The Criterion Collection

[*DrStrangelove*]

What's everyone's thoughts on The Bitter Tears of Petra Kant? I love me some Fassbinder. The BRD trilogy is my most wanted upgrade, The Marriage of Maria Braun is one of my favorite films of all time. I just recently watched Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. I liked it but don't consider it his best. Also, World on a Wire is one of my favorite Criterion blu ray releases. With that said, do you think I'll like TBToPK?

[Polaroid]

Just think 'Lars Von Trier: The Five Obstructions' would make a great release and addition to the collection, they could fill that up with loads of supplements and even include the short films of Lars Von Trier and even some of Jørgen Leth's works, obviosuly including The Perfect Human.

It's a great project that shows how cinema can be so restricted and shows what can happen if you put your own restrictions in place and create the sam thing over and over with new rules.

Worth watching! Quite amusing too!

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by *DrStrangelove*

What's everyone's thoughts on The Bitter Tears of Petra Kant? I love me some Fassbinder. The BRD trilogy is my most wanted upgrade, The Marriage of Maria Braun is one of my favorite films of all time. I just recently watched Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. I liked it but don't consider it his best. Also, World on a Wire is one of my favorite Criterion blu ray releases. With that said, do you think I'll like TBToPK?

Although I do not consider myself a Fassbinder fan by any means, I largely preferred The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant to Ali: Fear Eats the Soul.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by jmclick

I have it, and the PQ is very, very good indeed. I remember the colors being absolutely gorgeous; I think the adjective that popped into my head at the time was "hallucinatory". I bought my copy at a used bookstore, and only picked it up because it was so cheap. After watching it, I became a huge fan of the movie, and my love for Sirk deepened considerably. (I was mostly familiar with him because of two black and white ... and vastly underrated ... Barbara Stanwyck films, All I Desire and There's Always Tomorrow.)

ahh, darn it... I'm not averse to picking up CC DVDs that have a reputation for great PQ. I wish I'd have had a chance to ask here before it went bye bye on eBay. It was for 8.99 plus free ship.

my "problem" is that my collection is full of great films that I have yet to see... a lot of blind buys that I have yet to get around to. it sounds silly to say, but it almost makes me nervous. I have no problem with the amount of money I'm spending, but the feeling that I may never catch up makes me uneasy. I get a lot of stuff from the library, too.

right now, I am enjoying the heck out of The Decalogue. I've got two films to go.

[HothEnergies]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

One of my favourite transfers in collection, in terms of upgrade from the old DVDs, its an entirely new film and is stunning.

Agree, now bring on Dogville! (With Dogville Confessions and commentary.)

[Scottie]

Albert Maysles (Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens, Salesman) passed away last night.

[bstv69]

Originally Posted by jw007

I saw Whiplash in my local arthouse theater last night and I was blown away by this film. Totally worth seeing if its still out in theaters in your city. Some of the best acting and one of the best endings in any film I've ever witnessed.

Whiplash

[Show spoiler]I think I'm in the minority on this film. I loved the subject matter, NYC + Jazz, I'm all in. However, I thought the film was a bit too dramatic and overdone. Sure the ending was great and acting was also very good but I thought the movie was brought down a bit by its excessive dramatization of certain unimportant things and then a lack of emphasis on areas I wish were explored more by the film. I guess I went in with really high hopes for this movie, initially because of the subject matter and then because of the reviews, and I was a bit let down.

P.S if you enjoyed this movie or just enjoyed the jazz, do yourself a favor and if you are ever in NYC do go to the Lincoln center to watch a show, even the after-hours shows AND go to Village Vanguard on a Monday night and experience the 16-piece Jazz Orchestra in one of the most amazing environments.

