Hello!

We like to call out impressive lineups of new disc releases, and The Criterion Collection’s picks for January 2025 jumped out at us. We’re always waiting for classics or favorites; it’s okay when a particular month has nothing personally essential, for the next month will almost always feature something highly desirable.

All of the January titles are going to be available in 4K Ultra HD. The list includes the Richard Pryor comedy  Jo Jo Dancer Your Life is Calling and Jean Eustache’s  The Mother and the Whore, an intriguing title we look forward to learning more about.

The other three discs definitely got our attention. Is Criterion going to make a sweep through its Akira Kurosawa holdings, taking more of them to 4K?  Do they have a renewed relationship with Toho, indicated by their upcoming (November 5) 4K disc of  Godzilla, promised to be a remastered version not previously available here?  Criterion also has a 4K release of Kurosawa’s  Seven Samurai promised for November 12. Now we’ve been told that a 4K  Yojimbo – Sanjuro combo will be here on January 7. Frame grabs suggest that both titles are huge improvements over the older Blu-ray discs.

Good HD encodings of Stephen Frears’  The Grifters exist, but Criterion’s 4K (Jan. 21) promises excellent extras, including a new documentary on author Jim Thompson.

And finally there’s Anthony Mann’s conspicuously absent  Winchester ’73 (January 21). It is the first and perhaps best Mann-James Stewart collaboration and the only one not available on Blu-ray. It is also an almost perfect western, with a clever ‘La Ronde’ structure that replaces sex with a coveted rifle. The show has been rumored to be coming from Criterion for three years.

 

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Here’s a good idea. Since we don’t cover many current horror pictures here at CineSavant, let us direct attention to Terry Morgan’s chiller roundup, an article just posted at Trailers from Hell:

Lesser-Known Halloween Horror Film Suggestions
The title may seem appropriate for a government pamphlet, but Mr. Morgan’s picks sound suitably creepy — and non-junky. Pointing it out is just one of many important public service initiatives, here at CineSavant.

 

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There you go … the ballot is in. I’ve got my patriotic  I VOTED sticker, so hopefully all will be well. Let’s hear it for saving Democracy and the world in general.

In the immortal words of Richard A. Smith, “VOTE SOON !  VOTE OFTEN !  Tell ’em McGinty sent ya.

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson