The Criterion Collection

[shadedpain4]

Boxing Helena is a great view, not because it's good, but because it's so bad. One of my favorite Bill Paxton performances.

Hasta... whatever.

[Weirded Wonder]

I remember the Boxing Helena box set on laserdisc costing $100. 3 months later it was in the Camelot bargain bin for $3, I passed.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Boxing Helena is a great view, not because it's good, but because it's so bad. One of my favorite Bill Paxton performances.

Haven't seen this but Jennifer Lynch's snakewoman movie Hisss was a hoot in the "so bad it's great" department. What cracked me up even more was when in the "making of" on the film's DVD she talks about how she wanted to make a movie that wasn't campy, because that's exactly how it turns out.

Hisss review on my blog

[Simple Lines]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I've never seen the movie so I'm not sure how good it is, but how about Boxing Helena as a Criterion candidate?

The DVD goes for almost $70 new from Amazon.

That movie is awful.

Skinemax awful.

So awful, in fact, that I donated it to Goodwill last year after it collected dust for about 4 years.

So awful that I didn't want to sell it to anyone because I was afraid the buyer would be pissed off at me after they watched it.

[Scottie]

That bad, huh? lol

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Even if it's not put out by Criterion, I would still like to see them on Blu-ray in the United States.

For example, they waste a lot of time and money re-releasing the same movies. Yes, I understand that contracts end and what not, but there are so many great movies that are not available on Blu-ray yet that should really get the treatment.

Hell, some movies haven't even been released on DVD yet.

I was really surprised actually that Universal didn't release Region A blu-rays for Touch of Evil and Double Indemnity during its 100th anniversary. Even more odd is that they did put out new DVD editions for the anniversary though...maybe that means they are leasing them out but like you I would not particularly care who puts them out...as long as there is some care put into them of course!

[KrugerIndustrial]

Watched Purple Noon last night. Simply beautiful. Very film-like transfer. The ending is perfect but I was hoping for a less moralistic closure. One of my top 10 releases of the year.

[RojD]

Originally Posted by Yami

It would be great if they released experimental works more often. It would be good to see those names above make their way into the collection as well as Hans-Jurgen Syberberg whose Hitler: A Film from Germany I recently saw (and it was stunning).

Agreed on that, man: Hitler is a great film and would be a natural for Criterion. And if they want to expand into different types of film, Sybeberg's Parsifal is fantastic--beautiful, complex, multi-layered. It would be gorgeous restored and would sound great with 5.1 sound. These are the kinds of films that really use what blu can do.

[Ndume]

Originally Posted by Beard Esquire

I remember the Boxing Helena box set on laserdisc costing $100. 3 months later it was in the Camelot bargain bin for $3, I passed.

I have that laserdisc. It's signed by Jennifer Lynch. And yes, it's a staggeringly awful movie.

Picked up Le Havre, Certified Copy, and Vanya on 42nd Street last night. Also, my sealed copy of The Man Who Fell to Earth arrived yesterday in the mail. I only need about 30 more titles to complete the Criterion blu-ray collection. I'll definitely pick up some more discs during boxing week.

The last Criterion disc I watched was Weekend (2011). Good picture. Very affecting. It evoked memories of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.

Question: do you guys think I should open The Man Who Fell to Earth, or keep it sealed? I already have the DVD edition that comes with the novel by Walter Tevis.

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by Ndume

Question: do you guys think I should open The Man Who Fell to Earth, or keep it sealed? I already have the DVD edition that comes with the novel by Walter Tevis.

Unless you bought it as an investment, I'd open it and actually enjoy the bluray.

[Ndume]

No. I bought it for my own enjoyment. I'm just a bit OCD about these things. I have yet to open my copy of The Third Man, for instance.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Ndume

No. I bought it for my own enjoyment. I'm just a bit OCD about these things. I have yet to open my copy of The Third Man, for instance.

So what do you enjoy actually, the feel of the shrinkwrap? You certainly aren't enjoying the disc if you don't take it out of the darn case.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by Ndume

Question: do you guys think I should open The Man Who Fell to Earth, or keep it sealed?

Originally Posted by Ndume

I bought it for my own enjoyment.

There is your answer.

[Scottie]

I'm really interested in:

Army Of Shadows
Certified Copy
Fanny And Alexander
Leon Morin, Priest

Can anyone shed some light on these?

[joie]

Hahaha. If you don't open a package, how can you be sure what's inside?

[The Great Owl]

I just watched Army of Shadows on Blu-ray for the first time. I'm in heaven.

Army of Shadows quickly skyrocketed into my All Time Top Ten Movies list when I first saw it years ago and grabbed the Criterion DVD, but seeing it on Blu-ray today was such a great new experience altogether.

Army of Shadows is not particularly known as an eye-candy film for high definition, I wouldn't think, but the Blu-ray on a good television really does shed new emphasis on the France architecture of the era...the cobbled streets, the stonewall buildings, the unyielding granite surfaces that likely symbolize the plight of characters that keep plowing forward in dark times.

It's always a happy day when one of my Top Ten Movies just became ten times better to my eyes.

[ZooTv]

After the announced March titles, is there any idea when the next wave of films will be released?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I'm really interested in:

Army Of Shadows
Certified Copy
Fanny And Alexander
Leon Morin, Priest

Can anyone shed some light on these?

Funnily enough, I scroll up and read this just after posting my Army of Shadows Blu-ray review. Of course, that is my favorite on your above list.

I own Fanny and Alexander and Leon Morin, Priest on Criterion DVD, since I bought both of them quite some time ago before I recently upgraded to Blu-ray.

Fanny and Alexander is an outstanding movie in so many ways, and one has to see the full televised version. It's not a Christmas movie by any stretch, but it does have one of the greatest Christmas scenes of any movie, a family Christmas as seen through a child's eyes. So incredible.
This one is one of the big future candidates for upgrading from the DVD to the Blu-ray in my collection, although I probably won't get around to this until mid-2013 or so.

Leon Morin, Priest is a beautiful film in a completely different way, because the emphasis is on conversations between characters about the nature of spirituality. This movie makes me think about spirituality more than any film in my collection. You know, one of those movies that makes you want to pace back and forth pondering it for a while. I would wait and get this one on Blu-ray after Army of Shadows and Fanny and Alexander.

I have not seen Certified Copy, but I pick it up every time I'm in the Criterion section of a store. (Does that count? Haha.) I am intrigued, simply because I adore Juliette Binoche. It does seem to be a fine film, though, and another potential blind buy for me in the future.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I have not seen Certified Copy, but I pick it up every time I'm in the Criterion section of a store. (Does that count? Haha.) I am intrigued, simply because I adore Juliette Binoche. It does seem to be a fine film, though, and another potential blind buy for me in the future.

Then there's no time to waste!

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I have not seen Certified Copy, but I pick it up every time I'm in the Criterion section of a store. (Does that count? Haha.) I am intrigued, simply because I adore Juliette Binoche. It does seem to be a fine film, though, and another potential blind buy for me in the future.

It became one of my favorite films--and it was the one that made me really love her as well..I'd highly recommend it.