The Criterion Collection

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by retablo

I've seen parts of that disc, and it really looks no better than the DVD. Since it was shot on consumer grade DVCAM (not even HD-DV), it looks about like 28 Days Later does, if not a little worse.

Another reason to see it now!

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by soarinsteven

Have you not seen Marie Antoinette yet?

Nope

Never really interested me.

[starman15317]

Originally Posted by KrugerIndustrial

Isn't it a Studio Canal film? Lionsgate in the US, if they feel like it.

Paramount owns the U.S. rights though, so they would release it, just like how The Graduate was released here by MGM but is in the StudioCanal collection in Europe. Still, we probably won't see an Elephant Man Criterion.

[joie]

Recently saw David Lynch's "The Straight Story" on DVD. It is a straight story, but there is one surrealistic shot.

[Show spoiler](Alvin's BBQ'n some roadkill (a deer) and several deer appear to stand around the campfire, watching him roast their chum)

It's also a straight story, because it's about a guy named Alvin Straight.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by joie

Recently saw David Lynch's "The Straight Story" on DVD. It is a straight story, but there is one surrealistic shot.

[Show spoiler](Alvin's BBQ'n some roadkill (a deer) and several deer appear to stand around the campfire, watching him roast their chum)

It's also a straight story, because it's about a guy named Alvin Straight.

Great movie!

[rock, stone]

Originally Posted by joie

Recently saw David Lynch's "The Straight Story" on DVD. It is a straight story, but there is one surrealistic shot.

[Show spoiler](Alvin's BBQ'n some roadkill (a deer) and several deer appear to stand around the campfire, watching him roast their chum)

It's also a straight story, because it's about a guy named Alvin Straight.

Straight Story is also out on Blu in Japan.

Originally Posted by retablo

I've seen parts of that disc, and it really looks no better than the DVD. Since it was shot on consumer grade DVCAM (not even HD-DV), it looks about like 28 Days Later does, if not a little worse.

The video may not be a giant upgrade but the audio certainly benefits. Especially when you consider how important the music is to the central character and how we experience her story.

[Member-167298]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I have not seen Lost, so I cannot comment on the conclusion of that specific series, but I do want to say that this sort of thing is the main reason why I do not invest my time in most television shows these days.

Here's my track record...

• During the 1990s, I was an obsessive fan of The X-Files, and stayed true to the show through all the seasons. I had the seasons on VHS tapes and such, and even collected various memorabilia that I stumbled across. The show took a nosedive, though, and the final wrap-up was downright absymal. I liked the first feature film pretty well, but I'd like to forget that the second film ever happened.

• I loved Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles...until the show was canceled after two seasons.

• I loved the new version of V...until the show was canceled after two seasons.

After all that, I've pretty much made a choice to stop investing my time in television shows unless something receives extraordinary raves from trusted sources.

One could argue (correctly) that the point of television shows is the journey and not the destination, because I did get my money's worth from renting the DVDs of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and V. I don't consider my years of being a fan of The X-Files as time wasted, but I do not have a desire to invest that type of enthusiasm in a show anymore. Being strung along for years while the writers made up things as they went along sort of burned me out of that type of thing. I'd prefer to spend two or three hours watching a movie.

I really did enjoy the first season of The Walking Dead, but I'm biding my time to check out the subsequent shows.

I agree with your assessment. Shows require hours upon hours of investment and the good ones draw us in so much that it really hurts when they are a let down. In particular, when shows are on a major network they are often compromised, especially when they are cancelled before they can complete their stories and characters arcs properly.

I was a massive X Files fan in the 90s and I just stopped watching after Mulder left the show. I tuned in for the final episode and all I could gather was that the show had become one incredible train wreck of the most epic proportions! Don't even get me started on the second film they made...yuck!

I am actually an hour and a half from concluding Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles right now, actually! The first season was, for a Fox TV show, actually pretty solid. The second season is far too uneven and I can already tell that there is no way I am walking away from this one satisfied. However, it is overall much better than Terminator 3 or Terminator Salvation and far better than any Terminator TV series has a right to be.

The V miniseries was incredible. I can only vaguely remember the actual TV series from when I was a kid. I guess I will not revisit that one (although it would be fun to see a young Robert Englund).

Stick with The Walking Dead. I think the show only gets better. I don't even watch it for the zombies anymore, it is all about the character dynamics.

If I have faith in one show (and I hope I don't jinx this), it is Breaking Bad. In my opinion, there has not really been one bad episode or false moment in the entire run thus far. Every second has kept me glued to the screen. If that show lets me down when it concludes this summer, I am going to lose all faith in television.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by PrestonXI

The V miniseries was incredible. I can only vaguely remember the actual TV series from when I was a kid. I guess I will not revisit that one (although it would be fun to see a young Robert Englund).

I was a huge fan of the two original V miniseries events and the original V full series when I was a kid. I was in sixth and seventh grade at the time, and that show was the bomb. (Until I discovered Miami Vice.)

