2017 Criterion Forum Awards

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Never Cursed
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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#26 Post by Never Cursed » Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:52 pm

BEST RELEASE:

1. Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2
2. Othello
3. The Breaking Point
4. The Marseilles Trilogy
5. Tampopo

BEST BOXED SET: Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2
BEST MODERN FILM: The Lure

BEST COMMENTARY: Multiple Maniacs
BEST "BONUS" FILM: Filming "Othello"
BEST BOOKLET: Blow-Up
BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA: "Fluid Style" on The Breaking Point

BEST REISSUE: Rebecca
BEST UPGRADE: Ugetsu

BEST COVER: The Lure
WORST COVER: Sid And Nancy - I get the hate for Election's cover, but that's uninspiringly bad, whereas this cover is nonsensically bad
BEST PACKAGING: Ghost World

BEST DISCOVERY: Since I can't vote for specific films in the package, I'll just say all of Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2
MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: La poison - the only blind Criterion buy I've made all year that I've regretted
MOST FLAWED RELEASE: Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy

BEST THREAD: State Of The Forum
MEMBER OF THE YEAR: rohmerin (#askrohmerin still ought to happen)
RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD: kieranx

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movielocke
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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#27 Post by movielocke » Sun Dec 17, 2017 3:08 am

Not seen: 45 Years, Dheephan, Ghost World*, Certain Women, David Lynch In Her Own Words, Twin Peaks: the completionist, Personal Shopper, the entirety of the Olympics set.

So overall, I guess that means I did a moderately decent job of keeping up with the year in releases, filmstruck on apple tv has made an enormous difference.

BEST RELEASE
1. 100 Years of Olympic Films
2. Marseille Trilogy
3. Good Morning
4. Festival
5. The Breaking Point

bumped
6. The Lodger

r/u: Black Girl, desert hearts, his girl friday, stalker, oh, tee hello, Canoa, barry lyndon

BEST BOXED SET
100 Years of Olympic Film

bumped:
Marseille Trilogy

BEST MODERN FILM
Cameraperson

BEST COMMENTARY
N/A

BEST "BONUS" FILM
I Was Born But

BEST BOOKLET
100 Years of Olympic Film

bumped:
Marseille Trilogy

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
Julie Garfield on John Garfield

r/u Analyzing Curtiz' methods from Breaking Point

BEST SECOND EDITION
Good Morning

BEST FORMAT UPGRADE
Jeanne Dielman

BEST COVER
Canoa: A Shameful Memory

WORST COVER
45 Years

(although the Demy cover art remains some of the worst covers they've ever done, so being reissues, they win this by default, but I disqualified them since they were technically released years ago)

BEST PACKAGING
100 Years of Olympic Film

BEST DISCOVERY For the film that is, as the NBC commercials used to say, new to you
Marseille Trilogy

r/u: Stalker, Desert Hearts, Black Girl, Canoa

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
David Lynch: the Art Life

MOST FLAWED RELEASE
The Tree of Wooden Clogs
the supplements aren't great, the transfer is dubious, (looks fine but I totally understand why people think it doesn't seem right), and the film is kind of meh, and was probably my biggest disappointment of the year.

BEST THREAD
State of the Forum

RICHARD CRANIUM
Anyone voting the Olympics set as the most unnecessary. This is a set that represents 21 years of a global rescue and restoration project, it's one of the most extensive in the history of film, and it is all inclusive to extreme obscurities from around the globe, many of which have rarely ever been seen but have enormous historical importance. It is like the WCP box sets on steroids. And it even includes a new construction to better represent the accumulation of materials, from the 1912 Olympics, as the original works were hacked up and reedited throughout the last century. and the new construction is done extremely well. Adrian Wood's extensive essay on the entire 21 year process of being involved in the olympics acquisition and restoration project is extremely eye opening. There was nothing unnecessary about this release, rather this release is in many ways a good summation of Criterion's entire curatorial approach and as a result it fits in extremely well to the ethos of the collection. while lacking in extras, it makes up for it in comprehensiveness of content and presentation of the entire collection. It's an incredibly impressive release, and an incredibly bold release and the more I delve into it, the more remarkable I find the entire project, it's a herculean effort.

This year, in particular, seemed especially supplement heavy. Rumble Fish has so many supplements that after watching a few interviews, I eventually said "fuck it" and gave up, as I didn't have another twelve hours to devote to the release's supplements.

On the other hand, The Lodger was almost equally stacked and I wound up watching (or in many cases listening) to just about everything on the release, some of it was very good, but it was eventually tiring and a bit repetitive going through the last bits.

Festival and Breaking Point and the Marseille Trilogy had some of the highest quality supplements of the year and I particularly enjoyed most everything on those releases. So they were quality stacked (efficient!) rather than TRT bloated, which I especially appreciated.

