The Criterion Collection

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by lemonski

Duly noted, going to keep an eye out for Upstream Color, for sure.

Now Primer - that would make a great Criterion release, it would be right up their alley I would have thought.

Considering it was shot for $5,000, I'm okay with my DvD.

[ccg1978]

Originally Posted by FilmCafe

Not sold by Amazon.com but by other sellers that's why, should I trust them?

if you have Prime I'd rather get through Amazon directly

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Considering it was shot for $5,000, I'm okay with my DvD.

You're fine then, but how about the rest of us? The DVD is OOP. It would make a neat budget release, a la Following

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by lemonski

You're fine then, but how about the rest of us? The DVD is OOP.

No way? I've seen so many copies of it at Blockbuster, I think I got mine for $1.50.

[lemonski]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

No way? I've seen so many copies of it at Blockbuster, I think I got mine for $1.50.

Appears to be, from a brief Googling. There's a 720p digital download on Shane Carruth's website, but digital downloads don't do it for me.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by lemonski

Appears to be, from a brief Googling. There's a 720p digital download on Shane Carruth's website, but digital downloads don't do it for me.

Physical all the way for me too.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The Academy Award nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not a particularly strong advertising point for me to see it.

It seems to me that there have been more absymal choices for Best Picture nominations in recent years. There are the pleasing, but ultimately forgettable films (Slumdog Millionaire, The Departed, There Will Be Blood, The Reader, etc.), but there have also been quite a few nominated movies that are complete dreck (Little Miss Sunshine, Up in the Air, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close).

My least favorite film of the past decade, Crash, won Best Picture in 2005. I could not stand that flick. It's actually my second least favorite film of all time, behind Pay It Forward.
This speaks volumes, because I've seen a lot of bad late-night movies in my time.

Back to subject, I'll probably check out The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at some point, but I'm just not sure when or how. The used Blu-rays that I see are only a couple of bucks, but there's always something more tempting at the used stores for the same price.

Eh, disagree with you about LMS andThe Departed. The Departed was probably the first film that made me take Leo seriously as an actor.

I'd read the Benjamin Button source material first, it's much better. Of course, I can't seem to find any film adaptation of F. Scott's work that I truly like. I may own the Redford/Farrow version of Gatsby, but it's still not as good as the novel. I'm dreading this new 3D version.

To be honest, I just read Fight Club today, to keep on a Fincher discussion, and I think I've outgrown it. I enjoyed the film when it came out, but now, both the novel and the film just don't do anything for me, and in fact, bore the heck out of me. It's not a bad adaptation, it's just that the subject matter no longer appeals to me at all in any format.

I really need to get caught up on the Best Picture noms for this year, as I've only seen Les Mis so far. I've managed to watch every single Best Picture Winner, but not every single nominee, since 1929. Admittedly, a lot of the films I hate are ones everyone loves to death. I also think the 80s were the worst decade of BP winners, but many may disagree. I did my rankings on a scale of 10, and then averaged out the films per decade. The 1950s were surprisingly my top choice for BP winners, as it had an 8.2/10 average.

[Scottie]

Three Reasons: The Tin Drum - YouTube

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

To be honest, I just read Fight Club today, to keep on a Fincher discussion, and I think I've outgrown it. I enjoyed the film when it came out, but now, both the novel and the film just don't do anything for me, and in fact, bore the heck out of me. It's not a bad adaptation, it's just that the subject matter no longer appeals to me at all in any format.

Fight Club reverberated more with me when I was in my late 20s at the time of the movie's release. I was fed up with the "keeping up with the Jones's" mentality all over Atlanta back then and related to the disdain that both the novel and the film had for that culture. Strangely enough, the ultrarunning community that I run with on weekends has a lot in common with the Fight Club, but the nihilism aspects of the story do not appeal as much to my 40 year-old self. I still love the film, though.

[Cinemach]

Originally Posted by Rizor

I'm not sure how the rights to the Hitchcock silents stand after the BFI restoration. Before, half were owned by StudioCanal (Criterion's enemy #1) and ITV (from whom Criterion licensed The 39 Steps and The Man Who Knew Too Much). Personally of the nine, I'd like to see Criterion release The Lodger and Blackmail (is this one of the 9?). StudioCanal supposedly has the rights to Blackmail. I bought the StudioCanal/Lionsgate DVD set of 5 early Hitchcock films, and as much as they are historically important, I don't think most of them are particularly good (especially the silents other than The Lodger). If Criterion does get the rights, I'd rather them release 'em in one quick go than the once-every-few-months model they've been doing with the Chaplins.

I'm much more interested in Criterion releasing the rest of Hitchcock's post-The Man Who Knew Too Much British output which is realistic as they are all owned by ITV. Would love it if they released Lifeboat if Fox has no plans to do so. I believe Image (which owns Criterion) has the rights to Under Capricorn, so maybe they can work something out there?

Wasn't aware of that, so there goes my Blackmail prediction.

