The Criterion Collection

[bwdowiak]

Had an unexpected day off yesterday as my son had no sitter, so in between changing poop diapers and reading peek-a-boo story books, I watched In Which We Serve from the Lean box set and A Woman is a Woman.

While IWWS makes the cut for a movie I can say that I 'liked', I wasn't crazy about it. Too much military jargon and too many mid 20th century British idioms that either a) we never used here in the States or b) are outdated (all I know is that I haven't heard them before and at times I had no idea what they were talking about.) The story is not told in a linear fashion and while it isn't entirely confusing, it is somewhat confusing.

I liked the Godard film, although like Ebert said in his review, it is a little bit wearisome at times. If anyone is curious as to what this film is like, I will share this thought... I read on IMDB that this is one of Joseph Gordon Levitt's favorite movies. Even though it isn't a musical (it IS billed as one ?!), the whimsical nature of the film kinda reminded me of the Hall & Oates song JGL sings in 500 Days of Summer. If the film was redone, nobody else but JGL would play the male lead. So it is that kind of "charming," if you will. Innovative, fun, good not great.

[Feiereisel]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

And that fisherman scene... what does it add to the movie? I've just seen it on youtube and I think Mann was right to originally delete it.

It adds no A-to-B plot information, true, but I think it fits nicely into the thematic scheme of the film. In Thief, it rhymes with the film's second post-score beach sequence and provides a visual counterpoint to the cage-like street and backalley settings that dominate the film. (In the booklet essay, Nick James refers to the streets as "rat runs" that trap the characters.) It's also closely related to the collage Frank keeps in his wallet which represents all the things he wants in life, functioning as a momentary escape from the real-world pressures that begin to crop up in the following scenes and threaten to compromise his ideal life.

It's a Mann staple, really. McCauley looks out at the rolling sea in Heat and plans to plans to fly away to Fiji with Edie; Max has a picture of a tropical island tucked in his sun visor in Collatral that he looks at as he researches his limo business; Crockett and Isabella "escape" to Cuba in the middle of Miami Vice...the conflict between the fantasies Mann's characters chase and what their personal or professional codes allow them to do is something he revisits over and over again as a director.

[Page14]

Originally Posted by belcherman

<snip>

M*A*S*H -- if you forget that you ever saw the TV series of the same name and enjoy Gould and Sutherland riffing their way through the Korean War, the various minor characters that Altman does so well and the cinematography, it's an under-rated* Altman, IMHO.

Also, Short Cuts, The Player, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Nashville, The Long Goodbye, Thieves Like Us, and Tanner '88 are all good. McCabe is my favorite, but it's not to everyone's taste.

* M*A*S*H is on both the 1997 and 2007 versions of the AFI Top 100, so it's not really under-rated, but it doesn't seem to get much love in this forum when people talk about Altman.

I have to admit that I haven't seen a whole lot of Altman's films ... M*A*S*H, Nashville, Popeye and the most recent being 3 Women. Of those, M*A*S*H is easily my favorite. In fact it's a classic to me ... for whatever that's worth.

On the Off Topic side of things, I love your avatar, belcherman. I came very close to using that exact same avatar myself many, many times ... both as a tip of the hat to Don Knotts and also to acknowledge another movie I see as a classic, but others might disagree with that. I suppose nostalgia has a lot to do with it.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Oblivion138

All his adherence to stage-bound productions demonstrates is that Hitchcock liked to be able to control everything. If anything, he would be thrilled with the potential that CGI provided for controlling the environment of his films even more.

Maybe. But saying that one of the best directors who ever lived liked to control everything is like saying that John Candy liked to eat pizza.

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Well said. Also, when Hitch was older he'd leave some of the filming to his assistant director. There was no way he'd sit in the car with the camera.

I either read it in one of Donald Spoto's book or saw it on some bonus content, but I recall hearing that it is because he was lazy and didn't want to be bothered with certain aspects of the film making process. Not exactly an endorsement for a director who would do anything or embrace any industry progress for the benefit of making a better film.

Pardon me if that is blasphemous. Historically speaking, Hitch is actually my favorite director of all-time and Vertigo is my favorite film. I guess when you've praised and spent time analyzing and thinking about all that is good, the next logical thing to do is to nit-pick at the imperfections.