Multiple Maniacs was definitely the worst film of the year's releases, but Downhill, Poison, and Meantime were almost as bad.

I was also hugely disappointed that the Lure was so mediocre and inconsistent, probably my most disappointing release from the film in terms of expectations being unmet.

Fox and his Friends was probably my biggest surprise, as I've never really love any of the half dozen fassbinder I've seen before, and I thought this film was outstanding. Happily it then motivated me to finally bump Ali: Fear Eats the Soul up into the top of my viewing queue and I finally watched it, and absolutely adored it (more than Fox and his friends), which was a nice cherry on top.

overall, I watched about 160 criterion films in 2017, so far, as I've been using filmstruck to fill in a bunch of gaping holes (like Ali) that I had always been meaning to get to, but had always for some lame reason or another left unseen.

From all those, Le Bonheur is probably my favorite discovery of the year, and my biggest wish for 2018 is that criterion would upgrade the Varda set.

*technically I saw about two thirds of Ghost World when it first came out on VHS. but I remember thinking (at the time) that it was such a bad movie that I turned it off, went to bed, and never got around to finishing it before I had to return the rental. There's probably only a half dozen or so films like that I can remember (like the Sandler Mr. Deeds) that I never finished the film, so I'm moderately curious to rewatch it, but it's fairly low on the priority list.
Last edited by movielocke on Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:43 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#28 Post by colinr0380 » Tue Dec 19, 2017 9:15 pm

It has been one weird year overall, and I think I spent as much time longingly looking at my stack of films to watch as actually having time to watch them, which is something that I really want to change in 2018. Here's my ballot:

BEST RELEASE
1. Othello
2. Tampopo
3. Mildred Pierce
4. The Lodger
5. Stalker

BEST BOXED SET
The Marseille Trilogy

BEST MODERN FILM (within the last five years)
Certain Women

BEST COMMENTARY
It has to be John Waters on Multiple Maniacs

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Downhill on The Lodger

BEST BOOKLET
Rebecca, for reproducing the correspondence between Selznick and Hitchcock (with an uncredited cameo from Val Lewton!)

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
The whole of the set could count, but I really liked the "After Before" piece on the Greek location filming of Before Midnight (directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari, a notable filmmaker herself, having made Attenberg and Chevalier)

BEST REISSUE
Rebecca (though Sid & Nancy ran it a very close second)

BEST UPGRADE
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Buxelles

BEST COVER
Certain Women's rough hewn painterly landscape portrait

WORST COVER
Nothing really stands out to me this year. I would generally agree on Election therefore

BEST PACKAGING
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

BEST DISCOVERY
Canoa: A Shameful Memory

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
I'll second David Lynch: The Art Life, as while it is an entertaining documentary by itself it could have been even more useful attached to Fire Walk With Me, and could potentially have made the standalone release of Fire Walk With Me even more essential too. I'm currently seeing The Art Life as in a situation similar to Bergman Island, which initially had a separate spine number but eventually got bundled together with the Blu-ray edition of The Seventh Seal. Something like the way that Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach is going to come together with the upcoming release of I, Daniel Blake seems to be the best option all around!

MOST FLAWED RELEASE
There is nothing that particularly comes to mind, only my general wish for more commentaries in the future is possible. So instead of finding a flaw I want to go back to my candidate from last year - the lack of both versions of Charlie Chaplin's The Kid being presented in full - and commend the seeming trend this year towards presenting multiple versions of a film again, and of Othello in particular, which immediately put paid to decades of concerns about whether only one version of the film would ever be available.

BEST THREAD
I loved reading all of the write ups in the pre-1920s list project this year, even though I could not meaningfully contribute anything but my thanks to those writing up reports on the films they saw!

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
I think this year I would like to vote for Minkin, just for the sterling work they are doing in collating information in various threads together, from the TV on Blu-ray thread to keeping an ongoing monthly report in the Forthcoming Speculation Thread about which newly announced Criterion releases were known about in advance or arrived as a surprise!

RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD
Only myself this year for the lack of posting! :P

This is more a run down of the releases I picked up this year rather than have fully been able to sit down with yet, but hopefully this list will give an overview of how the year has been for disc releases that I found most exciting. This also has the proviso that I have not yet picked up the Arrow Eric Rohmer boxset, but hope to do so in the new year:

1. The Taisho Trilogy (Arrow)
2. Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia (Arrow) - both for the film and the overwhelming amount of interview material that I'm still working through months later
3. Wild Beasts (Severin) - a film I had long wanted to see and which surprisingly did not disappoint!
4. Right Now, Wrong Then (directed by Hong Sang-soo) and Kaili Blues (directed by Gan Bi) - two fantastic releases by Grasshopper Films
5. Pulse (Arrow) and Creepy (MoC) - two by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
6. Toshiaki Toyoda: The Early Years (Third Window) - containing Pornostar, 9 Souls and Unchain and introducing the director to the UK
7. Fires on the Plain (Third Window) - the long awaited Shinya Tsukamoto film version
8. German Concentration Camps Factual Survey (BFI)
9. My 20th Century / The Fabulous Baron Munchausen / Vampire Cuadeduc / Witchhammer / The Cremator - Second Run's releases of the year have been as wonderfully and fearlessly eclectic as ever!
10. Discovering Sunao Katabuchi's work with the release of Mai Mai Miracle (All The Anime, which was originally a Kickstarted release) and In This Corner of the World (Manga) - apparently Princess Arete is upcoming in the new year
11. Record of Lodoss War Complete Collection including the OVA (on Blu-ray) and TV series (on DVD only) (though I also want to mention the release of the complete Tenchi Muyo! and Martian Successor Nadesico series on Bu-ray this year. Plus the release of the much more recent series Gangsta. (which turns out to be something quite different from its boisterous opening titles: sure it is kind of about girls, bondage and drugs, but in a different way!), and of the very recent UK Blu-ray edition of the 2014 Studio Ghibli TV series Ronja, The Robber's Daughter)
12. Seven Beauties and Swept Away, both by Lina Wertmuller (Kino)
13. Eight Hours Don't Make A Day (Arrow) - reminded by swo17's post below!
14. The Legend of the Holy Drinker (Arrow)
15. Suddenly In The Dark (Mondo Macabro)
16. Long Shot and The Orchard End Murder (BFI) - I'd love more Flipside films next year (hint, hint!)
17. All The Colours of the Dark / Torso - two films by 70s giallo director Sergio Martino (Shameless Films)
18. The Black Society Trilogy / Dead or Alive Trilogy (Arrow) - two essential formative trilogies by Takashi Miike
19. Ludwig (Arrow) / The Death of Louis XIV (Cinema Guild)
20. Cops Vs Thugs and Doberman Cop - two 70s Kinji Fukasaku films from Arrow
21. Hardcore (Indicator) (and I picked up Paul Schrader's recent film Dog Eat Dog at the same time!)
22. The Survivor (Severin) / Tag (Eureka)
23. Four Film Noir Classics (Arrow) - I was particularly excited to see Force of Evil getting much deserved attention paid to it!
24. The Saga of Anatahan and The Mourning Forest (MoC)
25. Afterimage (Film Movement)
26. Trailer Trauma Volume 1-4 (Garagehouse Pictures) as well as Kung Fu Trailers of Fury/Return of Kung Fu Trailers of Fury (Severin)
27. Ghosts of Mars / Vampires (Indicator)

And that's without finding room to be thankful that series 3 of Black Mirror has just got a physical disc release in the UK (I was worried for a while that I would never see it outside of Netflix!), Twin Peaks Series 3, O.J. : Made In America, the release of Happy Hour, I Am Not Madame Bovary, all of the Indicator boxsets dedicated to Ray Harryhausen and Hammer, Ed LoRusso's ongoing Kickstarter projects of neglected silent films, Shout! Factory's wonderful special editions of Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III (not to mention Species and Species II! And RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3!), too many more Arrow titles to count (New Battles Without Honour or Humanity, The Suspicious Death of a Minor, The Voices of the Moon, Between Night and Dawn, The Slayer, Story of Sin, Future Shock, The Untamed, Aquarius...), or Warner Brothers dipping their toe back into the Looney Tunes well with Porky Pig 101.

Though of course Mill Creek's release of the 1988 'killer electricity' film Pulse was the Blu-ray that I was most grateful for this year! (that 'slow motion slipping onto the water soaked, electrified kitchen floor' montage sequence is still one of the best edited moments in horror films of that decade!) It is also featureless but I also want to put in a word for Shout! Factory's Blu-ray release of the wonderfully strange and dark The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea (I can only find a re-scored edit of the film on YouTube, but it should give a feel of the look of the film at least!), based on the Yukio Mishima novel.

And I cannot let the releases of Assassin's Creed, Alien: Covenant and Trespass Against Us pass without a comment that this could probably form part of a Michael Fassbender 'hoodie anti-hero trilogy'!

(EDIT: And here's Sight & Sound's round of of their contributor's discs of the year.)
Last edited by colinr0380 on Fri Jan 12, 2018 3:38 pm, edited 9 times in total.

