The Criterion Collection

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by Halation

Don't see why people think Cruise is a bad actor. He's given some great performances regardless of his personal life/public appearances.

And Kidman gave the only weak performance in Eyes Wide Shut, in my opinion.

Magnolia
Born on the Fourth of July
Tropic Thunder
Enough Said.

I think Kidman delivered what Kubrick wanted. I mean she has some tough f@$&in' lines to sell.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by billzfan

That's not true. If you need an actor to portray a closeted gay man who publicly tries to convinve everyone he's a heterosexual by acting excited when he meets a woman by jumping on a couch, he's your man.

That's why he works so well in Magnolia... Because he's overcompensating. Frank T.J. Mackey is a womanizing, insecure, volatile alpha male. His neurotic self was put to great use by PT Anderson. Come to think of it, If PT Anderson can get an excellent performance out of the legitimately horrid Adam Sandler, Cruise shouldnt be much harder.....Was Born on the Fourth of July all Oliver Stone too?

[billzfan]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

That's why he works so well in Magnolia... Because he's overcompensating. Frank T.J. Mackey is a womanizing, insecure, volatile alpha male. His neurotic self was put to great use by PT Anderson. Come to think of it, If PT Anderson can get an excellent performance out of the legitimately horrid Adam Sandler, Cruise shouldnt be much harder.....Was Born on the Fourth of July all Oliver Stone too?

I will say one thing about Cruise. No one has ever worked with a better list of directors in film history:

Kubrick
Stone
Depalma
Scorsese
Levinson
Ridley Scott
Spielberg
Cameron Crowe
Paul Thomas Anderson
Michael Mann

[communichaoz]

Originally Posted by Halation

Don't see why people think Cruise is a bad actor. He's given some great performances regardless of his personal life/public appearances.

I don't mind about Cruise's personal life. He just played in too many bad movies and ruined too many other movies for me.
Sighting less than a handful of ok movies that worked despite him being in it doesn't prove that he is a good actor or who he worked with. Considering his salary he makes for each movie, he is way over rated. There was never a movie which I saw where I said to myself "I wish Tom Cruise played in it, cause the movie would be better…" or "If it wasn't for cruise the movie would have been terrible".
In comparison to Robert de Niro who always played well even in bad movies and sometimes made the movie it's only redeeming quality. Hell, Even Schwarzenegger made Conan and Terminator So captivating by his limited ability to act like a normal human being

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by billzfan

I will say one thing about Cruise. No one has ever worked with a better list of directors in film history:

Kubrick
Stone
Depalma
Scorsese
Levinson
Ridley Scott
Spielberg
Cameron Crowe
Paul Thomas Anderson
Michael Mann

Funny Thing is... Those are my favorite Tom Cruise movies. Speaking of Mann, Thief and/or The Insider on CC Blu!

To diverge more, what about Hard Eight on CC, seeing as Criterion has a thing for releasing the first works of notable directors.

[paulmaherjr]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Rashomon has graduated...

Most requested Criterion Collection Blu by those in this thread- Update

• Badlands
• A Man Escaped
• Brazil
• Touch of Evil
• Le Samourai
• La Dolce Vita
• The BRD Trilogy
• The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
• Le Petit Soldat
• The Cranes are Flying
• Sisters
• The Fountain
• Stray Dog
• Berlin Alexanderplatz
• Alice in the Cities
• Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
• Persona
• Pi
• Following

Malick is cooperating with an extensive Blu-Ray Criterion of Badlands as we speak . . .

[P@t_Mtl]

Completed the marathon that is

The Samurai Trilogy

It's a very interesting thing to watch a samurai movie (well being technical three of them) made by someone else than Kurosawa. Of course Mifune is in these but to be fair it was impossible in the 50's to make such a movie without him. Would have been like John Ford making a western without John Wayne The interesting part of these movies is the quest the Musashi is on, trying to become the best swordsman. It as a feel of a Arthurian epic where a lone knight tries to better himself true a long life quest. The story is tragic due to the sub plot of the love Otsu as for Musashi. While Kurosawa is still the master of samurai movie I feel these three are more true to the Japanese essence of the samurai. Kurosawa movies look more like western movies (no surprise so many of them were adapted into westerns in 60's) while this trilogy Hiroshi Inagaki is more Japanese in style and form. It's a very good release by Criterion, higly recommended (if samurai movies are in your taste range)

[P@t_Mtl]

Sorry I did not mean to cause such a debate about Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut and Tom Cruise, I only mention the movie because part Sleeping Beauty reminded me a bit of Eyes Wide Shut

[thelberg]

Originally Posted by paulmaherjr

Malick is cooperating with an extensive Blu-Ray Criterion of Badlands as we speak . . .

Can't wait.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by paulmaherjr

Malick is cooperating with an extensive Blu-Ray Criterion of Badlands as we speak . . .

Great to hear!

That reminds me. I need to buy a copy of your book.

[Snicket]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Magnolia
Born on the Fourth of July
Tropic Thunder
Enough Said.

