The Criterion Collection

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

need some help ! i wanna use the buy 3 pay 2 sale from B&N. it looks like i would have to make 2 orders to use it properly for 6 movies.

help me pick 3 releases please....i want "important" movies.

Cohen Media:
La Beauté du Diable

Kino:
Nostalghia

Criterion:
La Notte
Autumn Sonata (this is a must have, i want to own all bergman criterion)

Repulison


i liked solarias and ivans childhood, so i should probably get nostalghia (and the sacrifice) at some point.

but im not sure if the Kino release is good enough to give up a "criterion slot" in my order. and what about La Beauté du Diable
ive never heard of this one before but it does look interessting

should i just go with criterion releases here? (i know its kinda strange to ask that here)

Personally, I'd go with:
Nostalghia
La Notte
Autumn Sonata

[Casey]

ive been offered a trade, but unsure what movie to pick.

based on my current criterion collection (see sig) which of the following do you think i'd like?

A Hollis Frampton Odyssey
La Jetee/Sans Soeil
Metropolitan
Monsoon Wedding
Summer Hours

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Keep in mind that the titles they offer replacement plastic casestheir for are all 1-disc releases.

And all are the early blu releases. They haven't offered any replacement cases since they ditched their original digipack design (which I think they discontinued since they did not protect the inner contents from dust).

[colinrgeorge]

Originally Posted by Casey

ive been offered a trade, but unsure what movie to pick.

based on my current criterion collection (see sig) which of the following do you think i'd like?

A Hollis Frampton Odyssey
La Jetee/Sans Soeil
Metropolitan
Monsoon Wedding
Summer Hours

I think you'd get a kick out of La Jetee/Sans Soleil based on Brazil and Solaris. I haven't seen Monsoon Wedding, but Metropolitan and Summer Hours are pretty much straightforward dramas.

[jw007]

Only 5 more days until the 15th for new Criterion announcements for April!

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by Casey

ive been offered a trade, but unsure what movie to pick.

based on my current criterion collection (see sig) which of the following do you think i'd like?

A Hollis Frampton Odyssey
La Jetee/Sans Soeil
Metropolitan
Monsoon Wedding
Summer Hours

La Jetee for sure. I own all 5 and have watched all but Frampton.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Casey

ive been offered a trade, but unsure what movie to pick.

based on my current criterion collection (see sig) which of the following do you think i'd like?

A Hollis Frampton Odyssey
La Jetee/Sans Soeil
Metropolitan
Monsoon Wedding
Summer Hours

I'm inclined to suggest either [i]La Jetée / Sans Soleil]/i] or A Hollis Frampton Odyssey. My personal preference would be for the former.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

My library balances that out by denying a renewal if anyone has a request on the item.

the one I use does that, too, but because I am a Chicago resident borrowing from one of our suburban libraries, I am limited to 2 items and I cannot put a hold on anything.

I just came back from over there... I have never seen Playtime and wanted to grab that. Their web site says that they have a copy available. Somebody might have stole it from the shelf being that I couldn't find it. I got Vivre Sa Vie and Almodovar's The Skin I Live In instead. I have to catch up on my Almodovar. I'm a few films behind.

[Casey]

Originally Posted by colinrgeorge

I think you'd get a kick out of La Jetee/Sans Soleil based on Brazil and Solaris. I haven't seen Monsoon Wedding, but Metropolitan and Summer Hours are pretty much straightforward dramas.

Ok, thanks. yea I like weirder stuff than regular dramas usually. frampton might be too weird though

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Which film in the Martin Scorsese World Cinema Project box is a must see? Usually all of the brand new releases at my library are picked over and I usually can't get a hold of a film until it has been out for several months. These, however, don't seem to be getting the patrons of my library too excited.

I'm thinking Housemaid. Should I grab this one if I can?

It's nice, though, because everything from City Lights/Frances Ha (was that 2 months ago?) onward is available at the library in blu.

Dry Summer should be your top pick. Then Trances. But all of the films are very unique.

Pro-B

[The Great Owl]

For all of you Robocop fans here in the Criterion thread...

