The Criterion Collection

[shortmartin]

Originally Posted by dannyfriar

For those that have made blind purchases, what has been your favourite, and least favourite?

I have lots of blind buys and do a lot of blind buying . . . some favs are:

Carlos
Naked
Kes
Beauty and the Beast
People on Sunday
The Shop on Main Street
Larisa Shepitko Eclipse Set
Kwaidan
World on a Wire
I Am Curious-Yellow
This Sporting Life

least fav Criterion is definitely Gray's Anatomy (but I really like And Everything Is Going Fine)

[Abdrewes]

Best Blind purchase? Harakiri

[The Bronx Bull]

Originally Posted by dannyfriar

For those that have made blind purchases, what has been your favourite, and least favourite?

Favorite blind buys:

Three Colors Trilogy
Brazil
The Wages of Fear
Fanny and Alexander
Sweet Smell of Success
Army of Shadows
M

Least favorite blind buys:

Island of Lost Souls (admittedly, I still need to finish the film)
Two Lane Blacktop
Repulsion
The Great Dictator (good film, just not my style)

Honestly, I've had 95% positive experiences with blind buying from CC, assuming I'm interested in the synopsis and have some slight insight as to what I'm walking into.

[JHas]

Originally Posted by Wotan420

Harakari - Good but not great IMO

Wow, I found Harakari to be one of the most moving and intense films ever made.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Please tell me you're joking.

That was one of the worst films to ever be made.

I saw it in theaters with my dad when I was 11. Suffice it to say, I didn't like it.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

I saw it in theaters with my dad when I was 11. Suffice it to say, I didn't like it.

It would have baffled the eleven year old me too

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

It would have baffled the eleven year old me too

I have been meaning to watch it again. Saw a couple of screens a while back and it looks stunning. Is the blu really that sub-par? Might pick it up.

EDIT: And I hold The Fall in high regard.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

I have been meaning to watch it again. Saw a couple of screens a while back and it looks stunning. Is the blu really that sub-par? Might pick it up.

EDIT: And I hold The Fall in high regard.

The BluRay looks a bit Echo-bridge DNR-like. It should look much grainier and the colors seen a bit muted.

Overall it's a soft 4 star transfer, solid 3.5 star transfer.

The audio track is really good and I mistakenly didn't have it on the HD MA transfer. I can't wait to watch it again to get the full experience.

[COLD_COBRA_]

The horse scene was cool.

[klauswhereareyou]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

^^^
Blow Out is Incredible. Alongside Femme Fatale, it is DePalma's best film.

If only Criterion would release a Femme Fatale blu ray!

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by JHas

Another unrelated note, I have been re-reading "Salem's Lot" over the past week or so. I rented "The Return to Salem's Lot" on Amazon Video last night out of curiosity. Just an awful film with no relevance to the Stephen King characters or story. But it does have one redeeming value; an old Samuel Fuller plays a badass Nazi Killer turned Vampire Killer. So there is a grain of Criterion relatedness to this post.

I actually like the Larry Cohen directed RtSL. It has a number of flaws but for a long part of its running time I thought it really took the vampire mythos to a different and interesting place.

Quoting from a review I'd written a very long time ago:

Return to Salem's Lot (RTSL) is one of those films that has all the stinky ratings at IMDb and tepid to scathing reviews at the few places that even bothered to review. But this little obscurity IMO deserves a lot better. OK, the title can be misleading, since apart from the setting of the town this one has little relationship with Stephen King's novel Salem's Lot or Tobe Hooper's tele-film version of it. Like most of Larry Cohen's shoot-on-the-run ventures it doesn't have spanking production values and the FX have to be taken with a voluntary suspension of disbelief. And with some wild swerves between gripping emotional drama and obvious camp it certainly can't be described as having a very consistent tone. But unlike most modern day 'epic' films where every sparse scene and nuance is stretched out like a taffy competition, this film is packed with so many cool concepts and dramatic ideas it can barely contain them.

The story has a scoop-seeking anthropologist Joe Weber (Cohen regular Michael Moriarty in another pleasing turn) going off with his problem son whom he has not seen in years to an inherited house in a quiet ancestral town where they can sort their issues...and yes, that place is Salem's Lot. In Cohen's version, the town has been entirely taken over by vampires, who constitute a society unto themselves, using humans only as servants. They are intrigued by the anthropologist and want him to write a chronicle, nay bible, of vampire civilization. In turn Joe's son is intrigued by the vampires and not sure if he doesn't want to become one himself. Cohen's pacy script presents his quirky and subtly humorous take on a vampire society with its peculiar lifestyle and its own attitudes towards the human race. He also presents the gripping dilemma that Joe faces, forced to stay and write for his son's safety and at the same time seduced by the prospect of writing a unique chronicle...and by an ex-girlfriend who has never aged after he left.

Thus far is a film that's plainly brilliant in its setup and I would have loved to see a greater progression in this vein. But after that Larry's script seems to have run out of ideas or time and he quickly reverts to a showdown where Joe teams up with a crusty old vampire slayer (played by maverick movie-maker Sam Fuller, and there's also a cheeky reference to his film Pickup on South Street) who just happens to have blown into the town. There occurs that same abrupt change of tone that happened in John Carpenter's They Live which, beginning as this quietly unsettling SF thriller, suddenly veered off into high camp territory with the scene where Roddy Piper decides it's time to 'kick ass and chew bubblegum'. To it's credit, RTSL goes for much longer before the camping grounds are laid, and even after that, retains a good modicum of interest.

