The Criterion Collection

[Rayjg]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

¹

Either that or they didn't have many ideas to begin with. Dead Presidents, while uneven, contains some excellent film making though.

From Hell played like a bad Burton film to me. A poor man's Sleepy Hollow.

At this point for Criterion it’s quantity over quality. Unless they wanna get cancelled

[HipsterTrash]

Won't lie but I'm surprised that Criterion haven't re-released Ractcatcher again. That's film that needed some love and attention.
Morvern Callar, I don't know who has the rights, should also get a release so why not Criterion.

[SonnybytheSea]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Are these the same people who adapted the Alan Moore book From Hell? That was a terrible, terrible movie.

Originally Posted by joy-division

From Hell is a brill biece of art. It is also nearly 600 pages long.

Condensing that into a 2 hour film, you know it's gonna suffer massively & just added to the list of horrific Alan Moore adaptations - I don't think there has been a decent one yet, not including TV shows such as Watchmen because that us just a spin-off, constantine was just a character created by him & never fully fleshed out until Jamie Delano wrote the monthly Helblazer comic & haven't seen Swamp Thing yet

Originally Posted by dwk

From Hell is a slick Jack the Ripper movie that has nothing to do with the book on which it is titled after. It think people would like it more if it was not supposed to be an adaptation of the graphic novel.

I actually like From Hell even though the plot is basically the same to Murder by Decree (1979), My only real complaint is the casting of Heather Graham (Great Comedic Actress) who could not pull off an Irish accent at all....couldn't they get Kelly Macdonald!!!

At this point in time any adaptation of a Alan Moore graphic novel, just can't be done! Even when the studio tries being faithful (The Watchmen: Ultimate Cut) their is always something missing, stuff still gets lost in translation... The closest I've seen to an Alan Moore GN, was the Watchmen mini-series and that's because it had that warped sense of humor added back into the characters!

Originally Posted by Rizor

Like John Singleton, the Hughes Brothers were talented and bold new voices in 90's American cinema, but got sucked into the studio system and haven't really made anything to fulfill their early potential.

Sadly the story of many talented directors that get sucked into the machine until their goods names mean nothing anymore......

[HipsterTrash]

With all this talk of From Hell, the Hughes brothers and John Singleton, I feel like weighing in just a tad.

For any director that I admire, whether it be for their output and style, their work overall or for an individual film that's classic, I enjoy appreciating their entirety. So for the likes of Singleton and the Hughes' I like to look at the best they have given and discuss and rave about. And if it's about lesser titles in their filmography, I too enjoy talking about too. I think it's good to give those films chances and make your own opinion. I also think it's worthy to also see why the director(s) made that particular film, at that particular time and for the reasons that you can discover.

So when it comes to From Hell or 2 Fast 2 Furious, I still think it's important to see them and find out why there's popular dislike for movies like that. And who knows, maybe you'll find your own appreciation for them.

[dwk]

Originally Posted by SonnybytheSea

...My only real complaint is the casting of Heather Graham (Great Comedic Actress) who could not pull off an Irish accent at all....couldn't they get Kelly Macdonald!!!

I'd assume that was studio/producer driven casting not a creative decision by the Hughes brothers.

[UnionJackMix]

Well I've done it, ordered all the Criterion titles I wanted from DeepDiscount as they have a huge sale, and used PLUNGE promo code for 10% off on top of that.
I still spent a fortune but I will be so happy when I get that package.
And finally treated myself to the Jacques Demy, Bruce Lee, John Cassavetes, and Josef von Sternberg boxes.
Yay.

[joy-division]

Originally Posted by SonnybytheSea

I The closest I've seen to an Alan Moore GN, was the Watchmen mini-series and that's because it had that warped sense of humor added back into the characters!

But that is just based in The Watchmen universe & apart from that, has nothing to do with the original story, save some characters
The best adaptation is The Killing Joke which is very marmitey. You either likeh it or not. There is no in between. I really like

[SonnybytheSea]

Originally Posted by joy-division

But that is just based in The Watchmen universe & apart from that, has nothing to do with the original story, save some characters
The best adaptation is The Killing Joke which is very marmitey. You either likeh it or not. There is no in between. I really like

That was my point, The live action adaptions of Alan Moore GN have lacked the feel, humor etc. of his work. The only ones that have come close have been stuff that either set in the same universe or have taken some plot points from Alan Moore story and made something different (Batman, Swamp Thing...)

