The Criterion Collection

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Everyone should own Skyfall, even if just for the gorgeous Roger Deakins cinematography.

That's good, since the movie was mostly garbage and one of the worst Bond films since a few of Roger Moore's.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

I just own Casino Royale (not the comedy one), no real need for the others even if I liked Skyfall, recently started watching the old ones, I like old movies and all but frankly I have not been impressed yet, only saw the first two though.

I've only seen Bond movies that starred Daniel Craig or Sean Connery and I have to say From Russia With Love and Casino Royale aren't just good Bond movies, they are good movies... period.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

None of Deakins' films are in the collection, correct?

That makes for a fun question (for anyone who wants to answer). If you could add one film to the collection from the films he has been cinematographer on, what film would you add?

The Shawshank Redemption would be my choice, as much as I love Skyfall and No Country for Old Men.

The Shawshank Redemption is hugely popular, and it already has a good Blu-ray treatment, but that's never stopped Criterion before...har har.
I'd love to see Criterion get a hold of it and add some Stephen King interviews and/or a King commentary to the fold.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I've only seen Bond movies that starred Daniel Craig or Sean Connery and I have to say From Russia With Love and Casino Royale aren't just good Bond movies, they are good movies... period.

The first three Connery films are great, the next three aren't too great. Connery absolutely sleepwalks through "Diamonds are Forever". "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is good even though George Lazenby was pretty awful. Most of the Moore ones range from mediocre to awful. I actually like the Timothy Dalton films, even though Dalton is a bit wooden and lacks charisma. Not a fan of the Brosnon films for the most part and I haven't really enjoyed any of the Craig ones outside of "Casino Royale".

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I've only seen Bond movies that starred Daniel Craig or Sean Connery and I have to say From Russia With Love and Casino Royale aren't just good Bond movies, they are good movies... period.

Originally Posted by mja345

The first three Connery films are great, the next three aren't too great. Connery absolutely sleepwalks through "Diamonds are Forever". "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is good even though George Lazenby was pretty awful. Most of the Moore ones range from mediocre to awful. I actually like the Timothy Dalton films, even though Dalton is a bit wooden and lacks charisma. Not a fan of the Brosnon films for the most part and I haven't really enjoyed any of the Craig ones outside of "Casino Royale".

My Top Five James Bond films...

1. Dr. No
2. From Russia with Love
3. Casino Royale
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. Goldfinger

The Bond movies starring Timothy Dalton, however, are underrated. The Living Daylights is a near-miss for my above top five.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is outstanding, but it's also a near miss.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by mja345

The first three Connery films are great, the next three aren't too great. Connery absolutely sleepwalks through "Diamonds are Forever". "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is good even though George Lazenby was pretty awful. Most of the Moore ones range from mediocre to awful. I actually like the Timothy Dalton films, even though Dalton is a bit wooden and lacks charisma. Not a fan of the Brosnon films for the most part and I haven't really enjoyed any of the Craig ones outside of "Casino Royale".

I have the Lazenby Blu-ray at home. I'll cherry pick one from each of the other Bond actors. I think each of them had at least one that is reasonably well regarded.

I don't watch any other franchise movies. Zero interest in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, etc. Some of the Bond movies are fun and about as mindless as I'll allow myself to go.

[PaperThinWalls]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I really enjoy John Waters underground films. They would seem like a natural fit for an Eclipse set but I have no clue who has the rights to them. Only problem with an Eclipse release would be no Waters commentaries which are real treats in themselves.

Eclipse? No way. Pink Flamingos and the rest of his midnight films are shoo-in for mainline releases. The likelihood of that happening is pretty slim, though, since they're with New Line/Warner.

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I first saw Pink Flamingo in, of all places, Georgetown D.C. which was a hippie hangout in the '70s. It got lots of publicity not only due to its content but also the public battle between Waters and the Maryland Censor Board which was the last such state censorship board overseeing film releases at that time. A friend and I kind of dared each other to go see it at a midnight showing. It was wonderfully weird but that ending..........

