The Criterion Collection

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by *DrStrangelove*

Anyone here seen any of the films in the Fernando di Leo Crime Collection? I blind bought it cause after reading up on the films and watching some trailers the guy seems like an Italian Seijun Suzuki (whom I love). Am I right in this assessment? Speaking of which, when will we get more Suzuki? I would love an upgrade of Youth of the Beast.

Those films in the Fernando di Leo crime collection are all good flicks. I have seen them all, favorite is probably Caliber 9. I have only seen one Suzuki film and that was Branded to Kill so I can't really compare the two directors but themes seem to be common in their work. If you just picked up the di Leo collection for $12.99 that was definitely a good buy, can't go wrong at that price. If you end up liking the Di Leo crime flicks I would suggest you check out Umberto Lenzi's as well...I actually prefer them to di Leo's(nothing against Di Leo's though because they are great).

[paul000]

Originally Posted by Normans Rare Guitars

Does anyone know if Rebecca, Spellbound and Notorious will get Criterion blu ray releases? I see The Man Who Knew Too Much is scheduled and 39 Steps and Lady Vanishes are already out. I guess my question is whether or not Criterion will get the rights back from Fox-MGM, who released them earlier this year on Blu. Anyone know? Thanks much.

If you're waiting to pick these up, I wouldn't. They're really good and I doubt Criterion will release them on BD anytime in the next few years. They all have special features and adequate transfers as well as price points below $10 if you do some hunting.

[TheHighRoller]

Originally Posted by jayputter

I've found Whit Stillman to be a lot like Wes Anderson. Most people love his movies or detest them. I personally think they're fantastic. Lots of witty, snappy dialogue. I didn't care as much for Damsels In Distress, but his first three films are among my favorites by anyone.

Well, his Criterion covers sure do borrow a lot from Wes Anderson's covers.

I like Wes Anderson, and I still have to get the other three of his Criterions. I didn't really like Rushmore though. I think it's because Jason Schwartzman tried to pass off as a young kid, when he clearly looked like he was in his 20s.

Originally Posted by ravenus

Cocaine is not substance?

No. It's that stuff that Pillsbury uses to make those muffins.

Good pun there!

[TheHighRoller]

Originally Posted by zoodermin

Just saw The Royal Tenenbaums for the first time and it is now my favorite Wes Anderson film. A great funny and sad story and a fantastic cast of characters. Haven’t seen all of Anderson’s films (Bottle Rocket, The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited) but so far I’ve liked everything he has directed.

I just hope Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom will become Criterion releases in the near future. That’s the only reason I haven’t bought those on BD.

The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favorite pictures. I really love the story and the characters, as well as the way that Anderson executed the whole thing. And I loved Gene Hackman in it.

I'm also hoping that Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom get Criterion releases. But seeing as Fox hasn't been released yet, I'm guessing that they won't get the Criterion treatment. Basically, anything released before Blu-rays became popular is what was released through Criterion. The Life Aquatic (which I really want to see) will be getting a Criterion release in the summer.

[TheHighRoller]

Originally Posted by Page14

Speaking as somebody fairly new to buying Criterion releases, I find it interesting how many more films I want/need now than when I bought my first Criterion film. I don't have anywhere near the number of Criterions as a lot of people in here, yet I crave more. It's like an insatiable appetite. The more you learn about what's out there, the more you "have to" see them.

I agree! I bought my first Criterion a year ago and only because it was a David Fincher title (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). Funny enough, basically all of the Criterions that I have purchased were blind buys.

Then when I heard that Being John Malkovich was being released on Blu-ray through Criterion, I got excited. I ended up getting that and The Killing over this past summer for $14.99 each. Although TCCoBB was my first official Criterion release, I consider Being John Malkovich to be my first "official" Criterion. A few days later, I went back and got Paths of Glory so that I could round up all of the Stanley Kubrick Criterions. Then it was announced that The Royal Tenenbaums was also being released on Blu-ray by Criterion, and I started getting excited about that, but for some reason I didn't get it.

When I heard that David Fincher's The Game was being released on Blu-ray (also through Criterion), I immediately considered it a day one purchase. Luckily Criterion had their 50% off sale the same day as the release, and because of that I was finally able to get The Royal Tenenbaums along with The Game (for $14.99 and $12.50 respectively).

