The Criterion Collection

[Colkurtz88]

Originally Posted by secretsquirrel

I can only afford one of Le Cercle Rouge and Army of Shadows. Can anyone peek at my collection and make a recommendation? I'm torn. I think I'll like Army of Shadows more but I'm afraid if I don't get Le Cercle Rouge now I'll be priced out of it for the foreseeable future. I have both on hold but can only afford one.

Opinions? Thoughts?

Here's a suggestion. Why don't you go through your collection. Find some blu rays that you think can get good value for on ebay and that are not OOP and sell them to get the money for both le circle rouge and army of shadows? You can always get the movies that you sold back at a later time and maybe for a cheaper price.

Just a thought.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

What does everybody make of Filmspotting's Josh Larsen's negative review of 12 Angry Men. He really gives no worthwhile points to support his take:

12 Angry Men is not a subtle film. I don't believe that any of us would describe it as such. It's a "loud American" movie, through and through, and the teleplay from which it is based is the same. It's a High Noon-style showdown with dialogue instead of guns.

Didacticism often does fail miserably when incorporated into art. My two least-favorite films of all time, Pay It Forward and Crash (2005), are testament to the train wrecks that can occur when Hollywood tries to instill values in its viewers.

I do not consider 12 Angry Men to be merely a didactic film, though. The movie places 12 egos in a small room and each person gets to pull his weight. It's the ultimate ensemble piece. Henry Fonda is not a "one man crusade" in any sense. He is simply one person who gives pause to the proceedings. Once that foothold takes place, it's up to the other eleven men to grapple around on the ladder. We do not really learn anything specific from watching 12 Angry Men. Like one of the frustrated jurors, though, we gradually absorb small truths as we get drawn into the fray. I never feel as though I'm being manipulated while watching 12 Angry Men, as I might with blatantly didactic movies, and, instead, I have the time of my life with each viewing.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by shortmartin

Cool, many thanks for this excellent review. Pierrot is one of my favorite movies, probably my top Godard film (with Breathless number two) and this review enhances my experience of it.

Thank you! I believe that I was somewhat fortunate with my first viewing of Pierrot Le Fou, because I went into the movie knowing nothing whatsoever about Godard's tendencies. The movie swept me away, because it was like a Quentin Tarantino film magnified a hundred times over. I'm curious as to whether or not True Romance was a direct ancestor of Pierrot Le Fou, although True Romance is far more accessible.

[shortmartin]

I don't follow filmspotting, and I wasn't aware of Larsen's review of 12 Angry Men until it was mentioned here on this forum. So I went and checked out the site, and learned that Larsen is also a key contributor at thinkchristian.net, where he writes about Christianity and film/media.

Personally, as an a non-believer, my inclination is to take whatever he says with a grain of salt. I've now read a couple of his reviews and there is just no way that I am capable of seeing eye to eye with this guy given his tendency to read Christianity into every movie (at least on thinkchristian.net) and my own reluctance to embrace religion.

Whatever your religious stripe, I don't care . . . it's not my issue, and more power to you. I'm just dismayed by Larsen's comments about 12 Angry Men - that it is a heavy-handed film - given his participation in an avowedly agenda-driven cultural forum with a message that is, needless to say, quite heavy and global in scope. The site's stated mission is to "beam the message of salvation to all corners of the earth," and in this way I think he's engaging in his own form of didactic-ism . . . "Think Christian is a collaborative digital magazine that recognizes contemporary culture – from politics to the arts, from business to science – as falling beneath God's sovereignty."

Lumet, like all of us, falls shorts of the Glory of God, and isn't perfect. But 12 Angry Men is awfully close.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

There are quite a few, especially recent (past 30 years) war, sci-fi and action films, but a few of the first Blu-rays that really impressed me with their crisp, wide-range, and immersive mixes were MASTER AND COMMANDER, the remake of 3:10 TO YUMA, and of course BLADE RUNNER and more recently APPALOOSA, BENJAMIN BUTTON, and PROMETHEUS. It's also great to turn up the volume on musicals like ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, CHICAGO, DREAMGIRLS, and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG. Then there's the GODFATHER TRILOGY, the Indiana Jones films, the Pirates of the Caribbean films, the Lord of the Ring films, and the Harry Potter films, to name a few that can show off your sound system.

Among older films in stereo, I've been especially pleased with the audio quality on THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, BEN-HUR, PICNIC, RIVER OF NO RETURN, WEST SIDE STORY, the 1967 CASINO ROYALE, and PATTON.

Great recommendations.

Thank you to everyone's recommendations.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

In general I try to skip talking or posting about movies I don't enjoy cause I can't be bother too much to write why I dislike them in the proper way so yeah it's annoying for others just reading something like

I really dislike it, it's boring

since it does really say much about it.

I would never recommend Solaris as a first watching for anyone unless it's the American version which I find is probably easier to take in than Tarkovsky's. I suppose others could make different arguments but that is how I see it. I discovered Russian cinema (I suppose we used to call in back them Soviet cinema) in college. I really enjoyed it from the start. Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, Dovzhenko, Sokurov. Yes many of the movies are propaganda tools for the ideology of the political party but so many of them are reall gems of story telling. It's too bad that they are not as well known as many of other movie from Europe.

I agree with your comment. I am very impressed by the B&W russian cinematography of the 50s (especially Urusevsky's)

Any personal russian/soviet film favorites of yours?

[octagon]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I never feel as though I'm being manipulated while watching 12 Angry Men, as I might with blatantly didactic movies, and, instead, I have the time of my life with each viewing.

That's a really important point, I think.

I don't necessarliy mind being preached to but I freaking hate being talked down to.

