The Criterion Collection

[Trace17]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

Question for you guys: Do you ever still buy Criterion DVDs?

I don't mean at full-price, but it's ridiculous what you can find at thrift stores, library sales, etc. with time and patience.

For 1-3 bucks each, they're hard to resist.

For example, I just found The Royal Tenenbaums for $2.

Chasing Amy was there too, but I already have that on Blu-ray and the disc was stolen anyway.

Yes, but only if there's no BD available and it's unlikely. I wouldn't buy Tenenbaums DVD when there's a BD available. But I do have a couple eclipse sets and dvd films that are unlikely to be released on BD.

[The Great Owl]

I just finished watching my Criterion Blu-ray of Blow-Up.



In 1960s London, a cynical and emotionally detached photographer, played by David Hemmings, drifts through his day-to-day life of capturing images of fashion models and often refusing the attention of random women ("birds") who wish to work with him at his studio. One day, after he makes a spur-of-the-moment choice to photograph a man and a woman in the middle of a city park, the woman, played by the beautiful Vanessa Redgrave, accosts him, demanding that he give the photo negatives to her. Later on, she visits him at his studio and even attempts to seduce him in order to obtain the negatives. When he examines blow-ups of the park photos, the photographer is jolted out of his everyday ennui as he uncovers what he believes to be a murder.

Blow-Up was directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, who also helmed five foreign film favorites of mine, L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), L'Eclisse (1962), Red Desert (1964), and Identification of a Woman (1982). Like those films, Blow-Up is a gorgeous-looking, but often maddeningly enigmatic endeavor. At first glance, it is a murder mystery where the mystery is never solved, just as L'Avventura comes across as a missing persons mystery where the truth behind the disappearance is never revealed.

The reason why I consider Blow-Up to be an amazing movie, however, is because, instead of concerning itself with solving a murder captured in photos, it devotes its full focus toward a character study of the photographer himself. My favorite moment of this film is when the photographer is focused intently on examining the blow-ups of his park pictures and using his skills to analyze what he believes that he is seeing. This is a perfect cinematic depiction of someone being awakened from an otherwise unfulfilling existence by a challenge that really makes him feel alive. In my own life, one of the reasons why I participate in ultramarathons is because the intense physical challenge of these races temporarily removes me from mundanities of everyday life by forcing me to focus all of my physical and mental skills toward the simplicity of a task at hand. I may be missing the real point of Antonioni's film altogether, but these scenes of the photographer examining his blow-ups, as the otherwise ubiquitous Herbie Hancock jazz soundtrack goes absent and all other such distractions are missing, elevate the movie to awesomeness. We can all relate to this moment in the photographer's life when he is transfixed by a challenge, because we all have similar moments in our own lives and in our own jobs, and these moments make up the framework of our lives. The strange conclusion of the film, where the photographer watches a group of mimes playing imaginary tennis, and subsequently disappears from the screen himself, seems to represent how the character "disappears" back into day-to-day life after a briefly glorious awakening of passion for his craft. (Don't worry, I'm not spoiling anything. Blow-Up is a film that is impervious to spoilers.)

On a purely eye candy level, Blow-Up is marvelous. The "swinging 1960s" vibe that was parodied in the Austin Powers films is seen in all its wondrously colorful glory here. The sexy clothes of the women, the jazz music from Herbie Hancock, the rock tunes of The Yardbirds (who are featured in the film during one intense live sequence), and even the drabness of working-class London cityscapes all come together.

This film is the epitome of 1960s cool. A challenging and often perplexing epitome, but an epitome nonetheless.

The Criterion Blu-ray is five-star material across the board, with an excellent audio and video presentation. The booklet that accompanies the film goes a long way toward shedding light on the story without explaining it. The interviews and documentaries, which I'm still delving into, are pretty great.

[senseabove]

Just got out of a Lewton double feature, and I'm becoming quite taken with him. Are there any other Lewton titles rumored? I'd love The Seventh Victim and Isle of the Dead, so wondering if I should track down that Lewton DVD box or hold my horses for blu upgrades.


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[UncleBuckWild]

On the occasion of Criterion's release of Blow-Up (1966).

A conversation between David Forgacs (NYU) and Kim Hendrickson (The Criterion Collection) at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, NYU.

Discussing Antonioni's "Blow-Up" - YouTube

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by senseabove

Just got out of a Lewton double feature, and I'm becoming quite taken with him. Are there any other Lewton titles rumored? I'd love The Seventh Victim and Isle of the Dead, so wondering if I should track down that Lewton DVD box or hold my horses for blu upgrades.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The boxset is worth picking up ASAP!(IMO) I would guess Criterion releases the more well-known ones like I Walked With a Zombie, The Body Snatcher, etc. first. The complete set? Who knows. I wouldn't wait, there's too much there to enjoy.

