The Criterion Collection

[dwk]

Originally Posted by hagios

I do not know that much about Criterion, although I do own these (see 1st spoiler) ... many are blind-buys!

I do enjoy/likes Westerns, subtle horror, crime dramas, WWII/war/holocaust, Civil War, classic comedy, etc..

Question, on this sale what ones would I enjoy do you think by my likes & my collection?

Horror/horrorish dramas
Diabolique
Eyes Without a Face
Kwaidan
Kuroneko
Rebecca
Throne of Blood
The Vanishing

Crime/noir
The Asphalt Jungle
Blood Simple
The Killing
Kiss Me Deadly
Pale Flower
Judex
Rififi
Le samourai

[jbieste]

Originally Posted by hagios

Question, on this sale what ones would I enjoy do you think by my likes & my collection?

It Happened One Night

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by Jexes23

Kristen Stewart is a pretty horrible actress. I own Adventureland because I really liked the movie, but she’s the same in everything she’s in, kinda like Kevin Costner and Nick Cage.

Yet that reason alone doesn't make her, or anyone, a "bad" actor or actress. That's actually the whole definition of a "movie star" persona. No one wanted to see John Wayne playing anything other than John Wayne, or Cary Grant, or Jimmy Stewart. When they did bench out, often times the films weren't as successful (Vertigo is a perfect example, since it wasn't a huge hit upon release despite Hitchcock and Stewart).

Not to mention the acting awards she's won from the National Society of Film Critics, New York and Boston Critics, and a Cesar award (the French Oscar) for Supporting Actress. The professionals disagree with you.

[sharky1999]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

The guy from that thread that "literally" gets paid on Friday should be well prepared.

[Orwell foresaw the destruction of language]

Perhaps on other Fridays he figuratively gets paid and would be out of luck if the sale started on any of those Fridays.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by jordan-r

Someone on the Criterion subreddit says the sale will start Friday.

If it starts Friday, will the Von Sternberg/Dietrich set be 50% off even though it comes out on the 3rd? Otherwise, I will still be waiting till the 3rd to place an order.

[StarDestroyer52]

Also, if this goes onto the 1st week of August, I would be able to get some more titles as I also need to get some Flicker Alley film-noirs and my pre-order of Day of the Jackal.

[thatguamguy]

When it is still technically a pre-order, I don't think there's a guarantee. Most likely yes, it will be at the sale price immediately, but it is possible that the sale price won't hit until the disc is officially released. Unless they throw out all previous precedent, the sale month's new releases get the sale price.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by hagios

I do not know that much about Criterion, although I do own these (see 1st spoiler) ... many are blind-buys!

I do enjoy/likes Westerns, subtle horror, crime dramas, WWII/war/holocaust, Civil War, classic comedy, etc..

Question, on this sale what ones would I enjoy do you think by my likes & my collection?

[Show spoiler]Being There The Bridge The Brood Carlos Carnival of Souls Cat People The Confession don't look now The Emigrants/The New Land Here Comes Mr Jordan His Girl Friday I Marries a Witch Innocents Insomnia Island of Lost Souls Jubal The Killers The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp The Magician McCabe and Mrs Miller Ministry of Fear Night and Fog Night of the Living Dead A Night to Remember The Philadelphia Story Phoenix Repulsion Ride with the devil Rosemary's Baby The Seventh Seal Shoah The Shooting/Ride in the Whirlwind The Silence of the Lambs Stagecoach State of Siege The Uninvited Vampyr Young Mr Lincoln 3:10 to Yuma

I do know I want to get:

[Show spoiler]

If you like war films I suggest you get Paths of Glory and Westfront 1918, both very powerful anti-war films about WW1. Westfront 1918 is the German "All Quiet on the Western Front". As for Westerns if you get Stagecoach, I would get Red River and My Darling Clementine. Can't say about the newer 3:10 to Yuma as I haven't seen it but the original one is excellent though very different from some of the Hawks/Ford Westerns.

Can't go wrong with The Philadelphia Story as its one of the best screwball comedies ever. If you don't have It Happened One Night(5 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Writing) and Palm Beach Story I would suggest you get those also as they are some of the best screwball comedies

[benedictopacifico]

Originally Posted by hagios

I do not know that much about Criterion, although I do own these (see 1st spoiler) ... many are blind-buys!

I do enjoy/likes Westerns, subtle horror, crime dramas, WWII/war/holocaust, Civil War, classic comedy, etc..

Question, on this sale what ones would I enjoy do you think by my likes & my collection?

[Show spoiler]Being There The Bridge The Brood Carlos Carnival of Souls Cat People The Confession don't look now The Emigrants/The New Land Here Comes Mr Jordan His Girl Friday I Marries a Witch Innocents Insomnia Island of Lost Souls Jubal The Killers The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp The Magician McCabe and Mrs Miller Ministry of Fear Night and Fog Night of the Living Dead A Night to Remember The Philadelphia Story Phoenix Repulsion Ride with the devil Rosemary's Baby The Seventh Seal Shoah The Shooting/Ride in the Whirlwind The Silence of the Lambs Stagecoach State of Siege The Uninvited Vampyr Young Mr Lincoln 3:10 to Yuma

I do know I want to get:

[Show spoiler]

Kuroneko
Eyes without a Face
Kwaidan
Diabolique
The Night of the Hunter
Night and the City
Sullivan’s Travels
Seven Samurai
12 Angry Men

[captainron_howdy]

Originally Posted by willtopower

For me personally, the biggest problem in Personal Shopper was the

[Show spoiler]cell phone text conversation

. It was really silly, in a bad way, for me.

IDK if it was just me but,

[Show spoiler]seeing that texting scene on the big screen was beyond intense.

I guess it's a matter of taste.

