The Criterion Collection Titles
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Amarcord
Citizen Kane
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Evita
The Fisher King
For All Mankind
Ghostbusters
Great Expectations
A Hard Day's Night (CD-ROM)
Help!
King Kong
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Robocop
The Rock
Spartacus
This is Spinal Tap
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This movie, and Close Encounters, were the reasons I finally spent the money on a laserdisc player. They are also the reasons I continue to buy discs. I love this movie, and it's great to see others must love it too. This is an exquisite package (though not exquisitely packaged -- the sleeves are starting to wear), with a full and entertaining commentary from director Terry Gilliam, beautiful CAV capabilities, and an exhaustive overview of the film, from inception to release, on side six. This includes production footage before special effects were added as well as clips involving the miniature sets. Some of this even looks sharper than the feature. Deleted scenes are also provided, but these are more like scene extensions. The flesh tones might be a bit pinkish (which I hear has been improved in the recent Columbia/Tri-Star remaster) but the colors are an eyepopping improvement over the drab browns of the VHS and movie channel versions. The letterboxing cuts off a bit of the top and bottom. My biggest complaint is the side break on side one which interrupts a music cue two notes in! (Another complaint is this movie should've won the Best Make-up Oscar over Driving Miss Daisy -- and Michael Kamen's wonderful score wasn't even nominated!)
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This one is my latest title, and an old favorite from childhood. Seeing it now, with its vibrant colors, is almost like seeing it for the first time. They certainly don't make them like this anymore -- as the sophomoric and overblown Prince of Thieves shows -- and they certainly don't shoot them like this anymore. I only have a handful of Technicolor movies, but they are all instantly recognizable. Rudy Behlmer's commentary runs the length of the film but jumps to frequently between production history and British history. The CAV capabilities are always fun, not only to study the bow-shooting effects, but also to allow one to blow kisses at the lovely Olivia de Havilland. The supplements include home movie footage, comparisons of the Robin Hood legend from other movies as well as books and texts. I really haven't gotten through these, since I'm still busy watching my favorite scenes.
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I got this one for my dad. The picture quality is sharp and the letterboxing, although a little tight on top (but when isn't it!), does not cut anything off. The film is spread to three sides in CLV with nice unobtrusive side changes. The digital tracks are a bit heavy; the dubbed english analog track is trebly but almost sounds better. It's a shame we can't have dual video racks, too, to get rid of the subtitles when not using them, but it's still extremely interesting to compare the literal translation of the subtitles to the dubbed track where the words are changed around to fit the actors' mouth movements.
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I got this because it seems every library should have it. What many call the greatest film ever made is a worthy laserdisc title, in what they call Beautiful Black and White. The images are sharp, and for an older Criterion title my copy doesn't seem to have one flaw in it. I wish I could say the same for the newer, supposedly improved transfers. The side breaks are interesting, cutting on the dialog to retain the dissolves between scenes. One would expect the supplements to be better, however. Orson Welles's short film is interesting, though probably only worth seeing once; but the biggest supplement is just a bunch of people talking about the movie. A few of the celebrities share anecdotes about Welles himself but mostly they just refer to favorite scenes or devices; if I had enough friends I could recreate this all without the bother.
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I remember everything about going to see this movie. I saw it the second day it was out, at the old and wonderfully big Southgate Theater. Admission had just gone from $3.50 to $3.75. A lot of rock stars credit seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show as the impetus which set them off on their careers, but for me it was this movie. The Special Edition of it was also one of the first pre-recorded VHS tapes I ever had, and I watched it faithfully although I would cringe at how cramped it looked. It was hardly even panned and scanned, allowing only actors' noses to appear on the sides of the screen. This Criterion Collection was worth waiting for; the colors are rich and as good as I recall. The bright light effects at the climax are perfectly handled and not just a wash of white like on VHS. The sound is a bit muffled but can handle everything. (There's a loud digital crackle at the beginning of side two.) The supplements concentrate on videotaped interviews, but also discuss, in text, previous screenplay drafts, as well as included photos and artwork. I'm still waiting to see the deleted scenes Spielberg has talked about, and I'm surprised the movie's memorable trailer was not included.
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The letterboxing of this Criterion release is identical to Disney/Touchstone's, but Criterion's suffers from severe chroma noise. The frequent use of deep reds and browns only makes this more pronounced. Nevertheless the CAV release can still be satisfactory from just its music and its cinematography. Extras include director's commentary, production stills, trailer, music video, and documentary; plus an exclusive document on the Argentine history which forms the basis of the plot.