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

Question for you guys: Do you ever still buy Criterion DVDs?...

Only Eclipse; but I have been clearing out DVDs recently, mostly ones I've upgraded. You get pretty much nothing for them (eg £1 for a 2DVD Ran set) but I did get over a fiver for Wild Strawberries recently so there's still some life in the format.

What I have noticed is that in the UK, Criterion DVDs have become seriously undervalued compared to the days before Blu-ray. I expect that is because any UK importers likely switched to the new format and are not interested in DVD anymore. That would be backed up by my experience with the Road Trilogy - I bought it by mistake in a B&N sale and rather than send it back I tried to sell it. I think I ended up getting about £24 (c $30) for it, which was a disappointment and a suprise!

[ThisKid]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

Question for you guys: Do you ever still buy Criterion DVDs?

I don't mean at full-price, but it's ridiculous what you can find at thrift stores, library sales, etc. with time and patience.

For 1-3 bucks each, they're hard to resist.

For example, I just found The Royal Tenenbaums for $2.

Chasing Amy was there too, but I already have that on Blu-ray and the disc was stolen anyway.

Had to for Beastie Boys.

Why is it that Music DVDs always has the weird but cool technology available on their discs?

Beastie Boys had the Multi-Angle and the Remix tracks.

Gorillaz Phase 1 & 2 had you look around various rooms to watch anything.

Weird, but cool.

[javy]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

Question for you guys: Do you ever still buy Criterion DVDs?

I don't mean at full-price, but it's ridiculous what you can find at thrift stores, library sales, etc. with time and patience.

For 1-3 bucks each, they're hard to resist.

For example, I just found The Royal Tenenbaums for $2.

Chasing Amy was there too, but I already have that on Blu-ray and the disc was stolen anyway.

I'm thinking about picking up The Virgin Spring DVD. Definitely not gonna pay Amazon's price for it though. But I'm trying to wait it out to see if they release it on blu ray.

[bsend]

Originally Posted by senseabove

Just got out of a Lewton double feature, and I'm becoming quite taken with him. Are there any other Lewton titles rumored? I'd love The Seventh Victim and Isle of the Dead, so wondering if I should track down that Lewton DVD box or hold my horses for blu upgrades.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Isle of the Dead is my favorite Val Lewton movie. It was unexpectedly awesome and a personal favorite of mine.

[zorbonaut]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

[Show spoiler]I just finished watching my Criterion Blu-ray of Blow-Up.



In 1960s London, a cynical and emotionally detached photographer, played by David Hemmings, drifts through his day-to-day life of capturing images of fashion models and often refusing the attention of random women ("birds") who wish to work with him at his studio. One day, after he makes a spur-of-the-moment choice to photograph a man and a woman in the middle of a city park, the woman, played by the beautiful Vanessa Redgrave, accosts him, demanding that he give the photo negatives to her. Later on, she visits him at his studio and even attempts to seduce him in order to obtain the negatives. When he examines blow-ups of the park photos, the photographer is jolted out of his everyday ennui as he uncovers what he believes to be a murder.

Blow-Up was directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, who also helmed five foreign film favorites of mine, L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), L'Eclisse (1962), Red Desert (1964), and Identification of a Woman (1982). Like those films, Blow-Up is a gorgeous-looking, but often maddeningly enigmatic endeavor. At first glance, it is a murder mystery where the mystery is never solved, just as L'Avventura comes across as a missing persons mystery where the truth behind the disappearance is never revealed.

The reason why I consider Blow-Up to be an amazing movie, however, is because, instead of concerning itself with solving a murder captured in photos, it devotes its full focus toward a character study of the photographer himself. My favorite moment of this film is when the photographer is focused intently on examining the blow-ups of his park pictures and using his skills to analyze what he believes that he is seeing. This is a perfect cinematic depiction of someone being awakened from an otherwise unfulfilling existence by a challenge that really makes him feel alive. In my own life, one of the reasons why I participate in ultramarathons is because the intense physical challenge of these races temporarily removes me from mundanities of everyday life by forcing me to focus all of my physical and mental skills toward the simplicity of a task at hand. I may be missing the real point of Antonioni's film altogether, but these scenes of the photographer examining his blow-ups, as the otherwise ubiquitous Herbie Hancock jazz soundtrack goes absent and all other such distractions are missing, elevate the movie to awesomeness. We can all relate to this moment in the photographer's life when he is transfixed by a challenge, because we all have similar moments in our own lives and in our own jobs, and these moments make up the framework of our lives. The strange conclusion of the film, where the photographer watches a group of mimes playing imaginary tennis, and subsequently disappears from the screen himself, seems to represent how the character "disappears" back into day-to-day life after a briefly glorious awakening of passion for his craft. (Don't worry, I'm not spoiling anything. Blow-Up is a film that is impervious to spoilers.)

