The Criterion Collection

[Darkcritic]

My opinion regarding Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line is a difficult subject to put in words. While I can say I admired both and think both of them are really good films, I feel a little bit uncomfortable telling that to other people in the way of a recommendation. Days of Heaven is easily the better film in this case. Much has been said already about the beautiful and poetic cinematography but I also consider the sister's narration and display of the events something tactful. I overall enjoyed the film and appreaciate the layers of philosophical questioning Malick's added. In the other hand, The Thin Red Line is a good film but, at times, the characters feel disjointed from the story itself. Here we have a group of American soldiers fighting a war while philosophizing about the inner effects these events are giving them. I am sure there are soldiers in the army who think about other things not neccesarily related to their families/combat/life, but it is hard to think a whole batallion of soldiers do that in the middle of hell. But then again, we are talking about films with a wide variety of themes that could be taken in so many different ways. I would encourage anyone to give them a try at some point.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by Darkcritic

My opinion regarding Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line is a difficult subject to put in words. While I can say I admired both and think both of them are really good films, I feel a little bit uncomfortable telling that to other people in the way of a recommendation. Days of Heaven is easily the better film in this case. Much has been said already about the beautiful and poetic cinematography but I also consider the sister's narration and display of the events something tactful. I overall enjoyed the film and appreaciate the layers of philosophical questioning Malick's added. In the other hand, The Thin Red Line is a good film but, at times, the characters feel disjointed from the story itself. Here we have a group of American soldiers fighting a war while philosophizing about the inner effects these events are giving them. I am sure there are soldiers in the army who think about other things not neccesarily related to their families/combat/life, but it is hard to think a whole batallion of soldiers do that in the middle of hell. But then again, we are talking about films with a wide variety of themes that could be taken in so many different ways. I would encourage anyone to give them a try at some point.

I love Days of Heaven, but I consider The Thin Red Line to be one of the greatest films of the 90s.
I am a big Malick fan, but as you say, I'm not always inclined to recommend his films. They are certainly not for all tastes.
I was kind of hoping Criterion would be handling Tree of Life, but hopefully Fox will give it the love it deserves.

[Cocophone]

Originally Posted by wilky61

TTRL is quite different, being a 150-minute war movie with dozens of characters fading in and out of the plot. I was pretty interested by this film at first but thought that it overstayed its welcome and kept making its point (about the psychological effects of war) over and over again. It was the hour-long lull in the middle of the film after some intense fighting toward the start that lost my interest. TTRL is a strange film because of the way it treats its characters, its viewers. Don't expect a conventional, entertaining spool of yarn here.

Originally Posted by Darkcritic

In the other hand, The Thin Red Line is a good film but, at times, the characters feel disjointed from the story itself. Here we have a group of American soldiers fighting a war while philosophizing about the inner effects these events are giving them. I am sure there are soldiers in the army who think about other things not neccesarily related to their families/combat/life, but it is hard to think a whole batallion of soldiers do that in the middle of hell. But then again, we are talking about films with a wide variety of themes that could be taken in so many different ways. I would encourage anyone to give them a try at some point.

I think the Thin Red Line is about exploring Mankind's place within the Natural World and the connecting lines that connect each person with those before them, around them, and those in the future. Mankind thinks of itself as in control of the natural world, but really in the cosmic scale of time, mankind is and will be insignificant. That is why any one war is not important when looking at time over thousands, millions, or billions of years. The multiple voice overs illustrated how each person is part of the natural flow of life. I think Mallick purposefully made the voice overs sound similar to each other so you couldn't always tell who was narrating to illustrate how we are all part of something larger.

[Darkcritic]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

I love Days of Heaven, but I consider The Thin Red Line to be one of the greatest films of the 90s.
I am a big Malick fan, but as you say, I'm not always inclined to recommend his films. They are certainly not for all tastes.
I was kind of hoping Criterion would be handling Tree of Life, but hopefully Fox will give it the love it deserves.

The Thin Red Line is a really good film, it just feels disjointed at points . But, like I said, the film is pretty lenghty and most good moments overshadow the poor ones. It is really an excercise in editing and balancing . I think Criterion will release The Tree of Life in the near future. The fact that Fox has the rights at this point doesn't mean Criterion could not make a deal. That, and how close the relationship with Malick is will help.

Originally Posted by Cocophone

I think the Thin Red Line is about exploring Mankind's place within the Natural World and the connecting lines that connect each person with those before them, around them, and those in the future. Mankind thinks of itself as in control of the natural world, but really in the cosmic scale of time, mankind is and will be insignificant. That is why any one war is not important when looking at time over thousands, millions, or billions of years. The multiple voice overs illustrated how each person is part of the natural flow of life. I think Mallick purposefully made the voice overs sound similar to each other so you couldn't always tell who was narrating to illustrate how we are all part of something larger.

I got this same feeling after my first viewing. It is just that, at times, the setting and conflicts feel way to apart from each other to be truly embracing; at least for me. Again, the good/great points easily overshadow the poor developed things on the film. I haven't seen The Tree of Life, but your point of view reflects what I think the film will be all about .

