Quoting VibroCount:

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Quoting Alien Redrum:

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I would hardly call films like Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, Hellraiser or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre "lesser known". These are staple films of the horror genre that have a wide base of fans. I'd argue that even people not big fans of the horror genre have at least heard of these movies and most likely seen at least Halloween. I'd even argue that the films I mention are more well known than a good chunk of Criterion's catalog. I would feel comfortable saying that getting the license to some of the films AB has released in the past is on par with Criterion's costs, because let's be realistic, your average person has heard of Halloween before La Strada.
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Let's be realistic. La Strada won an Oscar for best film (the first ever for Foreign Language Film). I suspect it is at least as widely known worldwide as Halloween... at least among filmgoers who occasionally watch films outside the horror/fantasy/SF genre.

And Marisa Tomei won an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny.    I know what you are trying to say, but it winning an Oscar doesn't equate to popularity to the general public.

To the general public in North America, I'm 100% confident that more people will have heard of Halloween before La strada. There is zero doubt in my mind. Worldwide, I would still feel comfortable betting that Halloween is more popular or, at the very least, as well known.

On IMDB, Halloween gets an 8/10 with 60,000 or so votes. La Strada gets 8.2/10 on 16,000. I put little weight in IMDB, however, going by the number of voters, yeah, Halloween seems a little more well known.

(Note I'm not saying Halloween is a better movie, that's irrelevant for this discussion and I've never seen La Strada, so I can't judge. I speculate you can't even compare the two, because based on the description, they are two different flicks. I'm just saying when it comes down to purchasing the rights to the two films, Halloween could very well be as valuable in terms of money, due to its popularity.)

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Criterion keeps great films available. The Red Shoes, many Kurosawa films, The Steel Helmet... many hundreds of films every film student needs to have seen at least once... that no one else will market to average film lovers. To judge Star Wars as a classic film without having seen The Hidden Fortress, or The Magnificent Seven without The Seven Samurai, or the man with no name westerns without Yojimbo and Sanjuro... and yet, who has them available in the US without Criterion?

If you love these remakes (and you should), knowing the originals is vital. I like Clueless more having read Emma.

Again, I'm not disputing them keeping great films (debatable) available. I'm saying their price point is ridiculous and over-defended. Again I point out The Long Good Friday and White Dog. For the high price, the special features suck and are completely underwhelming. If they were to charge $15 for White Dog, I'd cut them a little slack, but to MSRP it out to $30 is a joke and shouldn't be defended.

Quoting Alien Redrum:

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Quoting VibroCount:

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Quoting Alien Redrum:

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I would hardly call films like Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, Hellraiser or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre "lesser known". These are staple films of the horror genre that have a wide base of fans. I'd argue that even people not big fans of the horror genre have at least heard of these movies and most likely seen at least Halloween. I'd even argue that the films I mention are more well known than a good chunk of Criterion's catalog. I would feel comfortable saying that getting the license to some of the films AB has released in the past is on par with Criterion's costs, because let's be realistic, your average person has heard of Halloween before La Strada.
...

Let's be realistic. La Strada won an Oscar for best film (the first ever for Foreign Language Film). I suspect it is at least as widely known worldwide as Halloween... at least among filmgoers who occasionally watch films outside the horror/fantasy/SF genre.

And Marisa Tomei won an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny.    I know what you are trying to say, but it winning an Oscar doesn't equate to popularity to the general public.

To the general public in North America, I'm 100% confident that more people will have heard of Halloween before La strada. There is zero doubt in my mind. Worldwide, I would still feel comfortable betting that Halloween is more popular or, at the very least, as well known.

On IMDB, Halloween gets an 8/10 with 60,000 or so votes. La Strada gets 8.2/10 on 16,000. I put little weight in IMDB, however, going by the number of voters, yeah, Halloween seems a little more well known.

(Note I'm not saying Halloween is a better movie, that's irrelevant for this discussion and I've never seen La Strada, so I can't judge. I speculate you can't even compare the two, because based on the description, they are two different flicks. I'm just saying when it comes down to purchasing the rights to the two films, Halloween could very well be as valuable in terms of money, due to its popularity.)

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Criterion keeps great films available. The Red Shoes, many Kurosawa films, The Steel Helmet... many hundreds of films every film student needs to have seen at least once... that no one else will market to average film lovers. To judge Star Wars as a classic film without having seen The Hidden Fortress, or The Magnificent Seven without The Seven Samurai, or the man with no name westerns without Yojimbo and Sanjuro... and yet, who has them available in the US without Criterion?

If you love these remakes (and you should), knowing the originals is vital. I like Clueless more having read Emma.

Again, I'm not disputing them keeping great films (debatable) available. I'm saying their price point is ridiculous and over-defended. Again I point out The Long Good Friday and White Dog. For the high price, the special features suck and are completely underwhelming. If they were to charge $15 for White Dog, I'd cut them a little slack, but to MSRP it out to $30 is a joke and shouldn't be defended.

Criterion Laserdisc was usually priced at $100 so i don't think it's as bad as it used to be. If you gage the merit of a film on the bases of what awards it's won i think your all the poorer for it. While yes many films that have won an Oscar i have liked but that is far outweighed by those that have not that i like.

Liking a film is completely subjective.

Quoting Alien Redrum:

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But the other, bigger part of me says that, damn Criterion, your fans are so damn loyal to you. Throw them a bone.

They have AR, it's called the Essential Art House series. They've taken the bare bones film and begun selling them for about 60% off the full releases.

I just got The 39 Steps, Pygmalion, Last Holiday, Forbidden Games and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp for $54.85 at DDD. The transfers are exactly the same as the full release.

So yes, Criterion realizes the state of affairs in the DVD retail business and have evolved accordingly.

Quoting Antares:

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Quoting Alien Redrum:

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But the other, bigger part of me says that, damn Criterion, your fans are so damn loyal to you. Throw them a bone.

They have AR, it's called the Essential Art House series. They've taken the bare bones film and begun selling them for about 60% off the full releases.

I just got The 39 Steps, Pygmalion, Last Holiday, Forbidden Games and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp for $54.85 at DDD. The transfers are exactly the same as the full release.

So yes, Criterion realizes the state of affairs in the DVD retail business and have evolved accordingly.

That's nice and all, but a $100 MSRP for 5 stripped down featureless discs is not a bargain IMO.

I realize no one charges MSRP (except for, say, Borders and Barnes & Noble), but that's what your price point is based on.

5 stripped down standard DVDs should MSRP for $30 in this day and age, at the most, $50.

(And if I were a fan of Criterion, I'd probably by them for $55, too. )

Quoting Antares:

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But to a lot of people around the world who think there is more to movies than explosions, tits or psycho slashers.

So everything that is not Criterion released is that...
Sorry but Criterion had released Man Bites Dog and Se7en who are sure not psycho slasher movies

------removed-----------

Quoting AESP_pres:

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So 

Do you think I give an NFBSK about the opinion of a guy like you who was banned everywhere he was a member?

lol i wasn't insulting you

Quoting AESP_pres:

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Bad impressions, but I'm used to the way you post usually and it's probably the reason for my fast reaction 

I edit my previous post.

Oh right cool