The Criterion Collection

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

No, of course not! My admiration for that movie grows with each subsequent viewing, and the Blu-ray really knocked me off my feet when I watched it a few months back.

I don't think people give enough credit to how ambiguous the film is. I think its Malick's most elliptical and suggestive film. What he suggests with the final shots, especially the shot of the sailing ship says something absolutely sinister: the further westward expansion that will drive the natives out.

I think people were just too put off by Collin Farrel's presence.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I don't think people give enough credit to how ambiguous the film is. I think its Malick's most elliptical and suggestive film. What he suggests with the final shots, especially the shot of the sailing ship says something absolutely sinister: the further westward expansion that will drive the natives out.

I think people were just too put off by Collin Farrel's presence.

Terrence Malick does an amazing job of capturing the feel of the first interactions between the cultures. I love the scenes with the settlers and the natives first encountering one another.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Terrence Malick does an amazing job of capturing the feel of the first interactions between the cultures. I love the scenes with the settlers and the natives first encountering one another.

Will I be considered a sap if I say every scene between Q'orianka Kilcher & Colin Farrell moved me deeply?

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

It's definitely better than Badlands, and maybe better than Days of Heaven. I'd need to see it again to be sure. It's just too bad Malick's preferred cut isn't the cut on Blu.

Initially, Badlands was my favorite, but upon revisiting it after Criterion's release, I think it's by far his weakest output. Still a stunning film, but his recent work has eclipsed it greatly.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Will I be considered a sap if I say every scene between Q'orianka Kilcher & Colin Farrell moved me deeply?

Not at all. The final interaction, in particular, is quite emotional.

Originally Posted by brandon_260

Initially, Badlands was my favorite, but upon revisiting it after Criterion's release, I think it's by far his weakest output. Still a stunning film, but his recent work has eclipsed it greatly.

Badlands is Malick's most conventional work, but his ongoing themes about the place of humans in the grand scheme of nature are just as prevalent here as they are in his subsequent films. I love the way that Badlands captures a particular era, and it still has the best casting of any of the Malick films.

[UNCMT9]

No love for The Thin Red Line?

[UNCMT9]

Night of the Hunter just arrived as banged up as advertised

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by UNCMT9

No love for The Thin Red Line?

Yes. My favorite Malick film. Which reminds me, I suggest all Malick fans seek out F.W. Murnau's Tabu. The relationship we have with nature & other cultures is explored in a similar manner (if less elliptical).

[Abdrewes]

The Mubi Notebook on Satyajit Ray's Charulata (screened at Cannes)

There are few things more valuable at a film festival than catching a retrospective screening that puts it in perspective, resets your cinephilic enthusiasm, and reminds you what movies can be. Satyajit Ray’s Charulata (1964) served just that purpose as Cannes neared its halfway mark. Beginning with a beautiful sequence of pure cinema, for the first time I saw the link between Ray and Martin Scorsese (who holds the Indian filmmaker in the highest regard). Alone in a room in her home, the title character wanders to a window with her binoculars, opens the shutters and watches people outside. To track them, she moves from window to window, opening each shutter and observing their movement. It's hard not to think of the young Henry Hill looking out his window in Goodfellas, and even more recently, Hugo peering from behind the clock in the train station, watching everyday narratives unfold. This unusual story, adapted from a novel by Rabindranath Tagore, follows Charulata (or "Charu") on a journey of personal awakening, provoked by her visiting brother-in-law, Amal, an aspiring writer, who drives her to create. Meanwhile, her husband, Bhupati, distracted by the political newspaper he runs, fails to notice his wife's growing attraction for Amal. With fluid camera movement, Ray explores the space in which Charu has been trapped as a lonely wife, but as the film progresses (and Charu goes outside, writes), the melodrama darkens as her demeanor brightens, until a climactic sequence leaves her marriage in uncertain territory. Nevertheless, the film is most keen on articulating Charu's independence and pursuit of self-actualization, a tribute to writing, creating, and becoming—that doesn't shy away from pain.

[shortmartin]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

Initially, Badlands was my favorite, but upon revisiting it after Criterion's release, I think it's by far his weakest output. Still a stunning film, but his recent work has eclipsed it greatly.

I'm going to need to revisit New World very soon. My ranking for Malick's filmography tends to move chronologically, so Badlands, then Days of Heaven, and so on. But this might just be a personal bias related to a particular affinity that I have for 1970s American cinema, and to me those two films are stellar representations of some of the output of that time period and movement. I can definitely see how Malick's work has also matured in many ways and I'm definitely going to have to go back to check out the newer material to see how it stacks up.

[A Sith Lord?]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

There is a thread in the Movies forum where everyone is listing their Top 25 Favorite Movies for a collaborative ranking after a deadline.

I made good use of my lunch break and compiled my Top 25 off the top of my head. The Criterion Collection (titles in bold font) is well represented, of course.