[Cocophone]

I saw the Tree of Life on a trip to Seattle. I enjoyed the film....

Darkcritic don't read this spoiler

[Show spoiler]except for the when everyone was wondering around the beach (in heaven?)

[Pyoko]

Just watched Senso. Great-looking disc. There are many shots that range from slightly softer to borderline bad, mostly due to inferior film elements (and subsequent attempts at bringing those shots in line with the rest digitally). But when it looks good... well, in my opinion nothing on Blu-ray beats the sharp Technicolor look with fine grain, gorgeous colours, blooming highlights and diffuse glowing edges.

I don't think the film itself is very complex, but everything about it is so incredibly beautiful it doesn't matter, it's just classic movie magic. A couple of times I caught myself having to rewind a bit because I got so lost in the visuals I forgot to read the subtitles.

Speaking of the subtitles I did spot a number of errors. At one point there was a word missing, another was a typo, and they mistranslated the German hundertsiebenundvierzig as 149.

Noticed also something a bit odd. In the beginning of the film there are two wide shots of the opera hall, where a big chandelier in the foreground is slowly being pulled upwards. This gives the impression of the camera very slowly panning vertically downwards when it's actually completely still. Not sure if this "optical illusion" was intentional (logistical problems with doing the panning?) or just a coincidence.

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

I love Days of Heaven, but I consider The Thin Red Line to be one of the greatest films of the 90s.
I am a big Malick fan, but as you say, I'm not always inclined to recommend his films. They are certainly not for all tastes.
I was kind of hoping Criterion would be handling Tree of Life, but hopefully Fox will give it the love it deserves.

The first Malick film I watched was Days of Heaven, and I already was blown away by that. The incredible voice overs, the special editing, the images in combination with music, everything worked for me. I already had high expectations for The Thin Red Line, and after seeing Days of Heaven they were even higher. I have to say, that the film trumped all of the expectations I had. What a wonderful film. Yes, it doesn't have a traditional narrative, but that's the beauty of it. Yes, a fairly standard war movie could be made from everything that was shot, and it might even be good, but what ended up on the screens is a work of art. Too bad that experience wasn't replicated with either The New World or The Tree of Life, but that might still come during subsequent viewings. I mean, I liked them, but for different reasons, neither of them got close to the masterpieces that Days of Heaven or The Thin Red Line are. Badlands doesn't either.

[John D.]

Originally Posted by Belloche

Akira = Yojimbo
The Red Shoes = Black Narcissus
Diabolique = The Wages of Fear

These are great movies by some of the directors on your list. You should enjoy them. Personally I would recommend Charade and The 400 Blows to anyone.

Finally got a chance to watch Red Shoes last night. The first thing that struck me as I started to watch this movie, I was 1 year old when this film was made. I love these old movies with great locations and superb color rendering. The Martin Scorsese video clip of how this film was restored, was quite interesting. I can see after watching this, where people compare Black Swan to it.

[greekak229]

My MOC copy of Harakiri shipped. Cannot wait to watch it.

[DLizzle]

Originally Posted by wilky61

I was pretty interested by this film at first but thought that it overstayed its welcome and kept making its point (about the psychological effects of war) over and over again.

One thing I like about The Thin Red Line is that there are so many ways to approach it. I can see why someone who viewed the "point" of the movie the way you did would not like it. I would argue that it focuses on the psychological effects of war much less than most traditional war movies. I'm not sure it even attempts to make a point. If I thought it did, I would like it less.

[Hawkguy]

I just bought 'The Red Shoes' while it is 50% off at Amazon.... I wasn't too curious about it before, but after reading the recent posts about it here, I'm wanting to give it a try. Hope I like it!

[P@t_Mtl]

Decided to watch The lady Vanishes this afternoon (quiet around the house). I cannot wait to see what Criterion will do with this one. The image of my DVD copy is...well bad I cannot wait to see what sort of restoration they will manage with this one

[BHolst]

Watched Days of Heaven for the first time today. I had to, really, the type of great discussion that has gone back and forth on Malick films lately is not that usual in this thread (unfortunately) or maybe my memory is just bad...

I really liked it, and storywise it is right up there with both The Thin Red Line and The New World (the only other Malick I have seen so far) and the images is just beautiful.
However, as a movie (if that makes any sense) I prefer either TTRL or TNW and will probably pick any of those for a rewatch before DOH (heh, accidentally funny acronym) though they WILL be rewatched all of them.
In DOH I really missed both the long periods with people just staring into the distance (with or without VO), just being on the screen doing nothing special as well as the "strange" intercuts with nature imagery (there were a couple of these in DOH, but not as much as in TTRL or TNW).

It might simply be that the meaning is deeper or more hidden in DOH and I just didn't "get it" while it is more accessible in TTRL and TNW.

The VO in DOH didn't bother me one bit, but I can see why it might bother some.

So, the question is if I should pre-order Tree Of Life or wait and see if Criterion will get their hands on it?

BTW, am I the only that thought Linda from DOH and James Caviezel looks more than a little alike?

