The Criterion Collection

[jmclick]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I know some people feel that it will open the floodgates, so to say, and that not being region free actually helps to curb their spending (in a relative way.) I think if some would be willing to temper their allegiance to Criterion or to Twilight Time, they'd find that in many instances, they can import comparable titles w/ good PQ for less money.

I, too, think that serious cinephiles should strongly consider a region free player. There's too much great stuff out there that will never get a domestic Blu-ray release. (or in some cases, a reasonable quality DVD release.)

Absolutely true. I'm not region-free in terms of my hardware (yet), but I've been watching all those cheaper (and better packaged) region-free blu-rays that I ordered from Amazon.uk, and I've been very, very impressed with the PQ, AQ, and supplements on the discs.

And while I was shopping the UK site, I kept noticing Region B titles that I have long been dreaming of ... like Samuel Fuller's Forty Guns and Pickup on South Street, Jacques Tourneur's Way of a Gaucho, Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, Elia Kazan's Boomerang!, and too many others to mention.

[SlickDamian]

I don't feel the need to buy a region-free player.
And I like getting a free DVD with my blue.

[popcorntreect]

I got a region free player because Eureka! releases are nearly all better than their U.S. Kino counterparts.

[RupertPupkin]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

The Brood Blu-ray REVIEW



This is the best high-definition presentation of the film that I have seen to date. You won't be disappointed.

If you are fan of the film, you probably want to have this release and the UK and Australian releases as they all have some very good supplemental features (I really like The Directors: The Films of David Cronenberg that is included on the Aussie disc).

I really hope Crash would end up with Criterion. It is, in my opinion, Mr. Cronenberg's best film, and it will be great to have an excellent release with plenty of supplemental features (especially with Deborah Kara Unger). Top score from Howard Shore as well





Pro-B

p.s. Later today we will have a review for Mister Johnson. Three more reviews should be up by Sunday night.

Thanks a lot for this review; although this is not one of my early favorite Cronenberg, I could now consider to buy it judging by the quality of the PQ and the Criterion bonus.

Why CRASH has not been released at all in the world world (I mean, Earth) is a bit strange.
Each time I believe I've found a blu-ray edition somewhere, it turns out that it is the other Crash (aka Collision) by Paul Haggis.
Even an HDTV transfer doesn't seem to exist.
Like you I have the US DVD which was great the last time I saw it : great transfer for a DVD (the color are wonderful and particularly hypnotizing in this movie. OK, I have to say that Deborah lost glance (you thought I would talked about porte-jarettelles. Not this time ). Howard Shore's music is hypnotizing, with this metallic sound, Sonic Youth...
I love this cold, torpidity, atmosphere... I love the dark humour (some French reviewers tends to forgot that Cronenberg has a particular sense of homour) especially with the Rosanna Arquette scene or the scene with the wig...

Elias Koteas (which is amazing in the Atom Egoyan movies) gives an amazing performance in this movie (as- almost- every time).
James Spader was one of my favorite actor at that time.. he is kind of Christopher Walken-like in this movie, but younger... Like he was in Soderbergh's Sex Lies (both character are closed), or later The Secretary seems like a re-do of the same thing...too bad.
I really hope that it will be released on Blu-Ray (it's on the top of my list now that Exotica has been released (although not at his best) and A Swedish Love Story)

I often read in French magazines that Cronenberg passed by J. G. Ballard's novel. I don't think so, the close-ups on the car traffic, which Deborah is watching from her window is a short plan but amazing...
I would have been interested by a radically different approach : the end of Barbet Shroeder's Maîtresse announced Crash (instead here, their search for pleasure succeeded)...

[darkness2918]

Originally Posted by popcorntreect

I got a region free player because Eureka! releases are nearly all better than their U.S. Kino counterparts.

I went region free for Arrow UK.

[pro-bassoonist]

Mister Johnson Blu-ray REVIEW









Pro-B

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by RupertPupkin

Thanks a lot for this review; although this is not one of my early favorite Cronenberg, I could now consider to buy it judging by the quality of the PQ and the Criterion bonus.

