The Criterion Collection

[thecalm_7]

Originally Posted by jayembee

If anything, I think the retro-tech of Brazil is what keeps it from being "dated". Movies tend to look dated when they try to imagine the future, and end up being shortsighted. The computer technology in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) looks archaic compared to what we were actually using in 2001. And 2010 (1984) looks even worse compared to actually 2010 technology.

Gilliam deliberately using a retro design counterintuitively, but emphatically, keeps it from looking like a wrong-headed look at future tech. Max Headroom borrowed this idea successfully a few years later.

I love Brazil for its "dated" look. The single person car, the restaurant menu, the message tubes, etc. my wife on the other hand pulls a mr. Mackey with a "drugs are bad mmmkay". Aside from robocop and silence of the lambs, Brazil has been probably my most watched criterion. I put it on at work and hit the p.a. System everytime the 2 main overtures are played.

[WinterLand]

I am currently up to 86 CC blu rays, I am not sure how many I have not seen but I think it is about 25-30 of them. I only purchase blu rays though and not dvd's.

I also at least initially purchase movies that I either have seen and know I like or movies I have heard about and have a good gut feeling that I will enjoy.

So far I have got about 25 movies left on my list to purchase.

After I have completed my list I might go through the titles again and pick a small list of additional movies I might add, in addition to the monthly releases of course.

[myka22]

Originally Posted by Clare2904

Yikes that is a huge chunk of change. I would have to go for a cheaper frame

The posters come in a standard size, so you can easily pick up a much cheaper frame somewhere. I put mine in $30 frames and they don't look spectacular by any means, but they still look pretty solid.

[Clare2904]

Originally Posted by myka22

The posters come in a standard size, so you can easily pick up a much cheaper frame somewhere. I put mine in $30 frames and they don't look spectacular by any means, but they still look pretty solid.

I'm moving to my first Canadian home (buyer) next month and whilst I have a fair few pieces of art to frame, I have a huge wall leading to the open plan basement that is just screaming out for a movie poster

Where do people recommend buying the posters, bar Criterion.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by Halation

Benjamin Button deserves all the hate it gets.

The film, that is.

I share your view here, and if it is labeled as "hate" instead of one persons opinion so be it. This is an awful film. To watch it feels like an exercise in boredom; an excursion through the predictable and pointless. There is hardly anything it has going for it besides the well done CGI and set decoration. An intellectual and cinematic snoozer. Forrest Gump wasn't lightyears better than it, but in my opinion at least that film had great acting, memorable characters and a story that made me feel something. I just felt like looking at my watch during Button.

[ultlife2013]

Well sometimes the film snobs in all of us have to come out and stretch their muscles. Curious did have it's issues but Fincher really did something out of his comfort zone and he can be given credit for that at least. The cgi and set pieces are great in the movie though, and some of the performances were good. I will have to re watch thanks to this thread to refresh my memory. I hope Gone Girl is really good though, the trailer was very haunting that's for sure.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

[Show spoiler]$270. It's why I'm very reluctant to pull the trigger on various posters. I have to really love the print to commit.

You can't really tell from the picture because the lighting is pretty terrible, but the framing itself is a blue-ish tone. It really blends in well with the poster. The woman was very thorough in trying to find the right size/color to make the poster work (which I greatly appreciated; never had that attention to detail from other shops.)

It's somewhat noticeable here:

[Show spoiler]

That poster is beautiful. Let's hope they use it for the blu (and it comes somewhat soon!)

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by ultlife2013

Well sometimes the film snobs in all of us have to come out and stretch their muscles. Curious did have it's issues but Fincher really did something out of his comfort zone and he can be given credit for that at least. The cgi and set pieces are great in the movie though, and some of the performances were good. I will have to re watch thanks to this thread to refresh my memory. I hope Gone Girl is really good though, the trailer was very haunting that's for sure.

