Criterion July 2018 Titles

A new crop to select from. I'll consider both Bull Durham and Sex, Lies & Videotape.

Criterion Details July 2018 Blu-ray Titles | High-Def Digest

Full list:

Dietrich & von Sternberg In Hollywood (1930)
Bull Durhum (1988)
Dragon Inn (1967)
Sex, Lies & Videotape (1989)
A Matter Of Life And Death (1946)

 

The Dietrich box could be very special. Most of those movies, when available at all on DVD, were from poor sources.

A Matter Of Life And Death is one of the great Powell/Pressburger movies, absolutely gorgeous, and should look wonderful on Blu-ray.

 

Glad to be able to finally toss out my old 'Sex, Lies' CAV laserdisc box set, especially as a cat once thought it looked like an appetizing chew toy and the box looks pretty wretched now.

Never seen 'Matter Of Life & Death' but it looks like a promising blind-buy. Never liked 'Bull Durham' and the others don't seem like they'd be up my particular alley.

How many years has it been since were promised Godard's 'King Lear' would eventually come out? I think I've now officially lost all hope.

 

All those titles look like purchases for me, not sure on Dragon Inn however.

 

Bull Durham is an interesting choice!

 

Have you seen the film?

I have the Masters of Cinema edition, and while I am in no way a martial arts lover, I enjoyed it a good deal.

Two other King Hu films that have been released recently, A Touch of Zen and Legend of the Mountain, I found to be overlong and tedious at times, but Dragon Inn was quite entertaining.

 

Have not seen it that's why I wasn't sure.

 

S, L & V...yes...I was hoping for some Spader bonus features...at least an interview.

 

That is my definite buy from that list. Director King Hu is a favorite. Only the remake of this has been available on DVD. You should check out "A Touch of Zen" or "Come Drink With Me" if you haven't already.

 

The dual-format MoC edition of the original 1967 film has been available for the past two and a half years.

Wuxia films are an acquired taste, and definitely not for everyone. I can handle them in small doses, but, as noted above, I find some of King Hu’s most celebrated works to be overly long. I fully appreciate that this is not a popular viewpoint with those who love the genre, but as an ‘outsider’, and still a cinephile, I think A Touch of Zen could stand to lose at least 45 minutes. The opening act, in particular, really drags. YMMV.

On a positive note, King Hu does have a cinematic eye, and his sweeping vistas are a thing to behold. But I’d be reluctant to recommend his work as a blind buy to anyone who doesn’t already like martial arts films.

 

I like A Touch of Zen but it kinda goes off the rails towards the end. Dragon Inn is tighter. I look forward to both that and A Matter of Life and Death, which I think is one of the best Powell/Pressburger movies.

Speaking of Powell - did Criterion lose the rights to Peeping Tom? I finally tracked down a copy of the std dvd version but am surprised this isn't on Blu by now also. Both that and Lost Highway are at the top of my wishlist to get the Criterion Blu treatment.

 

I'm a baseball fanatic so I have one picked out.

 

I should have said US DVD. My Asian-born friends call wuxia/martial arts films "shaolin movies" Looking forward to the release.

 

Bull Durham just got 4.5/5.0 Very Highly Recommended ! Bull Durham Blu-ray

Hell, what's another $26.97 ? (Amazon) (B&N 50% off not worth it if not buying 2 or more).

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I'm not that sure about Bull Durham. Bull Durham Blu-ray - Susan Sarandon
Green is the new blue.

 

For all the screaming and gnashing of teeth over Midnight Cowboy, it turned out to look great on my setup, so I'm harder to convince than ever.

 

How about a Criterion remaster of the first two Lethal Weapon movies? The transfers on the Blu-rays I have just plain suck. They're done with VC-1 and just don't look good at all. Lethal Weapon even only has the 640k DD 5.1 track. They didn't even bother to give DTS-HD MA 5.1. Even my old Director's Cut DVD had the 1.5Mbps DTS 5.1.

 

Is the bonus material on the previous criterion Scarlet Empress not being porter over to the Blu-ray? Thinking of the 20 minute 60's BBC piece with Sternberg and film student talking about lightings.