Nothing Is Certain At This Time

Message

ianungstad · #26 Post by **ianungstad** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 4:06 am

Yeah; Mulvaney is doing the same thing in regards to Jodorowsky even though there seems to be enough evidence otherwise. Much like the above mentioned situations and a post I read awhile ago about someone who had asked Mulvaney if they had plans to release Tanner 88 and he said they had none at the time and it came out 6 months later.

justeleblanc · #27 Post by **justeleblanc** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:07 pm

That was me. I asked about Tanner.

That's all... keep talking....

cgray · #28 Post by **cgray** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 12:13 am

ianungstad wrote:about someone who had asked Mulvaney if they had plans to release Tanner 88 and he said they had none at the time and it came out 6 months later.

FWIW, I asked JM if they had plans for Le Samourai about two and a half weeks before they released the information and he said, "No plans at this time..."

That's the third or fourth time something like that happened, so I figure a response from him isn't worth all that much. However, I respect their secrecy and acknowledge that "sure-bets" become not so sure in a very short time. So... there you have it. I'll step down now.

tavernier · #29 Post by **tavernier** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 10:20 am

JusteLeblanc wrote:That was me. I asked about Tanner.

Has anybody ever asked about Alain Tanner? Or, for that matter, another great Swiss director, Claude Goretta? Both are sadly missing on DVD.

HerrSchreck · #30 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 10:58 am

Ashirg wrote:Christ In Concrete is not Image. It's All Day Entertainment distributed by Image. And I honestly can't see what Criterion can add to it.

Bicycle Thief is from Corinth Film and distributed by Image, but I think it's in Pubmic Domain since Catcom also released it on DVD.

I still see Bicyle Thief on-shelves here in NY. Could be overstock, though, if you know for certain it's oop.

FilmFanSea · #31 Post by **FilmFanSea** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:06 pm

HerrSchreck wrote:I still see Bicyle Thief on-shelves here in NY. Could be overstock, though, if you know for certain it's oop.

Image's The Bicycle Thief is still in print. Shoeshine, on the other hand ...

Cinephrenic · #32 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 5:55 pm

Visconti's Senso, De Santis' Bitter Rice , and Rossellini's Europa 51 is a definite from Cristaldifilm.

Other recent stuff from them was Divorce Italian Style, Le Notti Bianche, Salvatore Giuliano, The Children are Watching Us, Big Deal on Madonna Street, Lacombe Lucien, and Murmur of the Heart.

htdm · #33 Post by **htdm** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 1:57 am

FilmFanSea wrote:Image's The Bicycle Thief is still in print. Shoeshine, on the other hand...

Funny you should mention this. About 3 years ago when Image first announced Shoeshine and then pulled it, I noticed that Amazon.ca listed it as available. I previously had good luck getting some OOP Goldwyn/HBO titles from them so I placed an order and I forgot about it...until this afternoon. It seems that it pays to leave old backorders alone as a brand new sealed copy of Shoeshine just arrived (for list price in Canadian dollars, no less)! I have absolutely no idea as to why this would show up now (not a complaint!) and a quick check of the site showed only one used copy for C$120.

I tried explaining how fantastic this was to my wife but her only reply was: an old movie? How nice...

FilmFanSea · #34 Post by **FilmFanSea** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 4:27 pm

dmkb wrote:
FilmFanSea wrote:Image's The Bicycle Thief is still in print. Shoeshine, on the other hand...
Funny you should mention this. About 3 years ago when Image first announced Shoeshine and then pulled it, I noticed that Amazon.ca listed it as available. I previously had good luck getting some OOP Goldwyn/HBO titles from them so I placed an order and I forgot about it...until this afternoon. It seems that it pays to leave old backorders alone as a brand new sealed copy of Shoeshine just arrived (for list price in Canadian dollars, no less)! I have absolutely no idea as to why this would show up now (not a complaint!) and a quick check of the site showed only one used copy for C$120.

I tried explaining how fantastic this was to my wife but her only reply was: an old movie? How nice...

Congrats! (I'm happy to provide the enthusiasm your wife lacked) What an odd sequence of events. I was able to find a copy sitting on the shelf at a local Borders in April 2003. A very good film (on an underwhelming, barebones Image DVD). So far I haven't been tempted to cash in on its rarity.

#35 Post by **zedz** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:27 pm

This is possibly the least helpful Mulvaney response yet, but for what it's worth:

I asked Criterion about the lack of contemporary non-English-language directors in the collection, specifically citing Claire Denis, Hong Sang-soo, Bela Tarr, Olivier Assayas, Kira Muratova, Koreeda Hirokazu, Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-hsien, and received the traditional holiday greeting

Yoda wrote:We hope to add more contemporary world cinema directors to the collection in thee coming years, but nothing is certain at this time.

pzman84 · #36 Post by **pzman84** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 8:39 pm

Hope nobody is a big Nick Ray fan because I got this response today:

Dear Peter,

No Ray films appear on our current production schedule.