How is that being a "film snob"? I personally would love if Fincher did something out of his comfort zone such as write his own script.

[SlickDamian]

Thinking about ordering La Notre. Wondering if I should see the first film in Antonioni's trilogy first? Or is this a "loose" trilogy?

[ultlife2013]

Originally Posted by SlickDamian

Thinking about ordering La Notre. Wondering if I should see the first film in Antonioni's trilogy first? Or is this a "loose" trilogy?

Loose, real loose.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by SlickDamian

Thinking about ordering La Notre. Wondering if I should see the first film in Antonioni's trilogy first? Or is this a "loose" trilogy?

You can certainly watch these out of order. The cohesive elements within the 3 films aren't characters or story-lines per-se, they have more to do with feelings and non verbal communication that you as a viewer understand by watching them.

Originally Posted by ultlife2013

Loose, real loose.

Definitely. I can't wait to complete to trilogy on blu ray as soon as Criterion is ready to deliver.

[alull]

Originally Posted by thecalm_7

I both collect and watch. My brother who was not a part of my life was a huge film buff. I never knew him that well. He passed away recently and I have inherited his collection to join my collection. To my surprise, he owned all of the criterion collection on DVD up to 640. LD CRITERION COllection is near complete as well. So I own that now. (...)

amazing story..! yours is a very unique one. thanks for sharing.

[aes3728]

I'm currently sitting at 114 in my collection according to the MyCollection on their page. Not including individual films or anything like that in regards to box sets.

I'm at a great place with my collection. Have a ton to watch and don't plan on getting any more until flash sale in September/October where I will pick up a handful of the August and September titles. Then everything in October and who knows about November. Hopefully watching the films will open me up to more back catalogue items, but as of now it's forward on a month-to-month basis.

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Thanks for elaborating. I find the "dated" designs of Brazil to be quite endearing. Actually, "retro-futurist" (just tossing words together at this point) type of stuff at large like Buck Rodgers, for example, aways do it for me, so that's no surprise.

As for the acting in Rashomon...well, lets just agree to disagree. That's a very big topic to get into at this moment. I mean, it's Friday afterall.

Re: Post-punk and all it's mutations...as long as no one throws my sacred cows under the bus ( The Talking Heads, Wire, Gang of Four, Midnight Oil, The Minutemen, The Replacements, etc), I'm okay.

And to be clear I love that genre/time of music (especially the Replacements). I also cannot stress how much I really like Joy Division either. Like I said in a different post, Love Will Tear Us Apart is a top 10 song of all time for me. I just think JD ( and New Order for that matter) were better at great singles then albums. It is fascinating and bizarre that the music scene in Britain was so different when it came to singles vs. albums meaning so many great songs were never released on proper albums (true for JD, New Order, The Smiths hell even The Beatles ). That whole approach never really seem to be adopted over here.

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by RojD

I'm trying to find a nice way of saying this, but using this definition of "dated," I guess we should kiss Metropolis goodbye, too? I know more than a few people would, but their numbers wouldn't include me.

For me, I've found Brazil to hold up far better than most films from the 80s. Government uses fear of terrorism to erode civil rights: How contemporary does that theme sound? Maybe dumb luck on Gilliam's part, but everything from oppression by bureaucracy to ridiculous consumption by rich elite seems timely to me. (Broadcast News nailed a few future issues a couple of years later, too.)

I can understand how the art direction might not appeal to everyone (they probably don't like PlayTime either), but I've watched Brazil many times and just don't get tired of the restless creativity I see at work. Or the wonderful ending.

So a few things:

1) these are just my opinions
2) respecting the influence some films have had vs. enjoying said films are two different things.
3) you and others are latching onto the "dated" comment. I am semi drunk so I apologize inadvance for spelling and grammar mistakes (or points that make no sense).

The Playtime vs. Brazil comparison are ludicrous. Playtime is of a time and some of its aspects (ie mainframe equipment) are not the same as an entire futuristic world, especially one where there is a social statement being made underlying everything. That is an apple vs. orange comparison if there ever was one.