I would have added The Killing Joke but I was more focused on the Live Action films.....

[stonesfan129]

I see that they're going to release The Irishman November 4 this year. Looking forward to that one.

[sawdustandtinsel]

Not to rehash the whole NYT article conversation but since Criterion and Neon appear to have some sort of agreement I wonder if Luce could be in play. It's a solid movie with no blu-ray yet, just a thought.

[chadr108]

Criterion is the best. I bought a brand new copy of Walkabout on ebay 8/1, received it soon after & sure enough, it was bronzed. Put it in the player & it got stuck about an hour into it. Should have researched on my end before impulse buying, but I digress. Emailed Jon Mulvaney & dropped the defective disc in the mail the same day. He responded back within 3 weeks & had a brand new sealed copy mailed to me which I just got yesterday & I was just wanting a new disc. Gotta love this company. Now I have a spare Criterion case to boot. All of this happened within 4 weeks, during a pandemic.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by chadr108

Criterion is the best. I bought a brand new copy of Walkabout on ebay 8/1, received it soon after & sure enough, it was bronzed. Put it in the player & it got stuck about an hour into it. Should have researched on my end before impulse buying, but I digress. Emailed Jon Mulvaney & dropped the defective disc in the mail the same day. He responded back within 3 weeks & had a brand new sealed copy mailed to me which I just got yesterday & I was just wanting a new disc. Gotta love this company. Now I have a spare Criterion case to boot. All of this happened within 4 weeks, during a pandemic.

I mailed my bronzed discs for Summer Hours and Walkabout last month and have not heard back from Criterion yet. I followed instructions and put the discs in an envelope with a return address inside. It might have been 3 or 4 weeks ago. I just emailed Mulvaney to see if they received them as I just sold my house and am moving to Philly later this month. Hopefully it works out too.

[jw007]

Great news. Not too long after I posted that message yesterday, I received a package in the mail with 2 BRAND NEW sealed second editions of those films.

Criterion REALLY IS the best!

[javy]

Criterion should release Charlie Kaufman's new work, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, on Blu-ray in the near future.

[joy-division]

Originally Posted by javy

Criterion should release Charlie Kaufman's new work, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, on Blu-ray in the near future.

I'd rather they release Adaptation or Anamolisa, especially the former

I watched my DVD copy recently(no blu-ray here) & before there was all the fuss about The Tree of Life, Kaufman had already done it!

[javy]

Originally Posted by joy-division

I'd rather they release Adaptation or Anamolisa, especially the former

There are already blu ray's for those films tho.

No, Criterion should release Kaufman's new film. I can totally see it happening.

[Kleeberg]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

I've only seen Dead Presidents once, but I was struck by how ambling and all-over-the-place it was, like it really had no idea what it wanted to accomplish or say.

From Hell sucked. Menace II Society is their lone masterpiece, and that already has a perfectly adequate Blu-ray release.

I disagree - Dead Presidents is a journey, but what it’s trying to say about war (and coming back from it) is pretty clear. You should give it another shot.

Dead Presidents is my most wanted Blu-ray release.

[malakaheso]

^^But it isn't just commenting on war, is it? It is also about race.

The film blew me away in 1996, but now I just think it mostly plays like a collection of well executed scenes and characters that Hughes Brothers found cool in other films.

[joy-division]

Originally Posted by javy

There are already blu ray's for those films tho.

No, Criterion should release Kaufman's new film. I can totally see it happening.

Ok then, let's eliminate all the criterion films that had previous DVD & criterion releases when they came out & see how many titles we have left

[HipsterTrash]

Originally Posted by joy-division

Ok then, let's eliminate all the criterion films that had previous DVD & criterion releases when they came out & see how many titles we have left

Only if there are special features that can be added to Adaptation.
If there isn't anything to add then what's the point?