The Criterion Collection

[octagon]

Originally Posted by the great owl

if you've never seen stray dog before, then i particularly recommend that one. It's the "unsung hero" of kurosawa's canon, in my opinion.

+∞

[SammyJankis]

Think I'll finally watch The Bad Sleep Well this weekend. Been meaning to watch it for years.

[the sordid sentinel]

Originally Posted by octagon

+∞

Seconded. Kurosawa's contemporary films are his best IMO.

[metaridley]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

First of all, great nickname! Blofeld is one of my favorite characters ever. (...although I wish that the chilling literary incarnation of Blofeld in Ian Fleming's You Only Live Twice had been properly adapted to a screen version.)

Donald Pleasence was awesome and iconic though.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

Think I'll finally watch The Bad Sleep Well this weekend. Been meaning to watch it for years.

You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. I keep dragging my feet and I can't even remember why now. I probably thought a BD release was right around the corner. I have a real knack for predicting that kind of thing.

Originally Posted by the sordid sentinel

Seconded. Kurosawa's contemporary films are his best IMO.

I kind of agree and if it weren't for Seven Samurai and Throne of Blood I'd probably drop the kind of.

Stray Dog, Drunken Angel and Red Beard are fantastic. I really loved High and Low the first time I saw it and even though it seemed a little more ordinary the second time around i would probably still say I prefer it to Ran or Rashomon.

[The Great Owl]

I just revisited Michael Mann's Heat. I have always loved this movie, and it looks beautiful on Blu-ray.

I mention this here, because Michael Mann's style of filmmaking strikes me as a middle point between Terrence Malick and Jean-Pierre Melville.

More than anything, Heat has the same sort of clockwork precision that graces Melville's Le Cercle Rouge. We see both the honor and dishonor among thieves, the clinical depictions of police procedure, and the house-of-cards balance where dealings and double-crossings add up to a grandiose final result. I do not know if Michael Mann had Le Cercle Rouge in mind when he filmed Heat, but I would be surprised if there was not a remote factor of influence.

The brief conversation between De Niro's character and Pacino's character is priceless, and one of my favorite movie moments of all time. I also like how Ashley Judd, who was one of the most beautiful actresses of the 1990s, willingly played a more scrappy and unkempt fake-blonde type in the style of fallen angel characters in old film noir.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by retablo

There's absolutely zero reason for CC to release any Keaton films. The KINO discs are amazing. The only ones KINO don't have the rights to (that I guess CC could grab) are his 2 MGM films, The Cameraman and Spite Marriage (a sound film that's not very good)

Hey, I've been wondering about The Cameraman. I saw it over a decade ago, but I remember it as one of the funniest films I've ever seen. It definitely needs to be on blu-ray as soon as possible.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

Hey, I've been wondering about The Cameraman. I saw it over a decade ago, but I remember it as one of the funniest films I've ever seen. It definitely needs to be on blu-ray as soon as possible.

Well, it IS MGM, who Criterion is pretty friendly with... so maybe..... it's kind of a forgotten Keaton in many ways, since it's never been included in the box sets that all share the same licensing. I only saw it once, maybe 20 years ago, so I don't really remember it. I did, however, just re-watch The Navigator this week, and forgot just how funny it was.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Spite Marriage was his last silent film. You might be thinking of Free and Easy.

Yep, probably!

[The Great Owl]

I am embarrassed to admit that I'm new to Buster Keaton movies, although I have been wanting to dive in for a couple of decades after reading glowing raves about these movies for so long.

One of these days, I'll take my wallet for a spin and shell out for The Ultimate Buster Keaton Collection on Kino Blu-ray. It'll be a while before that day arrives, but it will probably happen.

[mrjohnnyb]

I just watched If.... for the first time.