Thus while not entirely streamlined or satisfying, RTSL is a film with several points of interest and IMO one that deserves a better appreciation than it has thus far received.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by klauswhereareyou

If only Criterion would release a Femme Fatale blu ray!

I would faint! I'm gonna dust off my DVD sometime this month.

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I would faint! I'm gonna dust off my DVD sometime this month.

I have yet to see it, but my library has a copy and I'm going to check it out today.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

I have yet to see it, but my library has a copy and I'm going to check it out today.

Sweet! It's weird that you are starting with Femme Fatale of all places

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Sweet! It's weird that you are starting with Femme Fatale of all places

Well, I've seen Carrie and Passion. The concept just intrigues me most of Femme Fatale. I'm going to grab Black Dahlia as well. What would you have suggested as a jumping off point?

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

Well, I've seen Carrie and Passion. The concept just intrigues me most of Femme Fatale. I'm going to grab Black Dahlia as well. What would you have suggested as a jumping off point?

Don't expect to like The Black Dhalia very much. There's so much wrong with that film that it isn't even funny.

[JHas]

Originally Posted by ravenus

I actually like the Larry Cohen directed RtSL. It has a number of flaws but for a long part of its running time I thought it really took the vampire mythos to a different and interesting place.

Quoting from a review I'd written a very long time ago:

Thanks for sharing, I actually did get a bit of a kick out of the campiness of the film, I agree the execution was pretty bad, but given the fact that I sat through the whole thing shows it does have some merit, as there are some films I do like that I can't make it through in one sitting.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

Well, I've seen Carrie and Passion. The concept just intrigues me most of Femme Fatale. I'm going to grab Black Dahlia as well. What would you have suggested as a jumping off point?

I really suggest going chronological with DePalma. Or something like that. Black Dahlia and Mission Impossible, Mission to Mars, etc. you should check out last.

Try seeing Scarface, Blow Out, Dressed to Kill, and maybe Carlito's Way first. Not because if their quality, but just to get a gist of what DePalma is all about, what the average cinephile has seen by him. When you go deeper (Body Double, Femme Fatale, The Fury, etc), it'll be that much more satisfying. I didn't discover DePalma as an artist, something more than a commercial filmmaker until I saw Femme Fatale, Body Double, Dressed to Kill & Blow Out. I think they are much stronger pieces than his gangster films.

One thing to keep in mind: DePalma is a bloody, sexual expressionist. Set pieces & images is what he is all about. Black Dahlia may have some narrative issues, but the images are indelible. I'd rather have an extravangantly intoxicating incoherent mess over a film with a good story, yet nothing that captivates my senses.

Can't wait to see Passion.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by dannyfriar

For those that have made blind purchases, what has been your favourite, and least favourite?

I tend to like most Criterion titles I've bought, and perhaps close to half have been blind-buys, but I tend to buy only movies I already like or expect to like from what I've read or seen before, and avoid movies I expect to dislike. I'm far more likely to blind-buy a Criterion, Masters of Cinema, Kino, Olive, or Twilight Time title than releases by other distributors.

Favorite Criterion blind buys include

EVERLASTING MOMENTS (most favorite)

Others in no particular order...
LEON MORIN, PRIEST
PEOPLE ON SUNDAY
LIFE IS SWEET
MYSTERY TRAIN
CRONOS
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA
RIDE WITH THE DEVIL
SUMMER HOURS
BRANDED TO KILL
PALE FLOWER
THE LIFE & DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP
PINA
THE KID WITH A BIKE
THREE COLORS TRILOGY
LE BEAU SERGE
HOUSE
THE NAKED KISS
KILLER'S KISS


Least favorite Criterion blind-buys would definitely be
WEEKEND (Godard) and
FISH TANK
but even those are films I can appreciate for what they are, even if I would rarely re-watch them.


A few especially favorite non-Criterion blind-buys include
TOKYO SONATA
POETRY
I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG
GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES
MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW

[The Great Owl]

I made a final trip to Barnes & Noble for this month's 50% off sale today after getting more coin than I expected from selling off some DVDs. Here's my Criterion haul...

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Bigger Than Life
The Double Life of Veronique
Three Colors Trilogy (Blue/White/Red)

Two older Technicolor films that I look forward to seeing in high definition.
Two 1990s eye candy purchases that I look forward to seeing in high definition.

I've already seen The Double Life of Veronique and the Three Colors Trilogy, as I owned them on DVD, so I know what kind of puzzles I'm getting into, and they're all great offbeat titles.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and Bigger Than Life are blind buys, but I've done some extensive homework on them.

Also...

When I was at the used store, I spotted a $10 used copy of the 3-disc Battle Royale (The Complete Collection). For years, I've owned a bootleg DVD copy of the first Battle Royale that I found at an Asian specialty store at a local mall. That first film is a guilty pleasure of mine, so I'm glad to kick the bootleg to the curb at long last. I would not have been surprised if the first Battle Royale film had been picked up by Criterion, but this is an Anchor Bay Blu-ray release.

[Show spoiler]