The Criterion Collection

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

Blanche the cat definitely stole the show from Auntie and the girls.

Whatever, Kung Fu steals the show!

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

... I guess I just don't know what to expect of Branded to Kill other than it being incoherent & bat s**t crazy.

I think Branded to Kill is coherent enough and is totally bat s**t awesome!

[Darkcritic]

Well, yesterday's night I saw Oshima's Japanese Summer: Double Suicide and the first thing I thought after watching is why this isn't a main line release. I am absolutely IMPRESSED by it, I loved it from start to finish . The film is really unique, I have never seen something quite like it. There are many "similar" films but, at the same time, none of them are like it. There are so many great things to it, from the amazing selection of characters (All of them are crazy in their own way) to the beautiful cinematography. Even if you don't fully understand the film's cryptic story, the cinematography is an spectacle in itself. I honestly don't want to spoil anything to those who have not seen it yet but, as cinephiles, you owe yourself to see this film. My second favorite film of the year so far, only beaten by another amazing Eclipse film, Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator from the Makavejev set. To all those interested, both the Eclipse Series 19: Dusan Makavejev Free Radical and Eclipse Series 21: Oshima's Outlaw Sixties get my highest recommendation (For what it's worth ).

[greekak229]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Agree wholeheartedly. I would give it the highest reccommendation i could. Glad to see a couple weeks ago Ebert added it to his Great Movies.

I saw that as well. The story is just so absorbing.

[DLizzle]

Ended up watching a "divisive contemporary directors in the Criterion Collection" double feature last night with Rushmore and Tiny Furniture. Rushmore was up first, and I ended up completely in the "love it" camp. In fact, I can barely even discern where the hate might come from for this one. I found it very funny and ultimately a "feel-good" experience, though there are dark elements to the story and characters.

The humor was not as out-there as I expected considering the opinions I had heard going in. This put me over the edge into Wes Anderson fan territory, and I go there proudly. I look forward to watching this again, as well as his films that I haven't seen; The Royal Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic.

I enjoyed Tiny Furniture (not nearly as much as Rushmore), but I understand the negative opinions for it to a degree. I thought it was a pretty thoughtful character study and presents a lot of interesting ideas. Where I can see the hate is in the insufferable characters. It's a bit of a surprise that I enjoyed Tiny Furniture, since I often find shrill, annoying women very off-putting. However, my perception was that this was intentional and part of the point, and didn't quite get to the point of getting under my skin.

There was a point where I had some "ugh, girls" thoughts, and where I may have wished violence on Lena Dunham's character, but it ultimately added to the experience rather than ruining it. There were a few very funny jokes and it looks quite good considering (or even not considering) the genre it lives in.

[oildude]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

Hausu, IMHO, is essentially a completely cracked out, hour and a half episode of The Monkees, with Japanese school girls and death. I'm probably going to be attacked for saying that, but after rewatching The Frodis Caper, it's not really all that much of a stretch.

I have always said that House reminds me of HR Pufenstuf and The Banana Splits with lots of blood thrown in. The Monkees would fit also. All that late 1960s-mid 1970s over the top TV silliness.

[blkhrt]

New newsletter clue:

[ccfixx]

Umberto D. blu-ray upgrade.

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

Umberto D. blu-ray upgrade.

Good call:

[scottpcusa]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

Umberto D. blu-ray upgrade.

Dang! I was really hoping it was "Fido and the Magical Blue Hat from Outer Space"!

[Show spoiler]

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by oildude

I have always said that House reminds me of HR Pufenstuf and The Banana Splits with lots of blood thrown in. The Monkees would fit also. All that late 1960s-mid 1970s over the top TV silliness.

Pufnstuf and the Banana Splits wouldn't have never existed if it hadn't been for The Monkees (Monkees were 1966-1968 for the TV series, Banana Splits and Pufnstuf showed up roughly 2 years after the show was cancelled). The Monkees caused a bit of a chain reaction of copy cat TV shows, both good and bad, in the same fashion as the success of Scooby Doo (which again was an animated show influenced by The Archies, which was in-turn influenced by the Monkees (Donny Kirshner went with cartoon bands after the Monkees rebelled against him)) spawned knock-off shows such as Josie and the *****cats, The Funky Phantom (which coincidently starred Micky Dolenz), Jabberjaw, and so on.