Best Buy is selling the brand new 4K remaster of Robocop for only $7.99. I've had the Criterion DVD for ages, but thankfully held off on buying the initial Blu-ray edition, so I picked this new restoration up on the way home. I doubt that Criterion will be upgrading this one anytime soon, so this is a good buy.
I normally have to be in a specific mood to revisit this movie, but I got to thinking about it again after watching Nancy Allen in Blow Out and watching Ronny Cox in Deliverance not long ago. It's a great movie for a laugh, and I love it when the prototype robot shots the guy at the meeting.

Incidentally, I also picked up the original 1962 version of Cape Fear, which is also in sale at Best Buy for $7.99. If you liked Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter, then you'll have a lot of fun with this one. During my college days in the early 1990s, I was raving to a friend about how much I had enjoyed Martin Scorsese's remake of this film, and this friend let me borrow the original. I was surprised to find that I liked it a hundred times better than the Scorsese version.

[Ctzalman]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

For all of you Robocop fans here in the Criterion thread...

Best Buy is selling the brand new 4K remaster of Robocop for only $7.99. I've had the Criterion DVD for ages, but thankfully held off on buying the initial Blu-ray edition, so I picked this new restoration up on the way home. I doubt that Criterion will be upgrading this one anytime soon, so this is a good buy.
I normally have to be in a specific mood to revisit this movie, but I got to thinking about it again after watching Nancy Allen in Blow Out and watching Ronny Cox in Deliverance not long ago. It's a great movie for a laugh, and I love it when the prototype robot shots the guy at the meeting.

Incidentally, I also picked up the original 1962 version of Cape Fear, which is also in sale at Best Buy for $7.99. If you liked Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter, then you'll have a lot of fun with this one. During my college days in the early 1990s, I was raving to a friend about how much I had enjoyed Martin Scorsese's remake of this film, and this friend let me borrow the original. I was surprised to find that I liked it a hundred times better than the Scorsese version.

robocop is already out? bestbuy.com shows it as a pre-order and amazon shows a release date of 1/21. i've had my eye on this as well, i love the film.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Ctzalman

robocop is already out? bestbuy.com shows it as a pre-order and amazon shows a release date of 1/21. i've had my eye on this as well, i love the film.

The websites show pre-orders, but the copies are available right now at Best Buy. I was tipped off by this forum about the $7.99 sale.

I'm about to chill back to this movie in a few minutes. I just finished watching Body Heat, and I've decided that it's one of my favorite neo noirs. The John Barry music is out of this world.

[brandon_260]

I'm finally sitting down with Rashomon tonight. I'm even more excited for it after watching La commare secca and being infatuated with the structure of that film. I think this will kick me off on slowly working through the Sight & Sound 250 again. I've got 14 unwatched titles from the list on my shelf and another 6 on hand from my library and other resources. I've was already at 101 before taking a good look at the list which I am pretty well using as motivation for titles I've long had an interest in but have never gotten around to.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

I'm finally sitting down with Rashomon tonight. I'm even more excited for it after watching La commare secca and being infatuated with the structure of that film. I think this will kick me off on slowly working through the Sight & Sound 250 again. I've got 14 unwatched titles from the list on my shelf and another 6 on hand from my library and other resources. I've was already at 101 before taking a good look at the list which I am pretty well using as motivation for titles I've long had an interest in but have never gotten around to.

I bought Rashomon at the tail end of this past 50% sale at Barnes & Noble. Of the six titles that I purchased that day, four of of them were included on the Sight & Sound top 50 (Late Spring, Rashomon, In the Mood for Love, The Complete Jean Vigo Collection [L'Atalante]).

I do not take a lot of stock in lists most of the time, but the Sight & Sound top 50 intrigued me, and I've had a ball checking out previously unfamiliar films from that list in recent months (Tokyo Story, Sunrise, Taxi Driver, Journey to Italy, Some Like It Hot, City Lights), and revisiting some well-loved films from the list (Vertigo, Citizen Kane, Psycho, Metropolis, Singin' in the Rain, The Godfather, The Godfather II, The Rules of the Game, etc.).

Back to Rashomon, I've seen the initial Criterion DVD release several times now, but I am looking forward to sitting down to this restored edition on Blu-ray so that I can spot the improvements in picture quality.

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I bought Rashomon at the tail end of this past 50% sale at Barnes & Noble. Of the six titles that I purchased that day, four of of them were included on the Sight & Sound top 50 (Late Spring, Rashomon, In the Mood for Love, The Complete Jean Vigo Collection [L'Atalante]).

