The Criterion Collection

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Sadly BG, I think your evaluation is correct. But what does that say about the kids that don't go or don't have a chance to even go to a university. I think that is where some of the hate for her comes from, as there are many many kids that will never have that chance to get an advanced degree. Frankly, she has a writing degree from Oberlin, which 98% of students applying to college could not even afford to attend. So you see how people may not 'buy' the feel sorry for me and my contemporaries attitude that comes across in the film and show. Again, just my observation. Like I said, if she can continue writing/directing her and other characters at a high level, then she will be successful for a long time. If she cannot, then she will not be remembered as someone who's voice helped define her generation.

Oh I agree, I know a lot of other kids which couldn't afford to go to school, and I didn't mean to look down on them. I actually used to get into arguments with my fellow undergrads who seemed to think community college was beneath them. Yet, many of the community college kids ended up with better paying jinstead than us who went to university.

Regardless of education, I think a lot of people fail to connect with the 20 some today and see them as lazy and shiftless. Some are, but a lot are just frustrated with the way the economy is working, and It's effecting people with and without silver spoons in their mouths.

[Whirlygig]

Originally Posted by jcs913

If she cannot, then she will not be remembered as someone who's voice helped define her generation.

I'm not sure she's striving for that and I may have even heard her reject that notion or at least express disbelief/uncertainty at it on a late night talk show recently. Unless I remember wrong. Others are applying that accolade to her but I'm not sure if someone writing about, and preaching to, what I'd still consider to be a minority of the population can truly be generation-defining. Are you mad that she's been herself and managed to succeed, or are you mad that others are showering her with praise you feel is undeserved? If the latter, you can't blame her for it. She's just doing her thing, take it or leave it, and apparently right now HBO, critics, and enough of the public are taking it.

[Grethiwha]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

Thanks for taking the time the write something on Kobayashi. I know nothing about him, but I'm always keen for more Japanese films.
I'll definitely being getting this Eclipse box-set, along with Gate of Hell.

Have you seen Harakiri or Samurai Rebellion or Kwaidan or the Human Condition? I'm interested in the box-set mostly because of how much I love those films - not sure the box-set will be the best place to start (but I have high hopes for it). The Harakiri blu-ray is my.. third favourite blu-ray from Criterion. Highly recommend that.

Edit: From checking your collection, you have the MoC Harakiri. Rad! Also, Branded to Kill is amazing.

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Thank you for your reviews of the Kobayashi films. I had never heard of them before the announcement yesterday, but the descriptions intrigue me.

Totally off topic, but your avatar got me thinking about The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. Glad to see another fan of Werner Herzog in the fold.

I am also a big fan of Stroszek. In fact, that's partly how I discovered Herzog's works, because I sought out this film due to my love of the band, Joy Division. (Stroszek was apparently the last film that Ian Curtis watched before his suicide.)

I have the Herzog/Kinski DVD box set, but my stand-alone Herzog box set that included The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser was destroyed in a flood years ago.

Oh noes, that's the best DVD set! Yeah, Herzog is my favourite favourite director. And Stroszek is my favourite film of his right after "Heart of Glass" (I hope you watched that one before the flood!). I <3 him (and those films) so! I also love Joy Division.

[jcs913]

Originally Posted by Whirlygig

I'm not sure she's striving for that and I may have even heard her reject that notion or at least express disbelief/uncertainty at it on a late night talk show recently. Unless I remember wrong. Others are applying that accolade to her but I'm not sure if someone writing about, and preaching to, what I'd still consider to be a minority of the population can truly be generation-defining. Are you mad that she's been herself and managed to succeed, or are you mad that others are showering her with praise you feel is undeserved? If the latter, you can't blame her for it. She's just doing her thing, take it or leave it, and apparently right now HBO, critics, and enough of the public are taking it.

Whirl, I don't know why you would think this, but I'm not mad at her at all. Frankly, I could care less. This discussion came up with a Wes/Lena comment. They are 2 different storytellers. You enjoy one and not the other. I think Lena has nothing to say, but many do. Wes doesn't do it for you, but Lena does. I am not a big fan of Wes, but his ability to tell a story and character development is probably the best of any filmmaker now. As I said, it's all opinions and she doesn't care what others think of her either, as she tweeted so proudly about after Criterion released her film. That is one of the reason your humble comment doesn't hold water to me. What's funny is that if IFC would have released her film instead of Criterion, many cinephiles would have never uttered her name....