Best,
JM

While Bigger than Life is not at the top of my list of Criterion-must releases, it still would have been nice.

htdm · #37 Post by **htdm** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 3:46 pm

FilmFanSea wrote:Congrats! (I'm happy to provide the enthusiasm your wife lacked) What an odd sequence of events. I was able to find a copy sitting on the shelf at a local Borders in April 2003. A very good film (on an underwhelming, barebones Image DVD). So far I haven't been tempted to cash in on its rarity.

Thanks for the luv! Well I was tempted at first until realizing that the whole idea of profiting from a personal film collection must already be a foreign concept to me if I am still sitting on several hundred laserdiscs... I really wanted to have a copy of the film which is why the fairly lousy source print and transfer were even more of a disappointment.

Although I haven't seen them in a while, I seem to recall that Image's releases of two of Rossellini's postwar trilogy and Visconti's Ossessione and La Terra Trema were not much better. So far only Criterion's Umberto D and the clips used on Scorcese's My Voyage to Italy are the best representations of Italian Neo-realism on DVD in the states. I'm looking forward to The Children Are Watching Us.

mikeohhh · #38 Post by **mikeohhh** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:28 pm

from the Kicking and Screaming IMDB board:

Re: Why no DVD Release
by - squidrx (Tue Nov 22 2005 18:59:50 ) Ignore this User | Report Abuse

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i sent an email to criterion's own john mulvaney about noah baumbach's films on dvd. here is what i wrote:

"there has been some speculation recently that criterion will release "the squid and the whale" after it's theatrical run, considering noah baumbach's contribution to past criterion releases and his ties to wes anderson. there has been further speculation that his excellent debut "kicking and screaming" will be released as well. nothing would delight me more than to find out that this is true. can you comment on this, or is it too soon?"

here is his reply:

"We would very much like to add Baumbach's films to the collection, but nothing is certain at this time.

Best,
JM"

not quite a denial, yeah? it's not the least bit confirmed, but i do get the feeling things are in the works.

rwaits · #39 Post by **rwaits** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 11:39 pm

I never really thought of this film as being a Criterion release, but why not? I absolutely adore this film, and cannot believe that it has yet to have any dvd release yet. If Criterion is willing to release a film such as Dazed and Confused, maybe Kicking and Screaming has a chance.

FilmFanSea · #40 Post by **FilmFanSea** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:11 am

The Squid and the Whale is being released by Sony on March 14th.

ianungstad · #41 Post by **ianungstad** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:15 am

Kicking and Screaming is a possibilty for a future release...if Criterion wanted to go after it, but yeah Squid and the Whale is Sony....so NO chance on that.

justeleblanc · #42 Post by **justeleblanc** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:41 am

So I got Simple Men on DVD recently and it's not Criterion, obviously, but it's Image. And I'm wondering whether or not Criterion passed on releasing it, so it went to Image. It would seem strange since Hal Hartley would be a great addition to Criterion. And this is one of his best films.

htdm · #43 Post by **htdm** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:35 am

What's the quality like, JusteLeblanc?

justeleblanc · #44 Post by **justeleblanc** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:58 am

dmkb wrote:What's the quality like, JusteLeblanc?

I actually haven't watched it yet. I'm waiting for a friend of mine to get back in town. It's actually still in its wrap.

cgray · #45 Post by **cgray** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:37 pm

sorry to dig up this old thread, but i figured there had to be some people that were as interested in these movies as i am.

Question: both seventh seal and andrei rublev are crying for anamorphic releases. any plans for rereleases of these?

JM: We do not have any immediate plans to re-release these. This is usually due to rights, and when we get rights again, we re-release.

tavernier · #46 Post by **tavernier** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:40 pm

cgray wrote:sorry to dig up this old thread, but i figured there had to be some people that were as interested in these movies as i am.

Question: both seventh seal and andrei rublev are crying for anamorphic releases. any plans for rereleases of these?

JM: We do not have any immediate plans to re-release these. This is usually due to rights, and when we get rights again, we re-release.

Rubelev I know is widescreen, but isn't Seventh Seal academy ratio?

Cinephrenic · #47 Post by **Cinephrenic** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:42 pm

Seventh Seal

Just lacking extras, otherwise I don't see them visiting it anytime soon.

Gregory · #48 Post by **Gregory** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 4:57 pm

Jon Mulvaney wrote:We do not have any immediate plans to re-release these. This is usually due to rights, and when we get rights again, we re-release.

I don't understand that reply. They still have the rights to those titles otherwise they'd be going out of print, right? If he's saying that re-releases are usually only something Criterion undertakes when restoring to the collection a title that was previously OOP for rights reasons, then I don't think that's accurate (e.g. Beauty and the Beast, M, Wages of Fear, this year's Kurosawas).

Dr. Mabuse · #49 Post by **Dr. Mabuse** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 5:08 pm

just speculation, but it could be that the rights are about to expired, hence no re-releases until they secure an extension...

toiletduck! · #50 Post by **toiletduck!** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 5:24 pm

I'd guess that the designated JM that day simply did a shoddy job of skimming through e-mails and upon seeing "rerelease" assumed the question was another of the countless "Bring back _______" requests they must get.

-Toilet Dcuk