The Criterion Collection

[dag]

oildude, appreciate your thoughts on those Japanese movies. Unfortunately, it may be a while before I'll be able to rent Eclipse 28, but i definitely want to check them out.

I've picked up the two Claude Chabrol releases from last fall; tonight it will be Le Beau Serge, followed on Tuesday by Les Cousins.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by italy12

Hey guys...I have a quick question for those of you that use a region free player. Which player do you use and how do you like it overall?

I'm looking to replace my PS3 as my main movie player since it is making weird noises...

And on a Criterion note...I was able to watch the entirety of Fanny and Alexander's TV version last week, spread out over 6 nights, and holy crap it was amazing. I had read very little about it, plot-wise, before popping it in, and I do remember people saying the 1st hour and a half (part 1) was a little slow. While true, it was able to hold my attention as I enjoyed seeing all of the main characters and their introductions and interactions within the rather large Ekdahl family.

The rest of the episodes were even better as the plot picked up and you really get into the meat of the story. And yes, I'm being very vague just in case some have not yet seen it...

The other night, I finally decided to watch The Last Metro, probably my longest holdover from when I actually bought it and finally watched it. I liked it a lot...much more than I thought I would. I don't hear it talked about much, however, I do realize it was released within the first year or so of the CC blu output.

How do others on here like Metro??

You may wanna check a few pages back as there are several suggestions. Among them: Momitsu and Insignia (from best buy for cheap).

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

Yup, this is exactly what I'm going to do.
I'll post here if I hear from him again and when I eventually send back both discs.
Has anyone else sent back either disc and received a replacement?

I sent my white disc back and received my replacement.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by italy12

How do others on here like Metro??

I finally caught it on TCM a few months and liked it quite a bit. It's not high on my wish lists but if I ever see it in a plastic case at a good price it has high impulse buy potential.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

You may wanna check a few pages back as there are several suggestions. Among them: Momitsu and Insignia (from best buy for cheap).

One note about the Insignia that might get lost in the other pages: I agree with JoeD...the Insignia makes a great dedicated region-free player but might not be the best choice for a primary player. The networking seems a little clunky and bare-bones to begin with and you can't upgrade firmware without losing region-free capability.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by octagon

One note about the Insignia that might get lost in the other pages: I agree with JoeD...the Insignia makes a great dedicated region-free player but might not be the best choice for a primary player. The networking seems a little clunky and bare-bones to begin with and you can't upgrade firmware without losing region-free capability.

I just use it as a region free since I got it in late 2010. Don't use it often, I also find it's a bit more noisy then other players but that just my own opinion. That being said, it does a great job for the price.

[octagon]

Well color me impressed...I placed an order with Eureka last Saturday afternoon and it was in my mailbox today. So basically a week for a UK order? I'll take that kind of turnaround anytime.

I got the dual format editions of Sunrise and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter and for those who care the packaging is pretty nice. They use clear plastic two-disc cases and the silver 'dual format' banner is on the exterior plastic wrap and not part of the case/cover itself.

They look pretty elegant, actually.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

Just saying, $10 versus $40 and you won't have to lose any more sleep over those snails over at Criterion dragging their feet on rushing you a replacement disc for a problem you didn't realize you actually had.

Exactly. That's why I mentioned the UK and Criterions are of the same quality; it's the extras that are different.
If anyone just wants the full version of Carlos and isn't interested in extras, get the UK version

[DLizzle]

After a string of watching successful Criterion blind buys from the last sale, I finally hit a dud. I did not expect to be unpleasantly surprised by this one, but I strongly disliked 8 1/2.

It was my first Fellini, and has left me worried to check out any of his other films. The concept reminded me of something a barely creative high schooler might try when they can't think of a topic to write an essay on. Why not write an essay on how much it sucks to write an essay!?

At first I thought that maybe I had been expecting too much, considering my reaction to the concept. Then I realized that there are other films I've enjoyed greatly with similar concepts. For instance, I think Adaptation is a masterpiece. I felt that 8 1/2 lacked any of that film's cleverness, which might have made it interesting.

I usually don't mind unlikable characters, but the main character of this film was intolerable to me. I understand that one main draw of 8 1/2 is it's "truth" (which the film draws attention to at every possible moment), but I suppose the truth of this man's life is completely uninteresting to me. All I learned was that Guido Anselmi/Federico Fellini is a turd. The bravery of putting your faults on screen is not enough to make this watchable to me.

