The Criterion Collection

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I should watch a happy Criterion title tonight to celebrate. Happy Criterion titles... Safety Last! comes to mind.

Eating Raoul!

[Woodsy]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Just saw Yamada Yōji's The Twilight Samurai on Netflix. What a terrific movie! I'm surprised to see that it doesn't appear to be on Blu-ray in the US (or anywhere that would include English subtitles).

Would love to see Criterion work their magic on this one...to be honest, the PQ on the transfer I watched on Netflix left a lot to be desired.

It's the first Yamada film I've seen. Anyone here who has seen this, and other films of his who can say whether the others are as good?

I love Twilight Samurai too...it's probably my favorite of his that I've seen. Love and Honor is a close second though. Also good is The Hidden Blade which I have in my BD collection.

[kuro_sawa]

I just picked up Autumn Sonata and I am blown away by the 3 1/2 hr behind the scenes. This is probably the best special feature I've come across in any of my blus. Can you guys give me some more titles that have stuff like this? I'm blanking out. One that comes to mind is kieslowskis cinema lessons on the three colors discs but those are minutes long apiece. Maybe one of you will remind me of something already in my collection or give me something else to check out. The autumn sonata one is amazing.

Also, anyone hesitating to pick up the cassavettes box for under $50 is nuts. Faces, Killing of a Chinese bookie and A woman under the influence are classics and in my opinion they will hit you even harder if you don't know his style. The close up approach stuns me sometimes because I still see what wasn't even in the shot.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Speaking of crazy sale prices...

As I posted yesterday, I bought a MacBook Air yesterday after my faithful PC laptop died. I decided to go with the 11" screen ($950) instead of the 13" screen ($1,150) in order to stay in some semblance of budget.

After having fun with the MacBook at home for several hours last night and earlier this afternoon, though, I decided that it would be worth shelling out the extra $200 to have the bigger screen, so I boxed up my 11" and took it back to Best Buy.

It turned out that the 13" screen MacBook Air had gone on sale today, and was selling for $975.

So, it only cost me $25 more to upgrade from the 11" to the 13" screen. Score!


Sorry for the hijacking, but I had to tell someone somewhere.

I should watch a happy Criterion title tonight to celebrate. Happy Criterion titles... Safety Last! comes to mind.

Congrats on the purchase. My son uses a Mac at school for his Digital Media projects so, sometime in the future, we may be going this route also.

My happy Criterion title is My Life As a Dog. Even though it has some dark moments the boy Ingemar always manages to persevere and I always find myself smiling when it's over. Plus, if multiple playings of "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" (in Swedish!) doesn't make you grin I don't know what will.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Anyone read the review for City Lights at DVDtalk?

"Delivered in a 1080p, AVC-encoded 1.19:1 transfer (with pillar-boxing), the film looks very nice (not Carnival of Souls-good, but what is?)"

What the hell kind of comment is that? Haha. Carnival of Souls isn't even on blu-ray yet, City Lights was made in the early 30's and Carnival of Souls was made in the 60's, besides both being black and white, neither really have anything in common that would warrant a direct comparison like that. So weird.

I'm really hoping we see Carnival of Souls soon. I've mentioned it before but it was recently restored and the new transfer looks beautiful apparently.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

I just picked up Autumn Sonata and I am blown away by the 3 1/2 hr behind the scenes. This is probably the best special feature I've come across in any of my blus. Can you guys give me some more titles that have stuff like this?

I believe Fanny & Alexander includes a feature length making of directed by Bergman himself (?)
If you don't mind DVD, the Ingmar Bergman Trilogy includes a bonus disc that gives a wonderful making of for Winter Light called Ingmar Bergman Makes A Movie.
Night of The Hunter has a massive behind-the-scenes for the film.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

I just picked up Autumn Sonata and I am blown away by the 3 1/2 hr behind the scenes. This is probably the best special feature I've come across in any of my blus. Can you guys give me some more titles that have stuff like this? I'm blanking out. One that comes to mind is kieslowskis cinema lessons on the three colors discs but those are minutes long apiece. Maybe one of you will remind me of something already in my collection or give me something else to check out. The autumn sonata one is amazing.

Another Bergman-The Seventh Seal has the documentary Bergman Island which is feature length.

