New Criterions of Yojimbo & Sanjuro in Jan 2007

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 05 Mar 2006, 13:37

Finally bloody news of the Criterion new editions of Seven Samurai, Yojimbo & Sanjuro. The December 2005 newsletter says the Criterion will re-release Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Sanjuro in 2006:-

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 05 Mar 2006, 14:22

I'll be getting these for sure, but since we're already in March I would of expected a release date by now. A re-done 7 samurai would be welcome, and I'd also like to own Yojimbo/Samjuro.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 05 Mar 2006, 14:53

Cool, I've yet to see any of these.

jimmyscab · Post by **jimmyscab** » 05 Mar 2006, 15:00

Great news, time to sell my old criterions. Hopefully they will pack them full of extras this time.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 05 Mar 2006, 15:02

They didnt say an exact date so I wont sell/trade my Criterion just yet.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 05 Mar 2006, 23:27

BiscLimpkit wrote:Cool, I've yet to see any of these.

Me too.

If I had got around to buying the R4's I wouldn't be to bothered but as I haven't even better.

I'll wait to see some form of spec. before trading my UK R2's of Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. I still need to get around to seeing them

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 06 Mar 2006, 02:33

I'll be getting all 3 of these releases for sure. 7Sam is awesome, Sanjuro is great and Yojimbo is decent (Leone's A Fistful of Dollars is a superior film).

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 06 Mar 2006, 08:49

It was interesting to see where the inspiration was from though.
In that case I'd also like to see Youth of the Beast (Japanese Yakuza film made before AFOD with the same story).

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 06 Mar 2006, 09:19

grim_tales wrote:Youth of the Beast (Japanese Yakuza film made before AFOD with the same story).

The reportedly trippy Seijin Suzuki film, yeah I'd like to see that too.

sky75 · Post by **sky75** » 06 Mar 2006, 14:09

Is there any likelihood that seven Samurai would be region 0?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 07 Mar 2006, 00:43

sky75 wrote:Is there any likelihood that seven Samurai would be region 0?

Highly doubtful since the last one was R1 and I think that Criterion only have the license for the Toho films in North America.

Don't you have a multi-region player? They're dirt cheap, there's no real excuse not to have one.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Mar 2006, 13:43

I think some Criterion DVDs are Region 0.

sky75 · Post by **sky75** » 07 Mar 2006, 14:42

bradavon wrote:I think some Criterion DVDs are Region 0.

I'll have to keep my eyes open on this one then.

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 08 Mar 2006, 08:36

Some are... but I doubt the Toho's are.

When Criterion first released Seven Samurai way-back on DVD it was released as a Region 0 disc with an extra that showed how they had digitally cleaned up the print.

Toho freaked. Rumours said they didn't want the world to see how badly their print was (but I don't believe that anymore really as their own release looks gorgeous) and since they had yet to release the film in Asia rumour says Toho forced Criterion to reprint the disc as a Region 1 disc.

Suffice to say Criterion repressed the disc without the clean-up extra and coded it as a region 1 disc. Read into the above what you want.

Personally I'd LOVE these... but I'm kinda sitting on the fence right now... have bought way to FEW discs the past year because I'm waiting for HD... I'm not that mad about double dipping... (besides I have 2 copies of 7S already).

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Mar 2006, 11:05

gojensen wrote:Personally I'd LOVE these... but I'm kinda sitting on the fence right now... have bought way to FEW discs the past year because I'm waiting for HD... I'm not that mad about double dipping... (besides I have 2 copies of 7S already).

No offence but I find all this "I'm waiting for HD/Blueray" talk absolutely ridiculous:

1. It will be AT LEAST 12 months before either format are a reasonable price
2. It will be YEARS before either format have anywhere near the level of titles DVD has.
3. All it says to me is "I've decided to stop buying DVDs and really love the DVDs I currently have because I'm going to have to watch them again and again and again"

Seven Samurai on HD oh man that will be flipping years. Neither format are even out yet.

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 08 Mar 2006, 12:58

Uhm, Toshy are relasing players and Warners' discs by the end of March.

BD is supposed to be "upon" us in May/June.

Most companies will release day and date DVD/HD starting this summer.
(Since DVD's already have HD transfers it's a "piece of cake"...)

As for reasonable... Heh... I'm not

I'm going to get one. My first DVD player sure wasn't reasonable. Heck, my second DVD player sure wasn't reasonable. (And neither were any of my 2 LD players...).

Only thing worth considering here is really Criterion Co. They are not the fastest fish in the pond - and whereas more commercial companies will support HD very quickly I'm not sure CC will... :-/

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Mar 2006, 13:04

gojensen wrote:Uhm, Toshy are relasing players and Warners' discs by the end of March. BD is supposed to be "upon" us in May/June.

True but they'll be bloody expensive for the first 6 months+ so for me anyway it's somewhat a moot point.

gojensen wrote:Most companies will release day and date DVD/HD starting this summer. (Since DVD's already have HD transfers it's a "piece of cake"...)

