Criterion 2018 clues

It's a little early perhaps to start a 2018 thread, however this news just surfaced today. I love the film Dead Man & have not purchased it yet on Blu-ray, so this will be a very welcome release!

 

Internet consensus seems to be that the "Films Truck" is advertising Filmstruck Criterion's streaming site:
Double feature Friday
Tuesday film + short film
T-bone Steak with Camera = MEAT the Filmmakers
Every Frame a Painting / Observations in Film Art
cow in 'V' = Moo-V

Highly Likely:
Olive bottle runners = The Virgin Suicides
Rear of HOPE sign = The Other Side of Hope
Red 'M'-in-press = Scarlet Empress
dog biting hat = The Awful Truth
bowling ball with cartridges = Bowling for Columbine

The only one I could have guessed was Bowling for Columbine, but that just wasn't on my mind.

 

I think the one in the middle to the right of Moo-V might be Full Metal Jacket.

I'd put my money on The Virgin Spring, though it looks like they've already hinted at The Virgin Suicides. Another double hint, like last year's They Live at Night / Night of the Living Dead hint?

 

Would be great, and I can see with Warner's recent licenses to Criterion squeezing out a few extra bucks from their Kubrick collection before the inevitable UHD releases, but it's an 'L' wearing the armor. Doesn't quiet seem to fit. But that one's got a LOT of people scratching their heads.

 

It's possible, but Sofia Coppola has confirmed that Criterion is working on The Virgin Suicides. I believe Ferris Bueller's Day Off is in the cards as well.

 

Well i hope i see "The Color of Pomegranates" in there

 

My guesses... The Tree of Life and Monty Python and the Holy Grail

 

I'm thinking The Tree of Life and maybe Monty Python and the Holy Grail based on the suit of armor? Or maybe Warhol/Morrisey's L'Amour from 76? I always get these wrong but I always find out about new movies I hadn't thought of before so its a blast.

 

Are those missiles/bullets indicative of The Day After?

 

Not sure if it's in the clues, but it was revealed they are working on No Country For Old Men.

 

Well it looks like almost half the clues are the upcoming April releases:
The Awful Truth (1937)
The Color of Pomegranates (1968)
Dead Man (1995)
Eclipse Series: Ingrid Bergman's Swedish Years [explains the moon too]
- The Count of the Old Town
- Walpurgis Night
- Intermezzo
- Dollar
- A Woman's Face June Night
The Virgin Suicides (1999)

Which is kinda bullshit. Why bother putting together a "year" of hints if you're going to blow half of them in fifteen days? At this rate the other 6 will be announced this time next month for May release.

 

I am really looking forward to both Dead Man and The Virgin Suicides!

 

I don't know why I didn't post Waters's announcement here a months ago, but that's no matter because the official announcement's here. Some interesting titles, and two more clearly from the 2018 hint, so I'll post it all:

Manila in the Claws of Light (Criterion Blu-Ray)
12 Jun 2018

Lino Brocka
1975 • 125 minutes • 1.85:1 • Philippines
Spine: #926 Editions: DVD, Blu-Ray

Mixing visceral, documentary-like realism with the narrative focus of Hollywood noir and melodrama, Manila in the Claws of Light is a howl of anguish from one of the most celebrated figures in Philippine cinema.
Learn more »

Bowling for Columbine (Criterion Blu-Ray)
19 Jun 2018

Michael Moore
2002 • 120 minutes • 1.85:1 • United States
Spine: #928 Editions: DVD, Blu-Ray

An unprecedented popular success that helped usher in a new era in documentary filmmaking, the Oscar-winning Bowling for Columbine is a raucous, impassioned, and still tragically relevant journey through the American psyche.
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El Sur (Criterion Blu-Ray)
19 Jun 2018

Víctor Erice
1983 • 95 minutes • 1.66:1 • Spain
Spine: #927 Editions: DVD, Blu-Ray

Ten years after making his mark on Spanish cinema with The Spirit of the Beehive, Víctor Erice returned to filmmaking with this adaptation of a novella by Adelaida García Morales, which deepens the director’s fascination with childhood, fantasy, and the legacy of his country’s civil war.
Learn more »

