The Criterion Collection

[gates70]

Originally Posted by tkusterb

I've never been as passionate about Breathless as some are (I've tried!), but 8 1/2 and Rififi are among my favorite films of all time. The Fellini takes an open mind and an awareness of the filmmaking, but it is absolutely amazing. Rififi is more accessible as popular entertainment and includes maybe the most realistic and nail-biting robbery scene ever shot.

How Green Was My Valley is sentimental Hollywood classic but so beautifully shot (Gregg Toland), and Best Years of My Life is so emotionally shattering when you consider when it was released and what the audience's reaction must have been.

Thanks for the input! I hear a lot about 8 1/2 lately, so it must have something to it

[gates70]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

If you liked the above Humphrey Bogart movies, then you might enjoy Breathless. Breathless takes cues from American film noir, but it also pays obvious homages to Bogart, whom Belmondo's character directly imitates in mannerisms and style.

Thanks! Great information to know. It's easier to blind buy when they're $10-$15 movies, but with CC's at $40 a pop here in Canada

[natureboy]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

No one knows :P - Hoping today! :P

But probably Monday.

[blu-bry]

Originally Posted by gates70

...I'm ready to blind buy yet again, but I need feedback on some of these since I know little of them. What I'm looking at are;

Tokyo Story
Breathless
Rififi
8 1/2
La Haine
and 2 non Criterion...
How Green Was My Valley
The Best Years of Our Lives

Any feedback would be appreciated my friends!

From your list, and going by my taste:

1. Rififi
2. How Green Was My Valley
3. The Best Years of Our Lives

[gates70]

Originally Posted by blu-bry

From your list, and going by my taste:

1. Rififi
2. How Green Was My Valley
3. The Best Years of Our Lives

Thanks for your input!

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

If you liked the above Humphrey Bogart movies, then you might enjoy Breathless. Breathless takes cues from American film noir, but it also pays obvious homages to Bogart, whom Belmondo's character directly imitates in mannerisms and style.

Rififi and Breathless both have my highest recommendations, although your entire list is solid.

i know i said that more than once now , but i didnt like breathless at all. that way godard made his movies (at least the older releases, dont know his newer movies in color) , at least for me are boring and even annoying lot of times.

but i do enjoy bogart movies, i liked some other french classic movies , i loved La Haine and really want to explore some fellini movies like 8 1/2 . (im not much into italian classics as well, but i like modern movies like "me and you" a lot)

ive not seen the movie "A Man escaped" but that one does look like i might like it

old french movies are really a hit and miss thing. either i love them or hate them.

[natureboy]

In actual Criterion news:

http://blog.criterioncast.com/post/7...ilable-to-rent

David Lean’s Madeleine is now available to rent and purchase (in HD) on Amazon, from the Criterion Collection.

"The legendary David Lean directs this retelling of the true-life events that led to the "trial of the century" in Victorian Scotland: the murder of Emile L’Angelier by his lover, the aristocratic Madeleine Smith (played with fervor by Lean’s wife, Ann Todd). Part melodrama, part trial film, Madeleine exemplifies Lean’s well-wrought characters and directorial restraint."

Wonder if this means a blu release is imminent as well? I love Lean but haven't seen this one. I know TCM is showing it at the end of the month (along with Passionate Friends, another of his I haven't seen).

[Polaroid]

Can tell it will be announced Monday :/ god sake why can't they just tell us as early as possible :P how did people find the amazon links from last month?

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by natureboy

Wonder if this means a blu release is imminent as well? I love Lean but haven't seen this one. I know TCM is showing it at the end of the month (along with Passionate Friends, another of his I haven't seen).

My brother went to a screening of Passionate Friends a few years ago. He said it's excellent.

[Clare2904]

Bottle Rocket

Now I am not the greatest Wes Anderson fan. Only seen The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom & Life Aquatic. The first two were 7/10, the last 5/10.

That said, I am going to watch The Grand Budapest Hotel on the strength of the trailer and Ralph on the big screen My main point (finally) is whilst going through the various Apps on my TV I have come across Bottle Rocket. Now I know next to nothing about this except that it was his first film. I have watched the trailer just now on iMDB and I actually fancy the look of it I see someone else asked recently what was the best way to delve into the World of Anderson and this film was suggested by a few.

