The Criterion Collection

[jw007]

Wow, I caught some of the Golden Globes earlier... one of the highlights for me was seeing U2 win the Golden Globe for best song ("Ordinary Love"). I just updated my U2 site in fact with all this news! http://www.u2station.com

[LegacyCosts]

Originally Posted by jw007

Oh, the original series of Star Trek is a whole different story. I am ashamed to say that I paid full retail price for all 3 seasons ($180) when they came out on Blu-ray back in 2011. Obviously now I think saw it at one point for around $60 or 70 (for all 3 seasons). I must have spent at least 2 months watching all 80 or so episodes and supplements on my Blu-ray player at the time. And yes, that is ALL I was watching for those 2 months straight. I didn't mix them up or space them out with other movies or shows. I had a blast watching the original series though! Seeing the amazing difference in quality was truly a revelation too. Actually the whole reason I bought a Blu-ray player in the first place was because of Star Trek: The Original Series on Blu-ray!

I definitely am interested in exploring The Twilight Zone on Blu-ray next though. Unlike you, I rarely watched the shows growing up.

The Star Trek TOS/TNG blu rays are incredible and I can't recommend them enough for PQ alone. I would love to see Miami vice come out on blu ray as well. That'd be a fun buy.

[JJJ225]

Originally Posted by Thebunk

Could not disagree more and based on your examples, I think we are talking about two totally different things. None of those examples take me out of the film and to me, they are all realistic. None of them flailing round or dropping to the ground going nuts (well except Nicholson in the Shining but isn't that the point since he is actually going insane?)

You really consider Sellers in Lolita or the gang in Clockwork to be "naturalstic."

I think Kubrick would probably disagree with you.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jayembee

According to the listing here, it's region-free (at least, Region A & B).

As tempted as I am to grab the French Blu-ray of Night of the Demon/Curse of the Demon, I'm going to wait a little longer to see if a domestic Blu-ray is released with English subtitles and English-language cover titles. It's probably just a matter of time before one comes out on these shores (I hope.).

[Brad1107]

Originally Posted by JJJ225

You really consider Sellers in Lolita or the gang in Clockwork to be "naturalstic."

I think Kubrick would probably disagree with you.

I'm guessing he means natural within the tone of the films. His original complaint about the acting in the Kurosawa films was how out of place it seemed in context.

When it comes to acting in general, it's very very seldom realistic to life.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by octagon

I DVRed that on TCM a few months ago and about a half hour in I stopped watching it in the hopes that it would get some attention in the near future.

It wasn't terrible but (as is often the case these days) the thought that it could look a lot better was very distracting.

well, it was lousy to the point where my second viewing will be akin to seeing it for the first time, but I understand your decision. Melville really brought the goods though, so you are in for a treat. I guess I was kinda surprised that it was as good as it was, but then again I wasn't surprised. I believe it was his last film and he was in his mid 50's when he died, so it isn't like he was over the hill.

speaking of "the thought that it could look a lot better was very distracting," I followed it up last night with Marnie and that takes the prize for worst blu ray transfer I have ever seen.

[buffetfroid]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I found a hardcover of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep for two dollars at a used bookstore down the street a week ago. After I get around to reading it, I'll track down The Long Goodbye.

The same used bookstore had a paperback of a Mickey Spillane anthology that included Kiss Me Deadly, but the paperback was in such godawful bad shape that I passed up on buying it.

The Long Goodbye is probably Chandler's best novel, but definitely start with The Big Sleep.

I've read Spillane's Kiss Me Deadly and there is pretty much no similarity to the movie. It's not a good book but it's fairly entertaining due to ridiculousness of its plot.

I love The Long Goodbye (the movie--hence my avatar). It's not a "serious" noir, but it's not a comedy either. There's a nice homage to The Third Man too

[TJS_Blu]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I have ... the Warner Bros. Pictures Gangster Collection Vol 1 (but not 2, 3, or 4 yet), and the Warner Bros. Pictures Tough Guys Collection. One of these days...