You did touch on a point that I do find interesting though and that is in my opinion, many films in the 80s are inescapable from that decade. I find by and large, films from the 60s, 70s and 90s all feel more relatable then those of the 80s. Just look at Jaws, The Excorcist, One Flew Over the Cookoos Nest, High and Low, Circle Rouge, The Three Colors Trilogy, Star Wars, 2001, etc.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Originally Posted by Thebunk

And to be clear I love that genre/time of music (especially the Replacements). I also cannot stress how much I really like Joy Division either. Like I said in a different post, Love Will Tear Us Apart is a top 10 song of all time for me. I just think JD ( and New Order for that matter) were better at great singles then albums. It is fascinating and bizarre that the music scene in Britain was so different when it came to singles vs. albums meaning so many great songs were never released on proper albums (true for JD, New Order, The Smiths hell even The Beatles ). That whole approach never really seem to be adopted over here.

This is getting OT, but I'm a huge fan of both Joy Division & New Order as well (for obvious reasons, they were almost the same group). I grew up in the '80's, and remember hearing of New Order at that time; the sublime Bizarre Long Triangle is possibly my all-time favorite song - I prefer the longer version, featured on Substance (1987)..

Like Joy Division as well....The excellent b&w film Control is about the group..Also liked the film 24 Hour Party People, which is about the Manchester UK music scene in the late '70's/'80's...

Back OT; the Criterion La Notte Blu is incredible; amazing film.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by Thebunk

So a few things:

1) these are just my opinions
2) respecting the influence some films have had vs. enjoying said films are two different things.
3) you and others are latching onto the "dated" comment. I am semi drunk so I apologize inadvance for spelling and grammar mistakes (or points that make no sense).

The Playtime vs. Brazil comparison are ludicrous. Playtime is of a time and some of its aspects (ie mainframe equipment) are not the same as an entire futuristic world, especially one where there is a social statement being made underlying everything. That is an apple vs. orange comparison if there ever was one.

You did touch on a point that I do find interesting though and that is in my opinion, many films in the 80s are inescapable from that decade. I find by and large, films from the 60s, 70s and 90s all feel more relatable then those of the 80s. Just look at Jaws, The Excorcist, One Flew Over the Cookoos Nest, High and Low, Circle Rouge, The Three Colors Trilogy, Star Wars, 2001, etc.

The 80s had some amazing films:

Raging Bull
Paris, Texas
Dekalog
Blade Runner
Teen Wolf
Breakfast Club

By the way what are you drinking?

[Ausjdm]

Anyone recommend Element of Crime the trailer looks good and I like Lars Von trier movies. I haven't heard much on here about it.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by AnamorphicWidescreen

Back OT; the Criterion La Notte Blu is incredible; amazing film.

I've had it for a while now but haven't watched it yet. I want to wait for L'avventura to come out so I can watch the trio, in glorious HD, all in one sitting.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by Thebunk

And to be clear I love that genre/time of music (especially the Replacements). I also cannot stress how much I really like Joy Division either. Like I said in a different post, Love Will Tear Us Apart is a top 10 song of all time for me. I just think JD ( and New Order for that matter) were better at great singles then albums. It is fascinating and bizarre that the music scene in Britain was so different when it came to singles vs. albums meaning so many great songs were never released on proper albums (true for JD, New Order, The Smiths hell even The Beatles ). That whole approach never really seem to be adopted over here.

I think THE thing we can agree on tonight is that a Monterey Pop-style release of anything Post-punk, New wave, College rock, or 80s Alternative would be more than welcome. I too am a huge fan of the era (late seventies to mid eighties).

Re: Curious Case of Benjamin Button case: switch it out with that of Short Term 12. Even if it isn't "Criterion Wide" and won't accommodate taller cover art, at least you'll get a clear case to match the others.