The Criterion Collection

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Ivory is one of my favourite directors.
If you enjoyed Howards end definitely watch The Remains of the Day, which reunites Thompson and Hopkins and other members of the crew (cinematographer, composer, editor, production designer etc.)
Also I LOVE Maurice (But that is a gay film so I don't know how you would feel about this), and of course A Room with a View is great too (although I didn't think so when I first saw it in my teens, but I was immature then and couldn't fully appreciate it).
I've also seen The Europeans, The Bostonians and Heat and Dust.
I think I liked better the third one, but all are worth checking.

Also, you might want to look at The Age of Innocence by Scorsese, my favourite period romantic film. (but maybe this is a bit melodramatic for you at times)
Other non-Ivory films along those lines of the above films are Sense and Sensibility (with Thompson) and Shadowlands (with Hopkins).

And of course, another masterpiece in the period romantic genre is The piano (but that has a completely different atmosphere/setting than the afore-mentioned films)

Among foreign films I would suggest the French Cyrano (1990), Indochine and La Reine Margot.

Sense and Sensibility, The Remains of the Day, and A Room With a View are all on TCM tonight.

[ckt]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

Sense and Sensibility, The Remains of the Day, and A Room With a View are all on TCM tonight.

HAHA ahh too bad I don't have cable anymore

[Buscemi]

Originally Posted by Herry Dunston

*watches Mulholland Dr.*

So which Lynch film has the least amount of chance of gettin' the Criterion treatment: Lost Highway or The Straight Story?

The Straight Story, probably. Disney has the domestic rights (foreign rights are with Studiocanal) and they really don't license to Criterion anymore.

Either way, I expect The Elephant Man to be the next Lynch film to get the Criterion treatment.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I'm spent out for the nonce, but I'll be sure to order some on this month's two paydays.

Of course, it just occurred to me that Twilight Time and Screen Archives may well have another anniversary sale in March. Not guaranteed, but if so, they would take priority, as TT releases pretty much don't ever otherwise go on sale.

[Fabs]

A Brighter Summer Day screencaptures are up. Looks fantastic.

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I have a like new dual format copy of Thief if anyone is interested.

I'm going to start the bidding at $500.

Though I'm willing to come down to $425 if you can pay in raw cocaine.

...those are friend prices.

Would you take a counteroffer of toilet wine and cans of electronic duster? The cocaine has already been cut with a laxative. It's a little game I like to play.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

Would you take a counteroffer of toilet wine and cans of electronic duster? The cocaine has already been cut with a laxative. It's a little game I like to play.

I'm sorry but I can't drink toilet wine anymore.

...I have some bad memories.

[theater dreamer]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I'm not sure what the balance is of seriousness and facetiousness you're intending in that statement, but...

I've been coming to the conclusion that in order to not drive myself crazy wondering what I should buy among the "boutique" labels (i.e., the ones I can't find at my local Target or Best Buy) every time I have a little disposable income, and to not forsake any particular label in favor of others, I have to "rotate" through the labels from month to month. I haven't actually managed to succeed at that, though, as something always comes up at random to throw me off.

It was really tongue in cheek, to be honest. It just so happens that a lot of the films I want next come from Warner Archive. With The Big Sleep and Key Largo just coming out, it makes sense to buy them at the same time, along with Out of the Past, The Picture of Dorian Gray, I Confess, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Murder, My Sweet, The Wrong Man, etc. I go through periods where I like watching a lot of films within the same genre. While not all of the ones I listed are noir films, obviously, several are, and I'll binge watch them over a few nights.

Other times, I'll buy from one distributor because I can get a good sale buying several titles at once, or free shipping, etc. But believe me, I never focus on one movie buying source to the exclusion of all others. I'm always on the look out.

[mja345]

Got my haul of Criterions in from the flash sale and the copy of "Walkabout" I received had severe disc bronzing. No big deal, I'll send it in to get a replacement disc. But I was talking to my buddy who also collects Criterions and he said he ordered "Walkabout" from the flash sale last year and also received a bronzed disc. It seems like Criterion themselves still has some of the bad batch of discs laying around. Just a heads up if you order that disc at future flash sales.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by Herry Dunston

*watches Mulholland Dr.*

So which Lynch film has the least amount of chance of gettin' the Criterion treatment: Lost Highway or The Straight Story?

Probably The Straight Story, since it's Buena Vista. Lost Highway is Universal now, who Criterion has licensed a decent bit from.

[deepseababy]

Lost Highway on Criterion would be absolutely brilliant.

[takeasneededforpain]

So since I popped my Criterion cherry yesterday by buying my first Criterion title (which was "Rosemary's Baby"), are there any other definitive horror Blu-Ray releases from them that I should look out for??