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swo17
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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#29 Post by swo17 » Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:25 pm

Best Release
1. Othello
2. WCP 2
3. 100 Years of Olympic Films
4. The Marseille Trilogy
5. Stalker

Best Boxed Set
The Marseille Trilogy (because extras)

Best Modern Release
Certain Women

Best Commentary
Ghost World

Best Bonus Film
Filming Othello (runner-up: The Above)

Best Book/Booklet
100 Years of Olympic Films

Best Other Supplement
Interview with Valerie Charlton, designer of the creature in Jabberwocky

Best Reissue
Good Morning

Best Blu-ray Upgrade
Jeanne Dielman

Best Cover
Image

Worst Cover
Image

Best Packaging
100 Years of Olympic Films (I know the discs are in sleeves, but there's something very satisfying--dare I say, Olympic--about the way they accordion in and out between the fingers. Also, hardbox.)

Best (Re)discovery
The Breaking Point

Most Unnecessary
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (The Art Life was a welcome surprise actually, but still should have been an extra here)

Most Flawed
Germany Year Zero

Best Thread
The State of the Forum (née "Deetz Nuts")

Forum Member of the Year
matrixschmatrix, for keeping the lists project threads alive

KEVYIPSBITCHES Award
FilmStruckFan/kevyip1, for it still hurting after 10 years

Best Non-Criterion Releases
Anticipation of the Night (Re:voir) - partly a vote for Re:voir being on Blu-ray in general
Buster Keaton: 3 Films (MoC)
The Cremator (Second Run) - partly a vote for Second Run catalog titles getting upgraded
Eight Hours Don't Make a Day (Arrow)
The Éric Rohmer Collection (Arrow)
Metropolis (MoC) - fifth time's the charm I guess
Oskar Fischinger: Visual Music (CVM)
Porky Pig 101 (Warner)
Suspiria (Synapse)
The Taisho Trilogy (Arrow)

Blublub
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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#30 Post by Blublub » Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:17 pm

BEST RELEASE:
1. Stalker
2. Barry Lyndon
3. Blow-Up
4. Dheepan
5. L'argent

BEST BOXED SET: Martin Scorsese' World Cinema Project Vol. 2
BEST MODERN FILM: 45 Years
BEST COMMENTARY: Can't say I've listened to any of this batch.
BEST "BONUS" FILM: I Was Born, But...
BEST BOOKLET: 100 Years of Olympic Films
BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA: Barry Lyndon "Achieving Perfection"

BEST REISSUE: Sid & Nancy (honorable mention to Idi Amin Dada)
BEST UPGRADE: Vampyr

BEST COVER: Tampopo
WORST COVER: Rebecca
BEST PACKAGING: Ghost World

BEST DISCOVERY: Cameraperson
MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: 100 Years of Olympic Films
MOST FLAWED RELEASE: Stalker

Self
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 9:36 pm

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#31 Post by Self » Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:43 pm

Best Release
1. His Girl Friday
2. Barry Lyndon
3. Othello
4. Being There
5. The Before Trilogy

Best Box Set
The Before Trilogy

Best Modern Film
45 Years

Best "Bonus" Film
The Front Page

Best Booklet
100 Years of Olympic Films

Best on-disc non-commentary extra
David Bordwell on His Girl Friday

Best Reissue
Rebecca

Best Upgrade
Vampyr

Best Cover
The Breaking Point

Worst Cover
Hopscotch

Best Packaging
Blow-Up

Best Discovery
The Breaking Point

Most Unnecessary Release
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Most Flawed Release
David Lynch: the Art Life

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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#32 Post by midnitedave » Wed Dec 27, 2017 12:18 pm

BEST RELEASE
1. Tampopo
2. Canoa: A Shameful Memory
3. Blow-Up
4. Barry Lyndon
5. Ghost World

BEST BOXED SET Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2
BEST MODERN FILM the Lure

BEST COMMENTARY Multiple Maniacs
BEST "BONUS" FILM Rubber Band Pistol (Tampopo)
BEST BOOKLET Blow-Up
BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA Blow Up of "Blow Up"

BEST REISSUE Good Morning
BEST UPGRADE Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

BEST COVER Good Morning
WORST COVER Sid & Nancy
BEST PACKAGING Ghost World

BEST DISCOVERY Tampopo
MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
MOST FLAWED RELEASE Stalker

