The Criterion Collection

[14728]

Its official. Tomorrow I'm going to the sale. Can't Wait.

[mrjohnnyb]

I used my two 20% off Barnes and Noble coupons to purchase two Criterion Collection blu-rays:

John Cassevetes: Five Films
and
3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman

Coupled with the current sale and the fact that I purchased them in the state of Delaware (no sales tax), the grand total for both was:

$90

I am a very happy man!

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by RiFiFi1955

I agree with all of this. Yeah The Naked City just didn't do it for me either. The other two great Criterion DVD's along these lines are Thieves Highway and Night and the City...these definitely should not be over-looked...DVD or not! I still buy DVD's...if I want the film in my collection and the only format it is currently on is DVD well then so be it, sometimes a blu of a title you just bought will get announced but so then you just double dip a little But most of the time I find you will have ample time to enjoy the film on DVD before a blu-ray gets announced, and like the poster pondering over whether to go for the DVD's or not said some may never make the upgrade and if they do it may be a ways off.

Mark Hellinger's narration on The Naked City is definitely a bit too laid back and monotonal. It needed Reed Hadley's voice of authority and more substantial leads. In the plus column is it's location cinematography, Miklos Rozsa score, and Ted de Corsia was always a great bad guy.

[hustlermane]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

I used my two 20% off Barnes and Noble coupons to purchase two Criterion Collection blu-rays:

John Cassevetes: Five Films
and
3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman

Coupled with the current sale and the fact that I purchased them in the state of Delaware (no sales tax), the grand total for both was:

$90

I am a very happy man!

You should be arrested for highway robbery :P Nice pickup!

[Hintermann]

I have decided to get 4 more Criterion Blu-rays

The Game
Insignificance
People on Sunday
Safety Last!

Still undecided about La Notte. I want the film all right and the Criterion release has better extras but am being seduced by the far more imaginative cover art of the Region B Masters of Cinema release.

[Cvalda]

I blind bought La Notte on Friday, along with Kuroneko, Life is Sweet and The Ice Storm.

La Notte is astonishing. I was worried it was gonna be a lesser companion piece to his other films of that era since it never really got a proper release here before now, but it's just as good as L'Avventura, L'Eclisse and Red Desert. Ending is very powerful, and the visuals are incredible.

[bluesilo]

Finally gave The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp another try last night and...I ended up really enjoying it.

I think I just had to make it up to the duel to really get into it. There's so many layers to the story and plenty of things to take away. Add that to the amazing transfer and features and it really is a fantastic package.

[Gusto-Guus]

Originally Posted by 14728

Its official. Tomorrow I'm going to the sale. Can't Wait.

It's the closest most of us will ever get to experiencing those youtube videos of directors and actors picking out three titles from Criterion's closet.

[Banned User]

Originally Posted by SilentxStatik24

I would love to see Fantastic Mr. Fox and Persona. Here are some that I would be most excited for an upgrade:

Bicycle Thieves
Carnival of Souls
Armageddon (say what you will, it's junk-food cinema at it's most bombastic and cheesy. IMO it's a blast!)
The Passion of Joan of Arc

The Passion of Joan of Arc is long overdue. The MoC Release looked wonderful!

[bwdowiak]

my goodness.. just seeing the different films that everyone has been talking about here over the weekend... I have a lot of catching up to do!

Over the weekend, I saw Rosemary's Baby for the first time. I know that it's covered in Classic Films 101, but I was never too interested in seeing it. Anyhow, I was blown away by it. Absolutely loved it. I've had a chance to see close to 10 Criterion titles recently and somehow each film outdoes the one that I saw previously. The characters, the sense of place and time ("NY Gothic," as the Criterion '3 reasons' video states), the suspense... all second to none. I'm not a big fan of the horror genre, so I guess I had a generic choice as my 'favorite horror film,' that being The Shining. This now gets my top spot!

Not an original thought here, but here is something Ebert had to say about Rosemary's Baby:

"You may find it disturbing to see audiences laughing while watching "The Exorcist"(1973), but you will probably not see any problem in having some laugh with "Rosemary’s Baby" (1968). It goes without saying that they are two of the most chilling modern horror films, but, while the former unsettles us with its utmost solemnness parodied many times since it came out, the latter has a spooky sense of humor immune to parodies. How can you make an effective parody to undermine a horror film if it already has a devilish tongue slyly placed on its dark cheek?"

THAT, to me, is what made this film great!