Funny thing is the ending is not even the grossest moment in the film IMO.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I don't watch any other franchise movies. Zero interest in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, etc. Some of the Bond movies are fun and about as mindless as I'll allow myself to go.

No love for Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman? Haha.

I've been watching the Zatoichi films slowly...too slowly, since I'm not even halfway through the set yet. I didn't want all of the films to run together if I were to watch them within a short time, but I'm tempted to make a marathon dash out of the remaining ones pretty soon.

Funny that you mention The Hunger Games movies, because I saw the final one at the theater on Saturday. It's sort of like a Resident Evil movie that does not star Milla Jovovich, but I like those Resident Evil movies, so I was cool with it.

The first film, The Hunger Games, is actually pretty great. It shares the dystopian vibe of a lot of my favorite bleak 1970s sci-fi movies, namely The Omega Man, Soylent Green, and Logan's Run. It was also wonderfully filmed, which was surprising, considering the subject matter. I actually enjoyed the first movie more than I liked the novel, because the movie was not so heavy-handed when it comes to the teenage girl point of view.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

My Top Five James Bond films...

1. Dr. No
2. From Russia with Love
3. Casino Royale
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. Goldfinger

The Bond movies starring Timothy Dalton, however, are underrated. The Living Daylights is a near-miss for my above top five.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is outstanding, but it's also a near miss.

"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" would probably be 1 or 2 for me if it had Connery in it. Everything about that film is awesome except for Lazenby. Great location, good villain, great Bond girl in Diana Rigg. I think I'd go...

1. From Russia With Love
2. Dr. No
3. Goldfinger
4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
5. Licence to Kill

'The Living Daylights' and 'Casino Royale' just miss the cut for me.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

None of Deakins' films are in the collection, correct?

That makes for a fun question (for anyone who wants to answer). If you could add one film to the collection from the films he has been cinematographer on, what film would you add?

I must admit that I've only seen about 1/3 of Roger Deakins' films, but of the ones that don't already have a blu ray release, I would be most interested in Bob Rafelson's Mountains of the Moon. A commentary or interview with Deakins and/or Rafelson would be great, too.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by mja345

The first three Connery films are great, the next three aren't too great.

Hunh. Thunderball is my second favorite of the Connery films, behind only From Russia With Love.

Most of the Moore ones range from mediocre to awful.

I have a soft spot for The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, but the only one of Moore's Bond films that I think is really good (despite Lynn Holly Johnson), and feel obliged to have in my collection, is For Your Eyes Only.

I actually like the Timothy Dalton films, even though Dalton is a bit wooden and lacks charisma.

I didn't really like The Living Daylights, but that was really made for Roger Moore rather than Dalton. I really quite like Licence to Kill, though.

Not a fan of the Brosnon films for the most part and I haven't really enjoyed any of the Craig ones outside of "Casino Royale".

Brosnan -- I'm ambivalent about GoldenEye, and I hated Die Another Day. The World Is Not Enough I have a love/hate attitude toward: I think it's Brosnan's best performance as Bond, and both Robert Carlyle and Sophie Marceau were terrific in it. Denise Richards drags it down a bit. But Tomorrow Never Dies is one of my favorite films in the Bond series.

As for Craig, I loved Casino Royale and Skyfall, and thought Quantum of Solace was OK (it seemed more like a coda for CR than its own film, though). Still haven't seen Spectre yet.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I don't watch any other franchise movies. Zero interest in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, etc. Some of the Bond movies are fun and about as mindless as I'll allow myself to go.

The Hunger Games films are much better than one would expect. The first one is in the same vein as Rollerball. If that was it, it might not be worth much, since it just mines the same ore, but the other films build on that premise.

[Scottie]

For Your Eyes Only is easily my favorite Bond film.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by jayembee

The Hunger Games films are much better than one would expect. The first one is in the same vein as Rollerball. If that was it, it might not be worth much, since it just mines the same ore, but the other films build on that premise.