I actually shelled out $15 or so for the DVD box set of the original V television series and the two miniseries sets at a used place about two or three years ago to revisit them for nostalgia's sake.

How do the original V episodes stand up today, you ask?
Well...
Let's just say that it's good comedic fun to revisit these shows as an adult.

• I had forgotten how many motorcycle chases are shown in the original series. I mean, there are a lot of motorcycle chases up and down the hills in the outskirts of Los Angeles in these shows. I guess that motorcycle chases were pretty economical as far as action goes back in the 1980s. The fact that aliens had the technology to invade Earth in giant flying saucers, but could not make motorcycles that could catch up with Earth motorcycles is just a testament to the power and resilience of the human spirit. So, so amazing.

• The aliens are actually lizards in their natural form, but they are repeatedly shown interacting with one another in the privacy of their own spaceships with their human disguises on. There are even scenes on the television series of the aliens courting one another and kissing while wearing their human masks. I guess humans are just...the best-looking creatures in the universe or something.

• There are several instances in the show where an alien is wounded while wearing a human disguise, and spends the rest of the series with a visible scar on his or her human mask. I never understood why they did not just replace the damaged human mask with a new mask. Scars are cool, I guess.

Anyway, there you have it. The original V series is very much worth revisiting if you have good memories of seeing it as a kid. (Tongue-in-cheek here, but it really is fun to revisit.)

I ended up selling the DVD box sets back, because it was not one of those TV shows that I would watch multiple times. (Although I may indeed have a hankering to watch it in ten more years or so.)

Sorry to stray off on a tangent, but I had to acknowledge.

[Member-167298]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I was a huge fan of the two original V miniseries events and the original V full series when I was a kid. I was in sixth and seventh grade at the time, and that show was the bomb. (Until I discovered Miami Vice.)

I actually shelled out $15 or so for the DVD box set of the original V television series and the two miniseries sets at a used place about two or three years ago to revisit them for nostalgia's sake.

How do the original V episodes stand up today, you ask?
Well...
Let's just say that it's good comedic fun to revisit these shows as an adult.

• I had forgotten how many motorcycle chases are shown in the original series. I mean, there are a lot of motorcycle chases up and down the hills in the outskirts of Los Angeles in these shows. I guess that motorcycle chases were pretty economical as far as action goes back in the 1980s. The fact that aliens had the technology to invade Earth in giant flying saucers, but could not make motorcycles that could catch up with Earth motorcycles is just a testament to the power and resilience of the human spirit. So, so amazing.

• The aliens are actually lizards in their natural form, but they are repeatedly shown interacting with one another in the privacy of their own spaceships with their human disguises on. There are even scenes on the television series of the aliens courting one another and kissing while wearing their human masks. I guess humans are just...the best-looking creatures in the universe or something.

• There are several instances in the show where an alien is wounded while wearing a human disguise, and spends the rest of the series with a visible scar on his or her human mask. I never understood why they did not just replace the damaged human mask with a new mask. Scars are cool, I guess.

Anyway, there you have it. The original V series is very much worth revisiting if you have good memories of seeing it as a kid. (Tongue-in-cheek here, but it really is fun to revisit.)

I ended up selling the DVD box sets back, because it was not one of those TV shows that I would watch multiple times. (Although I may indeed have a hankering to watch it in ten more years or so.)

Sorry to stray off on a tangent, but I had to acknowledge.

Your post actually makes me want to watch the V series MORE now! Haha...

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by PrestonXI

Your post actually makes me want to watch the V series MORE now! Haha...

1980s nostalgia rules all. It's really not bad to watch again in current times. There were a lot of old shows that I fondly remember (The A-Team, etc.) that are almost unwatchable today, but that original V series holds up alright.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I will be devoting this afternoon to watching the Olive Films Blu-ray of the 1958 French adaptation of Les Misérables that stars Jean Gabin (La Grande Illusion, Touchez Pas Au Grisbi, etc.) and Andre Bourvil (Le Cercle Rouge).

For anyone here who may be curious, this 1958 version of Les Misérables is a terrific Blu-ray, and Jean Gabin was a perfect choice for the role of Jean Valjean.

I had more than a few good laughs, though, at Andre Bourvil's portrayal of Thénardier. It's great that the same person who played the police detective in Le Cercle Rouge (a role that reminds me of Javert in Les Misérables, by the way) was able to play the sleazy and conniving Thénardier so perfectly well.

I'll write a more thorough sum-up of this in the Olive Films thread, but wanted to tip my hat here because Jean Gabin and Andre Bourvil have a presence in Criterion titles.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

For anyone here who may be curious, this 1958 version of Les Misérables is a terrific Blu-ray, and Jean Gabin was a perfect choice for the role of Jean Valjean.