Rafelson and Schneider really broke the mould for TV with the show, and too many people are quick to write it off due to the whole "they never played their own instruments/wrote their own songs" misinformation (it was only the first two albums, and even then, Peter Tork is credited as a session musician on those first two albums, and Mike Nesmith contributed several tracks he wrote himself), which isn't as awful as people make it out to be, because a lot of groups back then were guilty of the same thing, but not as open about it. Rafelson was also heavily influenced by Godard and Fellini, and to be honest, if it hadn't been for the Monkees, we would have never had Easy Rider, and many of the other New Hollywood films, because Rafelson was able to produce the film with all the cash he made off the Monkees.

The TV series also managed to get a hell of a lot of crap past the censors. It's far from the clean, wholesome, bubblegum enterntainment people think it is, what with all the references to drugs, war, homosexuality, beastiality, and all other less than PC topics. Some of the episodes were pretty terrible though (I'm looking at you "The Monkees Race Again"), but others are pretty ahead of their time (can you say, the already mentioned The Frodis Caper, or The Devil and Peter Tork?).

Again, I'm still waiting for the snarky, negative, "go away little girl, you know nothing about films and why should we take you seriously because you like the Monkees" remarks that cropped up a few weeks back when I claimed Phil Ochs was a superior artist to Bob Dylan (and he still is).

[jcs913]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

Umberto D. blu-ray upgrade.

Very Nice... Possibly a double upgrade with Bicycle Thieves??? Hey, they released 2 Bergmans the other month..

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Very Nice... Possibly a double upgrade with Bicycle Thieves??? Hey, they released 2 Bergmans the other month..

I could go for that. I still wish someone would release De Sica's After the Fox on BD. I love a director who can parody his own films while using Peter Sellers and Victor Mature as the stars.

[Yami]

According to Criterion's site, Harold and Maude has been delayed until June 12th

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by blkhrt

New newsletter clue:

[Sukuri]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

Umberto D. blu-ray upgrade.

Yeah! **** Yeah!

[Trekkie313]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

Umberto D. blu-ray upgrade.

I am disappoint.

[greekak229]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Very Nice... Possibly a double upgrade with Bicycle Thieves??? Hey, they released 2 Bergmans the other month..

I would honestly bust over a Bicycle Thieves upgrade. It's about time now.

[lanceandnade]

Hi! I'm looking forward to blu-ray upgrades for "The Royal Tenenbaums," "The Life Aquatic" "Grand Illusion," "La Strada" "Nights of Cabiria," "Umberto D," "Bicycle Thieves," "The Bad Sleep Well," "The Hidden Fortress," "Othello," "The Magnificent Ambersons," "Jules And Jim," "Shoot The Piano Player," "A Woman Is A Woman," "Band of Outsiders," "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie," "Simon of The Desert," "The Gold Rush," "The Circus," "The Kid," "Vengeance Is Mine," "Tokyo Olympiad," "Floating Weeds," "Ikiru," "Good Morning" (Ozu), "Tokyo Story," "Rashomon" & "Boudou Saved From Drowning."
It's about time these classics were brought back to the Criterion Collection in blu-ray format. I'm sick of all these "new" "modern" (except for Wes Anderson, whom I love) titles. We need the "classics of world cinema" oop of print titles restored to the collection. "Grande Illusion" is spine #1 and it's not even in print!

[Icemouth]

Originally Posted by lanceandnade

Hi! I'm looking forward to blu-ray upgrades for "The Royal Tenenbaums," "The Life Aquatic" "Grand Illusion," "La Strada" "Nights of Cabiria," "Umberto D," "Bicycle Thieves," "The Bad Sleep Well," "The Hidden Fortress," "Othello," "The Magnificent Ambersons," "Jules And Jim," "Shoot The Piano Player," "A Woman Is A Woman," "Band of Outsiders," "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie," "Simon of The Desert," "The Gold Rush," "The Circus," "The Kid," "Vengeance Is Mine," "Tokyo Olympiad," "Floating Weeds," "Ikiru," "Good Morning" (Ozu), "Tokyo Story," "Rashomon" & "Boudou Saved From Drowning."
It's about time these classics were brought back to the Criterion Collection in blu-ray format. I'm sick of all these "new" "modern" (except for Wes Anderson, whom I love) titles. We need the "classics of world cinema" oop of print titles restored to the collection. "Grande Illusion" is spine #1 and it's not even in print!

Warning! Contradiction sensors overheating!!