The Criterion Collection

[jw007]

PS. I'm a Special Member now with over 1,000 posts! I feel so special.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by jw007

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.

I guess by default if it's the only Criterion title that takes place at Thanksgiving or has a Thanksgiving theme, but it's a pretty damn depressing film to watch over the holidays IMO.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

I guess by default if it's the only Criterion title that takes place at Thanksgiving or has a Thanksgiving theme, but it's a pretty damn depressing film to watch over the holidays IMO.

Well, if you're Wendy Hood from that movie, you would also agree that its a depressing holiday:

Wendy Hood: "Dear Lord, thank you for this Thanksgiving holiday. And for all the material possessions we have and enjoy. And for letting us white people kill all the Indians and steal their tribal lands. And stuff ourselves like pigs, even though children in Asia are being napalmed."

I guess it all is subjective.

[RiFiFi1955]

Originally Posted by bdmartin134

oooo I just realized Bicycle Thieves is pictureboxed.. Is it really noticeable and annoying?

Originally Posted by Gusto-Guus

I own Bicycle Thieves and I honestly can't even remember it being picture boxed so I'll say, no.

Yeah Bicycle Thieves is windowboxed a tad but it is not really noticeable and definitely not annoying. Unless you are looking for it you don't even notice. I just popped my disk in and on my 40' TV I get an inch black bar on the top of the image and a half an inch on the bottom...but like I said once you step away from the TV and are just watching you can't even tell. I am sure the width of the top and bottom black bars vary depending on the size of your TV however.

Originally Posted by Gusto-Guus

Citizen Kane is picture boxed too and that's still as great as advertised.

Are you referring to one of Kane's older DVD releases? Because the Blu-ray is windowboxed at all.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by jw007

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

I know it's the only watchable John Hughes film ever made, but there has to be another choice.

(In my day, junior, they used to show long three-hour family movies on the networks and local stations, so the crew could take the day off--Thanksgiving in my childhood meant Willy Wonka, Sound of Music or Chitty/Bang on the networks after dinner, and Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm on the local stations during the afternoons while the turkey was smelling up the kitchen. And then, of course, the opening "starter pistol" for Christmas movies on The Day After Thanksgiving, which didn't have a name back then, and was reserved for family Christmas specials.

Any one of the named three is mandatory annual Thanksgiving viewing for me, with the sole exception that you ain't gettin' me to watch Sound of Music again. Maybe I'll actually plug in the VCR again after three years, and pop in the Grimm tape.

Originally Posted by jw007

Well, if you're Wendy Hood from that movie, you would also agree that its a depressing holiday:

Wendy Hood: "Dear Lord, thank you for this Thanksgiving holiday. And for all the material possessions we have and enjoy. And for letting us white people kill all the Indians and steal their tribal lands. And stuff ourselves like pigs, even though children in Asia are being napalmed."

I guess it all is subjective.

One kindergarten teacher, rather overeager to atone for his White Guilt, got into serious trouble a couple years ago for trying to "outreach" his kindergarten class with a unique Thanksgiving class activity on pretending what it was like to have ruthless invaders come and take your land away from you.
Some of the loudest criticism came from Native-born education experts--saying, in effect, "you don't cross that line with preschoolers, paleface"--emphasizing that it was "better to learn the myth", to instill the concept of tolerance early on.
(I've often brought up that story complaining about James Cameron's direction of Avatar. )

Now, as for Christina Ricci being a dysfunctional snotbag...well, when isn't she? It's an Ang Lee film, fer ricecakes, and they should never have given him Marvel characters.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by EricJ

One kindergarten teacher, rather overeager to atone for his White Guilt, got into serious trouble a couple years ago for trying to "outreach" his kindergarten class with a unique Thanksgiving class activity on pretending what it was like to have ruthless invaders come and take your land away from you.
Some of the loudest criticism came from Native-born education experts--saying, in effect, "you don't cross that line with preschoolers, paleface"--emphasizing that it was "better to learn the myth", to instill the concept of tolerance early on.
(I've often brought up that story complaining about James Cameron's direction of Avatar. )

Now, as for Christina Ricci being a dysfunctional snotbag...well, when isn't she? It's an Ang Lee film, fer ricecakes.

Interesting. And yes, Christina Ricci's characters in many films are some of the most annoying in cinematic history.

Didn't know that story about the kindergarten teacher who got criticized by Native Americans.

Okay, now I'm thinking once again of the Cherokee Elevator Operator from Insignificance for some reason.

[Gusto-Guus]

Originally Posted by RiFiFi1955

Are you referring to one of Kane's older DVD releases? Because the Blu-ray is windowboxed at all.

