The Criterion Collection

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Originally Posted by Sherlock_Jr

My girlfriend put in Walkabout to write a paper on it, and found out that (I guess) I have one of the defective pressings from 2009 or 10. The disc freezes up around the 49 minute mark and won't play any chapters past that. I figure Mulvaney will send me a replacement, but I noticed a curious thing that I hadn't seen before. The entire outside edge of the disc is now a different color — almost a golden brown. I checked a bunch of other older Criterions and they were all fine... but I wonder if this has something to do with the bad batches that got replicated?

Not sure if you can tell in this photo, but the outer edge is noticeably darker... and not sure if or why that might have to do with a defective disc, but I don't notice any of my other discs looking that way. Anyone else experience this?

I had the exact same problem. I got a replacement disc sent to me and all is good. I posted in here about it and nobody bothered responding to my questions on the matter. I'm sure they'll happily replace yours as well. Good luck with it. Great movie and great disc (you know, when you don't have a defective disc for it haha).

[DarkRyder]

This has been said once, but hell I'll say it again:

WE. NEED. SIRK.

I don't care if it's upgraded or new releases (God, do we need a better version of The Tarnished Angels), we just deserve more Sirk, dammit! His films are made for blu-ray, and yet we have not received a single one in the states? WTF?!

[Snicket]

Originally Posted by DarkRyder

This has been said once, but hell I'll say it again:

WE. NEED. SIRK.

I don't care if it's upgraded or new releases (God, do we need a better version of The Tarnished Angels), we just deserve more Sirk, dammit! His films are made for blu-ray, and yet we have not received a single one in the states? WTF?!

Your avatar looks like Admiral Ackbar on his deathbed...I just wanted to say that.

[ckocher]

Will they announce for August today or next week?

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by Snicket

Your avatar looks like Admiral Ackbar on his deathbed...I just wanted to say that.

I take it you haven't seen Eraserhead you're in for a head scratching evening when you choose to do so.

[Show spoiler]

[DarkRyder]

Originally Posted by ckocher

Will they announce for August today or next week?

Wednesday, the 15th. They normally do it on the 15th, unless it's a Friday, then they do it on the following Monday or Tuesday.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Snicket

Your avatar looks like Admiral Ackbar on his deathbed...I just wanted to say that.

"It's a trap."

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

"It's a trap."

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

Here is my wish list for the month of August (any of the following):


Floating Weeds

If any of the films above are released, I will be a happy individual in the month of August.

there is already a awesome Masters of cinema release avaible for that movie.

[The Great Owl]

If any of you boys and girls want to take a field trip to the Olive Films thread, I just posted my review of Taxi for Tobruk.

I made blind purchases of the two Olive Films releases, Taxi for Tobruk (1960) and Greed in the Sun (1964), because I am a huge fan of the Criterion Collection films that star Lino Ventura (and, in the case of Greed in the Sun, Jean-Paul Belmondo as well). Both of these are stellar adventure films that further showcase the talents of the respective actors, even if neither film won any salesmanship awards for convincing people to live in the harsh desert landscapes of north Africa.

Taxi for Tobruk is an effective WWII adventure that will keep the viewer on edge, make the viewer laugh, and compel the viewer to ponder the absurdity of war. Most of us will predict the general tone of the conclusion right off the bat, but the ride to that destination is still quite intense.

We're fortunate that films like this that have been long overlooked on American shores are now available to us via Criterion, Olive Films, and other such companies.

[shortmartin]

Originally Posted by JHas

I'm interested to hear what you think of Taxi for Tobruk, I haven't seen it, but has caught my interest, but I never get around to actually buying it.

Me too, I'm interested in hearing when you report back on Taxi.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by shortmartin

Me too, I'm interested in hearing when you report back on Taxi.

Here you go. It's a great film!

My review of Greed in the Sun is the preceding post in that thread, and I enthusiastically recommend both films.

When I get home from work, I'm going to watch the Twilight Time Blu-ray, Rapture.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Here you go. It's a great film!

My review of Greed in the Sun is the preceding post in that thread, and I enthusiastically recommend both films.

I'll probably grab them as soon as importcds has a sale. I own quite a few Olive releases (20 or so, I think) and there's quite a few standouts.

[Sherlock_Jr]

Originally Posted by sc1957

I looked at my disc and didn't see any "darker" edge color. But this is so dependent on the light source that there's no way to compare one person's disc to another.

Actually, it has nothing to do with the light source. If there is discoloring, there is discoloring.

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I had the exact same problem. I got a replacement disc sent to me and all is good. I posted in here about it and nobody bothered responding to my questions on the matter. I'm sure they'll happily replace yours as well. Good luck with it. Great movie and great disc (you know, when you don't have a defective disc for it haha).