BEST NON-CC RELEASES
The Thing (Arrow)
Reanimator (Arrow)
Between Night and Dawn (Arrow)
Don't Torture A Duckling (Arrow)
Bird With the Crystal Plumage (Arrow)
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia (Arrow)
Witchhammer (Second Run)
The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Second Run)
The Cremator (Second Run)
Suspiria (Synapse)
Ice Cream Man (Vinegar Syndrome)
Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology (Flicker Alley)
Film/NotFlim (BFI)
Misery (Shout! Factory)
Amsterdamned (Blue Underground)
Deathdream (Blue Underground)
All the Colors of the Dark (Shameless)
Suffer, Little Children (Intervision)
Beyond the Seventh Door (Intervision)
The Devil's Rain (Severin)
Wilard/Ben (Second Sight)
Sinbad Box Set (Indicator)
Buster Keaton Box Set (MoC)
Fright Night (Eureka)
Last edited by midnitedave on Sat Dec 30, 2017 12:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#33 Post by aox » Thu Dec 28, 2017 4:21 pm

BEST RELEASE:
1. Stalker
2. Blow-Up
3. His Girl Friday
4. Rebecca
5. Barry Lyndon

BEST BOXED SET: 100 Years of Olympic Films
BEST MODERN FILM: 45 Years

BEST COMMENTARY: Ghost World
BEST "BONUS" FILM: I Was Born, But…
BEST BOOKLET: Blow-Up

BEST REISSUE: Good Morning
BEST UPGRADE: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

BEST COVER: They Live by Night
WORST COVER: 45 Years
BEST PACKAGING: Blow-Up

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
MOST FLAWED RELEASE: Le Samourai

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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#34 Post by omgkitty » Thu Dec 28, 2017 5:27 pm

BEST RELEASE

1. Stalker
2. Barry Lyndon
3. Good Morning
4. Rebecca
5. Tampopo

BEST BOXED SET 100 Years of Olympic Films
BEST MODERN FILM Personal Shopper

BEST "BONUS" FILM Filming "Othello"

BEST REISSUE Good Morning
BEST UPGRADE Ugetsu

BEST COVER Women on a Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
WORST COVER Election
BEST PACKAGING 100 Years of Olympic Films

BEST DISCOVERY Ugetsu
MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - Love this film, but completely unnecessary. Completely pointless if you own the Twin Peaks set, and if you're interested in this release, why wouldn't you own that already?

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Sandman
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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#35 Post by Sandman » Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:56 pm

BEST RELEASE
1. Tampopo
2. Stalker
3. Barry Lyndon
4. The Lodger
5. Marseilles Triology

BEST BOXED SET
Marseilles Trilogy

BEST MODERN FILM
N/A

BEST COMMENTARY
N/A

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Downhill (The Lodger)

BEST BOOKLET
Rebecca

BEST REISSUE
Rebecca

BEST UPGRADE
Ugetsu

BEST COVER
Vampyr

WORST COVER
Election

BEST PACKAGING
Blow Up

BEST DISCOVERY
Canoa: A Shameful Memory

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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#36 Post by Timec » Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:19 am

BEST RELEASE
1. Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol. 2
2. The Marseilles Trilogy
3. Festival
4. The Breaking Point
5. Tampopo

BEXT BOXED SET
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol. 2

BEST MODERN FILM
Certain Women

BEST “BONUS” FILM
Filming Othello

BEST REISSUE
Good Morning

BEST COVER
Certain Women

WORST COVER
Sid & Nancy

BEST PACKAGING
100 Years of Olympic Films

BEST DISCOVERY
Canoa: A Shameful Memory

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

MOST FLAWED RELEASE
Stalker

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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#37 Post by DFR » Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:33 am

Great year overall. I loved revisiting 2017’s classic Hollywood releases and really appreciated that Criterion continued to put out reissues/upgrades.

BEST RELEASE
1. Barry Lyndon
2. His Girl Friday
3. Mildred Pierce
4. Stalker
5. The Piano Teacher

BEST BOXED SET: The Before Trilogy
BEST MODERN FILM: Personal Shopper

BEST COMMENTARY: Multiple Maniacs
BEST "BONUS" FILM: Downhill on The Lodger
BEST BOOKLET: Rebecca
BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA: Barry Lyndon’s “Achieving Perfection”

BEST REISSUE: Rebecca
BEST UPGRADE: Ugetsu

BEST COVER: His Girl Friday
WORST COVER: Election
BEST PACKAGING: Before Trilogy

BEST DISCOVERY: Tampopo

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Tommaso
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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#38 Post by Tommaso » Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:08 pm

BEST RELEASE
1. Stalker
2. 100 Years of Olympic Films
3. Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project Vol.2
4. The Lure
5. The Marseille Trilogy

BEST BOXED SET
100 Years of Olympic Films (unsurprisingly, I haven't even seen this, but the simple fact that there's a restored version of Leni Riefenstahl's most important film in it, plus the 1928 Fanck (!), is enough for me to find this completely major. Quite apart from the wealth of all the other films in there. However, I still hope that there will be an individual release of the Riefenstahl at least.)

