The Criterion Collection

[ccg1978]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

No, criterion 50% off sale does not include posters. Last time it did not.

when is said sale to take place?

[SkyAntoine]

I'm having the most difficult time getting through Solaris. It is such a slow burn that it keeps putting me to sleep each night. I doze off and keep going back trying to rewatch scenes. I could have watched Berlin Alexanderplatz in the amount of time I have invested in this film.

I like the mood Tarkovsky creates with the movie. I'm interested...then I'm asleep.

Anybody else have specific movies that do this to you?

[ThatOneGuy]

Originally Posted by SkyAntoine

I'm having the most difficult time getting through Solaris. It is such a slow burn that it keeps putting me to sleep each night. I doze off and keep going back trying to rewatch scenes. I could have watched Berlin Alexanderplatz in the amount of time I have invested in this film.

I like the mood Tarkovsky creates with the movie. I'm interested...then I'm asleep.

Anybody else have specific movies that do this to you?

That puts me to sleep? No, I get bored before I get tired. It is beating a dead horse since I keep saying it but L'avventura is pretty much the closet thing to come to that. 2004's Crash is a very close second.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by SkyAntoine

I'm having the most difficult time getting through Solaris. It is such a slow burn that it keeps putting me to sleep each night. I doze off and keep going back trying to rewatch scenes. I could have watched Berlin Alexanderplatz in the amount of time I have invested in this film.

I like the mood Tarkovsky creates with the movie. I'm interested...then I'm asleep.

Anybody else have specific movies that do this to you?

2001: A Space Odyssey and There Will Be Blood both put me to sleep at some point. I like them as films, but they sure are long and slow.

Last movie that put me to sleep was The Empire Strikes Back, a month ago when I was gearing up for TFA. I don't even know why - must have just been tired. Honestly though, I always did find TESB a little too dry because it is so serious compared to the others - I know people love the film the best because of that, but I seem to like the opposite approach.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Last movie that put me to sleep was The Empire Strikes Back, a month ago when I was gearing up for TFA. I don't even know why - must have just been tired. Honestly though, I always did find TESB a little too dry because it is so serious compared to the others - I know people love the film the best because of that, but I seem to like the opposite approach.

This is interesting. When I first saw The Empire Strikes Back at the theater in 1980, I was surprised at how funny it was compared to the most straightforward tone of the first Star Wars movie. The Empire Strikes Back ends on a bleaker note, but I think that it's the most comedic movie of the series overall. Perhaps this is because the characterization is so much better in that movie, and, as such, I'm more receptive to the comedic cues.

[PaperThinWalls]

Originally Posted by ccg1978

when is said sale to take place?

Around February.

[ccg1978]

Originally Posted by PaperThinWalls

Around February.

Word, I may cancel my Amazon pre-order of The Kid. Thanks

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

This is interesting. When I first saw The Empire Strikes Back at the theater in 1980, I was surprised at how funny it was compared to the most straightforward tone of the first Star Wars movie. The Empire Strikes Back ends on a bleaker note, but I think that it's the most comedic movie of the series overall. Perhaps this is because the characterization is so much better in that movie, and, as such, I'm more receptive to the comedic cues.

It's true, there are funny parts between Yoda's intro, Han and 3PO always bickering, etc. For whatever reason, I think I'm personally more receptive to the films' tones overall rather than individual scenes, so I often forget about TESB's humor, whereas I always remember how goofy ANH, ROTJ, and TPM are. In a way, I like how imperfect these other films are - they give you something to laugh about even when it's unintentional. TESB (and maybe TFA) is almost too perfect, if that makes sense. It seems like I see a little less personality and color in them because of that.

I am learning more and more to appreciate TESB for its dramatic and cinematic strengths, so I can understand why people say it's the best of the series. Even when I was a kid, I felt it dragged a bit after the Hoth and asteroid field scenes. Pacing didn't strike me as a problem last time I saw the movie, but I fell asleep regardless.

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by ccg1978

Word, I may cancel my Amazon pre-order of The Kid. Thanks

Since criterion sale is not announced beforehand, you have to be quick when placing orders with newer titles. They seem to go OOS very quickly...

Make sure you have the subscription to their newsletter & check it every morning a few times between 8AM & 12PM

or the deals thread of this forum, where it is posted by somebody as soon as newsletter arrives...

Last year 50% off sale was on March 10th & October 6th

[silverlakephil]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I got a refurbished Sony S1200. It was only $99, which is why I went for it. It got good reviews overall, it seemed. I bought it through Amazon, but from a third party -- Multisystem-Electronics.

What amazes me is how tiny it is, compared to my old Samsung. OTOH, the remote is a bit flimsy. So, I guess I shouldn't sleep on it.

I have 2 Seiki & 1 Insignia region free players. These become region free simply by putting a code on the remote. Sears use to sell the Seiki brand and Best Buy, Insignia. My old Panasonic (which recently died ) became region free with a remote hack as well. Someone mentioned on the Blu-ray player forum that the Panasonic - DMP-BDT460 sold at Best Buy can be region free with the remote hack.

[Page14]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

2001: A Space Odyssey and There Will Be Blood both put me to sleep at some point. I like them as films, but they sure are long and slow.

