The Criterion Collection

[fahrenheit290]

Yeah, this site helped me immensely for picking up three BDs a few weeks ago: Seven Samurai, Seventh Seal, and A Night to Remember, all of which were of a quality that impressed me. I guess I'll have to wait out using my B&N gift card for the next sale when it rolls along. I've been really encouraged in my own reading to go for Powell and Pressburger, either Red Shoes or Black Narcissus.

My posts don't end up staying because I'm a new user and I guess they still have to be modded.

[K1NG J0RDAN]

Watched Badlands for the first time last night. What a great film! I was not expecting any of what happened. It's crazy! Great acting by Martin Sheen & Sissy Spacek. Will watch the special features later tonight.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Quintet's Criterion material (for their Altman obsession), but it's certainly not good--Watch it in a double-feature with THX-1138 (or Zardoz), and it'll make you notice everything you never realized you hated about "artsy" name-director 70's dystopia.

I think that's a problem with most of the SF films of the 70s. I admire the attempts, but other than the top-level films (A Clockwork Orange, Star Wars, Alien, and a few random others), they're earnest attempts at cautionary "if-this-goes-on" fables, but bottom line, they just don't work. At least for me.

But true enough, Quintet isn't "good", but then the same could be said about some of the other SF B-movie releases that Criterion has given us (The Blob, Robinson Crusoe on Mars). They have entertainment value, but I'd be hard-pressed to call them "good".

[smoss469]

OK here's a question for some of the more well versed collectors, I've got some gift cards that I'm going to be using in the near future. Part of those will be to add to my CC collection. However... I'm not sure where to start. I've added some things to my CC Wishlist that interest me. Based on what I've got so far, and what I have on the wish list, what would you consider the high points?

CC Wishlist

I'd love some input!

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by smoss469

OK here's a question for some of the more well versed collectors, I've got some gift cards that I'm going to be using in the near future. Part of those will be to add to my CC collection. However... I'm not sure where to start. I've added some things to my CC Wishlist that interest me. Based on what I've got so far, and what I have on the wish list, what would you consider the high points?

CC Wishlist

I'd love some input!

The Night of the Hunter
Sweet Smell of Success
The Killing
On the Waterfront
Rififi
The Wages of Fear
Stagecoach
Seven Samurai

You'll have the coolest collection on your block if you get any of these. You have some great DVD selections too, like Stray Dog, but those might be out on Blu-ray at some point.

[StonesEGF]

Originally Posted by spanky87

LA Confidential should have been made in black and white.

One reason for being shot in color is noted in the Blu-ray supplemental features: the filmmakers make it very clear that they were attempting to avoid overt associations with classic noir films. Curtis Hanson told DP Dante Spinotti that he didn't want it to look like film noir. Spinotti's reply: "What's film-noir?"

There are several instances where color is used so magnificently that I can not imagine the film any other way.

[Show spoiler]For example, just look at the red lights of the police cars as the pull up to the Victory Motel at the end of the movie.

[14728]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

why dont you get the masters of cinema bluray?

I don't have a region free BD player

[14728]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

Hmmm... now that you mention it, the characters do resemble each other. But then again, Tarantino was the video store clerk who watched movie after movie. So maybe somewhere deep inside his psyche, it was a subconcious kind of thing.

Kiss Me Deadly… just another film to add to my endless wish list.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

Anyone else doing marathons this week? What are you watching? Anything that really blew your skirt up?

Well, as I think I mentioned, I'm trying to get a bunch of movies watched on Netflix that'll be expiring on 12/31 or 1/1. Here's what I've watched so far from that bunch, ordered by the rating I gave it. Some I've seen before, some I watched on Netflix for the first time.

(Netflix ratings: 5=I love it; 4=I really like it; 3=I like it; 2=I didn't like it; 1=I hated it. Since I try to avoid movies that they think I'll rate 1 or 2, I generally don't come across any.)

5 stars:

Owl and the Sparrow (Stephane Gauger, 2007)
Sweet Land (Ali Selim, 2005)
Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
Kolya (Jan Sverák, 1996)

4 stars:

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach, 2006)
Bread & Tulips (Silvio Soldini, 2000)
The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973)
Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1967)
Ronin (John Frankenheimer, 1998)
Revenge of the Musketeers (Bertrand Tavernier, 1994)
Malèna (Giuseppe Tornatore, 2000)

3 stars:

Black Hills Ambush (Harry Keller, 1952)
Equilibrium (Kurt Wimmer, 2002)
Hard, Fast and Beautiful (Ida Lupino, 1951)
Cop Land (James Mangold, 1997)
Cypher (Vincenzo Natali, 2002)
The Return of the Musketeers (Richard Lester, 1989)

[ravenus]

With regards to LA Confidential, I liked the film a good deal when I saw it at the cinema 15 years back, but not so much when I saw it a few months ago after reading the source novel. While of course a script will jettison elements from a book in the interests of a reasonable running time, I thought that here some very resonant plot elements were thrown out and that the film especially in the second half became less noir and more period buddy action film. In the book, both Bud and Exley get majorly screwed in the emotional sense and there is no victory for them or anyone else (as I believe it should be in noir) - its an arrestingly bleak and messy experience, while the film is a little too neatly wrapped up. IMO.

[the sordid sentinel]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

[center]One reason why LA Confidential is perfectly fine in color:

Kim Basinger was INSANELY hot in L.A. Confidential. The scene where she leads Bud to her bedroom and stands in that peach colored light looking all vulnerable..primo.

