The Criterion Collection

[Tin Drum]

I love all of Anderson's films (some more than others though). They are highly rewatchable and just have that spirit that I love in film.

01. Rushmore
02. The Life Aquatic
03. Moonrise Kingdom
04. The Royal Tenenbaums
05. Fantastic Mr. Fox
06. The Darjeeling Limited
07. Bottle Rocket

[joie]

Originally Posted by Clare2904

And thanks to all who have replied to my post about review sites. I have a few to go at but I will always trust my guts instincts too. Everyone knows what they like and more importantly, what they don't. All help is welcome when I'm spending my money

One interesting thing about Rotten Tomatoes' ratings is that there are three ratings: 1) The freshness, as a percentage; 2) The average of the critics, on a scale of 10; 3) The average of the audience, on a scale of 5. If you multiply the audience average by 2, then the critics and audience rating is on the same scale. For example, 'Repo Man' has a critics rating of 8 and an audience rating of 6.8 (3.4 * 2), so the critics think it's a better movie than the audience.

It's noteworthy, however, that 43 critic ratings were averaged to get the 8.0. There is also a 'Top Critics' rating and only 5 critics were considered 'Top Critics.' All of the 'Top Critics' rated 'Repo Man' "fresh." Through the 'Top Critics' link, you get to a page with their names and a brief summary and links to their full reviews.

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by Hintermann

Frankenheimer films take a bit of getting used to and his 'Paranoia Trilogy' of The Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days In May and Seconds need more viewer seasoning than most. I love all three and Seconds is probably the best of the lot (no, not because of the 'grape orgy').

If you're implying that people with better tastes would have liked it, I really resent that comment. If you mean the movies need a little something extra, I agree.

[Clare2904]

Originally Posted by joie

One interesting thing about Rotten Tomatoes' ratings is that there are three ratings: 1) The freshness, as a percentage; 2) The average of the critics, on a scale of 10; 3) The average of the audience, on a scale of 5. If you multiply the audience average by 2, then the critics and audience rating is on the same scale. For example, 'Repo Man' has a critics rating of 8 and an audience rating of 6.8 (3.4 * 2), so the critics think it's a better movie than the audience.

It's noteworthy, however, that 43 critic ratings were averaged to get the 8.0. There is also a 'Top Critics' rating and only 5 critics were considered 'Top Critics.' All of the 'Top Critics' rated 'Repo Man' "fresh." Through the 'Top Critics' link, you get to a page with their names and a brief summary and links to their full reviews.

Thanks for that, when I take a look I'll keep it in mind.

I hope that after 2 years of watching films from all over the world and on a regular basis (2-3 a week) I have gained some idea of what I like / dislike. Reading the posts above reminds me that I don't like Anderson

[The Great Owl]

Since the Criterion B1G1 sale goes on until December 16, I just reserved these four titles at the store down the street so that I can pick them on up on payday in a couple of days.

Rashomon
High and Low
Late Spring
The Complete Jean Vigo

Nobody ever talks about the Jean Vigo films in this forum, but I've always wanted to see L'Atalante.
I enjoyed Ozu's Tokyo Story so much that I decided to make Late Spring a priority.
I've already seen the two Akira Kurosawa films several times over by way of my old Criterion DVDs, so it was a long time coming for me to upgrade them.

These four should hit me for $76 after the sale and the membership discount, so it'll be a good haul.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by smoss469

I did a quick count, I've acquired about 50 CC releases this year. There were only 2-3 tops that I'd consider getting rid of, in fact only 1 for sure. I'd say their ratio of bombs to "the bomb" (If I can get by using that dated reference) is pretty damn nice!

So before this year, I also only had a few Criterion edition discs, Chasing Amy and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, as well. Because, or rather with the help, of everyone here, I'm up to 47 releases now, and buying 2 more today at the BN sale... Investigation of a Citizen and either Nashville, Pale Flower, or The Royal Tenenbaums.

Here's my current list.

http://www.criterion.com/my_criterio...?sort_by=spine

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Clare2904

Maybe my question should be who do you use, not which site.

These days, the ones I'd pay the most attention to are Kenneth Turan (Los Angeles Times) and Peter Travers (The Rolling Stone). And even them I don't always agree with. Your mileage may vary.

