The Criterion Collection

[andsoitgoes]

I watched the first part of Jean Vigo's A Propos and I was blown away. I didn't see it all due to passing the heck out (not due to Vigo by ANY means) but man, can you ever see the heart and birth of the French New Wave here.

For those asking about thick booklets, this one is massive. And for the combined run time, commentary on every film and other extras, this film is a stupidly awesome deal a $20 on amazon. Buy it. BUY IT.

Blast, looks like amazon's price has jettisoned back up. Well, keep an eye on it. Even at a higher cost it is well worth the price if you are in love with the French new wave. It's still heartbreaking to see how young he was when he passed away. Think of what he could have done.

[bhampton]

Mad at Criterion for screwing up the framing on Blue.

I love the movie and I'm tempted to keep the DVD.

How it is Mirimax knows the boom mic doesn't belong in the frame and Criterion does not?

This is a case of simply lazy. Fixing it would be work and they are intent to say it's supposed to be mis-framed.

-Brian

[Yami]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Mad at Criterion for screwing up the framing on Blue.

I love the movie and I'm tempted to keep the DVD.

How it is Mirimax knows the boom mic doesn't belong in the frame and Criterion does not?

This is a case of simply lazy. Fixing it would be work and they are intent to say it's supposed to be mis-framed.

-Brian

The film had to be rescanned in HD by MK2. They messed up.

[joie]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Mad at Criterion for screwing up the framing on Blue.

I love the movie and I'm tempted to keep the DVD.

How it is Mirimax knows the boom mic doesn't belong in the frame and Criterion does not?

This is a case of simply lazy. Fixing it would be work and they are intent to say it's supposed to be mis-framed.

-Brian

The movies' titles (at their beginnings) are centered on the Miramax DVDs. Blue's title may not be centered on the Blu-ray and will give you an idea of how it's misframed.

[The Great Owl]

I agree that Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Avventura is a stronger film overall than Red Desert, and I look forward to seeing a Blu-ray release of that film, along with La Notte and L'eclisse. (Of the films in this trilogy, I've only seen L' Avventura and L'eclisse, so I'd like to see the whole trilogy in order someday.) The island scenes in L'Avventura would look stunning on Blu-ray, I'm sure.

Incidentally, I also hope to spell "L'Avventura" correctly someday without cheating and looking up the spelling online, but I'm not holding my breath on this.

I will probably pick up Identification of a Woman in the not-too-distant future, because it's an available Blu-ray that intrigues me, and it's one of the Antonioni films I have not yet seen.

After I watched Ivan's Childhood and Red Desert yesterday, I ended up watching my newly-arrived region-free Blu-ray of Haneke's Caché (Hidden) . Good Lord, that's a stunning picture on Blu-ray, and it looked as though the people were all right there in my living room. The subtitles are somewhat difficult to read with the small font and borders on the lettering, but I have seen the movie quite a few times and do not need to rely on the subtitles quite as much. First-time viewers take heed, though.

After enjoying those three films yesterday, though, I might have to go with something less cerebral tonight from my Blu-ray list. Ghostbusters, perhaps.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by paul000

While we're on the subject of Antonioni, does anyone else here love Identification of a Woman? For some reason this is the one I always go back to with him. Almost everyone tells me it's not his best or it's just okay but I find it filled to the brim with ideas and it leaves more of an impression on me than his other work. I love the bleak imagery and feeling of isolated dread in Red Desert, think Zabriskie Point is incredible etc and I'll stop there because I could go on complimenting the rest of his output but Identification of a Woman sticks out to me. Maybe I'm alone but it leaves my mind reeling, possibly from experiences of my own but I can't pinpoint it. Great film.

Its a really good film. It has OMD on the soundtrack right? Now that's a crazy combo

[ccg1978]

Originally Posted by noirfan

i wouldn't recommend that, your in-box only allows 1,000 pms at a time.

lol

[ccg1978]

Slowly getting a few Criterions under my belt. Watched Wages of Fear and Gomorrah this weekend. Wages of Fear was very good. After watching the bonus features describing how long it took to make the film I was even more impressed. I had seen Gomorrah back in 2009 and thought it was a good view. The second time around it seemed kinda bloated and harder to follow. Still worth the rent.

Next up: White Material and The Seventh Seal.

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by joie

The movies' titles (at their beginnings) are centered on the Miramax DVDs. Blue's title may not be centered on the Blu-ray and will give you an idea of how it's misframed.