I think 8 1/2 suffered greatly in my mind having watched it after Fanny and Alexander. I saw many parallels between them, and Fanny and Alexander seemed superior in every way. They are both reflections on the life and work of the director making them, with elements of childhood, fantasy, marriage, infidelity, old age, etc. F&A was just so much richer, more engaging, with more going on philosophically.

I suppose I'll try this again some day, maybe after I see a couple other Fellinis; I hope I have a more positive experience, since it's such a classic film.

[ccfixx]

Originally Posted by DLizzle

After a string of watching successful Criterion blind buys from the last sale, I finally hit a dud. I did not expect to be unpleasantly surprised by this one, but I strongly disliked 8 1/2.

It was my first Fellini, and has left me worried to check out any of his other films.

Forget 8-1/2 and Fellini films on blu-ray (i.e. Amarcord), instead find a copy of Nights Of Cabiria and watch it, then La Strada, Juliet Of The Spirits, Variety Lights and La Dolce Vita, of course.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by DLizzle

I usually don't mind unlikable characters, but the main character of this film was intolerable to me. I understand that one main draw of 8 1/2 is it's "truth" (which the film draws attention to at every possible moment), but I suppose the truth of this man's life is completely uninteresting to me. All I learned was that Guido Anselmi/Federico Fellini is a turd. The bravery of putting your faults on screen is not enough to make this watchable to me.

Guido being an arrogant, self-indulgent jerkoff (although he came off better in the stage musical) is one of the most common stumbling blocks to those starting off Fellini with 8 1/2.
(That, and the director keeps using the same six female characters in all his movies, all of whom show up here.)

Amarcord is usually the best Fellini to start with cold, since it covers all the director's stylistic basics without Mastroianni:
Circus atmosphere, pre-war Italian villages, crazy families, naively dirty-minded Porky's-teen years (whose weren't? ), the glory of 20th-cty. Rome, old 40's movies, the contrast of Mussolini wartime, and everyone gathering for the big reunion with the Nino Rota music in the background.

It's the proverbial "If you had to watch ONE...", since you keep seeing it crop up in all the others. (The childhood flashbacks in "I Clowns", for instance was early draft ideas.)

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by octagon

Well color me impressed...I placed an order with Eureka last Saturday afternoon and it was in my mailbox today. So basically a week for a UK order? I'll take that kind of turnaround anytime.

I got the dual format editions of Sunrise and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter and for those who care the packaging is pretty nice. They use clear plastic two-disc cases and the silver 'dual format' banner is on the exterior plastic wrap and not part of the case/cover itself.

They look pretty elegant, actually.

Congrats. I have the non-dual format edition of Sunrise and love it. Just out of curiosity, are the dual format editions blu-ray sized or dvd sized?

[Darkcritic]

Originally Posted by blkhrt

Congrats. I have the non-dual format edition of Sunrise and love it. Just out of curiosity, are the dual format editions blu-ray sized or dvd sized?

BD-sized ! The boxes are actually kind of round. They are just bigger BD boxes that happen to be clear instead of blue. I got Sunrise and Touch of Evil a few days ago and they are really high-quality. Probably not as nice as Criterion's boxes but they are really good.

[octagon]

I just finished Picnic at Hanging Rock and if Criterion does ever release it I'm going to have a pretty tough decision because the Second Sight release is awfully good.

I also watched Hidden earlier this week (Juliette Binoche was outstanding without exactly standing out which was pretty freaking cool) and seeing both films in such close proximity reminded of one of the things I really like about non-US filmmaking. American films (and not coincidentally American audiences) are almost pathologically obsessive about tying up every conceivable loose end no matter how trivial.

These films don't tie up anything. Even the most central threads just lay there dangling at the end almost begging viewers to ask themselves what they think they just watched.

That can be really frustrating when done poorly but when it's done well? It's even more frustrating (when the Hidden credits started to roll my reaction was as stereotypical a 'wtf, this is is, we're done???' as you can imagine but in an oddly gratifying way.

I guess the only real downside is I now have even more places to send my money.

Oh well, it's always wanted to see the world...

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by DLizzle

After a string of watching successful Criterion blind buys from the last sale, I finally hit a dud. I did not expect to be unpleasantly surprised by this one, but I strongly disliked 8 1/2.

It was my first Fellini, and has left me worried to check out any of his other films. The concept reminded me of something a barely creative high schooler might try when they can't think of a topic to write an essay on. Why not write an essay on how much it sucks to write an essay!?