The advantage I find with RT is that the "Tomatometer Reading" is basically an average of what a couple of hundred (more or less) reviewers think. So you're not necessarily getting swayed by one "side" or the other. If a couple of hundred reviewers think that a given movie is only worth 20-something out of 100, chances are it really is a stinker. If a couple of hundred reviewers think that a given movie is worth 90-something out of 100, chances are it really is worth seeing. The crap-shoot is when the Tomatometer Reading is in the 40-60 range.

Ultimately, though, from 30 or so years of home video purchasing (from Betamax to Laserdisc to DVD to Blu-ray), I have a pretty good handle on what I'm going to like, and what I'm not going to like. Among my Blu-rays, a fair number of the more recent films have been blind buys, and only two or three were ones I ended up not liking.

Criterion has a great record on that score. Back in the laserdisc days, I came to realize that pretty much all of the Criterion titles that I'd seen were terrific films, and I decided to pick up titles I wasn't familiar with simply because they were released by Criterion. LDs, DVDs, and BDs combined, I probably have somewhere on the order of 500 different releases, and there aren't many that that I can honestly say I didn't like.

Another valuable source for me is, believe it or not, Netflix. When you watch a given film on Netflix, you have the option of rating it (one to five stars: 5 = "I loved it", 4 = "I really liked it", 3 = "I liked it", 2 = "I didn't like it", 1 = "I hated it"). Based on what ratings you give to the films you've watched, they come up with guesstimations of what rating you're likely to give movies that you haven't seen.

While they aren't 100% accurate, they are frighteningly close. When they aren't accurate, it's just a matter of degree: they might think I'll rate something "4", and after watching, I only give it a "3". Or vice versa. I can't think of a single title that they thought I'd like or really like that I ended up not liking. Nor can I think of a title that they thought I wouldn't like that I did, but then, I tend not to bother with films that they think I won't like.

I still use my own judgment and interest in deciding whether to watch something on Netflix or not, but if a film is of at least some interest to me based on say, subject matter, and they think I'll like it, I'll add it to my queue, because chances are really good that I will like it. I've seen a lot of good movies that way that I probably wouldn't have otherwise seen.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

Here's my current list.

http://www.criterion.com/my_criterio...?sort_by=spine

Nice!

That reminded me that it's been a while since the Owl updated the purchases on the Criterion site.

Here's my Criterion Collection (DVDs and Blu-rays alike).

[lordmorpheus72]

On a somewhat Criterion related note, I was watching Joss Whedon's Much Ado about Nothing and Jay Hunter, the Director of Photography, mentioned he tried to capture the style of Godard and Truffaut. I really enjoyed the movie, big Whedon and Shakespeare fan anyway, but I really loved the way the movie looked and felt. I know it has to do a lot with Joss' directing and the DoP, but everyone has their own influences.

I've got Breathless and The 400 Blows and want to pick up Jules and Jim, but am curious for other suggestions of films by either to check out. So thanks to anyone for any suggestions!

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Nice!

That reminded me that it's been a while since the Owl updated the purchases on the Criterion site.

Here's my Criterion Collection (DVDs and Blu-rays alike).

Thanks, nice list yourself. I just updated my list this morning. Thought I had more.... sure looks like it on my shelf.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Ultimately, though, from 30 or so years of home video purchasing (from Betamax to Laserdisc to DVD to Blu-ray), I have a pretty good handle on what I'm going to like, and what I'm not going to like. Among my Blu-rays, a fair number of the more recent films have been blind buys, and only two or three were ones I ended up not liking.

Same here, except that I've been purchasing movies for just over 20 years now, starting with VHS tapes back in the early 1990s.

I'm quite attuned to my cinematic tastes at this point, so I have a good idea of which films would make good blind buys and which films I should avoid.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

I've got Breathless and The 400 Blows and want to pick up Jules and Jim, but am curious for other suggestions of films by either to check out. So thanks to anyone for any suggestions!

On the Godard front, I recommend Vivre Sa Vie, Band of Outsiders, and Pierrot Le Fou (if you can find it for a decent price). The later Godard films are pretty divisive, but these, along with Breathless, are all golden.

I have not upgraded any Truffaut films to Blu-ray yet, but I did own The 400 Blows and Jules and Jim on DVD.
As much as I'd like to upgrade The 400 Blows, I've been holding out so far for an upgrade of the entire Antoine Doinel box set or for an easily-available plastic case of The 400 Blows. Whichever comes first, I guess.