[dressedtokill]

Random question, but how long does it usually take for Jon Mulvaney to answer emails?

[theEXORCIST]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Come now, Nic Cage can slum it many times but try telling me that he's the same in say, Raising Arizona and Wild at Heart.

Nicholas Cage was great in Adaptation

[latehong]

Originally Posted by hagios

I do not know that much about Criterion, although I do own these (see 1st spoiler) ... many are blind-buys!

I do enjoy/likes Westerns, subtle horror, crime dramas, WWII/war/holocaust, Civil War, classic comedy, etc..

Here's one perfect recommendation. To Be or Not to Be (1942). Considering your taste, this is a must. Ernst Lubitsch, who was the most influential director in classical Hollywood comedy (he's 'the mentor' to Billy Wilder. Wilder even commissioned the artist Saul Bass to make a sign to hang in his office: "How would Lubitsch do it?" Need I say more?) and a refugee from Nazi Germany, made his most biting satire on... Nazi Germany, still in the middle of WWII!

It would be a great triple feature with The Last Metro (1980), Francois Truffaut's take on the same subject (and certainly influenced by Lubitsch) and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009). All three of them take place in a theater and the protagonists fight against Nazis, using their artistic ability to create a fiction.

[Joshitaka]

Any chance they would ever release the Three Colors films separately? I feel like they wouldn't, but I can hope...

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Joshitaka

Any chance they would ever release the Three Colors films separately? I feel like they wouldn't, but I can hope...

Nope.

[traths]

Originally Posted by hagios

I do not know that much about Criterion, although I do own these (see 1st spoiler) ... many are blind-buys!

I do enjoy/likes Westerns, subtle horror, crime dramas, WWII/war/holocaust, Civil War, classic comedy, etc..

Question, on this sale what ones would I enjoy do you think by my likes & my collection?

On the Waterfront and The Sweet Smell of Success

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by latehong

Here's one perfect recommendation. To Be or Not to Be (1942). Considering your taste, this is a must. Ernst Lubitsch, who was the most influential director in classical Hollywood comedy (he's 'the mentor' to Billy Wilder. Wilder even commissioned the artist Saul Bass to make a sign to hang in his office: "How would Lubitsch do it?" Need I say more?) and a refugee from Nazi Germany, made his most biting satire on... Nazi Germany, still in the middle of WWII!

I am subletting in Westwood for the summer, and I found out last week that all summer long, UCLA's "Billy Wilder theater", within a mile of where I am staying, will be showing Lubitsch movies pretty much every weekend, including a few which aren't even available on DVD (let alone Blu). Other than "The Smiling Lieutenant", they're showing all of my favorites as well, naturally including "To Be Or Not To Be".

One small thing, though; Lubitsch was not a refugee from the Nazis, he came to America in 1921 and was already established as one of the top directors in Hollywood before Hitler was elected. He did hate the Nazis, and he did have family that remained under Hitler, but his reasons for leaving Germany were not political.

[rognvaldr]

I only saved up $120 but if it's a month long sale then I should be able to get at least 10 or so but I really wanted to double my Collection of Criterion's.

[ravenus]

I personally have found the most of the (few) Wes Anderson films I have seen like the servings in haute cuisine restaurants, very good-looking with some lashings of flavor but with low subsistence value and ultimately unsatisfying. Actually the film I liked best was the comparatively more commercial Fantastic Mr. Fox, where the need to have a brisk plot and action to keep the kids engaged resulted in a focussed film where Mr. Anderson's visual acuity and feel for offbeat character writing was put in service of the story-telling.

His critics have suggested that Anderson makes the same film over and over in different settings, but I guess each film will be a favorite with a particular group of people. The Life Aquatic is my favorite "proper" Anderson film (in which his auteur indulgences are not reined in by audience considerations). It was only the second film of his which I had seen at that time (first one was The Royal Tennenbaums). The colorful world design, the creative use of stop-motion, the whimsical tone changes in this instance clicked with me. In the days of DVD Criterion had released separate 1-disc and 2-disc editions of the film, the latter having more bonus features. Although it was on my wishlist since a good while, somehow I actually acquired the film only late in the day, and in this case I suppose it was a lucky delay since I now have it on HD, sourced from a 4K scan of the original negative.

TLA has Bill Murray as Steve Zissou, an ocean explorer and film-maker (a fictional variation of real life's Jacques Costeau). At the start of the film Zissou, who is no longer the celebrated film-maker he once was, has lost his constant companion Esteban in a shark accident and vows to go on an expedition to find and kill the animal. Zissou is also a self-centered and irresponsible person, whose consideration towards people other than himself is entirely a matter of whim. Owen Wilson turns up as Ned, the possible illegitimate son he never bothered to get in touch with (the film creates some doubt about this). Zissou in a fit of compensatory remorse takes Ned on his expedition, even though the latter is highly unqualified for the job. The film is a leisurely and whimsical exploration of their relationship and the adventures they have on-board. While the father-son relationship (and its effect on Zissou's thoughts on mortality and his legacy) are the crux of TLA, it boasts of well-written supporting roles played by a strong ensemble cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe etc.

As per the director's wishes TLA has a specific golden-hued color grading. The transfer, supervised by Andersen himself, has received high marks as a faithful representation of the film. If this had been some vintage film without such a seal of approval, I feel the reviews may have made some remark about how "grading flattens or crushes detail and depth of field in some parts" because perhaps deliberately, TLA IMO has a flat look, more like a colorful comic book panel. The 5.1 surround is not hugely bombastic even during the film's action sequences but is thoughtfully arranged and clearly presents the soundscape, especially the musical performances.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by Joshitaka

Any chance they would ever release the Three Colors films separately? I feel like they wouldn't, but I can hope...

Why would anyone want this? Genuinely curious.