[Iamspartacus]

Pertaining to Altman, I would say:

1. The Player
2. Nashville
3. A Wedding
4. The Long Goodbye
5. Mash
6. Short Cuts
7. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
8. 3 Women

[The Great Owl]

Last night, I watched the 1949 film noir, The Window, featuring the iconic villain actor, Paul Stewart, who also stars in the Criterion noir title, Kiss Me Deadly. This modern-day interpretation of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" is a fun and intense flick that would make a decent double feature with The Night of the Hunter if you're looking for some skewed coming-of-age stories.

I'm hoping that my two Fritz Lang Warner Archive movies, While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, arrive today so that I can plow through them this weekend.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Last night, I watched the 1949 film noir, The Window, featuring the iconic villain actor, Paul Stewart, who also stars in the Criterion noir title, Kiss Me Deadly. This modern-day interpretation of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" is a fun and intense flick that would make a decent double feature with The Night of the Hunter if you're looking for some skewed coming-of-age stories.

I'm hoping that my two Fritz Lang Warner Archive movies, While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, arrive today so that I can plow through them this weekend.

I watched The Window a couple of months ago and I really enjoyed it.

Such a shame that Bobby Driscoll died so young.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by nondiatonic

I would have to say that, while it is considered a quintessential Altman, I don't think it's the best introduction (simply because the long musical segments have the potential to turn off viewers who are not already fans of his work, as noted in this thread).

Nashville was actually the second Altman I'd ever seen in my life (the first being M*A*S*H, several years earlier), and I don't especially like country music, but I loved the film nevertheless. And it was actually the film that made me an Altman fan.

[SilentDawn]

Originally Posted by Visco.

I watched Thief today. I'll be editing my top 100 list very soon. Absolutely everything I look forward to in a movie. I wish Mann directed more of his films with this much style.

The transfer was absolutely flawless.

So happy you liked it Visco., it's an incredible film!

So, do you like it better than Drive?

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by Page14

I have to admit that I haven't seen a whole lot of Altman's films ... M*A*S*H, Nashville, Popeye and the most recent being 3 Women. Of those, M*A*S*H is easily my favorite. In fact it's a classic to me ... for whatever that's worth.

On the Off Topic side of things, I love your avatar, belcherman. I came very close to using that exact same avatar myself many, many times ... both as a tip of the hat to Don Knotts and also to acknowledge another movie I see as a classic, but others might disagree with that. I suppose nostalgia has a lot to do with it.

Glad you like my avatar. TIML is a movie I enjoyed as a kid. Don Knotts is perfect in it, but it also features one of my favorite character actors, Jack Weston. It's a great story, on many levels. One thing I learned today on IMDB is that the cinematographer for TIML, Harold E. Stine, was also the cinematographer on M*A*S*H. Stine didn't do a lot of film work. He was mostly a TV guy and M*A*S*H was one of his last films.

BTW, there's a rumored remake of TIML in the planning, with Zak Galifianakis to star and Richard Linklater at the helm. They have a tough act to follow.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Last night, I watched the 1949 film noir, The Window, featuring the iconic villain actor, Paul Stewart, who also stars in the Criterion noir title, Kiss Me Deadly. This modern-day interpretation of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" is a fun and intense flick that would make a decent double feature with The Night of the Hunter if you're looking for some skewed coming-of-age stories.

I'm hoping that my two Fritz Lang Warner Archive movies, While the City Sleeps and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, arrive today so that I can plow through them this weekend.

I first saw The Window when I was a kid and to someone who was probably not much older than Bobby Driscoll's character it was pretty frightening. Pretty daring in it's day for a Production Code film since

[Show spoiler]it clearly shows an attempt to kill a child.

Didn't Bobby Driscoll get a special Oscar for this? I know it was either this or Song of the South. Sadly, that film is buried in a Disney Vault tighter than Uncle Scrooge's.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I first saw The Window when I was a kid and to someone who was probably not much older than Bobby Driscoll's character it was pretty frightening. Pretty daring in it's day for a Production Code film since

[Show spoiler]it clearly shows an attempt to kill a child.

Didn't Bobby Driscoll get a special Oscar for this? I know it was either this or Song of the South. Sadly, that film is buried in a Disney Vault tighter than Uncle Scrooge's.

I saw Song of the South at a theater back in 1980 when I was in third grade. I was staying at a friend's house when his family decided to go out for a movie that night. I remember being quietly disappointed that they decided to go see Song of the South instead of The Empire Strikes Back, which I had already seen at a local theater with my brother, but wanted to see again. In retrospect, though, I'm glad that I had a chance to see the Disney movie on the big screen.