Given my preoccupation with noir-edged films, I'd love for Shoot the Piano Player to be upgraded to Blu-ray.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

I also enjoy all of Wes Anderson's films so it doesn't matter too much what the order is. In saying that, the first few I like almost equally. Also, I cant really do a definitive ranking of Anderson's work because repeat viewings change how I feel about some of them.

1. Rushmore
-Undoubtedly his best film and I've recognised that since I saw it. My appreciation for it has only grown after repeat viewings.

2. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
-Obviously not his best, but this is my favourite of his films. Funny, creative and utterly bizarre. It's just so fun. Used to like it least and it's now basically top dog.

3. Fantastic Mr. Fox
-Cussin' great film. Scenes where the foxes behaviour abruptly changes from civilised and human-like to flat out savage fox is hilarious.

4. Moonrise Kingdom
-Loved it from a technical stand-point in cinemas but didn't think it was good. I've seen people praise the lead child actors and IMO they're horrible. Overall this film is pretty damn powerful and I love it overall but the kids acting still bothers me a bit.

5. Bottle Rocket
-Innocent, dumb ambitious boys will be innocent, dumb ambitious boys. My introduction to Wes and I still love it but the slightly amateur nature of it has kept me from as many repeat viewings as his other films. My "gripe" with this isn't nearly as bothersome as my issue with Moonrise Kingdom though.

6. The Darjeeling Limited
-Though pretty low down on my list, I've actually returned to this more times than some I've ranked higher. Purely for superficial reasons though. The Darjeeling Limited is a stunning looking film and the soundtrack is generally great. I find myself unable to connect with the lead characters at all due to their bitterness and hatred for each other. I also don't really care much about their personal relationships with one another. I found myself moved by their interactions with others though. I'm not sure if any of that was intentional though. Is it a failed study of sibling relationships? Or is it more complex than we initially give it credit for? More likely the former. In all honesty, I love Hotel Chevalier, the 13 minute short film that you can play before TDL. It's one of my favourite of Wes Anderson's works however I consider it part of TDL and as such is ranked along side it down here.

7. The Royal Tenenbaums
-I loved it the first time I watched it and like many others, considered it arguably his best work but the more I watch it, the less I enjoy it. I still appreciate the excellent writing and generally terrific execution but something about it bothers me. Kind of unfair to rank something last for a reason I can't even provide but out of all his films, this is the one I enjoy the least, despite how good it is.

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

On a somewhat Criterion related note, I was watching Joss Whedon's Much Ado about Nothing and Jay Hunter, the Director of Photography, mentioned he tried to capture the style of Godard and Truffaut. I really enjoyed the movie, big Whedon and Shakespeare fan anyway, but I really loved the way the movie looked and felt. I know it has to do a lot with Joss' directing and the DoP, but everyone has their own influences.

I've got Breathless and The 400 Blows and want to pick up Jules and Jim, but am curious for other suggestions of films by either to check out. So thanks to anyone for any suggestions!

Vivre sa vie is tied with Breathless as my favorite Godard. Band of Outsiders is another great, early Godard. You may also be interested in other New Wave films like Cleo from 5 to 7 and Les cousins. For stuff a little more out there, Resnais' Hiroshima, mon amour (my favorite film from the 50s) and Last Year at Marienbad are exquisite choices.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

On the Godard front, I recommend Vivre Sa Vie, Band of Outsiders, and Pierrot Le Fou (if you can find it for a decent price). The later Godard films are pretty divisive, but these, along with Breathless, are all golden.

I have not upgraded any Truffaut films to Blu-ray yet, but I did own The 400 Blows and Jules and Jim on DVD.
As much as I'd like to upgrade The 400 Blows, I've been holding out so far for an upgrade of the entire Antoine Doinel box set or for an easily-available plastic case of The 400 Blows. Whichever comes first, I guess.

Given my preoccupation with noir-edged films, I'd love for Shoot the Piano Player to be upgraded to Blu-ray.

Thanks, I'll check out Shoot the Piano Player. Always get some good suggestions from you!

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

Vivre sa vie is tied with Breathless as my favorite Godard. Band of Outsiders is another great, early Godard. You may also be interested in other New Wave films like Cleo from 5 to 7 and Les cousins. For stuff a little more out there, Resnais' Hiroshima, mon amour (my favorite film from the 50s) and Last Year at Marienbad are exquisite choices.

