By Kip Mooney• On • In NewsNewsComments Off on Criterion Finally Gets into the 4K Game
The Criterion Collection is still the biggest name among boutique home video labels. But they're well behind some other distributors in releasing 4K versions of the titles they've licensed. Kino Lorber, Shout! Factory, Arrow and even genre-focused labels like Blue Underground and Vinegar Syndrome have been putting out definitive ultra high-def discs for years. Now, Criterion joins their ranks, and they've got an impressive roster of films for their inaugural 4K UHD discs.
The big kahuna is Citizen Kane, frequently called the greatest movie ever made. Orson Welles' debut has been released plenty of times on home video, and marked the first film they released on laserdisc. It will be joined by another former laserdisc title: the Hughes Brothers' Menace II Society. You'll also see Powell & Pressburger's The Red Shoes, David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. and Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night. Criterion previously released all three films on Blu-ray.
Jane Campion's The Piano gets the deluxe treatment, too. The film won three richly deserved Oscars, including Best Actress (Holly Hunter), Best Supporting Actress (Anna Paquin) and Best Original Screenplay (Jane Campion). It also took home the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
All six titles will drop in November, and full details will be revealed soon.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
