Damn, Tampa is the closest one to me, but it may well just be worth the drive. thanks for the heads up!

The Seventh Seal DVD does come with Bergman Island on a second disc (the second disc is basically the Bergman Island release with the same features, just different menus.)

And the new prices are correct for Thin Red Line and Mr. Lawrence. At least the sell sheet and press release indicate the lower prices for the DVDs.

Oh, thanks for clearing that up for me, Chris.

CC

Replacement cases all arrived in the mail today. Woot. They arrive fast when they actually recieve your Paypal payment lol. I imagine Pierrot le Fou will arrive by Saturday or Monday at the latest if they are this fast, since it shipped out today.

In other news, I've been going through a Criterion marathon of sorts.

Just watched Vivre sa Vie this afternoon. Some Criterion films make me think, some I enjoy. But some just knock me flat on my ass and leave me saying "WOW! That was a great movie!" Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Ran, Kagemusha, Sanjuro, M, 8 1/2, The Seventh Seal, Hunger, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Third Man, and now, Vivre Sa Vie.

This film just blew me away. One thing I noticed in particular was just how amazing of an actress Ann Karina is. But also, just the visual aspects of the film were simply stunning. I don't know if anyone else has noticed or mentioned this before, but I feel like Tarantino, and to a lesser extent, Scorsese, both drew a lot of influence from Godard's films. Vivre sa Vie felt a lot like Tarantino's earlier films, Jackie Brown in particular. The style, structure, dialogue, etc. But that is to the credit of Godard, who clearly kind of defined this way of filmmaking. I could go on and on about how I loved every single aspect of this film, but that would get boring. In short, this is just one hell of a film. I can't wait to watch Pierrot le Fou when my copy arrives, and watch more Godard films in general.

Strongly disagree. Breathless so far looks by far the weakest.

A rather disturbing trend...

Perhaps their early 50-50 ish dvd to blu ratio has dropped some? Or perhaps some blu-ray licensing constraints (e.g., the difference between getting rights to sell on blu-ray and dvd vs just getting the rights for dvd only). Factor in anticipated sales somehow, and maybe they just have to charge more to cover added expenses for these two. Maybe why some titles are dvd only in spite of how ready they are for blu too.

...Just guessing.

They offer inspiration and influence, sincehardly anything made these days will, in 50 years, qualify as art like some a lot of the films in the Criterion Collection. Obviously, art is subjective, but I'd much rather see the next generation of filmmakers influenced by Godard (as Tarantino was), Truffaut, Bergman, et al, than... well, who? Nolan? Wes Anderson? Uwe Boll? No thanks.

Yes, Tarantino films are so Godard it's not funny. It's one of the biggest known influences, so it's no secret (Godard, who had some words for Tarantino knows). Its like he takes from B-movie genre films and mixes it with Godard.

Tarantino's production company, named A BAND APART, after Godard's film Bande á part or known in English as Band of Outsiders

Pulp Fiction drew from Band of Outsiders and Vivre sa vie. Mia Wallace is a play on Anna Karina. The moment of silence restaurant scene in Band of Outsiders and the "silence" discussion at the Jack Rabbit Slims in Pulp Fiction. Then you can also say both films have famous dance scenes after that.

Yes it sucks, even though it's been like that for years.:rolleyes: Stop being a Thin Red Line homer with it's bad photoshop design. Breathless packaging is one of the best in the collection, and alot of people will agree.

Yes! Yes! Get after Wes "Look at me make a statement with the way I dress and make my characters dress too, so I have to be cool, but I know I'm not because I got stuffed into lockers in High School" Anderson!

Or Chris "I made The Dark Knight so I got a bunch of nerds going back into my Filmography trying to make it look like masterpiece after masterpiece, when I know for a fact they wouldn't know who I am if I didn't even make a Batman" Nolan.:D


Okay, I do like some Nolan films, but he isn't the most important Hollywood director working today like millions of comic book fans would think.

I did notice a lot of Mia Wallace/Nana comparisons, and the dance scene was soooooo Pulp Fiction. I need to read up more on Godard and Tarantino. I love learning about these relationships these filmmakers had/have with each other. Souns like Godard had the same opinion of Tarantino's homage to him as Kurosawa felt about Leone pretty much remaking Yojimbo shot for shot with A Fistful of Dollars but never giving Kurosawa due credit. Kurosawa certainly had some things to say about that. ;)

It's about the same with Godard and Kurosawa, and they should feel that way (well did feel that way in Kurosawa, RIP).

I wouldn't say Nolan is THE most important active director, and I don't think he made The Dark Knight for ego reasons. But make no mistake, Nolan is certainly one of the best working directors out there, and consistently offers up excellent films. I wouldn't say they are all masterpieces by any stretch. I'd only place Memento and The Dark Knight in that category, but his films are inspiring a new generation of filmmakers, and that counts as important to me.

As far as important contemporary directors go, you have

Christopher Nolan
Quentin Tarantino
Peter Jackson
Guillermo del Toro
Jason Reitman
Paul Thomas Anderson
Ethan and Joel Coen
David Fincher
The Pixar staff
Darren Aronofsky
Kathryn Bigelow

I was going to group Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Ridley Scott, Terrence Malick, and James Cameron in there, but I don't think I'd call them contemporary directors in the same vein as the ones I just mentioned. They're definitely in the pantheon of great working directors, but not really contemporary or in the same generation as the other list.

Since for some reason Hollywood filmmakers came up, I thought I would talk about my fav Hollywood filmmaker and my fav film of his.

Paul Thomas Anderson and Punch-Drunk Love

Influences of Tati, Godard, Night of the Hunter, and much more.

Every reason why I love this film is here:

http://www.a2pcinema.com/archive/PDL/influences.htm

I can't leave you guys alone for a minute ;)


Pot...... meet Kettle :D

Interesting that you picked Punch Drunk Love. I'm afraid I have to be on the bandwagon and say that There Will Be Blood is far and away my favorite P.T. Anderson film, and the best American film of the last decade, IMO.

I love PDL because I love french filmmaking and PDL is loaded with influences. But I did go to the movies to see TWBB a couple times when it came out. I love PTA films, just PDL is my fav.

The fact that it's been like that for years is irrelevant; it doesn't make it good. I'm not saying The Thin Red Line has the best cover in the collection, but simply the best for September. My reason for saying so is completely valid--it expresses the main theme of the film, which I cannot recall another cover doing.

"A lot of people" may agree that it's one of the best packaging jobs in the collection, but a lot of people will also disagree about that statement, as well as agree that the cover art is weak. At the end of the day, it's about what appeals to you. Personally, I think it's not that great, just as I think Godard is an overrated director (albeit a highly important one).

Baxter, you know I don't speak Spanish. English please.:D