therewillbeblus wrote: ↑Mon Jul 17, 2023 7:43 pm
I think Criterion are more focused on content than surrounding controversy of figures/background, unless that's being featured prominently in the news. Like, they're not going to release
Sixteen Candles if the content is dated and will trigger people, but might release a Polanski, just as long as they don't get new extras featuring him like Shout! did. They also probably wouldn't release a musical with blackface (i.e.
Swing Time) since summer 2020 when every show erased episodes featuring blackface in the wake of George Floyd, etc.
see, it's an approach I wish they'd take more. with
Swing Time and
High Sierra both, they had scholars contextualize both scenes with little issue. I hope they release Polanski's work again, there's little I want more from them than an upgrade of
Knife in the Water but I'm just not holding my breath. I would hope Criterion knows better, but it's just been so long.
rrenault wrote: ↑Tue Jul 18, 2023 7:31 am
Is it all that likely they’d release the current master of La Dolce Vita on UHD though? It’s technically a 4K master but still quite old, and the OCN is heavily damaged as far as I know, so from a technical standpoint I don’t know how likely a La Dolce Vita UHD release is given the currently available elements. I’d sooner expect 8 1/2 on 4K frankly.
All the same, Days of Heaven is the only one of the Paramount Six that’s desperately in need of an upgrade. Don’t Look Now has multiple UHD releases. La Dolce Vita has multiple 4K-sourced Blu-ray releases the world over (including an in print Paramount Blu-ray in the US), and the other three are digitally available in 4K HDR.
I’ll admit I’m in the camp of “do we really need UHD upgrades of films that already have strong 4K-sourced Blus” aside from obvious “must be on 4K” titles like Barry Lyndon, PlayTime, or Tree of Life or what-have-you.
they used an older master for
The Red Shoes so it's not out of the question I guess. I definitely see
8 1/2,
Juliet of the Spirits, or
Nights of Cabiria for sure being more likely candidates.
8 1/2 is the biggest of the three and its new transfer looked rather fantastic, I'm surprised it hasn't been released anywhere yet
Days of Heaven is gonna just be dependent on Malick and his priorities. it's in desperate need of a redo - it looked amazing in 2008 but watching that master now, it's clearly limited compared to even
Badlands. I agree with you on your latter point though, I don't see
Badlands on UHD nearly as much a priority, since the current BD is 4K sourced and looks rather good. I appreciated the upgrades of
Wings of Desire and especially
Branded to Kill (cause it's a title I never expected CC to upgrade), because both of those BDs were quite dated at this point. any BD sourced from an older master should be a priority for a bump, and there's some really compelling cases to be found as new restorations come in. ironically, quite a few of the Paramount titles fall into this
