The Criterion Collection

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Are you a war era kind of guy? I think my love for World War II and seeing different perspectives to it is what drove me to love both of those titles. I wasn't as won over by Leon Morin, but Le Cercle Rouge was definitely my favorite of the Melville bunch.

I like a bit of everything but no, I wouldn't consider myself one. I found myself growing impatient with the film as I watched it. I'm not a fan of that cold restrained lighting style either, so I ultimately felt unmoved by the experience of seeing it.

[Abdrewes]

IScottie, something was always happening in Antichrist. Each image of a certain nihilistic misoginistic despair was attention grabbing and begged to be deciphered. Also, the pseudo Dogma methods Von Trier used to film Antichrist would often produce jump cuts and continuity errors. It's really fascinating to witness how space is conveyed in this film: it's just as broken and fevered as the characters emotional states. In a sense the shoddy geometry reminded me of Nolan, the key difference is that Von Trier's was deliberate.

[RupertPupkin]

stupid question is Magnificent Obsession (Douglas Sirk) a possible Blu-Ray upgrade ?
I know the ratio of the movie have been discussed when it came out on DVD; but it was a pristine transfer (so my guess it that they won't have so many works to do for a blu-ray).
Moreover a Blu-Ray is out in Italy since last year.
What is curious is that I didn't find any screenshots or test of the italian blu-ray...

talking about Douglas Sirk I would prefer - if Criterion release a blu-ray - a movie with Dorothy Malone : Written on the Wind and the superb b&w movie The Tarnished angels (I have the Criteriron, and Carlotta DVD for these 2 movies)

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by spanky87

If you could pick ONE Coen brothers film to get the Criterion treatment, which would it be? Either because it's your favorite, or because it needs a proper blu-ray release including a new transfer and supplements.

I say Man Who Wasn't There, because it deserves a blu-ray release already.

It has to be Barton Fink. It was never really treated well on DVD and apparently the blu-ray isn't exactly great.
It won Best Director, Best Actor, and the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1991.
Really deserving of a retrospective doco with interviews with cast and crew and some sort of commentary.
I haven't seen it for years and have never seen it theatrically or in a good presentation.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by oildude

I will also recommend one I watched this weekend for the first time that I think would make an excellent introduction to silent cinema. F.W. Murnau's Sunrise is just outstanding in so many ways. Dramatic, moving, with excellent performances and marvelous scenery and lush interiors. You will have to import it, though, since it has not been released in the U.S. yet. It is available in a region free edtion from Eureka's Masters of Cinema series. I got it off amazon.uk at an extremely good price. You can read the review here on blu-ray.com and order it, if it intrigues you. I cannot recommend it highly enough, right up there with People on Sunday.

Have you watched Sunrise with the John Bailey commentary? Really recommended.

[jayj15]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

It has to be Barton Fink. It was never really treated well on DVD and apparently the blu-ray isn't exactly great.
It won Best Director, Best Actor, and the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1991.
Really deserving of a retrospective doco with interviews with cast and crew and some sort of commentary.
I haven't seen it for years and have never seen it theatrically or in a good presentation.

I honestly thought the blu-ray was great, a huge leap from the DVD. The Coens don't seem fond of commentaries and Barton Fink isn't a movie that's meant to be over-analyzed. The Coens even said they put all that symbolism in the movie just to "tease" the film critics because they know that critics can't help themselves. Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favorite movies ever, but I just don't see what Criterion could add to it.

[A Sith Lord?]

Question to all of you, a WWYD scenario?

I currently have two copies of Last Year at Marienbad.

One is an almost perfect condition unopened copy I ordered from best buy the day of the OOP announcement. One slight slight slight blip to a corner on the box.

The second is the copy I bought at my local B&N today. It has the terrible B&N sticker on it (not the mark off, the MSRP store sticker). It's covering a portion of the Director Approved Sticker that's on the shinkwrap. The corners are pretty beat up from shelf life I imagine.

I want to keep a copy for myself, and sell off a copy at a later date. However I really want to watch this movie so neither copy is opened ATM.

Would you keep the copy that's in perfect condition as your own personal, or sell that off for a higher price since it will likely fetch a bigger price? Or would you just keep the B&N copy as your own personal one?

