Ryan’s Criterion Link Collection: Monday, November 24th 2014

I haven’t been posting these link round-ups over the weekend(s), which means that I have an excess amount of links to share today.

News

Reviews

Over at Blu-ray.com, Dr. Svet has our first look at the upcoming Time Bandits Blu-ray from Criterion, and it’s a winner

The high-definition transfer is not identical to the one Arrow Video used for their release of Time Bandits in the United Kingdom. However, it has been sourced from the same recent 2K restoration of the film, which was approved by the American director.

To sum it all up, this is a fantastic presentation of Time Bandits which almost certainly will remain the film’s definitive presentation on the home video market.

Blu-ray.com has also published their review of the Monte Hellman westerns

These are stylish, notably atmospheric westerns that even today look and feel strikingly original. Both have been restored in 4K and look astonishing on Blu-ray.

Matt Hough has posted his review of It Happened One Night over at Home Theater Forum

Very clean with no dust specks or scratches to speak of, the film’s outstanding sharpness varies only when it’s apparent a shot or two didn’t come from the camera negative but from another source where the grain level can also occasionally rise and fall. The grayscale is positively unbelievable for a film of this age with superb black levels and shimmering whites. Contrast has also been applied expertly with the result being a near-reference quality image.

For The Dissolve, Scott Tobias reviews It Happened One Night

Though it isn’t about the system like Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, it’s every bit as much about freedom, democracy, and The American Way, and the wonderful things a battered country can still yield for those courageous enough to put themselves out there. Capra’s optimism is persuasive in any era. 

Criterion On The Brain has posted his review of La Vie De Boheme

La Vie de Boheme is a delightful little movie that is meticulously realized. At its center are four great and understated performances, surrounded by a visual world that is half fairy tale, half realist. Adapted from the classic novel and moved into an alternate late 20th century, the film tells the story of three awful artists struggling to make something of their lives without sacrificing their art.

Interesting

Arrow Films will release Michael Mann’s Thief, and they have something special planned for their special edition

For our upcoming release of Thief we’ll be including the theatrical cut alongside the Criterion edit on a bonus disc limited to 3,000 copies [the limited edition will also be housed in a slipcase]. Subsequent releases will only include the Criterion version. The Criterion version is most definitely the superior of the two when it comes to presentation owing to its new 4k master, though we are sure that many will be grateful to also own the film as it originally screened in 1981 in high definition.

At Fandor, Sean Axmaker has an incredible round-up of the year’s great re-discoveries on home video

So this list is focused on debuts and rediscoveries of classic films and cinema landmarks and restorations of great films and revivals of previously unavailable movies that became available to viewers at home in 2014. Not just a countdown of the best, it’s a survey of the breadth of restorations and rediscoveries that film lovers now have a chance to see regardless of where they live, as long as they have a web connection and a Blu-ray player.

The latest episode of the Cinephiliacs is up, in which Peter chats with Kim Morgan

Kim Morgan talks straight. There’s a directness in what she describes—about the way actors move, about what directors do with the camera, about sex, about gender, about everything. So in her interview with Peter, the blogger, critic, and programmer talks about her first love of movies through Raoul Walsh’s High Sierra, her take on the strange sunny world that is Los Angeles, and her programming for the Telluride Film Festival alongside filmmaker Guy Maddin.

PrintMag has a pretty nice interview with Jessica Hische (It Happened One Night cover)

Adrian Curry collects the posters of Jean Gremillon

Now available to stream

On Netflix:

• Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida
• Claude Lanzmann’s The Last Of The Unjust
• Tessa Louise-Salomé’s Mr. X (Documentary on Leos Carax)