I do not take a lot of stock in lists most of the time, but the Sight & Sound top 50 intrigued me, and I've had a ball checking out previously unfamiliar films from that list in recent months (Tokyo Story, Sunrise, Taxi Driver, Journey to Italy, Some Like It Hot, City Lights), and revisiting some well-loved films from the list (Vertigo, Citizen Kane, Psycho, Metropolis, Singin' in the Rain, The Godfather, The Godfather II, The Rules of the Game, etc.).

Back to Rashomon, I've seen the initial Criterion DVD release several times now, but I am looking forward to sitting down to this restored edition on Blu-ray so that I can spot the improvements in picture quality.

I don't put too much stock in lists either, as much as I love to make them. Typically I will use them as a way to discover new films, such as if a certain publication's end of the year list matched mine but they've also included a title or two that are complete mysteries to me. I originally started with just the Sight & Sound 50, but I honestly find some of the better films to fall outside the top. I do like that there is a good amount of recent films included as well, but some are farfetched. Are we really already to the point where Von Trier's Melancholia or WALL-E are some of the best films ever made?

Anyway, Rashomon was good, better than Seven Samurai, but I'm still not fully sold on Kurosawa. I'm sure reading that for some will be as frustrating as when I see people who aren't enamored with Godard's works. In the grand scheme of Japanese cinema, Kurosawa just doesn't interest me and tackle themes I'm invested in in the same way Ozu or Imamura do.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

Anyway, Rashomon was good, better than Seven Samurai, but I'm still not fully sold on Kurosawa. I'm sure reading that for some will be as frustrating as when I see people who aren't enamored with Godard's works. In the grand scheme of Japanese cinema, Kurosawa just doesn't interest me and tackle themes I'm invested in in the same way Ozu or Imamura do.

Ozu and Kurosawa are very different directors. Ozu is much more Japanese than AK. Kurosawa is heavily influenced by the West (esp John Ford). Even when AK depicts Japanese culture it's often the portrayal of the exception to the rule such as Mifune's masterless samurai. Both are amazing at what they did - it's just difficult to compare them because of their styles.

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Ozu and Kurosawa are very different directors. Ozu is much more Japanese than AK. Kurosawa is heavily influenced by the West (esp John Ford). Even when AK depicts Japanese culture it's often the portrayal of the exception to the rule such as Mifune's masterless samurai. Both are amazing at what they did - it's just difficult to compare them because of their styles.

I put Rashomon in with the same camp as Hidden Fortress. A solid movie but not one that I'll watch very often. I have Seven Samurai and the Yojimbo/Sanjuro set in the stack that I need to watch, I'm hoping they'll end up getting more repeat viewings. (Especially Yojimbo, I'm a huge fan of the plot and loved every 'remake' I've ever seen).

[Joe Dalek]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

Anyway, Rashomon was good, better than Seven Samurai, but I'm still not fully sold on Kurosawa. I'm sure reading that for some will be as frustrating as when I see people who aren't enamored with Godard's works. In the grand scheme of Japanese cinema, Kurosawa just doesn't interest me and tackle themes I'm invested in in the same way Ozu or Imamura do.

Watch Drunken Angel, The Bad Sleep Well, Ikiru, High & Low...

[fahrenheit290]

I actually just watched Rashomon for the first time two nights ago. As someone new to Kurosawa's oeuvre (as well as Japanese cinema), I was very impressed by the film's structure (the unmatched and innovative POV/perspective devices), and found the overall work surprisingly emotional. Going in, I didn't realize how overt the conversations would be among the characters retelling the stories, questioning the human soul, its capacity for good and evil. If we're discussing the Japanese-ness of Kurosawa's filmmaking, I would definitely point to those scenes. Maybe the sentimentality, or straight-forwardness there is very different from Ozu's style? More telling you and explaining to an audience than showing you, not sure. What most stands out to me was the camerawork and the acting. There were some glorious shots...I loved the bandit waking up and seeing the samurai's wife go by him on the horse, the beautiful photography of the Rashomon gate, the intercuts of the sunlight through the forest. I had read that some people thought Mifune was too ridiculous in the role, but I really had no problems with his style of acting--and loved the performance of Machiko Kyo as the wife, who showed great range, and the small part of the possessed medium, a striking sequence in the film.