The Criterion Collection

[Spire]

I dont see why people hate the paper packaging so much, I always thought paper looked nicer.

[rafaelsalguero]

You know if CRITERION owns more Hitchcock Titles that they can release on Blu-Ray soon??

now we have 3 Hitchcock releases:
The Lady Vanishes
The 39 Steps
The Man who Knew Too Much

[nametag]

Originally Posted by rafaelsalguero

You know if CRITERION owns more Hitchcock Titles that they can release on Blu-Ray soon??

now we have 3 Hitchcock releases:
The Lady Vanishes
The 39 Steps
The Man who Knew Too Much

Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious are the only ones they have also released in the past (on DVD), but they don't have the rights anymore and they've been released on BD by Fox/MGM

My guess is that they might get the rights to some of his earlier British ones, including possibly the silents which the BFI recently restored.

[Cinemach]

I liked Silver Linings Playbook fine enough. It's really predictable - no spoiler there, the title of the film telegraphs this - but it's well-acted, esp from the principals, and clears the bar that most rom-cam dreck falls under even if it's not a 'great' film.

Though this thread features a (mostly) more discerning crowd, there's something to be said, generally, for the fact that Silver Linings Playbook is the most easily-recommendable film of the Oscar Best Picture field, which bodes well for its chances there. It is perhaps, to be clear, among the weakest pictures of that field that actually has a shot to win.

Originally Posted by rafaelsalguero

You know if CRITERION owns more Hitchcock Titles that they can release on Blu-Ray soon??

now we have 3 Hitchcock releases:
The Lady Vanishes
The 39 Steps
The Man who Knew Too Much

Foreign Correspondent looks to be the next Hitchcock Criterion could release - at least it's streaming on Hulu+ right now. As nametag mentioned the recent BFI restorations look to be game, and my best first guess from that grouping would be Blackmail: with its historical status as the 'first' British talkie, and a silent version to boot, this would be a no-brainer for Criterion to release.

[lim.davidd]

I think that is all

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by rafaelsalguero

You know if CRITERION owns more Hitchcock Titles that they can release on Blu-Ray soon??

now we have 3 Hitchcock releases:
The Lady Vanishes
The 39 Steps
The Man who Knew Too Much

Foreign Correspondent

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

A question for the masses...

Is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button a good movie?

I've never seen it before, but I see used copies of the Criterion edition in every single used store. Just as I always see used copies of the Chasing Amy Criterion DVD in every used store. Now, I'm aware that Criterion probably unleashed more copies of these particular movies on the public due to their popularity at the time, but the ubiquitous sight of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on used racks is a red flag to me.

Even without the used-rack preconception, there's really nothing about this movie that quickens my pulse on first glance. It's worth asking about, though, just in case I'm missing out on a marvelous work of cinema.

After I watched it and read the credits, I was not at all surprised to see that the guy who wrote Forrest Gump wrote the screenplay. They feel very similar to me. I liked Benjamin Button alright, but at this point it is probably my least favorite Fincher film.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I live in Australia. They don't seem to ship outside the US and Canada
I needed a replacement disc for Walkabout because the one I have is faulty and barnes and noble wouldn't deal with it, so I contacted them about that and got no response. Granted I did give them my post details in the email so they may have just sent the replacement disc without replying. I guess I'll find out eventually if that happened but I doubt it.
The 400 blows paper digipak is so ugly

Try contacting Criterion directly and explaining to them that you want to buy the cases from them, etc.
They might be prepared to arrange something with you.
There's also the option of setting up one of those U.S. mailing address services, where the package is delivered to the U.S. address and then forwarded to your Australian address.

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Thanks for the feedback, y'all!

For me, David Fincher's history ranges from perfection (The Game, Fight Club) to satisfying rental material (Alien3, Se7en, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) to total stylistic missteps (Panic Room). I do not know where The Curious Case of Benjamin Button fell along that range, since I haven't seen it.

You forgot Zodiac, better than all of them IMO. The 2 disc version is just back in print, $10 bucks or so.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Hello guys,

If you could play Region-B discs, please consider adding Tabu to your collections. It is an astonishingly good film directed by Miguel Gomes.

We don't get too many Portuguese films on Blu-ray, and this one is a real treasure. Incredibly poetic film



Pro-B

My friend was praising Tabu the other day. I'm interested in having a look at it. Any chance of a U.S. release soon?
Also, what's with so many U.K. releases using only 25gb discs? Tabu is a 2 hour film with over 50 minutes of extras at 1080i. According to another review at another site, the bitrate is only 17.49mbps.
Artificial Eye is another U.K. company that keeps using 25gb discs.

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by retablo

It's an average movie at best, pushed by a typical Weinstein campaign. It's not an Oscar-worthy film IMO... some good performances but the script is lightweight and it never tackles any issues seriously and head-on. Instead, it doesn't know what kind of film it wants to be, part mental illness film, part rom-com, with a big showy (and lazily written) finale.

100% spot on, barely passable for me. The worst part was Bradley Cooper dropping out of character to provide the requisite happy ending for the audience.

What's disturbing is that SLP is the best of the 4 contenders I've seen so far. Lincoln was pretty dire, and the less said about Zero Dark Thirty and Life of Pi, the better.

