The Criterion Collection

[Polaroid]

Is it safe to let a bunch of Criterion collectors loose together in a city where the Criterion offices are....?

I would not be accountable for my actions.

Also if there's a sale in November - I think that would be very dangerous...

[My Jury]

Originally Posted by SkyAntoine

Anyone have a strong opinion why Rules of the Game is one of the greatest films of all-time?

Huge influence on The Shining

[ThisKid]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Is it safe to let a bunch of Criterion collectors loose together in a city where the Criterion offices are....?

I would not be accountable for my actions.

Also if there's a sale in November - I think that would be very dangerous...

Hell no.

I'm planning on getting 18 titles in the B&N sale in July.

I would suck their stocks dry of every title.

I would also nag them into re-releasing Dead Ringers and also releasing Jackie Chan movies.

We don't want to hurt Criterion, do we?

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by RojD

I'm SO going to this. Thanks, MF!

I just went up for three days to see the feathered dinosaur exhibit and the Hellenistic art show. And a terrible print of Made in USA at the Film Forum. (Surely more can be done with that film. Are you listening, Criterion?) This Tree of Life performance sounds like something to make every effort to see.

Anyone else going to the BAM performance? We could do a meetup and talk about why we love Malick without having to deal with naysayers.

Am I missing the ticket information?

[CriterionBlues]

Originally Posted by SkyAntoine

Anyone have a strong opinion why Rules of the Game is one of the greatest films of all-time?

Yes. It is a technical marvel. The deep focus photography, which often does not draw attention to itself, is stellar. The way the scenes are blocked and choreographed is, in my opinion, the best in a Renoir film (which is saying something). I also think that you have to watch it with an understanding of the context of the times. This was on the eve of the war and there is plenty of criticism of the aristocracy's passive attitude toward the coming threat. It is really a scathing indictment of French society, but that is less apparent when looking at it through a modern lens.

For what it's worth, on my first viewing I was also not as taken with the film. I had seen Grand Illusion, Boudu Saved From Drowning, and maybe another Renoir or two, and this seemed to be detached compared to those. It was with revisits and studying that I really came to appreciate this film. It has been awhile since I've listened, but I remember the Criterion commentary being excellent.

I don't do all time lists, but I've long considered this to be among my favorite films of all time. On any given day, it could be #1.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

The StudioCanal German edition looks marvelous, not washed out like the French one with incorrect black levels. Not English friendly, though, so I had to add my own subs. I expect Criterion will upgrade their Malle stuff.



Gaumont messed up the black levels for Elevator to the Gallows, but not sure about this one. I have it in the German box set.

By all reports Gaumont's Les Amants disc looks terrible unfortunately.

[RojD]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Am I missing the ticket information?

I don't think they're on sale yet. Looks like BAM members can buy on June 16 and the rest of us on June 23.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by tisdivine

Sounds like an awesome plan guys. Feel free to PM when the other thread is up
Or if you guys have facebook let me know. Ok - I swear no more meet up talk on this thread.

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Is it safe to let a bunch of Criterion collectors loose together in a city where the Criterion offices are....?

I would not be accountable for my actions.

Also if there's a sale in November - I think that would be very dangerous...

Originally Posted by ThisKid

Hell no.

I'm planning on getting 18 titles in the B&N sale in July.

I would suck their stocks dry of every title.

I would also nag them into re-releasing Dead Ringers and also releasing Jackie Chan movies.

We don't want to hurt Criterion, do we?

Okay boys, I just created a new thread under the "Events" forum section! We might have to try and discreetly infiltrate the Criterion HQ as well as raid Barnes & Noble for the 50% off sale if this plans on happening, esp. if Polaroid is here in the states in November.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=278120

[SkyAntoine]

Thanks for feedback on Rules of the Game. Maybe it will grow on me in future watches.

Last night I watched The Player. I have not been a bit Altman fan because his storylines and characters make the film so cumbersome. However, The Player was the first of his films where it all came together well to me. I thought the pacing, nods to cinema, countless cameos and overall story were excellent. It was a pleasant surprise and fun ride of a film. My favorite Robbins role. 9/10


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[adamhopelies]

Caught Whit Stillman's new film Love & Friendship earlier today. I'm not one ordinarily for Period Dramas but I absolutely adored this. It makes for a neat companion piece to Metropolitan in particular.

Re. The Rules Of The Game and its reputation. One of the most entertaining classes I ever led was the one following a screening of this film. In my pre-screening introduction I emphasised the film's lofty reputation, which led to a chorus of "why on earth is this so well regarded?!?" from the assembled students as they left the auditorium and made their way to our seminar room. Over the two hours that followed we went thru the production in great detail, discussing the damning contemporaneous response to the film in France and examining the apparent political problems faced by Renoir and the studio. I consider the film to be one of the great masterpieces of French cinema, but I will say this; the politics of the picture are pretty tough for a contemporary audience to fully understand, and in turn I can understand why many find it an underwhelming experience at first. I'd recommend taking a look at the supplements on the criterion release (especially Jean Renoir's fantastic introduction to the film) for a good grounding in the film.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by RojD

I don't think they're on sale yet. Looks like BAM members can buy on June 16 and the rest of us on June 23.

