The Criterion Collection

[SammyJankis]

I’d like to see a triple box set, at some point, of all [Before] Blu-rays… And we’ve never really done a lot of extras and stuff, so we probably could do one up correctly.”

Um, yes, please.

[Scottie]

I just finished Side Effects and I really enjoyed it. It was probably Soderbergh's best, in my opinion, in quite a long time. It was great cinematography on his part, but what I enjoyed the most was how very dark and haunting it was at times. Great performances by all the cast.

From what I've seen by Soderbergh now, I'd probably rank them in this order:

• Traffic
• Side Effects
• Out of Sight
• Magic Mike
• Ocean's Trilogy
• Sex, Lies, and Videotape
• The Girlfriend Experience

Originally Posted by MidwestCrucible

Richard Linklater has announced Criterion is updating "Slacker" to the blu ray collection.

Also hopes to see a Before Sunrise/Before Sunset/Before Midnight blu ray box set.

http://collider.com/slacker-blu-ray-...ard-linklater/

I think that'd be a cool title to see upgraded. I never saw it before, but I'd be receptive to it.

I really want to see a box set of the "Before" films. I haven't seen those either, but I have them on DVD. If Before Midnight is playing at one of my local theaters, I'll watch the other two immediately and then see the third at the theater.

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I just finished Side Effects and I really enjoyed it. It was probably Soderbergh's best, in my opinion, in quite a long time. It was great cinematography on his part, but what I enjoyed the most was how very dark and haunting it was at times. Great performances by all the cast.

From what I've seen by Soderbergh now, I'd probably rank them in this order:

• Traffic
• Side Effects
• Out of Sight
• Magic Mike
• Ocean's Trilogy
• Sex, Lies, and Videotape
• The Girlfriend Experience

I think it's kind of hard to say that it's one of his best in a long time when you've yet to see more than half of the films that come between Traffic and Side Effects.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

I think it's kind of hard to say that it's one of his best in a long time when you've yet to see more than half of the films that come between Traffic and Side Effects.

Haywire was surprisingly fun.

I also wonder if you really think all of the Oceans movies are really of the same quality. I'd be putting some space between 11 and the other two.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

I think it's kind of hard to say that it's one of his best in a long time when you've yet to see more than half of the films that come between Traffic and Side Effects.

To further the kind-of-related-to-CC-thread,-but-not-really, I picked up Olivier Assayas' DemonLover.

Added bonus: Gina Gershon

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

Haywire was surprisingly fun.

I also wonder if you really think all of the Oceans movies are really of the same quality. I'd be putting some space between 11 and the other two.

I thought Haywire was okay, but I had a hard time getting past some of the terrible acting.

Speaking of Soderbergh, what are people's thoughts on Schizopolis? When I watched it a couple of years ago I had to watch it in pieces, so I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I would have otherwise. It might be time for a revisit.

[lastemp3ror]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I just finished Side Effects and I really enjoyed it. It was probably Soderbergh's best, in my opinion, in quite a long time. It was great cinematography on his part, but what I enjoyed the most was how very dark and haunting it was at times. Great performances by all the cast.

From what I've seen by Soderbergh now, I'd probably rank them in this order:

• Traffic
• Side Effects
• Out of Sight
• Magic Mike
• Ocean's Trilogy
• Sex, Lies, and Videotape
• The Girlfriend Experience

I will accept responsibility for what I am about to say....Solaris is my favorite movie of his. Easily the best score I have ever heard and the way it ties to the mood of the movie is unreal. Hearing Cliff Martinez's score turned me on to other musicians like Tim Hecker and Max Richter, and I love the both of them as well. I know this movie is considered a bad movie by most, but it holds a special place in my heart.

I haven't seen the original and it is high on my list of movies to watch.

[Scottie]

I e-mailed Jon Mulvaney to see if Criterion has any plans on putting out Jeff Nichols' Shotgun Stories. Hopefully he responds!

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

To further the kind-of-related-to-CC-thread,-but-not-really, I picked up Olivier Assayas' DemonLover.

Added bonus: Gina Gershon

I still need to get DemonLover! I got DVDs of Clean and Boarding Gate last week. Both were pretty great, although I liked Clean a lot more. I'm hoping I can muster up some cash to head into Toronto and see Something in the Air this week.

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I e-mailed Jon Mulvaney to see if Criterion has any plans on putting out Jeff Nichols' Shotgun Stories. Hopefully he responds!

What a great addition that would be. Jeff Nichols is a goddamn treasure. By far the most exciting "new" American director.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

I still need to get DemonLover! I got DVDs of Clean and Boarding Gate last week. Both were pretty great, although I liked Clean a lot more. I'm hoping I can muster up some cash to head into Toronto and see Something in the Air this week.

Nice. It's too bad i won't get to see that one until home video.

