The Criterion Collection

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by SlickDamian

Antichrist is a very striking looking film. The Criterion blu-ray looks fantastic. The film is extremely atmospheric, eerie, and trippy. Definitely a great experience!

Criterion has the best release for this film, I have a few other copies and they have really bad banding issues when on the dark scenes, and looks bad (dunno how they allowed it on their releases) but Criterions has none of those problems and is perfect.

Its one of my all time favourite films, I love the themes it explores and I relate well due to anxiety and depression. It's a very dark fairytale, so beautiful and stunning to look at, the acting is superb and faultless... yet there is something dark and sinister we don't see, but we experience it, when I think Antichrist I think of the beauty and the imagery but there is a sense of dread there too, especially when listening to the score separately.

It is to me, perfect.

Would love more Lars Von Trier films on Criterion, Dogville, Dancer in the dark in particular, the Idiots would be appropriate too as it wa son of the films (alongside Festen, which should also get CC treatment) that started a new style of cinema.

[Dr_Bedlo]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

...the Idiots would be appropriate too as it [was one] of the films (alongside Festen, which should also get CC treatment) that started a new style of cinema.

I don't really do standard DVD anymore. I would certainly pick up a box set, if Criterion would release a set with a mix of Dogme 95 titles from several directors.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I remember when that film was released all the jokes were about how it was so comfortable at screenings because of all the leg room available.

An empty theater doesn't necessarily mean a bad movie. After all, just two days ago I saw Inside Llewyn Davis in a completely empty auditorium.

[The Bronx Bull]

I watched Thief last night. First let me say that I was very glad that the packaging is the standard clear case, as opposed to the digipacks that Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion and Nashville have come in - I feel as though this type of packaging wastes valuable space, unless it's a hefty set with a spined booklet, like Seven Samurai or On the Waterfront.

Thief is a film that has been high up on my "to watch" list for years now, but there's never really been a decent release, nor has the film been accessible to me in any other format. Every time I would look the film up on Amazon for purchase, the bare bones DVD with the cheesy cover would dissuade me from buying it. Until now. Typically, I'll wait until the July-November intervals to pick up all of my Criterions at half price, but Thief had eluded me for so long that I decided to pull the trigger a bit early - $24.99 on Amazon, which is a decent price anyways.

In short, I loved the film. Each time I have visited an early Mann film, such as L.A. Takedown or Thief, it's amazing to me how much the director has incorporated the scenes, dialogue, and characters into his later masterpiece Heat (L.A. Takedown basically being the same film, but much worse). It's almost as if he has an obsession with "scores" and the way bad guys betray one another, and each film he makes is an outlet for his fixation on this type of narrative.

As for visuals, the blu-ray looks amazing. This film has a very unique look to it, and the best way it can be described is mentioned in the booklet: "tailights reflecting on a rainy Chicago street." I highly recommend the Criterion package of this film, and it would make a superb double feature with newly released Rififi, which I already own on DVD, but may pick up on BR during the next sale.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by Dr_Bedlo

I don't really do standard DVD anymore. I would certainly pick up a box set, if Criterion would release a set with a mix of Dogme 95 titles from several directors.

Lol, Sorry about my grammar >.<

Anyway, I agree a Dogme 95 box set would be great

[Scottie]

Ohhhh! Almost forgot it was announcements day!

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Ohhhh! Almost forgot it was announcements day!

Tomorrow :P?

[JHas]

My Amazon order of "Thief" is still listed as "pre-ordered" ... wtf!

The temptation to watch it on xfinity on demand (for free) is growing and growing.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by JHas

My Amazon order of "Thief" is still listed as "pre-ordered" ... wtf!

The temptation to watch it on xfinity on demand (for free) is growing and growing.

Complain! pre orders are meant to arrive on day of release (well they should) I have in past and got refunds haha

[deepbreathsanddeath]

I got the French release of Heavens Gate and began watching it today. Only got to watch over an hour because my girlfriend came home and started watching it with me and within 10 minutes whispered to me "watching this movie feels like slowly dying. The key word here being "slowly"".

I had to laugh. I'm finding it hard to enjoy so far. The movie sure is stunning to look at and the soundtrack is outstanding though. I think having English subtitles would help greatly. English is my native language but my hearing isn't great and it's currently a heat wave here so I've got two fans going. As a result, dialogue is more often than not very hard to make out.

I'll be going in for round two tomorrow but I definitely get the hate on this film so far. I'm enjoying it on a superficial level though and admittedly it's the visual beauty and the soundtrack that's kept me watching so far.

I hope there's a bit more Christopher Walken. He's genuinely terrific to watch in this on the couple brief occasions I've seem him so far.

It's a huge shame the French release doesn't come with English subtitles.

[Rich Pure Doom]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I got the French release of Heavens Gate and began watching it today. Only got to watch over an hour because my girlfriend came home and started watching it with me and within 10 minutes whispered to me "watching this movie feels like slowly dying. The key word here being "slowly"".

I had to laugh. I'm finding it hard to enjoy so far. The movie sure is stunning to look at and the soundtrack is outstanding though. I think having English subtitles would help greatly. English is my native language but my hearing isn't great and it's currently a heat wave here so I've got two fans going. As a result, dialogue is more often than not very hard to make out.