I think Kidman delivered what Kubrick wanted. I mean she has some tough f@$&in' lines to sell.

I've never seen Enough said, is it any good?

[Show spoiler]

[Halation]

Originally Posted by communichaoz

I don't mind about Cruise's personal life. He just played in too many bad movies and ruined too many other movies for me.
Sighting less than a handful of ok movies that worked despite him being in it doesn't prove that he is a good actor or who he worked with. Considering his salary he makes for each movie, he is way over rated. There was never a movie which I saw where I said to myself "I wish Tom Cruise played in it, cause the movie would be better…" or "If it wasn't for cruise the movie would have been terrible".
In comparison to Robert de Niro who always played well even in bad movies and sometimes made the movie it's only redeeming quality. Hell, Even Schwarzenegger made Conan and Terminator So captivating by his limited ability to act like a normal human being

*citing, but I didn't make any list.

I don't believe a good/bad performance can make/break a movie - I'm not saying that Cruise is some great shining light. I'm simply saying that I consider him a more than capable actor, and in several cases he's given great performances. You disagree, that's fine, I'm merely annoyed by people who judge the actor based on things other than their performances.

And if we're going to judge actors by how many bad movies they've done, well, Robert De Niro would have to be considered absolute trash, no? He seems to have given up any standard of quality a long time ago.

[starman15317]

Wait, so does Warner Bros not own the rights to Badlands?

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

To diverge more, what about Hard Eight on CC, seeing as Criterion has a thing for releasing the first works of notable directors.

I always thought they should put this one out.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

I hardly ever actually discuss the films or discs on here, but I just finished watching my copy of Lonesome and have to say what a lovely film it is to watch. It looks pretty darn good considering the available prints, and the talkie parts are absolutely mind-blowing when compared to the picture quality of the rest of the film. I'm definitely excited to watch the other two films, Broadway and The Last Performance, on the disc now. If any of you younger kids can stomach a semi-silent, black & white film then definitely pick this title up on release day.

Import CDs? I got my copy of Lonesome and Quadrophenia in Saturday morning's mail. Quadrophenia looks GREAT and the 5.1 mix was well done. Will likely check out Lonesome Sunday morning.

[Wally Q]

I'm so behind The Insider being picked up by Criterion. If only...

Quadrophenia arrived in the mail today. I'm sticking with DD on new releases for now on.

[pro-bassoonist]

Quadrophenia Blu-ray REVIEW

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

[Show spoiler]Quadrophenia Blu-ray REVIEW

Darn...I'm going to regret skipping that this month, now. That review just got me a lot more interested.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Outside of Criterion but anyone else saw Sleeping Beauty with Emily Browning? Perfect title for it, really put me to sleep. I did not see anything amazing about this movie, reminded me a bit of Eyes Wide Shut, another one that sort of put me to sleep in the same fashion.

I loved Sleeping Beauty, in the same way I loved Somewhere. Beautifully lyrical, minimalist drama. I liked that it didn't move toward a typical, Hollywood resolution. One of the best of 2011 IMO.

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Completed the marathon that is
The Samurai Trilogy
It's a very interesting thing to watch a samurai movie (well being technical three of them) made by someone else than Kurosawa.

I liked it quite a bit, and while I typically love Kurosawa, I think Harakiri by Kobayashi is one of the best samurai films I've seen outside of Seven Samurai. Since you also own it, I assume you hold it in high regard as well. I'm really interested to dig into The Human Condition, which I've owned on DVD for years but never set aside the time to watch.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by retablo

I liked it quite a bit, and while I typically love Kurosawa, I think Harakiri by Kobayashi is one of the best samurai films I've seen outside of Seven Samurai. Since you also own it, I assume you hold it in high regard as well. I'm really interested to dig into The Human Condition, which I've owned on DVD for years but never set aside the time to watch.

The Human Condition is another type of animal to tackle

I am surprise you have yet to seen it. Not an easy movie to watch. It remind's me a little of Doctor Zhivago in the sense that you just cannot quite believe a human being could face all of these events and want to keep going. I higly suggest you try to see it, not a joyful movie and and a very hard one but so very interesting. I am sure others will also tell you not a movie that one would watch often but very well worth the time.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by ccfixx

I hardly ever actually discuss the films or discs on here, but I just finished watching my copy of Lonesome and have to say what a lovely film it is to watch. It looks pretty darn good considering the available prints, and the talkie parts are absolutely mind-blowing when compared to the picture quality of the rest of the film. I'm definitely excited to watch the other two films, Broadway and The Last Performance, on the disc now. If any of you younger kids can stomach a semi-silent, black & white film then definitely pick this title up on release day.

I just finished watching Lonesome Chris...agreed...a lovely film indeed. Fejos (at least in this film) got me thinking of City Girl and the films of Vigo, Epstein, and von Sternberg. I'm saving the other two films for next weekend. I just finished Berlin Alexanderplatz and am hitting the supplements. What a tremendous effort by Fassbinder...truly an epic.