The Criterion Collection

[theater dreamer]

For me, it was Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal. My first two Criterion buys were Best Picture winners: On The Waterfront and The Last Emperor. The Seventh Seal marked my initial foray into the possibilities the Collection really offered to cinephiles. Seven Samurai came just a few days later, and I was off to the races.

Originally Posted by olivianewtonyawn

What film was your gateway into the appreciation of cinema beyond blockbusters? Follow up question: what film opened you up to exploring the Criterion Collection?

[Kyle15]

Originally Posted by CPinheiro

Haha I thought the first one was the weirdest, but I guess weird fits with lynch.




I'm the opposite! I usually like when they come with a new art instead of the original poster and I've never been a big fan of FWWM poster... but that just shows how they will never make everyone 100% happy with the cover they end up picking.

I like new art too, but that art just doesn't fit at all aside from the first one. Those font choices, the editing, eh

[tisdivine]

Im going to place a small final order

Leave Her To Heaven
Bigger Than Life
Umberto D
Limelight
Gates of Heaven

but I noticed B&N was out of Gates of Heaven so I waited for it to come back in stock but now Limelight is out of stock and none of my semi-local B&Ns have it either lol Im going to wait a few more days and keep my fingers crossed nothing else sells out and they restock lol before the sale is over.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

They look awful, not sure how final they are, but they look like really basic mockups more than anything...

The first one is ok!

Agreed, two and four look terrible and unfinished. Completely off-balance.

[mande2013]

Originally Posted by olivianewtonyawn

What film was your gateway into the appreciation of cinema beyond blockbusters? Follow up question: what film opened you up to exploring the Criterion Collection?

This is tough to say. I'm 28 at the moment. Watching Goodfellas when I was 15 made me realize movies were "more than just movies". From ages 15 to 18 I mostly stuck to devouring the Imdb top 250, watching Scorsese, Coppola, Kubrick, and Woody Allen, and stuff like Chinatown and Network and so on and maybe checking out 'old movies' like Sunset Blvd, Rear Window, and Citizen Kane, and I'd watch 'foreign films' like The Motorcycle Diaries and City of God. Then things advanced to another level at age 18 when I watched The 400 Blows and 8 1/2. From ages 18-21 I expanded my viewing habits, watching most of the high-profile classic foreign films like The Seventh Seal, The Conformist, L'Avventura, Nights of Cabiria, Persona, Belle de Jour, etc. I essentially spent that time getting my hands on most of the films in the TSPDT top 100, not necessarily loving every single one of them though. Then at age 21 itself was my eureka, "Wow, cinema's the seventh art" moment when I revisited Le Mepris, not having cared for it the first time I saw it in a film class at college. Then from age 21 to 24/25 I explored most of early Godard and post-67 JLG sparingly , Bunuel, Bresson, Ozu, Mizoguchi, Rossellini, Ford, Renoir, Vigo, Murnau, Dreyer, Pialat, Rohmer, Rivette and so on. So by my mid-20s I became a radically 'committed' cinephile shithead, which I've subsequently outgrown in three short years. Now I just don't give a ****, and that applies to many things, such as whether or not Fellini and Antonioni are 'bourgeois' white elephants compared to Renoir and Rossellini. I allow myself to appreciate both strands.

[KrugerIndustrial]

This has officially been the most difficult film-related sale decision I have ever done. After playing the in/out of stock game for weeks, and nearly driving myself crazy, I was finally able to place my order. What I love about cinema is that no matter how many years you have behind you, or if you feel you have already seen everything there is to see, there's always that one film just around the corner that will screw with your brain, and eventually force you to completely revalue your life. And I feel the best way to get there, especially with Criterions, is to just go balls first.

So, without further ado, these are the titles I ended up going with. All complete blind buys. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, which I obviously did not listen!

[buffetfroid]

Originally Posted by olivianewtonyawn

What film was your gateway into the appreciation of cinema beyond blockbusters? Follow up question: what film opened you up to exploring the Criterion Collection?

I suppose my first exposure to "art house" fare was when I went with my dad to see Branagh's Henry V in 1989, when I was 12. A couple years later I went with him to see The Player. In middle school I liked crappy horror movies but by high school had moved on to other stuff. A friend and I used to "theater hop" in the early 90s. This was multi-plex stuff but there were occasional artier films such as The Crying Game. And soon thereafter the independent film movement really started to kick off.

Don't recall the first Criterion I bought, but it was probably The Lady Vanishes. Pre-DVD, in high school, my friend and I would browse the laserdiscs at Tower records in amazement, and also the Home Vision Cinema VHS tapes with titles that mostly ended up as Criterion dvd releases later. Miss that experience...

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by olivianewtonyawn

What film was your gateway into the appreciation of cinema beyond blockbusters? Follow up question: what film opened you up to exploring the Criterion Collection?