BEST MODERN FILM
The Lure

BEST "BONUS" FILM
The Front Page (on His Girl Friday)

BEST COVER
His Girl Friday

WORST COVER
The Before Trilogy

BEST DISCOVERY
The Lure (even though I already knew it before CC released it)

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Matrixschmatrix (for outstanding contributions in the pre-20s and 20s list threads)


OTHER RELEASES:

In general, I'm glad to say that MoC finally returned to form after quite a few disappointing years. So thanks for the Pabst double bill, Lang's "Der müde Tod" and especially for redeeming Dupont's "Varieté" from Tiger Lilies hell. However my favourite MoC this year was clearly

The Saga of Anatahan. I hadn't seen this late Sternberg before and was simply amazed by its intensity and visual impressiveness. And MoC provided a complete package for it on top of it: Tony Rayns and Tag Gallagher, could you ask for more?

Moulin Rouge
(E.A. Dupont, Network): Everybody talked about "Varieté", but for some reason this very fine release of Dupont's 1928 film went completely unnoticed it seems. Sure, no extras to speak of, but an excellent restoration which adds 40 (!) minutes compared to the version that floated around in the backchannels before and restores the film to its original form as closely as it is possible. Perhaps the film is an example of style over substance, and perhaps it's a notch below "Piccadilly", which it somewhat resembles, but who cares. Silent film fans will swoon over Olga Tschechova in any case.

The Informer (Arthur Robison, BFI): And another truly fine silent discovery for me. Very atmospheric/expressionist with an international cast (female lead is Lya de Putti, so another "Varieté" connection here), and a great resto/package from the BFI.

And now I'm looking very much forward to their forthcoming "Shiraz" release...

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Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#39 Post by Ribs » Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:22 pm

I am way too behind on catch-up to vote in several of the categories. Adopting a policy of "will only vote even in aesthetic categories for things that I bought," however arbitrary that may seem.

BEST RELEASE
1. 100 Years of Olympic Films
2. Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project II
3. The Marseilles Trilogy
4. His Girl Friday
5. Being There (utterly unnecessary, deeply appreciated)

BEST BOXED SET
100 Years of Olympic Films

BEST MODERN FILM
Personal Shopper

BEST BOOK(LET)
100 Years of Olympic Films (hon. mention because I really don't think it's fair to compare a book that could be sold on its own to a bunch of good booklets: Blow-Up)

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
David Bordwell on His Girl Friday

BEST COVER
45 Years Fight Me

WORST COVER
Election

BEST PACKAGING
100 Years of Olympic Films

BEST DISCOVERY
Marius

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
Being There

MOST FLAWED RELEASE
The Tree of Wooden Clogs

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jedgeco
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:28 am

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#40 Post by jedgeco » Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:28 pm

A really weak year punctuated by some really high highs, IMHO. My top 4 all are releases that I've waited for forever and might be top 4 of all time, but I'm somewhat surprised that looking back, most of 2018 I could take or leave.

BEST RELEASE
5. His Girl Friday
4. Othello
3. Blowup
2. Stalker
1. Barry Lyndon

BEST BOXED SET : The Before Trilogy (Maybe not the best on objective merits, but re-watching each in quick succession was a pretty powerful experience given that I'm now pretty close to the same age as Jesse in that film.)

BEST MODERN FILM : Personal Shopper

BEST COMMENTARY : Apparently there are only two and I listened to neither. (Tempted to vote for Multiple Maniacs anyway since, although I love Ghost World, in the one interview I recall hearing with Zwigoff he was insufferable.)

BEST "BONUS" FILM : I Was Born But...

BEST BOOKLET : His Girl Friday

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA : Barry Lyndon “Achieving Perfection”

BEST REISSUE : Straw Dogs.

BEST UPGRADE : Vampyr

BEST COVER : They Live by Night

WORST COVER : Wow, the collage really highlights how many bad covers there were this year. I'm gonna go with Canoa: A Shameful Memory, but could easily swap out a dozen others.

BEST PACKAGING : Blowup

BEST DISCOVERY :

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE : Being There

MOST FLAWED RELEASE : Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (my runner-up for "most unnecessary" in light of "The Complete Mystery" box, so I'll consider it's lack of anything new to the world a flaw)

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lacritfan
Life is one big kevyip
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:39 pm
Location: Los Angeles

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#41 Post by lacritfan » Tue Jan 09, 2018 12:22 am

BEST RELEASE
1. Stalker
2. Othello
3. Multiple Maniacs
4. Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2
5. Ghost World
BEST BOXED SET - Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2
BEST MODERN FILM - David Lynch: the Art Life
BEST COMMENTARY - Multiple Maniacs
BEST BOOKLET - Ghost World
BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA - Making of Tampopo
BEST UPGRADE - Ugetsu
BEST COVER - Ghost World
WORST COVER - Election
BEST PACKAGING - Ghost World
BEST DISCOVERY - Meantime
RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD - FilmStruckFan
Last edited by lacritfan on Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#42 Post by zedz » Tue Jan 09, 2018 6:23 pm