Watched Revanche again tonight. That one keeps growing in my estimation, so much so that it is now one of my favorite movies of the aughts.

I was really struck tonight by the similarities Revanche shares with The Crying Game.

[Show spoiler]The violent death of a character early in the movie deeply affects 2 individuals, one of whom is directly involved. Destiny then sends these 2 individuals on a collision course. So much so it is as if the dead character is there pulling them together.

Dunno, maybe that is just me.

The scene towards the end with the splash and that gust of wind across the pond is absolute aces. I would like to know if that wind was natural or man made. It is as if the wind is

[Show spoiler]blowing Alex's vengeance away.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by smoss469

OK here's a question for some of the more well versed collectors, I've got some gift cards that I'm going to be using in the near future. Part of those will be to add to my CC collection. However... I'm not sure where to start. I've added some things to my CC Wishlist that interest me. Based on what I've got so far, and what I have on the wish list, what would you consider the high points?

CC Wishlist

I'd love some input!

I'd consider these as "my" high points:
Seven Samurai
On the Waterfront
ToBe or Not To Be
Stagecoach


And nice to meet another Shannon

[StonesEGF]

Originally Posted by smoss469

OK here's a question for some of the more well versed collectors, I've got some gift cards that I'm going to be using in the near future. Part of those will be to add to my CC collection. However... I'm not sure where to start. I've added some things to my CC Wishlist that interest me. Based on what I've got so far, and what I have on the wish list, what would you consider the high points?

CC Wishlist

I'd love some input!

On The Waterfront, Seven Samurai, and The Night of the Hunter are the three most essential in my opinion.

[lordmorpheus72]

Finally got to sit down and watch Pale Flower today and I must say I hate I waited so long to watch it... dear sweet jehoshaphat what an amazing movie. There are so many great things about this movie, acting, plot, lighting, and directing. It's hard to find anything wrong with this movie except that it ended.

But in all seriousness, it was and incredible movie and I loved it. The ending really got to me,

[Show spoiler]I didn't want it to be true, and I wanted to know who Saeko was... but Muraki was right, it didn't matter who she was

.

Thanks to Owl for the recommendation on this one! Those of you who haven't watched or gotten this yet.... go get it!

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by the sordid sentinel

Kim Basinger was INSANELY hot in L.A. Confidential. The scene where she leads Bud to her bedroom and stands in that peach colored light looking all vulnerable..primo.

Watched Revanche again tonight. That one keeps growing in my estimation, so much so that it is now one of my favorite movies of the aughts.

I was really struck tonight by the similarities Revanche shares with The Crying Game.

[Show spoiler]The violent death of a character early in the movie deeply affects 2 individuals, one of whom is directly involved. Destiny then sends these 2 individuals on a collision course. So much so it is as if the dead character is there pulling them together.

Dunno, maybe that is just me.

The scene towards the end with the splash and that gust of wind across the pond is absolute aces. I would like to know if that wind was natural or man made. It is as if the wind is

[Show spoiler]blowing Alex's vengeance away.

LA Confidential is a really great movie and while she's really good looking in it my GOD was she dull.
Don't know who she paid off to get that oscar but there was nothing great about her performance

On a completely different and more positive note, finally managed to get my hands on a copy of Nashville and am really glad I finally did! Only seen snippets and it looks fantastic!
Looking really forward to finding the time to get around to watching it.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

well, the two of you are in luck because I am going to tell you what is pretentious about Tree of Life...

a google search of the definition of pretentious as, is Andrew provided: attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed. given that definition, I ask you - what does Terrence Malick, filmmaker (not cosmologist, mind you) know about the origin of human life? can you attest to Malick's brilliance as a filmmaker by providing any fair artistic analysis of that 20 minute stretch of the film? (the science experiment slide show or whatever you want to call it is the sequence that I found objectionable.) the ending of the film didn't really work for me, although I find that part to be open to artistic interpretation. everything in between for me was fine. I wish it had not been ruined by that... (may I?) pretentious montage.

SOJ - I agree. The term IS sometimes used to describe an art film or something that someone does not understand. The problem I have here is that Malick doesn't understand this topic either.

a synonym for pretentious, btw, is 'showy'. if the title To The Wonder does not suggest something showy, then I may need a better dictionary.

I recommend One Big Soul by Paul Maher, Jr. If you want to see what really makes Malick tick it's an excellent read.

[the sordid sentinel]

Originally Posted by JoeBuck

LA Confidential is a really great movie and while she's really good looking in it my GOD was she dull.
Don't know who she paid off to get that oscar but there was nothing great about her performance.

Wow. I thought she was a perfect film noir femme fatale with some damages underneath the surface. Loved that performance, Oscar or not.

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

I'd consider these as "my" high points:
Seven Samurai
On the Waterfront
ToBe or Not To Be
Stagecoach


And nice to meet another Shannon

Calm down internet people, I'm a guy

[octagon]

Originally Posted by the sordid sentinel

Wow. I thought she was a perfect film noir femme fatale with some damages underneath the surface. Loved that performance, Oscar or not.

I really, really disliked Kim Bassinger back in the day (as we used to say back in the day) and I don't particularly like her now but even I liked her performance in LA Confidential.

And I didn't even like LA Confidential all that much.

This should have been a perfect hate storm but she was very well cast and did a very good job.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by smoss469

Calm down internet people, I'm a guy

I figured as much... I always assume Shannons are guys, I've know way more guys named Shannon than girls. A friend of mine in high school was a guy named Shannon, 2 in one class, wierd huh?