The Criterion Collection

[AreaUnderTheCurve]

Originally Posted by bingtau

hi i was watching Solaris for the first time and it was a solid film. im assuming that the movie was supposed to be in color and some footage in black and white. can anyone tell me if i have a defective disc or if the black and white scenes are supposed to be there. thanks

Black and white scenes are supposed to be there. Is the transfer good enough to warrant a $26.99 purchase?

[RipleyLV426]

Isn't the next Barnes and Noble buy 2 get 1 free beginning sometime this week? And the next Criterion sale is supposedly July, correct?

[greekak229]

Originally Posted by JLTucker

Black and white scenes are supposed to be there. Is the transfer good enough to warrant a $26.99 purchase?

It's good. A lot of the black and white scenes look marvelous. The colored scenes have a lot of grain, but I think because of the film itself, it's worth the money.

[bingtau]

Originally Posted by JLTucker

Black and white scenes are supposed to be there. Is the transfer good enough to warrant a $26.99 purchase?

thnaks for the info. i would say if you're a big fan of the film buy it. the bonus material and transfer are solid. i tried watching the movie a long time ago but the quality was not good so im glad i purchased this one and the video was a noticeable difference. that being said it's far from showcase material which i dont think anyone could expect with this title.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by capnnarcolepsy

cue OOP discussion/worry/confusion in 3...2...1...

Followed by the one person who realizes that if it WAS OOP at the studio source, Criterion.com wouldn't be selling it on their site either.

[Show spoiler]They are: http://www.criterion.com/films/27561-blow-out

We now return you to your mix of "" and "Well, maybe they got it wrong--Who ya gonna believe, them or Amazon? "

[Alex DeLarge]

Glad you too a chance on Tarkovsky! I put a few thoughts down concerning SOLARIS over on my blog, if you'd like to check it out. I think reading the film will reveal much more than expected, but my interpolation is in no way definitive. If you scan my archives you'll find essays about every Tarkovsky film so I hope you discover another that will suite your tastes. I recommend IVAN'S CHILDHOOD next and believe Criterion released a decent dvd years ago. No word on a BD upgrade though.

[Harry Caul]

Originally posted by big

Straw Dogs -- Sorry, I thought this movie sucked

I think that is one of the smartest Movies ever made.
Peckinpah may have been many things, but not stupid, you could dissect Straw Dogs scene by scene and it's still difficult to explain what he all tries to show.
It's like if you have this scene it's +1 and in the next scene it's -1, take for example the scene where Dustin Hoffman explains why he has to fight, this scene in any Movie would be the number one heroic point.
But in Straw Dogs it's not what he says but the feeling that it's not from his heart but something that his mind is telling him, so it's without compassion. On top of it Peckinpah films Dustin standing at the bottom of the stairs from above, those making him even smaller than he already is, showing disdain for his character that's acting on what books told him to be the right reaction and not having his heart and soul telling him. I never seen anything quite like that.
Most of the time those things are simple on surface of Movies in Straw Dogs it's like reading a book between the lines.

[Alex DeLarge]

Nice post Harry! STRAW DOGS was frustrating for me to watch because Peckinpah drew me into the narrative to emapthize with Hoffman's character, so I felt what he felt. The final explosion was cathartic. I need to watch again before writing a decent review: any word on a BD release in the US? I know there's a UK release in the works.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

You mean there's more internet outside of the Blu-ray.com/Amazon.com bubble?

Of course there is. It's mostly porn and sports gambling but on the plus side, I really like porn and sports gambling.

[Harry Caul]

Originally posted by AlexDeLarge

Nice post Harry! STRAW DOGS was frustrating for me to watch because Peckinpah drew me into the narrative to emapthize with Hoffman's character, so I felt what he felt. The final explosion was cathartic. I need to watch again before writing a decent review: any word on a BD release in the US? I know there's a UK release in the works.

The UK Blu-ray is already a long time in the making. Thank you. I just think Straw Dogs is often to easy dismissed, as just been a violent 70s' Movie. But after two or three times watching it many things started to bug me, I've seen it the first time when I was 14 years old. It's always like, why did he shoot it in that way? It's never what you see in the first place, but what is the person thinking and what are his actions, and most of it it's in the way Peckinpah films it and not in the way the story unfolds. The Susan George character is the one to watch, the Dustin character is almost non-perceptive until the chaos is established and in full effect.