Beating me over the head with your point is lazy and disrespectful.

12 Angry Men paints with a pretty broad brush at times but it never cheats or cuts corners. Even the most obnoxious, openly bigotted juror isn't painted as an evil, one-dimensional bad guy. He's a human being. He has a cold, for crying out loud

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

What other movies do you recommend with outstanding surround sound?

I don't have an elaborate sound system, but my Skyfall Blu-ray is one example of a disc where I especially noticed a fine audio presentation.

In fact, Skyfall is pretty much the golden apple of my Blu-ray collection as far as overall presentation goes. The picture quality stands shoulder to shoulder with Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, in fact.

[The Great Owl]

I followed up my Pierrot Le Fou viewing with my brand-spanking new Blu-ray of The Great Escape. This movie rocks hard, and it would make a perfect double feature with the Criterion DVD, Le Trou. A lot of peeps are unhappy with the picture quality of The Great Escape Blu-ray, but I've got no real complaints, and it looks better than my DVD did.

I think that I'll give the Blu-ray of Rosemary's Baby a go tonight, if I can stay awake.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I don't have an elaborate sound system, but my Skyfall Blu-ray is one example of a disc where I especially noticed a fine audio presentation.

In fact, Skyfall is pretty much the golden apple of my Blu-ray collection as far as overall presentation goes. The picture quality stands shoulder to shoulder with Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, in fact.

I was 50/50 on Adele when I first heard the Skyfall theme. I thought it was good but didn't completely embrace it as a Bond theme.

But that opening completely blew me away.

It was very good in its own right and really captured the retro feel of the franchise's early days without feeling like a cheap knockoff of earlier intros.

(I'm still not crazy about the one name thing but whattayagonnado)

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by octagon

I was 50/50 on Adele when I first heard the Skyfall theme. I thought it was good but didn't completely embrace it as a Bond theme.

But that opening completely blew me away.

It was very good in its own right and really captured the retro feel of the franchise's early days without feeling like a cheap knockoff of earlier intros.

(I'm still not crazy about the one name thing but whattayagonnado)

I prefer Casino Royale, and that's another outstanding Blu-ray as far as picture and audio are concerned. All three of the Daniel Craig Bond Blu-rays knock it out of the park in technical terms, in fact.

I did not care much for seeing Bond as a bodyguard in Skyfall, but I rather liked the Straw Dogs homage in the final half. It's a great film.

[DarkRyder]

For all you Fassbinder fans out there, if you have yet to see it, I highly recommend Whity. It's a fantastically strange film that shows the maturation of a genius.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I prefer Casino Royale, and that's another outstanding Blu-ray as far as picture and audio are concerned. All three of the Daniel Craig Bond Blu-rays knock it out of the park in technical terms, in fact.

I did not care much for seeing Bond as a bodyguard in Skyfall, but I rather liked the Straw Dogs homage in the final half. It's a great film.

Way to tie it into the Criterion Collection Discussion

I for one would love to see a Criterion box set of Peckinpah's films.

[jrsl76]

Has anyone here watched Chronicle Of A Summer yet? I'm curious what anyone who has seen it thought of the film.

I just got around to watching it, but I haven't viewed the follow up documentary yet or the extras yet.

While not among my favorite of the Collection, I did find it quite interesting, particularly when they began discussing the Algerian war and when we went deeper into Marceline's past.

The film has a kind of cumulative effect where by focusing on individuals and their experiences, you build to see an universality of experience, thought and feeling.

This was an early French New Wave film, being from the 1960 - 1961 area and it utilizes the fresh tools of that movement like jump cuts and pulling the curtain back on the process of filmmaking. I felt that most of the jump cuts didn't work or seemingly didn't really have a purpose. In all honesty, a lot of them felt as if there were merely frames missing as if in restoration, some couldn't be saved. However, pulling the curtain back was very interesting, having the participants and the filmmakers comment on the film as part of the film. This I found fascinating.

I'm still processing, but these are some initial thoughts.

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by abdrewes

i for one would love to see a criterion box set of peckinpah's films.

+1

[Abdrewes]

jrsl76, I havent seen the film yet (its been on my queue for quite some tome), but wouldn't it be more apt to characterize the film as cinema verite?

[oildude]

Has Criterion ever licensed from Universal? I keep hoping to see Fred Zinneman's 1973 classic Day of the Jackal make it to blu-ray. It is a meticulously crafted thriller starring Edward Fox as an assassin contracted to kill Charles DeGaulle. One of the most engrossing films I have ever seen, with its attention to details and near-documentary style showing the preparations of the assassin as well as the methods of the police inspector who bit by bit begins to uncover evidence of an intended hit on the French President. I don't have much hope that Universal will release it in high def anytime soon. It would be a nice fit in the Criterion Collection. Yeah, wishful thinking.

[jrsl76]

Oops, you're right. It is verite, I guess I got caught up in those jump cuts and started thinking about New Wave. If I remember correctly, it was inspirational to members of the New Wave thus my linking it to it in my mind.

Still, it definitely has a few of what would be New Wave touches.

[Scottie]

I just watched the Canadian release of 21 Grams as part of my alphabetical film watch and I absolutely loved it. I'm really excited to check out Babel in the upcoming weeks.

With that being said, what are the chances of Criterion releasing Amores Perros? It sounds like it's the strongest of the Death Trilogy, but I'm not sure what Criterion's relationship with the studio is.

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by oildude

Has Criterion ever licensed from Universal?

Many times - Spartacus, Do The Right Thing, Last Temptation of Christ, Dazed & Confused, Traffic, Videodrome, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Island Of Lost Souls and so on.

So there's hope.