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Another Terry Gilliam offering with all the works. The movie lasts three sides with the first two in CLV. The supplements include trailers and an examination of some scenes featuring screenplay excerpts, storyboards, and CAV clips. Gilliam provides another interesting commentary, scene specific and running the duration of the film. Deleted scenes are also included, as are costume tests with a clarity which is almost three-dimensional. Although approved by the director, the film copy is not in the best condition -- odd, since this is touted as Gilliam's big Hollywood movie.
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I bought this first as a CD-ROM offering, but the footage was so great I had to have it on a bigger screen. The movie takes hundreds of hours of NASA footage and compiles it into one theoretical moon mission. This makes it easier to follow, but it doesn't explain why there seem to be dozens of astronauts on board. The extras are pretty much the same between the CD-ROM and the movie, although better organized for computer. There is a wealth of still frames, repeated at the end of each laserdisc side: photos, insignia, and text, some of which are again repeated in the expanded supplements after the movie on sides three and four. The laserdisc is full frame. The CD-ROM has a transcript of the movie which follows on the computer screen and does a much better job of pointing out which astronaut is speaking -- the laserdisc relies on one's memory, with a list of quotes and the astronauts from which they came at the end of each side. The audio is quite clear, but lacks the bass we now associate with big explosions. Alternate audio features an interview with the film's director which is not scene specific. The CD-ROM mentions the interview was done as a Q&A with Voyager employees
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It is certainly nice to see all the Ghostbusters at once, on this widescreen edition, but after getting it I'm not sure why I wanted it. The picture is nice but the colors seem a little brownish. The sound is not especially exciting. The extras, at the end of each side as well as repeated on side four, are mainly text: the screenplay, storyboards (man, I'm really started to loath stepping through storyboard chapters! I know know, it looks like how they shot it. Wow), and excerpts from books and magazine articles.
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This edition is the first release of this David Lean classic that I know of. It is movie-only, two sided CLV, with no additions. The sound and picture of this black and white movie are quite good. One of the best realizations of this often filmed work.
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I know it's heresy but I was never a big fan of this movie; in fact I think it's pretty boring. So I opted for the CD-ROM, almost exclusively because it boasts one improvement: the inclusion of the original screenplay. Now a viewer can examine both the adlibs and the original dialogue as the movie unfolds. I assume the extras are the same: the rerelease trailer (the original and a French version are on the new The Making of a Hard Day's Night disc), stills, a filmed interview with Richard Lester contemporary to the movie, and Lester's Running Jumpting Standing Still film which on CD-ROM is quite indistinguishable and unintelligible. I don't care what anyone else says, I still prefer the vibrant colors, superior songs, and sheer exuberance of Help!
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After careful consideration, my review of a couple lines ago still stands. I often accuse A Hard Day's Night of being meandering, and the true can certainly be said of Help! but at least it meanders faster. The movie hardly seems to let up and the scenery and cinematography are lovely and colorful. The film is not in the best condition but the colors for the most part are very strong. The supplements are a bit of a letdown, mostly photos and radio clips; many of the production stills hint at scenes which did not make it into the final film, as does a shot in the original trailer.
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The Turner/Image release uses a better copy of the film, whereas Criterion's is a makeshift edit between 35mm and 16mm which retains the scenes of violence deleted during the movie's re-release. The edits are not too bad but are very noticeable, mostly because of changes in the audio. But Criterion's is CAV while Turner's is not, and this feature is a must for this movie. The sound is analog, with movie audio on the left and Ronald Haver's narration on the right; this seems quite an oddity now, and will send viewers diving for the remote when Haver's voice pops in unexpectedly at the beginning. The commentary sounds like a rehearsal, with Haver spending as much time introducing this dual-audio feature as actually utilizing it. The short supplement features an interesting collection of stills, including some references to and descriptions of scenes cut before release, and also boasts an interesting excerpt of Willis O'Brien's stop-motion animation test footage.
