2011 Criterion Forum Awards

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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Paupau
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#101 Post by Paupau » Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:31 pm

Best Release (1-5, in order of preference)
1- Sweet Smell of Sucess
2 - Kiss Me Deadly
3 - Senso
4 - Music Room
5 - Phantom Carriage

Best Eclipse Set
26 Silent Naruse

Best Reissue
The Naked Kiss

Best Blu-ray Upgrade
the Battle of Algiers

Best R1 Rescue (for title already available in R1 and re-released by Criterion)
Sweet Smell of Sucess

Best (Re)Discovery
Blow Out

Most Disappointing Release (for Criterion's treatment, not the film itself)
Zazie dans le Metro

Best Commentary
Sweet Smell of Sucess

Best Supplement
Satyajit Ray on Music Room disc

Best Cover
The Killing

Best Packaging
Sweet Smell of Sucess
Member of the Year
Swo17

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cysiam
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#102 Post by cysiam » Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:45 pm

Best Release (1-5, in order of preference)

1. Island of Lost Souls
2. Sweet Smell of Success
3. Kiss Me Deadly
4. Blow Out
5. Pale Flower

Best Eclipse Set: Naruse

Best Reissue: Diabolique

Best Blu-ray Upgrade: High and Low

Most Disappointing Release: Something Wild

Best Supplement: Sterling Hayden The Killing

Best Cover: Island of Lost Souls

Best Packaging: Sweet Smell of Success

Member of the Year: swo17
Richard Cranium Award: James Mills

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lacritfan
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#103 Post by lacritfan » Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:06 pm

I'm trying to reduce the clutter/kevyip in my life so haven't bought much at all this year.

Best Release
Three Colors
(You can divide by five, or not count it)

Best Reissue
Solaris

Best Blu-ray Upgrade
High and Low

Member of the Year
domino harvey for doing this and swo17 for the ongoing Consensus Lists

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thatobscurecharm
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:19 pm
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#104 Post by thatobscurecharm » Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:53 pm

First time doing this award thingy!
Release of the Year
-People on Sunday
-Three Colors Trilogy
-The Complete Jean Vigo
-The Great Dictator
-The Phantom Carriage

Best Eclipse Set: Raffaello Matarazzo

Best Reissue: The Rules of the Game

Best Blu-ray Upgrade: Beauty and the Beast and Amarcord

Best (Re)Discovery: The Complete Jean Vigo (for L'Atalante)

Best Cover: Topsy-Turvy

Best Packaging: Sweet Smell of Success

Best Non-Criterion Release
-Touch of Evil (MoC)
-West Side Story (for finally appearing in BD, albeit not perfectly)

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Sam T.
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#105 Post by Sam T. » Sat Jan 07, 2012 12:44 am

Best Release (with my most loved first, and following in order):
1. Jean Vigo
2. Island of Lost Souls
3. Three Colors
4. People on Sunday
5. Sweet Smell of Success

Best Re-Issue:
Orpheus

Best Blu Upgrade:
Beauty and the Beast (I never saw the DVD, but the power of the film is so much about weird defused quality of the light that I have to think it's a movie whose best qualities, far more than those of most, benefit enormously from higher resolution).

Best (Re)discovery:
Insignificance, for which I had very low expectations, and though it wasn't very cinematic or visually impressive, I found to be quite brilliant for linking probably the two most important inventions of the twentieth century: celebrity and the bomb.

Most Disappointing:
I think the Three Colors films really merit feature-length, scholarly commentaries. I like the included critical discussions a lot, but these three movies really abound with precisely the kind of thing film scholars are best at explaining. I really love the films and the set, but the lack of commentaries for these particular films is just nuts.

Best Commentary:
Greg Mank, Island of Lost Souls. He also did some great commentaries on the Val Lewton box set. I hope Criterion uses him again.

Best Supplement:
It might not count, but I want to say Taris (which doesn't have its own page at criterion.com, so I'm treating it as a special feature). Like with Insignificance, I had low expectations given the subject matter, and I was just blown completely away. "Interesting" subject matter is almost like an encumbrance for Vigo, the less substance there is to the subject matter itself the more he can concentrate on what really matters to him: ideas about cinema.

Best Cover:
I know everyone hated them, but: Three Colors. I thought all four were brilliant, especially the outside of the box.

