The Criterion Collection

[The Great Owl]

If any of you have been dragging your feet when it comes to buying the Marilyn Monroe Blu-rays, Amazon has this sale going on right now where you can get nine individual Blu-rays all for $39.99.

Bus Stop
Niagara
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
How to Marry a Millionaire
River of No Return
There's No Business Like Show Business
The Seven Year Itch
Some Like It Hot
The Misfits

No dice for me, since I already own all of these Blu-rays except for Bus Stop and There's No Business Like Show Business, as I've been picking them up one-by-one at sales and from used stores. It's a pretty amazing deal if you do not have them, though.

There are some amazing directors in the fold here, such as Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot, The Seven Year Itch), Otto Preminger (River of No Return), John Huston (The Misfits), and Howard Hawks (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). Niagara is one of the most beautiful color transfers on Blu-ray.

Not Criterion-related, but the topic sometimes comes up in conversation here.

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Or just sober.

(I know that stoners, searching desperately for that little fifteen seconds of lost cultural "unity" from cult film to cult film, can't quite draw a decent dividing line between comedy that laughs with them and comedy that laughs at them, but if you genuinely think the Coens were in the "With" category, that's some seriously low self-esteem...
The Coens basically treated stoners on exactly the same level as they treated professional bowlers: As quirky zoo animals for their latest comic anthropological treatise.)

I'm not a stoner and assuming that only potheads like The Big Lebowski destroys whatever credibility your arguments may have. Seems like you have a chip on your shoulder.

[jetthead]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

I'm not a stoner and assuming that only potheads like The Big Lebowski destroys whatever credibility your arguments may have. Seems like you have a chip on your shoulder.

[Cinemach]

RE: The Coens - I'll say that The Big Lebowski is a film where the plot is absolutely irrelevant--I still really could not give you a breakdown of its particulars--but this is totally by design because the characters and relationships are so colored. It has my vote as the Coen's best, and it rewards and demands rewatches like not too many other films do.

Perhaps due to the opening of their newest film (which made my top ten for 2013), I have seen much criticism of the Coen's "belittling" treatment of their characters recently. I've got to say that's something that hasn't bothered me, and in some cases isn't even true. Their films have an emotional, almost clinical distance (like Soderbergh and Altman frequently do) and yes, their characters go through crap sometimes, but their filmography is littered with studies of abject failures with an almost biblical scourge of retribution and punishment throughout...so I don't see the surprise there.

RE: Godard - It's true that I've seen more misses from Godard than perhaps any other so-called 'pantheon' director, but I agree that Vivre sa Vie at least should be seen before you put him aside: that and Pierrot le Fou are my two favorites from him, though the latter is harder to recommend to a newcomer. Le Mepris/Contempt, Une Femme est une Femme, and - though I'm not as high on it as others - Bande Apart, are also good, easy recs, and would also prepare you for a Pierrot viewing.

If you go through all of that and still get nothing, the likes of Week-end, Une Femme Mariee and Masculin, Feminine probably won't do much to change your mind.

Originally Posted by Dick Laurent 97

Has anyone heard any rumors about Lost Highway? Someone mentioned it somewhere and it smarked my interest.

It's a great film and all (second favorite Lynch, and one of my favorite films about 'Los Angeles' [below]), but there has been no indication at all of a Criterion release.

Perhaps you're talking about the DVD just going out of print - I'm actually surprised it was still in print to be honest. That doesn't really portend anything. A dream Criterion release for me would be a Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr and INLAND EMPIRE boxset, but that's a real pipe.

Originally Posted by SidneyFalco

You haven't seen The Long Goodbye?? You're in for a treat. My favorite film about Los Angeles.

The Long Goodbye is the quintessential neo-noir, and sits pretty prominently in my "LA films" list too. I'd probably place it ahead of Chinatown on both fronts even. Been really tempted to pull the trigger on the Arrow release, but I feel a US/Criterion release is inevitable (so I can at least hold out for a discount).

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

I'm not a stoner and assuming that only potheads like The Big Lebowski destroys whatever credibility your arguments may have. Seems like you have a chip on your shoulder.

