Criterion’s December Titles Introduce Us to the New Worst Film in the Collection

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They said it couldn’t be done. They said that nothing could supplant Armageddon (or, for the more masochistic cinephiles, Border Radio) as the worst film to ever sport the Criterion Collection branding. Then came Jellyfish Eyes, and words were gobbled up like shoes on Werner Herzog’s plate. That’s one part of a pretty lightweight slate this December for Criterion, although at least we have Harold Lloyd to drown out that bit of awfulness (and Jellyfish Eyes is at least priced $10 less than the norm, although dare I say it, any price above “free with a Happy Meal” is pushing it for me, based on everything I’ve seen and read about it).

jellyfish

  • New, high-definition digital master, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New interview with director Takashi Murakami
  • Two new behind-the-scenes documentaries on the making of the film
  • Trailer for Jellyfish Eyes 2 (oh god, it’s expanding)
    PLUS: An essay by critic Glen Helfand

burroughs

  • New, high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New interviews with filmmakers Jim Jarmusch, Aaron Brookner, and Tom DiCillo, as well as William S. Burroughs’s friends and fellow writers James Grauerholz and Stew Meyer
  • Rare outtakes
  • Footage from the 2014 New York Film Festival premiere of the film’s restoration
  • Thirty-minute experimental edit of the film from 1981 by inventor and photographer Robert E. Fulton Jr.
  • More!
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Luc Sante and a collage poster by artist Alison Mosshart

speedy

  • New 4K digital restoration
  • Musical score by composer Carl Davis from 1992, synchronized and restored under his supervision and presented in uncompressed stereo on the Blu-ray
  • Audio commentary featuring Bruce Goldstein, director of repertory programming at New York’s Film Forum, and Turner Classic Movies program director Scott McGee
  • In the Footsteps of “Speedy,” a new short documentary by Goldstein about the film’s New York locations
  • Selection of rare archival footage of baseball legend Babe Ruth, who has a cameo in the film, presented by David Filipi, director of film and video at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio
  • New visual essay featuring stills of deleted scenes from the film and narrated by Goldstein
  • Selection of Lloyd’s home movies, narrated by his granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd
  • Bumping into Broadway, a 1919 Lloyd two-reeler, newly restored and with a 2004 score by Robert Israel
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Phillip Lopate

downhill

  • High-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Interviews from 2009 with actor Robert Redford, screenwriter James Salter, editor Richard Harris, production manager Walter Coblenz, and former downhill skiier Joe Jay Jalbert, who served as a technical adviser, ski double, and cameraman on the film
  • Audio excerpts from a 1977 American Film Institute seminar with director Michael Ritchie
  • How Fast?, a rare twelve-minute promotional feature from 1969
  • Trailer
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Todd McCarthy