To the scale DVDs get released I don't think so

gojensen wrote:Only thing worth considering here is really Criterion Co. They are not the fastest fish in the pond - and whereas more commercial companies will support HD very quickly I'm not sure CC will... :-/

True. It took them a while to get on to anamorphic DVDs.

sky75 · Post by **sky75** » 08 Mar 2006, 13:13

No offence but I find all this "I'm waiting for HD/Blueray" talk absolutely ridiculous:

1. It will be AT LEAST 12 months before either format are a reasonable price
2. It will be YEARS before either format have anywhere near the level of titles DVD has.
3. All it says to me is "I've decided to stop buying DVDs and really love the DVDs I currently have because I'm going to have to watch them again and again and again"

Seven Samurai on HD oh man that will be flipping years. Neither format are even out yet.

I couldn't agree with your sentiments more.

What I think is funny is people selling the majority of their DVD collections at least a year ahead of either format coming out. Then they are only keeping their favourite films on DVD in preparation to buy on HD when in all likelihood the ones they have sold are the ones that probably won't be available for several years.

To be honest I'm sick of all the hype especially when neither are guaranteed to replace DVD.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Mar 2006, 14:21

sky75 wrote:To be honest I'm sick of all the hype especially when neither are guaranteed to replace DVD.

Exactly.

People are expecting either/both formats to replace DVD. No way in the short run. I suspect they'll be niche formats for some time to come.

DVD worked as VHS is very old and looks it. For most people DVD (and even HD) is fine.

It's exactly why CD is still doing very well, despite being technically 20+ years old. Of course having two HD formats is going to slow the process down considerably. Like DVD+ and DVD- it will just lead to lots of confused customers.

sky75 · Post by **sky75** » 08 Mar 2006, 16:42

People are expecting either/both formats to replace DVD. No way in the short run. I suspect they'll be niche formats for some time to come.

DVD worked as VHS is very old and looks it. For most people DVD (and even HD) is fine.

It's exactly why CD is still doing very well, despite being technically 20+ years old. Of course having two HD formats is going to slow the process down considerably. Like DVD+ and DVD- it will just lead to lots of confused customers.

I agree completely

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 08 Mar 2006, 18:05

I meant I can't see HD taking off generally for some time to come as in Sky HD.

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 09 Mar 2006, 09:44

Yeah, I'm really pissed that they didn't make one standard (I blame Toshiba

).

As for most folks, I'm not

I do however think that HD discs will be a bigger hit in the "near future" in the US and maybe Japan than the rest of world simply because they already have HD television. There are many people "out there" that whine and whine on how bad their DVDs are compared to their HDTV cable shows.

I'm not so far that I'm tossing my old DVDs. And I know I won't be upgrading all of them (to be fair I probably have a hundred dvds that I'll never watch again...) But I will upgrade (double dip) my fave's. I guess what I'm saying is that there's not really that many movies coming out NOW that I can't wait 6-9 months to get on HD

I'm also looking at getting a 1080p projector

Now that'd be sweet...

BACK on TOPIC; how come nobody has sprung this news on us earlier if it was in Criterions December newsletter?!

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 09 Mar 2006, 11:04

gojensen wrote:BACK on TOPIC; how come nobody has sprung this news on us earlier if it was in Criterions December newsletter?!

I subscribe to them but normally just delete 'em without reading them.

They're usually filled with up-themselves gushings about some arthouse director like Goddard.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 18 Oct 2006, 15:12

Yojimbo and Sanjuro remastered Criterions out in January 07. Available individually for USD $39.95 RRP each or in a boxset together for USD $69.95 RRP. (source)

Yojimbo

The incomparable Toshiro Mifune stars in Akira Kurosawa’s visually stunning and darkly comic Yojimbo. To rid a terror-stricken village of corruption, wily masterless samurai Sanjuro turns a range war between two evil clans to his own advantage. Remade twice, by Sergio Leone and Walter Hill, this exhilarating genre-twister remains one of the most influential and entertaining films ever produced. Criterion is proud to present this Kurosawa favorite in a new, high-definition transfer.

All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer
Optional Dolby Digital 3.0 soundtrack, preserving the original Perspecta simulated-stereo effects
Audio commentary by film historian and Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince
A 45-minute documentary on the making of Yojimbo, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create
Theatrical trailer and teaser
Stills gallery of behind-the-scenes photos
New and improved English subtitle translation

Sanjuro

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Akria Kurosawa’s tightly paced, beautifully composed Sanjuro. In this sly companion piece to Yojimbo, the jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan’s evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a “proper” samurai on its ear. Less brazen in tone than its predecessor but equally entertaining, this classic character’s return is a masterpiece in its own right. Criterion is proud to present this Kurosawa favorite in a new, high-definition transfer.

All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer
Optional Dolby Digital 3.0 soundtrack, preserving the original Perspecta simulated-stereo effects
Audio commentary by film historian and Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince
A 35-minute documentary on the making of Sanjuro, created as part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create
Theatrical trailer and teaser
Stills gallery of behind-the-scenes photos
New and improved English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Sragow and notes and statements from Kurosawa and his cast and crew

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 18 Oct 2006, 17:24

Cheers Eva

I'm guessing 2 Discs for both but then the extras should fit on 1 disc.