Criterion Geeks

Besides visiting this blog three times a day, this Criterion forum has been my favorite website lately. It is basically a message board ran by a bunch of movies geeks. There is a thread on every Criterion title (even the yet-to-be released ones). They even have sections for other brands like Fox, Warner and the Masters of Cinema Series (something like a UK Criterion).

I like the forum because I want to see people telling me about the DVDs if I am going to make a purchase. Also, they have a lot of extra knowledge that I would not be able to find otherwise. Some people were talking about how Criterion inserted random postcards of their cover art in random Criterion titles. My favorite part is they have a list of titles expected to be forthcoming from Criterion, but has yet to be officially announced. These people got the information from Criterion's newsletters, blog and even emails from the staff. I'm very happy to see the following titles on the list:

Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (finally, a Criterion for this French New Wave classic, possibly 2007)

Akria Kurosawa's Drunken Angel (one of the first Kurosawa masterpiece, possibly 2007)

Masaki Kobayashi's The Human Condition Trilogy (early 2008)

Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (David Bowie + Ryuichi Sakamoto = Opposing officers in POW camp = hidden homosexual attraction)

Jim Jarmusch's Night On Earth

Louis Malle's Le Feu Follet (I don't think they have enough information about the possibility of this release, but I'm very interested)

and a possible Mikio Naruse boxset

Apparently, there is quite a debate and speculation about what title is gonna be Criterion's spine number 400 (as if anyone cares). The interesting thing is Criterion announced their upcoming titles on their page but the number 400 was left out (they have up to 402). Let's hope it is going to be Breathless, or something great.

On a side note, some of the messages on the message boards are so dumb and geeky, it's hilarious.