If Criterion could get the rest of Hitch's British output post-The Man Who Knew Too Much (maybe sans Jamaica Inn...) AND do just as good on them as they have with this most recent release, then by all means, please.

By the way, I echo the thoughts on how fantastic The Man Who Knew Too Much looks. I've watched my public domain collection copy a number of times, and this blu is an entirely new picture.

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

I may own the Redford/Farrow version of Gatsby, but it's still not as good as the novel. I'm dreading this new 3D version.

TELL me about it...

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by PBateman87

To each their own...but I do agree about a lot of the other fluff that baits for Oscars (and often wins them). I didn't care too much for the last few Best Picture winners...Slumdog, Hurt Locker, King's Speech were all decent to slightly above-average fare but nothing special. Haven't seen The Artist yet.

Isn't "slightly above-average fare" the actual definition of the Best Picture Oscar
But seriously, it is usually a good, if unexceptional, film that appeals to a broad section of society. Specifically, it appeals to the generally conservative opinions of the Academy.
It never really upsets me and I never believe in this "they got it wrong" and "Scorsese/Fincher/whoever was robbed again!".
It's just an awards ceremony.
There are more important things happening in this world than the Oscars

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by Torgon

Good to hear. I don't have many Criterions in my collection, but I did recently acquire The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps. I'll probably pick up The Man Who Knew Too Much at Best Buy during U&S if they can ever find it in their store . I have the Masterpiece Collection and plan on buying the Classic Collection when it comes out. I just wish these other companies would do a better job on some of these releases instead of rushing them. I do like my Criterion releases, but the price is a little steep IMO.

If you have a region-free player, Masters of Cinema released Lifeboat.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

I'd read the Benjamin Button source material first, it's much better.

Imagine if they'd made a film that was close F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". That would be awesome. It would probably only be a short film though.
If anyone is interested in reading it (and you should be, because it's very fun), you can easily find PDF versions online.

[brandon_260]

That Three Reasons video for The Tin Drum has me very excited for it to show up to my house. Seems like a solid blind buy.

[metaridley]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I can't take the Academy Awards seriously. Not after Crash and Slumdog.

Those two films winning are, imo, the Academy's primary "jump the shark" moments.

Originally Posted by Cinemach

Foreign Correspondent looks to be the next Hitchcock Criterion could release - at least it's streaming on Hulu+ right now. As nametag mentioned the recent BFI restorations look to be game, and my best first guess from that grouping would be Blackmail: with its historical status as the 'first' British talkie, and a silent version to boot, this would be a no-brainer for Criterion to release.

Hitchcock is my favorite director of all time and all of his movies released on Criterion (plus Foreign Correspondent, which is upcoming I guess) are all really good, but I wish the titles selected weren't determined by which studio holds the rights to them. I'd love to see Criterion tackle his all-time greats, like Psycho, Rear Window and especially Vertigo. Stupid Universal and their sub-par restorations. They ruin everything.

[octagon]

If only Universal would ruin all their films like they ruined Vertigo.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by metaridley

Those two films winning are, imo, the Academy's primary "jump the shark" moments.



Hitchcock is my favorite director of all time and all of his movies released on Criterion (plus Foreign Correspondent, which is upcoming I guess) are all really good, but I wish the titles selected weren't determined by which studio holds the rights to them. I'd love to see Criterion tackle his all-time greats, like Psycho, Rear Window and especially Vertigo. Stupid Universal and their sub-par restorations. They ruin everything.

Hitchcock can't be very good, because he never won an Oscar

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by lemonski

You're fine then, but how about the rest of us? The DVD is OOP. It would make a neat budget release, a la Following

My favourite post-millennial science fiction film lemonski. Come to think of it, the 90s too.

Considering Primer was shot in Super 16mm, and all post was done via desktop HD tools, even if they only scan it at 2k, no one should leave the table hungry...it's all about the ideas anyway.

[jayputter]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

I'm really hoping to see the so-called "Hitchcock Nine" get released in a big box-set, either in the UK or the US.
Would most likely be a better box-set than the Universal box-set of later titles, which is apparently a mixed bag of great, good, mediocre and downright terrible transfers. Sad. I'll end up picking up individual titles from that collection as they become available.
Meanwhile, for those interested in the titles that MGM recently released (Notorious, Rebecca and Spellbound), you can get all three in a single collection: Alfred Hitchcock: The Classic Collection.
I have Notorious and Rebecca and can recommend both.

I would LOVE to see the Hitchcock nine released in a box set by criterion. After seeing the job they did on the BBS set and Lean/Coward, I'm drooling at the very idea of it!

[jrsl76]

I just finished watching Pina and it's a stunning film. The dancing is viscerally emotional and the photography is beautiful. I really wish I had the 3D capacity to view this film.

I think my favorite part was the opening "Rite Of Spring" ballet. I'm looking forward to digging into the extras to get more information about the pieces which were a bit oblique though fantastic nonetheless.