The Criterion Collection

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by darkness2918

How is The Night Porter for a blind buy?

I thought it was a well-made arty exploitation flick. Great use of music and visuals, and Charlotte Rampling really gives of herself.

[Vinyl]

Originally Posted by mja345

Rewatchability is completely subjective. "House" is one of those movies you pop in and say, "Man, that was completely bizarre and demented". Then, a few weeks later, you have some friends over and, after a few drinks, you say, "Hey you want to watch something really bizarre?" And then, you might show it to a different set of friends a few months later.

I actually completely agree, very astute. Plus, every so often you think,

[Show spoiler]"Man, I love watermelon"

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by mja345

Rewatchability is completely subjective. "House" is one of those movies you pop in and say, "Man, that was completely bizarre and demented". Then, a few weeks later, you have some friends over and, after a few drinks, you say, "Hey you want to watch something really bizarre?" And then, you might show it to a different set of friends a few months later.

^That happens to me with Street Trash

[soarinsteven]

Spend another day going to my hulu queue yesterday, and pretty much struck out with all three.

Started with Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Found the whole thing silly and obnoxious. Good for those that somehow found entertainment or value from this, but I couldn't get into it at all. Such an off-putting surreal atmosphere I couldn't wait to see end. At 73 minutes its still 70 minutes too long.

Next up was Letter Never Sent. This one went over best, but still struggled to care about the characters or predicament, but the striking black and white cinematography was breathtaking. The harshness and beauty of nature emitting in almost every frame.

[Show spoiler]The final scene reminded me of DRIVE, and was waiting for A Real Hero to pipe in on the soundtrack

Finished with Marketa Lazarová. Despite reading some real mixed reactions on here recently I decided to challenge myself with it anyway, but yeah, almost immediately I felt myself unable to connect with anything happening on screen. The jarring, episodic nature of its narrative, and large cast certainly didn't help matters. Oh well.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by soarinsteven

Spend another day going to my hulu queue yesterday, and pretty much struck out with all three.

Started with Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Found the whole thing silly and obnoxious. Good for those that somehow found entertainment or value from this, but I couldn't get into it at all. Such an off-putting surreal atmosphere I couldn't wait to see end. At 73 minutes its still 70 minutes too long.

Next up was Letter Never Sent. This one went over best, but still struggled to care about the characters or predicament, but the striking black and white cinematography was breathtaking. The harshness and beauty of nature emitting in almost every frame.

[Show spoiler]The final scene reminded me of DRIVE, and was waiting for A Real Hero to pipe in on the soundtrack

Finished with Marketa Lazarová. Despite reading some real mixed reactions on here recently I decided to challenge myself with it anyway, but yeah, almost immediately I felt myself unable to connect with anything happening on screen. The jarring, episodic nature of its narrative, and large cast certainly didn't help matters. Oh well.

Agreed about the first two films, but disagree about Marketa Lazarová.

To be fair, the first time I watched it, I shut it off about midway through because of how confused I was. On the second watch, however, I took my time and really devoted 110% of my attention to identifying all of the key players, even pausing it at certain points to read articles about who is who and how each person is connected to one another. This definitely helped me and resulted in me falling in love with the film.

I like to think of the film as Game of Thrones meets religious criticism meets psychological thriller.

[jmclick]

Just curious ... has anyone ever seen a blu-ray copy of The Last Metro in their local Barnes & Noble stores? I haven't. Although the two stores nearest me have HUGE Criterion sections, there seem to be a handful of titles that they don't stock, including Fish Tank, The Last Metro, The Tin Drum and White Material (there may be others). I'm wondering if this is an individual store, a regional, or a corporate phenomenon ...

At any rate, they emailed me another coupon last night, so I ordered The Last Metro from B&N online since I didn't want to make the 30-minute drive into the city. Crossing my fingers that it arrives undamaged!

[mja345]

Originally Posted by jmclick

Just curious ... has anyone ever seen a blu-ray copy of The Last Metro in their local Barnes & Noble stores? I haven't. Although the two stores nearest me have HUGE Criterion sections, there seem to be a handful of titles that they don't stock, including Fish Tank, The Last Metro, The Tin Drum and White Material (there may be others). I'm wondering if this is an individual store, a regional, or a corporate phenomenon ...

At any rate, they emailed me another coupon last night, so I ordered The Last Metro from B&N online since I didn't want to make the 30-minute drive into the city. Crossing my fingers that it arrives undamaged!

I actually saw a copy of "The Last Metro" at my local B&N yesterday. Oddly enough, there had also been a copy of "The Tin Drum" there for months. I knew it was the same copy because of a slight bit of damage on the case. I finally gave in and picked up the copy of "The Tin Drum" yesterday and put it in a replacement case. I have never seen a copy of "White Material" in a B&N now that you mention it though.

[repulsed]

Always see all of those except for White Material.

Did that coupon have the same code? They sent be the same e-mail the last three days in a row

[jmclick]

Originally Posted by repulsed

Always see all of those except for White Material.

Did that coupon have the same code? They sent be the same e-mail the last three days in a row

Yes, it's the same code.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by soarinsteven

Started with Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Found the whole thing silly and obnoxious. Good for those that somehow found entertainment or value from this, but I couldn't get into it at all. Such an off-putting surreal atmosphere I couldn't wait to see end. At 73 minutes its still 70 minutes too long.

Next up was Letter Never Sent. This one went over best, but still struggled to care about the characters or predicament, but the striking black and white cinematography was breathtaking. The harshness and beauty of nature emitting in almost every frame.

I love both those movies, sorry you couldn't care for them. For me the surreal aspect of Valerie was one of its strongest points, it was like watching an adolescent take on Alice in Wonderland.