[cakefactory]

As a big jazz fan with professional jazzers in the family, I thought Whiplash was idiotic. The ways in which it butchers the entire idea of jazz music makes it as realistic as the writer's previous movie, "Grand Piano" (in which Elijah Wood is a concert pianist who must play an impossible piece perfectly, or John Cusack will shoot him with a sniper rifle from the rafters). The fact almost everyone seems to have taken it seriously just blows my mind. However, I know I'm in a tiny minority. The New Yorker and Peter Erskine (one of the best jazz drummers in the world) did very good explanations of what's wrong with it. (End spoiler, kind of)

[Show spoiler]Basically, though, the climax is like if when Marty McFly started doing the Van Halen thing at the 50s dance, he'd instead done it for 5 minutes, and everyone in the room had started cheering. The plot probably would have worked better with Prog Metal instead of Jazz. In an actual jazz show, tasteless technical junk like that would result in the audience walking out (or throwing things at the stage).

I guess all the legitimate jazz musicians I know disliked it just for the outrageous way it portrayed jazz as being some kind of insane purely technical exercise where a bunch of superfast rolls for a while would dazzle audiences and where the directors are obsessed with computer-like precision and playing every single note as printed (when the majority of jazz scores for rhythm players in particular are very rarely even written out as more than a rough sketch with a lot of "fill time for X measures") etc. I hang out with too many jazz musicians and don't really know how undergrad music people who aren't heavy into jazz or are at the stage where they feel tyrannized by their instructors would think of it, they'd probably appreciate it. I mean, it's good that they're playing legitimate jazz charts and that the movie is somewhat musically literate (like, people look like they're actually playing the music, and the music being played corresponds to the notes on the scores that you can see on screen, and most of the terminology is accurate, etc). I guess those things are all things that should be taken for granted, but they really aren't at all. It's so rare that a movie bothers to get any of that stuff right.

[Scottie]

cakefactory, I did not particularly care for Whiplash either. I found it to be incredibly unrealistic and repetitive, to the point that it became dull and boring.

If I was not a jazz fan prior to seeing the movie, I would not become one afterwards.

[exolstice]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

As a big jazz fan with professional jazzers in the family, I thought Whiplash was idiotic. The ways in which it butchers the entire idea of jazz music makes it as realistic as the writer's previous movie, "Grand Piano" (in which Elijah Wood is a concert pianist who must play an impossible piece perfectly, or John Cusack will shoot him with a sniper rifle from the rafters). The fact almost everyone seems to have taken it seriously just blows my mind. However, I know I'm in a tiny minority. The New Yorker and Peter Erskine (one of the best jazz drummers in the world) did very good explanations of what's wrong with it. Basically, though, the climax is like if when Marty McFly started doing the Van Halen thing at the 50s dance, he'd instead done it for 5 minutes, and everyone in the room had started cheering. The plot probably would have worked better with Prog Metal instead of Jazz. In an actual jazz show, tasteless technical junk like that would result in the audience walking out (or throwing things at the stage).

I guess all the legitimate jazz musicians I know disliked it just for the outrageous way it portrayed jazz as being some kind of insane purely technical exercise where a bunch of superfast rolls for a while would dazzle audiences and where the directors are obsessed with computer-like precision and playing every single note as printed (when the majority of jazz scores for rhythm players in particular are very rarely even written out as more than a rough sketch with a lot of "fill time for X measures") etc. I hang out with too many jazz musicians and don't really know how undergrad music people who aren't heavy into jazz or are at the stage where they feel tyrannized by their instructors would think of it, they'd probably appreciate it. I mean, it's good that they're playing legitimate jazz charts and that the movie is somewhat musically literate (like, people look like they're actually playing the music, and the music being played corresponds to the notes on the scores that you can see on screen, and most of the terminology is accurate, etc). I guess those things are all things that should be taken for granted, but they really aren't at all. It's so rare that a movie bothers to get any of that stuff right.

I completely understand where you're coming from, but most people aren't jazz musicians. I have the same problem whenever films deal with computers, programming, physics, or just science in general. I'm sure it's the same for most fields. The only time movies get something right is when they deal with making movies, that's why those films win so many awards.

[Marlow27]

I've always been super intrigued by Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and it's inclusion in the collection. Not in a snobby sort of way, more in a general "it's not the sort of film that you'd usually find in the collection" sort of way, and I'm intrigued by it. The screenshots are beautiful and I've heard good things, but I was curious to hear other people's thoughts on it?

