Tag: Criterion

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indieWire: Scorsese’s Saves The World (Cinema)

Martin Scorsese is saving world cinema, or trying anyway. The goal of his new World Cinema Foundation, with Kent Jones as its executive director and allied with Criterion and the Auteurs,  is “preserving and promoting films from around the world.”

The Foundation, which has four films in this year’s Cannes Classics section at the Festival de Cannes, will use its alliances to take films from the fest in France to other festivals and museums, followed by a roll out to universities, film clubs, online at The Auteurs, via iTunes and Netflix, through to Criterion DVDs.

“These are considered to be the best films to have ever been made,” praised Cakarel from The Auteurs, adding that the films need to be made available worldwide, for free, so that they can be discovered by international audiences. His site has launched four preserved WCF titles online today.

The Auteurs, a virtual Internet-based cinematheque, will present a World Cinema Foundation portal on their emerging international platform online, incorporating discussion forums, video interviews and editorial content built around the films themselves. B-Side will re-launch and re-develop the WCF website. Criterion will create special DVDs of WCF titles.

“Film culture is richer now than fifteen years ago,” proclaimed Becker from Criterion, saying that these alliances can arm engaged audiences while also reaching out to new moviegoers.

Link

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Criterion cut of Bottle Rocket

I recall noticing that something was off when I watched the robbery scene for the first time on the Criterion edition of Bottle Rocket but didn’t know what at the time.

From an Amazon review:

The Criterion 2-disc Bottle Rocket is outstanding, but don’t toss your original disc just yet… the new edition is a slightly different edit that loses one laugh and adds another. I couldn’t find any reference to these changes in the supplementary material at all.

MISSING: Originally, during the book store robbery, Anthony grabs a random book off the shelf and opens it, revealing the title page “Job Opportunities in Government – 1995” which always gave me a little chuckle. Now for some reason the book opens to a black and white photograph of a military plane (it goes by so fast you’d have to freeze frame to make it out.)

ADDED: Originally, when Bob hands his earnings over to Future Man to cover his attorney fees, he asks if he can keep a few bucks for gas, and the scene ends. Now the scene plays a few seconds longer, and we hear Future Man’s reply: “No, you can’t.”

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NYT: Dave Kehr reviews the new Bottle Rocket Criterion DVD

An old favorite of ours, Dave Kehr, has a great review piece on the new DVD:

Stylistically, “Bottle Rocket” swings between poles of tension and release, order and chaos. In purely visual terms the film is tightly structured, with a systematic use of color (white for Dignan, bright red for Anthony), frontal compositions anchored by the horizon line, and a self-consciously theatrical sense of space: an open foreground for the action, played against a flat, immobile background (just as the motel rises from the flatlands around it). And there is no more linear plot structure than that of the heist film, in which pleasure lies in the orderly fulfillment of a precise program.

Read the full piece.

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Bottle Rocket available for pre-order on Amazon

The Criterion Collection edition of Bottle Rocket — out 25 November — is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com. Order yours here, and help support this site.

We’ve decked out the page in a Bottle Rocket theme to celebrate. Let us know what you think.

And, now, to the original BR trailer:

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Criterion Bottle Rocket (updated)

Oh, glorious day (see below for update).

Criterion Bottle Rocket

(link) (talk about it at the Yankee Racers forum)

Release date: November 2008!

Synopsis

Wes Anderson first illustrated his lovingly detailed, slightly surreal cinematic vision in this witty and warm portrait of three young middle-class misfits. Fresh out of a mental hospital, gentle Anthony (Luke Wilson) finds himself once again embroiled in the machinations of his best friend, elaborate schemer Dignan (Owen Wilson). With the aid of getaway driver Bob (Robert Musgrave), they develop a needlessly complex, mildly successful plan to rob a small bookstore—then go “on the lam.” Also featuring Lumi Cavazos as Inez, the South American housekeeper Anthony falls in love with, and James Caan as local thief extraordinaire Mr. Henry, Bottle Rocket is a charming, hilarious, affectionate look at the folly of dreamers. Shot against radiant southwestern backdrops, it’s the film that put Anderson and the Wilson brothers on the map.

Special Features

* – DIRECTOR-APPROVED DOUBLE-DISC SET SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
* – New, restored high-definition digital transfer supervised and approved by director Wes Anderson and director of photography Robert Yeoman
* – Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
* – Commentary by director/co-writer Anderson and co-writer/actor Owen Wilson
* – The Making of “Bottle Rocket”: an original documentary by filmmaker Barry Braverman featuring Anderson, James L. Brooks, James Caan, Temple Nash Jr., Kumar Pallana, Polly Platt, Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Musgrave, Richard Sakai, David and Sandy Wasco, Andrew and Luke and Owen Wilson, and Robert Yeoman
* – The original thirteen-minute black-and-white Bottle Rocket short film from 1992
* – Eleven deleted scenes
* – Anamorphic screen test, storyboards, location photos, and behind-the-scenes photographs by Laura Wilson
* – Murita Cycles, a 1978 short film by Braverman
* – The Shafrazi Lectures, no. 1: Bottle Rocket
* – PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by executive producer James L. Brooks, an appreciation by Martin Scorsese
* – Original artwork by Ian Dingman (update)

Film Info

1996
91 minutes
Color
1.85:1
Dolby Digital 5.1
Anamorphic
English

About the Transfer

is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Black bars at the top and bottom of the screen are normal for this format. Supervised and approved by director Wes Anderson and director of photography Robert Yeoman, this new high-definition digital transfer was scanned on a Spirit 2K datacine from a 35 mm interpositive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System.

Update: After some debate over at the Yankee Racers forum, we have discovered, from the artist himself, Ian Dingman, that all of artwork is his:

Criterion has updated their Bottle Rocket information pages since there seemed to be confusion to exactly what you’re asking me about…

http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=450

So yes, the artwork for Bottle Rocket was done by me. Eric was unfortunately not involved – I’m a fan of his work as well.

Thanks to Ian for responding! He sells his original, affordable art at his website. We hope to have an interview with him posted soon. New friend of the site, we hope?

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