The Criterion Collection

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

That's a fantastic set-up!
How long did it take you to get that finished?

(Wow, you leave a thread for a day to have dinner, watch a couple of Blu-rays, and get some sleep, and there are seven more pages of posts to catch up on, and interesting ones at that!)

I suppose this belongs in a Home Theatre thread, but I never started one for mine, even though I did upload a Home Theatre photo gallery with some brief descriptions. Anyway my do-it-yourself construction has been ongoing in sporadic spurts of activity over the past 15 years.

In the late 1990s I just had a 16mm projector pointed through the open studs of the unfinished basement room, at an old portable screen with some folding chairs. Then I hung a 4x8 sheet of matte white vinyl wall paneling at one end of the room so I could have a bigger picture with CinemaScope. In 2002 I got a Mitsubishi 1024x768 video projector and started to watch DVDs projected onto the big screen, soon adding black fabric masking around the screen that I could reset to fit the aspect ratio.

When Blu-ray finally won the HD format war in 2008, I decided to upgrade to an HD projector and Blu-ray player, and that also finally motivated me to buy some wall paneling and finish the walls to the room that June-July before my new Panasonic AE-2000 arrived in late July. That fall I put in the dozen theatre seats that had been in my parents' garage the previous 30 years. The next major upgrade was June of 2009 when I decided to build risers for stadium seating, as well as invest in a new amplifier with HDMI inputs and 7.1 support, plus a new set of matched front speakers. The setup stayed pretty much the same for the next few years, except for adding an Insignia multi-region capable Blu-ray player and a newer LG player to replace the 2008-model Magnavox.

Then in May 2012, I decided to replace the screen with a 4x10-foot piece of sheetrock directly against the wall, and install moveable drapes in front of it. In July 2012 I found the extra antique theatre seats now set along the wall, and in fall of 2012 I upgraded the projector to the Panasonic AE-7000 with infra-red 3D capability (just in time for the releases of THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and DIAL M FOR MURDER).

I still need to get around to finishing the ceiling and perhaps make the wiring a bit easier to deal with, and should eventually get a new amplifier whose HDMI pass-through will support 3D (currently I need to run HDMI video directly to the projector and use a digital audio cable to the amp for 3-D, which doesn't support Dolby Tru-HD or DTS-HD-MA unless an HDMI cable is used).

But back to the thread topic, the next Criterion discs I need to watch are parts 2 and 3 of the QATSI trilogy and TWO LANE BLACKTOP (which I've never seen), THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (which I also still have on an old 16mm print), and Pasolini's Trilogy of Life (only one of which I've seen before). The recent discussions make me want to revisit THREE WOMEN (which I ran about a year ago for some friends with THREE LITTLE BOPS and THREE AMIGOS, just for fun).

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by ccg1978

Thanks to Hulu I watched M, Breathless, The 400 Blows and I'm about 50% done with Battle for Algiers. All were excellent. M was amazing how old of a film it is. Breathless was a truly unique love story and I look forward to more of Godard's work. I thought 400 Blows was a good story but expected more.

When I showed it to my family some time back, they seemed to be baffled by the ending too.

I think the freeze frame is an ingenious way of conveying aimless, restless adolescence. I wish I would have seen the film at age twelve, it would have been like looking in a mirror.

[IronWaffle]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

When I showed it to my family some time back, they seemed to be baffled by the ending too.

I think the freeze frame is an ingenious way of conveying aimless, restless adolescence. I wish I would have seen the film at age twelve, it would have been like looking in a mirror.

Agreed. Sort'a. When I was an a was a child I thought like a child. The kind of freeze-frame below probably best captures my adolescence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqdBE...ature=youtu.be
I kid, of course. Move along, there's nothing to see here.

[KrugerIndustrial]

Seven Samurai Blu-ray is only $20.98 @ Amazon.