Why CRASH has not been released at all in the world world (I mean, Earth) is a bit strange.
Each time I believe I've found a blu-ray edition somewhere, it turns out that it is the other Crash (aka Collision) by Paul Haggis.
Even an HDTV transfer doesn't seem to exist.
Like you I have the US DVD which was great the last time I saw it : great transfer for a DVD (the color are wonderful and particularly hypnotizing in this movie. OK, I have to say that Deborah lost glance (you thought I would talked about porte-jarettelles. Not this time ).

Hi Alexandre.

Yes, I would really like to upgrade this film, but it has to be a good transfer. It is probably one of the most stylish films Cronenberg shot with some excellent nuances (light/shadow).

However, as one of the guys here rightfully pointed out, now it is only available through Warner Archive. It is one of a few "snappers" I have left (together with Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky, Malle's Damage*, and Antonioni's Blow Up (De Palma's Femme Fatale is also there).

You can talk about porte-jarretelles, they would fit right into the De Palma conversation.

* There is a pretty good Japanese Blu-ray release.



It would be perfect for the Criterion Collection. But most likely there will be an upgrade of Malle's Elevator to the Gallows.

We will cover the upcoming French disc. I've also reserved a spot for Murmur of the Heart. It is my favorite Malle film. It should be here in about two weeks.



Have a lovely weekend

Pro-B

[RupertPupkin]

Le Souffle Au Cœur (aka Murmur of The Heart) is one of my favorite Louis Malle movie. I really hope that the color restoration will be more ''acurrate'' to me than "Lucien Lacombe" (Gaumont Blu-Ray). Not To say that I have a little thing for Lea Massari...
In the meantime, I have often watched the Japanese blu-ray of Murmur Of The Heart, which - albeit the 1080i - is very pleasing - ratio is respected (especially the first minutes of the movie), HD details is really there (sic) and there's no trace of excessive DNR... there's some slight grain (I really hope that Gaumont will not "filtering" the grain of this movie).
Had this been a 1080p24 transfer, this could have been close to Criterion "Au Revoir Les Enfants" picture quality (not to say that I have a little thing for Irène Jacob)

I'm not a huge fan of Damage (do you remember Juliette Binoche interviews about how she was really disgusted buy Jeremy Irons ?). But regarding Louis Malle's last movies, Vanya 42nd Street is amazing.

porte-jarettelles : yes, I think that if in France, François Truffaut is one the best, in the US, Brian De Palma is close and obviously share the same test.
Not mentionning Deborah Shelton's shopping in Body Double (we are not talking about a porte-jarettelles here but another very little piece of clothes -silk- I believe from what I've seen on the Twilight Time transfer)
Femme Fatale is the last D.De Palma movie which I really liked. There's a very nice HDTV transfer "around"...

and yes MORE ANTONIONI !!!!
Blow Up of course, but what about Profession Reporter and Zabriskie Point ???

[malakaheso]

Why did Criterion release Mister Johnson? Was it some kind of a package deal with Breaker Morant?

I'm just wondering because. while it got decent enough reviews at its time of release, critics were hardly ecstatic about it, and the film was pretty much forgotten in the ensuing years.

As for Antonioni, I'm sure Criterion have tried to get their hands on The Passenger and Blow Up. Blow Up might be difficult to get because it's a Warner title, but The Passenger will probably find its way onto the label eventually.

RE: Crash. I never bought the dvd because I was always hoping that it would get re-released with Cronenberg's commentary. Criterion don't tend to give up their old features though.

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

Why did Criterion release Mister Johnson? Was it some kind of a package deal with Breaker Morant?

I'm just wondering because. while it got decent enough reviews at its time of release, critics were hardly ecstatic about it, and the film was pretty much forgotten in the ensuing years.

As for Antonioni, I'm sure Criterion have tried to get their hands on The Passenger and Blow Up. Blow Up might be difficult to get because it's a Warner title, but The Passenger will probably find its way onto the label eventually.

RE: Crash. I never bought the dvd because I was always hoping that it would get re-released with Cronenberg's commentary. Criterion don't tend to give up their old features though.