[TJS_Blu]

Originally Posted by Grethiwha

I need somewhere on the internet to share my enthusiasm for that Kobayashi set. So excited! The only thing that could make it better was if it was blu-ray. Or included more films.

The next week MoC releases Kawashima's Bakumatsu Taiyo-Den, and the week after that, they release the Complete (Existing) Films Of Sadao Yamanaka. Pretty nice.

Is it a sure thing that Bakumatsu Taiyo-Den will end up in the CC? Any thoughts?

[rkish]

Sorry to have to ask...but does anyone have John Mulvaney's email address handy? Got my The Man Who Knew Too Much with a crack in the case. I just wanted to ask him to send me another one.

Thanks!

[jcs913]

Originally Posted by rkish

Sorry to have to ask...but does anyone have John Mulvaney's email address handy? Got my The Man Who Knew Too Much with a crack in the case. I just wanted to ask him to send me another one.

Thanks!

Looks like Amazon screwed up again..

mulvaney@criterion.com

[Whirlygig]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Whirl, I don't know why you would think this, but I'm not mad at her at all. Frankly, I could care less. This discussion came up with a Wes/Lena comment. They are 2 different storytellers. You enjoy one and not the other. I think Lena has nothing to say, but many do. Wes doesn't do it for you, but Lena does. I am not a big fan of Wes, but his ability to tell a story and character development is probably the best of any filmmaker now. As I said, it's all opinions and she doesn't care what others think of her either, as she tweeted so proudly about after Criterion released her film. That is one of the reason your humble comment doesn't hold water to me. What's funny is that if IFC would have released her film instead of Criterion, many cinephiles would have never uttered her name....

Fair enough, I didn't necessarily mean only you, since you were relaying opinions of others along with your own. You are conveying disapproval, so I may better have said "disapprove" rather than "are mad".

I'd see a statement that a person does not care what others think to be simply an expression of self-confidence (or desire to maintain artistic integrity), which is not mutually exclusive to humbleness. To make too many judgments beyond that would probably require a more nuanced definition of "others".

[rkish]

Originally Posted by jcs913

Looks like Amazon screwed up again..

mulvaney@criterion.com

Thanks John!

[jcs913]

Originally Posted by rkish

Thanks John!

No problem. Maybe Beta can post that on the first page, as others have asked before also.

By the way, I was just on DVDBeaver and they have a link to their Ebay site. I checked it out and it looks like they are selling tons of great films and many OOP Criterion DVD releases. Looks like all are selling with no reserve and fair shipping. They are shipped from Canada, so BG and Pat may be interested...

[rkish]

Originally Posted by jcs913

No problem. Maybe Beta can post that on the first page, as others have asked before also.

By the way, I was just on DVDBeaver and they have a link to their Ebay site. I checked it out and it looks like they are selling tons of great films and many OOP Criterion DVD releases. Looks like all are selling with no reserve and fair shipping. They are shipped from Canada, so BG and Pat may be interested...

Thanks for that...it's certainly worth a look at least.

[rkish]

Originally Posted by jcs913

It's every bit as good as the review says. There is excellent contrast and even some decent depth at times. There is a nice layer of grain, but not overwhelming like The 39 Steps was at times. It would be nice if Criterion could get another early title, like Murder! and transform it like this. Who knows, as this is the 3rd Hitchcock with maybe more to come...

Thanks for the great feedback onTMWKTM! I'm really looking forward to checking it out.

Chances are good that a number of early Hitchcocks will be available, thanks to the superlative job that BFI is doing on their restorations.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Freeza

To this, I respectfully ask how I came away with the same feeling of Dunham/Girls hatred after reading the past few days' posts on this and other forums, yet prior to doing so I wasn't even conscious of the awards taking place, nor that she/the show was even in the running for an award? Certainly it couldn't be that that was what I wanted to see, could it?

She definitely generates strong (often juvenile and obnoxious) reactions but if you saw hatred in any of the post-GG posts in this thread I submit your hatred bar is pretty low.

"I don't like her" was about as caustic as the so-called hatred got.

