The Criterion Collection

[bwdowiak]

I wonder if The Apu Trilogy might include the short film The Holy Man (66 min,) since we got The Coward on The Big City release. Maybe that is asking for too much. I'm going to wait for the announcement next week and if it doesn't happen (probably won't I'm guessing) then I'll import the UK release.

The Coward is a very good film. Don't sleep on that one. Best "supplement" on any CC disc I've come across. Watch that one if you own the disc and are short on time.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by jw007

Amazing, I just re-discovered New Order a week or two ago. I downloaded all their albums and love Power, Corruption and Lies. Amazing music. "Technique" is probably my all-time favorite though after having listened to it endlessly over the last 2 weeks (can't believe I'm nearly 37 years old - my birthday is in 5 days - and I never heard this entire album in whole).

I just spent $40 on a first edition (N. Mint) vinyl UK edition of New Order's first album, Movement. The record arrived in the mail yesterday.

I love Leave Me Alone and Your Silent Face. I didn't know about these either until recently when they played during a Pandora mix.

[willieconway]

Are the New Order fans here familiar with Electronic that also has Bernard Sumner as a member? Slightly more pop-ish, but if you like New Order I'm sure you'll like a song like Electronic's Tighten Up as well.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by willieconway

Are the New Order fans here familiar with Electronic that also has Bernard Sumner as a member? Slightly more pop-ish, but if you like New Order I'm sure you'll like a song like Electronic's Tighten Up as well.

Yes, I listened to Electronic like 15 years ago.

Have you also heard "The Other Two" and "Monaco" along with "Bad Lieutenant"? These are also offshoot side projects from members of New Order (from Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Gillian Gilbert).

[willieconway]

Originally Posted by jw007

Yes, I listened to Electronic like 15 years ago.

Have you also heard "The Other Two" and "Monaco" along with "Bad Lieutenant"? These are also offshoot side projects from members of New Order (from Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Gillian Gilbert).

Ha, The Other Two and Monaco are both blasts from the past. I'd completely forgotten about them. I'll definitely revisit at least Monaco.

Never heard of Bad Lieutenant before but a quick preview tells me I'll like them.

Thanks!

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by willieconway

Are the New Order fans here familiar with Electronic that also has Bernard Sumner as a member? Slightly more pop-ish, but if you like New Order I'm sure you'll like a song like Electronic's Tighten Up as well.

Yes. In fact, the debut CD from Electronic is my second favorite album of the 1990s, right behind Ride's Nowhere. Electronic is a fantastic album that just keeps getting better with each listen. I also enjoy the other two Electronic albums, but the debut is the best by a long mile.

Originally Posted by jw007

Have you also heard "The Other Two" and "Monaco" along with "Bad Lieutenant"? These are also offshoot side projects from members of New Order (from Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Gillian Gilbert).

I've got all of these New Order side project bands here at home. Monaco is my favorite of the ones that you've mentioned, but the first album from The Other Two is golden.


Steering this big ship back into Criterion waters... I really wish that Criterion would pick up 24 Hour Party People as a title. This movie, which tells the story of Tony Wilson, the founder of Factory Records (label of Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, etc.), is hilarious, brilliant, and touching all at the same time.

[willieconway]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Steering this big ship back into Criterion waters... I really wish that Criterion would pick up 24 Hour Party People as a title. This movie, which tells the story of Tony Wilson, the founder of Factory Records (label of Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, etc.), is hilarious, brilliant, and touching all at the same time.

Indeed! It's absolutely fantastic.

[jayembee]

In case anyone is interested, this afternoon I got email from ImportCDs announcing a Criterion Collection sale. Specific titles mentioned in the email are 35-38% off. I assume that the eight titles listed are just a sampling, and aren't the only ones available at that discount.

The email also mentions a Westerns Sale, a Kino Lorber Studio Classics Sale, and a Warner Archive Sale.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by jayembee

The Official Film Noir on Blu-ray Thread lists, under neo-noir, Fargo and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

I'd also say that Guy Ritchie's first two films -- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch are dementedly funny. They don't quite count as noir, but I think they tap their toes over the line. The same could be said of a couple of Tarantino's films.

just proves how meaningless the term is nowadays

[CriterionBlues]

As I get home from work and peruse my favorite thread, I find references to amazing French films, New Order, Ride's Nowhere, and 24 Hour Party People, which I absolutely agree would make an amazing Criterion.