At first I thought that maybe I had been expecting too much, considering my reaction to the concept. Then I realized that there are other films I've enjoyed greatly with similar concepts. For instance, I think Adaptation is a masterpiece. I felt that 8 1/2 lacked any of that film's cleverness, which might have made it interesting.

I usually don't mind unlikable characters, but the main character of this film was intolerable to me. I understand that one main draw of 8 1/2 is it's "truth" (which the film draws attention to at every possible moment), but I suppose the truth of this man's life is completely uninteresting to me. All I learned was that Guido Anselmi/Federico Fellini is a turd. The bravery of putting your faults on screen is not enough to make this watchable to me.

I think 8 1/2 suffered greatly in my mind having watched it after Fanny and Alexander. I saw many parallels between them, and Fanny and Alexander seemed superior in every way. They are both reflections on the life and work of the director making them, with elements of childhood, fantasy, marriage, infidelity, old age, etc. F&A was just so much richer, more engaging, with more going on philosophically.

I suppose I'll try this again some day, maybe after I see a couple other Fellinis; I hope I have a more positive experience, since it's such a classic film.

I liked 8 1/2 on my first watch (also my first Fellini), but I didn't really love it until I watched a few more Fellinis, so I made the same mistake as you. 8 1/2 isn't the best Fellini to start with, but everyone seems to think people need to watch it, regardless as to whether or not they know Fellini's work at all. I think reading up on Fellini and getting some background via his films helps to make 8 1/2 a more enjoyable experience.

I agree with the others who said to watch La Strada, I think that's been my favourite Fellini film so far actually.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by octagon

I also watched Hidden earlier this week (Juliette Binoche was outstanding without exactly standing out which was pretty freaking cool) and seeing both films in such close proximity reminded of one of the things I really like about non-US filmmaking. American films (and not coincidentally American audiences) are almost pathologically obsessive about tying up every conceivable loose end no matter how trivial.

These films don't tie up anything. Even the most central threads just lay there dangling at the end almost begging viewers to ask themselves what they think they just watched.

That can be really frustrating when done poorly but when it's done well? It's even more frustrating (when the Hidden credits started to roll my reaction was as stereotypical a 'wtf, this is is, we're done???' as you can imagine but in an oddly gratifying way.

Hidden was a blind-buy for me based on reputation and a friend's recommendation. You're right; that ending does have that effect, but in such a great way, where you're still thinking about it hours later.
It also had one of the most shocking things I've ever seen in a film and left me stunned for the next five minutes. Knock out film.
Plus, Daniel Auteuil is always great.
Speaking of other films completely off-topic: I saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy last night. One of the most perfect films I've ever seen.
Back on topic: I love Fellini's 81/2. I think La Dolce Vita was my first Fellini and I'd love to see it finally get a blu-ray upgrade. Also, I'd love to finally catch up with La Strada and Nights of Cabiria.

[Cinemach]

I disagree with 8 1/2 not being a good starting point with Fellini. It was my first Fellini - really, my first 'foreign' film after I delved into cinematic mania; and I found it absolutely mesmerizing. Still do. Perhaps it was because I was so interested in the filmmaking process that it made such a profound impression: there is simply not a better picture about making a picture out there, though I'd submit there may be a few just as good. But none better.

And its narrative structure, how it weaves in and out of fiction and reality, how it massages time...it sets the tone for practically every one of his later films, along with its 'sibling', La Dolce Vita. Also not to forget Marcello Mastroianni, oozing charisma and absolutely fantastic as the beleaguered Guido; heck, the whole cast is simply amazing.

These are his two most 'famous' films, yes, but I believe they are also great entries into the Fellini fold. And the more films you watch, the more prescient 8 1/2 becomes.

[greekak229]

Movies like 8 1/2 and Seventh Seal are so amazing to me because they're a constant reminder of the fact that cinema use to be an art form.

[DLizzle]

Well I love The Seventh Seal. I think it was the film that got me into the Criterion Collection. I suppose I dodged a bullet; if it was 8 1/2 that I watched first, I may have been much more reluctant about buying any CC films. Also, it was my first Bergman, whom I now am very interested in, so I suppose it was a good starting point for me.

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by Darkcritic

BD-sized ! The boxes are actually kind of round. They are just bigger BD boxes that happen to be clear instead of blue. I got Sunrise and Touch of Evil a few days ago and they are really high-quality. Probably not as nice as Criterion's boxes but they are really good.

Cool...thanks!