Yeah I love the film, but I guess I hadn't watched my blu-ray of it. Never encountered defective discs before except with season 1 of Twilight Zone.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Sherlock_Jr

Yeah I love the film, but I guess I hadn't watched my blu-ray of it. Never encountered defective discs before except with season 1 of Twilight Zone.

I have The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series Blu-ray box set on its way to me in the mail. What were the issues on the first pressing of Season One? I'm assuming that I'll have a newer pressing, but I want to know what to look for just the same.

EDIT: I just got the email from Amazon that The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series has shipped.

[shortmartin]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Here you go. It's a great film!

My review of Greed in the Sun is the preceding post in that thread, and I enthusiastically recommend both films.

When I get home from work, I'm going to watch the Twilight Time Blu-ray, Rapture.

Can you say definitively whether Greed or Taxi is the better movie, is there a preference for one being the stronger movie? I'm wondering because I was considering these as blind buys too (to break into Olive a bit deeper beyond Invasion and High Noon) but was leaning more towards Greed in terms of priority, thinking based on a range of customer reviews that it is perhaps the better film. Just curious.

Criterion related . . . I'm halfway through Heaven's Gate right now and am loving it. The presentation is wonderful and I'm engrossed by the buildup in this first half of some really interesting dramatic tensions and a wide-angled historical plot. The several performance scenes - the graduation day, the rollerskating rink, among others - are incredibly realized and feel so authentic. Especially the skating rink scene, the movie is obviously ambitious, and in moments like this it works like a charm. Beautiful to watch and crazy to think of how impressively the cinematography, the sound, and the efforts at historical reconstruction (from costume and set design to the directorial focus on ordinary people doing things) come together. I love Visconti's the Leopard, and appreciate its influence (along with other Italian epics) on American cinema in the seventies - the Godfather and so on - and Heaven's Gate is obviously a key point in that tradition. It is so magisterial and unashamedly grand in scope - also brings to mind Griffith and Demille - that it's difficult for me not to gravitate to. Anyways, I'm just wondering if others have been watching this beast of a movie given its still relatively recent Criterion release.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by shortmartin

Can you say definitively whether Greed or Taxi is the better movie, is there a preference for one being the stronger movie? I'm wondering because I was considering these as blind buys too (to break into Olive a bit deeper beyond Invasion and High Noon) but was leaning more towards Greed in terms of priority, thinking based on a range of customer reviews that it is perhaps the better film. Just curious.

I prefer Greed in the Sun out of the two movies, and I think that Greed in the Sun will end up being one of the most frequently rewatched Blu-rays in my collection. I was on the edge of my seat, but also laughing the entire time. Imagine a more light-hearted "buddy cop" version of The Wages of Fear.

We must share the same brain or something, because my first two Olive Films purchases were also Invasion of the Body Snatchers and High Noon. Now that I have four Olive Films releases, I'll probably buy The Enforcer in the not-too-distant future.

[Abdrewes]

Heaven's Gate is superb. I think I need to see it another time before I can chime in. What trips me is being able to come up with the right verbiage to defend the completely unsubtle politics.

The comparison with Visconti is apt. Both the Leopard and Heavens Gate have very gorgeous widescreen ball sequences.

[shortmartin]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I prefer Greed in the Sun out of the two movies, and I think that Greed in the Sun will end up being one of the most frequently rewatched Blu-rays in my collection. I was on the edge of my seat, but also laughing the entire time. Imagine a more light-hearted "buddy cop" version of The Wages of Fear.

We must share the same brain or something, because my first two Olive Films purchases were also Invasion of the Body Snatchers and High Noon. Now that I have four Olive Films releases, I'll probably buy The Enforcer in the not-too-distant future.

Cool, thanks, Greed sounds like an awesome movie. And what a coincidence. Yeah, I've liked my Invasion and High Noon releases, and to me they're some of the best offerings from Olive. I'm also eyeing the recent releases Dark Command, Red Pony, and Champion.

[Sherlock_Jr]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I have The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series Blu-ray box set on its way to me in the mail. What were the issues on the first pressing of Season One? I'm assuming that I'll have a newer pressing, but I want to know what to look for just the same.

EDIT: I just got the email from Amazon that The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series has shipped.

It's an amazing set, probably one of the best things I own. Some original pressings of Season 1 had problems with the 1st and 4th discs... namely, they wouldn't play at all, or they would freeze up at certain spots. After months of Image denying there was a problem (and their office is right down the street from me, so I kept hassling them), they finally — quietly — issued replacements, and changed replicators for the rest of the seasons. I doubt the issues would still be present — this was on the very first run of Season 1 in 2010 — but I guess you never know.