The Criterion Collection

[brandon_260]

Thanks for the tip on the Deep Discount code. Picked up Thief, Rififi, It's a MMMM World, and The Long Day Closes since ImportCDs never fulfilled my order. Three of the four came out to just under 50% off, and combined with a shipping rate that is lower than Criterion's, I just knocked out most of my buy list for the Flash Sale. Now I'll just be after La Vie de Boheme and whatever still to be released February titles fall under the umbrella. (I'm hoping they put the sale off long enough that King of the Hill gets wrapped up in it.)

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Any order over $25.

Yeah, I just have a hard time finding something else a lot of the time. Might have to get Rififi to fill out the order. I just miss the days when deep discount always had free shipping...

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

same here, Owl. I remember you mentioning the fact that your collection statistics show a large number of films from the 1950's. Around 25% of my collection is now from the 1940's, although I think that is a result of that decade being the one in which I had the most catching up to do.

According to this site's Blu-ray collection statistics, mine breaks down like this right now...

2010s: 3.0%
2000s: 7.1%
1990s: 5.9%
1980s: 14.9%
1970s: 13.9%
1960s: 15.4%
1950s: 19.6%
1940s: 11.1%
1930s: 5.5%
1920s: 3.2%
1910s: 0.4%

If my DVD collection were to be factored into this, then the 1940s would skyrocket ahead, and the 1950s would climb even higher.

My purchases of All Is Lost and The Counselor today made a big splash for this decade, funnily enough.

I also bought Walter Hill's The Warriors today. It's one of those that I pick up every time I see it in the store, but I figured that it was high time, since I own Walter Hill's Hard Times and The Driver, and I'll also be buying Southern Comfort if Shout Factory still releases it this summer.

I'm looking forward to adding more Criterions in late February. Jules and Jim, Foreign Correspondent, and Tess

[captveg]

Nice. I was able to grab Rififi and It's a Mad x4 World for $47, which is a bit less than a 50% off sale when tax is taken into account.

So, two less that I'll have to wait for a Criterion flash sale or B&N sale to get.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

same here, Owl. I remember you mentioning the fact that your collection statistics show a large number of films from the 1950's. Around 25% of my collection is now from the 1940's, although I think that is a result of that decade being the one in which I had the most catching up to do.

I'm somewhat the opposite. I got a lot of 20s-60s films on LD and DVD. While I'd love to upgrade them all (at least the ones available on BD), my focus is more on contemporary films, since I don't already have them on DVD.

[Romulus]

Watched Three Colors: Blue last night for the very first time.

Let me start off by saying that I'm a huge fan of The Double Life of Veronique. So naturally, with all the hype surrounding the trilogy I knew I needed to see these films. Luckily enough I got the trilogy for Christmas this year (I'm a busy man).

Kieslowski, to me, has a profound experience on me that I can only relate to Terrence Malick or Andrei Tarkovsky in that their films suffocate my mind after viewing them.

I couldn't help be feel very isolated from the experience for the entire middle section of the film. I kept thinking to myself "this is the great Kieslowski work that everyone talks about?". It wasn't until the final 20 minutes or so when

[Show spoiler]Julie finds out that her husband had a mistress, that the film immediately connected with me.

At this point I'm became much more interested in the film and thought the final minutes were played out brilliantly. It wasn't until after the film that I realized why I felt so disconnected from the film:

[Show spoiler]Julie herself is isolated from everything in her world. It's a self imposed isolation that grants her the freedom to do whatever she wants. Blue, of course, a color of the French flag represents "liberty", a theme that is crucial to the film. The self imposed isolation for Julie is critical, in that she becomes more reliant on herself--but even moreso, this isolation leads to her liberation. In that final 20 minutes she realizes that the relationship that she had with her husband, wasn't what she thought it was. While the film doesn't explicitly state it, it's obvious to me that Julie wrote the music for her husband--though her husband gets all the credit. In the final moments of the film we see let go of the past and move onto the future. It comes with a somber note, though: as included in the Criterion essay Julie finds out that you can't have both freedom or love. Julie in the past had the love without the freedom, now she has the freedom but the inability to love--which perfectly describes the relationship with Olivier.

I know that's not a defacto reading of Blue, by any means. It is interesting in that at the end of the film I thought to myself, a 3.5/5. Then I started thinking and reading on it some more and before I went to sleep I knew it was a solid 4. I can see this being one of my favorite films over time and when I revisit it more.

Tonight, I will watch White.

[The Great Owl]

I just finished watching Don Siegel's The Killers (1964), and I loved it. I still prefer the 1946 film, but this TV version remake is strong for different reasons.

The Criterion Collection needs more Lee Marvin. I wish that Point Blank would go into the Collection. Angie Dickinson is a gorgeous femme fatale. John Cassavetes is a charismatic lead, and I particularly enjoyed his scenes with Claude Akins. It's tough for me to imagine President Ronald Reagan as a villain, but he pulled off the role quite nicely here.

I'd love for these two versions to be upgraded to Blu-ray soon.

[smoss469]

Came out looking good. Just have to order a case for it and put Seconds back in that one!

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just finished watching Don Siegel's The Killers (1964), and I loved it. I still prefer the 1946 film, but this TV version remake is strong for different reasons.

Just to be clear on this, while the Siegel version was originally made for TV -- and in fact was the very first film made for American television -- the network (I think it was NBC, but I'm not positive) decided it was too violent for broadcast, so Universal released it to theaters instead.

