The Criterion Collection

[brandon_260]

I recently revisited Breathless and still adore it. Though I no longer believe it to be my favorite Godard film. Vivre sa vie or Contemp likely holds that title now.

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

I recently revisited Breathless and still adore it. Though I no longer believe it to be my favorite Godard film. Vivre sa vie or Contemp likely holds that title now.

Breathless was definitely a grower for me. The first time I saw it I didnt care for it either but liked it a lot more on my second watch and still really enjoy it.
A Woman Is a Woman doesn't seem to get enough love though. Thats really high up on my list.

[jw007]

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Man, I am still in shock he's gone. I always thought the guy was unhealthy looking in general and not just in the movie roles he did. But I honestly never saw this one coming. He had immense talent, immense characters, immense screen presence and wow, like everyone has said before me, every role he was in was spectacular. He is surely going to be missed. I can't imagine all of these future films he was supposed to be in, but never will be in now.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I need to get around to seeing Babette's Feast on blu-ray. I'm going to put it on as the first film in a double bill with Seconds.

It's a great looking Blu-ray. You won't be disappointed.

[Scottie]

How great would it be if Criterion released "Out of the Past"?

I watched it last night and it's, without a doubt, up there as one of my favorite film-noirs.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by iScottie

How great would it be if Criterion released "Out of the Past"?

I watched it last night and it's, without a doubt, up there as one of my favorite film-noirs.

Out of the Past is my favorite film noir, and it is one of my all-time favorite movies in general.

I saw Out of the Past for the first time about eight years ago or so, because I was intrigued to see more of Jacques Tourneur's work after enjoying his horror films (The Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, The Leopard Man, Night of the Demon/Curse of the Demon). I think that Tourneur was the greatest horror director of all time, simply based on the strengths of those four films. When I made a blind purchase of Out of the Past on DVD to check out his work in other genres, I was surprised that I liked it even more than his horror films.

I revisited Out of the Past for the first time in years last month, and was so blown away by seeing the DVD on a high definition television for the first time that I watched it on repeat three times in one night (This is what led to me changing my forum avatar here.). It really does have some of the greatest visuals of all, and I love how the pace of the story benefits from the change of settings. Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas are all at the top of their game. Jane Greer's Kathie, like Orson Welle's Harry Lime in The Third Man, has a "star role" that is built up by having others talk about the character long before the character actually does appear onscreen. Her intro scene is for the ages.

It goes without saying that, if Criterion were to get their hands on this film, it would rise to the top of my list of titles in the Collection.

I'm glad that you enjoyed it, Scottie.


Come next payday, I'm going to order the Columbia Film Noir set that includes Tourneur's Nightfall.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Out of the Past is my favorite film noir, and it is one of my all-time favorite movies in general.

I saw Out of the Past for the first time about eight years ago or so, because I was intrigued to see more of Jacques Tourneur's work after enjoying his horror films (The Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, The Leopard Man, Night of the Demon/Curse of the Demon). I think that Tourneur was the greatest horror director of all time, simply based on the strengths of those four films. When I made a blind purchase of Out of the Past on DVD to check out his work in other genres, I was surprised that I liked it even more than his horror films.

I revisited Out of the Past for the first time in years last month, and was so blown away by seeing the DVD on a high definition television for the first time that I watched it on repeat three times in one night (This is what led to me changing my forum avatar here.). It really does have some of the greatest visuals of all, and I love how the pace of the story benefits from the change of settings. Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas are all at the top of their game. Jane Greer's Kathie, like Orson Welle's Harry Lime in The Third Man, has a "star role" that is built up by having others talk about the character long before the character actually does appear onscreen. Her intro scene is for the ages.

It goes without saying that, if Criterion were to get their hands on this film, it would rise to the top of my list of titles in the Collection.

I'm glad that you enjoyed it, Scottie.


Come next payday, I'm going to order the Columbia Film Noir set that includes Tourneur's Nightfall.

Thanks, Owl!

I've seen quite a few film-noirs, but there was something very special about this particular one for me. I'm always a sucker for a film with beautiful scenery, but I think what won me over the most about this film was the suave performances, the narration by Mitchum's character, Jeff, and beginning the film with the character of Joe, rather than the character of Jeff.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by iScottie

By the way, I totally forgot Tourneur directed "The Leopard", a film that I have still yet to see.

Jacques Tourneur's The Leopard Man (1943) is not to be confused with Luchino Visconti's The Leopard (1963). The former is not yet out on Blu-ray, and it can only be found as a part of the Val Lewton Horror Collection on DVD. The latter is a superb Criterion title that looks gorgeous in high definition on Blu-ray.

They're both classics, but in vastly different ways.

[Carletty]

Is there a list of all the DigiPacks Criterion has released so far?

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Jacques Tourneur's The Leopard Man (1943) is not to be confused with Luchino Visconti's The Leopard (1963). The former is not yet out on Blu-ray, and it can only be found as a part of the Val Lewton Horror Collection on DVD. The latter is a superb Criterion title that looks gorgeous in high definition on Blu-ray.

