The Criterion Collection

[SilentDawn]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

This reminds me. Stephen King is publishing new novel next month, Doctor Sleep. The book is about Danny Torrance, the boy from The Shining, as an adult.

I'm planning to re-read my copy of The Shining, because it's been a couple of decades since I last read that book, and I'd like it fresh in my mind when I read Doctor Sleep.

I can't wait for that book! The Shining is one of my dream criterion titles but the WB Blu is already good.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jw007

Brazil is a film that I still cannot figure out after all these years, but upon another viewing a few months ago, I enjoyed certain parts of the film. Still, I can understand how so many people just "don't get it" because it is so quirky and eccentric, mixing mostly fantasy and a bit of mythology with a drop of science fiction. It's truly a hybrid film.

21 years have gone by since I saw Brazil at the theater, so I might be doing myself a favor to check it out again. I'm a different person now than I was 21 years ago (not in the bleak John Frankenheimer sense, but simply in terms of age and experience), so I might relate to the offbeat nature of the film a lot more.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

21 years have gone by since I saw Brazil at the theater, so I might be doing myself a favor to check it out again. I'm a different person now than I was 21 years ago (not in the bleak John Frankenheimer sense, but simply in terms of age and experience), so I might relate to the offbeat nature of the film a lot more.

Yes, Brazil also has a strange Orwellian sense to it I noticed. It also has a bit of "Steampunk" to it also. It's such an odd movie that you probably will appreciate it more now I'm sure. I think Jonathan Pryce makes for an unusual lead character in any film, so it could be the choice of actors (and how alienating/unlikeable they are) that make some viewers turned off.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by EricJ

It's that Gilliam thinks he's a lot more "satirical" than he actually is, just because he can make his production design look like his old cavernous-cathedral Python toons.
I remember seeing in the theater, and in the scene where the restaurant waiter is annoyed because Sam isn't ordering by number, I could actually hear some audience mutters around me of "Oh, bro-ther! !"
Either you liked Time Bandits because of the neato kids-fantasy, and found the "Materialistic suburban satire" opening painfully forced, or, like Gilliam, you thought Time Bandits was this entire cynical Vonnegut-like satire from start to finish--But if it's the former, then you probably gritted your teeth through most of Baron Munchhausen as well, and wished that one could've thought it was a little less clever.

Brazil had amassed this huge "martyr" reputation by the time it opened for Universal burying/editing the movie, which made us all want to cuddle, embrace, and reassure it as "art", but even Siskel & Ebert panned the film for too much money spent on too little wit.
(In re the desk: "I was reminded of a Chaplin film, 'Modern Times,' and reminded, too, that in Chaplin economy and simplicity were virtues, not the enemy."

I can see the argument that Gilliam's slapstick touches are merely grafted onto the film and may only come off as artifice to some viewers, but I really fell for it all those years ago. I thought it was hugely clever. Sure, I was at a more impressionable age, I hadn't seen anything from the silent greats--Chaplin's Modern Times, Lloyd, Keaton--or anything by Tati, so...I may need to revisit it.

(Just signed up for all the classes I need to graduate. I should pop in an inspirational/hopeful CC)

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

(Just signed up for all the classes I need to graduate. I should pop in an inspirational/hopeful CC)

Seconds is the perfect choice.

I kid! I kid!

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Seconds is the perfect choice.

I kid! I kid!

It was a casual weekday afternoon when I first saw it and needless to say, it altered my mood significantly for the rest of the day.

If I had Frances Ha, I would pop that in.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

I like Gilliam from what I've seen.
Plus I like him for this. [Terry Gilliam criticizes Spielberg and Schindler's List - YouTube]

I've been saying something similar for the past 20 years. The way I compare the two is to say that Kubrick is Oz the Great and Powerful, while Spielberg is the man behind the curtain pulling levers and barking into a microphone.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by starman15317

*raises hand* I like Brazil

I don't like Brazil. I love Brazil. One of my top films of the 80s.

Now a generally-loved Gilliam film that I was not happy with was 12 Monkeys.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

If I had Frances Ha, I would pop that in.

I'm about to watch Mud, because I rented it from the Redbox booth down the street.

I came home to find that my copy of Strangers on a Train had arrived from Amazon, but I'm probably going to wait until this weekend to see that one for the first time.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm about to watch Mud, because I rented it from the Redbox booth down the street.

I came home to find that my copy of Strangers on a Train had arrived from Amazon, but I'm probably going to wait until this weekend to see that one for the first time.

Can't wait to hear your take on both. I have a feeling Mud may crack your top five for the year

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

Shocking art-house news of the day: 'Blue is the Warmest Color' gets an NC-17 rating.

Possible Criterion release. I can't wait to see it.

[Show spoiler]Oh hush.

Trailer.

Blue Is the Warmest Color Official International Trailer (2013) - YouTube

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

Trailer.
Blue Is the Warmest Color Official International Trailer (2013) - YouTube

Looks so good (even if I don't understand what's being said and YT's subtitles suck).

[the sordid sentinel]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I don't like Brazil. I love Brazil. One of my top films of the 80s.

Now a generally-loved Gilliam film that I was not happy with was 12 Monkeys.

I am a huge fan of both. Love them more on each repeat viewing. Give 12 Monkeys a 2nd, dedicated viewing if you haven't already. It really grows on you. David Morse is chilling in that movie..the type of psycho that scares me the most.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Looks so good (even if I don't understand what's being said and YT's subtitles suck).

It does. Looks beautiful. Just upped my anticipation even further.

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I don't like Brazil. I love Brazil. One of my top films of the 80s.

Now a generally-loved Gilliam film that I was not happy with was 12 Monkeys.

You should check out the film that was its inspiration, La Jettee, which just happens to be available on Criterion blu-ray.

[14728]

I've never seen Brazil, but I might check it out, because Doug Walker (the creator of the Nostalgia Critic, a great web series) says it's his favorite film of all time. Plus, with some saying they love Brazil, while others say they hate it, I need to see it to chose my side.

[The Bronx Bull]

Wow! I never knew there was such disdain for Brazil. That film easily falls into my top ten Criterions - easily.

Anybody need a 27B/6 filled out?

[RandyK]

I love Brazil. Definitely in my top 5 Criterions.

[smoss469]

Can't wait for the Zatoichi set. 25 movies for about $150? Heck yeah!

[JoeDeM]

Originally Posted by The Bronx Bull

Wow! I never knew there was such disdain for Brazil. That film easily falls into my top ten Criterions - easily.

Anybody need a 27B/6 filled out?

Harry Tuttle: Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there's trouble, a man alone. Now they got the whole country sectioned off, you can't make a move without a form.

In my top 5 Criterions as well.