The Criterion Collection

[KingOfBunnies]

Originally Posted by plasticroots

Kogonada has a nice short on House, which reminds me to pick it up soon before I forget another round. Do The Right Thing gets talked about all the time especially relevant this last year and a half. Youtube with its various video essays is a great place to skim over titles, directors or genres you're interested in. Search for the other titles listed and no doubt you'll find something great that'll lead down a rabbit hole.

Sometimes I look at Roger Ebert's Great Movies or read the feature essays on the Criterion movie listing page. Ebert has a way to distill and celebrates movies, we're all fortunate to have the online archives. BFI has "Where to Start" features on revered directors. Spoilers are not a concern for most of these movies and a good movie is good even if you know every last moment.

Your collection is your collection. It can be small and meaningful, there's no minimum needed. Some things are better seen a few years later in life--or earlier but that's usually hindsight talking. Movies, like music and places and food and people, can and do grow on you over time. Enjoy it as they come.

I know my collection is my collection. I'm just into film but then I won't watch some of these landmark or popular films. Like, I haven't seen the Godfather Part 2, or Shawshank Redemption to even name things not on the Criterion Collection and it makes me self-conscious in a way, I guess.

Originally Posted by captainron_howdy

Don't feel shitty, here's some Films as a Film major you may want to check out if you have not:

Stalker
Mirror
Blow-Up
La Strada (only in the Fellini box but it's more than worth it during the sale)
The Virgin Spring
Diabolique
Memories Of Murder
Luis Bunuel 3 film set
The Elephant Man
Mulholland Dr.
A Man Escaped
Barry Lyndon

I will definitely add these to my list. Thank you!

Originally Posted by Ruined

In terms of film + style these would be my top picks

*snip*

I will also add these to my list. Thank you!

Originally Posted by jkoffman

Whether it's movies or music or whatever, don't ever let anyone make you feel shitty for not having experienced something yet. I'll never forget how many people annoyingly said to me "You're in film school and you've never seen [THIS MOVIE]??" I'm 50 now and believe me, there's plenty of time to see more movies. Also, those self-righteous types often just wanted to oh so temporarily feel superior to you, a (presumably young) student. I quickly came to discover that gate-keeper types are such sad people, and sharing your discoveries with others is one of the greatest joys in having knowledge. I've committed a lot of my life and work to doing just that.

Yeah, it's the almost judgmental "you haven't seen that" kind of comments that get to me. Like, I want to watch them, and I own some movies in my collection that are popular and landmark movies that I need to get around to. Sometimes I just get overwhelmed with how many, or I'm lazy and would rather surf the web, I guess.

Originally Posted by dylrichard02

I too am currently a film student and I have people asking me why I'm not watching the newest Hollywood blockbusters, even though I tell them they're of no interest to me. People like to think they have a better taste than you and when you study something, it's even more of a self-confidence booster for them if they can say "You haven't seen this?" I watched the newest Mortal Combat movie and hated it, I thought it was a dull, CGI mess of an action movie and everyone thought I was crazy at my workplace for saying I didn't care for it, one guy even said "Why do you go to film school if you didn't even like it?". If I were in your shoes, I'd just go for what looks good to you! I take recommendations from others, but typically unless it really interests me, I'll get what I want instead. As you take classes, you'll discover more and more films of significance from throughout history, but for now I'd say to focus on what you can learn from that also sounds like fun to watch.

Right, I do watch what interests me and buy what interests me. Like, I have gotten the chance to watch stuff like Casablanca and Citizen Kane, but like, there are so many legendary movies that sometimes it becomes a lot to keep track of. I don't mind watching blockbusters as long as they're good. I know I'm repeating myself but it feels weird to go "Oh, I'm a film student" and then they ask me "Have you seen X" and to say no. Or when asked what my favorite movies are and not being able to give an answer because I'm really bad at having that sorted in my head. I have movies i definitely love, but to be asked like my 5 favorite movies is never easy.

Originally Posted by D.I.T.C.

You're luckier than you realize.

How so?

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by KingOfBunnies

How so?

Because you still have so much left to discover and experience.

[pauleky]

Round two of the Criterion 50% sale:

[Dankk]

These are my final pickups from the 50% off sale. Mostly blind buys.

I chose The Parallax View because it seems like a fascinating and engrossing conspiracy thriller. Thin Red Line because it sounds like a deeply human and philosophical take on WWII films. The Vanishing because it's an extremely dark and unsettling story about a kidnapping. And Seconds because it honestly just has a super fascinating premise that seems very relevant to today (thanks to someone higher up in the thread for mentioning this one).

Finally, I also bought World on a Wire, not for myself, but as a birthday present for my Dad. I already own this movie and it's possibly my favorite Criterion disc in my possession, and one of my favorite movies in general. My Dad likes sci-fi movies and I think he will enjoy this one.

Overall very excited to watch these.