[drawohua]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Just saw Yamada Yōji's The Twilight Samurai on Netflix. What a terrific movie! I'm surprised to see that it doesn't appear to be on Blu-ray in the US (or anywhere that would include English subtitles).

Would love to see Criterion work their magic on this one...to be honest, the PQ on the transfer I watched on Netflix left a lot to be desired.

It's the first Yamada film I've seen. Anyone here who has seen this, and other films of his who can say whether the others are as good?

I've heard his latest Tokyo Family is also pretty good. HK version Bluray released with Eng Subtitles as well.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by drawohua

I've heard his latest Tokyo Family is also pretty good. HK version Bluray released with Eng Subtitles as well.

Thanks for all the replies about Yamada and The Twilight Samurai. They're much appreciated.

[waxHead]

Originally Posted by 14728

Just saw 400 blows. Amazing movie!

I watched 400 Blows for the first time last night as well, fantastic film! The young actors are so talented, it shows through during the audition extra on the special features. The entire movie just felt so... honest, that's probably the best single word I can attach to it. Can't wait to watch it again

[14728]

I dunno if anyone's said this, but TCM is playing Breathless tonight at 8:00.

[brandon_260]

I watched Lord of the Flies last night. I think I may have found my least favorite title of 2013. Typically I don't let acting get in the way of my enjoyment of a film, but the disjointed pacing and lack of chemistry between the kids in the film make up almost entirely why I did not enjoy it.

[joie]

Heresy!

I sold two Criterions. The good: the proceeds will pay for 3 silents I've ordered; The bad: it's a net gain of 1 movie and I've been out of shelf space for some time; The ugly: only if the packages get lost.

I am thinking of going with drawered cabinets for storage. At the bottom of each drawer would be a grooved wooden/plastic thing, which would hold the cases upright by the long side that opens. That would allow the titles to be read easily, without craning my neck. It isn't the most space efficient storage, but the movies would no longer collect dust (the housekeeper is incompetent). But before doing that I'll have to check whether it would work with varying case widths; if not, everything could be placed in cases of the same width, I suppose. The simplest thing might be to put them all in sleeves, in boxes about the size of a shoebox.

[smoss469]

Rules of the Game - $17.99. Bought!

[Judex]

B&N finally took pity on me and shipped my order.
I did order when the sale started but they cancelled it.

Badlands
Branded to Kill
City Lights
Gomorrah
Secret of the Grain
Shock Corridor
To Be or Not to Be

Also have Eyes Without a Face & Umberto D. on the way.

[SilentDawn]

Originally Posted by waxHead

I watched 400 Blows for the first time last night as well, fantastic film! The young actors are so talented, it shows through during the audition extra on the special features. The entire movie just felt so... honest, that's probably the best single word I can attach to it. Can't wait to watch it again

That's one of the main reasons why I love the film so much, It feels real, honest and true-to-life.

[Page14]

I finally made the time to watch Badlands for the first time last night, but still need to go through a couple of the supplements. I think what I liked the most was watching Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek so early in their careers. Regarding the movie itself (without throwing out any spoilers), I guess it was pretty much what I expected to see ... knowing the basic outline of the story. No regrets on buying it.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by JoeBuck

How about Children of Paradise? That one looks MUCH worse.
To the person who originally asked though, if it helps film restorer Robert A. Harris did say that only the hunting scene looked that bad and most of the transfer is at least passable if that means anything.

It may very well be, but at the time I went ahead and got it anyway. Decided twice (Earrings) was one too many.

[Hintermann]

Received On The Waterfront, Still Walking and the Jean Vigo Collection today, from my favourite e-bay seller.

9 Criterion BDs on the way from the B&N sale.

[Filmbrain]

Originally Posted by Hintermann

Received On The Waterfront, Still Walking and the Jean Vigo Collection today, from my favourite e-bay seller.

9 Criterion BDs on the way from the B&N sale.

Nice haul! I still need to see/ get Still Walking. So far this sale I've added Eyes Without A Face, City Lights, Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Ballad of Narayama, Frances Ha, The Uninvited, To Be or Not To Be, Bergman/Rossellini set. I'll get Zatoichi and Tokyo Story to round out the sale next week. Expensive but Criterions are like my version of cigarette or alcohol addiction.