I'll be going in for round two tomorrow but I definitely get the hate on this film so far. I'm enjoying it on a superficial level though and admittedly it's the visual beauty and the soundtrack that's kept me watching so far.

I hope there's a bit more Christopher Walken. He's genuinely terrific to watch in this on the couple brief occasions I've seem him so far.

It's a huge shame the French release doesn't come with English subtitles.

Unfortunately, it doesn't get better. Don't even get me started with the "action" scene towards the end. Goes on forever.

[Tin Drum]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Complain! pre orders are meant to arrive on day of release (well they should) I have in past and got refunds haha

Pfft. Maybe if you are a prime member. Maybe. If not - you might get it on a Friday after release.

[stlcards]

I own the Criterion "The Third Man" and love it! It's one of my favorite movies.

[tenia]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I got the French release of Heavens Gate and began watching it today. Only got to watch over an hour because my girlfriend came home and started watching it with me and within 10 minutes whispered to me "watching this movie feels like slowly dying. The key word here being "slowly"".

I had to laugh. I'm finding it hard to enjoy so far. The movie sure is stunning to look at and the soundtrack is outstanding though.

Meanwhile, I've seen it twice in 3 months (once through the Criterion BD, and once in theaters in the UK) and am dying to see it a third time with the Carlotta BD.

While there's not a lot of action, indeed, there's plenty of things I like in the movie, plenty of daily details within the characters lifes, behaviours, relationships and all.
Sure, it's far from perfect, and it's especially clearly overlong, but it's clearly a movie that grew on me since I first discovered it last year.

It's just like a long waltz, going on, and on. It may feel slow and repetitive, but all the little things make it much more than this.

And actually, even my girlfriend liked it (when I expected her to, also, slowly die sitting through it in theaters ).

[buffetfroid]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

To equate this to music, it's sort of like The Velvet Underground, who are now generally regarded as pioneers of "indie music", "alternative", or "underground" music. At the time, though, The Velvet Underground wanted to sell millions of albums, have their songs played by millions of teenage girls, and be famous. The cookie just happened to crumble in such a way that they are retrospectively considered to be counterculture.

Hard to imagine they thought they could ever get millions of teenage girls playing stuff like "Heroin" and "Sister Ray". I think VU were counter-counterculture and consciously so

[smoss469]

Criterion related, I finished Gosford Park and felt like it tried to be The Rules of the Game but wasn't nearly as entertaining. The first half built up some conflict but then it seems like they rushed to the finish. The film was described as a "whodunit" but there wasn't much investigation or anything of the sort. Overall I thought it was a let down. Glad I got it from Netflix before buying it.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I got the French release of Heavens Gate and began watching it today. Only got to watch over an hour because my girlfriend came home and started watching it with me and within 10 minutes whispered to me "watching this movie feels like slowly dying. The key word here being "slowly"".

I had to laugh. I'm finding it hard to enjoy so far. The movie sure is stunning to look at and the soundtrack is outstanding though. I think having English subtitles would help greatly. English is my native language but my hearing isn't great and it's currently a heat wave here so I've got two fans going. As a result, dialogue is more often than not very hard to make out.

I'll be going in for round two tomorrow but I definitely get the hate on this film so far. I'm enjoying it on a superficial level though and admittedly it's the visual beauty and the soundtrack that's kept me watching so far.

I hope there's a bit more Christopher Walken. He's genuinely terrific to watch in this on the couple brief occasions I've seem him so far.

It's a huge shame the French release doesn't come with English subtitles.

sometimes that (what I highlighted) is enough for a film to be worthwhile.

that is a bummer that you can't put on subtitles. there is something funny about the way the audio was mixed with this movie. if I can recall what I read correctly, it was a bigger problem at the time of the movie's release and has since been fixed somewhat. it is a very "loud" movie w/ sounds coming from all sorts of sources outside of dialogue.

I kept my wife away from this one, although she may have been okay with it. who knows?

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by buffetfroid

Hard to imagine they thought they could ever get millions of teenage girls playing stuff like "Heroin" and "Sister Ray". I think VU were counter-counterculture and consciously so

I think that it was their intention with their album "Loaded." (to have hit songs) Probably not the stuff prior to that, but I don't necessarily know for sure. It is interesting to hear live versions of some of their songs and when the song finishes, you can literally count the number of audience members clapping. That's how popular they were.

Before I get booed off this thread... Velvet Underground's Criterion connection is... in their song "New Age," the lyric is "and when you kissed Robert Mitchum... Gee but I thought you'd never catch him..." and of course, Robert Mitchum stars in Criterion release Night of the Hunter ha! anyway, I LOVE The Velvet Underground, but enough about that.

[TJS_Blu]

Originally Posted by buffetfroid

Hard to imagine they thought they could ever get millions of teenage girls playing stuff like "Heroin" and "Sister Ray". I think VU were counter-counterculture and consciously so

Yeah, that was not one of Owl's better analogies.

[nagysaudio]

Is Criterion going to announce something GOOD today? It's been a looooooooong time...