Criterion DVDs?

[drfsupercenter]

I know Criterion is supposedly the best DVD releasing company...

I was reading the list of films they released on Wikipedia and most were movies I'd never heard of... and then I saw Armageddon on that list. My friend and I were both annoyed that the only version widely available is non-anamorphic and there was never any special edition.

So then I found the Criterion one at Amazon. But I had a couple questions.

One: Is it anamorphic? I know it's supposedly an awesome company but I can see nothing mentioning it one way or the other.
Two: What's up with it being "not rated"? The OTV was PG-13 so does this mean it's a Lucasism? What's so great about Criterion then?

Does anyone have this DVD? And is it any better than the Touchstone one if I don't care about bonus features?

[JiminyCrick91]

Yeha Criterion mostly does/has done art-y movies and foreign films but in the case of Armageddon DVD Verdict had this to say

Disc one, which is itself dual-layer, contains the 153-minute film spaced across 31 chapters, an audio commentary with Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck. A second commentary with cinematographer John Scharwtzman, NASA consultant Dr. Joe Allen and asteroid consultant Ivan Bekey also graces this disc. Disc two includes three detailed analyses of special effects sequences by visual effects supervisors Richard Hoover, Pat McClung and Hoyt Yeatman. It also includes storyboards and production design drawings, deleted scenes compiled by Michael Bay, a gag reel by Michael Bay, theatrical trailer and teaser, television spots, an Aerosmith music video (including interviews with the band) and a discussion with production designer Michael White....

The video on this disc is truly outstanding for a non-anamorphic transfer. This director-approved transfer by Criterion is a small improvement over the original Disney release. Blacks are blacker and colors are more richly saturated. Despite the constant movement present in this film, the transfer suffers none of the common slings and arrows as many of its compatriots do. There is no blooming, bleeding or grain evident throughout the presentation. There is an improvement in detail over this disc's Disney counterpart. But the detail is still not as sharp as the best anamorphic transfers I have seen. The film simply lacks that last bit of three dimensionality afforded by an outstanding anamorphic transfer. As expected of a newer film, such as Armageddon, there are no nicks or scars present here.

I noticed little, if any, improvement in this audio track as compared to the Disney original. Not that this is a bad thing since Disney's track was so good. Dialogue is well-centered and full-bodied with natural sounding voices. As one would expect, the LFE track nearly takes over at times giving your subwoofer one heck of a ride across the room. There are plenty of directional effects including many pans from front to back as well as left to right. This track will certainly give your audio system a well-deserved test.

Now since you don't care about extras I'd stick to the Disney one.

For the whole review go here...
http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/armageddonse.php

-Sky

[drfsupercenter]

Wow, you think it would at least be anamorphic

I wonder how it would look if I used DVD Rebuilder or something to just make the Disney one anamorphic? Or should I zoom it on a DVD player?

We're getting an HDTV and a Blu-Ray player in a week or so and I want to be prepared for when we set it up

[DarthPrime]

Wow, you think it would at least be anamorphic

I wonder how it would look if I used DVD Rebuilder or something to just make the Disney one anamorphic? Or should I zoom it on a DVD player?

We're getting an HDTV and a Blu-Ray player in a week or so and I want to be prepared for when we set it up

Depending on the player and/or TV it might look ok zoomed in.

If you want to go region free, the Region 2 DVD is anamorphic. I don't know of any Blu-ray players right now that can be made region free though. A lot of Region 1 DVDs that are not anamorphic have anamorphic transfers in other Regions.

[SpringHeelJack]

For all their greatness (and they are great), they sure were pretty big on not doing anamorphic DVDs when they were starting out. I know "Brazil" and "Charade" were both re-released as anamorphic DVDs later on, thankfully. I'm sure a few more were as well, but I don't think "Armageddon" was amongst them.

But, still, buy it for the special features. My boyfriend has the Criterion DVD, and though I'm not nuts about the film (I see why Criterion released it, though), it is a solid set, especially for its time.

[Escapay]

I know Criterion is supposedly the best DVD releasing company...

There's no "supposedly" about it. They ARE the best DVD releasing company. The only problem is they're so darn expensive that poor college students like me (who put Doctor Who, Disney, and a few other stuff before Criterion) can't get all the titles they want so have to resort to renting them every once in awhile. I only have three (The Silence of the Lambs, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), and that's mainly because I was able to get them used at GameStop - back when they still carried DVDs regularly - for good prices. Of course, if I had an unlimited amount of money, the top five Criterion DVDs I'd get in a heartbeat are Beauty and the Beast, Brief Encounter, The "Great Adaptations" Boxset, The Red Shoes, and "The Complete Mr. Arkadin". And maybe Battle of Algiers and "3 Films by Louie Malle".

I was reading the list of films they released on Wikipedia and most were movies I'd never heard of... and then I saw Armageddon on that list. My friend and I were both annoyed that the only version widely available is non-anamorphic and there was never any special edition.

Armageddon is one of the "mainstream" titles they licence from other studios in order to attract a more general clientele (since there's likely to be a Joe Sixpack who likes DVD extras and will want the Criterion over the barebones Touchstone DVD, and he likely never heard of Pépé le Moko). There are quite a few Touchstone titles that Criterion handled (most of Wes Anderson's films, for example). They also handled a fair amount of classic films from major studios (such as Heaven Can Wait, Spartacus, Rebecca, etc.).

One: Is it anamorphic?

