The Criterion Collection

[octagon]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

World on a Wire is the Fassbinder film that most intrigues me, but there's always something else on the Criterion rack that takes precedence.

Someday...

You need to bump that up. You love noir, you love The Twilight Zone...I don't want to oversell it but World on a Wire should be right up your alley.

[ShellOilJunior]

I've only seen Make Way For Tomorrow from this month. Seems like a good month to make discoveries and expand horizons. I enjoy Middler's work in Rochelle, Rochelle: The Musical so I may like The Rose.

[moviebuffed]

A little confused. In the initial Criterion article it says May 19th is the release date for "The Rose", "Limelight" and "Make Way For Tomorrow". In the final press release it says May 12th for the latter title. Which is it? I ask because the three titles I want are the above mentioned and it would be great to order all three on the same order from Amazon.

[ShellOilJunior]

I Confess may be officially crossed off the rumored list.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by octagon

Do you think some kid in an Indonesian sweatshop really cares whether Criterion got the right amount of props this month or whether people have too many 'mainstream' titles on their Blu-ray wishlists?

Not really.

I'd be willing to bet, however, that it really chaps his butt that Criterion is printing leaflets instead of booklets.

[adamhopelies]

I'm happy with the May slate, and consider it a good mix of downright masterpieces and films new to me that are ripe for discovery.

Limelight is probably my favourite Chaplin movie. It's certainly the one that I've seen the most. I've got the UK disc but am keen to see this 4K resto and the supplements. I love the artwork too (tho I've got a feeling it's going to be revised, as the text overlaps with the Criterion C in a really weird way).

Make Way For Tomorrow is another one that I already have on UK Blu-ray, but it's a film that I'm pleased to see will be getting a wider audience. It's such a beautiful, sad movie (I'd personally even place it before Tokyo Story, which owes a great debt to the McCarey movie).

I've not seen the Costa-Gavras movies, but he's someone whose work I am very keen to further explore. I love the artwork for State Of Siege.

I've not seen the Fassbinder for years, but remember liking it. Weirdly the title I'm most keen to see out of all this month's is probably The Rose. I'm not familiar with Rydell at all, bar On Golden Pond, but the enthusiasm of Vilmos Zsigmond has me thoroughly intrigued.

MWFT aside I'll probably pick all of these up.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by easydreamer

The press sheet for Make Way for Tomorrow says it comes with a booklet. Hope it is true!

The DVD release had a booklet so it looks like they're reprinting it for this release. I wouldnt take it as a sign that they're going back to them full-time.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm not familiar with the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder or Costa-Gavras. This does not mean that I'm close-minded or that I'm a failure as a fan of cinema. It simply means that there are a whole lot of movies in the world, and I have not seen them all, nor will I ever see them all.

Given some of the films that you've expressed a liking for, I suspect that you'd really enjoy the Costa-Gavras films. There are a couple of more recent films of his out from Cohen -- Amen and Capital -- which are also available on Netflix.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

World on a Wire is the Fassbinder film that most intrigues me, but there's always something else on the Criterion rack that takes precedence.

Someday...

If you've seen and liked The 13th Floor then World on a Wire would make an intriguing double-bill. They are two very different takes on the same source novel, Daniel Galouye's Simulacron-3.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

We all have a few blind spots when it comes to directors and films in the Criterion Collection, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I'm not familiar with the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder or Costa-Gavras. This does not mean that I'm close-minded or that I'm a failure as a fan of cinema. It simply means that there are a whole lot of movies in the world, and I have not seen them all, nor will I ever see them all.

So, when I post, "Other than Limelight, nothing really jumps out at me.", I'm not condemning the other movies. If you are a huge fan of Fassbinder or Costa-Gavras, then there's no need to act as though I just killed your puppy. I have not yet made my way to their films, but I might make my way down those side roads at some point in the future. There just happens to be other places on the map that I'm more interested in seeing at the moment.