100% straight edge here, and I love it.

[GenPion]

The Big Lebowski is one of the best Coen films period. It's a classic because it's a brilliant piece of filmmaking with great performances and it is remembered because of this and not for the reasons that other poster mentioned.

[TJS_Blu]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

I really hope their next Flash Sale occurs after the 18th because that's when Foreign Correspondent is released (which will be my first Criterion purchase of 2014).

I'm pretty sure the sale will be for 'in stock' discs. I'm pretty sure that I was able to pick up a pre-order or two last year because they were in-stock...the most likely in-stock pre-orders would be those releasing within a week of the sale.

[ijustblumyself]

So just a quick question, when's the next big sale expected to be for Criterion?

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by ijustblumyself

So just a quick question, when's the next big sale expected to be for Criterion?

Sometime next month.

[Antonmassacre1]

[QUOTE=Cinemach;8648762]RE: The Coens - I'll say that The Big Lebowski is a film where the plot is absolutely irrelevant--[QUOTE]


Are you kidding, that rug really pulled the room together.

[fahrenheit290]

Originally Posted by JoeBuck

Sometime next month.

Are there coupons on top of that sale? Like in November-December, 50% off + 40% coupons.

[Infernal King]

Originally Posted by fahrenheit290

Are there coupons on top of that sale? Like in November-December, 50% off + 40% coupons.

There aren't any coupons for Criterion.com's bi-annual Flash Sales.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by Infernal King

There aren't any coupons for Criterion.com's bi-annual Flash Sales.

There is however the added benefit of Criterion loyalty points, which come in handy if you're a consistent buyer from Criterion.com.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Cinemach

The Long Goodbye is the quintessential neo-noir, and sits pretty prominently in my "LA films" list too. I'd probably place it ahead of Chinatown on both fronts even. Been really tempted to pull the trigger on the Arrow release, but I feel a US/Criterion release is inevitable (so I can at least hold out for a discount).

We got a lot of Neo-Noir in the 70's trying to deconstruct the 30's Detective Film (and other old-film genres) for cynical 70's sensibilities, but I'd still put Chinatown ahead for at least trying to follow the format--
Here, we're getting the same mid-70's Altman analysis of lazy, shallow no-dreams 70's LA that we could've gotten in "Short Cuts" and "The Player", it's just that "Hooray for Hollywood" keeps popping up on the soundtrack to remind us it's really supposed to be a contemporary deconstruction on Raymond Chandler and 40's Humphrey Bogart....Sort of.
(Although I haven't seen Robert Mitchum's two straight Marlowe remakes from the 70's, so I can't compare.)

It's okay on a post-MASH Elliot Gould level, but it doesn't have the dark bite into its period/film-genre world that Polanski and Nicholson have.

Originally Posted by Infernal King

I'm not a stoner and assuming that only potheads like The Big Lebowski destroys whatever credibility your arguments may have. Seems like you have a chip on your shoulder.

(That may be, but as Brian dePalma fans of Scarface will no doubt attest, a certain cult audience DOES tend to lower the fandom's property values once they move in to the neighborhood...)

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by dmarvin

I blind bought it after watching Seven Samurai in a film studies class I was taking last summer. I wound up writing a 10-page essay about it for my final. A truly terrific film, and I'm generally quite reluctant to watch foreign films. But Kurosawa...I love that guy. I also would disagree with the critics who found Mifune's performance to be ridiculous. This guy absolutely owns the screen in everything I've seen him in. A true movie star if I ever saw one. I love Takashi Shimura too. His quiet brilliance is always in stark contrast to the screen presence of Mifune, but the two work so well together on screen.

I could not disagree more. Actually this is my pet peeve with all hailed classics; people seem to purposely gloss over or ignore terrible acting because a film has some other positive or even influencing attributes on its art form. Not sure why people cannot say something akin to the following:

"Kurasowa's Rashomon turned the traditional film narrative on its head and since then, has influenced many filmmakers and is a true classic in the sense. The story could have failed in most peoples hands however tight direction along with the beautiful cinematougraphy ensure the film does not spin out of control or lose its focus. That said, the acting is laughable at times with actors flailing themselves around and making goofy faces like a 4 years child might as they may when horsing around with their grandfather."