With the caveat that I haven't actually seen everything released this year yet:

BEST RELEASES:
1. World Cinema Project Vol. 2 - or, Taipei Story and Limite with a bunch of bonus films.
2. The Before Trilogy - A simple and obvious job done well.
3. Certain Women - A very modest package, but this is such a great film.
4. Othello - A difficult and fraught job done well.
5. Barry Lyndon - I'm no big fan of Kubrick, and I'm cool on the film, but this is as good and thorough a package as Criterion does.

BEST BOXED SET: World Cinema Project Vol. 2

BEST MODERN FILM: Certain Women

BEST COMMENTARY: Multiple Maniacs - why watch the mediocre film when you can have a much better time listening to the commentary?

BEST "BONUS" FILM: The Front Page

BEST BOOKLET / BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA: nothing actually stands out for me this year.

BEST REISSUE: Good Morning

BEST UPGRADE: Jeanne Dielman

BEST COVER: Black Girl - the simplest cover of the year, but everything about it works.

WORST COVER: Election, but what a competitive year! Personal Shopper (aka The Girl in the Striped Pyjamas), Canoa and The Lodger are all ugly as shit.

BEST PACKAGING: The Marseille Trilogy

BEST DISCOVERY: None of the main releases that were new to me have impressed me so far (Cameraperson seemed especially wildly overrated, and had some of the most self-congratulatory extras of the year), so I'm giving this to The Front Page, which genuinely surprised me with its visual flair.

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: Being There

RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD: I can't remember what name he tried to use, but I've got to give this to Kevyip, for his eleventh-hour almost return, stupider and angrier than ever.

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swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#43 Post by swo17 » Tue Jan 09, 2018 6:39 pm

FilmStruckFan

vidussoni
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 1:51 pm

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#44 Post by vidussoni » Tue Jan 09, 2018 7:49 pm

BEST RELEASE:

1. Stalker
2. Othello
3. Blow-up
4. Fox and His Friends
5. Barry Lyndon

BEST BOXED SET: The Marseille Trilogy

BEST MODERN FILM: Personal Shopper

BEST REISSUE: Le samouraï

BEST UPGRADE: Ugetsu

BEST COVER: Fox and His Friends

WORST COVER: Sid and Nancy

BEST PACKAGING: Ghost World

BEST DISCOVERY: Meantime

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: The Lure

MOST FLAWED RELEASE: Stalker

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domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#45 Post by domino harvey » Wed Jan 10, 2018 1:05 pm

Reminder that ballots are due by end of day Friday EST

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Harmonov
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Bloomington, IN

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#46 Post by Harmonov » Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:26 pm

BEST RELEASES:
1. Stalker
2. World Cinema Project Vol. 2
3. Rumble Fish
4. Personal Shopper
5. The Breaking Point

BEST BOXED SET: World Cinema Project Vol. 2

BEST MODERN FILM: Personal Shopper, although I really love Certain Women

BEST COMMENTARY: Ghost World

BEST "BONUS" FILM: The Front Page

BEST REISSUE: Le Samourai

BEST UPGRADE: Rossellini's War Trilogy

BEST COVER: Monterey Pop

WORST COVER: Sid & Nancy

BEST PACKAGING: World Cinema Project Vol. 2

BEST DISCOVERY: The Breaking Point

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

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Lowry_Sam
Joined: Mon Jul 05, 2010 3:35 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#47 Post by Lowry_Sam » Wed Jan 10, 2018 3:59 pm

BEST RELEASE
1. The Breaking Point
2. Multiple Maniacs
3. The Marseilles Trilogy
4. Rebecca (would be higher if "Rebecky" was included)
5. Mildred Pierce (would be higher if "Mildred Fierce" was included)

BEST BOXED SET The Marseilles Trilogy
BEST MODERN FILM 45 Years
BEST COMMENTARY Multiple Maniacs
BEST "BONUS" FILM Filming "Othello"


BEST REISSUE Rebecca
BEST UPGRADE Vampyr

BEST COVER Othello
WORST COVER Buena Vista Social Club
BEST PACKAGING 100 Years Of Olympic Film

BEST DISCOVERY The Breaking Point
MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
MOST FLAWED RELEASE The Tree Of Wooden Clogs

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Ashirg
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:10 am
Location: Atlanta

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#48 Post by Ashirg » Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:02 pm

BEST RELEASE
1. The Breaking Point
2. The Before Trilogy
3. Barry Lyndon
4. Othello
5. Stalker

