The Criterion Collection

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

War of the Worlds is one of Steven Spielberg's most underrated movies. It captures the spirit of the H.G. Wells novel quite effectively (and I spent a lot of my childhood re-reading the Wells novel time and time again).

To my discredit, I only saw Legend once during my childhood, but have never taken the time to revisit it. I remember enjoying it, so I should give it another whirl at some point. It's out of character for a 1980s nerd like myself to have let that movie fall by the wayside.

Legend has a few scenes that quickened my pulse big time. Though the film is far from perfect, It has one of Ridley Scott's finest set pieces too.

Originally Posted by bsweetness

And I think nearly the exact opposite. Except for Minority Report, Oblivion is by far the best sci-fi film Cruise has done.

Oh my! I am speechless.

[jetthead]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

War of the Worlds is one of Steven Spielberg's most underrated movies. It captures the spirit of the H.G. Wells novel quite effectively (and I spent a lot of my childhood re-reading the Wells novel time and time again).

I loved War of the Worlds (except for

[Show spoiler]the son miraculously reappearing at the end of the film

)!

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by jetthead

I loved War of the Worlds (except for

[Show spoiler]the son miraculously reappearing at the end of the film

)!

That seems to be the flaw most people name. For me it's not a fatal one but it did make me .

[Monroville]

Originally Posted by jacobb1313

Probably because animations are - primarily - studio features with larger budgets and licensed from existing works, and therefore put through heavily-marketed distribution chains (see: Disney Vault). Criterion would get the dregs, so to speak. That, and I have a suspicion that restoring an animated feature to Criterion standards would be a hefty, expensive undertaking. They'd have to get a restoration from a foundation or team up with the production house, and for a lot of independents, those no longer exist (or didn't exist in the first place!)

Still, if I were to conjecture at titles worth doing, they would be

Princess and the Cobbler AKA Arabian Knight AKA The Recobbled Cut (in Miramax/Disney hell, last I checked)
The Adventures of Prince Achmed Coming to the UK in Blu via BFI
The King and the Mockingbird
Animal Farm
Perfect Blue
Watership Down (WB owns the rights to this one, though)
the films of René Laloux -- Fantastic Planet is already out in the UK on Blu via Eureka
films of Makoto Shinkai (I can dream, can't I?)
rerelease The Girl Who Leapt through Time
and various curiosos, like Princess Iron Fan

The Bakshi's, Disney's and Ghibli's are mostly already accounted for. These are the only other ones I can quickly think of that have had cultural influence, which is the ideal Criterion litmus test, I suppose. And there are probably a couple more out there I can't think of.

I would think that animated films would be easier to remaster than live-action ones, as you are dealing with colored cells as opposed to realistic objects with multiple levels of detail.

On top of that, PERFECT BLUE and FANTASTIC PLANET have already been released with very good to excellent HD transfers (so Criterion would only have to purchase the rights to the HD prints, as opposed to having to remaster the prints themselves).

Regardless, I would like to add ANGEL'S EGG to that list as well:

Tenshi.no.Tamago (Angel's.Egg) - YouTube

[True_Story1011]

Anyone else been hearing about 400 blows going oop on bd?

http://dvdlist.kazart.com/queryDVDList2.php3?id=154196

CC's website has nothing yet and I've emailed Mulvaney 2 days ago with nothing in reply. He's been known to reply quite promptly.

Anyone heard anything to confirm this?

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by CoopFilm

I like the direction he's going in so much more than where he's already been

+1

The further he delves into his style the better, as far as I'm concerned. I vastly prefer his post-Days work. His humanistic touch is greater and has an emotional current that works for me.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by starman15317

My final "haul" from the B&N sale is a measly two titles: Rosemary's Baby and The Gold Rush (both bought online).

That's how I started off too. But once you continue down the Criterion path, the love and addiction only grows. Be careful.

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Baloney. Have you seen The New World yet, Coop? I feel it's the perfect blend of old Malick and new.

The New World is one of my favorite films of all time. It also might be Malick's most spiritual film of them all as well. This is the main reason why I love Mr. Malick's work.

Originally Posted by True_Story1011

Anyone else been hearing about 400 blows going oop on bd?

http://dvdlist.kazart.com/queryDVDList2.php3?id=154196

CC's website has nothing yet and I've emailed Mulvaney 2 days ago with nothing in reply. He's been known to reply quite promptly.

Anyone heard anything to confirm this?

This is interesting. Happy to say that I just ordered The 400 Blows replacement case on Criterion.com so now I won't worry if and when this does go OOP.

Of course if one owns every Blu-ray in the Criterion Collection, one will never worry about not owning a title that is going or has gone out of print. Abdrewes: you probably feel secure as one person who owns the entire BD collection.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

I was going to get The 400 Blows for my sister for christmas but wanted to wait until the next 50% off sale in November. Hopefully it doesn't actually go OOP any time soon :O

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

+1

The further he delves into his style the better, as far as I'm concerned. I vastly prefer his post-Days work. His humanistic touch is greater and has an emotional current that works for me.

+1, I'm with you two. I love Badlands and Days of Heaven, but compared with TTRL, Tree of Life and To The Wonder, they feel a bit "flat"...I like the spirituality and wider scope of his newer work.

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

To the Wonder just has an awesome flow to it. Almost like that river scene in The Night of the Hunter, except that it goes on through the entire movie. It's no accident that so many scenes depict the flow and ebb of water.