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A definite must for any Python fan. At last, the movie finally has colors. For those used to watching Warner Bros's grainy blurry VHS or cable prints, seeing this disc will be an eye-opening revelation. A sharp picture and strong colors, and letterboxing which provides more information on top and bottom and much more on the sides. It's 1.85:1 but restores as much information as a widescreen film. Criterion has also blessed us with two commentary tracks featuring all five remaining Pythons, plus deleted scenes (off videotape), the rather wordy and unfunny original trailer, and four hilarious BBC Radio commercials. The third and final side is taken up by an hourlong documentary, Life of Python, which should be familiar to PBS viewers.
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The film is in poor condition but this version is still infinitely superior to the usual televised version. For some reason it is always blown-up and panned and scanned on video, so it's a great treat to finally see Arthur and Patsy, in wide shot at the opening, as they stand outside the castle as they argue migrating swallows with the guards. I still have not managed to see the recent Columbia/Tri-Star rerelease to compare it -- but it hardly matters since this version has to be superior just in terms of its extras: a full-length commentary from the two directing Terrys (Mssrs. Jones and Gilliam, although their conversation is steered in someplace towards Python history instead of towards the movie), the original trailer (which I'd never seen before and, for me, was almost worth the price in itself), a CLV photo gallery, and, for some reason, the entire movie in Japanese. The Japanese vocalizers show an admirable amount of spirit in their performance. There a plenty of scratches and speckles, but the film is no longer grainy and actually has nice strong colors. (My main complaint is what seems to plague most Python releases: the company behind the product feels the need to be just as "zany and madcap" in their artwork and design.)
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Lots has already been said about the sparse supplemental section, made worse by Criterion's initial reports, the back cover itself, and fan's expectations. The supplementals are rather poor, and mainly text-based spiced up a bit though in the presentation. I've also heard complaints that the sound is not as impressive on the original full-screen release. The image shows slightly more in this version, is in CAV, and includes the famed X-rated shots of violence -- mainly on sides one and four. Lots of people say these shots just add to the comic book "over the top" effect. This might be true in the initial ED-209 sequence, but I'm not upset the producers decided to trim the scene of Murphy's demise. With all the gunfire and bloodletting reinstated the scene is gruesome and almost needlessly horrific. Nevertheless I am glad the effort was made. The picture is quite good and colors quite strong; the audio commentary is interesting. Incidentally, according to an article in Video Watchdog, those five frames of black in the Marketing chapter were caused at the insistence of Orion to prevent some foreign posters from being included, which had artwork they believed they did not have the rights to.
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The release of this film on the Criterion label caused a bit of controversy. Ultimately I'm still not sure what side I fall on. The movie is great looking, but so was its movie-only release. Criterion's edition suffers from chroma noise in places, especially with deep blues and greens. The sound is excellent, the quick cuts and swish pans make the CAV capabilities useful, and the disc has plenty of the extras Criterion is known for. The commentary track is weighed heavily toward Nicholas Cage. The extras include looks at Alcatraz, a discussion on Navy SEAL tactics, and the director's TV commercial. A handsome package, but not quite as worthy of repeat viewing as I'd thought.
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I bought this movie flush from seeing its restored version on the big screen at Detroit's beautiful Fox Theater. Unfortunately I hardly watch it anymore. The colors usually strong, although with a brownish orb right in the middle, and the audio is good too -- although a reel or two on side one are reversed. The edition is CLV on two discs with a third supplemental disc in CAV; dual analog tracks boast commentary from several people involved in the movie including Kirk Douglas and Peter Ustinov, and the film's producer and designer, and the book's author Howard Fast who has almost nothing good to say about the movie. The other track has an actor reading from the notes of the screenplaywright Dalton Trumbo; some variations of Alex North's bold and brassy score are presented in mono too. The supplements feature new and old interview footage, clips from the premiere, and an overly long documentary about Dalton Trumbo's troubles as one of the blacklisted Hollywood Ten.
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Any review of this disc is obligated to have "This one's an eleven!" in it somewhere. The transfer is great. The dual audio commentaries are worth the price alone, featuring the (more interesting) band members on the left and production people (including the morose sounding Rob Reiner) on the right. But then the disc continues with almost an hour and fifteen minutes of deleted scenes -- almost as long as the feature itself; plus hilarious trailers, a music video, Tap's first TV appearance, the story treatment and skeletal screenplay, and a twenty minute test reel done to demo the story. Most of the supplement, except for the trailers, is unfortunately from a VHS source, still bearing its time code. The quality is not terrible but of course the original film stock would've been better.
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Updated December 26 1997.
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