[deepseababy]

Originally Posted by takeasneededforpain

So since I popped my Criterion cherry yesterday by buying my first Criterion title (which was "Rosemary's Baby"), are there any other definitive horror Blu-Ray releases from them that I should look out for??

Empire of Passion (1978) and The Vanishing (1988).

This may also help you out: https://www.criterion.com/explore/119-scary-movies

[TheLaughingMann]

Since there's a Criterion Sale on Amazon for all of March, I need thoughts on:

-Lady Snowblood
-Three Outlaw Samurai
-Kagemusha
-The Sword of Doom
-The Life of Oharu
-Sansho the Bailiff

Are any of these must-own's or worth it?

[theater dreamer]

Originally Posted by jshaide

Got my order! Very excited opening them, though ran into two snags.

Missing booklet in Cries and Whispers, and Rififi was quite messed up-the back of the case was torn and crushed, and the Blu-ray disc was loose (which does happens sometimes, but there were a bunch of scratches on it).

Emailed the Criterion people, and hopefully they'll be as helpful as I have both heard and experienced in the past.

Jshaide,

They will definitely help you out.

The first Criterion Blu I bought, On The Waterfront (a digipak), came from Amazon with all sorts of damage. I contacted Jon Mulvaney about replacement packaging, unaware of their policies as a new customer, and after I shared the requested proof of purchase, he sent me a complete replacement set of packaging for no charge. Since then, if I've had to replace some elements, I've gotten them for $5 each.

If it's something that you order directly from Criterion, however, it's been my experience that they will probably replace it for you. Of the twelve Blu-rays I ordered last Tuesday, all were pristine except the Digipak of Jules and Jim. I contacted orders@criterion.com to inquire if they would meet me halfway. I took a picture of the packaging, and sent it to them. I offered to pay the $5 for a replacement of the outer slip, and asked if they could replace the inner tray. That was sent late Friday morning. First thing Monday morning, I received an e-mail from Julia that they would happily replace the entirety of the packaging for free, and that she would contact me again when it was sent.

If there is one thing I've learned, Criterion takes care of their customers. Their customer service is among the best I've ever encountered.

[Vinyl]

Originally Posted by TheLaughingMann

Since there's a Criterion Sale on Amazon for all of March, I need thoughts on:

-Lady Snowblood
-Three Outlaw Samurai
-Kagemusha
-The Sword of Doom
-The Life of Oharu
-Sansho the Bailiff

Are any of these must-own's or worth it?

Three outlaw samurai, kagemusha, and sword of doom are amazing.

[momaw]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

I want The Lower Depths (Plus every other Kurosawa film they have, but TLD is very underrated so I'm highlighting it)

Don't forget that they're releasing Dreams too, later this year, or next.

Yes yes one thousand times yes.

[ckt]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Ivory is one of my favourite directors.
If you enjoyed Howards end definitely watch The Remains of the Day...

Solid recommendations, thank you! I watched Remains of the Day last night and enjoyed it. Looked into the other titles you mentioned too. I will probably watch Queen Margot soon. As most of the Merchant Ivory titles are only on DVD and pretty expensive (especially Heat and Dust), I'll get around to those in time — though Room With a View is available to rent on iTunes, along with Queen Margot, and some others.

Are all the Merchant Ivory releases done by the same teams as Howard's End and Remains of the Day?

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by ckt

Solid recommendations, thank you! I watched Remains of the Day last night and enjoyed it. Looked in to the other titles you mentioned too. I will probably watch Queen Margot soon. As most of the Merchant Ivory titles are only on DVD and pretty expensive (especially Heat and Dust).

I'm glad you liked it.

My golden 4 Ivory films by ranking are:
1) The Remains of the day
2) Maurice
3) Howards End*
4) A Room with a View

Of course Queen Margot goes far away from the Ivory style, but I recommended it because I think it's a great period-historic film with outstanding production values.

*By the way, it seems this film could get a new Bluray -possibly 4k restored - from Cohen which aquired many of Ivory films including this. There were many complaints about the Criterion, although I'm content with it.
I myself can't wait for Maurice.

Originally Posted by ckt

Are all the Merchant Ivory releases done by the same teams as Howard's End and Remains of the Day?

Well, some members of the team have worked on many of their films I think.
Richard Robbins, the composer, has worked on a lot of Ivory films.

edit:
Oh, if you like, add to the suggestions Gosford Park (2001) too.
I have seen it twice and I think I didn't like it that much (maybe I have to reevaluate) but maybe you will.
It just came up in my mind because the atmosphere reminded me a lot of the Ivory films.
Another little unknown film I discovered recently and I liked was The Shooting Party (1985).
(hehe, I just found it at imdb and the first user comment I read starts "If you like Merchant/Ivory films, then you will also enjoy this one")

[ShellOilJunior]

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