Have really nothing to add, just that these last two pages are filled with some of my favorite things in life.

[ParaOK]

Originally Posted by jw007

Amazing, I just re-discovered New Order a week or two ago. I downloaded all their albums and love Power, Corruption and Lies. Amazing music. "Technique" is probably my all-time favorite though after having listened to it endlessly over the last 2 weeks (can't believe I'm nearly 37 years old - my birthday is in 5 days - and I never heard this entire album in whole).

I just spent $40 on a first edition (N. Mint) vinyl UK edition of New Order's first album, Movement. The record arrived in the mail yesterday.

If you are just getting into New Order make sure to check the films 24 Hour Party People and Control, if you haven't done so already . . .

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by ParaOK

If you are just getting into New Order make sure to check the films 24 Hour Party People and Control, if you haven't done so already . . .

I've got both of these movies on DVD at home. I have been thinking recently that both of them need a re-watch. I won't carry on so as to not provide fodder for further derailing this thread, but yeah... 24HPP... Happy Mondays... love it!

[silverlakephil]

Originally Posted by jayembee

In case anyone is interested, this afternoon I got email from ImportCDs announcing a Criterion Collection sale. Specific titles mentioned in the email are 35-38% off. I assume that the eight titles listed are just a sampling, and aren't the only ones available at that discount.

The email also mentions a Westerns Sale, a Kino Lorber Studio Classics Sale, and a Warner Archive Sale.

Someone posted the other day a Criterion sale on Rakuten.com, all titles 50% off.

edit:

I just checked, mostly 50% off.

[jmclick]

DeepDiscount.com is also having a Criterion sale, with most titles discounted 42%-45% off. The nice thing about Deep Discount is that if you order $100.00 (or more) and pay with PayPal Credit, you get six months interest free financing. I don't order from them very often, but they do tend to have the best sale prices on blu-rays from Kino and Olive Films, and they put those titles on sale at least two or three times per year.

[darkness2918]

Originally Posted by jmclick

DeepDiscount.com is also having a Criterion sale, with most titles discounted 42%-45% off. The nice thing about Deep Discount is that if you order $100.00 (or more) and pay with PayPal Credit, you get six months interest free financing. I don't order from them very often, but they do tend to have the best sale prices on blu-rays from Kino and Olive Films, and they put those titles on sale at least two or three times per year.

I need to look into DeepDiscount then. Some Kino titles I'm interested in. I got my 1st Kino movie earlier this week but on DVD, it was the French film Borsalino & Co.

[joie]

The remake of "The killers" isn't all bad. It looks alright blown-up to 1.78:1 -- there's an awful lot of room at the top and bottom of the 4:3 presentation. Some of the process shots look awful in any aspect ratio, however; especially the race track shots.

Seeing Ronald Reagan play a sneering villian was a treat. It's said that it didn't play on TV because it was too violent. I was thinking that Reagan may have decided to go into politics after seeing it and didn't want to be seen and remembered as a bad guy, so prevailed on the TV studio to shelve the movie. The Reagans were able to pull strings; for example, they had a house in Bel Air where the house's street number was 666, but they were able to prevail in an effort to have the house number changed.

I bought "The Killers" (the original) because "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" (a great parody of old 1940s crime movies) incorporates several clips from the original.

[Joe Dalek]

Originally Posted by ParaOK

Janus Films updated their cover photo on Facebook to this image:

Safe to say The American Friend is coming to the collection?

They also tweeted a picture of a hard drive with the director's cut of Until The End of the World on it. From The Playlist:

"...the Criterion Collection and Janus Films are working together to rectify cinephiles’ knowledge of Wenders’s vast, eclectic and amazing body of work. Last week, Janus Films announced "Wim Wenders: Portraits Along The Road," a major touring retrospective of the legendary German director's films. It will launch at the IFC Center in New York (with Wenders present for select screenings) on August 28th, and embark on a 15+ city tour of the nation's top art houses, with stops in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Columbus, Houston, Austin and Vancouver.

Criterion has helped restore the films in pristine, 4K DCP prints, and the retrospective, not unlike the one that world premiered at MOMA earlier this year, will screen Wenders films like “The American Friend” starring Dennis Hopper and also features such Hollywood legends such as Sam Fuller and Nicholas Ray, the aforementioned classics "Paris, Texas" and "Wings Of Desire,” the rare 295 minute director’s cut of “Until The End Of The World,” the road movies "Alice In The Cities," "Kings Of The Road," and "The State Of Things,” “Wrong Move” and many more."