[SlickDamian]

I am thinking about blind buying Kagemusha. Can anyone give me some feedack on the film/disc? Anything to compare it to, or the style? I have never seen a Kurosawa film before (I know....).

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by SlickDamian

I am thinking about blind buying Kagemusha. Can anyone give me some feedack on the film/disc? Anything to compare it to, or the style? I have never seen a Kurosawa film before (I know....).

If you have not seen a Kurusawa film before, I would not suggest Kagemusha as first film. I would start off first w/ Seven Samurai or Yojimbo to see if you enjoy the style of the late Kurusawa.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by BillyJack

If you have not seen a Kurusawa film before, I would not suggest Kagemusha as first film. I would start off first w/ Seven Samurai or Yojimbo to see if you enjoy the style of the late Kurusawa.

I'll second that: START with 7S, Yojimbo, Sanjuro or Hidden Fortress, to be instantly hooked on B/W Kurosawa's own action brand of Samurai Crack.

By that point, you can see the difference on how 70's-80's color Kurosawa was darker and more pessimistically anti-war, eg. "Ran".
(Kagemusha's plot involves a lowly royal decoy forced to play the general in a decisive battle, but if you know any of Kurosawa's style by this point, you know it ultimately won't turn out to be a Japanese remake of "Dave". )

[plattopus]

Originally Posted by EricJ

it ultimately won't turn out to be a Japanese remake of "Dave". )

Damn.

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by SlickDamian

I am thinking about blind buying Kagemusha. Can anyone give me some feedack on the film/disc? Anything to compare it to, or the style? I have never seen a Kurosawa film before (I know....).

It is a great film, but as others have said, probably not the best one to start with. It has a very measured pacing, and for me seems much more methodical (and in some ways, this makes it harder to get into) than the other films people have mentioned. Don't get me wrong though, it is a great film and very much worth watching.

[BohemianGraham]

I'm watching Howard's End right now, first Blu-Ray on my new stand (although I need my father and brother to come to actually mount the TV on it, using it as a console's quite the improvement from my old one), and it's a really lovely picture. I was concerned at first with the beginning being so grainy, like I had bad TV reception, but that quickly went away. It's still a lovely transfer, and I'm enjoying the film so far.

I still have my fingers crossed that the B&N sale will be on when my parents are down on their trip to New England. Mom's going to B&N anyways, so the sale at that time would be perfect.

[Alex DeLarge]

For Kurosawa, I would recommend skipping his samurai films (to begin) and go for THE BAD SLEEP WELL or his penultimate HIGH AND LOW. If you absolutley want a samurai period piece then I'd say YOJIMBO. His most human/humane films are IKIRU and RED BEARD but you should slowly work towards those films, study his style and form, and then you will have the tools to decipher the subtext. If you enjoy Shakespeare then RAN, THRONE OF BLOOD and KAGEMUSHA are open to you immediately. Kurosawa can be frustrating if you can't read his cinematic language, but if you're like me you keep trying!

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Alex DeLarge

For Kurosawa, I would recommend skipping his samurai films (to begin) and go for THE BAD SLEEP WELL or his penultimate HIGH AND LOW. If you absolutley want a samurai period piece then I'd say YOJIMBO.

I'll still stand by my own experience, as I suspect I'm not alone:
Seven Samurai is three-hours+ long...But just as you're starting to wonder whether you've watched a half-hour of it and should probably take a break, you look at the time and discover you've already watched an hour and a half, and you still can't let the plot go just yet.
It's that good.

(Yojimbo is good for the badass-factor of realizing Clint's "Fistful" copied the basic lines of dialogue--
But if Yojimbo put the hero in an entire town of sleazebags, Sanjuro lets Mifune's Samurai With No Name mix with a few "good" characters, and gives him more of a humorous blend to show his mix of grungy personality with wily warrior. And yes, it's hard not to think of John Belushi.)

[keldons]

The acting in Kurosawa's earlier films (particularly by Mifune) annoys the hell out of me. There is just too much overacting. Its the least annoying in Seven Samurai. But then again, its an annoyance that pops up in a lot of Japanese films from that era, so I guess I can't place too much blame on one person.

[Alex DeLarge]

I just watched BLOW OUT tonight so I'll post my essay tomorrow. The transfer looked very nice projected on a large screen and the sound, which is very important to the story, was distinct and clear. That's as far as I go reviewing superficial qualities, now I need to dissect the body. Now that my wife's asleep, I'm about to wander back to the Korova and watch PALE FLOWER.