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Nice. It's too bad i won't get to see that one until home video.

End of August, if you're region-free (or use other means)!

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I e-mailed Jon Mulvaney to see if Criterion has any plans on putting out Jeff Nichols' Shotgun Stories. Hopefully he responds!

I would love that. I remember posting in here not that long ago mentioning that I'd just watched Shotgun Stories and expressed my opinion that I think it would be a perfect contemporary film for Criterion to release and several members who'd seen and loved Take Shelter and were excited for his next film "Mud' still hadn't seen Shotgun Stories.

If Criterion did release it, that would be the perfect time for some of these people to check it out finally.

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Anyone know how long the current B&N sale will be?

June 3rd per a BN employee I spoke with.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

End of August, if you're region-free (or use other means)!

Ooh...

Hey, it seems your post yesterday on Armond White's essay for Everlasting Moments got buried. Yes, he can be a very sharp & insightful critic when he's not taking jabs at other films and filmmakers.

As for Boarding Gate, I'll admit, some plot points can be very hard to swallow, but I was fine with it because at times it looks very much like an Olivier Assayas film and Asia Argento's performance was one of the best of 2007. Now I really want to check out some of the similarly small films she has starred in.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm on this.

Slacker was not a Criterion DVD that I revisited often. I initially said that I would not bother upgrading it, but the film is just so integral to my college years in the early 1990s that I've lately realized that I would like it in my Blu-ray collection after all.

I am extremely happy to hear this news too. Ironically I just posted about a blu-ray upgrade for Slacker on this thread a few days ago! Maybe the folks at Criterion are reading this forum?

Additionally, I was just talking to someone today about this movie and recommended it to them.

[hoytereden]

Been watching some of the wonderful films in the Late Ozu box set. I bought this several years ago and it's one of the best purchases I've ever made. Just re-watched Late Autumn. It's basically a remake of Late Spring but as, more or less, a comedy with a few dramatic moments. Very funny but a little sad also since it's one of the final Ozu films and is his last with Setsuko Hara. I love Ozu and particularly enjoy these lighter fims like this, I Was Born, But..., and it's remake Good Morning.

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I watched Alien yesterday and I found it enjoyable. It was the first time that I saw this film despite owning the Alien Quadrilogy DVD set for years and now the Alien Anthology Blu-ray set for months. It was definitely creepy, not because of the actual alien, but because of such scenes as the birthing scene. Today I watched Aliens and I enjoyed it a lot more than Alien. It had a fantastic buildup for the first bit and it was very suspenseful. The latter portion was made up of survival and action / adventure. It was a very solid film. The only thing I didn't really like about it was how the Queen Alien was somehow intelligent and knew how to ride an elevator. I still don't understand how these people were colonized on the planet for twenty years and didn't even notice the gigantic spaceship just chilling there until right before Ripley and the crew went there. I still have 3 and 4 to watch, which I'll probably get through tomorrow (as both are short). Wasn't the first film released on a Criterion Laserdisc back in the day?

Cameron's movie is not big on logic, but I think the idea is that LV-421 is a HUGE planet, so you wouldn't just stumble over the derelict spaceship.

The laserdisc was released by Fox, not Criterion. It was one of the best laserdisc boxes produced, in my opinion, though much of the extra material was text essays. The extras from the old laserdisc box is in fact available in the archive section in the Quadrilogy DVD set, and perhaps also in the Anthology?

By the way, I hope you watched the theatrical version of ALIEN, and not the so-called "director's cut"? The director's cut is really not a true director's cut as in "the director's original vision". Scott stated in the extras on the Quadrilogy set that the theatrical version IS his final cut and preferred version. But Fox wanted something new to send out and gave him free hands, so he re-cut it adding some of the previously cut material (originally cut for pacing reasons mainly). The so-called "director's cut" is therefore little but a marketing ploy.

As for ALIENS, I am in the very little minority that actually prefers the theatrical version to the longer special edition (note that the longer version is not called the "director's cut" because Cameron thought each version was best for their media). Part of is is surely nostalgia, as this was the movie I watched in my local cinema on February 13 1987. But part of it is also that I think the early added scenes on LV-421, where the derelict ship is discovered, destroys the deliberate pacing of the theatrical cut. In the theatrical cut, the suspense of what had happened to the colony was really drawn out to the max and had people setting on the edge of their seats. IIRC Cameron actually says somewhere in the extras on the Anthology BD set, that he probably would not have added those scenes today.

[retask]

Was Last year at Marienbad re-released without the digipack? I recently got a hold of a digipack-copy of the film and it has another sticker on it, not the round blue one we have these days.

How much is this these days anyway?

[ravenus]

^I got the original LYAM digipak and I then ordered for a replacement case. I don't remember the digipak sticker looking like that, though. You are going to open the case and watch the movie, right?