The Criterion Collection

[Scottie]

The 4K restoration of L'Avventura is really something else.

[thismightbezach]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I always liked Robert Montgomery* and thought a few of his pictures would be good candidates for the Collection:

Night Must Fall
They Were Expendable (a Ford film that Montgomery directed some sequences in)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan

Most of his films were MGM so I don't guess it'll happen but who knows?

*if for no other reason, he gave us Elizabeth.

Alexander Hall, the director of Here Comes Mr. Jordan has a phantom page, so that title is pretty much a guarantee. Criterion also released it on Laserdisc.

[The Great Owl]

I'm glad to see more film noir coming down the pipes from Criterion. Ride the Pink Horse sounds intriguing.

I made my final sale trip to Barnes & Noble today and bought L'Avventura. Having this movie on Blu-ray will be the best thing since sliced bread, and I'm glad to have finally upgraded my old DVD of this film. It's a great addition to my Monica Vitti Blu-ray collection. I did not buy any other Criterion titles in the store, but I did buy the 2-CD edition of Depeche Mode's Live in Berlin (It sounds amazing, and it brings back a lot of memories from the Atlanta show last year.).

For my last Barnes & Noble sale purchase, I just ordered the Nikkatsu Noir Eclipse DVD set online from Barnes & Noble, since my local store had no copies. I'd like to think that I'm safe from having to upgrade any of these to Blu-ray any time soon, but I could always be wrong.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by jmclick

Isn't Das Boot a fantastic film? I never saw the original, but finally picked up the director's cut last spring and watched it for the first time. Jurgen Prochnow was amazing ... well, actually the entire cast was brilliant. I enjoyed it so much that I bought a copy for my younger brother who also loved it.

Oh that is just quite good you introduced this film to your younger brother.

I wish there were more modern action/suspense/war thrillers in the Criterion collection, especially in the submarine sub-genre (no pun intended). I can think of many awesome submarine war films other than Das Boot, such as The Hunt for Red October, Crimson Tide, K-19 The Widowmaker, U-571 and The Enemy Below.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jw007

Oh that is just quite good you introduced this film to your younger brother.

I wish there were more modern action/suspense/war thrillers in the Criterion collection, especially in the submarine sub-genre (no pun intended). I can think of many awesome submarine war films other than Das Boot, such as The Hunt for Red October, Crimson Tide, K-19 The Widowmaker, U-571 and The Enemy Below.

I used to own the Director's Cut of Das Boot on VHS back in the late 1990s. It's a harrowing film in so many ways.

For some reason, though, I never got around to upgrading it to DVD or Blu-ray. I watched my VHS set multiple times, but just never felt the urge to watch it after I sold off or gave away my VHS tapes years ago.

The urge to revisit Das Boot will probably hit me like a brick one of these days, and I'll be abruptly compelled to buy the Blu-ray at the drop of a hat. I will not force that urge, though. I'll just wait until it hits me out of the clear blue.

[Scottie]

A quick flip-through of the book by Criterion themselves.

http://vimeo.com/112856830

[Edward J Grug III]

ooo! My Barnes and Noble order has made it all the way to Australia already!

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by oildude

If you can actually doze off to World on a Wire after 15 minutes, you just need to go to bed and watch it later. No sense dismissing a film when you are too tired to give it your attention and then asking if anyone else is not a fan. Not really a fair assessment. Give it another chance. The film is awesome, one of the highlights of the Criterion Collection. It was so strikingly original when it appeared in 1973 that it has since inspired many knock offs and homages, including The Matrix. It is a long movie, originally a TV mini-series, that takes its time to wrap the viewer in its seductive grip. It is a Fassbinder masterpiece, in my opinion. As shadedpain4 points out, its Blu-ray announcement was received with universal acclaim, a film newly restored and unseen by many in years. If you watch it through and still don't like it, well, I guess it isn't for you.

Incidentally, the novel that it's based on, Simulacron-3 by Daniel Galouye, is the first use of the concept of virtual reality in SF. I'm not sure that it's quite fair to say that other uses on the idea in film are "knock offs and homages". On the other hand, the film The Thirteenth Floor is a remake, as it is an adaptation of the same novel.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jw007

Not Criterion-related but last night I watched the 207 minute director's cut of Das Boot.

Now you need to hunt down the DVD of the 5-hour TV mini-series version.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jw007

I wish there were more modern action/suspense/war thrillers in the Criterion collection, especially in the submarine sub-genre (no pun intended). I can think of many awesome submarine war films other than Das Boot, such as The Hunt for Red October, Crimson Tide, K-19 The Widowmaker, U-571 and The Enemy Below.

Kino Lorber Studio Classics has released a Blu-ray of Run Silent, Run Deep. Many think it's the best sub-warfare film ever made. It is better than every other one I've seen, except maybe Das Boot. I should carve out some time to watch them back to back.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by iScottie

The 4K restoration of L'Avventura is really something else.

Awesome. I'm going to watch L'Avventura in a few days.

