2008 Criterion Forum Awards - RESULTS

[GringoTex]

Release of the Year

Vampyr

2. 4 by Agnès Varda
3. Pierrot le fou
4. The Furies
5. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
6. An Autumn Afternoon
7. This Sporting Life
8. Brand upon the Brain!
9. (tie) Trafic
Missing
Bottle Rocket


Best Eclipse Release

Series 13: Kenji Mizoguchi's Fallen Women


Best Reissue

High and Low


Best Commentary

"A Pierrot Primer" by Jean-Pierre Gorin, Pierrot le fou


Best Single Supplement (not a commentary)

"Is That All There Is?", This Sporting Life


Best Cover

Vampyr


Best Package Design

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters


Best (Re)Discovery

Eclipse Series 11: Larisa Shepitko


Most Disappointing Release

The Last Emperor


Forum Member of the Year

zedz


Richard Cranium Award

kevyip


Best Non-Criterion Release

1. Budd Boetticher Box Set (Sony)
2. Touch of Evil - 50th Anniversary Edition (Universal)
3. Mizoguchi Films (MoC)
4. L’Enfance-nue (MoC)
5. Georges Melies: First Wizard of Cinema (Flicker Alley)
6. La Roue (Flicker Alley)
7. Police (MoC)
8. L’Argent (MoC)
9. The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration Giftset (Paramount)
10. (tie) Bill Douglas Trilogy (BFI)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Second Run)

[mfunk9786]

It's good to see that amazing Vampyr release getting its due, especially because there are some that prefer the MoC.

[Saturnome]

kevyip

Did it went that far?

[Tommaso]

It's good to see that amazing Vampyr release getting its due, especially because there are some that prefer the MoC.

Well, both releases clearly deserve the top of the list. Which one you choose is basically due to where you live and which extras you prefer, even if there may be slight and probably negligible differences in image quality.

I'm more surprised that no Eclipse release (they were eligible, after all) made in into the top ten. But good to see that "High and Low" got the best re-release prize instead of "Salo". The latter seems preferable from the BFI, and in a way I always regarded "High and Low" as a brand new entry into the collection, because it almost has no resemblance to the original release anymore (okay, that goes for "Salo", too, but still...).

[Michael]

Have to say I'm very pleased with Brand Upon the Brain!'s position in the top ten. Really amazing film!

[GringoTex]

Thrilled to see Bill Douglas Trilogy slip in at #10 and I agree that the Boetticher box was the best release of the year.

I think the unjustly maligned Madame de... disc got shafted (especially when a retread of a crap film like Missing makes the top 10). It's a nice transfer (the only English-friendly one) with three brilliant extras of one of the most important films in the collection.

[Harmonov]

After all of the whining on this forum about Mishima's cover, it wins best package design.

Awesome.

[domino harvey]

I hate the cover and still think it earned Best Packaging. There's a reason we added a Best Cover category

[swo17]

I think the unjustly maligned Madame de... disc got shafted (especially when a retread of a crap film like Missing makes the top 10). It's a nice transfer (the only English-friendly one) with three brilliant extras of one of the most important films in the collection.

To some extent, I think different people are voting for different things. I believe it was established from the onset that we should not be voting on the films themselves, but rather on the Criterion treatment of these films. However, while I share some of the misgivings with the Madame de... release (put rather well by Matt I believe) I couldn't bear to exclude it from my list for the same reasons you mention. On the other hand, films like Missing and Spy Who Came in from the Cold probably had the best overall Criterion treatments I saw all year, though there are other films I was more excited about having entered the collection. (I did still quite like Missing as a film though). Perhaps this could be solved in the future by replacing the release of the year category with two new ones--best films to enter the collection, and best Criterion treatments. Or, you can all throw eggs at me if you prefer.

[Perkins Cobb]

Surprised to see Touch of Evil place so high after all the aspect ratio bitching.

[domino harvey]

I think the unjustly maligned Madame de... disc got shafted (especially when a retread of a crap film like Missing makes the top 10). It's a nice transfer (the only English-friendly one) with three brilliant extras of one of the most important films in the collection.

To some extent, I think different people are voting for different things. I believe it was established from the onset that we should not be voting on the films themselves, but rather on the Criterion treatment of these films. However, while I share some of the misgivings with the Madame de... release (put rather well by Matt I believe) I couldn't bear to exclude it from my list for the same reasons you mention. On the other hand, films like Missing and Spy Who Came in from the Cold probably had the best overall Criterion treatments I saw all year, though there are other films I was more excited about having entered the collection. (I did still quite like Missing as a film though). Perhaps this could be solved in the future by replacing the release of the year category with two new ones--best films to enter the collection, and best Criterion treatments. Or, you can all throw eggs at me if you prefer.

I lobbied for a "Best Criterion Rescue" for titles already out in R1, but no one had my back

[Tom Hagen]

I hate the cover and still think it earned Best Packaging. There's a reason we added a Best Cover category

I absolutely concurr. I voted for Mishima as the best package design, but if there were a category for worst cover, it would have easily won out in year with many great contenders (most notably the four November releases).