Member of the Year:
Dom

Oh, I'd like to add a "Gripe of the Year" - People complaining about Hulu plus. ](*,) It's $8 a month for access to a library of about 500 movies, all of which have been deemed worth watching by somebody who knows and cares at least as much about film as you do. I'm sorry that it's not free, or that it doesn't offer every film in the collection, or every movie ever made or whatever. It's an incredible resource for a ridiculously low price. Unless your complaints about hulu are part of a larger argument that everything in the world should be both perfect and free then just stop. You can get two months of hulu for less than the cost of one dvd. I signed up in February, like two days after the announcement, and I've never regretted it for an instant.

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movielocke
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am

Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#106 Post by movielocke » Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:05 pm

Best Release
1. The Killing
2. Island of Lost Souls
3. 12 Angry Men
4. Complete Jean Vigo
5. Broadcast News


Best Eclipse Set
Silent Naruse

Best Reissue
Rules of the Game

Best Blu-ray Upgrade
Fanny and Alexander

Best R1 Rescue
Kiss Me Deadly

Best (Re)Discovery
Island of Lost Souls (such an upgrade over the ancient VHS I'd seen)

Most Disappointing Release
Makioka Sisters

Best Commentary
Island of Lost Souls

Best Supplement
in the beginning was the end - island of lost souls

Best Cover
The Killing

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

Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#107 Post by Minkin » Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:26 am

Best Release
1. Sweet Smell of Success
2. Complete Jean Vigo
3. Kuroneko
4. 12 Angry Men
5. Blow Out

Best Eclipse Set: Aki Kuarismaki's Leningrad Cowboys

Best Reissue: Tokyo Drifter
Best Blu-ray Upgrade: Amarcord

Best R1 Rescue: Sweet Smell of Success
Best Discovery: Kuroneko
Most Disappointing Release: Leningrad Cowboys (still mad it was dumped onto DVD/Eclipse)

Best Supplement:Murder à la Mod (Blow Out)

Best Cover: The Mikado
Best Packaging: Kuroneko

Member of the Year: ianungstad

Richard Cranium Award: psufootball07

Hopes for 2012: A Man Escaped and Demy entering the collection

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TMDaines
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#108 Post by TMDaines » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:37 am

Best Release:
1) People on Sunday
2) Senso
3) The Complete Jean Vigo
4) The Rules of the Game
5) The Great Dictator

Best Reissue: The Rules of the Game, what the consensus considers one of the absolute greatest films of all time in HD.

Best R1 Rescue: The Complete Jean Vigo looks a fabulous package that I really need to get. This needed to be back in print somewhere.

Best (Re)Discovery: Senso was pretty hard to see in a good (English friendly) copy before Criterion came along.

Most Disappointing Release: My biggest bone to pick would be Criterion's continued reluctance to release silents especially when their efforts are fabulous. German cinema doesn't really get the look in at Criterion that it should either.

Best Supplement: Ins Blaue hinein on People on Sunday, no-one else is ever likely going to give this a release in HD and it was a really fun little short.

Best Cover: The Phantom Carriage

Best Packaging: People on Sunday bucks the trend of Criterion's lack of coordination between the cover, disc, booklet and inside cover, and looks a really smart package.

Member of the Year: Tommaso's posts are usually interesting to read.

Richard Cranium Award: Anyone who uses the word "masterpiece" without justifying it. Seemingly any half decent film is a masterpiece these days.


Best Non-Criterion Releases:
1) Coeur fidele (Masters of Cinema)
2) Peter Pewas - Films 1932-1967 (absolut MEDIEN)
3) I clowns (Raro US)
4) Deutsche Tonfilmklassiker (Transit Film)
5) Before the Revolution (BFI)

Label of the Year: Raro US. A great set of releases all at a very low price. Fabulous. Like Raro/Minerva in Italy it's hard to go wrong! Masters of Cinema release-for-release are still the kings though.

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

Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#109 Post by zedz » Thu Jan 12, 2012 3:31 pm

TMDaines wrote:Most Disappointing Release: My biggest bone to pick would be Criterion's continued reluctance to release silents especially when their efforts are fabulous.
To be fair, Criterion released far more silent films this year than they have in any previous one, so it seems a bit mean to single them out for that criticism in 2011.

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Jean-Luc Garbo
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#110 Post by Jean-Luc Garbo » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:41 pm

Best Release (1-5, in order of preference)
Topsy-Turvy
Orpheus
Carlos
Sweet Smell of Success
Kiss Me Deadly

Best Eclipse Set
Silent Naruse

Best Reissue
The Naked Kiss

Best R1 Rescue
Sweet Smell of Success

Best (Re)Discovery
Topsy-Turvy
I was utterly enthralled with delight by this film.