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Marlow27

I've always been super intrigued by Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and it's inclusion in the collection. Not in a snobby sort of way, more in a general "it's not the sort of film that you'd usually find in the collection" sort of way, and I'm intrigued by it. The screenshots are beautiful and I've heard good things, but I was curious to hear other people's thoughts on it?

It's a really fun and interesting film. If you're a fan of 1960s science fiction films, I would say give it a shot.

[shadedpain4]

Since I know it's impossible to limit discussions here to films in the collection, please at least spoiler your discussions of other films. I have not seen Whiplash and have been avoiding discussion about it. I avoid the Whiplash thread for example for this reason. People should have a reasonable expectation to not run across detailed discussions of other films (especially current films not in the collection) in this thread.

[spectre08]

question for you criterion experts.

What films about or set in space are available on criterion?

I already have:

A Brief History of Time
For All Mankind

[cakefactory]

Solaris, Robinson Crusoe on Mars :P

[Freeza]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Since I know it's impossible to limit discussions here to films in the collection, please at least spoiler your discussions of other films. I have not seen Whiplash and have been avoiding discussion about it. I avoid the Whiplash thread for example for this reason. People should have a reasonable expectation to not run across detailed discussions of other films (especially current films not in the collection) in this thread.

Unfortunately this happens more often than not in this thread and while it used to be the first place I'd look when on the forum, is now the reason I rarely delve into it anymore.

[cakefactory]

I've never had a movie ruined for me by a "spoiler," it seems to be some kind of slightly annoying thing that's really been built up by the internet the last few years into something that is a lot worse than it is. For example, I loved the crying game even knowing the "spoiler," I can't think of any movies where knowing the plot beforehand actually makes them less enjoyable besides maybe things like those old creaky Hammer thrillers from the 60s where there was no substance other than insane plot developments that came out of nowhere. I can't recall anyone who flipped out about Terminator 2 being ruined by

[Show spoiler]the revelation that Arnie was a good guy

even though the movie clearly was trying to set that up as a surprise, even though I think 98% of the people that saw it knew that going in.

But yeah, I "spoilered" my extremely oblique reference to the end of Whiplash just in case having a vague idea of what the ending might be would make the entire movie worthless to you :P

[Polaroid]

Whats wrong with a film being over dramatic and unrealistic? Sometimes its nice for a film to focus on the extremes rather than get it as close to realism as possible...

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Since I know it's impossible to limit discussions here to films in the collection, please at least spoiler your discussions of other films. I have not seen Whiplash and have been avoiding discussion about it. I avoid the Whiplash thread for example for this reason. People should have a reasonable expectation to not run across detailed discussions of other films (especially current films not in the collection) in this thread.

I swear you post this about every topic around a film discussion... even when there aren't even spoilers lol

Wheres the limit though, surely there are film in collection you haven't seen that get spoiled unintentionally on a regular basis... we can't have thread FULL of spoiler tags lol

Most people BOLD film titles, so if you see a film you haven't seen bolded, just ignore the post...?

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Whats wrong with a film being over dramatic and unrealistic? Sometimes its nice for a film to focus on the extremes rather than get it as close to realism as possible...

It only bugs me in Whiplash's case because it's a case of something i care about being used as the backdrop in a completely dishonest manner and the fact most people have taken it to be realistic since they don't know anything about the subject to begin with. It wouldn't bug me if like...there were tons of jazz movies that mostly treated it seriously and thus it wouldn't be taken as gospel. For a completely ridiculous comparison, imagine if almost no one had heard of the holocaust (ex The Pianist, Schindler's List, etc had never been made), and then a big budget remake of "Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS" was getting tons of oscar nominations and was most people's only exposure to the holocaust and they thought it was realistic.

I always preface this with saying the vast majority of people who don't know much about jazz music are not going to be bothered by this, but it's really obnoxious to many people who do care about it. And obviously Whiplash is in no way anywhere close to as offensive on any level as Ilsa.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by spectre08

question for you criterion experts.

What films about or set in space are available on criterion?

I already have:

A Brief History of Time
For All Mankind

First Man Into Space and Atomic Submarine (about a UFO on earth) are on the Monsters and Madmen dvd set.