The Criterion Collection

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Reddington

Always crosses my mind when people start obsessing about the minutiae of PQ.

DVD was a godsend; BD a revelation. Film buffs have never had it so good.

It's ridiculous. A world of film and television is literally at our fingertips and it's never looked better or been more affordable. And that's just the stuff we can buy.

On top of that, the 'digital revolution' has allowed all manner of content providers to offer their own subscription services. Criterion's Hulu deal is like giving them their own cable channel.

It's insane how much stuff is available, how cool it is and how easy it all is to get.

But sometimes the covers do kind of suck.

So I guess there's that

[ShellOilJunior]

I long for the day Blowup is given a Criterion release and the pixel police get to dissect its stills.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Never even heard of it.

Why do you think I would like it?

...aside from my fondness for Ukrainian hookers.

Revanche takes a pedestrian premise, takes a few risks and never a false step. It's terrific.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Never even heard of it.

Why do you think I would like it?

...aside from my fondness for Ukrainian hookers.

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Revanche takes a pedestrian premise, takes a few risks and never a false step. It's terrific.

you'd have a difficult time finding anyone around here to say that they didn't like it. viscerally thrilling, yet thoughtful. accessible, but never pandering. ..and with re-watch value, too.

not to mention, the girl you speak of comes off as both sweet and incredibly sexy.

probably in my top 25 CC titles.

[SammyJankis]

I dunno. I could see some having a problem with its minimalism and take on genre tropes.

I echo the love, though. Terrific film.

[waxHead]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

An intriguing suggestion.

...will have to seriously consider this one.

If you're a fan of film noir, you'll enjoy it. Though it was released after the film noir period (early '40s -> late '50s), this one has most, if not all, of the film noir hallmarks. Beautiful black-and-white cinematography with plenty of shadows (and shadowy figures), a femme fatale and a truly dark tale. If it's not yet obvious, I love it

[joie]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

you'd have a difficult time finding anyone around here to say that they didn't like it. viscerally thrilling, yet thoughtful. accessible, but never pandering. ..and with re-watch value, too.

not to mention, the girl you speak of comes off as both sweet and incredibly sexy.

probably in my top 25 CC titles.

I can't say that I disliked "Revanche", but it went into the For Sale pile and is now gone. I've never wanted to rewatch it.

[mdonovan]

Originally Posted by joie

I can't say that I disliked "Revanche", but it went into the For Sale pile and is now gone. I've never wanted to rewatch it.

sort of like wages of fear for me ... or seconds

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I long for the day Blowup is given a Criterion release and the pixel police get to dissect its stills.

[Banned User]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Never even heard of it.

Why do you think I would like it?

...aside from my fondness for Ukrainian hookers.

I second Revanche and Pale Flower. Both great films.

Both are slower paced, especially Revanche so that can be a turn off for some.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

I dunno. I could see some having a problem with its minimalism and take on genre tropes.

I echo the love, though. Terrific film.

Originally Posted by Banned User

I second Revanche and Pale Flower. Both great films.

Both are slower paced, especially Revanche so that can be a turn off for some.

There is nothing "minimalist" about Revanche. Maybe I'm just recalling the way I connected with the film, but the first act was about as thrilling as anything I can recall - Pulp Fiction, the opening scenes of Amores Perros, etc.

During the remainder of the film, there's far too much on the line for the main character and it is of absolutely no mystery what that is.

I wouldn't give the caveat "its slow" either, but that's just me. It plays out like a lot of modern European art house cinema.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

you'd have a difficult time finding anyone around here to say that they didn't like it. viscerally thrilling, yet thoughtful. accessible, but never pandering. ..and with re-watch value, too.

not to mention, the girl you speak of comes off as both sweet and incredibly sexy.

probably in my top 25 CC titles.

Plus

[Show spoiler]you'll learn the proper way to chop and saw wood!

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

There is nothing "minimalist" about Revanche. Maybe I'm just recalling the way I connected with the film, but the first act was about as thrilling as anything I can recall - Pulp Fiction, the opening scenes of Amores Perros, etc.

During the remainder of the film, there's far too much on the line for the main character and it is of absolutely no mystery what that is.

I wouldn't give the caveat "its slow" either, but that's just me. It plays out like a lot of modern European art house cinema.

Its aesthetic has a minimalist vibe: long takes, either static or tripod, focusing on seemingly mundane activities. Aside from the obvious set piece, I wouldn't label the film as a thriller. It certainly uses the tropes of a revenge piece, but more to its ways of a character study.