Most Disappointing Release
Black Moon.
Sadly, a rather perfunctory release that should have been one of the $20 titles. I still can’t believe that the included essay was the best critical material that Elmore could muster for this release. I had high hopes for that essay as Malle's interview was so slight. The lack of good extras will only make those puzzled by the film feel like this was a waste of their time and money. It’s a unique film that deserved so much better. A most disappointing release, indeed.

Best Commentary
Sweet Smell of Success
Kiss Me Deadly is a close second, though.

Best Supplement
Carlos booklet

Best Cover
Pale Flower

Best Packaging
Sweet Smell of Success

Best Non-Criterion Releases
The Indian Tomb/The Tiger of Eschnapur (MOC)
Szindbad (Second Run)
A Man Vanishes (MOC)
In The City of Sylvia (Cinema Guild)
Before The Revolution (BFI)
This is the tip of the iceberg as MOC and Second Run both had an excellent year, but these five impressed me the most. Kalat's commentary alone made the Lang release my premier choice, but these other four were wonderful.

Best Film Book
The Age of Movies, Pauline Kael (Library of America)
Not a Kaelite, incidentally, but a great book for all of us.

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domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#111 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:56 am

Voting closed, results to come

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domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#112 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:52 pm

2011 CRITERION FORUM AWARDS

BEST RELEASE OF THE YEAR
01 Sweet Smell of Success
02 the Complete Jean Vigo
03 the Music Room
04 Three Colors
05 the Killing
06 Kiss Me Deadly
07 Blow Out
08 Island of Lost Souls
09 People on Sunday
10 the Phantom Carriage

BEST ECLIPSE
Silent Naruse

BEST REISSUE
Branded to Kill

BEST BLU-RAY UPGRADE
Beauty and the Beast

BEST R1 RESCUE
Blow-Out

BEST (RE)DISCOVERY
Island of Lost Souls

MOST DISAPPOINTING RELEASE (Tie)
Cul-de-sac and the Makioka Sisters

BEST COMMENTARY
James Naremore, Sweet Smell of Success

BEST SUPPLEMENT
Sterling Hayden interview on the Killing

BEST COVER (Tie)

ImageImage

BEST PACKAGING

Image

MEMBER OF THE YEAR

Image

RICHARD CRANIUM AWARD

Image

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Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#113 Post by Jeff » Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:34 pm

Many thanks, Domino, for running the show again. Those last two images are priceless. Well done!

I can't disagree with any of the winners or placements. It was an absolutely banner year for Criterion. If Peter, Jon, Kim, Lee, or any of the wonderful Criterion producers are reading, Thanks!

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mfunk9786
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#114 Post by mfunk9786 » Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:44 pm

Yes, thanks so much. Between these releases and Hulu Plus turning out to be a wonderful decision, 2011 was the most exciting year in the history of Criterion.

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Finch
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#115 Post by Finch » Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:56 pm

Can only echo Jeff's and mfunk's sentiments - 2011's releases were as good as the fab 2010 line-up, thank you Criterion.

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aox
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#116 Post by aox » Sun Jan 15, 2012 2:19 pm

Thanks again for this. The only think I vehemently disagree with is The Killing not winning best cover art.

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swo17
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#117 Post by swo17 » Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:28 pm

Thanks domino for tabulating the results, and thanks to everyone else for recognizing my banner work this year in the films Larry Crowne and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

(Now can we all agree to vote next year for MichaelB?)
Last edited by swo17 on Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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mfunk9786
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#118 Post by mfunk9786 » Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:52 pm

No, he's too intelligent, level-headed, and informative; and I don't want to support that kind of thing

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Lemmy Caution
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#119 Post by Lemmy Caution » Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:00 pm

I thought it was one of the least interesting Criterion years, mostly the release of films which I already owned on Dvd. And I hope the Czech New Wave doesn't signal that extending to the Eclipse line as well. Also a down year for the forum with some knowledgeable long time members dropping out, seemingly replaced by folks who feel the need to comment on every post with one-liners and snark.
Last edited by Lemmy Caution on Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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mfunk9786
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Re: 2011 Criterion Forum Awards

#120 Post by mfunk9786 » Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:04 pm

Note to Criterion: Check with Lemmy Caution's DVDAficionado profile before making release decisions.

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