[oildude]

Originally Posted by rock, stone

There is a lot to love in TRL, but like others have said its philosophical take on war is somewhat at odds with the subject matter. It's greatest shortcoming is that none of the characters feel like they are soldiers. They don't feel tough enough to have been through boot camp, let alone several battle. Only very rarely does the way feel dangerous.

Well said. The much-too-frequent for my taste use of multiple character voiceovers representing their philosophical musings and inner thoughts becomes tedious as The Thin Red Line plays out.

The 25th Infantry Division was a regular army division based in Hawaii at the time of Pearl Harbor, filled with better trained soldiers than any other US Army division in the Pacific, and the reason it was sent into combat at Guadalcanal to relieve the marines. We get a small hint of that in the movie, but mostly it is like watching angst-ridden grad students fight a war in between "contemplations" of life and the world around them. I get no sense of the reality of ordinary dog faces fighting for friends in the line next to them. To me, it is way too artsy to be an effective war film.

And yet it has grown on me with repeated viewings, and I bought the Criterion despite my reservations about the film. Perhaps that is what makes a Malick film memorable. His films may be frequently tedious, overly philosophical, and devote large portions of run time to people reconciling their inner turmoil at a reality which places them in conflict with the natural world, but I keep watching them anyway.

[Guitar Joe]

Originally Posted by BHolst

So, the question is if I should pre-order Tree Of Life or wait and see if Criterion will get their hands on it?

It seems that some people think a Criterion release of Tree Of Life is inevitable, but I don't know. I don't want to buy it twice, but I'm afraid of waiting for a Criterion that will never come.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Decided to watch The lady Vanishes this afternoon (quiet around the house). I cannot wait to see what Criterion will do with this one. The image of my DVD copy is...well bad I cannot wait to see what sort of restoration they will manage with this one

They have already done so. This blu-ray will just be an upgrade of the re-issue, restored 2-disc dvd. So anyone that owns that or seen it (you might have the first issued dvd), will/have already see/seen it's transfer. Only it will be on the format intended this time.

If an older title gets a blu upgrade with a new cover, features, etc = a new re-issued title, with most likely a new transfer. (Examples: Tokyo Drifter, Rules of the Game, etc.)

If an older title gets a blu upgrade with the same cover as the original = most likely just a upgrade of the existing dvd transfer. (Examples: Seven Samurai, Lady Vanishes, etc. In these 2 cases, they have already been re-issued a few years ago.)

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by Guitar Joe

It seems that some people think a Criterion release of Tree Of Life is inevitable, but I don't know. I don't want to buy it twice, but I'm afraid of waiting for a Criterion that will never come.

My guess is that if Criterion releases Tree of Life it will be the rumored six-hour version.

[DCI77]

My wishes for Criterion -

Let the Right One In
Atonement

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by SpiderBaby

They have already done so. This blu-ray will just be an upgrade of the re-issue, restored 2-disc dvd. So anyone that owns that or seen it (you might have the first issued dvd), will/have already see/seen it's transfer. Only it will be on the format intended this time.

If an older title gets a blu upgrade with a new cover, features, etc = a new re-issued title, with most likely a new transfer. (Examples: Tokyo Drifter, Rules of the Game, etc.)

If an older title gets a blu upgrade with the same cover as the original = most likely just a upgrade of the existing dvd transfer. (Examples: Seven Samurai, Lady Vanishes, etc. In these 2 cases, they have already been re-issued a few years ago.)

Actually I don't have the Criterion, I got something call CLASSIC DVD SERIES Alfred Hitchcock....If I believe what Amazon is telling me, it was release in January of 2003 and if my memory is not going away from me, I think it's pretty much when I got it as well. That copy really does not have anything done on it, it's almost like they took the VHS and copied it over on a DVD. I got a lot of these odler classic movies in set like these, while still watchable, the images and sound is not wonderful. Can't complaint however since most of these were dirty cheap and you do pay for what you get.

[Cocophone]

Originally Posted by oildude

Well said. The much-too-frequent for my taste use of multiple character voiceovers representing their philosophical musings and inner thoughts becomes tedious as The Thin Red Line plays out.

The 25th Infantry Division was a regular army division based in Hawaii at the time of Pearl Harbor, filled with better trained soldiers than any other US Army division in the Pacific, and the reason it was sent into combat at Guadalcanal to relieve the marines. We get a small hint of that in the movie, but mostly it is like watching angst-ridden grad students fight a war in between "contemplations" of life and the world around them. I get no sense of the reality of ordinary dog faces fighting for friends in the line next to them. To me, it is way too artsy to be an effective war film.

I remember watching a TV program discussing the changes in military training after World War II. Studies had shown that only a small percentage of soldier would actually fire their weapons at the enemy. I think the change in training started with the Vietnam War. The new training methods were designed to train the soldier to fire their weapons instinctively. Here's a link to an article explaining these studies of soldiers in WWII and other earlier wars.

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/arti...e_battlefield/

Here is another article that estimates the number as higher and analysis the methodology of the original military personnel that conducted the studies.

http://www.theppsc.org/Grossman/SLA_...iring-Data.htm