Anyway, to get back on track...none of these please, Criterion.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by Cinemach

Foreign Correspondent looks to be the next Hitchcock Criterion could release - at least it's streaming on Hulu+ right now. As nametag mentioned the recent BFI restorations look to be game, and my best first guess from that grouping would be Blackmail: with its historical status as the 'first' British talkie, and a silent version to boot, this would be a no-brainer for Criterion to release.

I'm really hoping to see the so-called "Hitchcock Nine" get released in a big box-set, either in the UK or the US.
Would most likely be a better box-set than the Universal box-set of later titles, which is apparently a mixed bag of great, good, mediocre and downright terrible transfers. Sad. I'll end up picking up individual titles from that collection as they become available.
Meanwhile, for those interested in the titles that MGM recently released (Notorious, Rebecca and Spellbound), you can get all three in a single collection: Alfred Hitchcock: The Classic Collection.
I have Notorious and Rebecca and can recommend both.

[JHas]

On the subject of Hitchcock, does anyone know if The Lodger will get a North American release?

Anyone see it with the Sawhney score? Thoughts on the new score?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by lemonski

100% spot on, barely passable for me. The worst part was Bradley Cooper dropping out of character to provide the requisite happy ending for the audience.

What's disturbing is that SLP is the best of the 4 contenders I've seen so far. Lincoln was pretty dire, and the less said about Zero Dark Thirty and Life of Pi, the better.

The Academy Award nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not a particularly strong advertising point for me to see it.

It seems to me that there have been more absymal choices for Best Picture nominations in recent years. There are the pleasing, but ultimately forgettable films (Slumdog Millionaire, The Departed, There Will Be Blood, The Reader, etc.), but there have also been quite a few nominated movies that are complete dreck (Little Miss Sunshine, Up in the Air, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close).

My least favorite film of the past decade, Crash, won Best Picture in 2005. I could not stand that flick. It's actually my second least favorite film of all time, behind Pay It Forward.
This speaks volumes, because I've seen a lot of bad late-night movies in my time.

Back to subject, I'll probably check out The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at some point, but I'm just not sure when or how. The used Blu-rays that I see are only a couple of bucks, but there's always something more tempting at the used stores for the same price.

[GenPion]

I thought Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was disappointing and undeserving of a Best Picture nomination. However, I wouldn't call it complete dreck... and Little Miss Sunshine and Up in the Air are favorites of mine.

[ShellOilJunior]

I can't take the Academy Awards seriously. Not after Crash and Slumdog.

To their credit they did get it right with Marion Cotillard's Oscar for La Mome. Her not winning that one would've been a crime.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

To their credit they did get it right with Marion Cotillard's Oscar for La Mome. Her not winning that one would've been a crime.

Agreed. I saw this movie at the theater and was blown away by Cotillard's performance. It's not a movie that I would watch multiple times, but it was a truly masterful and sobering film.

Every time I start thinking that my life sucks, I just remind myself that it could be worse and that I could be Édith Piaf.

[PBateman87]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The Academy Award nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not a particularly strong advertising point for me to see it.

It seems to me that there have been more absymal choices for Best Picture nominations in recent years. There are the pleasing, but ultimately forgettable films (Slumdog Millionaire, The Departed, There Will Be Blood, The Reader, etc.), but there have also been quite a few nominated movies that are complete dreck (Little Miss Sunshine, Up in the Air, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close).

My least favorite film of the past decade, Crash, won Best Picture in 2005. I could not stand that flick. It's actually my second least favorite film of all time, behind Pay It Forward.
This speaks volumes, because I've seen a lot of bad late-night movies in my time.

Back to subject, I'll probably check out The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at some point, but I'm just not sure when or how. The used Blu-rays that I see are only a couple of bucks, but there's always something more tempting at the used stores for the same price.

You have There Will Be Blood in your "forgettable" pile?

To each their own...but I do agree about a lot of the other fluff that baits for Oscars (and often wins them). I didn't care too much for the last few Best Picture winners...Slumdog, Hurt Locker, King's Speech were all decent to slightly above-average fare but nothing special. Haven't seen The Artist yet.

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Foreign Correspondent

I'm kind of wondering if Lifeboat will get a Criterion release.

[nametag]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Agreed. I saw this movie at the theater and was blown away by Cotillard's performance. It's not a movie that I would watch multiple times, but it was a truly masterful and sobering film.

Every time I start thinking that my life sucks, I just remind myself that it could be worse and that I could be Édith Piaf.

She was fine in that, but I thought the film itself was a bit of a mess, it jumped around way too much for me to really believe in the portrayal, and seemed very melodramatic. Also didn't like that they lip synched to the songs. It wasn't until after that that I really became a big fan of Cotillard, she was frequently by far the best thing about really average movies (Nine and Public Enemies spring to mind, great in Inception also). I was disappointed she didn't get nominated for Rust and Bone this year.

As far as poor Oscar nominations are concerned, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close from last year was on a different level of bad to Silver Linings, but I'd still rate Up in the Air, Little Miss Sunshine and (especially) The Kids Are Alright, all quite comedic indie/mainstream movies from previous years, more highly. Seen hardly any of the nominees from this year yet though.