That's what I hate about Criterion. They pretend it's all about quality presentation and they frequently put out sub par quality.

Case in point... non animorphic dvds using old laserdisc transfers. Yuk.

Often they release fanatasic movies but I'll never generally like them.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Its a really good film. It has OMD on the soundtrack right? Now that's a crazy combo

I just took a glance at the movie info, and found out that the soundtrack to Identification of a Woman includes music from Tangerine Dream, Japan, XTC, and OMD.

This film just moved up several notches on my priority purchase list, because I love all of those bands. Some friends and I saw OMD in concert when they did a reunion tour a couple years back.

[ZooTv]

Watched Fritz Lang's M (1931) for the first time ever last night. Still at a loss for words as to how much I enjoyed the film. Without question, one of the best I've ever seen.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just took a glance at the movie info, and found out that the soundtrack to Identification of a Woman includes music from Tangerine Dream, Japan, XTC, and OMD.

This film just moved up several notches on my priority purchase list, because I love all of those bands. Some friends and I saw OMD in concert when they did a reunion tour a couple years back.

OOh, and let me tell you, those moments where Antonioni's eye meets 80's synths it's absolute bliss. Plus, considering its a $30 title ($15 after B&N's sale)it's more than worth a blind buy.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by ZooTv

Watched Fritz Lang's M (1931) for the first time ever last night. Still at a loss for words as to how much I enjoyed the film. Without question, one of the best I've ever seen.

Yeah, when the town goes after the creep, it's hugely immersive and flat out nasty. God, its been a while since I've seen the film.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by ccg1978

Slowly getting a few Criterions under my belt. Watched Wages of Fear and Gomorrah this weekend. Wages of Fear was very good. After watching the bonus features describing how long it took to make the film I was even more impressed. I had seen Gomorrah back in 2009 and thought it was a good view. The second time around it seemed kinda bloated and harder to follow. Still worth the rent.

Next up: White Material and The Seventh Seal.

I don't think Gomorrah is hard to follow at all. Each story is pretty simple in nature (not unlike Cloud Atlas). Maybe its just how I'm wired but I find thrillers like Syriana and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy a bit harder to follow than "hyperlink style" films.

[ccg1978]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I don't think Gomorrah is hard to follow at all. Each story is pretty simple in nature (not unlike Cloud Atlas). Maybe its just how I'm wired but I find thrillers like Syriana and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy a bit harder to follow than "hyperlink style" films.

True, maybe it was because I had to keep pausing it since my son wouldn't go to bed!

[ccg1978]

Originally Posted by ZooTv

Watched Fritz Lang's M (1931) for the first time ever last night. Still at a loss for words as to how much I enjoyed the film. Without question, one of the best I've ever seen.

In my Netflix queue. I started it a while back and turned it off about 15 min in. Will revisit in the near future.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by ccg1978

True, maybe it was because I had to keep pausing it since my son wouldn't go to bed!

Thankfully I don't have kids. Furthermore, I don't think I paused it a single time when i first saw it. Ive said it before but I really think it's one of the very greatest "gangster" films Ive ever seen. It exposes criminality for what it is without every glamorizing it. Something genre classics and flat out masterpieces like The Godfather, Once Upon a Time in America, Goodfellas,...etc. fall in the trap of

[ZooTv]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Yeah, when the town goes after the creep, it's hugely immersive and flat out nasty. God, its been a while since I've seen the film.

The acting just flat out floored me, every character was absolutely perfect. It's a strange phenomenon when a 80+ year old film still feels ahead of its time.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by ZooTv

The acting just flat out floored me, every character was absolutely perfect. It's a strange phenomenon when a 80+ year old film still feels ahead of its time.

That's Fritz Lang and German Expressionism for you. I can't wait to get more Lang on Blu ray!

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

Oh be quiet, you troll. They haven't released such a thing since 1999.

But I still have some of those crap DVDs and they were MSRP of like $40. For a while it was the only path to Silence of the Lambs. Thank goodness there are better transfers now.

Well, the took one of my favorite movies (Blue) and didn't bother to scan it correctly. They didn't even check it. And claim .. it's ... um... supposed to be like that... yeah.

They don't change.

With luck,.. it will revert back to Mirimax for a better Blu Ray in time.

People who think Criterion doesn't screw up and then just look the other way... are not paying attention. Simple as that.

-Brian