[A Tortured Duckling]

Here's what I ended up with. It's about 50/50 Amazon / Barnes & Noble.

Received



In The Mail



Pre-Ordered



They were all blind buys and so far I have watched Sword of Doom and Funny Games and thoroughly enjoyed both. I'll be saving Kurosawa's work for last, as those are the ones I am most looking forward to.

[jshaide]

Happy to say that I only bought on disc from Amazon (Memories of Murder) cause it was sold out in my store and online when I checked.

[mmarczi]

These days I usually try to wait for the Criterion flash sales to pick up their releases rather than the Barnes & Noble, so I said I would only pick up things I knew I was going to watch before October, and still ended up with more than I planned on. But I bought some classic Hollywood stuff to watch with family, and I wanted to go back through Godard, so that made up a lot of my order, along with some newer releases I couldn't pass up. I've seen the Godard films before but the rest are new to me, even if I'm a fan of the directors' other works, Kobayashi in particular:

[plasticroots]

Originally Posted by A Tortured Duckling

They were all blind buys and so far I have watched Sword of Doom and Funny Games and thoroughly enjoyed both. I'll be saving Kurosawa's work for last, as those are the ones I am most looking forward to.

Friendly warning: if you're watching Antichrist with others, be sure you know them well. The intro is something...

[A Tortured Duckling]

Originally Posted by plasticroots

Friendly warning: if you're watching Antichrist with others, be sure you know them well. The intro is something...

Thank you. Despite it being a blind buy, I know what's coming, which is exactly why I am buying it.

[Member-222782]

Been hitting roadblocks in my quest to upgrade Criterion DVDs via this sale. A good portion of their library are still stuck on the old format. Any rumblings of Jubilee, Element of Crime, Europa or The Last Wave hitting Blu in the near future? I'm aware of the Australian BD of The Last Wave - I think I'll wait for a Criterion edition.

[kuzronk]

Anything different about the By Brakhage non digipack outside the packaging?

[BluLobsta]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

These days I usually try to wait for the Criterion flash sales to pick up their releases rather than the Barnes & Noble, so I said I would only pick up things I knew I was going to watch before October, and still ended up with more than I planned on. But I bought some classic Hollywood stuff to watch with family, and I wanted to go back through Godard, so that made up a lot of my order, along with some newer releases I couldn't pass up. I've seen the Godard films before but the rest are new to me, even if I'm a fan of the directors' other works, Kobayashi in particular:

I have most of the Godard films that you picked up (not Weekend but in addition to Vivre sa vie). Just received Masculin feminin today. (my 60s fantasy girl is in my collection now ) Great choices!

[BluLobsta]

Also received The Irishman today Nice looking Digipak! Pacino has the zombie thing going on

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by BluLobsta

I have most of the Godard films that you picked up (not Weekend but in addition to Vivre sa vie). Just received Masculin feminin today. (my 60s fantasy girl is in my collection now ) Great choices!

I already had Vivre sa vie from a prior order and actually just happened to watch it last night for the first time. It's now my favorite Godard, maybe in part because his experiments feel more organic here.

[Rodney-2187]

I ordered Rififi last night. Says it will be here Wednesday. I've never seen it, but I love noir and it's supposed to be one of the best. Tempted to buy The American Friend and Le Samourai too. I've seen both of those, but I only own digital copies of them.

[magnusbe]

Originally Posted by Rodney-2187

I ordered Rififi last night. Says it will be here Wednesday. I've never seen it, but I love noir and it's supposed to be one of the best.

That heist scene!

[drownsoda]

Couldn't help myself—went back this weekend and grabbed a few more to scratch off on my list. I already have the Ingmar Bergman box set, but I grabbed the standalone copies of Summer Interlude (which was only $15 with the 50% off) and Summer with Monika, which are two of my favorite early Bergman films (the artwork on the cases is also just gorgeous):





This is a minor grievance and I'm sure it's been discussed here before, but I noticed that several Criterion titles in the store were beat to hell with dings and dents that actually punctured the artwork on the front and/or back (they had two copies of Summer with Monika, for example, and I got the least-beat-up one). It seems to me that the ones are always damaged like that are wrapped in soft shrink-wrapping as opposed to the cellphone. It makes me wonder if they get damaged in transit and are then rewrapped with soft shrink-wrapping to look "presentable". I noticed when I got home that the copy I got of My Beautiful Laundrette has a dent on the back that tore the artwork. It's small and I'm probably the only one who will ever notice, but I still find it annoying.

[spiritinblack82]

Couldn't make it to a B&N until today but had some things in mind. Picked these up:



And ordered these since they were out of stock or had damaged packaging at the store:



A few titles I've been putting off for some time plus I always promise myself a box set during these sales. I put the Bunuel set back this time and splurged on the Fellini.

[Cremildo]

Merda! Being There is temporarily out of stock.

[thornhill]

I need to make a Sophie’s Choice, which do I choose??