White Dang

Great film.

regeyer

That would definitely find a place in my home library.

Kenneth M

Extremely well said, and as gutted as I am to admit it, I agree with you 100%.

I don't understand it, either. Some of the best over-the-top 70's grindhouse cinema is found within blaxploitation. Some of the coolest and most ruthless women are found in blaxploitation films. And some of the funniest scenes in 70's cinema belong, again, to blaxploitation films. It was an era of anything goes and exploration to see what could be marketed and sold, and while there are seldom masterpieces in the genre (Black Belt Jones being in the running), there is always a solid entertainment value to be found. ...Moreso than a lot of modern films, imho.

Most likely it will continue traveling in the throws of the forgotten as physical media continues to shut its door on it... and I haven't the slightest hope that streaming will be kinder to the era of 70's blaxploitation.

CelestialAgent

Imprint releasing a dated master right on the cusp of a 4K remaster, what a surprise.

Shane Rollins

I checked out of this bollocks around "frustrate and bore me".

But yes, as MifuneFan said, you can disable the annoying ads very easily. Always remember to log in to the site first thing too, or those ads will just keep popping up the whole time you're on here.

Nothing more irritating than reading about the picture quality of SAVE 30% ON YOUR CAR INSURANCE WITH PROGRESSIVE!!! when you first wake up in the morning. -_-

Shane Rollins

I certainly hope so. I'm waiting for the 4K to drop to finally see this movie. Scorsese is one of the few directors who's involved with his home video releases that actually does them right, so he and his team would create another solid transfer out of TLTOC.

Shane Rollins

In OP's defense, it's likely that something like this happened. One of KL's guys said Gillo Pontecorvo's Burn! was with Criterion back in 2016 and that a release was imminent. It never showed. There was a whole list of WB titles that Criterion had for several years too. Most of them showed up, but we're still waiting on many others.

I've personally never heard anything about Mackenna's Gold, but that doesn't mean nothing was said.

Shane Rollins

Shane Rollins

While I'm expecting a dull month, here's what I'm hoping for:

-Scorsese on 4K
-Anything Kubrick on 4K
-Anything P&P
-Something from Japan, preferably from a good master
-Brazil 4K (all cuts)
-Blade Runner 4K (all cuts)
-Hawaii 4K (both cuts)
-The Alamo 4K (both cuts)
-The Greatest Story Ever Told 4K (all cuts)
-Quo Vadis 4K
-Captain Blood (either format)
-King Kong 4K
-Greed (at least include the 1999 cut)
-Anything Disney-owned

And the one that definitely won't happen but definitely should, the uncut version of The Devils on 4K.

MifuneFan

New screenshots are up for The Last Emperor!

https://www.criterion.com/films/254-the-last-emperor

Old (January 2024)(top) / New (Today) (bottom)

Shane Rollins

That looks an awful lot like the original 2.39:1 aspect ratio to me. This could be good.

Scottie

It appears as if Pickpocket and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! were re-released last week as a BD only release.



It also appears as if Criterion is listing DVD only for Like Someone in Love on their website.

Interesting. They must have just updated it today.

I imagine a 4K will be announced.

mmarczi

Well that's one I don't have to buy. I got the Arrow 4K and frankly the film didn't blow me away, so I probably don't need a double dip. I mean, cinematically it's splendid of course, but I don't imagine Criterion's edition will top Arrow's in that regard.

ravenus

If a sequel means a direct follow-up to a story / character, then no. It's not a sequel any more than Way of the Dragon is a sequel to Enter the Dragon. At least it doesn't continue the specific narrative even if the character she is playing is the archetype she made her name with in Coffy.

perrinjuve

August predictions and wish list items:

Killers of the Flower Moon 4k
Amadeus 4K
Barry Lyndon 4K
The Last Emperor 4K
Kurosawa 4K
Silence 4K
Fires on the Plain
I'm thinking of ending things
Zone of Interest 4K
Atlantiques (they announced it ages ago about collabing with some Netflix titles along with American Factory and they just never dropped).

Janus Contemporary will be Totem.

Taylor3978

There were some great films in the genre, I would nominate this for a performance by Paul Benjamin (the scene where he and Ed Bernard are going their separate ways is truly wrenching):


The business model of streaming is the same as video stores, Top 40, everything else is filler. And with streaming increasingly looking like cable TV, with cable offering "bundles" of streaming channels cut to Top 40 material, it is increasingly looking like a lot of this stuff will be forgotten except to a very small niche of cinephiles.

It's sad. Listening to TCM employees reminisce as they celebrate their 30th anniversary, a common theme among the ones who were already classic movie fans when they started there was that they got their love of classic movies from watching them on local TV when they got home from school. They were only put on as filler in the afternoon or late at night. Will this very niche stuff even have that kind of exposure? Pam Grier would likely still be forgotten if not for Jackie Brown. Even TCM killed off TCM Underground, firing Millie De Ciroco, and although budget cutting was cited as the reason (though the channel was making a profit), I've wondered if some of TPTB at WB/Discovery disapproved of what TCM Underground was putting on.

ShellOilJunior

No predictions from me (Although, UHDs of the movies mentioned below would be excellent).

A few items from On this day in film - May 15:

https://www.onthisday.com/film-tv/

Jexes23

Everywhere I've read, the Roadshow version is toast.

NeoNical

About time! I got the Arrow 4K UHD from last year and it was a pretty solid restoration. Don't know if it's the same 4K restoration as the one Arrow had but this is pretty good news, especially now that it is back to its original AR and not the 2.00 that Vittorio Storaro approved on the earlier release. Really love this film and for me, it feels strange that the film has kinda disappeared over time, despite the massive success the film garnered at the Academy Awards.

One thing that amazes me is that there were three artists that made the score: David Byrne of Talking Heads, Ryuichi Sakamoto of Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Cong Su, who is a lesser known Chinese composer who absolutely deserves credit for his compositions. I think the film was incredibly smart of utilizing the music with David Byrne and Cong Su, seemingly taking care of the traditional sound of Chinese music for the earlier ages of Pu Yi's story, and Ryuichi Sakamoto taking care of the later periods with his more Western-sounding compositions that shows the progression in Chinese culture. From the traditional hierarchy of the Qing Dynasty (For nearly 300 years) to the Cultural Revolution (50 years after the end of the dynasty) that seriously opposed against these cultural and social values, a story of which has been expressed in many other Chinese films like Farewell My Concubine.

I expressed this earlier in my Arrow 4K review but I think a reason why this film may not have been as relevant or as everlasting as it could have been is probably because of the historical context required to understand this film. I assume a lot of people are unaware of the effects of the Cultural Revolution, the 1911 Revolution, and the Qing Dynasty itself, which probably made this a very complex viewing. A lot of great Chinese films, including Farewell My Concubine, seems to suffer from this issue with foreign viewers. With that said, I would highly recommend people interested in Chinese cinema to read up on the nation's history and really get to know a lot of these films. To Live, Farewell My Concubine, and Xiu Xiu (Warning: It's very disturbing) are some of my favorite Chinese films which talks a lot about the effects of the Cultural Revolution.

RevolverOcelScott

Criterion Collection: Releasing lesser versions of what BFI/Arrow did better!

I kid.