Is it worth a shot, given my not so stellar thoughts on my previous experiences?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by gates70

I've been blind buying tons of old classic movies and loving it. I still have tons that are unwrapped and unseen such as Seven Samurai, Citizen Kane, James Dean collection, All About Eve, West Side Story, Zatoichi, Vincent Price collection, and many many more. I just recently watched all my Hitchcock's that I purchased and had never seen, as well as stuff like Twelve O'Clock High, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Maltese Falcon, An Affair to Remember, and many more, and loved them all. Now to get to my point...I'm ready to blind buy yet again, but I need feedback on some of these since I know little of them. What I'm looking at are;

Tokyo Story
Breathless
Rififi
8 1/2
La Haine
and 2 non Criterion...
How Green Was My Valley
The Best Years of Our Lives

Any feedback would be appreciated my friends!

In descending order:

Tokyo Story
The Best Years of Our Lives
How Green Was My Valley
Rififi
La Haine
8 1/2
Breathless

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

My brother went to a screening of Passionate Friends a few years ago. He said it's excellent.

FWIW, Passionate Friends is also available for streaming from Netflix.

[jw007]

bwdowiak:

How do you feel about listening to a directors' audio commentary after watching one of his films? Or actually, how do you feel about an audio interview? Would you listen to that? The reason I ask is, I recently watched Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence (WHICH I THINK IS F#CKING BRILLIANT!), and I went ahead and listened to the 1975 audio interview of his afterwards. You said you are completely against watching the supplements esp. before seeing the film, but are you also against LISTENING to the supplements? After all, as opposed to critics who might be subjective, whose opinion could be better than the director himself?!

[natureboy]

Originally Posted by jayembee

FWIW, Passionate Friends is also available for streaming from Netflix.

I canceled Netflix for a myriad of reasons, none of which I will recount here but are pretty consistent with the reasons most people canceled Netflix.

[natureboy]

Originally Posted by jw007

How do you feel about listening to a directors' audio commentary after watching one of his films?

I think he likes listening to the commentary before watching the film.

[ultlife2013]

I really liked Alphaville, if criterion would re release that on blu that would be awesome.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by jw007

bwdowiak:

How do you feel about listening to a directors' audio commentary after watching one of his films? Or actually, how do you feel about an audio interview? Would you listen to that? The reason I ask is, I recently watched Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence (WHICH I THINK IS F#CKING BRILLIANT!), and I went ahead and listened to the 1975 audio interview of his afterwards. You said you are completely against watching the supplements esp. before seeing the film, but are you also against LISTENING to the supplements? After all, as opposed to critics who might be subjective, whose opinion could be better than the director himself?!

hey j dubs.. you got my attention!
"You said you are completely against watching the supplements esp. before seeing the film" whoa.. wait.. no. that's not what I said. I said that I don't like watching certain supplements until I feel that I have exhausted whatever the film can offer me or until I've seen all other essential works by the director of the film. ..and here is a confession: I have NEVER watched a film with an audio commentary running. not that I am against it by any means, but there's too many darn good movies and not enough time to watch them all. maybe the next time I watch Vertigo (my all time fav) I will let the commentary run, but usually my viewings of films I really enjoy are rather far apart. Not by choice.. just because I don't have the time for it, really. It took me more than 10 years to revisit films like The Deer Hunter and Breathless and by that time, I needed to watch the whole darn thing again.

as for me applying my own rules for you watching A Woman Under The Influence... I don't know how deep that film is... if it needs multiple viewings or if it is just a great film that only needs to be seen once. but, yes, a director's commentary, for me, would be preferential to hearing Jo Schmo's commentary.

I think that I alluded to it before all of this, but I am not a huge supplement guy in general. I'd prefer Criterion NOT release the films I love, actually, and for them to come out in cheaper versions. I know I'm probably alone in that opinion, but it's all good.

[smoss469]

For those fans of Breathless, you'll be pleased to know that it's no longer my most disappointing (and loathed) Criterion title!

The new champ? Wild 90

[natureboy]

Originally Posted by smoss469

For those fans of Breathless, you'll be pleased to know that it's no longer my most disappointing (and loathed) Criterion title!

The new champ? Wild 90

Ha! Is there anything good on that Eclipse set? All of the films have terrible imdb scores if I recall correctly.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by smoss469

For those fans of Breathless, you'll be pleased to know that it's no longer my most disappointing (and loathed) Criterion title!

Yes!

Originally Posted by smoss469;8930874
The new champ? [b

Wild 90[/b]

My first clue would have been the 4.5/10 rating on IMDB. of course, that is popular opinion, but the only people to vote on it are likely to have been the people who sought it out in the first place. now if Smoss has an IMDB account, he can drag it down further!