The Criterion Collection

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by *DrStrangelove*

I just blind bought The Double Life of Veronique. Good blind buy? I've never seen a Krzysztof Kieslowski film but I have heard good things. I was reading the review for it here on bluray.com and im kinda upset they ruined it for me

[Show spoiler]The reviewer straight up tells you one of the girls die, and even when she dies!

Well that kinda ruined the surprise. Anyway, still a good choice?

I never read the reviews posted here, because they are always full of spoilers.
In fact, I don't consider them reviews; it's usually just a blow-by-blow description of the entire plot.

[Hendershot737]

If this even amounts to anything:

In terms of blind buying, I'd say 90% of the Criterions I buy are blind buys. I take comfort in trusting Criterion and so with this, and by way of a little research on a film, I purchase with little regret. True, I have bought a couple that I don't care for, but I like to try and analyze (to some degree) what made that particular movie "Criterion worthy" as I feel there is definite method to the Criterion madness

So, with that: Veronique was a blind buy for me, but with the subject matter, the story and the praise it receives, I had no qualm with paying full price for it (the usual $27 or so...[gasp] full price!?). And I'm glad I did, not only for the reasons listed above, but because it introduced me to the gorgeous Irene Jacob

[Sinthetic]

Originally Posted by *DrStrangelove*

I just blind bought The Double Life of Veronique. Good blind buy? I've never seen a Krzysztof Kieslowski film but I have heard good things. I was reading the review for it here on bluray.com and im kinda upset they ruined it for me

[Show spoiler]The reviewer straight up tells you one of the girls die, and even when she dies!

Well that kinda ruined the surprise. Anyway, still a good choice?

I think it's in the top 5 best Criterion releases. Everything about the film is stunning and you will want to watch it a number of times.

[Jamnperry]

Totally agree on the Double Life of Veronique. Just happened to rewatch it last night. That and the Three Colors are my favorite blind buys

[retablo]

Originally Posted by octagon

We tend to have fairly similar sensibilities but I'm with Banned User here - I'm almost literally wondering if we're talking about the same movie.

I didn't find Pale Flower any less cohesive than say Kiss Me Deadly and it's quite a bit more cohesive than the average Chandler story (though I suppose that's not really the highest of bars). At times it might have been a stylish for its own sake but I never really found that distracting...in fact, for the most part it kind of worked.

As for the game, I can kind of see your point about the length of some of the scenes but I actually liked that I didn't know what they were playing. I used a Bond example after first seeing Pale Flower: Bond play bacarrat was cool, Bond playing poker was boring.

And again, I'm not trying to talk you out of anything. I just think it's interesting that we're so far apart on this one.

For what it's worth, I didn't love Kiss Me Deadly either... I thought it got silly as it went along. Not in my top 50 noir films for sure.

Again, I think the thing that bugs me is how grating the soundtracks are, and it seems to mostly be Asian films in general. I dunno, its some combination of how the language sounds, the sound FX, the choices of music (the jazz pop especially)... I just don't dig the Japanese New Wave. I still watch them, hoping I might find one I like, but so far that hasn't happened, lol. Sometimes Italian films get on my nerves too, because it seems like everyone is yelling every line, but that's just the language and personality of the region.

[Banned User]

Originally Posted by *DrStrangelove*

I just blind bought The Double Life of Veronique. Good blind buy? I've never seen a Krzysztof Kieslowski film but I have heard good things. I was reading the review for it here on bluray.com and im kinda upset they ruined it for me

[Show spoiler]The reviewer straight up tells you one of the girls die, and even when she dies!

Well that kinda ruined the surprise. Anyway, still a good choice?

Not sure about your taste in movies, but there is nothing out there quite like The Double Life of Veronique and Three Colors Trilogy. Amazing films IMO. All have rather thin plots, but are very deeply thought provoking and have a depth to them that most movies cannot touch. Never does Kieslowski force your hand in these films. They aren't filled with the usual Hollywood cliche's and leave a lot to the viewers own interpretation and imagination. The craftsmanship of these films are top of the line. From music to camera movement & techniques to the amazing use of color filters. These types of blind buys are the very reason I love Criterion so much. Out of nowhere comes movies that I cannot imagine having never seen.

[Fallglimmer]

Originally Posted by *DrStrangelove*

I just blind bought The Double Life of Veronique. Good blind buy? I've never seen a Krzysztof Kieslowski film but I have heard good things. I was reading the review for it here on bluray.com and im kinda upset they ruined it for me

[Show spoiler]The reviewer straight up tells you one of the girls die, and even when she dies!

Well that kinda ruined the surprise. Anyway, still a good choice?

One of my favorites, that spoiler honestly won't ruin much for you IMO. Honestly it's a hard movie to spoil..the movie is more about HOW the story is told.

[nametag]

Originally Posted by retablo

For what it's worth, I didn't love Kiss Me Deadly either... I thought it got silly as it went along. Not in my top 50 noir films for sure.

Glad someone else agrees with me on this. I like the opening and closing scenes, but really lost interest as it went along. I guess the main guy was a bit more obviously unhinged than your standard noir-'hero' which was kinda interesting but I don't think it really paid off after the set up. Might give it another shot, but it's my least favourite Criterion that I own, and a rare blind buy that didn't work out... I might sell it eventually.

