The Criterion Collection

[joie]

Originally Posted by baheidstu

Does one side of the pliers not touch the data surface too? I'm just having a hard time comprehending how that could be any safer than just using fingers and buffing out any fingerprints with a cloth.

Yes, both tips of the plliers are wrapped in non-abrasive cloth. The disc isn't damaged, if its done carefully, and their are no fingerprints to remove.

If the disc isn't held in the pocket tightly, then it can be pulled out by attaching a piece of tape to the silkscreened side of the disc with some of the tape extending beyond the disc's edge.

[MikeyHitchFan]

Originally Posted by joie

Yes, both tips of the plliers are wrapped in non-abrasive cloth. The disc isn't damaged, if its done carefully, and their are no fingerprints to remove.

If the disc isn't held in the pocket tightly, then it can be pulled out by attaching a piece of tape to the silkscreened side of the disc with some of the tape extending beyond the disc's edge.

Fingerprints wipe off, small scratches don't affect playback in any case. Geez people get over this phobia. Have them all Kubrick, Hitchcock, Star Wars never had one issue. Pull it out, wipe it off, stick it in.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Thanks.

I posted about it a few nights ago, but I revisited Out of the Past this weekend for the first time in almost a decade, and I had forgotten how perfect this movie is in terms of cinematography and plot.

On Saturday night, in fact, I stayed up late watching the movie two times in a row.

Since my previous viewing experiences with Out of the Past were on my old tube television years ago, my mind was really blown when I watched the DVD on a high definition television. As such, I've moved this film to the top of my wishlist of Blu-ray upgrades. I'm hoping that the avatar will be a good luck charm for this to happen.

I saw it on TCM a couple of months back. Really, besides Mitchum, who embodies the essential noir protagonist perfectly, what really stands out the most for me is its setting. I'm a sucker for a noir that attempts something outside of the everyday city life, and this one knocks it out of the park in that regard. The trees, the river, the dirt roads leading up to a secluded cabin; it all seems foreign in relation to its plot and characters. I love it.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by joie

Yes, both tips of the plliers are wrapped in non-abrasive cloth. The disc isn't damaged, if its done carefully, and their are no fingerprints to remove.

If the disc isn't held in the pocket tightly, then it can be pulled out by attaching a piece of tape to the silkscreened side of the disc with some of the tape extending beyond the disc's edge.

If you wear a pair of hypo-allergenic cotton work gloves you won't get any fingerprints on the pliers either.

[joie]

Originally Posted by octagon

If you wear a pair of hypo-allergenic cotton work gloves you won't get any fingerprints on the pliers either.

You could try to get the disc out with gloves, yes, but then you might strain the disc as you lift it up to get a finger under it. The plier jaws are a lot thinner than a finger. The discs shouldn't be subjected to any bending force.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by joie

You could try to get the disc out with gloves, yes, but then you might strain the disc as you lift it up to get a finger under it. The plier jaws are a lot thinner than a finger. The discs shouldn't be subjected to any bending force.

No, you wear the gloves while using the pliers thus protecting the delicate grips of the pliers from the filthy, disgusting oils in your fingertips.

Now...how do we protect the gloves...

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by GoldenDaze

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?

No guarantees, but depending how long you'll be here, you should be good. Based on their previous patterns, my guess is that the July sale will start on the 8th, and go through the rest of the month.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Yami

Paramount have licensed a lot more than that to Criterion:

If...
Ace in the Hole
Robinson Crusoe on Mars
Days of Heaven
The Naked Prey
The Furies
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
White Dog
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg
Harold and Maude
Medium Cool
Seconds
Nashville

In addition to the Rosemary's Baby and Downhill Racer you mentioned

Not to mention the bucket-load of titles they've licensed to Olive.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

I saw it on TCM a couple of months back. Really, besides Mitchum, who embodies the essential noir protagonist perfectly, what really stands out the most for me is its setting. I'm a sucker for a noir that attempts something outside of the everyday city life, and this one knocks it out of the park in that regard. The trees, the river, the dirt roads leading up to a secluded cabin; it all seems foreign in relation to its plot and characters. I love it.

The constant change of settings in Out of the Past is a great strength, and I particularly love the Sierra countryside around the Tahoe setting. It's great, however, when the characters are in a city setting and the conventional noir images of dark hallways and shadowy alleys are photographed so beautifully.