[GringoTex]

I hate the cover and still think it earned Best Packaging. There's a reason we added a Best Cover category

I absolutely concurr. I voted for Mishima as the best package design, but if there were a category for worst cover, it would have easily won out in year with many great contenders (most notably the four November releases).

As much as we love to bash covers, we should add that category for next year.

[swo17]

There should also be a category for best forum member at bashing covers.

[HerrSchreck]

Ah, thank god zedz won.

I'll pop in tomorrow with a bender on and a Bobo outfit with flipping dogs and burning chimps in prom dresses, dance a little softshoe toodleloo (O wait that's my usual attire... maybe I'll pop in with a suit and a shave and a haircut?) and razz the shit out of our Beloved Winner. With his silly little essays that he thinks (whaps hand onto mouth... sneezing noises of strain)... he thinks (raspberry sounds from behind the hand.. body spasms reflect the Great Strain) PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ!! (Peals of atomic laughter-- even Jesus laughs and points and laughs and points).

Waitaminnit... (shrinks) does anyone read my stuff?

Seriously now:

No props to Janet Bergstrom viz non-CC releases? No FORD or MURbORZ? Cue E. E. Horton voice: "Have you all gone maaaaaaad?"

[mfunk9786]

GringoTex won't rest until everyone knows he doesn't like Missing.

[Matt]

It's good to see that amazing Vampyr release getting its due, especially because there are some that prefer the MoC.

The del Toro commentary on the MoC is really something special, and I'm not even all that crazy about this film. The MoC transfer also has a lovely silvery quality, reminiscent of a vintage nitrate print.

[fiddlesticks]

Thanks to Gringo Tex for the work of compilation and publication of these results. =D>

[domino harvey]

There should also be a category for best forum member at bashing covers.

We all know I'd be the David Hyde Pierce of that category 8-)

[Scharphedin2]

Congratulations Zedz! Hugely deserved (for years). I hope you will always be around to make the discovery of new cinema fun and exciting. One of the great things about the way you write in the forum is the sense that we are all always discovering the films with you. There is no smartness or "know-it-better" about your attitude, just always a true and humble love of cinema, and excitement about the on-going discovery of new films, shining out of all your posts.

And, the way you run the lists project is exemplary. Again, you create a real collegial and fun atmosphere, and the little bulletins on the race to the finish line are hilarious.

Only thing missing last year were filmmakers threads on Yoshishige, Kobayashi, Ichikawa, etc. But surely they will pop up in 2009

[GringoTex]

Seriously now:

No props to Janet Bergstrom viz non-CC releases? No FORD or MURbORZ? Cue E. E. Horton voice: "Have you all gone maaaaaaad?"

I think I sowed too much confusion for suggesting that Ford count this year and Murnau/Borgaze count next year. Lesson learned.

[GringoTex]

There should also be a category for best forum member at bashing covers.

We all know I'd be the David Hyde Pierce of that category 8-)

You did get runner-up member of the year. I guess I can't call you the Eddie Haskell of the Criterion Forum anymore.

[mfunk9786]

You've been promoted to the Tony Dow of the forum

[Gregory]

Thanks, GringoTex, for crunching the numbers.

I'm more surprised that no Eclipse release (they were eligible, after all) made in into the top ten.

I think I knew they were eligible but somehow forgot this when I compiled my list. Likely a lot of others did the same.

Perhaps this could be solved in the future by replacing the release of the year category with two new ones--best films to enter the collection, and best Criterion treatments.

I think this is a fine idea. swo17, you should try to remember to bring this suggestion up again next time around. This time I found myself wanting to give preference to titles that were new-to-DVD at the expense of some excellent films just because I was a little frustrated this year by how many Criterion releases already were easy to obtain with fine transfers, including many already available in R1.

Surprised to see Touch of Evil place so high after all the aspect ratio bitching.

Yeah, clearly a lot of people don't care at all about seeing how it looked in academy, even though they were excited to be able to see alternate cuts. Those who feel strongly to the contrary could only express our preference in this poll by voting for other titles, dispersing our votes over a lot of different choices. It's such a popular film that I would have been surprised it if didn't get a lot of votes.

No props to Janet Bergstrom viz non-CC releases? No FORD or MURbORZ? Cue E. E. Horton voice: "Have you all gone maaaaaaad?"

I noticed that both of these got a lot of votes, so it seemed at first like at least one of them should have ranked. But I guess there were ballots submitted via PM that threw off what I was expecting from reading the thread. Also the confusion factor, already noted.

[Tom Hagen]

No props to Janet Bergstrom viz non-CC releases? No FORD or MURbORZ? Cue E. E. Horton voice: "Have you all gone maaaaaaad?"

I imagine that the big Fox boxes are getting the shaft around here because of their release dates. Ford is like an Oscar contender that was released in the previous January before the ceremony; people probably forgot about it by this point. And Murnau/Borzage is like a year-end top ten contender that hit wide release four weeks after critics begin publishing their top ten lists; only the initiated made the effort to buy it, rent it, get through it, etc. in time for voting.