On a purely eye candy level, Blow-Up is marvelous. The "swinging 1960s" vibe that was parodied in the Austin Powers films is seen in all its wondrously colorful glory here. The sexy clothes of the women, the jazz music from Herbie Hancock, the rock tunes of The Yardbirds (who are featured in the film during one intense live sequence), and even the drabness of working-class London cityscapes all come together.

This film is the epitome of 1960s cool. A challenging and often perplexing epitome, but an epitome nonetheless.

The Criterion Blu-ray is five-star material across the board, with an excellent audio and video presentation. The booklet that accompanies the film goes a long way toward shedding light on the story without explaining it. The interviews and documentaries, which I'm still delving into, are pretty great

.

Interesting take on the film. I watched Blow Up a few weeks ago on filmstruck and outside of a few scenes, I didn't find the film very engrossing. I thought that everything shot at the park really worked, including the ending but much of what was shot at his studio was rather weak imo. Worth the watch regardless.

[senseabove]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

The boxset is worth picking up ASAP!(IMO) I would guess Criterion releases the more well-known ones like I Walked With a Zombie, The Body Snatcher, etc. first. The complete set? Who knows. I wouldn't wait, there's too much there to enjoy.

If I can find an affordable copy, I may spring for it. Seems to be out of print, though with plenty of second-hand copies available. I wouldn't expect Criterion to release the complete set, but if they'd hinted at, say, some Robson/Lewton films, I would probably hold off for that. Someone over at criterionforum seems to suggest that around the time of Cat People teasers they hinted at a Robson/Lewton film coming out, but doesn't say what that hint was.

Originally Posted by bsend

Isle of the Dead is my favorite Val Lewton movie. It was unexpectedly awesome and a personal favorite of mine.

Yeah! I was surprised. Given that folks mostly talk about the Tourneur collaborations, which do, admittedly, have a bit more visual flair, the two Robson ones I saw have something a little more sinister and subtle to them. I'm very curious to see Ghost Ship, now.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

I'm picking up Rumble Fish tonight for a midnight release. I can't wait to see this transfer. Just watched it again recently to give it another shot after not really caring for it when I saw it years ago but thousands of movies later I really enjoyed it on my second viewing. I'm hoping its one of those films that gets better and better with repeat viewings.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

The boxset is worth picking up ASAP!(IMO) I would guess Criterion releases the more well-known ones like I Walked With a Zombie, The Body Snatcher, etc. first. The complete set? Who knows. I wouldn't wait, there's too much there to enjoy.

I would guess if they were planning to release any more, they would've packaged the Curse of the Cat People with the original as a bonus.

[javy]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

I'm picking up Rumble Fish tonight for a midnight release. I can't wait to see this transfer. Just watched it again recently to give it another shot after not really caring for it when I saw it years ago but thousands of movies later I really enjoyed it on my second viewing. I'm hoping its one of those films that gets better and better with repeat viewings.

I've never seen Rumble Fish. I'll have to check it out.

[senseabove]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

I would guess if they were planning to release any more, they would've packaged the Curse of the Cat People with the original as a bonus.

I'd think they could get enough mileage out of a movie with Robert Wise's name attached to it for it to warrant it's own release, though, no? And from what I've read, it seems to be moderately well-respected in its own right. That is, it's not like Cook's Tour on The Lady Vanishes, a curiosity that wouldn't likely warrant its own release otherwise.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by javy

I've never seen Rumble Fish. I'll have to check it out.

Its pretty cool and has an outstanding cast. I love that its filmed in glorious black and white also. My only complaint is I wish it was longer.

[javy]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

...My only complaint is I wish it was longer.

I know what you mean by that.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Its pretty cool and has an outstanding cast. I love that its filmed in glorious black and white also. My only complaint is I wish it was longer.

Originally Posted by javy

I know what you mean by that.

It's been so long since I've seen it, but I seem to remember the process here.

Anyways, I'd like to pick it up. But goodness the July titles are gonna kill me.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

It's been so long since I've seen it, but I seem to remember the process here.

Anyways, I'd like to pick it up. But goodness the July titles are gonna kill me.

Welcome back

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Welcome back

Thank you very much. Believe me: It's nice to BE back.