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The Mike Toole Show - What's The Criterion?


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Zhou-BR



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 1419
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 4:47 pm Reply with quote
The LE Patlabor movie DVD sets by BVUSA are an excellent complement for the Japanese Blu-rays, which include English subtitles but are very low on extras. In WXIII's case, I got the LE 3-disc set by Geneon mostly because of the Minipato shorts, even though they got a terrible letterboxed transfer from an analog master.

As for Angel's Egg, I got the Japanese Blu-ray and it's definitely the best the movie's ever looked, but I really wish it included more extras, like some of Yoshitaka Amano's conceptual illustrations, Oshii's storyboard and Shichiro Kobayashi's art boards and layouts. A Criterion release would definitely make me double-dip.
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Lost_Obscurity



Joined: 25 Jul 2014
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 4:56 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
As far as movie box, obviously Satoshi Kon work deserve it, but what about Makoto Shinkai? I dunno if there's any interesting backstory/extra to cram on those, but I rather like his work.


I would second that, as his cinematographic style would seem perfect (5cm Per Second anyone?), however, when dealing with a company like Criterion, they'd also have to keep in mind their audience. And, as much as I hate to say it, how many people outside of the anime community don't have the stereotype that anime is for pervs? But maybe (just hoping) that with the success of AOT, companies like such would open up a bit. And though with Shinkai's films Criterion would have to wrestle for his latter films, 5cm would be prime since Bandai is now defunct. And Kon's earlier work would make for some awesome re-releases. And on the topic of pipe-dreams, how about Nekojiru-So getting a release with Nekojiru Gekijo?


Last edited by Lost_Obscurity on Sun Jul 27, 2014 5:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
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trilaan



Joined: 17 Jan 2009
Posts: 1053
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 5:11 pm Reply with quote
Criterion release picks? Easy enough.
Tokyo Godfathers would be my personal pick from the films left behind by Satoshi Kon. It's the very definition of "special" in my personal opinion and gets a watch from me every year at Chistmas time.

Mamoru Hosada's work would also be worth inclusion, though if I had to pick just one it would be Wolf Children.

Ah! My Goddess: The Movie, possibly the greatest anime side story film based on an existing property, would also be one of my picks. I love it so much.

My favorite anthology film, Robot Carnival definitely needs a lavish Criterion release. The things they could do to the audio alone would make it worth the effort.

Hells would also be a good pick, good to be set next to other Criterion releases of weird films.

And, if the even more outlandish possibility of Criterion anime TV releases becomes possible, Planetes.
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staab99



Joined: 05 Jul 2010
Posts: 123
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 5:37 pm Reply with quote
I too would love to see Robot Carnival released on Criterion along with Genius Party and even like to see Neo Tokyo in their catalogue.
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Cptn_Taylor



Joined: 08 Nov 2013
Posts: 925
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 5:44 pm Reply with quote
walw6pK4Alo wrote:
Tenchi wrote:
I'd love to see Criterion do a re-release of Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer, although that's more for the boring practical reason so I could have a copy of my all-time favourite anime film on Blu-Ray without spending the big import bucks and realistically I don't see there being enough of a North American market left for Urusei Yatsura to relicense any of it for even just DVD let alone Blu-Ray.

I'm still happy to have the CPM/USMC Collector's Edition of Beautiful Dreamer from 2004, Justin and company did a great job on it and the Oshii commentary track was a nice bonus.


Criterion would also be less likely to destroy the film by cropping it.


Oh no. Criterion does crop films. And has done it since the dvd days.
One of the biggest offenders was the special edition of The Leopard. They cropped it and in the process mutilated that masterpiece. The Italian edition not only is not cropped (and is presented in the original aspect ratio) it was even sources from a 4k master while the Criterion edition only from a 2k source.
There was a time (during the dvd days) when they would window box the film because of tv overscan (and many many customers would complain on the Criterion forum). Many people give Criterion a pass just because. A lot of labels put out films with as good a quality as Criterion does or even better. Criterion is nothing special. Whatever they did in the laserdisk days and the very early days of dvd are long gone.

I own a lot of Criterion dvds and most of them are in the norm.

As to anime editions, Bandai Visual gets out fantastic though pricey editions. Other publishers can do great editions. So I really don't get what Criterion would add to the table ? Except maybe 2x Bandai's Visual already high price ?
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Twage



Joined: 29 Jul 2003
Posts: 356
Location: North Bergen, NJ
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 6:55 pm Reply with quote
I agree with everyone who mentioned Mind Game. Original, vital, and dazzling. One of the finest animated films ever made.
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ajr



Joined: 29 Nov 2010
Posts: 465
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 7:01 pm Reply with quote
Owner of #01086 & #06204 also chiming in to note my satisfaction at backstory behind the Patlabor DVD's. Did North America ever get cleared for a blu-ray release of Ghost in the Shell? If not, then sure, Criterion should do that (at the moment I've no clue who currently has the rights). Otherwise maybe Panda and the Magic Serpent or something.
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gravediggernalk
Space Cowboy



Joined: 13 Oct 2013
Posts: 246
Location: Alabama
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:12 pm Reply with quote
Seeing both the original Vampire Hunter D and Bloodlust remastered in HD, completely uncropped, released on BD with all sorts of extras would be wonderful.

Tokyo Godfathers is in serious need of a US BD release. I don't even care if it gets a new dub, throw in the old Animax one, it's just something that needs to be done. In fact, all of Satoshi Kon's movies could use some better treatment.

I'm confused as to why Disney has paid the money for the rights to Only Yesterday, but won't release it. It definitely needs some loving.

ajr wrote:
Did North America ever get cleared for a blu-ray release of Ghost in the Shell? If not, then sure, Criterion should do that (at the moment I've no clue who currently has the rights).

Manga has, and always have had that I can remember, the rights to the Ghost in the Shell movie in North America. In fact, I think the only GITS properties that Manga didn't have the rights to in N.A. (either fully or distribution only) are Arise (FUNimation), Innocence (The rights with this are/were, if I remember, a complete clusterfuck in N.A.), and the Stand Alone Complex specials that Bandai dubbed using Ocean (I could be wrong, but I think Manga might've ended up being the distributor for these).
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#820353



Joined: 27 Jul 2014
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:29 pm Reply with quote
I would to see a criterion remaster of the original Fist of the North Star movie but without all the censors. The only country I think didn't heavily censor the film was Italy. Could you believe that Japan would censor something from their own home. Rolling Eyes
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PoisonHeart



Joined: 08 Dec 2007
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:31 pm Reply with quote
Nice article, I'm surprised nobody suggested The Legend of Sirius (The Sea Prince & The Fire Child) yet.

The Hobbit 1977 animation would make a badass criterion collection, though perhaps that wouldn't count as anime despite the predominately Japanese credits.

Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away would be the shoe-in for Ghibli criterion. Personally, I'd like to see Castle in the Sky or Nausicaa.

If we're talking animation in general, I'd nominate All Dogs Go To Heaven, The King and the Mockingbird, or Felidae. I'd even buy Little Nemo in Slumberland's criterion collection just to get bonus features regarding the film's lengthy production saga involving Hayao Miyazaki and Ray Bradbury.

More than anything, I'd like to see the criterion folks honor a beautiful masterpiece called The Secret of NIMH.
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GhostOfSide3



Joined: 14 Jan 2013
Posts: 75
Location: Memphis, TN
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:49 pm Reply with quote
ajr wrote:
Did North America ever get cleared for a blu-ray release of Ghost in the Shell?


Anchor Bay and Manga Entertainment announced a week ago they were re-issuing a 25th anniversary edition of Ghost in the Shell. It'll be an HD remaster of the original, unaltered theatrical cut of the film
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4463
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:57 pm Reply with quote
25th anniversary? We're just coming up on the 20th anniversary of the Ghost in the Shell film, or is the "25th anniversary" commemoration for the 25th anniversary of the manga?
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invalidname
Contributor



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2434
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 9:35 pm Reply with quote
Slightly off-topic, but this article reminds me of the enormous gulf between mainstream appreciation of anime films and television series.

It's possible for a US film critic to keep up with anime films. There aren't that many, and they aren't that long. Any critic today has to at least know who Hayao Miyazaki is; most know that not all Ghibli is Miyazaki (some have at least seen a Takahata film), and some are aware of Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Hosoda, or Makoto Shinkai. Roger Ebert was an early advocate of anime, and talked up Royal Space Force, among other films.

Sure, for years, Akira was basically the stand-in for all anime, and for some critics Spirited Away fills that role today. But at least anime has a seat at the film table. The idea of Criterion Collection including anime is at least plausible.

By contrast, I'm unaware of any major TV critic who's ever acknowledged anime at all. Certainly none among the Alan Sepinwalls, Tim Goodmans, Todd VanDerWerffs, and the various writers at the AV Club. The latter site is the touchstone of TV criticism, yet basically the only anime TV it's covered in years was the premiere of Sailor Moon Crystal (and then, apparently only because editor Genevieve Koski is a long-time fan). Keep in mind, this site has also written a detailed review and commentary of every episode of Glee ever produced.

To be fair, there's a perfectly good reason for this: keeping up with all the good US television is overwhelming at this point, both in the number of series, and the number of hours required to watch them. But as a practical result, there is no room for anime (or, usually, any other niche programming). Yet the irony is that there's more and better anime being made for TV/OAV than film. We're lucky to get one or two good anime films in a year — a Ghibli and something else — yet there are many noteworthy anime series among the 150 or so produced each year.

So it's understandable, but it's a disconnect — film, particularly Ghibli, has an outsized prominence in the US mainstream's awareness of anime, because few voices outside of anime fandom are saying "hey, whether or not you like anime, if you dig action, this Attack on Titan thing is pretty good."
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varmintx



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 1197
Location: Covington, KY
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 9:45 pm Reply with quote
Pffft, anime? They still haven't released Mulholland Drive on blu-ray.

Anyway, you already mentioned my top two picks: Millennium Actress and Angel's Egg. I'd throw Robot Carnival in for the hat-trick.
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taster of pork



Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Posts: 594
Location: My House
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2014 10:27 pm Reply with quote
A criterion release of Windaria, or Macross: Do you remember love would be nice. Hell, just a uncut dvd release would be great.
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