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Thebunk

"Kurasowa's Rashomon turned the traditional film narrative on its head and since then, has influenced many filmmakers and is a true classic in the sense. The story could have failed in most peoples hands however tight direction along with the beautiful cinematougraphy ensure the film does not spin out of control or lose its focus. That said, the acting is laughable at times with actors flailing themselves around and making goofy faces like a 4 years child might as they may when horsing around with their grandfather."

We grew up on Shakespeare, they grew up on Kabuki...Bite us.

You take it as a cultural given that you don't watch Kurosawa, or any vintage Japanese cinema, for the acting, or at least put it in context with the Japanese mindset for creating actor emotion in film, period.
I don't watch Sergio Leone for the acting either, but he does a darn good shoot-em-up, too.

[JJJ225]

It's been a long while since I've seen Rashomon, and in fact I've never been a huge fan of Kurasowa in general, but not every director is interested in "realistic" acting. Some director's purposely have stylized performances for effect. I mean, how many Kubrick classics would you say the acting is "realistic." Acting "realistically" is not the only acting worth.

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by EricJ

We grew up on Shakespeare, they grew up on Kabuki...Bite us.

You take it as a cultural given that you don't watch Kurosawa, or any vintage Japanese cinema, for the acting, or at least put it in context with the Japanese mindset for creating actor emotion in film, period.
I don't watch Sergio Leone for the acting either, but he does a darn good shoot-em-up, too.

Wow, a bit defensive.

First, my criticism is not of only Rashomon, Kurasowa or Japenese cinema. My criticism is of all heralded classics where not the blemishes, but the glaring distractions are not even noted or discussed (regardless of era or nationality). And when someone does (me in this case) people will often times react so emotional and contrary that a discussion cannot even take place (and you just shown that).

Just to show I am not a racist towards the Japanese (or the English), another example which I have mentioned in this thread is the film Eyes Without a Face. The acting, special effects, direction and story are all great. My pet peeve in this case is that damn carnival score. For me, it does not fit the film, and it really takes me out of the movie at times. Again though, when reading reviews of the picture.

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by JJJ225

It's been a long while since I've seen Rashomon, and in fact I've never been a huge fan of Kurasowa in general, but not every director is interested in "realistic" acting. Some director's purposely have stylized performances for effect. I mean, how many Kubrick classics would you say the acting is "realistic." Acting "realistically" is not the only acting worth.

I think your point is a good one and it kind of aligns with the discussion regarding characters in The Coen's films. That said, I think their quirky characters are more by design as where Kurasowa's (at least in Rashomon) are more by time and culture (perhaps - assuming based on Eric's post).

Regarding Kubrick, I think all of his films have great acting and are not contained within a time period. Are you referring to the gang members in Clockwork Orange? Really not sure.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by EricJ

We got a lot of Neo-Noir in the 70's trying to deconstruct the 30's Detective Film (and other old-film genres) for cynical 70's sensibilities, but I'd still put Chinatown ahead for at least trying to follow the format--
Here, we're getting the same mid-70's Altman analysis of lazy, shallow no-dreams 70's LA that we could've gotten in "Welcome to LA", and later in "Short Cuts" and "The Player", it's just that "Hooray for Hollywood" keeps popping up on the soundtrack to remind us it's really supposed to be a contemporary deconstruction on Raymond Chandler and 40's Humphrey Bogart....Sort of.
(Although I haven't seen Robert Mitchum's two straight Marlowe remakes from the 70's, so I can't compare.)

It's okay on a post-MASH Elliot Gould level, but it doesn't have the dark bite into its period/film-genre world that Polanski and Nicholson

It definitely doesn't reach the heights (or depths?) of Chinatown but it's still an enjoyable neo noir. I've never really analyzed if too much myself, though those without much patience for Gould will have a hard time with it.

Mitchum's Farewell My Lovely is a far more straight forward noir, it really doesn't have that 70s attitude to it. The Big Sleep I didn't think much of, I couldn't get past them moving it to 1970s England.