[Blu2u]

Originally Posted by retablo

True, but many of the titles licensed by both seems to have coinciding releases in more than a few cases - Gate of Hell, Repo Man, Two Lane Blacktop, Ballad of Naramaya, Le Beau Serge, Les Cousins... its certainly not every title, but a MOC release guarantees there's an HD master, so it's all but inevitable a Criterion upgrade follows suit down the road (or an MOC release follows Criterion)

Ballad of Narayama from Criterion is the 1958 version while the MOC is the 1983 version.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet
Thanks for the comments! The seats in the main section I lucked into when an old downtown theatre was being torn down back when I was in college. Most of its seats (which were much newer) had already been removed to use in other theatres being built, but the last few rows in the side section were these old seats from the 20s or 30s. The manager said that if I could haul them away I could have them. They then sat for 30 years in my parents' garage until I constructed my basement theatre five years ago (which until then was just an empty open-studded room I watched movies in). The seats along the right edge, on the other hand, are from a nearby town an hour's drive away that I just learned about last summer. They were still a bargain at $25 apiece!

I spend lots of time in that basement theatre, with Blu-rays from Criterion, Olive, Kino, and Twilight Time making up a majority of my screenings. Criterion's releases, especially, make it less annoying that there are no artcinemas or revival houses in convenient driving distance, as all I need to do is go downstairs. The poster for CRUMB, incidentally, came from our local multiplex, which just happened to have a short-lived monthly artfilm series while CRUMB was in release. Needless to say, very few people attended, but I got to keep the one-sheet, little-realizing I'd have my own copy of the movie with quality rivaling the 35mm screening.

Do you mean looking through the projection window on the photo I posted back on page number 3140, or in the projection hardware photo in my home theatre gallery?

My video projector is not suspended from the ceiling like most people do. It's just set up behind the projection booth port, raised on a couple of pieces of styrofoam packing, and that's what you can see through the window from the auditorium side of the wall. Having it free-standing lets me move it somewhere else easily, if needed, and get it out of the way when I set up for running 16mm film. I do have a pair of 16mm projectors visible in the cabinet storage area at the bottom of some of the "booth/lobby" area photos in my home theatre gallery.

[Page14]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

Do you mean looking through the projection window on the photo I posted back on page number 3140, or in the projection hardware photo in my home theatre gallery?

[Show spoiler]My video projector is not suspended from the ceiling like most people do. It's just set up behind the projection booth port, raised on a couple of pieces of styrofoam packing, and that's what you can see through the window from the auditorium side of the wall. Having it free-standing lets me move it somewhere else easily, if needed, and get it out of the way when I set up for running 16mm film. I do have a pair of 16mm projectors visible in the cabinet storage area at the bottom of some of the "booth/lobby" area photos in my home theatre gallery.

I was referring to the photo from this thread on page 3140. I was just curious if you had a full blown film projector back there ... which it sounds like you do, even if it isn't shown in that particular picture. What a great way to watch movies at home!

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by KrugerIndustrial

Seven Samurai Blu-ray is only $20.98 @ Amazon.

That's a sweet hook-up for such a fine movie. I was fortunate to buy the Seven Samurai Blu-ray for $18 with a combination of Barnes & Noble coupons this past December, but that was a pretty rare opportunity.

[brandon_260]

Artificial Eye is releasing Au Hasard Balthazar on blu in April. What's the likelihood a Criterion upgrade follows shortly after?

[ZooTv]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

That's a sweet hook-up for such a fine movie. I was fortunate to buy the Seven Samurai Blu-ray for $18 with a combination of Barnes & Noble coupons this past December, but that was a pretty rare opportunity.

Just ordered a copy myself

[retablo]

Originally Posted by octagon

I forgot about a couple of those, maybe it's not as bleak as I was making out.

And yeah, if nothing else an MoC release does mean there's an HD master (and usually a pretty good one) out there somewhere.

It actually wasn't as many as I thought, however a few of the titles - Metropolis, Die Nibelungen, fear & Desire - have also come out, just on the KINO label.

I forgot they released Hari-Kiri and Island of Lost Souls as well, two more correlating Criterion titles.

So, I'm hopeful anytime they release something, there's at least a decent chance whoever owns the rights here will follow suit. Still waitng on Lifeboat, Rumble Fish, Lost Weekend, Double Indemnity and Touch of Evil though...

Originally Posted by Blu2u

Ballad of Narayama from Criterion is the 1958 version while the MOC is the 1983 version.

I stand corrected on that one, thanks.