[Scottie]

I've decided to finally begin my essay on Fish Tank for my Sex and Gender class. I never knew how hard it was to analyze a film once forced to sit down and think about it.

I have the ideas in my head, all I need to do is transition it to Microsoft Word and smooth it out. I'll have it sometime tomorrow afternoon for you guys to read.

[Simple Lines]

Originally Posted by MasturB

Question to all of you, a WWYD scenario?

I currently have two copies of Last Year at Marienbad.

One is an almost perfect condition unopened copy I ordered from best buy the day of the OOP announcement. One slight slight slight blip to a corner on the box.

The second is the copy I bought at my local B&N today. It has the terrible B&N sticker on it (not the mark off, the MSRP store sticker). It's covering a portion of the Director Approved Sticker that's on the shinkwrap. The corners are pretty beat up from shelf life I imagine.

I want to keep a copy for myself, and sell off a copy at a later date. However I really want to watch this movie so neither copy is opened ATM.

Would you keep the copy that's in perfect condition as your own personal, or sell that off for a higher price since it will likely fetch a bigger price? Or would you just keep the B&N copy as your own personal one?

I'd go ahead and keep the one from B&N since the value of it is already lower.

I'd also get the hard plastic case sold by Criterion HERE.

The paper case is garbage.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by nich0103

Does anyone know if Best Buy will ship you the slipcover if you order The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Criterion Collection from their website?

I don't know where you live and, of course, different stores have different stock, but until very recently our Walmart carried Benjamin Button (with slipcover) in their $7.88 Blu-ray bargain bin.

[oildude]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

Have you watched Sunrise with the John Bailey commentary? Really recommended.

Not yet, but I will, especially if you recommend it. Thanks.

Sunrise is my first MOC title. I am impressed, it is every bit the equal of a Criterion as far as transfer quality, packaging, supplements, etc. I am not region B capable (yet), and based on the quality of the MOC releases, I will be ordering City Girl and a few of their other region free titles soon.

One thing, though. It is the only title I have played on my player where it did not automatically adjust to the correct aspect ratio when the movie began. On startup, the picture defaulted to a stretched widescreen presentation. Never seen that before. I had to manually go into my player and select "pillarbox" to get the 1.20:1 for the Movietone version on my Oppo 103 BD player.

I also put in the 1.37:1 Czech version and it did the same thing. It makes me curious if this is the case with all MOC releases.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by Simple Lines

The paper case is garbage.

Not really. Pretty creative if you ask me, just sadly they didn't put it in the stronger digipak releases they are doing now (and on the dvd version) instead of a slipcover. The 3D font is far from garbage, when the alternative is a piece of paper that voids itself of the artwork intended shoved into a plastic case.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by jayj15

I honestly thought the blu-ray was great, a huge leap from the DVD. The Coens don't seem fond of commentaries and Barton Fink isn't a movie that's meant to be over-analyzed. The Coens even said they put all that symbolism in the movie just to "tease" the film critics because they know that critics can't help themselves. Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favorite movies ever, but I just don't see what Criterion could add to it.

It's really odd that there's no review for the UK blu-ray of Barton Fink.
I'm going to wait for the US edition to finally come out and see what the reviewers say.
It'll probably be similar to Miller's Crossing - acceptable and the best we'll see.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by oildude

Not yet, but I will, especially if you recommend it. Thanks.

Sunrise is my first MOC title. I am impressed, it is every bit the equal of a Criterion as far as transfer quality, packaging, supplements, etc. I am not region B capable (yet), and based on the quality of the MOC releases, I will be ordering City Girl and a few of their other region free titles soon.

One thing, though. It is the only title I have played on my player where it did not automatically adjust to the correct aspect ratio when the movie began. On startup, the picture defaulted to a stretched widescreen presentation. Never seen that before. I had to manually go into my player and select "pillarbox" to get the 1.20:1 for the Movietone version on my Oppo 103 BD player.

I also put in the 1.37:1 Czech version and it did the same thing. It makes me curious if this is the case with all MOC releases.

