BEST RELEASE Numbered in order from 1-5. Must vote for five titles to have your ballot counted. Boxed sets can also be voted on in this category
1. Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman
2. Christ Stopped At Eboli
3. Me and You and Everyone We Know
4. Town Bloody Hall
5. Girlfriends
Best “Normal” Boxed Set
Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman
Best “Big” Boxed Set
The Complete Films of Agnes Varda
Best Modern Film
The Irishman
Best Commentary
Tony Rayns on Parasite
Best “Bonus” Film
Holiday on Holiday
Best On Disc Non-commentary Extra
I think I’ll go for the video essay made from Cassavetes audio recordings on Husbands
Best Reissue
Taste of Cherry
Best Upgrade
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum
Best Cover
Crash
Worst Cover
Nothing particularly stands out this year, so I might just go for Holiday
Best Packaging – Non-Boxed Set Individual Release
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Packaging – Boxed Set
Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman
Best Discovery
Girlfriends
Most Unnecessary Release
It unfortunately has to be the releases that have UHD editions elsewhere. Crash and Parasite at least have really compelling unique selling points, so it may have to be The Elephant Man just for that aspect.
Most Flawed Release
Nothing particularly stands out this year.
Best Thread
I always like the list thread project, so I’ll vote for the current Sci-Fi list
Member of the Year
I think I will go for feihong, because of the robust posts about the changes made to the new versions of the Wong Kar-Wai canon without being too overbearing about it!
It has been a very strange year of looking longingly at discs that I have not had much time to devote myself to, and generally getting limited to an episode a night of the Fist of the North Star TV series until collapsing into unconsciousness, visions of people bulging and exploding in blossoms of white light dancing in my head. I have finally gotten to the point where the
”You’re in Shock!” opening of the show has changed into
Silent Survivor focusing on Ken versus Ken-Oh and their conflict over who is going to be the true North Star destined to be the “Ruler of the Century’s End” (which also fits well for the section of the show being about an endless trek through the wasteland)
Other than that, and fitting in with a year in which more arthouse fare seemed to be sidelined a bit for more genre (if not ‘psychotronic’) fare here is a rundown for my favourite non-Criterion releases of the year:
1. Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto (Arrow US)
2. Orphans (1998) and Secret Friends (Indicator)
3. Crash (UHD) (Arrow)
4. Cinema of Conflict: Four Films by Krzyztof Kieslowski
5. Hiroshima and Survivor Ballads: Three Films by Shohei Imamura (Arrow)
6. CzechMate – In Search of Jiři Menzel / How You Live Your Story: Selected Works by Kevin Jerome Watson / Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Second Run)
7. Burst City / Inferno of Torture (Arrow) – two films from two filmmakers I never thought would see a UK release
8. Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection (Severin) / He Came From The Swamp: The William Grefé Collection (Arrow)
9. Dawn of the Dead (1978) (Second Sight)
10. One Missed Call Trilogy (Arrow) / The Passion of Darkly Noon (Arrow) – films that I already loved getting the deluxe treatment, and it was a high point of my year to be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the two One Missed Call sequels
11. The Pillow Book (Indicator) / The Sheltering Sky (Arrow)
12. I caught up with Unearthed Films this year by picking up the 2019 release of
A Record of Sweet Murder (from Koji Shiraishi, the director of BBFC-banned Grotesque and the more recent Sadako vs Kayako) and notorious Category III Hong Kong ‘true crime’ film
The Untold Story (NSFW)
13. The Eureka! corner : Zu: Warriors From The Magic Mountain, Raining In The Mountain, Throw Down, Made In Hong Kong
14. Black Test Car & The Black Report (Arrow)
15. Pink Films Volume 1 to 4 / The Taste of Tea / Hanagatami (Third Window)
16. Phase IV (101 Films)
17. Synonyms (Kino)
18. The Painted Bird (Eureka)
19. Short Sharp Shocks (BFI’s Flipside series)
20. Friday The 13th: Deluxe Collection (Shout! Factory)
21. Impuse Films’ ongoing Nikkatsu Roman Porno DVD series continued with the grubby Woman In A Box 2, the astonishing Tokyo Caligula and the naughtier True Story of a Woman In Soapland: Tear!, along with the Blu-ray release of Love Hunter
22. Trailer Trauma V: 70s Action Attack! (Garagehouse Pictures) – already written up in the
Garagehouse Pictures thread
23. Graveyard(s) of Honour / The Woman & Offspring (Arrow)