No. Unfortunately for an awesome company, their first couple of years they released widescreen movies in non-anamorphic widescreen. They have gone back and re-visited many of their titles with new anamorphic transfers where applicable. A 16:9 re-release of Brazil was perhaps the biggest request the company had, and now that it's finally been done, one day they may re-do Armageddon again.

ETA:

Looks like Our Brendan already pointed out Brazil. And I'm surprised I forgot about Charade!

What's up with it being "not rated"?

The Criterion version is the Director's Cut.

Does anyone have this DVD? And is it any better than the Touchstone one if I don't care about bonus features?

I've been meaning to get it for some time, but never found it cheap enough (it's not something I'll ever pay Criterion's $40 price tag for, and I'd prefer getting it used).

Disregarding bonus features, the transfer is better, as pointed out by JiminyCrick's quote from DVDVerdict.

Albert

[drfsupercenter]

It's only $30 on Amazon

I thought the DVD Verdict review said it's only a *little* better and unless you're a die-hard fan the Disney one should look fine?

[2099net]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I actually think Criterion are a little too praised these days.

Oh yes, I understand and appreciate everything Criterion has done (on their LDs they invented the concept of commentaries) but thankfully other studios have raised themselves to Criterion's level (when they wanted to).

Even Disney has (look at Tron, Atlantis or the Vault Disney 2-discers, or for a more recent example the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe 4 discer). Warners regularly knock out discs of comparable quality, and so can Sony, Universal or Fox.

Criterion have the benefit of being consistant, but to be honest, I've a few Criterions that I've felt somewhat disappointed by - such as Fiend without a Face (somehow, I expected more supplements). But through no fault of their own, Criterion suffer from the limited choice of titles available to them.

I'd like to see Criterion take on some more mainstream stuff, even if it (by conventional wisdom) "flopped". Sadly, the choice isn't theirs.

Finally, here's a good list of some notable Criterion discs
http://www.dvdmg.com/criterion.shtml

[drfsupercenter]

Yeah, the 2-disc set (is there any other) of Tron is amazing... I actually love the restoration on that since it IS one of my favorite Disney live-action movies...

Even the 2-disc version of Narnia is good... I never got around to getting the larger site since I'm not THAT big of a fan...

What was the praise for Criterion for anyway? Was it about the picture quality? Or the quality of the overall set (Extras, menus, etc.)? Because surely a non-anamorphic version of Armageddon isn't all that great...

I'm hoping to import a PAL version, since apparently those are anamorphic, and compare it to the R1 DVD I have right now. If it's any better I'll slow it down and have myself an anamorphic NTSC version. (As far as extras go, does Criterion's really have that much more anyway?)

[2099net]

Yeah, the 2-disc set (is there any other) of Tron is amazing... I actually love the restoration on that since it IS one of my favorite Disney live-action movies...

Even the 2-disc version of Narnia is good... I never got around to getting the larger site since I'm not THAT big of a fan...

What was the praise for Criterion for anyway? Was it about the picture quality? Or the quality of the overall set (Extras, menus, etc.)? Because surely a non-anamorphic version of Armageddon isn't all that great...

Well a lot of the praise goes back to the LD days, but basically Criterion were the only company who cared about a lot of "non-commercial" films. And they worked hard to restore them. If you've got a film like Fiend Without A Face, why would anyone else restore it? Nobody else even wanted to release it!

The problem now is the studios know that they can make money from niche releases, so they don't licence them out, even though they still (generally) don't release the films themselves.

Paramount is a prime example. Apparently its against Paramount's policy to licence out titles to other publishers. It's a shame, I'd love to see a Criterion Brady Bunch Movie release for example.

I'm hoping to import a PAL version, since apparently those are anamorphic, and compare it to the R1 DVD I have right now. If it's any better I'll slow it down and have myself an anamorphic NTSC version. (As far as extras go, does Criterion's really have that much more anyway?)

I may be wrong, but I think most if not all of the criterion extras are on the UK 2 disc set - http://www.sendit.com/video/item/7000000050558

Disney seems to have a special relationship with Criterion in that they end up "co-owning" the supplements, where as normally Criterion hold on to their supplements - from a business point you can see why they have to, they're basically the only content Criterion own themselves. (I belive Criterion's parent company owns some of the films they have put out)

Its worth it just for Ben Affleck being disrespectful and hilarious on the commentary track

[drfsupercenter]

Heh, well there's no point converting extras that are already on a NTSC set. If anything other than the movie is better quality, though, I'll look into it.

And they say fan releases can't top the studios.

[castleinthesky]

Criterion is the best releasing company, giving the best transfers and director approved material. Special features are prominent.

Many of the movies are not well known to general viewers but are to movie buffs.

I only currently own two titles: Days of Heaven and The Royal Tenanbaums.

[TM2-Megatron]

I love Criterion DVDs, though I do avoid their early releases that weren't anamorphic. I've got most of the Akira Kurosawa films they've done, all the Wes Anderson, David Cronenburg, Bergman's The Magic Flute, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and the Monsters & Madmen boxset of 4 old sci-fi/thriller titles.

[KubrickFan]

I love Criterion. They try and make every title the best they can. Of course, there were some mishaps. The first couple of films they put out on dvd looked awful, even if they were in anamorphic (and they probably weren't). But they've learned a lot. The re-issue of Seven Samurai is fantastic overall. With great remastered picture and sound quality, great bonus material and an extensive booklet (not some flimsy chapter page, but a booklet that has 55 pages). I'm really looking forward to the Blu-Rays they are going to do very soon. Their films should look even better than they already did.