Last movie that put me to sleep was The Empire Strikes Back, a month ago when I was gearing up for TFA. I don't even know why - must have just been tired. Honestly though, I always did find TESB a little too dry because it is so serious compared to the others - I know people love the film the best because of that, but I seem to like the opposite approach.

You hit a nerve. Lol. I've had this thing going on for a few years now, where when I watch a movie in a theater, I seem to fall asleep at the most action-packed parts. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's an "old man" thing. Oy!

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by ccg1978

when is said sale to take place?

A more accurate date would be either the last Tuesday of February or the first Tuesday of March. The last Spring sale was the beginning of last March, generally seems to be on Tuesdays, but not necessarily that day specifically.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by SkyAntoine

...I like the mood Tarkovsky creates with the movie. I'm interested...then I'm asleep.

Anybody else have specific movies that do this to you?

Originally Posted by sc1957

All Tarkovsky films do this to me.

It's happened to me only once with a Tarkovsky film, and that was Stalker. It was while seeing it at a rep theater, and the only reason was because I'd been up all of the night before and then all that day. So it was really me and not the film. Watching it later on DVD, I had no problem.

But for the full effect, watch Béla Tarr's The Turin Horse.

Not for me. I was enrapt through the entire film.

The film I had the most trouble with was Shane Carruth's Upstream Color. I tried watching it on Netflix one night, and had to give up half-way through. I keep meaning to try it again, and haven't managed to find the time.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by Page14

You hit a nerve. Lol. I've had this thing going on for a few years now, where when I watch a movie in a theater, I seem to fall asleep at the most action-packed parts. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's an "old man" thing. Oy!

Nah, it's perfectly understandable. Too much action can be just as boring as not enough. That's a big reason why I find war movies unengaging sometimes. It's also why some movies, like Transformers or The Hobbit, come off as exhausting rather than entertaining.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by SkyAntoine

I'm having the most difficult time getting through Solaris. It is such a slow burn that it keeps putting me to sleep each night. I doze off and keep going back trying to rewatch scenes. I could have watched Berlin Alexanderplatz in the amount of time I have invested in this film.

I like the mood Tarkovsky creates with the movie. I'm interested...then I'm asleep.

Anybody else have specific movies that do this to you?

I feel that way about Tarkovsky in general.

You described it perfectly.

Mesmerized by the mood/tone/imagery.

...followed by the slow, agonizing wait for something to actually happen.

Tarkovsky is a grandmaster, but I just don't seem to connect with his work on an emotional level.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

2001: A Space Odyssey and There Will Be Blood both put me to sleep at some point. I like them as films, but they sure are long and slow.

Last movie that put me to sleep was The Empire Strikes Back, a month ago when I was gearing up for TFA. I don't even know why - must have just been tired. Honestly though, I always did find TESB a little too dry because it is so serious compared to the others - I know people love the film the best because of that, but I seem to like the opposite approach.

You're dead to me Al.

...we're through.

[Page14]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Nah, it's perfectly understandable. Too much action can be just as boring as not enough. That's a big reason why I find war movies unengaging sometimes. It's also why some movies, like Transformers or The Hobbit, come off as exhausting rather than entertaining.

My friends get a kick out of it ... and so do I.

You may be onto something about too much action being boring. I can say that I never had an inkling of nodding off while watching Breaking The Waves (which is a long-ish movie).

[llj]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I'm incredibly tempted to pick it up. Somehow I had never heard of it until Criterion announced it. The very idea that it has anything in common with La Dolce Vita, one of my favorite films ever made, is quite interesting.

And goodness, she is a gorgeous woman. Wow.

Hmmm. La Dolce Vita didn't pop up in my head once when I saw it. I mean, there are very familiar elements of many famous 60s Italian films in I Knew Her Well, but I would temper any expectations and just take the film for what it is. It's a very good film that I would definitely recommend people watch and Pietrangeli is woefully underrepresented on DVD/BD in the West, but I Knew Her Well is at once more conventional and yet different from what we know of more famous Italian films from that era. If there's anything I take issue with is people calling this a satire or comedy when it really isn't. It has funny moments and makes pointed social observations, but in general it strikes me as a drama. The final quarter of the film is rather grim, in my opinion.

[I KEEL YOU]

I wouldn't call "falling asleep to a movie" necessarily an insult to a movie. There's the falling asleep to a movie because it's boring, and then there's falling asleep to certain types of movies because you're so comfortable watching them that they relax you. I've fallen asleep to Drugstore Cowboy (my favorite movie ever) literally dozens of times - it hypnotizes and relaxes me to a point where I gradually fall asleep. Koyaanisqatsi sometimes has the same effect on me. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a relaxing experience as well, but man whenever that eerily epic Ligeti music kicks in, I am wide awake.

Weird how falling asleep to some relaxing music is considered a compliment to that music, but for some reason the opposite is the case when it comes to movies and it's considered an insult.

[ThatOneGuy]

Originally Posted by I KEEL YOU

Weird how falling asleep to some relaxing music is considered a compliment to that music, but for some reason the opposite is the case when it comes to movies and it's considered an insult.

Mainly because movies is mostly a visual art form. Unless it was made to put people to sleep, a film isn't doing a good job if it isn't keeping your attention.