The word around the campfire is that it's just a matter of time before Criterion upgrades Hiroshima Mon Amour. Such a wonderful film!

Last Year at Marienbad is one of my favs, although it's quite an insidiously complex film that I am still trying to get my mind around.

I even name-dropped Last Year at Marienbad in a hasty review that I wrote yesterday.

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Since the Criterion B1G1 sale goes on until December 16, I just reserved these four titles at the store down the street so that I can pick them on up on payday in a couple of days.

Rashomon
High and Low
Late Spring
The Complete Jean Vigo

Nobody ever talks about the Jean Vigo films in this forum, but I've always wanted to see L'Atalante.
I enjoyed Ozu's Tokyo Story so much that I decided to make Late Spring a priority.
I've already seen the two Akira Kurosawa films several times over by way of my old Criterion DVDs, so it was a long time coming for me to upgrade them.

These four should hit me for $76 after the sale and the membership discount, so it'll be a good haul.

There was a lot of talk about the Jean Vigo films a couple of years ago when they came out, but you are right that the discussion has sort of died down. I was actually thinking about revisiting L'Atalante this week, but decided to watch some of my new titles instead.

[Clare2904]

Originally Posted by jayembee

These days, the ones I'd pay the most attention to are Kenneth Turan (Los Angeles Times) and Peter Travers (The Rolling Stone). And even them I don't always agree with. Your mileage may vary.

The advantage I find with RT is that the "Tomatometer Reading" is basically an average of what a couple of hundred (more or less) reviewers think. So you're not necessarily getting swayed by one "side" or the other. If a couple of hundred reviewers think that a given movie is only worth 20-something out of 100, chances are it really is a stinker. If a couple of hundred reviewers think that a given movie is worth 90-something out of 100, chances are it really is worth seeing. The crap-shoot is when the Tomatometer Reading is in the 40-60 range.

Ultimately, though, from 30 or so years of home video purchasing (from Betamax to Laserdisc to DVD to Blu-ray), I have a pretty good handle on what I'm going to like, and what I'm not going to like. Among my Blu-rays, a fair number of the more recent films have been blind buys, and only two or three were ones I ended up not liking.

Criterion has a great record on that score. Back in the laserdisc days, I came to realize that pretty much all of the Criterion titles that I'd seen were terrific films, and I decided to pick up titles I wasn't familiar with simply because they were released by Criterion. LDs, DVDs, and BDs combined, I probably have somewhere on the order of 500 different releases, and there aren't many that that I can honestly say I didn't like.

Another valuable source for me is, believe it or not, Netflix. When you watch a given film on Netflix, you have the option of rating it (one to five stars: 5 = "I loved it", 4 = "I really liked it", 3 = "I liked it", 2 = "I didn't like it", 1 = "I hated it"). Based on what ratings you give to the films you've watched, they come up with guesstimations of what rating you're likely to give movies that you haven't seen.

While they aren't 100% accurate, they are frighteningly close. When they aren't accurate, it's just a matter of degree: they might think I'll rate something "4", and after watching, I only give it a "3". Or vice versa. I can't think of a single title that they thought I'd like or really like that I ended up not liking. Nor can I think of a title that they thought I wouldn't like that I did, but then, I tend not to bother with films that they think I won't like.

I still use my own judgment and interest in deciding whether to watch something on Netflix or not, but if a film is of at least some interest to me based on say, subject matter, and they think I'll like it, I'll add it to my queue, because chances are really good that I will like it. I've seen a lot of good movies that way that I probably wouldn't have otherwise seen.

Thanks

Does anyone use the Ebert site? If so, who do you read?

[Clare2904]

On a more Criterion topic, I think I will have to bypass the current B&N sale. It is tempting but my work contract ends next week and money isn't a luxury

I do have a giftcard from Amazon to spend though so no doubt it will be used on a Criterion

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

Vivre sa vie is tied with Breathless as my favorite Godard. Band of Outsiders is another great, early Godard. You may also be interested in other New Wave films like Cleo from 5 to 7 and Les cousins. For stuff a little more out there, Resnais' Hiroshima, mon amour (my favorite film from the 50s) and Last Year at Marienbad are exquisite choices.

Thanks for these suggestions. Have been interested in the New Wave but never really sure where to start....