Pretty sure they got Blow Up as part of their deal with Warner, I vaguely remember reading that somewhere in these forums.
Could just be remembering a wish list though but I dont think I am.

[malakaheso]

^^Did they also get McCabe and Mrs Miller in that deal?

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

^^Did they also get McCabe and Mrs Miller in that deal?

We can only hope so.

[CriterionBlues]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

^^Did they also get McCabe and Mrs Miller in that deal?

If you listen to the CEO podcast, it sounds like they got more than they can handle in that deal. I could see McCabe and Mrs Miller, possibly Crash, Blow-Up, and many others around the corner.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by CriterionBlues

If you listen to the CEO podcast, it sounds like they got more than they can handle in that deal. I could see McCabe and Mrs Miller, possibly Crash, Blow-Up, and many others around the corner.

which podcast?

[Khronikos]

Just watched the Criterion Heaven's Gate and it was pretty damn good. Don't really get why audiences cannot get over some of this stuff. It's ridiculous. The movie flows well, has great shots all over the place, and has a very good story. Some of the scenes where things are just moving along are amazing to watch. The bustle of the town is first rate stuff hardly done as well today.

But did anybody catch the ridiculously distracting continuity errors on the pool hall scene lol? My god the balls are changing positions so much on the table and just disappearing that it becomes honestly too distracting for that good scene.

Hard to believe a director would allow such amateur mistakes like that into such a pivotal scene. I don't mind a moved ball here and there but damn they are all over the place in one take and then somewhere else or gone in the next and then back again for the next!

Anyway, great film!

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Khronikos

Just watched the Criterion Heaven's Gate and it was pretty damn good. Don't really get why audiences cannot get over some of this stuff. It's ridiculous. The movie flows well, has great shots all over the place, and has a very good story. Some of the scenes where things are just moving along are amazing to watch. The bustle of the town is first rate stuff hardly done as well today.

But did anybody catch the ridiculously distracting continuity errors on the pool hall scene lol? My god the balls are changing positions so much on the table and just disappearing that it becomes honestly too distracting for that good scene.

Hard to believe a director would allow such amateur mistakes like that into such a pivotal scene. I don't mind a moved ball here and there but damn they are all over the place in one take and then somewhere else or gone in the next and then back again for the next!

Anyway, great film!

I agree with just about all of this except for when you say that it flows well. I think that the overall sentiment towards this film has shifted. The TSPDT poll has it in the top 500. It is, IMO, a special film - a flawed one, but special.

[CriterionBlues]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

which podcast?

http://www.crowdsourcestudios.com/media.html

The audio quality is sketchy at best and you can tell the interviewer isn't up on the label, but it is still a good listen.

[pro-bassoonist]

Thanks for posting that LD cover, Ray.

It was actually one of the final LDs that I replaced when the New Line DVD came out. The quality was quite good, but I think that the DVD is the winner.

In any event, it would be terrific if the film returns to the collection.

There is another film from Salvatore Samperi -- sadly a director that is completely ignored in the U.S. (and English-speaking markets for that matter) -- which deals with the same subject that I like quite a lot. It is called Submission/Scandalo and stars Franco Nero and beautiful Lisa Gastoni.

This is the Italian DVD, but it is out of print now:

http://www.amazon.it/scandalo/dp/B00...words=Scandalo



This would be a great film for Kino to release, as I doubt that Criterion would bother with it.It was lensed by Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now, The Last Emperor) and the soundtrack is from one of Europe's greatest film composers from the last century, Riz Ortolani (Il Sorpasso, Paprika).

Pro-B

[jw007]

malakaheso:

Is Bruce Beresford well received in Australia? You mentioned critics "weren't ecstatic" about Mister Johnson...are these Australian critics or just in general? I've noticed you're in Melbourne, so perhaps you can shed some light on all this.

I am looking forward to watching these 2 forthcoming Beresford films on blu-ray but probably won't make blind-buy purchases.

[Ray Jackson]

I watched Pierrot Le Fou last night on TCM and it's now officially favorite Godard film.

It's amazing how much more I like it than the first time I saw it several years ago.

The only problem now is that I desperately want the Criterion blu-ray.

...can anyone loan me a hundred bucks?