I completely understand where you are coming from. Other than a few directors and writers that I found on my own that aren't current, or "big name," my film knowledge didn't reach too far outside US directors. I knew a few of the big ones of course, but there are so many films and directors I don't know, that I feel so dense in here sometimes.

So I get that same feeling when there is a month of all movies I don't know, or directors I don't know. I'm a little disappointed, but not putting down the releases, just not familiar with them, "so my skirt isn't blown up." But it does get me a little jazzed to know there are more good films that I now know I need to see. It's fuuny, my friends look at my movie collection and go "Wow, you've seen everything." I can only say, I've only touched the tip of the movie Iceberg. And I show them the Criterion site, or pull up a wiki page of silent films, or lost films.

Not to get off topic, but I was looking at the "List of lost films" Wikipedia page the other day, and it just made me sad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lost_films My wife understood whne I told her, but so many others don't. It does make me happy though that there are those out there that are trying to find these films, and preserve those that are almost "extinct." Thanks to the likes of Criterion, AFI, Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project, the World Cinema Foundation, and others who are doing their best to make sure our films are around for the rest of time.

[SlickDamian]

Least excited that I've been about announcements in a while.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jw007

I'm really happy to see yet another Chaplin film, Limelight, see the light of the Criterion blu-ray laser beam. This feels like a bookend and completes my Criterion Chaplin collection once and for all. I can't see Criterion releasing any more Chaplin (with maybe the exception of The Kid and The Circus).

If you think they might release The Kid and The Circus, then you won't have completed your Criterion Chaplin, will you?

Actually, I suspect that they'll (eventually) release all of the Chaplins controlled by MK2, which would also include the features A King in New York and A Woman of Paris. The only feature of his I wouldn't expect to come out from Criterion would be his final one, A Countess from Hong Kong (though being a Universal film, it might not be completely out of the question).

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

I really like the 'Limelight' cover, too. It reminds me of circus banner/Fred Johnson artwork.

The style reminds me of the cover for the Image/CBS-Fox DVD from 2000.

[ShellOilJunior]

Make Way For Tomorrow (2/23/10) and Z (10/27/9) were released earlier in CC's blu-ray cycle as DVD-only releases. MWFT is finally getting a blu-ray. Will Z get a blu?

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by Peachy

Well, again a deception

I'm not a fan at all of Costa-Gavras, but I presume if it's the case, it's a good month.

(and i going to repeat myself every month, but were the damn is Mulholland Drive ?!).

What am I missing? What's the deception?

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

What am I missing? What's the deception?

Not enough Wes Anderson or David Lynch I would imagine?

All in for Limelight of course as if I would let that past without buying.

Good month I might even go for The Rose but I would probably wait for a sale to get it.

[starman15317]

Yay Limelight! More Chaplin is always welcome.

[blu-bry]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

My wife and I couldn't get through WotW. Ali looks like something I might like, but I am put off by how much I didn't enjoy WotW.

I didn't enjoy World on a Wire either - at all. I really wanted to, and I'm normally a fan of this kind of film, but this one turned me off. I'm glad I watched it on Hulu +.

[Noetic Hatter]

Originally Posted by blu-bry

I didn't enjoy World on a Wire either - at all. I really wanted to, and I'm normally a fan of this kind of film, but this one turned me off. I'm glad I watched it on Hulu +.

I caught this one on TCM some months back, when I was still paying $120 a month for cable. (I miss TCM, incidentally, but so far not enough to spend that kind of money.) It was completely on a whim, as I had never seen any Fassbinder. I loved it - bizarre and suspenseful and thoughtful, all in glorious 70s fashions and designs.

After, I watched LOLA, which I found to be like visual candy, with actual "human" characters. A delight.

So far, those are the only two I have seen, though it looks like a bunch of his films are available on Hulu+ - so I should get on the rest of them.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by adamhopelies

The DVD release had a booklet so it looks like they're reprinting it for this release. I wouldnt take it as a sign that they're going back to them full-time.