The Criterion Collection

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I love how To Catch a Thief is one long travel brochure for the French Riviera. It works, though! It's in my Top Five for the best-looking Blu-rays that I've seen so far.

To Catch a Thief was a good stand-alone Blu-ray purchase, because it's not included in the big Hitchcock box sets that are on sale right now.

I couldn't hold off on buying North by Northwest, although I'll probably end up with double copies of that film if I buy the box set later on. North by Northwest is one of those films that I just had to own right away.

I gotta get to rewatching it. I believe the last time i saw it was on DVD.

Regarding Hitchcock, I hope CC has a 50% off sale in Feb. so I can pick up all the January and February releases, especially Ivan's Childhood and TMWKTM.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

It's a pity Strangers on a Train keeps getting overlooked in these Hitchcock discussions. It's one of my favourite Hitchcocks (along with The Lady Vanishes, for which I have the Criterion Blu), and its transfer to HD has been handled quite well.

I hear what you say about feeling daunted at laying out so much money on a single box, Wol — odd, isn't it? But I'm the same. I dithered a couple of weeks back over grabbing the Universal Classic Monsters box, even though the price had dropped so dramatically, and the price per film was so compelling, but still it seemed too large an amount to hand over in one go. And then Amazon put me out of my misery by putting the price back up! :chortle:

I'm having a similar struggle with the Qatsi box. I want it sure enough, but it still somehow seems too pricey.

I believe I gt the UK Monsters set for around $40.

Koyaanisqatsi is a masterpiece but let me tell you: Naqoyqatsi is one of the worst in the entire collection. It's heavy handed and visually ugly. I know thety were going for that Windows 98 feel, but damn it didnt have to be so punishingly repetitive.

[zman73]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

If you're interested in more Hitchcock, go straight to North by Northwest. The blu-ray is pretty fantastic.
There's also three MGM Hitchcock blu-rays: Rebecca, Notorious and Spellbound.
Hopefully, individual releases will be available from the Hitchcock Collection box-set, such as Vertigo, Rear Window, The Birds and others.
As for early(-ish) cinema from Criterion, have a look at the 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg (DVD only), The Phantom Carriage, The Complete Jean Vigo, Design for Living, The Rules of the Game, Lonesome, and anything from Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
Also, if you use Criterion's website, when you select a film, it usually has a series of "related" titles on the right hand side - it's a great tool for directing your attention to things you've never heard of.
Also, check out Criterion's various "Three Reasons" trailers for their films.

If he does get NxNW... there are a couple options...

What I have is the digibook of it and then I bought the super deluxe UK set, but the regular UK set can still be had most likely for less than the US set... but if the US set is preferred, it comes with NxNW

I'd also recommend Dial M for Murder, a blind buy for myself when I got it... loved it

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by zman73

If he does get NxNW... there are a couple options...

What I have is the digibook of it and then I bought the super deluxe UK set, but the regular UK set can still be had most likely for less than the US set... but if the US set is preferred, it comes with NxNW

I'd also recommend Dial M for Murder, a blind buy for myself when I got it... loved it

Just puttin it out there: I have one too many versions of NXNW: 1) The US Diigibook, 2) The Standard UK release.

[RandyK]

I highly recommend North by Northwest to anyone who hasn't seen it. I was going to get it for $4.99 at Best Buy but no store had it so I spent $15 more on the only digibook copy I found and do not regret it one bit.

I really wish Psycho would get a re-release.

Hopefully someone has a sale on Criterions in the near future so I can get a couple on my list like The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Phantom Carriage, Following, Cronos, and The Blob (when it comes out).

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I believe I gt the UK Monsters set for around $40.

I've realised that, all other aspects of a release being more or less equal, I'm a bit of a packaging-whor ... errrr, hound. For both the Monsters and Hitchcock sets, I'd much rather have the US releases. We got both of them here in OZ as well, both rather similar to the UK releases, and the packaging is quite dissatisfyingly flimsy and ... well, the word "lush" just wouldn't ever come to mind.

Koyaanisqatsi is a masterpiece but let me tell you: Naqoyqatsi is one of the worst in the entire collection. It's heavy handed and visually ugly. I know thety were going for that Windows 98 feel, but damn it didnt have to be so punishingly repetitive.

Ahh, thanks for the heads-up on that, then. I've never seen the Naqoy installment; I'd bettter find a way to watch it first. I kind of just assumed it would have a certain level of quality and interest, based on the others.

(I know, assume = ass and all that ... except that doesn't have the same punch in a country where you don't use US spelling.)

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

I've realised that, all other aspects of a release being more or less equal, I'm a bit of a packaging-whor ... errrr, hound. For both the Monsters and Hitchcock sets, I'd much rather have the US releases. We got both of them here in OZ as well, both rather similar to the UK releases, and the packaging is quite dissatisfyingly flimsy and ... well, the word "lush" just wouldn't ever come to mind.


Ahh, thanks for the heads-up on that, then. I've never seen the Naqoy installment; I'd bettter find a way to watch it first. I kind of just assumed it would have a certain level of quality and interest, based on the others.

(I know, assume = ass and all that ... except that doesn't have the same punch in a country where you don't use US spelling.)

