to stand for the most definitive release of a particular title to-date. These days that's not really the case.

 

Oh, I agree. Watching the Blu Sunshine release I felt like it was superior to Criterion. Often times Arrow's are too. Times change, I guess.

 

Watched the C. of Souls Blu and WOW what a great transfer. Just so clean and stunning detail. It was my 6 year old son's first horror movie too and he liked it. He's a big chicken so it was a great "gateway" film.

 

DVD Drive-In reviews Carnival of Souls: http://dvddrive-in.com/reviews/a-d/carnivalofsoulsblu62.htm

 

Considering their other recent releases (most notably THE NEW WORLD with its 3 different cuts) I don't think it's really a matter of Criterion slipping on quality or half-assing their releases...but I would certainly love to know the reason why we didn't get both CoS cuts this time around. Guess I'll just hold onto my DVDs.

 

They kind of explained that; the DC scenes only existed on an analog 1-inch videotape:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Carnival-of-Souls-Blu-ray/53725/#Review

 

As to the question of whether or not Criterion is getting lax in their quality, I have to say I've been wondering about how they justify including the ridiculous Valley of the Dolls in their catalogue. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls makes sense, but the original is a slice of ham about an inch thick.

 

LOL! Yes, and I can't wait to double-dip on both of them!

 

Criterion has for sale the poster for the Multiple Maniacs threatrical run of their new restoration:

https://www.criterion.com/shop_products/121-multiple-maniacs-poster

It just opened at the IFC this past weekend, and here's a write up on the Baltimore Sun which I didn't read because I haven't seen the movie: http://www.baltimoresun.com/feature...all-s-well-with-the-world-20160609-story.html

Hopefully it hits Chicago, I'd love to see it. John Waters doesn't seem to hit the theatrical circuit here in the Midwest.

 

Lone Wolf and Cub set is only $40 on Amazon.

It's gotta be a pricing error. Hurry up and get your Pre-Order in before they fix it!

 

It's up to $100 now.

So me and MorallySound are the only one's who got in on this?

 

I got a pre-order put in at the $40 price while it was still good.

Are the movies worth that? I've actually never seen any of them.

 

If Shogun Assassin is anything to go by, I'm gonna say HELL yes. I know it's basically supposed to be an American bastardization of the first two LW&C movies edited into one, but it's so fucking awesome.

That's actually the only one I've seen, so this is pretty much a blind buy for me, too. But I'm thinking it's a safe one.

 

Didn't know about the $40 "misprice" (although some other people think it was intentional, to drive up pre-orders), but at the next 50% off sale it'll only be $50.

Maybe the mispricing was a way of generating sales, because I can't speak for everyone else here, but I never buy Criterions anymore until the 50% off happens

 

Definitely possible because I think it was up at $40 for close to a day.

And yeah, I never buy Criterions until there's a sale. Too damn expensive without it.

 

Nah, they wouldn't need to do that for Lone Wolf. It'll sell well and to cut the price would only be leaving money on the table. If anything they'd have done it for the re-issue of Zatoichi because most everyone who wanted it probably already bought it the first go around.

I missed out, which is a shame because the manga is a favorite of mine. But as Paff says that just means I'll have to wait for the BN sale and that's close enough at $50. Hopefully they don't cancel the orders on you guys. I think Amazon has canceled too good to be true pre-orders before. Or am I thinking of somewhere else?

 

They've never cancelled any of my pre-orders like that. I've put in others before that were dirt cheap and possible pricing errors.

The only time I did get some cancelled Amazon orders was when they had a bunch of Blu-rays listed for $1 for about an hour a couple of nights once. About 25+ of them shipped, which was an awesome deal, but the "out of stock" ones did get cancelled do due them saying it was a pricing error.

 

The whole series is pretty excellent. Great bloody fun in a cartoonish way. The characters are excellent, particularly the kid. And the plots just get wilder and wilder as the series goes on. The only thing that might surprise folks coming in from Shogun Assassin is that this is actually a really well written series with some good political intrigue as most of that stuff was cut out to focus on the action. The only thing that Shogun Assassin fans will miss is the voice over narration by the kid, which did provide most of the humor in the film. So, there is no "My father has killed many men..." bit.