Great news. I hope there is a box as rumored and not a slow release of these on Blu-ray over the course of years, but then I've waited this long...

[JoeBuck]

Now that I have steady income Ive decided to end my summer right and noir out!

[Show spoiler]20150814_212726.jpg

Never seen Ride The Pink Horse so looking especially forward to digging into that one!

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Andrew1987

I'm looking to see more French films from the collection outside of the French New Wave. I've seen a lot of the Melville ones and really enjoy those and I was looking for others with an equal amount of suspense. It looks like Wages of Fear and Rififi would be good choices, anything else?

Here are a couple of recommendations, Andrew

1. Claude Sautet's The Big Risk a.k.a. Classe Tous Risques. It is out on DVD via Criterion in the U.S., but it is also available on Blu-ray across the pond. I really like this film as it has exactly the atmosphere I think you are looking for. Claude Sautet is also one of my favorite directors and I really hope that Criterion will manage to bring to Blu-ray some of the new Canal restorations which Rialto is promoting theatrically in the U.S. I think that people here in the U.S. will really enjoy his work.

Here are the Criterion DVD release and the BFI's Blu-ray:



Here's the Sautet French box set with the new restoration which Rialto is promoting in the U.S.

Rediscover the Cinema of Claude Sautet - YouTube

2. Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Deuxième Souffle. Another top crime film with Lino Ventura. Currently, however, it is only out on DVD via Criterion. Also, I really like the remake and I think that it is a superior film. I know this may seem sacrilegious, but I think that Alain Corneau's remake has an incredible style (I will post the trailer below). Terrific cinematography -- fantastic colors -- superb soundtrack, and Monica Bellucci in stunning outfits The remake is out on Blu-ray in France (not English-friendly), but there is a UK DVD release. Anyhow, see the original film from Criterion. I think you will like it.

The Second Wind (Le Deuxieme Souffle) (2007) - YouTube

Le Fourgon Rouge - YouTube

3. Jacques Becker's Le Trou a.k.a. The Hole. You will love this film. One of the all-time greatest escape films. Pure atmosphere. At the moment it is only out on DVD via Criterion.



4. Two Costa-Gavras films (whose work should be considered French). Both recently restored. The Confession is as paranoid as Orson Welles' The Trial and really beautifully lensed. You should see both films as Yves Montand goes to the extremes -- left and right. Obviously, you should also see Costa-Gavras' Z.



5. Bay of Angels. This is one of my favorite films in the collection and I really, really like the new restoration. The previous releases do not even come close to matching the brilliance of this restoration. Different type of atmosphere, but I think you will like it. After all, what's not to like - the French Riviera, old casinos, chic hotels, beautiful women. The good life



6. Godard's Band of Outsiders. You just have to see this film. That dance scene.

Three Reasons: Band of Outsiders - YouTube

7. Rene Clement's Plein soleil a.k.a. Purple Noon. Now, here's suspense for you. You have probably already seen the remake, The Talented Mr. Ripley, but this is the original film. Beautiful cinematography.



8. Mathieu Kassovitz's La Haine. You will like it. This film -- which does have the energy of a New Wave film -- got it right the first time. And things have only gotten worse since then.



9. Olivier Assayas's Carlos. Don't be put off by the fact that it is long and there is a lot of factual information thrown around. It is a fantastic production. And it has the suspense you are looking for.



10. Mesrine. A bonus recommendation. It is not from Criterion, but I have a feeling you will like it. With Vincent Cassel from La Haine. It is out in the U.S. via Music Box Films and in the UK via Momentum. It is a two-part production.

International trailer here:
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=3865



Pro-B

[jw007]

Originally Posted by ParaOK

If you are just getting into New Order make sure to check the films 24 Hour Party People and Control, if you haven't done so already . . .

Thanks... I've already seen both of those films! Both great biopic-dramas.

I discovered New Order about 20 years ago but I only had bought "The Best of New Order" at the time on CD and I thought that was enough of an introduction to me of the band...but recently a friend introduced me to "Technique" and after hearing it, I just had to obtain every album of theirs.

Great to see other people here enjoying the same type of music I do!