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by KrugerIndustrial

Seven Samurai Blu-ray is only $20.98 @ Amazon.

I wish there were other titles as well.

I don't own it..I have never even seen it, but I'm not sure if I would like it so I've put it off.

[KrugerIndustrial]

Yes, that is exactly what I'm waiting for as well. To see if they drop the prices on other titles. I have about 5 Criterion's that I'm currently interested in buying but this is tempting..

[The Great Owl]

I'd like to upgrade my DVD of Onibaba, since that's one of my favorite Japanese horror films, and the grain field setting begs to be seen in high definition. Like others, I'm hoping that the MoC release means that a Criterion upgrade is not far over the horizon. I'm happy to wait a while, though, since there are bigger fish in the ocean at this time.

I pre-ordered the Olive Films release of Les Miserables (1958). This is a blind-buy, but I'm good for it, since I'm a fan of Jean Gabin's films and I happen to be in the middle of the Victor Hugo novel right now. (I will finish the novel before watching the Blu-ray, of course.) The pre-order is just a few cents less than $25, so I also ordered one of my all-time favorites, The Deep, for seven dollars to hit the free shipping for both. I was hoping to find The Deep Blu-ray at one of the used stores around here, but it's nowhere to be found.

There are actually quite a few Criterion titles on Amazon right now for killer prices (Samurai Trilogy for $42 is a sweet deal.). I'm not biting yet, though. I've got it in my head that I want the Criterion release of Badlands to be #200 in my collection. No sensible reason for this, other than the fact that it'll be a memorable number for a memorable movie, and it'll be an incentive to put on the brakes with Blu-ray purchases before then. This means, of course, that, with Les Miserables and The Deep coming my way, I'll only be able to buy one Blu-ray between now and Badlands.

[Scottie]

In the process of watching La Haine but I took a break to eat dinner.

It's a fantastic movie so far and it's shaping up to (drum roll please) be one of my favorites. I mean like favorite favorites. I know I always say that a film is my favorite, but I really appreciate the way that each film is set up. They're very different from what I'm used to seeing.

I can truly say that 12 Angry Men, Antichrist, The Double Life Of Veronique, and The Night Of The Hunter have been my favorites that I've seen thus far but this is shaping up to be a fifth.

It feels very American History X like and what I'm gathering thus far is that even among all this chaos and racial fighting, these three men from different backgrounds respect and manage to have each other.

[KrugerIndustrial]

Oh well, 7 Samurai is back to $30.33.

[IronWaffle]

Originally Posted by KrugerIndustrial

Oh well, 7 Samurai is back to $30.33.

The late bird gets to continues to get to dream of worms.

[IronWaffle]

Originally Posted by iScottie

In the process of watching La Haine but I took a break to eat dinner.

It's a fantastic movie so far and it's shaping up to (drum roll please) be one of my favorites. I mean like favorite favorites. I know I always say that a film is my favorite, but I really appreciate the way that each film is set up. They're very different from what I'm used to seeing.

I can truly say that 12 Angry Men, Antichrist, The Double Life Of Veronique, and The Night Of The Hunter have been my favorites that I've seen thus far but this is shaping up to be a fifth.

It feels very American History X like and what I'm gathering thus far is that even among all this chaos and racial fighting, these three men from different backgrounds respect and manage to have each other.

I really enjoy your enthusiasm and your fearlessness in putting forth your own analysis of what you're watching. Refreshing.

Now, stop forcing in scheduled intermissions [he says while pausing TCM to take supper off his stove].

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by KrugerIndustrial

Oh well, 7 Samurai is back to $30.33.

I went ahead and ordered it right now. I saw your post, and then checked my cart that I'd added it to a few minutes ago and it was at the $21 price even though the main page said $30, so I bought it. Not sure why that is

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by IronWaffle

I really enjoy your enthusiasm and your fearlessness in putting forth your own analysis of what you're watching. Refreshing.

Now, stop forcing in scheduled intermissions [he says while pausing TCM to take supper off his stove].

It was such a good movie. I liked it because it was real life.

A lot of people see the projects, gangs, and violence as central to the United States but the film does a good job at depicting how it's a universal issue and it's found all over the world.