And during the recent Criterion sale, I got 8 more:

Charade
Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas
Rosemary's Baby
The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter
Days of Heaven
The Thin Red Line
Hunger
The Forgiveness of Blood

There's still a few Criterion titles that I want. Some I will watch first on Hulu Plus, and decide whether I'll get them on Blu-ray or not (most likely not, since I would have already seen them). Others I am sure that I want even though I haven't seen them yet.


With the upcoming 40% off sale, I plan on getting the following:

Purple Noon
Paris, Texas
The Leopard
The Last Days of Disco
Weekend (2011)

and I already got the following through that cyber monday sale (for $3.71 each):
Brazil
Gomorrah

In the end, I will have 20 Criterions (as opposed to the one that I had only four months ago). And I still have the following that I want:

Bottle Rocket
Rushmore
The Darjeeling Limited
The Last Emperor
Le Cercle Rouge
Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom

After that, any other Criterions that I'll get will be ones that seem interesting to me or ones that I will anticipate as soon as they're announced.

[Darkthrone]

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Fanta...-Blu-ray/8895/
Fantastic Mr Fox has a blu-ray release.

The Royal Tenenbaums is a great movie, picked it up yesterday.

[jw007]

Chungking Express is absolute brilliance.

I reluctantly opened my sealed BD of Chungking Express last night (even though it is now out of print) and watched it for the first time since I last saw the film back in my college days and countless film studies courses. The film was apparently shot, edited and produced all within 3 months. The guerrilla-style filmmaking is amazing, especially how they shot on the streets of Hong Kong and in the airport there. They used the DP's apartment for the main apartment scenes in the second half of the film. Even more, I'm totally fascinated by the tension between Wong Kar-Wai and Chris Doyle (the DP) and how they had a falling out later in their careers (the commentary by Tony Rayns is very illuminating).

I actually ended up watching the film back to back last night (the second time with commentary on).

Has anyone else been brave enough to open an OOP Criterion such as Chungking Express especially if its their only copy?

[TheHighRoller]

Originally Posted by jw007

Chungking Express is absolute brilliance.

I reluctantly opened my sealed BD of Chungking Express last night (even though it is now out of print) and watched it for the first time since I last saw the film back in my college days and countless film studies courses. The film was apparently shot, edited and produced all within 3 months. The guerrilla-style filmmaking is amazing, especially how they shot on the streets of Hong Kong and in the airport there.

Has anyone else been brave enough to open an OOP Criterion such as Chungking Express especially if its their only copy?

It's not going to be worth gold. At most, it will probably go for retail price in a year (as opposed to the $18 average that Criterions currently go for).

I'm super interested in getting this, even more so after looking at the screencaps. It looks beautiful.

Originally Posted by Darkthrone

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Fanta...-Blu-ray/8895/
Fantastic Mr Fox has a blu-ray release.

The Royal Tenenbaums is a great movie, picked it up yesterday.

We know that.

We're talking about Fox letting Criterion issue their version and transfer of Fantastic Mr. Fox. If so, it would be their first animated feature (as far as I know).

[jw007]

Originally Posted by TheHighRoller

It's not going to be worth gold. At most, it will probably go for retail price in a year (as opposed to the $18 average that Criterions currently go for).

I'm super interested in getting this, even more so after looking at the screencaps. It looks beautiful.

I believe we already had this conversation in another thread on this forum under the Barnes & Noble 50% sale thread. Your opinion is noted. I don't underestimate the resale value of Criterions nowadays. And please, get your hands on this movie. Q. Tarantino helped produce it. It's a perfect film for today's ADHD society!!

I look forward to other people's opinions as well on "are you brave enough to open a sealed OOP (out of print) Criterion and watch it"?

[jacobb1313]

Originally Posted by TheHighRoller

We're talking about Fox letting Criterion issue their version and transfer of Fantastic Mr. Fox. If so, it would be their first animated feature (as far as I know).

Nope... that would be their Laserdisc release of Akira.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by jw007

I believe we already had this conversation in another thread on this forum under the Barnes & Noble 50% sale thread. Your opinion is noted. I don't underestimate the resale value of Criterions nowadays. And please, get your hands on this movie. Q. Tarantino helped produce it. It's a perfect film for today's ADHD society!!

I look forward to other people's opinions as well on "are you brave enough to open a sealed OOP (out of print) Criterion and watch it"?

