The Criterion Collection

[Lutz]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Yes he absolutely should have. I keep listening to that score, and it's a shame that the content of the film -- IMO anyways -- killed his chances. It's brilliant.

Yeah I thought it deserved nods for the sound design too.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

What, exactly, is unintentionally funny in Neon Demon?

Pretty much the whole movie. I mean, I assume it's supposed to be one big joke; but the acting, writing, and "story" are all so bombastic it couldn't be anything but. Maybe if Refn knew anything about the fashion industry, or how even simple photoshoots work, it might've had more credibility.

[Lutz]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Pretty much the whole movie. I mean, I assume it's supposed to be one big joke; but the acting, writing, and "story" are all so bombastic it couldn't be anything but. Maybe if Refn knew anything about the fashion industry, or how even simple photoshoots work, it might've had more credibility.

Does anyone ever criticise SUSPIRIA for what it has to say about ballet?

[Polaroid]

While in the subject. Natalie Portman defo deserves an oscar for her portrayal of Jackie Kennedy. Her performance was way better than what she did in Black Swan.

[MJD64]

I don't get the praise for Neon Demon; taking satirical jabs at the modelling and fashion industry? Talk about low-hanging fruit...

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by MJD64

I don't get the praise for Neon Demon; taking satirical jabs at the modelling and fashion industry? Talk about low-hanging fruit...

I don't think it's attempting to satirize the fashion/modelling industry at all. I think it's using it as the backdrop for cool visuals, and that it was a convenient setting to get a bunch of super-ambitious pretty ladies, since ballet has been done to death. I think the fact everyone's a creep would have been the case no matter where it was set.

Good response Malakaheso, thanks. I can see some similarities with some of Lynch's visuals. I guess I liked the actual neon nightmare look of it, and can only think of Crimes of Passion, Suspiria and Inferno that really look in any way similar color-palette wise. I can't really think of any Giallos that look like that at all, apart from maybe Strange Colour of your Body's Tears. The many I've seen in the 70s are usually stylish but I've never seen any with that kind of freakish lighting, apart from Bava's earlier "Blood and Black Lace." Are you referring to any other ones in particular? I'll have to check them out. I think I've gone through the top 30 or so that show up on most lists.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

While in the subject. Natalie Portman defo deserves an oscar for her portrayal of Jackie Kennedy. Her performance was way better than what she did in Black Swan.

Absolutely. She transformed in Jackie for that role, it was impressive to watch.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

While in the subject. Natalie Portman defo deserves an oscar for her portrayal of Jackie Kennedy. Her performance was way better than what she did in Black Swan.

Also deserved directing and writing recognition IMHO but probably too unconventional a biopic for Oscar voters.

[MifuneFan]

One more phantom page added:

Sam Taylor-Wood

[oubukibun]

I just have to ask: in 2016, what IS there that isn't in some way or another... Obvious?

That's a criticism I really have never understood, especially in the new millennium. Whether it's Upstream Color or Paul Blart: Mall Cop... We've all seen it before, in one medium or another, in one way, or the next. I think Refn is a fine director, and he'd never be getting as much flak as he is now if people hadn't, for whatever reason, lost their minds over Drive. Critics and us plebeians alike.

For what it's worth, The Neon Demon is my favorite thing he's done so far precisely because it's such a hodge-podge of little ideas and imagery, and, more importantly, because it's refreshingly unpretentious even in its seeming pretentiousness and preciousness WITH the imagery. I found it fun and enthralling (sue me, right?) in a way that Only God Forgives, for example, only managed to be when Kristin Scott Thomas was present on screen. To this day, I cannot stand the ending of that film... Talk about pretension (ugh).

Anyway, Neon Demon seems to be yet another byproduct of people pouncing harshly on a film made by a director they may have misunderstood to begin with and now want to punish him and all of his future endeavors as an excuse to pretend they never liked him at first.

Not everyone, but that's the impression I get sometimes, and not just here in these forums.

Drive, for my money, is his most overrated work anyway. Meh.

Diff'rent strokes, diff'rent folks.

[jordan-r]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

One more phantom page added:

Sam Taylor-Wood

Fifty Shades of Grey confirmed.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by jordan-r

Fifty Shades of Grey confirmed.

haha, was going to post that too jokingly. I think if it means anything, it could be for the film "Nowhere Boy".

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

haha, was going to post that too jokingly. I think if it means anything, it could be for the film "Nowhere Boy".

That would be silly.

[Scottie]

I wonder what the next film to be downgraded from BD+DVD to BD only will be.

(I'm not counting the Demy films as they were in a box set.)

[jordan-r]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

haha, was going to post that too jokingly. I think if it means anything, it could be for the film "Nowhere Boy".

In all seriousness, I thought Fifty Shades was a heck of a movie (though certainly not Criterion material). Here's a short review I wrote on Facebook after seeing it last year:

Belated thoughts on FIFTY SHADES: it is a near-masterpiece! Bleak and stilted in all the best possible ways, full of enviable interiors and poetically gloomy cityscapes. Getting to hear Dakota Johnson mimic her mother's "I won't do this, I won't do that" speech from BODY DOUBLE was a treat, and I managed to enjoy even the Beyonce songs that played on the soundtrack. The sex scenes, which I suppose were meant to be torrid and titillating, instead were replete with the queasiness of James Woods probing Debbie Harry's body in VIDEODROME (which is exactly how they should have felt). It did have its shortcomings - there could have been more nudity and more shades of gray, and I didn't really like the way it portrayed Ana's ambivalence about all this (which may have just been imported directly from the novel) - but all in all, a thoroughly appealing movie that I can't wait to revisit. I hope the home video release includes a leisurely guided tour of Christian Grey's apartment.

But yeah, surely the phantom page is for Nowhere Boy.

[ShellOilJunior]

Nowhere Boy is a good film but it doesn't need a Criterion release. The director may have page because she was interviewed about another film coming to the collection.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Nowhere Boy is a good film but it doesn't need a Criterion release. The director may have page because she was interviewed about another film coming to the collection.

For what it's worth.

http://samtaylorjohnson.com/media/th...y-may-2008.pdf

[SkyAntoine]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I wonder what the next film to be downgraded from BD+DVD to BD only will be.

(I'm not counting the Demy films as they were in a box set.)

Is The Last Picture Show still held by Criterion? That is deserving of its own release and would be a seller.

I would personally like to see Through a Glass Darkly upgraded if I had to pick one, but would prefer the entire Trilogy set.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by nitin

Also deserved directing and writing recognition IMHO but probably too unconventional a biopic for Oscar voters.

I loved how he snuck in archive footage in the film as well, very well made film!

Dare I say a masterpiece? I found it hard to fault or find flaws!

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by iScottie

For what it's worth.

http://samtaylorjohnson.com/media/th...y-may-2008.pdf

The Railway Children is a WB film....

That would be out of left field for Criterion to use one of their WB chips on.