I'm sure you'd notice, but Tough Guys = Gangster Vol. 2. WB renamed Tough Guys in 2008.

[ccg1978]

Good to see 12 years a slave won last night. Do you think Criterion will release this or should I just get the blu when it comes out?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by TJS_Blu

I'm sure you'd notice, but Tough Guys = Gangster Vol. 2. WB renamed Tough Guys in 2008.

Good to know. That's one off my list.

[nametag]

Originally Posted by ccg1978

Good to see 12 years a slave won last night. Do you think Criterion will release this or should I just get the blu when it comes out?

Highly doubt CC will release it, it's too high profile. It'll almost definitely win best picture at the Oscars.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

speaking of "the thought that it could look a lot better was very distracting," I followed it up last night with Marnie and that takes the prize for worst blu ray transfer I have ever seen.

Somebody hasn't seen the Blu-ray transfer of Family Plot yet. Ohhhhhh.

I found the Marnie Blu-ray to be sufficiently enjoyable, and the transfer quality did not bother me. It has received a lot of complaints, though.

In all honesty, I think that the Blu-ray.com video quality reviews of the Alfred Hitchcock movies in the Masterpiece Collection box set were overly strict, especially in the case of The Birds, which I thought looked splendid in high definition. The only Blu-ray transfer in that set that actually disappointed me was the transfer for Family Plot, because several scenes literally resemble worn-out VHS tape footage. Even still, I enjoy watching the movie via the Blu-ray.

I mean, I know that the transfers for The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and Marnie have their shortcomings, but the Blu-rays look just fine to me in the grand scheme of things.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Somebody hasn't seen the Blu-ray transfer of Family Plot yet. Ohhhhhh.

I found the Marnie Blu-ray to be sufficiently enjoyable, and the transfer quality did not bother me. It has received a lot of complaints, though.

In all honesty, I think that the Blu-ray.com video quality reviews of the Alfred Hitchcock movies in the Masterpiece Collection box set were overly strict, especially in the case of The Birds, which I thought looked splendid in high definition. The only Blu-ray transfer in that set that actually disappointed me was the transfer for Family Plot, because several scenes literally resemble worn-out VHS tape footage. Even still, I enjoy watching the movie via the Blu-ray.

I mean, I know that the transfers for The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and Marnie have their shortcomings, but the Blu-rays look just fine to me in the grand scheme of things.

I thought Marnie looked worse than Family Plot myself, though neither was particularly great. My screen is 42", I can't imagine how painful Marnie must have been for those with projectors.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Somebody hasn't seen the Blu-ray transfer of Family Plot yet. Ohhhhhh.

I found the Marnie Blu-ray to be sufficiently enjoyable, and the transfer quality did not bother me. It has received a lot of complaints, though.

In all honesty, I think that the Blu-ray.com video quality reviews of the Alfred Hitchcock movies in the Masterpiece Collection box set were overly strict, especially in the case of The Birds, which I thought looked splendid in high definition. The only Blu-ray transfer in that set that actually disappointed me was the transfer for Family Plot, because several scenes literally resemble worn-out VHS tape footage. Even still, I enjoy watching the movie via the Blu-ray.

I mean, I know that the transfers for The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) and Marnie have their shortcomings, but the Blu-rays look just fine to me in the grand scheme of things.

Originally Posted by baheidstu

I thought Marnie looked worse than Family Plot myself, though neither was particularly great. My screen is 42", I can't imagine how painful Marnie must have been for those with projectors.

I did see Family Plot and I agree with baheidstu - I thought Marnie was worse. FP was atrocious in the first scene only. Beyond that, I thought it was pretty good. Marnie was just too darn inconsistent from shot to shot and, yes, as the reviewer on this site pointed out, the last few minutes are a mess. Not sure what is going on there.

I agree with you, Owl, that some of the other critique was probably too harsh. Frenzy and The Birds looked great to me.