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just finished watching Don Siegel's The Killers (1964), and I loved it. I still prefer the 1946 film, but this TV version remake is strong for different reasons.

The Criterion Collection needs more Lee Marvin. I wish that Point Blank would go into the Collection. Angie Dickinson is a gorgeous femme fatale. John Cassavetes is a charismatic lead, and I particularly enjoyed his scenes with Claude Akins. It's tough for me to imagine President Ronald Reagan as a villain, but he pulled off the role quite nicely here.

I'd love for these two versions to be upgraded to Blu-ray soon.

Point Blank is an awesome movie, I really enjoy the remake as well but no way in hell they do a double feature of Point Blank/Payback.

But I'd say the chances are about the same as something like Charley Varrick seeing an updated release too.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Just to be clear on this, while the Siegel version was originally made for TV -- and in fact was the very first film made for American television -- the network (I think it was NBC, but I'm not positive) decided it was too violent for broadcast, so Universal released it to theaters instead.

Yes, all true. I like the history behind this film. The opening sequences at the blind school, in fact, probably wouldn't even fly as well now in 2014 as they might have back then.

[jhiggy23]

No love for Gabriel Axel, Babette's Feast's director who died two days ago? I actually watched the film for the first time last night, without knowledge that he had died until today. I didn't think I'd like the film, but I thought it was lovely. It's not particularly eventful, but I loved the simplicity to it and found it pretty affecting.

[demonknight]

So. What are the guesses for Saturday (?)?

Mine-
The Life Aquatic
Eraserhead
CronenBOX
A Hard Day's Night
Picnic at Hanging Rock

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by demonknight

So. What are the guesses for Saturday (?)?

Mine-
The Life Aquatic
Eraserhead
CronenBOX
A Hard Day's Night
Picnic at Hanging Rock

They won't announce until Monday this month.

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by jrsl76

They won't announce until Monday this month.

Damn.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by jrsl76

They won't announce until Monday this month.

Monday is Presidents Day so it might even be Tuesday.

[JJJ225]

Originally Posted by jrsl76

They won't announce until Monday this month.

They sometimes do the Friday before if the 15th is a weekend.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by Romulus

Watched Three Colors: Blue last night for the very first time.

Let me start off by saying that I'm a huge fan of The Double Life of Veronique. So naturally, with all the hype surrounding the trilogy I knew I needed to see these films. Luckily enough I got the trilogy for Christmas this year (I'm a busy man).

Kieslowski, to me, has a profound experience on me that I can only relate to Terrence Malick or Andrei Tarkovsky in that their films suffocate my mind after viewing them.

I couldn't help be feel very isolated from the experience for the entire middle section of the film. I kept thinking to myself "this is the great Kieslowski work that everyone talks about?". It wasn't until the final 20 minutes or so when

[Show spoiler]Julie finds out that her husband had a mistress, that the film immediately connected with me.

At this point I'm became much more interested in the film and thought the final minutes were played out brilliantly. It wasn't until after the film that I realized why I felt so disconnected from the film:

[Show spoiler]Julie herself is isolated from everything in her world. It's a self imposed isolation that grants her the freedom to do whatever she wants. Blue, of course, a color of the French flag represents "liberty", a theme that is crucial to the film. The self imposed isolation for Julie is critical, in that she becomes more reliant on herself--but even moreso, this isolation leads to her liberation. In that final 20 minutes she realizes that the relationship that she had with her husband, wasn't what she thought it was. While the film doesn't explicitly state it, it's obvious to me that Julie wrote the music for her husband--though her husband gets all the credit. In the final moments of the film we see let go of the past and move onto the future. It comes with a somber note, though: as included in the Criterion essay Julie finds out that you can't have both freedom or love. Julie in the past had the love without the freedom, now she has the freedom but the inability to love--which perfectly describes the relationship with Olivier.

I know that's not a defacto reading of Blue, by any means. It is interesting in that at the end of the film I thought to myself, a 3.5/5. Then I started thinking and reading on it some more and before I went to sleep I knew it was a solid 4. I can see this being one of my favorite films over time and when I revisit it more.

Tonight, I will watch White.

I recall that BLUE took me a little while to get into, but I wound up liking it somewhat better than DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE, a little bit better than WHITE, and almost as much as RED. If you liked BLUE, just wait until you've seen the entire trilogy, as by the end of RED they all take on a new interconnected resonance. I should probably watch the set again one of these days, but I've got too many unwatched discs as it is, as well as various other things that somehow need to get done.

[FaceInTheLeaves]

Originally Posted by demonknight

So. What are the guesses for Saturday (?)?

Mine-
The Life Aquatic
Eraserhead
CronenBOX
A Hard Day's Night
Picnic at Hanging Rock

I'd kill for Eraserhead and Picnic at Hanging Rock.

I watched The Life Aquatic yesterday and the scene where the Jaguar shark swims out of the darkness is one of my favourite things about being alive. I also love Isabella Blow's cameo and Anjelica Huston generally. I think she's the main reason I fell in love with The Darjeeling Limited.

Edit: I'd actually buy all of those releases

[amoergosum]

Originally Posted by demonknight

So. What are the guesses for Saturday (?)?

Mine-
The Life Aquatic
Eraserhead
CronenBOX
A Hard Day's Night
Picnic at Hanging Rock

The Life Aquatic would be awesome.