Thanks RojD!

[deepseababy]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

Caught Whit Stillman's new film Love & Friendship earlier today. I'm not one ordinarily for Period Dramas but I absolutely adored this. It makes for a neat companion piece to Metropolitan in particular.

It's doing exceptionally well by all accounts. I think it has a 100% fresh rating on RT. I adored The Last Days of Disco, so it will be a nice reunion of sorts with Beckinsale and Sevigny, two great performers, and Stillman, who doesn't disappoint.

[RojD]

Originally Posted by SkyAntoine

Thanks for feedback on Rules of the Game. Maybe it will grow on me in future watches.

Last night I watched The Player. I have not been a bit Altman fan because his storylines and characters make the film so cumbersome. However, The Player was the first of his films where it all came together well to me. I thought the pacing, nods to cinema, countless cameos and overall story were excellent. It was a pleasant surprise and fun ride of a film. My favorite Robbins role. 9/10


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had a class where the professor said that arguments about individual works were less about the work itself than about the viewers' own tastes. I thought of that when I read your response to the The Player and Rules of the Game.

You might be on to something about your individual criteria for a good film. I think Altman's films break down into two types of narrative: the ones whose storylines follow a major character and the ones that follow a group. I think of The Player as in the first category and Nashville in the second. And every time I watch one of Altman's second category films, I think of Rules of the Game and the way it moves a big group of characters, rather than one or two of them, through the same period of time. There's a link between Altman's collective films and Renoir's.

(I think there's a political statement in the form, too, away from a focus on the individual and toward the social collective.)

Anyway, it might be that you prefer the individual focus as opposed to the social. Not many directors do the collective style (PT Anderson did in Magnolia and Boogie Nights, for example), tho as a viewer, I think it can be fun to enjoy the ways the storylines interweave. In any case, the group orientation might partly be why you didn't respond to Rules of the Game but did to The Player. And no problem with that.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by deepseababy

It's doing exceptionally well by all accounts. I think it has a 100% fresh rating on RT. I adored The Last Days of Disco, so it will be a nice reunion of sorts with Beckinsale and Sevigny, two great performers, and Stillman, who doesn't disappoint.

The Last Days of Disco is so wonderful.

I'm definitely looking forward to this.

[Edward J Grug III]

My wife got me a copy of The Apu Trilogy for my birthday - looking forward to finally seeing it, since they didn't bring the restored prints out theatrically here.

She also got me a copy of the Michael Powell autobiography, A Life in Movies, which looks great!

[Edward J Grug III]

An Alfred Hitchcock film festival was playing in Sydney, so I messaged our local arthouse theatre chain to see if they would bring it here last week. They said it wasn't on their schedule, but they'd look for it, and now, this week it IS on their schedule!

Social media, man!

[Vlad Draculi]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

The Strangelove review is up on the 'other' site (Not posting the link because my post will be zapped). From what I gather the Criterion is the better presentation but the difference in PQ is only noticeable if one has a properly calibrated setup. Criterion also has better technical stats like bit rate.

What other site? High Def Digest?

Anyway, I can't wait for B&N's sale next month as I've been waiting to pick up Gilda, In a Lonely Place, The Manchurian Candidate, and Only Angels Have Wings.

[scottpcusa]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

Caught Whit Stillman's new film Love & Friendship earlier today. I'm not one ordinarily for Period Dramas but I absolutely adored this. It makes for a neat companion piece to Metropolitan in particular.

Originally Posted by deepseababy

It's doing exceptionally well by all accounts. I think it has a 100% fresh rating on RT. I adored The Last Days of Disco, so it will be a nice reunion of sorts with Beckinsale and Sevigny, two great performers, and Stillman, who doesn't disappoint.

Originally Posted by AaronJ

The Last Days of Disco is so wonderful.

I'm definitely looking forward to this.

My wife and I saw Love & Friendship last night and I really enjoyed it. I, too, am a huge fan of The Last Days of Disco and actually felt like there were some similarities between the two films that would make them a great double feature.

[Marlow27]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

An Alfred Hitchcock film festival was playing in Sydney, so I messaged our local arthouse theatre chain to see if they would bring it here last week. They said it wasn't on their schedule, but they'd look for it, and now, this week it IS on their schedule!

Social media, man!

Holy Jesus, I love you so much. Thank you!

Can not wait to see some of those films on the big screen. The Windsor has really delivered over the last year.

[Polaroid]

Also got this to look forward to:

Sculpting Time: Andrei Tarkovsky retrospective trailer - YouTube

Aiming to go to them all !

Thanks to my cinema its costing me only £5 a film!