The Criterion Collection

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by darkness2918

None to be honest. Unless they happen to be tears of boredom from watching a movie I don't like

No way!? You've never cried during a movie? It's a pretty great feeling actually, a similar kind of response to finding a film unbearably funny, or terrifying.

To answer the OP, Carol slayed me recently. While not buckets of tears it left me with that kind of gut-punch tearfulness that renders one incapable of speech for half an hour after.

Cinema Paradiso is one that gets me overtime. The last act has me blubbing so badly that I'm usually left with a headache!

[deepseababy]

I think I genuinely cried over Boys Don't Cry.

[filmmusic]

I cry very easily but from the Criterions I own The Thin Red Line is the one that I cried my eyes out. In fact I wanted to jump off the balcony!

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

I wish it were that easy. The movies with damaged packaging have come from multiple sources. For instance, they sent me three copies of A Streetcar Named Desire. All exhibited similar damage. One was shipped by UPS. One Dynamex. The third by the USPS.

The first Giant copy I received was pretty roughed up. That was part of a larger order in a box, and the other movies inside were find. Giant, though, was really rough.


The pictures really don't do the damage justice.

I bought a copy of ex Machina, and the side of the slipcover was torn all the way through. That was packaged in a box with my Ultimate James Bond collection, which was in bubble wrap.

Amazon has been good about replacing them. From now on, if I buy a moie with a digibook, I'll just buy three copies, take the best, and return the other two unopened for refund. I told them that if I get damaged movies I am paying full price for, they will be going back. They had no problem with that.

I would be carefully employing that policy regularly. Amazon seems to have a history of banning people from ordering from them due to what they deem to be too much return activity. From what I've heard it can happen without prior notice, and even when each of the individual return transactions were "approved" by Amazon.

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

What movie(s) have made you teary or cried your eyes out? Anyone else can answer this question.

I almost forgot the "I could have done more" scene from Schindler's List.

[WonderWeasel]

Does anyone happen to know why Criterion doesn't sell the Josef von Sternberg box set through their website?

[JJJ225]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

Does anyone happen to know why Criterion doesn't sell the Josef von Sternberg box set through their website?

It's out of print.

A wonderful set; one of the best items in my collection. I do wish we'd have a Blu Ray release though.

[joie]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

I would be carefully employing that policy regularly. Amazon seems to have a history of banning people from ordering from them due to what they deem to be too much return activity. From what I've heard it can happen without prior notice, and even when each of the individual return transactions were "approved" by Amazon.

A solution may be to preorder things. That way you can be sure you're not getting a returned item.

[SkyAntoine]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

This one too... I'm not sure if Scottie is being serious or not, but in a screening room full of 100 crying viewers giving me emotional cues, I still wouldn't cry during Rosemary's Baby.

On the other hand, "dad, you wanna have catch?" is enough to bring me to my knees.

Scottie's analysis of Rosemary's Baby reminds me of this iconic cinematic scene.

[SkyAntoine]

Originally Posted by JJJ225

It's out of print.

A wonderful set; one of the best items in my collection. I do wish we'd have a Blu Ray release though.

This set is going for north of $250 on eBay now. I broke down this month and paid $185 just to have a good copy in excellent condition.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by SkyAntoine

This set is going for north of $250 on eBay now. I broke down this month and paid $185 just to have a good copy in excellent condition.

When I decided to collect all the Criterion blus, there were only 2 oop titles at the time (Third Man, and The Man Who Fell To Earth) and both were obtainable for $60-$80. I can't imagine trying to all the oop dvds. That is a Herculean collecting effort and best of luck to those who are on that road.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by JJJ225

It's out of print.

A wonderful set; one of the best items in my collection. I do wish we'd have a Blu Ray release though.

Doesn't Criterion.com explicitly state that it's *not* out of print?

[SkyAntoine]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

When I decided to collect all the Criterion blus, there were only 2 oop titles at the time (Third Man, and The Man Who Fell To Earth) and both were obtainable for $60-$80. I can't imagine trying to all the oop dvds. That is a Herculean collecting effort and best of luck to those who are on that road.

The blus were much easier to get than the DVDs. I have 2/3 of the OOP DVDs, but I still need 22 titles. They're running around $30 a pop now.

[adamhopelies]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Doesn't Criterion.com explicitly state that it's *not* out of print?

I was under the impression that it was being reissued in the near future, in a plastic case.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Why are you watching it on TCM?

