The Criterion Collection

[Abdrewes]

Owl, that sounds like a bunch of fun! Vampyr and Spoorloos are all time horror greats. I saw that the latter was on TCM last year, I hope the channel continues to expose people to that masterpiece.

SimBelm, you're making me look bad I haven't seen a VHS in about ten years. But you are correct about DVD PQ. The transfer for Dogville, for example, was more than satisfactory and would easily get a 3/5 if it were a BluRay. To be honest, I may not even upgrade it considering how good it looks.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by blkhrt

I think the film is more a response to accusations that his films are misogynist. In the film, Her's belief system is based largely on misreading other texts.

Oh, that is a good way of thinking about it.

Originally Posted by SimBelm

I feel it's heavily implied in the film that

[Show spoiler]she intentionally killed her son. It's been a while since I saw it, but I believe she's the one who puts the baby monitor on mute, the ballons, bear, and chair by the window which is open (it's a bit strange to have a window open in the peak of Winter), spends the past year mutilating her son's feet so that he'd slip, and she's in complete control when having sex with Him, controlling where he is focusing visually and muffling his hearing with her moans. When Him pieces it all together (or at least once she believes he has when he finds an important clue, the shoes) she turns on him. Her grieving and mental state is far more understandable when you consider she has just committed infanticide. Combined with her self-pity and rationalization of her acts by saying that her son didn't think enough about her problems (despite being at an age when he wouldn't even be able to differentiate his own perspective from others), the film to me is an exploration of the idea of infanticide and what one chooses to attribute such an evil act to.

Another good take on the film.

So many great interpretations for it.

[SimBelm]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

SimBelm, you're making me look bad I haven't seen a VHS in about ten years. But you are correct about DVD PQ. The transfer for Dogville, for example, was more than satisfactory and would easily get a 3/5 if it were a BluRay. To be honest, I may not even upgrade it considering how good it looks.

Haha It's mainly Fassbinder's rare TV work, if only Criterion could get the rights to that stuff instead of their recent Eclipse set. Yeah I can understand that, some of my DVDs I don't see myself upgrading. Upgrades are mainly for films that I deeply love and would put in a top 100-250.

Originally Posted by iScottie

So many great interpretations for it.

Yeah I think it takes a lot of skill to make a film that can have so many interpretations that actually work and have enough clear evidence to support them.

Also I forgot to add

[Show spoiler]Her leaving her son to his own devices in a toolshed.

I think her latent hatred towards her son comes to the surface in several scenes, she feels oppressed by the assumption that she HAS to look after him, and that she isn't fully independant in the way she wants to be. The film is full of psychological questions about her mental state and behaviour. Scenes like when she brings up a word she's held onto that she believe's shows her Him's disrespect towards her life's work. Also the way she feels stifled by men when they are around her, yet feels resentment about being abandoned when they aren't there.

[smoss469]

Good ole Amazon delivers:

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by SimBelm

Yeah I think it takes a lot of skill to make a film that can have so many interpretations that actually work and have enough clear evidence to support them.

Also I forgot to add

[Show spoiler]Her leaving her son to his own devices in a toolshed.

I think her latent hatred towards her son comes to the surface in several scenes, she feels oppressed by the assumption that she HAS to look after him, and that she isn't fully independant in the way she wants to be. The film is full of psychological questions about her mental state and behaviour. Scenes like when she brings up a word she's held onto that she believe's shows her Him's disrespect towards her life's work. Also the way she feels stifled by men when they are around her, yet feels resentment about being abandoned when they aren't there.

Ah yes. She definitely has a lot of insecurities and issues with men that seem to stem back a long ways.

[The Narrator]

[SammyJankis]

Well I'm stumped.

[The Narrator]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

Well I'm stumped.

On CriterionForum, they said it was A Brief History of Time (get it, Stephen Hawking?). That's probably a good guess.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

Well I'm stumped.

And that's assuming we already have The Maltese Falcon.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Narrator

Queen Margot?

[jacobb1313]

Seeing the Eye thing makes me think it's M*A*S*H (character Hawkeye). But I've been wrong many, many times, and M*A*S*H is already out. Maybe with Nashville just announced, Altman's on my mind.

[Edward J Grug III]

The Fisher King?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by smoss469

Good ole Amazon delivers:

[Show spoiler]

This is a seriously awesome haul.

[Skorpius]

Season 1 of Falcon Crest, obviously.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by The Narrator

This is quite obviously a drawing of The Great Owl, and my favorite movie is Le Samouraï, so there you have it!

*Ahem*

Someone on Facebook mentioned the 1991 Errol Morris documentary on Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time.

I like the Queen Margot idea, though.

[Edward J Grug III]

Suggestion from the Facebook page:

Hawking. Stephen Hawking. Brief History of Time. Errol Morris set

[SimBelm]

Originally Posted by The Narrator

On CriterionForum, they said it was A Brief History of Time (get it, Stephen Hawking?). That's probably a good guess.

Seems likely with the confirmed Morris set.

[The Great Owl]

If Criterion releases a set of Errol Morris movies, then The Fog of War should definitely be included.

I saw The Fog of War at the theater several years ago. There's a chilling scene in the documentary where Robert McNamara discusses the estimated average number of human deaths caused by each bomb during the extensive firebombing of Tokyo, and we see actual footage of the bombs being dropped on Tokyo from an airplane camera view, except that the bombs have been digitally replaced by numbers to represent the deaths caused by each bomb. Every half second, we see a different random number drop out of the plane. 5, 12, 4, 9, 16, 1, 8, 13, etc.

[rock, stone]

Originally Posted by SimBelm

Seems likely with the confirmed Morris set.

Oh my!

Has a set been confirmed? I knew that Brief History was in the works but I've been slowly getting more and more out of the loop.

[hoytereden]

I have no problem with streaming. Sure, Blu is my preferred route with my audio system but I only have 1 HDTV and it becomes community property during the evening and the Criterion discs aren't a hot ticket for my wife and son. That's when I use my Tablet and Hulu Plus for my Criterion fix or I can break out my dvd only titles and watch on the bedroom tv. Granted, a 10 or 20" screen isn't ideal but...."any port in a storm"....that kind of thing!
I don't mind dvd watching either since some titles....who knows when? or even if?? will make the (up)grade. As has been mentioned-a well produced dvd upscaled can look pretty darned good!