The Criterion Collection

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

How long do the flash sales last?

At least 24 hours.

[Hoke Moseley]

Originally Posted by octagon

For me the anxiety comes from staring at literally hundreds of unwatched discs and not being able to find something I feel like watching at that particular moment.

And even then it's not really anxiety, I just feel like an idiot

Pretty much this. It also makes you almost regret buying certain things if they've been sitting around collecting dust for over a year and you still can't ever seem to find yourself in the mood to watch them.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

Not good enough. How about full sales which last more than a week?

There's always the two Barnes 'n' Noble sales which last three weeks or so.

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

(My apologies for my rant. Don't want to pay LD or VHS and early DVD prices. I'm glad Criterion isn't releasing on UHD yet. The MSRPs would be near LD again.)

I wonder if Criterion will ever release UHD films.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

Not good enough. How about full sales which last more than a week?

Time to look on the Trading Forum sub-forum.

(My apologies for my rant. Don't want to pay LD or VHS and early DVD prices. I'm glad Criterion isn't releasing on UHD yet. The MSRPs would be near LD again.)

What I do is I grab a few which have the same theme in a way and are great for marathoning.

Barnes and Noble run monthly sales twice a year. Next one likely to be in late June or early July.

But getting $14-$17 prices is probably unlikely. At 50% off you are looking at $19.95. Maybe with a further 10-20% coupon available but those have been blocked in recent times.

[Knaldskalle]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I have a question for anyone who has seen or owns the Criterion for The Night Porter. Is it worth a blind buy or is it something I should watch first? I know it is a dark film and that doesn't bother me.

Don't blind buy this one. Rent or borrow it first and then decide.

I found it somewhat tedious, a wannabe late-Visconti with an edge. Maybe it was the presence of Dirk Bogarde that made me think of Visconti? In any case, for me it was a "glad I saw it, don't want to own it nor do I imagine myself watching it again."

[senseabove]

Originally Posted by Ray_Rogers

Not good enough. How about full sales which last more than a week?

Originally Posted by iScottie

There's always the two Barnes 'n' Noble sales which last three weeks or so.

The Hitchcock box is only available from Criterion.com ( and sometimes CostCo, IIRC), so the flash sale is the only way to get it at a discounted price.

And if you sign up for the Newsletter, you'll get an email notification that the flash sale is on. There should be one coming up late February. Then you can unsubscribe.

[SammyJankis]

Currently watching the Watts-Lynch interview from Mulholland Dr. and I'm already disappointed it's only 25 minutes. Not only is it fascinating to listen to, but Watts somehow looks better here than she did in the film.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I have a question for anyone who has seen or owns the Criterion for The Night Porter. Is it worth a blind buy or is it something I should watch first? I know it is a dark film and that doesn't bother me.

It's one of my all time favorite films, but I'll admit I have the hardest time arguing why. I'm just a sucker for damp, dark mileus and unhealthy sexual relationships I guess.

If nothing else, you'll want to see a certain dance over and over, so it's worth keeping on hand for that.

[Scottie]

If Criterion continues to re-release Blu-rays put out by other studios, I really hope Fallen Angels and Happy Together are next.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I have a question for anyone who has seen or owns the Criterion for The Night Porter. Is it worth a blind buy or is it something I should watch first? I know it is a dark film and that doesn't bother me.

I own the UK edition of the film. It is to my mind a gorgeous looking and sounding arty exploitation flick. Charlotte Rampling's performance is bravura. Fabulous visuals and terrific use of music.

[kowski]

Originally Posted by iScottie

If Criterion continues to re-release Blu-rays put out by other studios, I really hope Fallen Angels and Happy Together are next.

That would be amazing. More Wong Kar-Wai is always great. Been ages since I last watched these.

[shamdy]

I can't believe people are praising the Criterion Blurays. All of them have a very annoying technical problem. Their subtitles are really unreadable against white backgrounds.
So I really prefer the DVD, I went with the flow about buying Criterion Blurays and now I'm paying the price of not enjoying foreign movies due to these unreadable white and hard to follow subtitles.
Anyone would like to comment on this flaw please to give me comfort

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by shamdy

I can't believe people are praising the Criterion Blurays. All of them have a very annoying technical problem. Their subtitles are really unreadable against white backgrounds.
So I really prefer the DVD, I went with the flow about buying Criterion Blurays and now I'm paying the price of not enjoying foreign movies due to these unreadable white and hard to follow subtitles.
Anyone would like to comment on this flaw please to give me comfort

I own every Criterion blu-ray and I've never had trouble reading the subtitles.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by shamdy

I can't believe people are praising the Criterion Blurays. All of them have a very annoying technical problem. Their subtitles are really unreadable against white backgrounds.

Not really, the subs have a black outline to highlight them even against white/light backgrounds. Don't recall any issue reading subs on Criterion blu's and while I'm not like some of the obsessive nerds collectors on this thread, I do have a decent number of films on this label.

[eddyw78]

Originally Posted by Knaldskalle

Don't blind buy this one. Rent or borrow it first and then decide.

I found it somewhat tedious, a wannabe late-Visconti with an edge. Maybe it was the presence of Dirk Bogarde that made me think of Visconti? In any case, for me it was a "glad I saw it, don't want to own it nor do I imagine myself watching it again."

I understand everything your saying about this movie. I blind bought it and resold it the day I viewed it. The one and only time I have ever done this with a Criterion title.

[shamdy]

What about The Rules of the game at the beginning , you can't read against the text. Also in Lady snowblood, you can't follow the narrator when he explains historical materials.
These are a couple of examples.
Are talking here about the blurays or DVD's ?
The Blurays have this problem and I can confirm it.

[shamdy]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Not really, the subs have a black outline to highlight them even against white/light backgrounds. Don't recall any issue reading subs on Criterion blu's and while I'm not like some of the obsessive nerds collectors on this thread, I do have a decent number of films on this label.

These Black outlines are only available on the DVD's and not Criterion Blurays.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by shamdy

These Black outlines are only available on the DVD's and not Criterion Blurays.

Not true. With the greater resolution of blu, the lines don't appear as coarse and thick as on the DVD, but they are very much present and make the text readable.
Linking to a couple of screenshots from another site (DVDBeaver) that show subs on Criterion blu-rays, the black borders around the white text are clearly seen.
Sanjuro blu-ray
Late Spring blu-ray

If this were as significant a problem as you suggest, a lot more people would have been complaining about it, given the number of non-English films released by Criterion for which most of their audience would require subtitles.

[bwdowiak]

You probably just need to adjust the contrast on your set or monitor. Never had this problem - not even for a single line of dialogue

[MifuneFan]

I have had probs resding subs at times against a white background. Not impossible, but not super clear. I remember others bringing this up many years back.