The Criterion Collection,
with sales and distribution support provided by Image Entertainment, has announced
a seven-strong release package for delivery during Feb. of 2014.
Let’s get right to it …
in chronological order we start off the first street-date Tuesday of the month
(Feb. 5) with the newly re-mastered Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack release of famed auteur filmmaker François Truffaut’s 1962
New Wave masterpiece, Jules
et Jim.
Bonus features include
two vintage commentary options —one teams film scholar Annette Insdorf with
Truffaut, film editor Claudine Bouché and Jean Gruault, while the other has
Truffaut biographer Serge Toubiana teamed with the film’s star, Jeanne
Moreau.
The following week, Feb.
11, marks the domestic DVD and Blu-ray debut of actor-turned-director
Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d'Or-winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Blue
is the Warmest Color.
Clocking in at three
hours, Criterion is doing something a little different for their brand with
this one. They are bringing the film to
market as no-frills DVD and separate Blu-ray editions … perhaps timed to take
advantage of awards-season hype. A
special edition is promised sometime later in 2014.
For the record the ARR is
109 days and the current box office haul (mainly arthouse venues) currently
stands at an impressive $746,428.
On Feb. 18 the latest
Alfred Hitchcock remastered film presentation will be getting a Blu-ray/2 DVD
Combo Pack push from the Criterion Collection.
This time it is his 1940 spy thriller, Foreign Correspondent,
starring Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall and George Sanders.
Bonus goodies include a
visual effects featurette hosted by f/x expert Craig Barron (Oscar-winner for The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button), a featurette titled “Hollywood
Propaganda and World War II, a vintage interview with Hitchcock (circa 1972)
and a radio adaptation of the film with Joseph Cotten (circa 1946).
Also streeting on Feb. 18
as a Blu-ray/2 DVD Combo Pack is director Wes Anderson’s 2009 film adaptation
of the Roald Dahl novel, Fantastic Mr. Fox. Bonus features here include commentary from
Anderson, puppet animation tests and behind-the-scenes footage of the various
actors voicing their puppet characters.
We finish up the month on
Feb. 25 with the double-feature Blu-ray/double-disc DVD Combo Pack edition of
director Steven Soderbergh’s King of the Hill (1993) and The
Underneath (1995). Included in
the package are newly minted interviews with Soderbergh and auther A. E.
Hotchner and the video essay titled “Against Tyranny.”
Also heading to retail on
Feb. 25 is auteur filmmaker Roman
Polanski’s 1979 Best Picture nominee, Tess (he was also nominated Best
Director). The film has been digitally
restored by Criterion and will be released as a Blu-ray/2 DVD Combo Pack.
Bonus features include a
trio of featurettes, the 2006 feature-length documentary title Once
Upon a Time … Tess, a vintage Polanski interview and French TV
behind-the-scenes documentary filmed during the making of Tess.
Lastly, Feb. 25 also
marks the release date for a restored Blu-ray/2 DVD Combo Pack release of New
Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 feature film debut, Breathless (with a script
proved by none other than François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol).
Bonus features include
vintage interview, the 1959 short film, Charlotte et son Jules and the 1993
feature-length documentary, Chambre 12, Hôtel de Suède.
To download this week's
complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report: DVD & Blu-ray Release Report
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