As does Tree Of Life - all the sprinkler/hose scenes, the waterfalls, the drowning boy, Jack running his hand under the tap, the river carrying away the stolen slip

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

+1

The further he delves into his style the better, as far as I'm concerned. I vastly prefer his post-Days work. His humanistic touch is greater and has an emotional current that works for me.

That was my stance going into 'Wonder' aswell. I love the elliptical cutting and "narrative freedom" in his films from Thin Red Line and on (if I could only keep three Malick films, they would be Thin Red Line, The New World and Tree of Life), but again, 'Wonder' fell short of the greatness of those. I hope to fully embrace it one day, for there is alot to love.

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Do tell after you've seen the film. I've always loved the Jack Kerouac novel.

Well, I didn't like it ... Just finished it so I'm still thinking about it...but I did lose interest early in the film and never really regained it, unfortunately.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

That was my stance going into 'Wonder' aswell. I love the elliptical cutting and "narrative freedom" in his films from Thin Red Line and on (if I could only keep three Malick films, they would be Thin Red Line, The New World and Tree of Life), but again, 'Wonder' fell short of the greatness of those. I hope to fully embrace it one day, for there is alot to love.

I like all of Malick's films, but I like BADLANDS the least and DAYS OF HEAVEN the second-least. My favorites are probably TREE OF LIFE and THE THIN RED LINE, but THE NEW WORLD is very good, too, probably on a par with THE THIN RED LINE.

I just bought TO THE WONDER at Target and watched it for the first time, as it never played theatrically here. As I expected, it's definitely very much a Malick film and I liked it a lot, perhaps not quite as much as TREE OF LIFE but close. I, too, tend to like each new Malick film a bit better than the previous one, so this was perhaps a very slight disappointment. I'll need to watch it again and go through the few bonus features (only about a half-hour's worth). A commentary or booklet of essays would have been nice but it was good to get at least some extras. Magnolia seems like a fairly small-scale distributor but certainly comes up with a nice offbeat selection of titles. I sort of expected more artsy cover art along the lines of MELANCHOLIA or something but this looks more like a sappy Fox or Warner mainstream romance, so a lot of big-box store video department blind-buyers may find themselves pretty confused by it!

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by UncleBuckWild

Firstly, I would like to thank all you awesome people out there for your excellent recommendations on CC films.


... Secondly, I've a question for those of you who own the Magnificent Obsession (Criterion DVD) .. any chance they'll release it on Blu-ray?

I see there's a Italian Blu-ray (w/ English audio) - readily on Amazon.it ... any thoughts?

The Italian release is average.

Pro-B

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

To my discredit, I only saw Legend once during my childhood, but have never taken the time to revisit it. I remember enjoying it, so I should give it another whirl at some point. It's out of character for a 1980s nerd like myself to have let that movie fall by the wayside.

I saw it about a month ago via my cable's On Demand, the first time since it was originally released. To be honest, I didn't like it back in the 80s, and I liked it even less now.

[Judex]

Originally Posted by True_Story1011

Anyone else been hearing about 400 blows going oop on bd?

http://dvdlist.kazart.com/queryDVDList2.php3?id=154196

CC's website has nothing yet and I've emailed Mulvaney 2 days ago with nothing in reply. He's been known to reply quite promptly.

Anyone heard anything to confirm this?

IF this is true, hopefully it means the Adventures of Antoine Doinel boxset is coming to blu.

[jcez28]

Originally Posted by True_Story1011

Anyone else been hearing about 400 blows going oop on bd?

http://dvdlist.kazart.com/queryDVDList2.php3?id=154196

CC's website has nothing yet and I've emailed Mulvaney 2 days ago with nothing in reply. He's been known to reply quite promptly.

Anyone heard anything to confirm this?

Hopefully it just means their discontinuing the digi pack just like battle of Algiers
If not amazon has 34 on hand

Originally Posted by Judex

IF this is true, hopefully it means the Adventures of Antoine Doinel boxset is coming to blu.

Is 400 Blows the only title criterion owns?

[jw007]

Just watched the DVD of Downhill Racer, and even though its not a Blu-ray, it still counts as a Criterion release. I thought it was a thrilling film but lacked the subtext I was seeking. It's a fantastic movie about the competition between athletes but thats about it. It's not quite deep or existential enough for me to really declare it a masterpiece. A film like Chariots of Fire however is quite the opposite. It's more than just about the thrill of the competition but also about spiritual themes that go beyond just sports. I always look for that extra meaning that takes a sports film over the edge. Field of Dreams comes to mind too, and even though its not a movie about sports or baseball really, what matters more to me are the intangibles (family, life's purpose, community) in the film. I did enjoy Downhill Racer though and I thought Robert Redford and Gene Hackman were terrific, but the film was shallow and didn't quite go beyond what was intended. Does anyone else feel this way about the movie?

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by jcez28

Hopefully it just means their discontinuing the digi pack just like battle of Algiers
If not amazon has 34 on hand



Is 400 Blows the only title criterion owns?

Nah, they got the whole set.

[Mansinthe]

how many criterion BD movies come in a digipack? i mean the real digipacks like seven samurai or at least something cool like godzilla.

night of the hunter and on the waterfront ?


movies i would love to see in the criterion collection:

classics with Gong Li

Raise the Red lantern
Shanghai Triad
2046
Farewell My Concubine
Ju Dou