Did you not purchase the Criterion set?

I didn’t watch it. I was tickled with the idea that it was on cable TV, so I turned it on just to see 5 minutes or so. It was the last few minutes of Pather Panchali, so I watched that and then was curious to see what Ben Mankiewicz would say about it. Between the first and second movie they played the short documentary about how they restored the movies. I’m sure it is on the blu-ray collection. Anyway, that was awesome. There are zero spoilers regarding the plots of any of the films, so I highly recommend watching it to everyone. The miracle of the restoration is nearly as impressive as the miracle of PP itself.

I’m saving the second and third film for the right time.

[belcherman]

Unless Downhill Racer goes on sale in the next month, I'm done buying Criterions for 2015. Looking back, I bought 21 Criterion blu rays (plus the Golden Age of Television DVD) this year, 8 of which were 2015 releases:

1. The Palm Beach Story
2. Ride the Pink Horse
3. Odd Man Out
4. Sullivan's Travels
5. The Friends of Eddie Coyle
6. Make Way for Tomorrow
7. The Killers
8. Night and the City

Ride the Pink Horse and Odd Man Out were both blind buys. I haven't watched RTPH yet, but Odd Man Out blew me away, mostly because of James Mason's performance. It's not on the level of The Third Man, but it's damn good. James Mason was a revelation. I'm mostly used to seeing him play sad middle-aged types like Norman Main or Humbert Humbert. When he was younger, he was as cool and sexy as James Dean.

In other stats, here's what blu-ray.com has to say about my collection:

Distribution by genre:

20.9% drama
9.3% romance
8.6% comedy
7.1% crime
5.8% thriller

Strongly overrepresented: Film-Noir, Heist, Melodrama, Musical, Period, Psycholo
gical thriller, Romance, War, Western

Distribution by decade:

20.5% 1950s
17.8% 1960s
15.7% 1970s
11.1% 1940s
10.7% 1980s

Distribution by studio:

25.1% Warner Brothers
17.6% Criterion
10.8% 20th Century Fox
8.4% Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
7.6% Twilight Time
6.8% Kino Lorber
6.2% Universal Studios
5.7% Sony Pictures
3.2% Olive Films

Closest collection match: lvpblues

Thanks to this forum and its members for (mostly) civilized and intelligent discussion. I hope 2016 brings you everything on your wishlist and all of it wearing a big wacky C.

[Banned User]

I never found Pather Panchili slow or lacking in plot. A plot doesn't have to stretch through a set number of various twists and turns to be complex and moving. In this case the plot is the life of these characters their interactions and struggles. The village and surrounding country side also plays a important role, but there is a lot going on here and it is very much a deep, moving and complex film on many levels.

The cinematography is exceptional and the whole film has a authenticity to it lacking in most films. It has a steady pace that ebbs and flows appropriately and a rhythm to it that is never dull, but more in tune with the flow of life and in this case the characters struggle to survive in a inhospitable world. I've seen my share of 'slow' films, which is to say 'boring', and this is not one of them.

One of the finest poetic and moving films ever made IMO

[silverlakephil]

Originally Posted by Banned User

I never found Pather Panchili slow or lacking in plot. A plot doesn't have to stretch through a set number of various twists and turns to be complex and moving. In this case the plot is the life of these characters their interactions and struggles. The village and surrounding country side also plays a important role, but there is a lot going on here and it is very much a deep, moving and complex film on many levels.

The cinematography is exceptional and the whole film has a authenticity to it lacking in most films. It has a steady pace that ebbs and flows appropriately and a rhythm to it that is never dull, but more in tune with the flow of life and in this case the characters struggle to survive in a inhospitable world. I've seen my share of 'slow' films, which is to say 'boring', and this is not one of them.

One of the finest poetic and moving films ever made IMO

I wholeheartedly agree. It's astonishing to see all of Ray's talent as a director on his very first film. Much credit must go to the cinematographer, Subatra Mitra, and the music legend, Ravi Shankar, for the score as well.

[bwdowiak]

when somebody says a film is "slow," I think, "gee, this might be something I'd like!"

I don't think I have ever thought, "I'm not digging this... it's too slow for me."

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

when somebody says a film is "slow," I think, "gee, this might be something I'd like!"

I don't think I have ever thought, "I'm not digging this... it's too slow for me."

I hope you're digging into the filmography of Tsai Ming-Liang, a director that I'd be pleased to see make it into the collection.