Frankly, my favorite part is when

[Show spoiler]the officer that shot the girl finally elaborates on his feelings of the entire situation to the man, questioning why the hell she was even there in the first place. That line of dialogue is the beat the film had been building towards. It simultaneously offers some form of relief while condemning the protagonist who had been feeling resentment over something that was his fault to begin with.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by darkness2918

I know the feeling, I easily spent a ton of $ during the July sale since it was also my first. This time im grabbing 2-3 titles since I got stuff from other labels to grab also. The good thing about CC is that they hold resale value pretty well. As for suggestions, do you have Kagemusha? Maybe Dressed to Kill, Seconds or Solaris? You should put your collection up here Ray.

I like Kagemusha very much, but since I already have one Kurosawa on my list, I think I'll try to go for another director on this one.

Dressed to Kill is good, the elevator scene scares the living daylights out of me, but I don't think I love it enough to make it one of the five.

I've owned Solaris in the past, but did find it had the replay value to sustain my interest over multiple viewings.

Never seen Seconds.

...is it great?

[buffetfroid]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Never seen Seconds.

...is it great?

Pretty great. I haven't watched the Criterion yet but it has great cinematography by James Wong Howe so you should find it visually appealing even if you don't end up liking the movie?

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

Its aesthetic has a minimalist vibe: long takes, either static or tripod, focusing on seemingly mundane activities. Aside from the obvious set piece, I wouldn't label the film as a thriller. It certainly uses the tropes of a revenge piece, but more to its ways of a character study.

Frankly, my favorite part is when

[Show spoiler]the officer that shot the girl finally elaborates on his feelings of the entire situation to the man, questioning why the hell she was even there in the first place. That line of dialogue is the beat the film had been building towards. It simultaneously offers some form of relief while condemning the protagonist who had been feeling resentment over something that was his fault to begin with.

I disagree. I only saw the film once, but outside of

[Show spoiler]the wood chopping

, I cannot recall any other shots focusing on mundane activities. ...and those shots were not long shots.

It seems like we are defining minimalism differently. When I think of minimalism, I think Van San't Elephant or Last Days or the way Bresson directed his actors. GVS might be an extreme example and I'm not saying there can't be any in between. I just didn't see that with Revanche.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I disagree. I only saw the film once, but outside of

[Show spoiler]the wood chopping

, I cannot recall any other shots focusing on mundane activities. ...and those shots were not long shots.

It seems like we are defining minimalism differently. When I think of minimalism, I think Van San't Elephant or Last Days or the way Bresson directed his actors. GVS might be an extreme example and I'm not saying there can't be any in between. I just didn't see that with Revanche.

Is there any other movie that you could compare Revanche to?

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I disagree. I only saw the film once, but outside of

[Show spoiler]the wood chopping

, I cannot recall any other shots focusing on mundane activities. ...and those shots were not long shots.

It seems like we are defining minimalism differently. When I think of minimalism, I think Van San't Elephant or Last Days or the way Bresson directed his actors. GVS might be an extreme example and I'm not saying there can't be any in between. I just didn't see that with Revanche.

Not that this validates my opinion or anything, but I have seen it several times. The car scene after the central set piece is fairly lengthy, as is the scene in the woods with a flashlight. It's a barebones style that echoes, I think, Haneke, creating an allure that manages to make a single line of dialogue entirely dramatic and efficient. I'd say some of of Bresson can be linked here in craft, mainly its use of repetitive action.

To clarify, this was not at all a criticism. I just think if you go into this film, you should go in with a mindset that it isn't a thriller. Maybe that's just me.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Is there any other movie that you could compare Revanche to?

I was going to suggest watching the trailer, but don’t do that. I just watched it and I think it gives away more than I’d want to know if I was to see it for the first time.

I can’t really think of what film it resembles. I have a few in mind, but I’m not sure why as I cannot think of a tangible connection, so I won’t throw those out there.

[Vidya]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Following the same logic one could routinely pull up screencaptures with tiny scratches or stains and claim that the presentation is sub-optimal. Following the same logic any dated master that is used for a release where the grain fluctuates a bit and isn't resolved immaculately -- and you better believe that there are thousands of such titles -- would be deemed a failure.

Maybe so, however, I'm referring to compression issues. I would never criticize problems inherent to the source material.

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Blowing up screencaptures -- one after another -- and examining pixels isn't the way films are meant to be seen. Just like in the music field you do not extract single notes from a harmonic structure and marvel them individually.

Of course, but blowing up screenshots is an effective way to examine the quality of an encode.

Regards