That's practically a love letter by internet standards.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

Or it could be a little of "those damn kids, get off my lawn!," because even though I didn't enjoyed Dunham much, there are a lot of people out there in her position, whether they want to be or not. The fictional version of her that is. Youth unemployment is high, and not all of it us because of the so called useless degrees. I think because We as a society have placed such an emphasis on university education leads to success, a lot of traditional jobs that never required it now do so, and a lot if kids who don't want to go or would be happier elsewhere are forced to go to university and have to figure out what to take to get a job. And the way university works, at the time someone starts one discipline, the job market is screaming for them, but by the time they finish, There's no prospects and they're stuck with a degree and no idea with what to do with their lives.

ThaT's just how I interpreted it, but I could be overreaching. Many might say I'm giving Dunham too much credit.

This one post raises more interesting questions than did the entire first season of Girls. It's also one good laugh shy of being just as funny

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by octagon

She definitely generates strong (often juvenile and obnoxious) reactions but if you saw hatred in any of the post-GG posts in this thread I submit your hatred bar is pretty low.

"I don't like her" was about as caustic as the so-called hatred got.

That's practically a love letter by internet standards.

Yeah, it was much worse when Tiny Furniture came out actually, as people kept insulting her physical looks. I can remember that arguement, as many thought because she insulted herself, it was ok to call her a fat ***** who supposedly slept with John Mulvaney to get into the Criterion Collection.

Let's drop the Dunham discussion now before it veers back into that pettiness mmmkay?

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by octagon

This one post raises more interesting questions than did the entire first season of Girls. It's also one good laugh shy of being just as funny

How so? It's true. A lot of minimum wage jobs such as data entry now require BA/MA, when before it was simply a year at community college. Also, in my particular discipline, when I went in, they kept boosting enrollment into the program claiming that the world was dying for librarians, and kept churning them out. Once I graudated a year later, there were very few jobs for librarians due to cutbacks, and/or people not retiring like the job markets forcasted. I mean, at my job, I'm literally the youngest person on staff. The average age is 60. What does that tell you about job prospects for post-university grads who are told to take one discipline, only to find out that once they graduate, they took the wrong one? It happened with Comp Sci, and it's starting to happen to a lot of Business majors.

[JHas]

Originally Posted by Grethiwha

Have you seen Harakiri or Samurai Rebellion or Kwaidan or the Human Condition? I'm interested in the box-set mostly because of how much I love those films - not sure the box-set will be the best place to start (but I have high hopes for it). The Harakiri blu-ray is my.. third favourite blu-ray from Criterion. Highly recommend that.

Edit: From checking your collection, you have the MoC Harakiri. Rad! Also, Branded to Kill is amazing.

I really wish that boxset was on Blu. Granted I've only seen Harakiri, but I found it to be one of the most flawless films ever released by Criterion. Kind of holding out for blu-ray releases of The Human Condition or Samurai Rebellion, but will at least watch them on Hulu to tide me over.

[MattvonSyborg]

Yes! Naked Lunch! One of my favourite memories of watching a film alone by myself at home was when I went through the basement of a huge video rental store, and rented the Naked Lunch VHS. My mind was blown, it really is a "love it or hate it"-film though. I happen to love it.

Just finished watching Fanny and Alexander for the first time, the television version. Really interesting and powerful, especially the final act. Since I grew up in Uppsala where it takes place, it's also interesting to see the exterior shots. I walked through several of them on my daily route to the university back when I was a student...

[Whirlygig]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

who supposedly slept with John Mulvaney to get into the Criterion Collection.

I don't remember if it was here or on the criterion forum, but recently my eyes were opened as I discovered Mulvaney is not a real person and is just a fake front for a multi-person customer service team. I should have always assumed as much, but I do work for a small enough company where there often actually *is* just one point of contact for a certain class of customer.

Anyway, knowing that, such an accusation is amusing in a new light.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

How so? It's true. A lot of minimum wage jobs such as data entry now require BA/MA, when before it was simply a year at community college.

I should have put a paragraph break between my sentences. The first sentence was completely serious. You do an raise an interesting issue. Employers would probably counter with something to the effect of 'well, we'd me more inclined to look at applicants with high school diploma or a year of cc if we could be confident they knew how to read'.

That would be an interesting conversation and one that hasn't been hashed over every ten years or so for the past however many generations.

Contrast that with "I have a degree in English Literature and I can't get a job in my field". Yawn. And it's doubly boring because in a lot of ways this artificial discontent with the job market comes off as code for 'why can't somebody just pay me to blog'.