Generally I haven't heard of half of the films Criterion put out and only gradually learn about their releases as time goes by... but I've just recently read up on World on a Wire and it sounds really interesting. How popular has that title gone down? Don't hear it mentioned round here as often as some others...

[octagon]

Originally Posted by nametag

... but I've just recently read up on World on a Wire and it sounds really interesting. How popular has that title gone down? Don't hear it mentioned round here as often as some others...

I just finished it and really liked it. It has a Blade Runnerish noir element that kind of sneaks up on you (it snuck up on me, anyway). The sci-fi elements are thoughtful rather than flashy or effects heavy (which the dated tech from being at all distracting or obtrusive). Overall it's an interesting story told in an interesting way that raises interesting questions...you can't ask for more than that.

[P@t_Mtl]

Just completed Tokoyo Twilight (Tokyo boshoku 1957) from the Late Ozu set. Setsuko Hara who is one of the main actress of this movie. She was the muse of Ozu, appearing in six of his most famous movies. She retired in 1962 close to the same time as Ozu death. She is known as "the eternal virgin" because of her screen performances and the characters she played mostly in the 1950's. Even if she as made very few public appearences and as not been in a movie for 50 years she is still quite popular in Japan. The story in Tokyo Twilight is a bit more "hard edge" when compared with other movies made by Ozu. The main them as always is the family but the subject matters are more dark and with more conflicts than his usual stories. As far as I was able to search the movie is only available on DVD.

[lemonski]

Any opinions on Letter Never Sent? I watched it last night - and liked it enough - but it was a little disappointing in a couple of ways.

While the cinematography in general is absolutely amazing, the visual style was very repetitive and fatiguing to watch. The fire overlay when he was writing the letters, the closeups of trees and branches passing across the front of the camera, and the endless scenes

[Show spoiler]in the big forest fire.

Everything seemed to be shot in closeup, all the time I'm yelling "zoom out!" so we can get some idea of their isolation and size of the landscape (Probably because it was shot in someone's backyard in Moscow )

The other thing was how

[Show spoiler]early they killed off Sergei, which I thought was Kalatozov's big mistake. Once he'd died, all the tension in the film between him and Tanya and Andrei disappeared. After that the forest fire seemed to be strangely unsuspenseful.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by Mooch360

Not a fact, just a rumour. Until Critereon announces it, it's a rumour.

http://www.criterion.com/films/211-brazil

This has to be one of the more inevitable/likely upgrades. Although it could come 2 months from now, or 2 years from now (or never). There's really no telling. I haven't seen any "rumors", but if there are (credible) hints maybe it's a sign of it happening sooner than later.

[ElliesDad]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

I will say that despite all my blind buying, I'm still selective about what BDs I buy compared to my DVD collection (There's a huge difference in collection size, and BD.com doesn't even have the majority of the DVDs I own listed in their database ).

Maybe because BD.com seems to be a 'global medical technology company' website?

Don't often blind-buy and usually do so only after doing the research so haven't had many disappointments, in fact I can't think of any at the moment. Find myself more inclined to blind-buy Criterions as a result of this thread and have yet to be disappointed (Summer Hours, 'Veronique', Gomorrah) but also tend to be cautious here as many of the 'acclaimed' titles can reference some pretty dry and abstruse material. And I wouldn't be any more specific for fear of igniting a firestorm.

[James78]

Is it probable that Criterion will re-release all their DVD titles onto Blu-ray, then?

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by jmo78

Is it probable that Criterion will re-release all their DVD titles onto Blu-ray, then?

I do not think it's probable that all will be release again on Blu-ray for different reasons

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by ElliesDad

Maybe because BD.com seems to be a 'global medical technology company' website?

Don't often blind-buy and usually do so only after doing the research so haven't had many disappointments, in fact I can't think of any at the moment. Find myself more inclined to blind-buy Criterions as a result of this thread and have yet to be disappointed (Summer Hours, 'Veronique', Gomorrah) but also tend to be cautious here as many of the 'acclaimed' titles can reference some pretty dry and abstruse material. And I wouldn't be any more specific for fear of igniting a firestorm.

Been a fan of the Criterion releases for a long long time but I never once went for a blind buy. While there are times I lok at a movie and the chances are from the type and what I am reading that I will proabably enjoy it I still prefer seeing it first before making a purchase. I am just weird that way.

[P@t_Mtl]

This Kindergarden Cop joke from Sunday is still going on all over the Internet. As if Universal would let a governator movie be release by someone else, even more so this movie which is just so popular with people.

[octagon]

That thread is hilarious. The fact that people were taking it so seriously was funny, then it got kind of sad and then it got so sad it's funny again.


It's the Battlefield: Earth of April Fool's Day jokes.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by octagon

That thread is hilarious. The fact that people were taking it so seriously was funny, then it got kind of sad and then it got so sad it's funny again.


It's the Battlefield: Earth of April Fool's Day jokes.

Saw some of the post in the thread, some are actually piss because they feel it was cruel to pick that movie, cause they want it so much Best April fool's event I seen in years.

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Saw some of the post in the thread, some are actually piss because they feel it was cruel to pick that movie, cause they want it so much Best April fool's event I seen in years.

That just adds to my frustration that people think "this company does great releases, so they should release everything I like". When, clearly, in this case..no they shouldn't.