Criterion Blu-rays – Bottle Rocket & Man Who Fell to Earth

After obtaining Batman The Dark Knight on blu-ray for free in an Amazon.com promotional sale, I spent much time deliberating what my first official blu-ray purchase would be. There are a ton of my favorite movies already out on blu-ray including The Shawshank Redemption, L.A. Confidential and Pan’s Labyrinth, I dont want to pay the new-release price for films that may become very discounted new and easily obtainable used. But then I was made aware that the Criterion Collection, known for releasing outstanding versions of foreign, speciality and cult films with pristine transfers and outstanding extras often under the directors supervision on laser disc and dvd, would be issuing its first movies on blu-ray in December.

So with their release of Bottle Rocket, I decided that I need to continue my collection of Wes Anderson films (3 others of which already out from Criterion) and make that my first purchase. Co-written with Owen Wilson, one of my favorite comedic character actors, this is an entertaining film with a great cast. And as Criterion has again pulled out all the stops with the bonuses, including the original Bottle Rocket short film that I have never seen, it clearly increases the value of the film from a purchasing and collecting standpoint. Plus this introduces the lovable Kumar Pallana, playing Kumar, who re-appears in other Anderson films like the Royal Tenenbaums as Pagoda.

I also decided to pick up Criterion’s The Man Who Fell to Earth, also released on dvd, starring David Bowie as a semi-random purchase. I debated about picking up Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express, (review, 2nd) but that can wait for another day.

And thats my internal debate on owning films on dvd or blu-ray. The costs for initial purchase are often much higher than it ends up being and if you dont watch a film often enough, it may not be truly worth owning as they films are continually re-released on the latest format or their anniversary or for some made up reason just to make an extra buck. But Criterion releases are the definitive versions that every true movie collector should have. And their current and future releases are all worth at least a look.

And as a side note, the short soundtrack to the Bottle Rocket Short Film was also released digitally. by Concord Music Group and contains a few jazz tracks that they could not afford to license for the actual film.