[GoldenDaze]

Hi Guys

I'm coming over to the states at the beginning of july this year for my honeymoon and just wanted to know if Barnes & Noble have their 50% off sale around that time?

Cheers

[lordmorpheus72]

Got my copy of Thief from Amazon today, nice to have a day early! The insert looks great, can't wait to read it all. Will say that I don't like the new dual cases... this is the second or third i've gotten in that case and one of the discs is always loose. :-\

That aside, I can't wait to watch this!!

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

I thought Marnie looked worse than Family Plot myself, though neither was particularly great. My screen is 42", I can't imagine how painful Marnie must have been for those with projectors.

Having a smaller television screen has its advantages sometimes, for sure. Even still, the problems with the Marnie Blu-ray looked to be mostly tied to the source material itself, as opposed to being a fault of the transfer. The existing Blu-ray is not spectacular, but it's probably the best that we're ever going to have unless an extensive restoration of this movie happens at some point.

From what I understand, there's always been an exaggerated image softness with the shots of Tippi Hedren, and word around the campfire is that this was Hitchcock's intent. There's some unnatural grain in the picture, but I could not tell if this was simply a longtime source issue that happened to be magnified in high definition.

At any rate, I did not note any extraordinary visual problems with the Blu-ray when I sat down to watch Marnie, and I just had fun watching the movie. As long as I can enjoy a movie without having the video quality take my mind out of the movie, I do not consider it to be an overly-problematic Blu-ray.

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

FP was atrocious in the first scene only. Beyond that, I thought it was pretty good.

I'll agree with this. Once I made it past the first five or ten minutes of the Family Plot Blu-ray, I quite enjoyed the rest of the presentation, however spotty some of the later scenes are. It's an underrated movie that deserves a better restoration, though.

[Dumbhuman]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Nice! I understand that my favorite 2013 film, All Is Lost, won the Best Score, so that's good to hear as well.

I have not seen The Great Beauty, but my spider sense leads me to believe that I'd probably enjoy it even more than I enjoyed Blue is the Warmest Color. I just have good vibes about The Great Beauty, and the descriptions make me think of the Fellini films or the Antonioni films.

Speaking as a rabid Fellini fan (though by no means a great Antonioni fan), I really think that Blue is the Warmest Color is simply better crafted as a whole. The Great Beauty I enjoyed very much and will be purchasing for my collection, but it's much more uneven in execution. Of course, it also follows more threads and gives more themes for exploration than the simple coming of age tale that Blue is the Warmest Color does so well. So in that regard there are certainly more chances to connect with it on some level.

It's Antonioni in its cynicism and subject matter but not quite as calculated or alienating. It's Fellini in its excesses and religious themes but doesn't depict them quite as magically. I just don't think it's quite the sum of its influences, but it is very much an interesting film worth seeing and obviously in your personal experience it might be much more rewarding than Blue is the Warmest Color.

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

Got my copy of Thief from Amazon today, nice to have a day early! The insert looks great, can't wait to read it all. Will say that I don't like the new dual cases... this is the second or third i've gotten in that case and one of the discs is always loose. :-\

That aside, I can't wait to watch this!!

You mean the disc was loose (as in out of the disc holding mechanism) inside the case when it arrived?

You got it from Amazon?? Lucky you, I pre-ordered mine several weeks ago and it hasn't even shipped yet.

I can't wait for mine to arrive. I can't remember when I was this excited for a blu ray I really want to watch. I've seen this movie a long time ago in much worse quality obviously. Can't remember much in detail, but I can remember that it was awesome. So it will be really sweet to watch it properly for the first time in HD quality.

[SidneyFalco]

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).

I'd love a double feature of The Long Goodbye and The Day of the Locust, the other film that really captures L.A. for me. But that film's Paramount, and with the exception of Rosemary's Baby and Downhill Racer, don't seem to license much (and now that Warner distributes for them, probably not again).

I could see the remaster of The Long Goodbye going to Twilight Time though, through their deal with MGM.