The Criterion Collection

[FragnitoM]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Scenes enacted using animal cruelty (killing or endangering them in real for the purpose of onscreen entertainment) are censored as per law.

I like the law’s intentions, but also I think if a certain time has passed, it could be released with an advisory before the film

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by FragnitoM

I like the law’s intentions, but also I think if a certain time has passed, it could be released with an advisory before the film

That's a tricky bit. It's like saying if a snuff film was made before a certain period, then it can be available for people to see. I empathize that it's not the same, but common sense and legal defense are not the same either.

[FragnitoM]

Originally Posted by ravenus

That's a tricky bit. It's like saying if a snuff film was made before a certain period, then it can be available for people to see. I empathize that it's not the same, but common sense and legal defense are not the same either.

Weird false equivalency, dude

[mmarczi]

I think the point was obvious though, which is that animal cruelty is still animal cruelty regardless of how long ago it occurred.

[JasonMichael]

And censoring it doesn't retroactively eliminate it. It happened. It is illegal now, and rightly wouldn't be allowed in the making of a movie. Taking it out of an old movie does nothing but butcher the film.

[mmarczi]

That's a subjective analysis. In most cases, if one was unaware that there was a horse fall in a movie and they'd watched a cut version of the film with the horse fall taken out, you'd never know. There are other instances where such a cut is genuinely intrusive, but generally they would go unnoticed.

[Warm Gun]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Scenes enacted using animal cruelty (killing or endangering them in real for the purpose of onscreen entertainment) are censored as per law.

So I'm guessing Stagecoach ends ten minutes early in the UK. What a stupid law. I've always had a problem with people treating animals like humans. It's one of the biggest delusions.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by JasonMichael

And censoring it doesn't retroactively eliminate it. It happened. It is illegal now, and rightly wouldn't be allowed in the making of a movie. Taking it out of an old movie does nothing but butcher the film.

That particular law has been around since the 1930s and I do respect the intent of the law which was, presumably, to protect animals from being harmed or killed just for entertainment. The problem is that the law has no scope beyond the borders of the UK so it's essentially toothless when it comes to Hollywood productions or films shot in other countries, so those animals were no better off for its existence and its only real effect is to become a censorship guideline.

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

So I'm guessing Stagecoach ends ten minutes early in the UK. What a stupid law. I've always had a problem with people treating animals like humans. It's one of the biggest delusions.

What I've always been curious about is if several minutes of the opening sequence of The Wild Bunch have been censored, or if the law doesn't apply to insects and arachnids.

[Jackie Scanlon]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

That's a subjective analysis. In most cases, if one was unaware that there was a horse fall in a movie and they'd watched a cut version of the film with the horse fall taken out, you'd never know. There are other instances where such a cut is genuinely intrusive, but generally they would go unnoticed.

Speaking as a UK resident, film buff and big fan of westerns - trust me, you DO know. I would say six or seven out of every ten cuts for horse falls and trips are VERY VERY clumsy. I was putting up with that sh*t for years until DVD came along (I did have laserdisc, but it was a bit of a dear hobby, especially when importing from the US - imported DVD on the other hand was dirt cheap).

Originally Posted by RCRochester

What I've always been curious about is if several minutes of the opening sequence of The Wild Bunch have been censored, or if the law doesn't apply to insects and arachnids.

The Wild Bunch is fully uncut, as is Apocalypse Now (although, in the wake of the 4K UHD release, I think I'm right in saying the BBFC have said if AN was ever submitted again in future, the ox scene probably would be cut, or at least trimmed) and The Holy Mountain. Meanwhile, Monte Hellman's masterpiece Cockfighter will never have a release of any kind in the UK.

The BBFC also have a history of being a bit hypocritical and inconsistent.

[greenrose]

What Robert Bresson films do Criterion currently have access to?

[Sommerswerd]

Originally Posted by greenrose

What Robert Bresson films do Criterion currently have access to?

https://www.criterion.com/shop/colle...robert-bresson

[ToonySpoonGoon]

Desperate for a blu ray of Diary of a Country Priest though it got a new restoration not too long ago so maybe its soon

[Scottie]

New film added to Janus.

The Story of a Three Day Pass (1968, Melvin Van Peebles)
https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2025

[jw007]

I feel like a lot of messages in this thread were deleted by the moderator and I missed out on some really provocative discussion...but perhaps its for the better. This is about the Criterion Collection and nothing else.

[Kyle15]

I hit up 2nd & Charles today. They had a new trade-in cart sitting around with a bunch of stuff on it, amongst it this.
I could not pass it up at that price. It's in perfect shape!

[FragnitoM]

Originally Posted by Kyle15

I hit up 2nd & Charles today. They had a new trade-in cart sitting around with a bunch of stuff on it, amongst it this.
I could not pass it up at that price. It's in perfect shape!

I got Ran in perfect condition at my 2nd & Charles a few weeks ago for like $15. I was shocked nobody had scooped it up

They have some gems sometimes. Their trade in prices are terrible though

[Acer2010]

I ordered this great movie on Blu-ray online from Best Buy:

[nitin]

I recently watched Monte Hellman’s fascinating The Shooting. It’s been described in various reviews as a proto acid western, an existential western or a western version of Waiting for Godot. Not all of those labels are inaccurate but IMHO the best descriptor for this is simply that it’s a western by the director of Two Lane Blacktop.

Like that film, Hellman isn’t interested in the grandiose myth making or the action set pieces that are expected from the respective genre. He is more interested in conveying what being a character in a western might have felt like. And so a simple revenge quest narrative is turned into an observational examination, both physical and mental, of the nature of revenge on all of the characters involved.

That those characters are played by actors like Warren Oates and Jack Nicholson, capable of portraying a lived in quality to their characters (Oates in particular is masterful) only adds to the films’s strengths, which also includes some stunning arid photography of the Utah desert.

However, unlike Two Lane Desktop, I think Hellman and scriptwriter Carole Eastman go a little too overboard in using obtuse character dialogue to stretch out their narrative, rather than having more confidence in their approach and recognising that the narrative is bare but simply besides the point in terms of what they are trying to do.

Criterions’s blu is from a 4k restoration and largely looks unbelievable. There were 1 maybe 2 brief shots (lasting no more than a few seconds each time) where I thought the compression created noticeable issues with the grain. The audio is very rough, especially in the opening ten minutes but this looks to be a by product of the original recording since it improves dramatically after those first 10 minutes.

Recommended.

[Cinematt]

Documentary Faya Dayi coming to the Criterion Collection.

https://deadline.com/2021/04/janus-f...ws-1234728839/

Letterboxd interviewed the director when it premiered at Sundance
https://letterboxd.com/festiville/st...eshir-on-faya/

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by nitin

However, unlike Two Lane Desktop, I think Hellman and scriptwriter Carole Eastman go a little too overboard in using obtuse character dialogue to stretch out their narrative, rather than having more confidence in their approach and recognising that the narrative is bare but simply besides the point in terms of what they are trying to do.

Hmm, I'm not familiar with that Monte Hellman film. Was that a recent sequel to TWO LANE BLACKTOP about two itinerant computer programmers who travel the country from their cubicles?

I agree with your take on THE SHOOTING and actually prefer RIDE THE WHIRLWIND a little more, but really, any of these kind of low budget "art" westerns are always worth a look. And Hellman is smart enough to incorporate enough of the genre loveliness to make all that high falutin' meditations on existentialism go right past ya, pardner. (Although if truth be told, I like them there meditations as much as the shootouts!).