I had more than a few good laughs, though, at Andre Bourvil's portrayal of Thénardier. It's great that the same person who played the police detective in Le Cercle Rouge (a role that reminds me of Javert in Les Misérables, by the way) was able to play the sleazy and conniving Thénardier so perfectly well.

I'll write a more thorough sum-up of this in the Olive Films thread, but wanted to tip my hat here because Jean Gabin and Andre Bourvil have a presence in Criterion titles.

I saw my copy yesterday and yes, it's infinitely better than the Tom Hooper version

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I saw my copy yesterday and yes, it's infinitely better than the Tom Hooper version

Well, it couldn't be worse.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I saw my copy yesterday and yes, it's infinitely better than the Tom Hooper version

I'm planning to rent the 2012 version of Les Misérables in the not-too-distant future so that I can compare notes. The lure of seeing Amanda Seyfried is tough to deny. My expectations are quite limited, though, because I have no experience with the musical versions or stage productions of this story.

The 1958 version has a stately and innocuous look in that old-school Techicolor sort of way that bypasses the gritty settings depicted in the novel. It makes early 1800s France look like the most luxuriously splendid place in the universe. Even the supposedly poverty-stricken settings look cozy and inviting. I'd love to live in the stone house occupied by Thénardier's family in the film, for example. Even the sewers look...awesome.
I give this adaptation high marks nonetheless, because it's such a faithful adaptation and because Jean Gabin and Andre Bourvil are so perfect for their characters.

[lemonski]

Just finished watching The Blob, what an amazing transfer - the color is astonishing for a low budget 50's B movie. There's so much detail I noticed a few odd things you probably wouldn't pick up on TV or DVD....

in the scene where Steve and Jane are talking under the tree (just after sneaking out of the house) you can see a puff of smoke drift up behind his back. I assume Steve McQueen is holding a cigarette out of the frame

Later on, toward the end of the fire chief's speech, you can see a fly crawl across his forehead just under his helmet

I guess their budget didn't stretch to retakes LOL

[amoergosum]

Originally Posted by retablo

Wenders is a very lyrical director... in similar ways to Terrence Malick IMO. His films are, in a way. more like poems than straight plot-to-plot narratives. They take the time to see the beauty all around, and let the characters see this beauty, too. Check out Beyond the Clouds, the film he made with Antonioni. There's a shot in that film with characters sitting on swings at a beach, with the wind just blowing sand across the surface... it has nothing to do with plot, but it's a beautiful moment.

All this talk of Wenders makes me want The American Friend and Million Dollar Hotel on blu.

A Criterion Collection edition of The Million Dollar Hotel would be fantastic...one of my favorite movies (don't trust the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes).
I own the German Blu-ray but I'm not very happy with it. They messed up the colors of early dawn (opening scene)...this and the brightness boost kills the atmosphere.

DVD:



Blu-ray:



The colors during that scene are correct on the DVD.
Here's a translation from the German audio commentary >>>

Wim Wenders:

"This scene here up on the roof, Tom Tom's jump, the one which the movie begins with, we shot it for around a week; every day for 10 minutes, this short period of time...magic hour...there's this twilight between day and night."

Apart from that there are other issues with the transfer.
So a Criterion Collection edition would be incredible.

Please suggest it here >>>
suggestions@criterion.com

[Hypnosifl]

Originally Posted by amoergosum

The colors during that scene are correct on the DVD.
Here's a translation from the German audio commentary >>>

Wim Wenders:

"This scene here up on the roof, Tom Tom's jump, the one which the movie begins with, we shot it for around a week; every day for 10 minutes, this short period of time...magic hour...there's this twilight between day and night."

Apart from that there are other issues with the transfer.
So a Criterion Collection edition would be incredible.

Magic hour usually refers to the time around sunset rather than dawn, when the light has a golden color more like the blu ray image...when you say the colors are correct on the DVD rather than the blu, is that based on something other than the comment by Wim Wenders?

[amoergosum]

Originally Posted by Hypnosifl

Magic hour usually refers to the time around sunset rather than dawn, when the light has a golden color more like the blu ray image...

He misspoke when he used the words "magic hour". Wim Wenders was referring to >>>

"there's this twilight between day and night"

Originally Posted by Hypnosifl

...when you say the colors are correct on the DVD rather than the blu, is that based on something other than the comment by Wim Wenders?

That's based on Wim Wenders' comment...the colors during that scene on the DVD >>> that's what twilight (early dawn) looks like.

[metaridley]

Apologies if this has been discussed before, but since Chungking Express - the very first Criterion Blu-ray - is now out of print, as apparently they lost the distribution rights, does that mean those of us who don't have it and might want to buy it are shit out of luck if we don't want to pay ridiculously high prices?

[TheHumanTornado]

I see a sealed copy with a "buy it now" on ebay right now for 39.99. Probably the best price new so I would jump on it now before it goes up. I had to pay around 60 for my Pierrot le Fou.