I actually tried the first movie thinking it looked like it'd be a fun watch... that first 40 minutes of set up is excruciating. I couldn't get past it. Maybe will try again, though.

[mja345]

Jayembee, "Thunderball" is solid. It would probably be at the back end of my top 10. I think I've always discounted it a bit because, for me, it's a drop off from Connery's first three. "Licence to Kill" is one of my favorite Bond films. "Goldeneye" and "Tomorrow Never Dies" are pretty decent, but I really didn't enjoy Brosnan's final two. "Die Another Day" is by far my least favorite Bond movie. So, so atrocious.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I actually tried the first movie thinking it looked like it'd be a fun watch... that first 40 minutes of set up is excruciating. I couldn't get past it. Maybe will try again, though.

Actually the first 40 minutes is the best part when there are no action sequences, then it goes into Shaky cam Battle Royale mode, I thought it was just Ok in general.

[oildude]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

huh?

You seem like an intelligent fellow. I am confident you will figure out the reference, if you are curious.

Hint: google

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by oildude

You seem like an intelligent fellow. I am confident you will figure out the reference, if you are curious.

Hint: google

ahhh!! I've only seen Goldfinger once and that was quite a few years ago. I am actually very relieved that that isn't your opinion as I wondered how someone who appreciates the cinematic equivalent to album deep cuts could diss on The Beatles. just couldn't reconcile that in my mind.

well, shame on James Bond, although to his defense they had only released their super poppy stuff by 1964.

[Banned User]

Surprised there is no talk on these forums of the Yoshida set. I wonder if Criterion plans on releasing this in the states since apparently Arrow doesn't have the rights or feels it would not sell.

Finally watched the 3+ hour version of Eros plus Massacre. While the story and it's structure can be perplexing I found it much easier to follow then say a Robbet Grillet film or Marianbad and other films of this type.

However the imagery, framing and composition in the movie is nothing short of breath taking. Definitely recommended for arthouse film fans.


As far as the Bond films I find something to like about all of them to a degree. The early Connery films were great and the Roger Moore films are just a guilty pleasure for me. Most of the other films are more reflective of their era. The Timothy Dalton films scream late 80's early 90's and its nice to see a young Benicio Del Toro as a villian. The Pierce Brosnan films really did a disservice IMO to Brosnan. He was one of those guys that everyone thought for years would make a great Bond, but the amount of cheese in those films and the 90's excess really hurt those films.

I feel the Daniel Craig films have been some of the best simply by taking the subject matter more seriously. How anyone could not like Skyfall is beyond me. Mende's did a terrific job and the series hasn't had a villain as good as Javier Bardem in a long time.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by Banned User

Surprised there is no talk on these forums of the Yoshida set. I wonder if Criterion plans on releasing this in the states since apparently Arrow doesn't have the rights or feels it would not sell.

Finally watched the 3+ hour version of Eros plus Massacre. While the story and it's structure can be perplexing I found it much easier to follow then say a Robbet Grillet film or Marianbad and other films of this type.

However the imagery, framing and composition in the movie is nothing short of breath taking. Definitely recommended for arthouse film fans.


As far as the Bond films I find something to like about all of them to a degree. The early Connery films were great and the Roger Moore films are just a guilty pleasure for me. Most of the other films are more reflective of their era. The Timothy Dalton films scream late 80's early 90's and its nice to see a young Benicio Del Toro as a villian. The Pierce Brosnan films really did a disservice IMO to Brosnan. He was one of those guys that everyone thought for years would make a great Bond, but the amount of cheese in those films and the 90's excess really hurt those films.

I feel the Daniel Craig films have been some of the best simply by taking the subject matter more seriously. How anyone could not like Skyfall is beyond me. Mende's did a terrific job and the series hasn't had a villain as good as Javier Bardem in a long time.

I'm hoping to get to some of my Arrow stuff this weekend. The Yoshida and Battles set are top of my list to watch.