Robert Mitchum is golden in the movie, because he has just the right balance of toughness and vulnerability. Jane Greer is the ultimate femme fatale who knows exactly how to draw him in. The intro shot of Jane Greer's character is for the ages.

I hear you loud and clear when it comes to noir movies outside of everyday settings. You might enjoy Cry Vengeance, an Olive Films noir-edged title that takes place largely in Alaska.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by octagon

No, you wear the gloves while using the pliers thus protecting the delicate grips of the pliers from the filthy, disgusting oils in your fingertips.

Now...how do we protect the gloves...

This is starting to veer into my own uncannily OCD behavior with Blu-rays, although I've never used pliers to remove a disc.

This past month, though, I decided that I wanted to replace all of the horrible eco-pack Blu-ray cases (the ones with the holes in the case behind and opposite the discs) in my collection with the Viva Elite cases that have solid plastic on the front and back. Great movies like The Maltese Falcon, Laura, and Sunset Boulevard deserve better than those eco-pack cases.

I ordered 100 of these Viva Elite cases for $43 and spent an entire evening transferring my eco-pack Blu-rays into them. I still have roughly 25 Blu-ray titles in eco-packs, so I guess I needed more replacement cases than I figured.

I've seen worse when it comes to obsessiveness with Blu-rays, but I'm surely a contender.

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by octagon

No, you wear the gloves while using the pliers thus protecting the delicate grips of the pliers from the filthy, disgusting oils in your fingertips.

Now...how do we protect the gloves...

If you wash your hands with a nice anti-bacterial soap, then coat them with hand sanitizer, then stick them in some powder coated sterilized surgical gloves BEFORE sticking them in the normal gloves you might be OK; but only if you do this in a clean room, free of lint, dust and danger that's recently been steam cleaned by someone wearing a haz-mat suit.

Seriously though, the discs will be OK. I've never had a disc damaged while handling it. I'm pretty careful when handling them but I don't any special precautions other than careful finger placement. I've owned DVD players for.. wow probably almost 20 years and I've only had to replace 2 discs in that time. Both were movies I had watched so often, laser rot had started to sit in after literally hundreds of viewings spread out across almost 15 years.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The constant change of settings in Out of the Past is a great strength, and I particularly love the Sierra countryside around the Tahoe setting. It's great, however, when the characters are in a city setting and the conventional noir images of dark hallways and shadowy alleys are photographed so beautifully.

Robert Mitchum is golden in the movie, because he has just the right balance of toughness and vulnerability. Jane Greer is the ultimate femme fatale who knows exactly how to draw him in. The intro shot of Jane Greer's character is for the ages.

I hear you loud and clear when it comes to noir movies outside of everyday settings. You might enjoy Cry Vengeance, an Olive Films noir-edged title that takes place largely in Alaska.

Watch On Dangerous Ground found in Noir set 3. One of my noir favorites. It takes Robert Ryan from the city, where he's a brutal, out-of-control cop, to the country, where he's assigned to help catch the murderer of a child. Great film with an outstanding Bernard Herrmann score, directed (mostly) by Nicholas Ray.

[Ausjdm]

I saw House of Games yesterday it was really good movie, loved the twists and turns. Great Mamet film enjoyed as much as homicide from afew months earlier.

Also saw In the Realm of Senses, man I'm not a prude or anything, but I just didn't get this one, seemed like zero character development. Just a non stop porn fest. It's bad when I learned more about the people after on Wikipedia... Just wasn't my cup of tea. Even Salo or Antichrist did more for me then this. I'm questioning even watching Empire of Passion in the future. Is it better???

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by joie

Yes, both tips of the plliers are wrapped in non-abrasive cloth. The disc isn't damaged, if its done carefully, and their are no fingerprints to remove.

If the disc isn't held in the pocket tightly, then it can be pulled out by attaching a piece of tape to the silkscreened side of the disc with some of the tape extending beyond the disc's edge.

I refuse to believe the plier thing is safer or even rational for that matter. You could get a nerve twitch in your hand and protective cloth or not, the disc could get pinched and cracked. With these types of cases I usually hold both sides of the slot open with my thumb and middle finger and put my index finger in the disc's hole to pull it out in one swift motion. Hmm, now that I think about I've just figured out why my wife puts up with my blu ray buying habits.

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

This is starting to veer into my own uncannily OCD behavior with Blu-rays, although I've never used pliers to remove a disc.

