The Criterion Collection

[The Great Owl]

I filled two glaring holes in my Blu-ray collection today by grabbing The Outlaw Josey Wales and Unforgiven at long last. I used to watch both of these every other month or so on DVD, but kept putting off the upgrade (probably because I used to watch both of these every other month or so on DVD). At any rate, this will fill the void for my Labor Day holiday viewings.

It also makes me wonder if Thunderbolt and Lightfoot will be making a dent in the Collection in 2014, as the filmmaker's Twitter post indicated a while back.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by iScottie

[Show spoiler]

In Delmer Daves' 1957 western, rancher Dan Evans is tasked with the burdensome duty of bringing notorious outlaw Ben Wade to Contention City in order to catch the 3:10 train to Yuma. Should he complete this task, he will be awarded $200, something that he and his family significantly need. What Dan Evans soon finds out is that this is no easy job. Not only does Ben Wade keep giving him promising bribes, but Wade's gang is also on their way to Contention City to try to free their noble leader.

While this film has a moderately decent storyline and great acting by Glenn Ford, it does not have much else going on for it. I personally prefer the remake to this original because it is a lot more intimate and it gives the viewer a more complete story. Although this original film is rather shallow, I found myself enjoying the strong start at the beginning of Act 1. Unfortunately as the film progressed, I noticed myself being less and less engrossed with the story and the characters.

My biggest recommendation to the script writers would have been to focus more on how the characters got from Point A to Point C, instead of choosing to rely too much on excessive dialogue to pass the time.

If you're a fan of westerns, then I would recommend this film to you. Otherwise, if you want a complete, less predictable and better acted story, I would recommend checking out James Mangold's 2007 remake of this film instead.

Thanks for your review!

I personally became more and more immersed in 3:10 to Yuma during the hotel room scene in the last half. The interactions between Ford and Heflin are so subtly intense.

I think that this 1957 original of 3:10 to Yuma knocks the remake flat on the ground, rubs its face in the dust, gives it an uncomfortable wedgie, and steals its lunch money. I'm probably in the minority, though.

You're spot-on about Glenn Ford's acting. He is brilliant in the film.

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Thanks for your review!

I personally became more and more immersed in 3:10 to Yuma during the hotel room scene in the last half. The interactions between Ford and Heflin are so subtly intense.

I think that this 1957 original of 3:10 to Yuma knocks the remake flat on the ground, rubs its face in the dust, gives it an uncomfortable wedgie, and steals its lunch money. I'm probably in the minority, though.

You're spot-on about Glenn Ford's acting. He is brilliant in the film.

Nope! I'm with you 100%. That hotel scene had me and my friend on the edge of our seats when we caught it at our reperatory theater.
I thought we got more than enough of an idea of how Hefflins family life was and his relationship with his wife was conveyed nicely. It kept it all at a perfect length.
I've watched this blu ray plenty of times since picking it up in may and couldn't be happier with it.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by JoeBuck

Nope! I'm with you 100%. That hotel scene had me and my friend on the edge of our seats when we caught it at our reperatory theater.
I thought we got more than enough of an idea of how Hefflins family life was and his relationship with his wife was conveyed nicely. It kept it all at a perfect length.
I've watched this blu ray plenty of times since picking it up in may and couldn't be happier with it.

I was actually the opposite during the hotel scenes. I couldn't stay focused for the life of me.

In all fairness, I only gave about 80% of myself when watching it, but I had seen more than enough.

Also, I didn't like the happy ending of the original, as opposed to the more tragic one of the remake.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I think that this 1957 original of 3:10 to Yuma knocks the remake flat on the ground, rubs its face in the dust, gives it an uncomfortable wedgie, and steals its lunch money. I'm probably in the minority, though.

The remake was what finally pushed me over into hating Russell Crowe (and his one eternally superior smug-martyr expression ) as insufferably 2 Cool 2 Act.

Should get around to seeing the original sometime, back when making westerns came second nature to Hollywood, and making good ones was just that much better.

[The Great Owl]

I should clarify that I do not believe that the 2007 remake was a bad movie by any stretch. I enjoyed the acting of all involved. It's just that I totally forgot about that movie when I saw the original a year or so later.

I find that I'm enjoying Western movies more than ever after buying a Blu-ray player. I like the way that the sprawling vistas look in the format.

Criterion should certainly release The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or Lonely Are the Brave.

[SidneyFalco]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

I was also trying to see what films would make a good CC release and thought about Citizen Kane. I have seen the new 70th Anniversary edition, but I'm wondering if CC could do anything else with it... if they could get the rights, and there could be anything else done. Same thing with A Streetcar Named Desire.

They did have Kane in the Laserdisc collection. It was Spine #1, their very first release, then re-issued again as a 50th Anniversary edition with a few new extras (including the documentary The Legacy of Citizen Kane and Welles's early short The Hearts of Age).

In regards to the transfer, the negative is lost, so I doubt it would look any better. And as far as extras, I think the Collector's edition is pretty extensive for a film that old, which probably didn't have much behind the scenes material available anyway.

[Scottie]

Good news: I like 8 1/2 more on my second viewing.
Bad news: I still hate it.

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I should clarify that I do not believe that the 2007 remake was a bad movie by any stretch. I enjoyed the acting of all involved. It's just that I totally forgot about that movie when I saw the original a year or so later.

I find that I'm enjoying Western movies more than ever after buying a Blu-ray player. I like the way that the sprawling vistas look in the format.

Criterion should certainly release The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance or Lonely Are the Brave.

I just learned that the UK Paramount Pictures blu-ray release of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has price-dropped to 8 pounds. With the current exchange rates, you can get it shipped to you for the total price of $15.70.