I think Powaqaatsi is a decent follow up, it certainly has its fair share of powerful images. As far as Naqoyqatsi, you should look up some scenes on YouTube, there's literally a scene where CGI rotating dollar bill signs are raining down over the digital image.

[Jr7936]

in the right frame of mind Naqoy is pretty amazing, if you just let the music sink in and don't pay much attention to the backgrounds.
it's what i did one night after not wanting to watch it another night and i found it the most amazing thing ever :P

[Scottie]

Where in the world has Beta Man gone?

[ZooTv]

Just finished up screening Gomorrah for the first time... I really enjoyed it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it winds up as one of my all-time favorite crime films.

[TheDZA]

I really like the good job Criterion does on the old movies. The Killing was exceptional given what they had to work with. There are a few other great jobs done though outside Criterion. The Digibook of The Outlaw Josey Wales is fantastic. When he falls to his knees at the beginning and you can see the individual grains of sand and you can see his 2-day-no-shave-stubble...the clarity gives me goosebumps.

Not sure if the disc in the non-digibook is the same.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by TheDZA

I really like the good job Criterion does on the old movies. The Killing was exceptional given what they had to work with. There are a few other great jobs done though outside Criterion. The Digibook of The Outlaw Josey Wales is fantastic. When he falls to his knees at the beginning and you can see the individual grains of sand and you can see his 2-day-no-shave-stubble...the clarity gives me goosebumps.

Not sure if the disc in the non-digibook is the same.

The Killing is a great film. I was surprised at how fantastic the transfer was. It looked pretty clean and sharp for a fifty-year-old film.

As far as Josey Wales go, the DigiBook and the standard BD are the same. Just different packaging

[TheDZA]

Originally Posted by iScottie

As far as Josey Wales go, the DigiBook and the standard BD are the same. Just different packaging

Then whomever doesn't care about the digibook packaging needs to buy The Outlaw Josey Wales in the standard packaging while it's cheap ASAP.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I love how To Catch a Thief is one long travel brochure for the French Riviera. It works, though! It's in my Top Five for the best-looking Blu-rays that I've seen so far.

To Catch a Thief was a good stand-alone Blu-ray purchase, because it's not included in the big Hitchcock box sets that are on sale right now.

I couldn't hold off on buying North by Northwest, although I'll probably end up with double copies of that film if I buy the box set later on. North by Northwest is one of those films that I just had to own right away.

If I was you, I'd read the reviews for the Hitchcock box-set. Apparently, it is a real mixed bag of transfers. Some are meant to be very good, some are good, and some are supposedly terrible.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

If I was you, I'd read the reviews for the Hitchcock box-set. Apparently, it is a real mixed bag of transfers. Some are meant to be very good, some are good, and some are supposedly terrible.

I wouldn't call any of them "terrible" but FRENZY and FAMILY PLOT are definitely "disappointing" compared to the very good to excellent transfers of just about all the others. They still both look better than DVDs but are only adequate by today's Blu-ray standards. And the VistaVision titles like TROUBLE WITH HARRY, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, and VERTIGO are stunningly sharp and clear, even better I'd say than NORTH BY NORTHWEST.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by ZooTv

Just finished up screening Gomorrah for the first time... I really enjoyed it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it winds up as one of my all-time favorite crime films.

Glad to hear you got something out of it. In the past two years since I've seen it, it's only grown in stature. Seriously though, currently America is way behind other countries in cranking out interesting crime films.

[ccg1978]

Originally Posted by ZooTv

Just finished up screening Gomorrah for the first time... I really enjoyed it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it winds up as one of my all-time favorite crime films.

Great success!

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

If I was you, I'd read the reviews for the Hitchcock box-set. Apparently, it is a real mixed bag of transfers. Some are meant to be very good, some are good, and some are supposedly terrible.

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

I wouldn't call any of them "terrible" but FRENZY and FAMILY PLOT are definitely "disappointing" compared to the very good to excellent transfers of just about all the others. They still both look better than DVDs but are only adequate by today's Blu-ray standards. And the VistaVision titles like TROUBLE WITH HARRY, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, and VERTIGO are stunningly sharp and clear, even better I'd say than NORTH BY NORTHWEST.

Thanks for the clarifications on this, y'all!

I have my LCD television is a 1080p, but it's only a 32'' screen (because that's all I wanted to make room for), and I sit about seven feet away. For this reason, a lot of the complaints about DNR, edge enhancement, halo effect, and such will go unnoticed by me unless it's just an outright horrible transfer. I could tell, for instance, that The Last Starfighter was scrubbed to death, but the minor imperfections noted on the well-reviewed movies here generally escape my concern.

My research on the Hitchcock films leads me to believe that they would all look good in my living room.

I'm planning to trade in a good amount of my DVDs today, because I'll be in the neighborhood of the used store. I may use some of the cash to grab a Criterion or two, perhaps a Hitchcock film.

[ZooTv]

Originally Posted by ccg1978

Great success!

Absolutely!

I really appreciate all of the feedback about the film, as I couldn't be happier that I have it in my collection now.

[Hendershot737]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Where in the world has Beta Man gone?

Probably enjoying a nice brew somewhere