They're both classics, but in vastly different ways.

oops!

It's still a bit early for me and I mis-read your post. Thanks for the clarification!

[Carletty]

Jules et Jim - Three reasons:

Three Reasons: Jules and Jim - YouTube

[bwdowiak]

I think SammyJ mentioned about not seeing PSH in another role...

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_most_wanted_man/

Anton Corbijn directed The American and the Ian Curtis biopic Control, so I'm all over this movie. I guess it just debuted at Sundance. PSH has the lead role. Should be awesome!

My fav PSH role is Freddy Miles in The Talented Mr. Ripley.

it isn't the line itself, but if you've seen the movie, perhaps you recall the delivery:

"How's the peeping, Tom? How's the peeping?"

Love it! Sorry that he's gone.

[bluesilo]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I think SammyJ mentioned about not seeing PSH in another role...

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_most_wanted_man/

Anton Corbijn directed The American and the Ian Curtis biopic Control, so I'm all over this movie. I guess it just debuted at Sundance. PSH has the lead role. Should be awesome!

According to Indiewire, he completed his scenes for Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1, so they won't delay the release of that.

I have a few PSH movies to go through myself. He will be missed.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I think SammyJ mentioned about not seeing PSH in another role...

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_most_wanted_man/

Anton Corbijn directed The American and the Ian Curtis biopic Control, so I'm all over this movie. I guess it just debuted at Sundance. PSH has the lead role. Should be awesome!

I'm looking forward to seeing this, since the Anton Corbijn movies are favorites of mine.

I go a long way back with Corbijn's work, since he directed a great many music videos and created a number of album covers in the past for bands like U2 and Depeche Mode.

[brandon_260]

Went back to the WCP boxset this morning for The Housemaid. This is a truly fantastic film. I find films that deal with human desires and female sexuality (The Insect Woman, Belle de jour) to be fascinating and this fits right in there perfectly. I actually think this could have been a Criterion title that could have sustained its own release outside of a boxset. The Bong Joon-ho interview the supplements is also very enlightening. My only complaint with the WCP set so far is the Scorsese introductions. For someone so heavily involved in bringing these films to light, you would think he'd talk for more than two minutes per film.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I think SammyJ mentioned about not seeing PSH in another role...

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_most_wanted_man/

Anton Corbijn directed The American and the Ian Curtis biopic Control, so I'm all over this movie. I guess it just debuted at Sundance. PSH has the lead role. Should be awesome!

My fav PSH role is Freddy Miles in The Talented Mr. Ripley.

it isn't the line itself, but if you've seen the movie, perhaps you recall the delivery:

"How's the peeping, Tom? How's the peeping?"

Love it! Sorry that he's gone.

I had mentioned that we'll never see him in another PTA film, which just doesn't feel right.

I was already looking forward to that one. I suppose his last film will now be The Hunger Games.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by jw007

R.I.P. Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Man, I am still in shock he's gone. I always thought the guy was unhealthy looking in general and not just in the movie roles he did. But I honestly never saw this one coming. He had immense talent, immense characters, immense screen presence and wow, like everyone has said before me, every role he was in was spectacular. He is surely going to be missed. I can't imagine all of these future films he was supposed to be in, but never will be in now.

On honor of the guy, CC should release Owning Mahowny!

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by iScottie

How great would it be if Criterion released "Out of the Past"?

It would be great indeed. But it's a Warner-owned title, so the odds are not in our favor.

[bwdowiak]

+1 on your Sammy's Dev Patel reaction shot. while everyone is entitled to one, those kinds of opinions are usually reserved for yahoo.com message boards.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

+1 on your Sammy's Dev Patel reaction shot. while everyone is entitled to one, those kinds of opinions are usually reserved for yahoo.com message boards.

True, public message boards like Yahoo and YouTube have become the New Usenet, where lil kids dream of the days back when Internet was "naughty", anonymous and unmoderated, and it's only on niche forums where you get actual conversation--Because we can kick out the kids who don't get out much, and the nice big public places don't know how to.
But there is a point: When I first heard the headline, I thought "Heart failure", since he would've had to have been absent from films for a few years for it to be cancer--Eventually reading "Drug overdose", I thought "..........Oh. "
(One does not "do" cancer or heart failure of one's own free will.)

That said, has ANYONE mentioned Doubt yet? (A movie I'm willing to wager nobody saw, since Meryl Streep was nominated for it, but as the film version of a Tony-winning play, proves that John Patrick Shanley really should have "gone back to plays after Moonstruck".) Of course, it's harder to watch it now, seeing as Hoffman may have actually been channeling his hiding a drug problem into the character of the priest who may or may not have been hiding something else. The former is less interesting.
Oddly enough, the first thing that sprung to mind for PSH was the discussions before The Dark Knight Rises of "If Chris Nolan really cared about the franchise, we'd see PSH as the Penguin!" And actually, I could still see it have worked. And a lot better than Mission: Impossible III did.