Ghostbusters was the first film I ever saw back when it came out in theaters. I also saw Gremlins. However I lived a while with my grandparents and watched films with them so I never really went through a shift in tastes, films were just films to me from the get go. But I guess High Noon was the film that I first recognized subtext in. I was pretty young but still realized the filmmakers were telling more than the surface story.

As for CC gateway, I don't even remember. It's funny because they're now seen as some snooty arthouse label but I remember them putting out John Woo flicks. So maybe Hardboiled.

EDIT: a second phase of my infatuation with CC started when they began releasing Godard and Bergman on DVD. I was so happy to own good quality version of the films.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by sawdustandtinsel

I was lucky enough to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in theaters when I was 14 and it moved me to tears. .

This was the first movie I ever saw multiple times in theaters. I was floored.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by billy pilgrim

The two films that seemed to really rearrange all of my brain cells from that period were: Turkish Delight with Rutger Hauer. I've never been the same, thank god!

When will this film get its proper due? I'm hanging on to my Anchor Bay set of Verhoeven's Dutch films for dear life.

[ShellOilJunior]

Criterion should use another WB chip on:

[Show spoiler]

[Scottie]

Joshua Z. Weinstein's Top 10.

https://www.criterion.com/explore/31...stein-s-top-10

[Professor Echo]

Did a $37 (including tax) blind buy on Pagnol's MARSEILLE TRILOGY and even though reviews have been incredibly positive, even life changing positive, I'm still on the fence about whether it will prove to be a solid buy. I trust the members of this site not to steer me wrong, at least as much as the so called "critics," so I'll ask those who have seen it, did I get a good buy?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Joshua Z. Weinstein's Top 10.

https://www.criterion.com/explore/31...stein-s-top-10

He ranked the three films from The Apu Trilogy for the number one spot. I get that it's a trilogy, but still...

[Baron Blood]

I've always been interested in non-mainstream films and music.
I guess I'm one of the older guys here cause not only do I remember the invention of VHS (and Beta) but also color TV.

It must have been in the mid 60's, when I was about 7 or 8 yrs old, our black and white TV could tune into a channel from Quebec, Canada which would play German Silent films late at night.
Despite being in French language only it was easier to understand the silents.
Films like Faust and Haxan made a big impression.


So before Criterion, Kino catered to people like me along with horrible companies like Connoisseur (VHS days)

One Christmas I Imported (tough in those days) a VHS copy of Juliet Of The Spirits for my brother as a gift.
We thought what a thrill it was to have the entire film and to not have to check the TV Times every week in hopes that a film like this would be played.
After Christmas dinner we watched it only to realize the PQ was beyond horrible.
It was a dupe of a dupe with the last 20-30 minutes missing do to the length of the film.
And this was a SLP dupe!
I paid $129.00 for that. (file this under you kids don't know how good you got it today )

So, me and my brothers have always been into Art house films.
Fortunately, back then we didn't have to rely only on our Art Gallery to show obscure stuff in the theater but we had a few Art Houses that would bring stuff like Tarkovsky, Bergman, Fellini and Herzog with their first run.

I remember, on opening night, going to Herzog's Nosferatu 9:00pm showing when some guy came out from the early showing warning everyone in line about how bad and boring it was.
It was easy to realize this was his first Herzog if not Art House film.

Anyways, companies like Criterion have been a Godsend to me and my brothers.
Exchanging Criterion titles happen ever Christmas.
Thanks Criterion.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by olivianewtonyawn

What film was your gateway into the appreciation of cinema beyond blockbusters? Follow up question: what film opened you up to exploring the Criterion Collection?

That is a tough one for sure. I've been into film ever since I was a little kid and they were mainly blockbusters but for non blockbuster (which might also be considered a blockbuster) I would say Amadeus. I watched that film so many times when I was a kid.

For the second question I basically came across Criterion from the dvd days when I noticed them releasing a bunch of films I love and it's just continued from there.

[Baron Blood]

I'm going to take the liberty of listing my most wanted on Criterion

The Tenant
Fearless Vampire Killers
Hour Of The Wolf
Juliet of The Spirits
The Passion Of Beatrice
Romeo & Juliet
Haxan
Eyes Without A Face

I'm thrilled Barry Lyndon and Vampyr have been announced.
I can predict my brother and I will be giving the same gift/s to each other this Christmas

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Baron Blood

I'm going to take the liberty of listing my most wanted on Criterion

The Tenant
Fearless Vampire Killers
Hour Of The Wolf
Juliet of The Spirits
The Passion Of Beatrice
Romeo & Juliet
Haxan
Eyes Without A Face

I'm thrilled Barry Lyndon and Vampyr have been announced.
I can predict my brother and I will be giving the same gift/s to each other this Christmas

"Eyes Without a Face" has been released on BD by Criterion.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by mja345

"Eyes Without a Face" has been released on BD by Criterion.

Guessing he might have meant Fiend Without a Face.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

He ranked the three films from The Apu Trilogy for the number one spot. I get that it's a trilogy, but still...

Have you seen del Toro's list?