Here is the link:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-M...Blu-ray/67085/

The disc is region-free.

[The Great Owl]

I'm almost finished with Season Three of The Twilght Zone Blu-ray set. I just finished watching "The Trade-Ins." The similarities between "The Trade-Ins" and John Frankenheimer's Seconds are quite noticeable. This simply maximizes my admiration for what Frankenheimer accomplished with the concept. Pure genius, both the episode and the film.

[dag]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Unbelievable film!

It describes modern Italy with surgical precision.



Pro-B

I'll be seeing this on September 9, at the Toronto International Film Festival.

[Scottie]

In 1963, Federico Fellini wrote an autobiographical, self-reflection film entitled 8½. The title of the film refers to the number of films that Fellini himself had personal made up until this point and it deals extensively with how difficult the writing process can be.

Guido, the protagonist of the film, is a director suffering from writers' block while writing his new science fiction film. As he struggles to write this film, he comes into contact with a number of faces, both new and old, as well as many memories and fantasies of his own life.

I have seen the film twice now, and I will admit that I liked it a lot better on the second viewing. With that being said, I still sincerely dislike this film. I personally feel that it is a rather long film about a rather uninteresting subject. I will admit that I enjoy the first half of the film or so, but after the midway point, I struggle to make sense of what is real and not real and I find myself significantly losing interest.

After this second viewing, I see this film as nothing more than Guido reflecting on the events of his life that led to him being a director. I also see it as Guido trying to weave in some of his past experiences into this new story that he is attempting to write.

Despite how unique this film may be, I do not see many redeeming qualities about it. It does have a unique soundtrack, though, which helped pass the time.

½



Sidney Lumet's 1957 masterpiece still lives up to being the best courtroom drama to date.

In the film, twelve very different men are stuck in a jury room on the hottest day of the year with the difficult task of deciding whether a young man murdered his father or not. With emotions running rampant, each person's true colors come out to stay.

While this film is a courtroom case on the surface, it speaks greatly about how easy it is to give an inaccurate verdict. Personal prejudices and disinterest, among other things, can lead to false viewpoints and can ultimately spare or end a person's life.

12 Angry Men is an essential film for any movie lover. With each actor's knockout performances, this film is one that will not be forgotten any time soon.

Long story short: You cannot go wrong with a blind buy of this film. It is one of the closest things to perfection.

[mdonovan]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Sidney Lumet's 1957 masterpiece still lives up to being the best courtroom drama to date.

In the film, twelve very different men are stuck in a jury room on the hottest day of the year with the difficult task of deciding whether a young man murdered his father or not. With emotions running rampant, each person's true colors come out to stay.

While this film is a courtroom case on the surface, it speaks greatly about how easy it is to give an inaccurate verdict. Personal prejudices and disinterest, among other things, can lead to false viewpoints and can ultimately spare or end a person's life.

12 Angry Men is an essential film for any movie lover. With each actor's knockout performances, this film is one that will not be forgotten any time soon.

Long story short: You cannot go wrong with a blind buy of this film. It is one of the closest things to perfection.

+ 12 bajillion




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[retablo]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Good news: I like 8 1/2 more on my second viewing.
Bad news: I still hate it.

To be honest, after the first brilliant hour, it starts to wear on me, too.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm almost finished with Season Three of The Twilght Zone Blu-ray set. I just finished watching "The Trade-Ins." The similarities between "The Trade-Ins" and John Frankenheimer's Seconds are quite noticeable. This simply maximizes my admiration for what Frankenheimer accomplished with the concept. Pure genius, both the episode and the film.

Not to mention the fact that, with 3-D printing starting to ramp up, some scientists and futurists claim that within 20-30 years, we may indeed be able to take our genetics and print ourselves new, younger bodies. There are already people working on computers that can upload our consciousness, so transferring it to a new body could be a viable thing in the future.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by retablo

To be honest, after the first brilliant hour, it starts to wear on me, too.

Yeah, I really like the start of the film.

We can clearly see that Guido is suffering from something trapped within his subconscious. It's probably the reason why he struggles so much with writing his new story.

On top of that, I think the soundtrack and character introductions is the strongest in the first hour, and then it gets bizarre and boring as the film moves on. I think one of the funniest scenes is when he's in the lobby of the hotel and everybody is trying to get his attention for something and he's overwhelmed.

[jw007]

Not Criterion-related but today I used a Barnes & Noble 15% coupon and bought Amour, the recent film by Michael Haneke. The film was also already 30% off plus I bought a new membership (it just expired) and saved another 10%. The MSRP on that is $35.99 but I got it for $19.27 + tax! On Amazon it is selling for $24.99 so I know I saved some money.

[jayj15]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I have seen the film twice now, and I will admit that I liked it a lot better on the second viewing. With that being said, I still sincerely dislike this film. I personally feel that it is a rather long film about a rather uninteresting subject. I will admit that I enjoy the first half of the film or so, but after the midway point, I struggle to make sense of what is real and not real and I find myself significantly losing interest.


½

Uninteresting subject?? It's a movie about film! And trying to figure out what is real and not real is part of the fun of it.

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by jayj15

Uninteresting subject?? It's a movie about film! And trying to figure out what is real and not real is part of the fun of it.

different people different kind of tastes in movies. i love to read the mixed reviews for criterion movies at amazon.

and its nice to explore all these movies after reading about peoples opinions in this thread and in the reviews.


currently i own 27 criterion release + 6 more that i ordered yesterday + several other "criterion" movies from other labels .
around half a year ago i owned "zero"

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Is it Volume one or two?

I do believe it is Volume 1. It's the one from 2012 with 3:10 to Yuma...