[Rich Pure Doom]

Originally Posted by soarinsteven

Spend another day going to my hulu queue yesterday, and pretty much struck out with all three.

Started with Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Found the whole thing silly and obnoxious. Good for those that somehow found entertainment or value from this, but I couldn't get into it at all. Such an off-putting surreal atmosphere I couldn't wait to see end. At 73 minutes its still 70 minutes too long.

Next up was Letter Never Sent. This one went over best, but still struggled to care about the characters or predicament, but the striking black and white cinematography was breathtaking. The harshness and beauty of nature emitting in almost every frame.

[Show spoiler]The final scene reminded me of DRIVE, and was waiting for A Real Hero to pipe in on the soundtrack

Finished with Marketa Lazarová. Despite reading some real mixed reactions on here recently I decided to challenge myself with it anyway, but yeah, almost immediately I felt myself unable to connect with anything happening on screen. The jarring, episodic nature of its narrative, and large cast certainly didn't help matters. Oh well.

Completely agree about Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. I found it abysmal. Like iscottie, I disagree about Marketa Lazarova. That one is a beauty.

[Ray Jackson]

I finished Vengeance Is Mine last night and would like to offer some brief thoughts on it. Apologies to anyone who loves this film--this is only my opinion and is not meant to hurt anyone's feelings.

But I honestly have no idea why anyone thinks this is a great film.

I can't, for the life of me, find anything great about it.

If you're expecting a violent film with a series of great murders, you'll be disappointed.

If you're expecting a great police procedural, you'll be disappointed.

If you're expecting an insightful, psychological journey into the mind of a killer, you'll be disappointed.

I don't think there was one scene in the entire movie where I said to myself, "Wow...that was a great scene.."

The music is pretty generic.

There were quite a few scenes where I just couldn't figure out what the director was trying to accomplish with them.

...I have no idea what kind of movie he was trying to make.

At least the scene in the hot springs between the old man and the wife was pleasant. Maybe the

[Show spoiler]last conversation in jail between the father and the killer.

[Show spoiler]And the mother watching her daughter being raped and preventing the killer from stopping him was a nice tough.

[Halation]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

a series of great murders

literally the only thing I'm looking for in a film

but yeah, it's not very good. You should watch The Vanishing next, as it'll seem great by comparison.

[Will G]

Originally Posted by soarinsteven

Spend another day going to my hulu queue yesterday, and pretty much struck out with all three.

Started with Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Found the whole thing silly and obnoxious. Good for those that somehow found entertainment or value from this, but I couldn't get into it at all. Such an off-putting surreal atmosphere I couldn't wait to see end. At 73 minutes its still 70 minutes too long.

I was somehow convinced that I would absolutely love Valerie & Her Week Of Wonders due to it's surrealist nature. It was an easy blind buy in the sale. Black Moon, Daisies, El Topo, are all films that I enjoy. However, I watched it this past Friday & was quite disappointed. The original score was beautifully composed & there were some nice visuals, but I just didn't find it to be engaging at all.

[Vlad Draculi]

Thank the gods B&N's sale is done tomorrow.

[ShellOilJunior]

I watched Last Year at Marienbad yesterday (My 6th or 7th viewing) and read the essays in the booklet. It was fascinating to read Robbe-Grillet's changing opinion of the film and Resnais. In 1961 he said Resnais and himself agreed on everything as to how to film the production. Years later he has 'trivial' concerns about the picture and it comes out that Resnais followed the script closely but made some changes. The two also disagreed on whether or not 'A' and 'X' did meet the year prior - Resnais says probably yes, Robbet-Grillet says probably no.

In any case, I think the collaboration was a huge success. Every time I watch the I watch it differently and piece together the narrative a different way. I've said this before but there's no film like Marienbad that's a complete subjective experience.

[Rich Pure Doom]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I watched Last Year at Marienbad yesterday (My 6th or 7th viewing) and read the essays in the booklet. It was fascinating to read Robbe-Grillet's changing opinion of the film and Resnais. In 1961 he said Resnais and himself agreed on everything as to how to film the production. Years later he has 'trivial' concerns about the picture and it comes out that Resnais followed the script closely but made some changes. The two also disagreed on whether or not 'A' and 'X' did meet the year prior - Resnais says probably yes, Robbet-Grillet says probably no.

In any case, I think the collaboration was a huge success. Every time I watch the I watch it differently and piece together the narrative a different way. I've said this before but there's no film like Marienbad that's a complete subjective experience.

This. Marienbad is perfect and timeless.

[Vinyl]

Originally Posted by Vlad Draculi

Thank the gods B&N's sale is done tomorrow.

Sooo, do you like Hitchcock?

[oildude]

Anyone who doesn't have Ace in the Hole in their collection and goes through this sale without adding it is really missing out. I watched it again last night and appreciated it even more than I did the first time. A true noir classic. Kirk Douglas at the peak of his craft. I love this movie.

And I am now certain that Billy Wilder is my favorite director. That guy made so many near-perfect films across multiple genres. He was also the writer for many of his classic films, including Ace in the Hole. Unbelievable talent.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by oildude

Anyone who doesn't have Ace in the Hole in their collection and goes through this sale without adding it is really missing out. I watched it again last night and appreciated it even more than I did the first time. A true noir classic. Kirk Douglas at the peak of his craft. I love this movie.

And I am now certain that Billy Wilder is my favorite director. That guy made so many near-perfect films across multiple genres. He was also the writer for many of his classic films, including Ace in the Hole. Unbelievable talent.

Would you say it's as good as Sunset Boulevard?

...better?