I already did that with Pierrot le fou. Kinda silly to buy a movie and not watch it. Of course, I buy movies to keep and enjoy, and not to make profit off of.

[rafaelsalguero]

My dream its criterion release THE BLOB, HALLOWEEN and Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN some day

[Cinemach]

Originally Posted by jw007

Chungking Express is absolute brilliance.

I reluctantly opened my sealed BD of Chungking Express last night (even though it is now out of print) and watched it for the first time since I last saw the film back in my college days and countless film studies courses. The film was apparently shot, edited and produced all within 3 months. The guerrilla-style filmmaking is amazing, especially how they shot on the streets of Hong Kong and in the airport there. They used the DP's apartment for the main apartment scenes in the second half of the film. Even more, I'm totally fascinated by the tension between Wong Kar-Wai and Chris Doyle (the DP) and how they had a falling out later in their careers (the commentary by Tony Rayns is very illuminating).

I actually ended up watching the film back to back last night (the second time with commentary on).

Has anyone else been brave enough to open an OOP Criterion such as Chungking Express especially if its their only copy?

Chungking Express was a great surprise when I watched it for the first time this past summer. It just plays extremely well, akin to some of the best of the French New Wave films in terms of vitality. If one is interested in this title at all I'd pick it up as soon as possible because it's a wonderful little film.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by *DrStrangelove*

Anyone here seen any of the films in the Fernando di Leo Crime Collection? I blind bought it cause after reading up on the films and watching some trailers the guy seems like an Italian Seijun Suzuki (whom I love). Am I right in this assessment? Speaking of which, when will we get more Suzuki? I would love an upgrade of Youth of the Beast.

I saw the Fernando di Leo collection, but was already blind-buying too many other films. I would love to hear your thoughts once you've watched a few.
I've never seen Youth of the Beast, but the DVD has been sitting in my cart for ages. I haven't pulled the trigger on that one, because the second I do it'll be announced as an upgrade

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by zoodermin

Just saw The Royal Tenenbaums for the first time and it is now my favorite Wes Anderson film. A great funny and sad story and a fantastic cast of characters. Haven’t seen all of Anderson’s films (Bottle Rocket, The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited) but so far I’ve liked everything he has directed.

I just hope Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom will become Criterion releases in the near future. That’s the only reason I haven’t bought those on BD.

I'm a big fan of The Royal Tenenbaums, but The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was always my favourite Wes Anderson film. When it gets upgraded, I'll watch it again and see if it still trumps Tenenbaums.
The Darjeeling Limited is a great package from Criterion. Adorable film.
Both Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom are really good visual/audio packages from Fox and Universal, but they're both really light on extras. I doubt Criterion will pick up those licenses.

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by jw007

Has anyone else been brave enough to open an OOP Criterion such as Chungking Express especially if its their only copy?

It would be a terrible idea just to buy it and leave it sealed, in my opinion. It's such a great film..it's gotta be watched. Glad to see you liked it.

I know the discussion about the value comes up again and again.. I do believe the price won't go up too high in the next month or anything, but I do believe it will become rather valuable a year from now. It's such an important film that there's no way it won't be as desirable as the other OOP titles.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by jw007

I believe we already had this conversation in another thread on this forum under the Barnes & Noble 50% sale thread. Your opinion is noted. I don't underestimate the resale value of Criterions nowadays. And please, get your hands on this movie. Q. Tarantino helped produce it. It's a perfect film for today's ADHD society!!

No, he didn't. They stuck his name on the poster as a "presenter" to fool people thinking he had a hand in making it and sell more tickets. I guess it worked.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by jw007

Has anyone else been brave enough to open an OOP Criterion such as Chungking Express especially if its their only copy?

I don't take them out of the cardboard boxes that they're shipped in, so at this point, I'm not even sure what box has Chungking Express in it, or Red Dessert, etc....

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by TheHighRoller

The Leopard

Hmm...I've been interested in this movie. It sounds pretty good and Burt Lancaster is great, so I may check this out.

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by retablo

No, he didn't. They stuck his name on the poster as a "presenter" to fool people thinking he had a hand in making it and sell more tickets. I guess it worked.

Yeah, and considering it was a couple years after it had been made, for the US release...I don't see that as a big deal (unless if someone is a big fan, which I'm not anyway).