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Tin Drum

No, but it's an amazing film and was a blind buy for me a few years ago. But I just love avant-garde, arty films. And, yes, the score is breathtaking. The final five minutes are aces.

I watched Insignificance last night and definitely enjoyed it. There is an "arthouse" feel to the film but at times it reminded me of that Malle film My Dinner with Andre, as most of the film took place inside a hotel room (with the exception of flashbacks and such). The last few minutes are pretty wild though...the acting is quite good. The only thing I didn't understand was some of the editing style, especially with some of the erotic "montage" sequences. I feel that Roeg tends to use this similar type of erotica in his films and it definitely is an "auteur" thing with him. The electronic music by Hans Zimmer totally reminded me of Rain Man with the Japanese/East Asian undertones (which worked in this film actually).

It was worth the blind buy purchase for me.

[vertigo12314]

Originally Posted by Banned User

The Passion of Joan of Arc is long overdue. The MoC Release looked wonderful!

I want that newly made score on the Criterion DVD.

[tama]

Blind bought La Notte over the weekend along with Orpheus from B&N. This upcoming weekend will be picking up City Lights and Safety Last!

Had already picked up The John Cassavetes box set from B&N.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jw007

I totally made an impulse/blind-buy purchase with Insignificance! Was this a wise blind-buy purchase? I read about the movie and what attracted me in the end was that Hans Zimmer worked on the score. He's one of my favorite film composers ever. I can't wait to watch this movie tonight.

Well, I think Insignificance is an absolutely delightful film! My favorite scene: The Actress explaining the Theory of Relativity to The Scientist. My favorite character, however, is none of the Big Four, but The Indian Elevator Operator, played by the late, great Will Sampson. I used to have a Jeep Cherokee that I named "Sampson" after him, because of a scene he has with Michael Emil (The Scientist) that's my second favorite scene in the film.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Well, I think Insignificance is an absolutely delightful film! My favorite scene: The Actress explaining the Theory of Relativity to The Scientist. My favorite character, however, is none of the Big Four, but The Indian Elevator Operator, played by the late, great Will Sampson. I used to have a Jeep Cherokee that I named "Sampson" after him, because of a scene he has with Michael Emil (The Scientist) that's my second favorite scene in the film.

Yes, I really liked what little I saw of The Cherokee Elevator Operator (I feel like a character such as that you might see in a Wes Anderson film, ya know?) and especially his scene on the rooftop (which I won't spoil for others who haven't seen it). Now that I also think about it, I hardly recall seeing any films based on Albert Einstein or at least showing characters of Einstein. This film is definitely unique in many ways.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by Cvalda

I blind bought La Notte on Friday, along with Kuroneko, Life is Sweet and The Ice Storm.

If you haven't seen The Ice Storm save that as your Thanksgiving Film or maybe for Black Friday. The film gets better everytime I see it.

[The Great Owl]

I watched the outstanding new Blu-ray of Philip Kaufman's The Right Stuff earlier today for my day off, and am now about to watch my Criterion Blu-ray of Brian De Palma's Blow Out.

If there's an award out there for the most ill-matched double feature selections, then I will probably win it. I probably shouldn't follow up the soaring high spirits of The Right Stuff with the Bicentennial bleakness of the De Palma film, but I've been waiting to see how Blow Out looks in high definition.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

If you haven't seen The Ice Storm save that as your Thanksgiving Film or maybe for Black Friday. The film gets better everytime I see it.

You know how It's a Wonderful Life is THE movie to watch around Christmas? Or The Ten Commandments is THE movie to watch around Easter? Well, The Ice Storm is THE movie to watch around Thanksgiving!

Anyone else agree too?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jw007

You know how It's a Wonderful Life is THE movie to watch around Christmas? Or The Ten Commandments is THE movie to watch around Easter? Well, The Ice Storm is THE movie to watch around Thanksgiving!

Anyone else agree too?

Sorry, but I always default to Planes, Trains and Automobiles every Thanksgiving without fail.

This discussion reminds me, however, that I'll be taking the long television version of Fanny and Alexander for another spin during December, because that movie is a Christmas tradition.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Sorry, but I always default to Planes, Trains and Automobiles every Thanksgiving without fail.

This discussion reminds me, however, that I'll be taking the long television version of Fanny and Alexander for another spin during December, because that movie is a Christmas tradition.

Well, I guess you can have more than one Thanksgiving movie to watch. And that is a great one indeed!

But keeping to the Criterion Collection theme...

Anyone else out there: I dare you to name a better Criterion film than The Ice Storm to watch around Thanksgiving.