1. Le Samouraï
2. Dr. No
3. Army of Shadows
4. Le Cercle Rouge
5. Casino Royale (2006)
6. North by Northwest
7. King Kong (1933)
8. Stand By Me
9. Escape from Alcatraz
10. The Shawshank Redemption
11. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
12. Paris, Texas
13. The Vanishing
14. Badlands
15. Blade Runner
16. The Night of the Hunter
17. Pulp Fiction
18. Jaws
19. Raiders of the Lost Ark
20. The Birds
21. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
22. Touchez Pas Au Grisbi
23. Alien
24. Casablanca
25. Seven Samurai

I had to flip a coin between Seven Samurai and The Wages of Fear for the 25th spot. Ouch.

Saddened that there's no room on there for The Godfather I or II. Easily two of my favorite movies of all time.

[Abdrewes]

(Tangentially related to Monterrey Pop & Janis Joplin)

Faith Hill's cover of "Piece of my Heart" is brutally bad. I may have to pop in the Monterrey Collection once I get home in a futile attempt to nuke it from my consciousness.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by MasturB

Saddened that there's no room on there for The Godfather I or II. Easily two of my favorite movies of all time.

I love both of those movies dearly, and The Godfather just missed my list. That's one of those movies that I acknowledge as being one of the best ever made, but I simply have too many other favorites from which to choose.

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Faith Hill's cover of "Piece of my Heart" is brutally bad. I may have to pop in the Monterrey Collection once I get home in a futile attempt to nuke it from my consciousness.

I used to have the biggest infatuation with Faith Hill back in the 1990s, but I have admittedly never been really into her music, aside from enjoying the occasional song on the radio back in the day.

I do not listen to country music often, but the mood sometimes strikes me if I'm driving across rural towns and such around here, and I'll switch to a country radio station. I like how every country song tells a story, and that always seems to make long drives more bearable. Everyone in my family and my extended family is a huge country music fan, though, and they are all befuddled at my music preferences (synth pop, punk, new wave, etc.).

This has absolutely jack to do with Criterion, so I guess I should conclude by saying that I really do like Stagecoach and 3:10 to Yuma.

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by UNCMT9

No love for The Thin Red Line?

His absolute best and my favorite film of all time.

[ultlife2013]

Is there any Canadian criterion collectors in this thread? I was wondering about the criterion sales they have, I was wondering if the savings coupled with the shipping charges are worth waiting for? Like how much does it work as cost per each blu ray? Thanks for any help.

[Banned User]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I wish that the Val Lewton horror films would see Blu-ray release someday.

Originally Posted by bdmartin134

What is everyone's impression on The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp? I just picked it up from B&N while this 40% sale is going on. I did a little bit of reading up on it before pulling the trigger, but just wanted to get others opinions. Thanks

You can't go wrong with a Powell and Pressburger film.

Originally Posted by Cocophone

I graduated from high school in 1980, so the time Dazed and Confused took place I was the same age as the kids graduating from junior high. It was like watching a home movie for me!

Dazed and Confused is not the typical kind of movie I enjoy, but unlike most coming of age movies it really does capture something special. While parts of it do remind me of my youth its more a feeling it gives me. I do miss the keg parties out in the woods in different places. We really had it good back then. Now the police are so strict and people so PC you can't do half the stuff we could back then.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I used to have the biggest infatuation with Faith Hill back in the 1990s, but I have admittedly never been really into her music, aside from enjoying the occasional song on the radio back in the day.

I do not listen to country music often, but the mood sometimes strikes me if I'm driving across rural towns and such around here, and I'll switch to a country radio station. I like how every country song tells a story, and that always seems to make long drives more bearable. Everyone in my family and my extended family is a huge country music fan, though, and they are all befuddled at my music preferences (synth pop, punk, new wave, etc.).

This has absolutely jack to do with Criterion, so I guess I should conclude by saying that I really do like Stagecoach and 3:10 to Yuma.

To give it the full Criterion reach around, the music video for Faith Hill's "There you'll be" was by far tge best thing about Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor. It's just as over cranked as the film, but at least it's only 3 minutes (as opposed to a full three hours).

[KingWoftam]

Did anyone else see Amazon list the OOP title Playtime with a few in stock? I ordered one and waiting to see if it ships or not

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by KingWoftam

Did anyone else see Amazon list the OOP title Playtime with a few in stock? I ordered one and waiting to see if it ships or not

I wonder if I should sell my copy in anticipation of the eventual re-release. I don't like the film that much to need to own it from now until then.

..but I hope you're able to receive it!

[exolstice]

Originally Posted by ultlife2013

Is there any Canadian criterion collectors in this thread? I was wondering about the criterion sales they have, I was wondering if the savings coupled with the shipping charges are worth waiting for? Like how much does it work as cost per each blu ray? Thanks for any help.

Including shipping, during the B&N 50% Off Sale it comes out to less than $25 CDN per blu-ray or even cheaper if you can get a working coupon.