I haven't...but I'm quite fond of the weird and deranged ;)

I believe Life During Wartime is a follow up to Happiness.

What I meant is the source material isn't of the quality to bring out a truly exceptional PQ. The film itself is overly soft and no transfer will ever bring out a ton of detail, texture etc. There's no doubt that this release will probably be the best it looks on home video for a long time to come.

I agree 100%, but in the context of the users question which was "What should I get?" any answer is going to be a opinion. Mine was that Beauty and the Beast's image quality doesn't match up with the best of Criterion. Therefore I ruled it out as a recommended choice. Personally I have it on order. Maybe my choice of words and blunt opinion could of been better thought out.

I couldn't begin to make any kind of judgement without actually comparing the original DVD with the Bluray. It undoubtedly will look better, but to what degree one can only say after making such a comparison. Otherwise anything I say about the difference is pure speculation. I was merely saying I don't think the original duplicate negative they are using is of the quality to bring out much more detail. I believe the film was purposely shot soft to maintain a fantasy feel and while seeing more film grain and less compression artifacts are nice when measured up to other Criterion Bluray's it is by far on the lower end of the PQ spectrum.

Life During Wartime is interesting but I don't love it. It is a direct sequel to Happiness, only it recasts every single actor. So it picks up all the characters a few years later played by an entirely new cast. The biggest problem, for me at least, is that in almost every instance the performance is more complex and more interesting in Happiness.

I am a big, big fan of Happiness and have seen it many times. I don't know how Life During Wartime would play as a standalone movie.

Solondz's style as a writer/director lies somewhere in between Wes Anderson and early Neil Labute. He tends to write about disaffected people being narcissistic and cruel to one another. Sex is always a central focus, but unpleasant and in some way an act of degradation.

I would count Life During Wartime as an interesting experiment, but not a very successful one. I wouldn't recommend it as a blind buy.

I read that the Mont Alto score was written to reference saloon and dancehall pieces of the silent film era. The score sounds very "retro", utilizing only 5 or 6 instrumentalists. (think chamber music)

The Elena Kats-Chernin score is a very beautiful and well composed piece of music, but I found that my attention was being pulled away from the visual aspect of the film. For example, the first time we hear vocals (the staccato vocalizing in the taxi drivers apartment) sounds so unlike anything I have ever heard in a silent film score that I became significantly distracted from the images on the screen. It just really was not for me but I could see how other viewers might prefer this different sounding track.

Well...

I just finished it, and I found it to be a wonderful score I didn't find it distracting.

Wonderful.

30%. :( I should have held out for a bigger discount.

I don't know if you saw my stealth edit.... so I'll throw it out there:

Did you notice any similarities to Paul McCartney's Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey ????


I think I might be losing my mind!

Would be very surprised to not see Kwaidan and Kuroneko announced tomorrow.

I am not familiar with that one. I will give the Katz-Chernin score another listen for sure. As I said, the film just seemed to flow better with the default Mont Alto track. (IMO)

I hear music referenced all the time in other pieces that are composed afterwards. It would be hard not to let music that you enjoy/respect influence your composition, after all there are only 12 notes to work from.;)

I am used to people thinking I am insane for listening to some of the music I like. (Tony Williams Lifetime for example or The Mahavishnu Orchestra http://cps-static.macrovision.com/Ri...er=allrovi.com)

I still have my fingers crossed for Don't Look Now or another possible Paramount owned release. Maybe Criterion negotiated with Paramount for Rosemary's Baby. Hey one could dream. (Or Maybe Obsession for the US :-)

Would be interesting to see some Horror movie themed upgrades like Carnival Of Souls, or The Blob.

Maybe an upgrade of Vampyre! (I will shut up now)

I have some questions about the Barnes and Nobles November Criterion sale.
Is this for sure going to happen?
And when does it usually start?

Solaris is a great movie! Watched it through Netflix a few weeks ago, and bought it this week at B&N. Looking forward to the BD:)

speaking of strange. i put discs in after i buy them to check if it works. if not, i get an exchange while i have the receipt and so on.

black moon is VERY strange =P. can she read minds or somn? what's w/the breast feeding? anyways... i haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet ;). u know me. i buy 'em and rack 'em up.

Please tell me you're joking.

It's happening now... July 12th to August 1st.

EDIT: Nevermind, I see you've frequented the sales thread quite a bit, so just stop posting unnecessary douche-like comments in this thread to try and be funny, okay?

I read something about there being a sale in November too.

Spoiler alert for sure. (I've already watched it though) It is cinema for sure and they don't need words they had faces!) :)

Ah, I liked you for a brief moment when you first posted about Solaris, but now I hate, hate, hate you.

So I misunderstood when some one said there was usually a criterion sale in november.