The 70th anniversary edition on blu-ray. I remember the black-bars on each side.

[Ausjdm]

My friend and I saw his copy he just bought of Homicide. Really good movie def Mamet style all the way. Good indie film I recommend if you want a not talked about CC blind buy.

Also anyone seen I Am Curious? Never heard of it but the box art at b&n was cool looking....

[Gusto-Guus]

Someone mentioned Spinal Tap hopefully coming to Criterion. Not sure how C could top the band commentaries on the bluray currently available.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by Gusto-Guus

Someone mentioned Spinal Tap hopefully coming to Criterion. Not sure how C could top the band commentaries on the bluray currently available.

Criterion released it on DVD many years ago but it went OOP when MGM released their own DVD and then blu ray. It had its own set of features/commentaries.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by 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.

The Brattle Theater, an art/rep theater in the Boston area, once showed as a double-bill Babe and Delicatessen.

(Think about it.)

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by jayembee

The Brattle Theater, an art/rep theater in the Boston area, once showed as a double-bill Babe and Delicatessen.

(Think about it.)

Hehe. I love that theater. Just went the other night.

[jayembee]

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?

Generally speaking, I never watch holiday-themed movies around the appropriate holidays. I tried doing a mega-marathon of horror movies this October, but other stuff kept getting in the way.

Anyway, my wife likes to watch Christmas movies around Christmas, so we have all of them together on the shelve. And she watches 1776 on the Fourth of July every year.

But me, I make it a point to watch It's a Wonderful Life during the summer, just to be contrary. It was filmed during the summer, anyway. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I also don't watch The Ten Commandments around Easter, either. The few times I've had a hankering to watch a religious-themed movie around Easter, I picked Franco Zeferelli's Jesus of Nazareth.

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by 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!

Rosemary's Baby is an amazing film that follows the book religiously (pun intended.) The opening shot

[Show spoiler]with Mia Farrow singing that haunting lull-a-bye while the camera pans the New York skyline circa 1966 is perfect.

What made the movie so horrifying to me was

[Show spoiler]that the coven was comprised of relatively common people. With the exception of a few guests at the end (like the Japanese photographer and Argyron Stavropoulos - that guy really creeped me out) celebrating the baby's birth, the rest of them were all old. In a way, it's kind of like churches today where it's difficult to get the young people to join.

[SilentDawn]

I have to watch holiday-themed films near the respective holiday, that's just how I do things. I am a hardcore Christmas fan, so watching films as we get nearer to the holidays is one of the great ways to get you excited.

Anyways, I might watch Three Colors: Blue tonight, not sure if I want a depressing film today though.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by EricJ

I know it's the only watchable John Hughes film ever made, but there has to be another choice.

Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club are still eminently watchable, even if they aren't quite as good as I remembered them being back when I first saw them,

But, seriously? I mean, seriously? You don't consider Ferris Bueller's Day Off to be at all watchable?

Now, as for Christina Ricci being a dysfunctional snotbag...well, when isn't she? It's an Ang Lee film, fer ricecakes, and they should never have given him Marvel characters.

Shrug, indeed. Hulk was much, much better than The Incredible Hulk.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Gusto-Guus

The 70th anniversary edition on blu-ray. I remember the black-bars on each side.

That's different. Pretty much anything made before 1953/1954 is going to have black bars on the sides on a widescreen TV. With rare exceptions, all movies made before then were 4x3.

Others are talking about "windowboxing", which means having at least a strip of black all around the picture, to counter TVs that overscan.

[14728]

I spoiled myself at the criterion sale with Hoop Dreams*, Following*, House*, Bicycle Thieves*, On the Waterfront, Brazil, and Godzilla. I watched Following today. It was really good.
* = DVD

[mrjohnnyb]

In addition to the current Criterion Collection sale, Barnes and Noble is also having another sale: 50% off Art House films. On their list, you can get for the following prices:

That Obscure Object of Desire -Lionsgate Films ($14.99)
High Noon -Olive Films ($14.99)
The Quiet Man -Olive Films ($14.99)
Russian Ark -Lorber Films ($17.49)
Nosferatu -Kino Video ($19.99)

Those are the cheapest prices for those films on-line...yes, even cheaper than importcds.com...and the sale only goes until while supplies last.

[SilentDawn]

Originally Posted by 14728

I spoiled myself at the criterion sale with Hoop Dreams*, Following*, House*, Bicycle Thieves*, On the Waterfront, Brazil, and Godzilla. I watched Following today. It was really good.
* = DVD

That is an awesome haul, I picked up Hoop Dreams as a blind buy; can't wait to watch it.

House is epic as well, frankly; it's absolutely insane.