I really enjoyed the film and I could see why Stanley Kubrick cast Malcolm McDowell as Alex in A Clockwork Orange after seeing his performance. The movie's climax is rather relevant to what is happening in our world today.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by retablo

Well, it IS MGM, who Criterion is pretty friendly with... so maybe..... it's kind of a forgotten Keaton in many ways, since it's never been included in the box sets that all share the same licensing. I only saw it once, maybe 20 years ago, so I don't really remember it. I did, however, just re-watch The Navigator this week, and forgot just how funny it was.

I've got The Navigator and a few others in a cart... I've been getting them one at a time.
I'm finding a new love of Chaplin and I can't wait for the Lloyd film, but Keaton has always been my favourite.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by the sordid sentinel

Seconded. Kurosawa's contemporary films are his best IMO.

Oh I don't know. High and Low and Ikiru are the only contemporary Kurosawa films I can say I love unconditionally. In films like Drunken Angel, the contemporary milieu makes the writing and acting seem very overwrought (although that could also be because it is one of his earlier films). Didn't care much for Red Beard and Do The Bad Sleep Well? On the other hand I can't think of a single Kurosawa Samurai / period film which I can't re-watch any number of times.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by CHEЯNOБLY!

Does anyone here use hulu? Are the CC blu-ray titles in higher def than non BD titles? I use that term loosely, but Netflix HD is fairly decent as far as streaming media is concerned.

I have Hulu Plus and I think their streaming quality is at least DVD quality...maybe even a little bit better. I'm quite satisfied with it. Get yourself a free trial and see what you think.

[Yami]

Second Sight are releasing Thunderbolt and Lightfoot in the UK so I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Criterion do the same in the US.

Months ago, I suggested to Second Sight that they release Thunderfoot and Lightfoot and Heaven's Gate and they've delivered...now to persuade them to release Hopper's The Last Movie and Out of the Blue!

[joie]

For everyone interested in Japanese film, there is a book, Censorship of Japanese Films During the U.S. Occupation of Japan: The Cases of Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa. The occupation extended from 1945 to 1952.

If I recall correctly, filming could not begin until a script was approved by occupation authorities. Of course, some things that were censored may have been expressed more subtly during rewrite.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

I just watched If.... for the first time.

I really enjoyed the film and I could see why Stanley Kubrick cast Malcolm McDowell as Alex in A Clockwork Orange after seeing his performance. The movie's climax is rather relevant to what is happening in our world today.

Yeah, really enjoyed If..... It has been on my "must re-watch soon" list for ages

[drbikeshorts]

Kind of on topic and related to the recent talk of The Third Man: tonight I watched Carol Reed's Odd Man Out.
A fantastic film starring James Mason as a man on the run from police. Shot by Robert Krasker (who also shot The Third Man), the film looks exceptional, particularly the nighttime sequences when it starts to snow.
Unfortunately, it is region-locked to region B, but if you are region-free or in that region you should be considering having a look at this film.

[Monty70]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

Kind of on topic and related to the recent talk of The Third Man: tonight I watched Carol Reed's Odd Man Out.
A fantastic film starring James Mason as a man on the run from police. Shot by Robert Krasker (who also shot The Third Man), the film looks exceptional, particularly the nighttime sequences when it starts to snow.
Unfortunately, it is region-locked to region B, but if you are region-free or in that region you should be considering having a look at this film.

I prefer Odd Man Out to The Third man, though TTM is obviously a great film in its own right. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see criterion release it some time down the road.

Just a brief public service announcement for anyone who lives in the central Pennsylvania area. (or will be visiting there this weekend) Midtown Cinema in Harrisburg will be showing a 35mm print of Chaplin's The Great Dictator for three days only. (last night and tonight at 7:30, and sunday night at 5:30)

[rkish]

Originally Posted by joie

For everyone interested in Japanese film, there is a book, Censorship of Japanese Films During the U.S. Occupation of Japan: The Cases of Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa. The occupation extended from 1945 to 1952.

If I recall correctly, filming could not begin until a script was approved by occupation authorities. Of course, some things that were censored may have been expressed more subtly during rewrite.

Thanks for the heads up on the book...I'm a huge Ozu fan and this might be a good compliment to my Donald Richie book.