BEST BOXED SET The Before Trilogy
BEST MODERN FILM Personal Shopper

BEST COMMENTARY Multiple Maniacs
BEST "BONUS" FILM Filming "Othello"
BEST BOOKLET Blow-Up

BEST REISSUE Good Morning
BEST UPGRADE Vampyr

BEST COVER They Live by Night
WORST COVER Election
BEST PACKAGING Marseille Trilogy

BEST DISCOVERY Desert Hearts
MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE David Lynch: The Art Life
MOST FLAWED RELEASE The Tree Of Wooden Clogs

BEST THREAD Twin Peaks

Best Non-Criterion Releases
Four Film Noir Classics (Arrow Academy)
Suspiria (Steelbook) (Synapse)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage / Phenomena (Arrow Video)
The Old Dark House (Cohen Media Group)
The Sea Wolf (Warner Archive)
Funeral Parade of Roses (Cinelicious Pics)
The Cremator / The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (Second Run)
Buster Keaton - New 4K Restorations (The Masters of Cinema / Eureka)
Liquid Sky (Vinegar Syndrome)
Ludwig (Arrow Academy)
The Sinbad Trilogy / The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen Vol. 1 & 2 (Indicator/Powerhouse)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (Olive)
T-Men / He Walked By Night (ClassicFlix)
Twin Peaks - A Limited Event Series (Paramount)
The Fox with a Velvet Tail (Mondo Macabro)

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Minkin
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#49 Post by Minkin » Thu Jan 11, 2018 2:22 am

BEST RELEASE
1. Tampopo (finally, after years and years of wanting this)
2. 100 Years of Olympic Films
3. The Lodger
4. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
5. Being There (unsure why this is so hated)

BEST BOXED SET
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project Vol 2

BEST MODERN FILM
The Lure

BEST COMMENTARY
Multiple Maniacs (why isn't there a John Waters commentary/interview on every film?)

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Filming Othello

BEST BOOKLET / leaflet poster
100 Years of Olympic Films

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
Making of Tampopo (basically a bonus film)

BEST REISSUE
Complete Monterey Pop

BEST UPGRADE
Ugetsu

BEST COVER
Certain Women
Runners up: The Lodger, The Lure and Festival

WORST COVER
Sid & Nancy
Runner up: Before Trilogy outer box

BEST PACKAGING
100 Years of Olympic Films

BEST DISCOVERY
The Lodger

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
David Lynch - The Art Life (This would've been a perfect inclusion on FWWM, but alas)

BEST THREAD
Pre-1920s List project

MEMBER OF THE YEAR
DWK (I always get excited when I see you have posted in the Forthcoming thread) + D50 (Filmstruck help)

-------------------------------
Best of Year
Finally getting Juzo Itami + some pre-40s German films (in 2018, but still)
Actually participating in a lists project for once
So many OOP films came back this year, it became difficult to keep the OOP thread accurate!
Discovery of The Phil Silvers Show

Worst of Year
My Sherwood Blu-ray player finally died
Still no return of Studio Canal, despite the endless hopes and speculation.
Trump ending up ruining alot of things that I love, despite my kind suggestions to the counter in last year's awards
Television on Blu-ray is still pathetic, despite a few releases this year (of all things, why Flipper?)
Barnes and Noble - I did not buy a single film in store / I bought nothing from them during the November sale. So, my apologies to Desert Hearts + Jabberwocky, which would very likely make my top five (I only vote for films I've seen for my top five) if I had seen /owned them. So, blame BN for those losses.

Hopes for 2018
John Waters (Polyester), the Jacques Cousteau films, Keaton's Cameraman, Astaire / Busby Berkeley musicals, Flaherty, return of Studio Canal / OOP titles, some Avant-Garde set

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Omensetter
Yes We Cannes
Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:17 pm
Location: Lawrence, KS, U.S.

Re: 2017 Criterion Forum Awards

#50 Post by Omensetter » Thu Jan 11, 2018 12:12 pm

BEST RELEASE
1. Othello
2. Barry Lyndon
3. His Girl Friday
4. Blowup
5. L'argent

BEST BOXED SET
WCP Volume 2

BEST MODERN FILM
Personal Shopper

BEST "BONUS" FILM
Filming Othello

BEST BOOKLET
Blowup

BEST ON-DISC NON-COMMENTARY EXTRA
video essay by Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou analyzing Curtiz’s methods, The Breaking Point

BEST REISSUE
Good Morning

BEST COVER
They Live by Night

WORST COVER
Sid & Nancy

BEST PACKAGING
Blowup

BEST DISCOVERY
Desert Hearts

MOST UNNECESSARY RELEASE
Woman of the Year

MOST FLAWED RELEASE
Stalker

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