Female Trouble (Criterion Blu-Ray)
26 Jun 2018
John Waters
1974 • 97 minutes • 1.66:1 • United States
Spine: #929 Editions: DVD, Blu-Ray

Glamour has never been more grotesque than in Female Trouble, an endlessly quotable fan favorite that injects the Hollywood melodrama with anarchic decadence.
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The Virgin Spring (Criterion Blu-Ray)
26 Jun 2018
Ingmar Bergman
1960 • 89 minutes • 1.33:1 • Sweden
Spine: #321 Editions: DVD, Blu-Ray, Collector’s Sets, iTunes

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring is a harrowing tale of faith, revenge, and savagery in medieval Sweden.
Learn more »

I haven't seen Female Trouble for a long while but I recall it as my favorite of Waters's. Multiple Maniacs was a hoot so I'm looking forward to revisiting the rest of his repertoire.

 

I'm quite positive Criterion also has Polyester in the works. I don't think they currently have the rest of Waters' films, or haven't announced them if they do, but I know for sure that when they were working on Female Trouble it was said somewhere that Polyester would be coming too.

 

Yep, Waters has confirmed Polyester for 2019. What's happening with Pink Flamingos is an open question. I would think music rights are its largest stumbling block. Perhaps maybe even a song that Waters himself considers a must have. It's also possible someone like Shout snatched it, seeing as Warner has opened the door to them. Shout released Serial Mom (Universal) after all.

Desperate Living seems almost certain down the road. 2020 perhaps? After that who knows. The Waters films earlier than Multiple Maniacs are even murkier in terms of music rights none the less condition I believe. And if Criterion would upturn their nose at Waters's later less provocative titles is hard to say. I would assume costs vs. projected return is the biggest factor. And these are studio held films so not so cheap.

But the important thing is we're finally getting more Waters on Blu-ray which has been sorely lacking.

 

I'm over the moon about FEMALE TROUBLE as well. That, and POLYESTER next year.

I would guess that DESPERATE LIVING will be an easier acquisition since it was the first Waters movie with an original score. I imagine that the music rights required for PINK FLAMINGOS will be an issue as far as cost. I really hope Criterion would pony up for it though, seeing as how it's one of his most famous films.

 

Well shit, it's been pointed out that Pink Flamingos and Desperate Living had MOD re-releases from Warner Archive last June. They're DVD-R only but that may help explain why WB held them back.

If/when they license it to Criterion is anyone's guess then. My hope would be that brisk sales of Pink/Desperate last June inspired WB to restore Female Trouble/Polyester and Criterion benefited from it. That may also mean WB put these two at the end of the restoration queue because they were just released (I believe they were the same old transfers. PF was not anamorphic).

I took a look at Black Scorpion and that got a MOD Archive release 12/2014 only to be followed up with a Blu-ray release this 3/20/2018. Just over three years. And three years was in my mind as a standard wait. Which by happenstance would put 2020 as possible again. Interestingly WB had licensed out Black Scorpion to Shout Factory for their MST3k release that very same year 2014! So that kinda puts us back to "maybe Shout has it" as they've stolen a WB Val Lewton title from Criterion's this year too!

 

I tend to think Criterion cherry-picked Cat People and never had any serious plans to do all of the Lewtons. If they were going to do all of them, it would've made a lot more sense to bundle them together in a BBS-style boxset, rather than doing stand-alone releases for each title.

I wouldn't be surprised if Shout! has all of the remaining Lewtons, but I also wouldn't be surprised if there are a few that neither company picked up. It's probably worth noting, Isle of the Dead/Bedlam and The Leopard Man/The Ghost Ship were reissued via MOD DVD-R in 2016. The other three discs from The Val Lewton Horror Collection have not yet received MOD reissues, as far as I can tell.

 

DVD Beaver reviews Dead Man: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews8/dead_man_blu-ray.htm

 

And DVD Beaver reviews The Virgin Suicides: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film6/dvd_reviews_67/the_virgin_suicides_blu-ray.htm