[StLouisRibs]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Glad you like my avatar. TIML is a movie I enjoyed as a kid. Don Knotts is perfect in it, but it also features one of my favorite character actors, Jack Weston. It's a great story, on many levels. One thing I learned today on IMDB is that the cinematographer for TIML, Harold E. Stine, was also the cinematographer on M*A*S*H. Stine didn't do a lot of film work. He was mostly a TV guy and M*A*S*H was one of his last films.

BTW, there's a rumored remake of TIML in the planning, with Zak Galifianakis to star and Richard Linklater at the helm. They have a tough act to follow.

True story: I had The Incredible Mr Limpet and The Talented Mr Ripley confused in my head for quite some time. When I went to watch Purple Noon, I was beyond confused at all the murder.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I saw Song of the South at a theater back in 1980 when I was in third grade. I was staying at a friend's house when his family decided to go out for a movie that night. I remember being quietly disappointed that they decided to go see Song of the South instead of The Empire Strikes Back, which I had already seen at a local theater with my brother, but wanted to see again. In retrospect, though, I'm glad that I had a chance to see the Disney movie on the big screen.

I can't tell you how many times I saw it either on TV or in the theaters when they would re-release it. I'm not going to stir the fires on the whys/why nots on it's non-availability today but I would hope that it does see the light of day again.

[natureboy]

Originally Posted by StLouisRibs

True story: I had The Incredible Mr Limpet and The Talented Mr Ripley confused in my head for quite some time. When I went to watch Purple Noon, I was beyond confused at all the murder.

I wish the Talented Mr. Ripley had a talking fish in it.

[cash_black]

Originally Posted by Iamspartacus

Pertaining to Altman, I would say:

1. The Player
2. Nashville
3. A Wedding
4. The Long Goodbye
5. Mash
6. Short Cuts
7. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
8. 3 Women

for me

1. The Long Goodbye
2. The Player
3. 3 Women
4. The Gingerbread Man
5. Short Cuts
6. MASH
7. Popeye

[Scottie]

I watched Late Spring this afternoon. It was the second Ozu film that I have seen and I really enjoyed it. I personally do not think that I had the same emotional attachment to the characters or the story as I did with Tokyo Story, but I was still taken aback and found it to be a very rewarding watch. The ending dialogue about happiness was just absolutely beautiful. Yet again, the film forced me to reflect and think about my own life so I applaud Ozu for that.

I followed up Late Spring with the 1985 documentary, Tokyo-Ga (included in the Late Spring release; thanks Roninblues for the recommendation). I absolutely loved it! It was incredibly sad in a lot of ways because of its reflection on nostalgic moments with those individuals who worked close to Ozu, but it simultaneously explained how much of a genius Ozu in fact was. Massive kudos to Wim Wenders for the beautiful examination on the life of this man, as well as the city that he so much loved.

[cash_black]

Originally Posted by Tin Drum

I think it has a pretty good amount of special features, to be honest. Certainly more than a lot of Criterion blu rays actually have.

I'd love a blu upgrade but the picture on the dvd is sufficient for dvd. It's not Dillinger is Dead in terms of excellent dvd PQ but it's above average.

Yeah I was remembering it wrong, confused the special features witha different bare bones release I got at the same time but the PQ is certainly not great, a lot of damage.

[TylerScruggs]

Perhaps I need to rewatch it, but I didn't quite jive with Thief. I found it to be super slow and despite the wonderful look and feel, didn't have much of a driving force throughout. I did a double feature with that and Drive, and although that film's ascetic is probably completely credited to Thief, I find it to be the superior film. It's atmospheric but not aimless.

Again, this is only a first impression. I had some pretty big expectations and I felt let down. :-/

[cash_black]

Originally Posted by TylerScruggs

Perhaps I need to rewatch it, but I didn't quite jive with Thief. I found it to be super slow and despite the wonderful look and feel, didn't have much of a driving force throughout. I did a double feature with that and Drive, and although that film's ascetic is probably completely credited to Thief, I find it to be the superior film. It's atmospheric but not aimless.

Again, this is only a first impression. I had some pretty big expectations and I felt let down. :-/

I love Drive, its in my top 100 but Thief is a masterclass, in my top 10, one of the greatest films ever made. Also Thief does get better with each viewing.