This past month, though, I decided that I wanted to replace all of the horrible eco-pack Blu-ray cases (the ones with the holes in the case behind and opposite the discs) in my collection with the Viva Elite cases that have solid plastic on the front and back. Great movies like The Maltese Falcon, Laura, and Sunset Boulevard deserve better than those eco-pack cases.

I ordered 100 of these Viva Elite cases for $43 and spent an entire evening transferring my eco-pack Blu-rays into them. I still have roughly 25 Blu-ray titles in eco-packs, so I guess I needed more replacement cases than I figured.

I've seen worse when it comes to obsessiveness with Blu-rays, but I'm surely a contender.

I buy replacement cases for the ecos as well. They're so cheap and flimsy they offer no protection for the discs or artwork. As collectors we're all pretty eccentric on here, some clearly more than others.

[TJS_Blu]

I'd swear I posted about this before, but can't find anything...

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the schedule for Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema, a 21-film series created and organized by Scorsese’s non-profit organization, The Film Foundation in partnership with Propaganda Foundation, DI Factory and CRF, distributed by Milestone Films in cooperation with Janus, featuring classic works from some of Poland’s most accomplished and lauded filmmakers, spanning the period from 1957–1987. Curated by Scorsese from a selection of new digital restorations, the series premieres at the Film Society, February 5-16, and will travel to 30 cities this year. Each film will be presented in brilliantly re-mastered and newly subtitled DCPs.

Highlights include the Opening Night presentation of Andrzej Wajda’s Palme d’Or winner and Academy Award-nominee MAN OF IRON (1981) about the workers’ strike in Gdańsk that led to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and Krzysztof Zanussi’s CAMOUFLAGE (1976), a comic story of a contentious relationship between a young linguist and an associate professor; Alexander Ford’s BLACK CROSS (1960), a blockbuster (and the most-viewed Polish film in history) set against a backdrop of medieval battles; Wojciech Has’s mystical film adaptation of THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT (1964), a prize-winner at the Edinburgh and San Sebastian film festivals; Andrzej Munk’s EROICA (1957), a look at the contrast in lives between that of a street-wise bon-vivant and those of righteous Polish officers incarcerated in a German camp during WWII; and Zanussi’s 70s philosophical essay on film incorporating animation, experimental techniques and documentary footage, THE ILLUMINATION (1972).

Other notable films include Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS (1960), NIGHT TRAIN (1959), PHARAOH (1965), Krzysztof Kieslowski’s BLIND CHANCE (1981) and A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING (1987), Wajda’s ASHES AND DIAMONDS (1958), INNOCENT SORCERERS (1960), THE PROMISED LAND (1974) and THE WEDDING (1972), and Zanussi’s THE CONSTANT FACTOR (1980).

None of these films appear on the WCF's list of restored films, so don't think these films will end up in the WCF collections. A number of them have recently been released on blu in Poland. Every finger and toe I own is crossed that at least some of these get released by our favorite label.

Press release here. Home page for the project (including a yummy before and after example) here.

[StLouisRibs]

Originally Posted by TJS_Blu

I'd swear I posted about this before, but can't find anything...





None of these films appear on the WCF's list of restored films, so don't think these films will end up in the WCF collections. A number of them have recently been released on blu in Poland. Every finger and toe I own is crossed that at least some of these get released by our favorite label.

Press release here. Home page for the project (including a yummy before and after example) here.

I do hope if there's any plans for the "A Short Film About Killing/Love" films it's in a substantive Decalog box set...

[Abdrewes]

Lovely avatar, StLouisRibs! Which movie is it from?

[spanky87]

DJ Qualls was so good in A Man Escaped.

[Mooch360]

Originally Posted by joie

Yes, both tips of the plliers are wrapped in non-abrasive cloth. The disc isn't damaged, if its done carefully, and their are no fingerprints to remove.

If the disc isn't held in the pocket tightly, then it can be pulled out by attaching a piece of tape to the silkscreened side of the disc with some of the tape extending beyond the disc's edge.

I guess I shouldn't mention that all the discs I'm in the process of watching are sitting in a stack on my end table. Not in any cases at all. Can't say I've ever had an issue...

[StLouisRibs]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Lovely avatar, StLouisRibs! Which movie is it from?

It's from the most frequently seen poster of Z...

(which I'll cross my fingers will be announced for an upgrade on Wednesday...)