That's very odd. I have a Panasonic player set to automatically play films at the correct aspect ratio. I've never had a problem with any of my MoC titles.
Good luck with City Girl - I think it's every bit as beautiful as Sunrise. Unfortunately, a lot less extras on City Girl. I haven't watched the commentary for it yet, but hopefully soon.

[Hawkguy]

Any Criterion-regulars here care to share opinions on To the Wonder? I watched it earlier tonight and, despite the mixed reactions, I liked it a great deal. I do feel as if it could have been shorter (much shorter, actually), but out of the 3 films by him I've seen so far, this was the one I liked the most.

..I don't think it was discussed before..unless I missed it..

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by RupertPupkin

stupid question is Magnificent Obsession (Douglas Sirk) a possible Blu-Ray upgrade ?
I know the ratio of the movie have been discussed when it came out on DVD; but it was a pristine transfer (so my guess it that they won't have so many works to do for a blu-ray).
Moreover a Blu-Ray is out in Italy since last year.
What is curious is that I didn't find any screenshots or test of the italian blu-ray...

talking about Douglas Sirk I would prefer - if Criterion release a blu-ray - a movie with Dorothy Malone : Written on the Wind and the superb b&w movie The Tarnished angels (I have the Criteriron, and Carlotta DVD for these 2 movies)

Hello Mr. Pupkin

I have this disc and will post a review later this week

Have a great week.

Pro-B

[Sherlock_Jr]

Originally Posted by MasturB

Question to all of you, a WWYD scenario?

I currently have two copies of Last Year at Marienbad.

One is an almost perfect condition unopened copy I ordered from best buy the day of the OOP announcement. One slight slight slight blip to a corner on the box.

The second is the copy I bought at my local B&N today. It has the terrible B&N sticker on it (not the mark off, the MSRP store sticker). It's covering a portion of the Director Approved Sticker that's on the shinkwrap. The corners are pretty beat up from shelf life I imagine.

I want to keep a copy for myself, and sell off a copy at a later date. However I really want to watch this movie so neither copy is opened ATM.

Would you keep the copy that's in perfect condition as your own personal, or sell that off for a higher price since it will likely fetch a bigger price? Or would you just keep the B&N copy as your own personal one?

I'd keep the one in better condition. The "value" of the B&N one isn't going to be that much lower just because the corners are beat up. In the end, it's all about the film, and if someone wants it, they'll buy whatever copy they can find. And if yours is $5 cheaper just because it's a little dinged up, then it's win-win for everybody.

[RupertPupkin]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Hello Mr. Pupkin

I have this disc and will post a review later this week

Have a great week.

Pro-B

thanks. I'm impatient to read it and see the screenshots...

any info about some Dorothy Malone coming on blu-ray ?

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by RupertPupkin

stupid question is Magnificent Obsession (Douglas Sirk) a possible Blu-Ray upgrade ?
I know the ratio of the movie have been discussed when it came out on DVD; but it was a pristine transfer (so my guess it that they won't have so many works to do for a blu-ray).
Moreover a Blu-Ray is out in Italy since last year.
What is curious is that I didn't find any screenshots or test of the italian blu-ray...

talking about Douglas Sirk I would prefer - if Criterion release a blu-ray - a movie with Dorothy Malone : Written on the Wind and the superb b&w movie The Tarnished angels (I have the Criteriron, and Carlotta DVD for these 2 movies)

MO is my favorite Sirk and I would love for a blu upgrade, but in all honesty, Written On The Wind and All That Heaven Allows both are in greater need due to their earlier release. It's criminal that we don't have any Sirk on Blu in the US or UK yet though.

[shortmartin]

Originally Posted by spanky87

If you could pick ONE Coen brothers film to get the Criterion treatment, which would it be? Either because it's your favorite, or because it needs a proper blu-ray release including a new transfer and supplements.

I say Man Who Wasn't There, because it deserves a blu-ray release already.

I say Blood Simple because to me, it is their best film, and I am someone who really loves most of their work. Maybe it's the debut factor for me. Maybe it's the creepiness, the atmosphere, the minimalism, this one really stands out for me in ways that leave even Fargo and No Country behind, although those would come in second and third. I prefer this noir pastoral genre of theirs the most, and then Lebowski.