I would watch it tomorrow night, but tradition dictates that I revisit Planes, Trains and Automobiles on the eve of Thanksgiving each year.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Now you need to hunt down the DVD of the 5-hour TV mini-series version.

There's a German blu-ray release of the TV version that's English friendly.

[movieben1138]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Awesome. I'm going to watch L'Avventura in a few days.

I would watch it tomorrow night, but tradition dictates that I revisit Planes, Trains and Automobiles on the eve of Thanksgiving each year.

That's my annual Thanksgiving tradition, too.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I used to own the Director's Cut of Das Boot on VHS back in the late 1990s. It's a harrowing film in so many ways.

For some reason, though, I never got around to upgrading it to DVD or Blu-ray. I watched my VHS set multiple times, but just never felt the urge to watch it after I sold off or gave away my VHS tapes years ago.

The urge to revisit Das Boot will probably hit me like a brick one of these days, and I'll be abruptly compelled to buy the Blu-ray at the drop of a hat. I will not force that urge, though. I'll just wait until it hits me out of the clear blue.

Well, just so you know, I had my sealed blu-ray of Das Boot sitting on my shelf for almost 2 years until I finally caved in and watched it a few nights ago. It's tough to find the right night and mindset to watch this intense film! I gotta say, it was pretty cool seeing it again after many years of neglect. Not sure how often I'll watch this one though...maybe I'll revisit it again in 3 or 4 years.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by movieben1138

That's my annual Thanksgiving tradition, too.

That's a great one but for me, and in honor of the Criterion Thread, hands down I watch The Ice Storm the night of Thanksgiving! It's an annual tradition! In the words of Christina Ricci's character from the film: "Dear Lord, thank you for this Thanksgiving holiday. And for all the material possessions we have and enjoy. And for letting us white people kill all the Indians and steal their tribal lands. And stuff ourselves like pigs, even though children in Asia are being napalmed." Bit of black comedy for ya'll.

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by iScottie

The 4K restoration of L'Avventura is really something else.

I take it L'Avventura is worth checking out? I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan, so (unfortunately) my first encounter with Antonioni was through his film 'Zabriskie Point' (very dull), and I've been kind of leery of watching his movies ever since lol

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

I take it L'Avventura is worth checking out? I'm a huge Pink Floyd fan, so (unfortunately) my first encounter with Antonioni was through his film 'Zabriskie Point' (very dull), and I've been kind of leery of watching his movies ever since lol

As a big Antonioni fan, I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that I've never seen Zabriskie Point, even if it is considered a fairly weak entry in his filmography.

But yes, see L'Avventura. My copy arrived today, and I watched it. It's a beautiful restoration, and it's not as if the DVD was horrid or anything. But wow, the BD is just so beautiful.

The film itself can be divisive, certainly. As is clear from the debacle of the Cannes premiere, people can come into it with very different expectations. But the films from the early 60s are my favorites, and what was new and alienating 50-some years ago is often just taken for granted as part of the structure of film now.

I'm taking a short break, then I'm going to finish off Antonioni's "Trilogy of Alienation" with L'Eclisse and La Notte tonight/this morning. I think that's probably the best way to view the films, but obviously not everyone is up for that as it amounts to about six-and-a-half hours of somewhat different cinema.

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

As a big Antonioni fan, I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that I've never seen Zabriskie Point, even if it is considered a fairly weak entry in his filmography.

But yes, see L'Avventura. My copy arrived today, and I watched it. It's a beautiful restoration, and it's not as if the DVD was horrid or anything. But wow, the BD is just so beautiful.

The film itself can be divisive, certainly. As is clear from the debacle of the Cannes premiere, people can come into it with very different expectations. But the films from the early 60s are my favorites, and what was new and alienating 50-some years ago is often just taken for granted as part of the structure of film now.

I'm taking a short break, then I'm going to finish off Antonioni's "Trilogy of Alienation" with L'Eclisse and La Notte tonight/this morning. I think that's probably the best way to view the films, but obviously not everyone is up for that as it amounts to about six-and-a-half hours of somewhat different cinema.

Thanks for the info, Aaron. I'm always looking for eccentric cinema! I know my local library has it, so I'll be checking it out in the next week or two.

By the way, you're really not missing much in 'Zabriskie Point', except for the novelty of hearing Pink Floyd try to write country-rock songs lol

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

Thanks for the info, Aaron. I'm always looking for eccentric cinema! I know my local library has it, so I'll be checking it out in the next week or two.

By the way, you're really not missing much in 'Zabriskie Point', except for the novelty of hearing Pink Floyd try to write country-rock songs lol

Big Floyd fan here, too.

What Antonioni was working on in the early 60s was people not understanding each other, people saying horrible things to each other, people who were just gorgeous (Monica Vitti, e.g.) playing a role that was very complicated.

[dressedtokill]

Originally Posted by aes3728

Gotta be Ride the Pink Horse

More noir is always nice, but I remember not liking this one too much. I might give it a second chance.