The Criterion Collection

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by Visco.

I just finished The Great Beauty and I think I'm in love.

I just saw it, as well. Truly, a beautiful film to watch. It definitely had a Fellini tone to it and I kept picturing an older Mastroianni as Jep. It looked beautiful on Hulu. I can only imagine what it looked like in a theater or on Blu-ray.

[Page14]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Those are some great films being shown.

I'd love to see The Women on the big screen.

Good timing ... if it hasn't been mentioned yet, The Women is being shown on TCM tonight at 10:00 p.m. EST.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I just saw it, as well. Truly, a beautiful film to watch. It definitely had a Fellini tone to it and I kept picturing an older Mastroianni as Jep. It looked beautiful on Hulu. I can only imagine what it looked like in a theater or on Blu-ray.

maybe I had a bad streaming night, but it looked like crap when I saw it on Hulu the other day.. well, I only watched 45 minutes. I'll need to try it again some time if I can get a hold of a blu-ray copy. I didn't dislike it by any means, but I wasn't really connecting with it.

a lot of old people partying, though... and really unattractive women behaving like they are goddesses.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

maybe I had a bad streaming night, but it looked like crap when I saw it on Hulu the other day.. well, I only watched 45 minutes. I'll need to try it again some time if I can get a hold of a blu-ray copy. I didn't dislike it by any means, but I wasn't really connecting with it.

a lot of old people partying, though... and really unattractive women behaving like they are goddesses.

I'll be honest, the first few minutes didn't connect with me but

[Show spoiler]the scene when Jep has the give and take with "the artist" who's talent consists of ramming her head into a wall hooked me from then on. I think the reality of aging and perceived self-importance are what the main character is reflecting on, not only in his friends and acquaintances but himself, as well.

[Scottie]

I just finished Ace in the Hole.

I will admit that I was a little underwhelmed by it, but at the end of the day, I'm glad I saw it. It truly was a great film.

Kirk Douglas was phenomenal, as was the subject matter, because, well, journalism is not the most honest thing out there.

Originally Posted by Page14

Good timing ... if it hasn't been mentioned yet, The Women is being shown on TCM tonight at 10:00 p.m. EST.

And the Blu-ray came out today!

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I just finished Ace in the Hole.

I will admit that I was a little underwhelmed by it, but at the end of the day, I'm glad I saw it. It truly was a great film.

Kirk Douglas was phenomenal, as was the subject matter, because, well, journalism is not the most honest thing out there.

It and A Face In the Crowd would make a glorious scathing double-bill.

[The Great Owl]

A few more of my thoughts about The Great Beauty, since folks are discussing it here again...

I did not write about this in my User Review of the film a few weeks back, but it's worth sharing here in context to how the movie affected me.

Back in February, one of my best friends from my hometown committed suicide for unknown reasons. I had met Rob on the first day of first grade, when we both caught the same ride from the school to where our parents worked, and he was a great friend through elementary school, middle school, and high school. We attended the same college, but fell into different crowds and gradually lost touch. He was living out of state, but we reconnected on Facebook a couple years ago, and things seemed to be going pretty well for him. The news of his suicide caught everyone off guard, because (and I know that this is a cliché thing to say) he always seemed like the last person on Earth who would do such a thing.

I drove down to my hometown for Rob's funeral, and enjoyed visiting with a handful of childhood/high school friends, although I obviously wish that the circumstances had been different. We're all in our early 40s, and the experience of sharing memories about our friend and about the old days was bittersweet, because we are not getting any younger, and more sad "reunions" like this are inevitable in the coming years.

Because of this, the funeral scene in The Great Beauty absolutely destroyed me.

In fact, without revealing spoilers, the general tone of the movie pretty much destroyed me. The side story about the death of a significant person in Jep Gambardella's past, the funeral sequence, and the closing credits all reverberated with me for so many reasons.

I guess that I had a real life reminder this winter that we are all "tourists" who are just passing through. Seeing The Great Beauty after that was pretty amazing, to say the least.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

It and A Face In the Crowd would make a glorious scathing double-bill.

What a coincidence, I have A Face in the Crowd on my DVR.

I'll probably throw it on in a little while.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I just finished Ace in the Hole.

I will admit that I was a little underwhelmed by it, but at the end of the day, I'm glad I saw it. It truly was a great film.

Kirk Douglas was phenomenal, as was the subject matter, because, well, journalism is not the most honest thing out there.

Ace in the Hole is a slow grower compared to most of the Billy Wilder films, or least it was to me. I had a muted reaction the first time that I watched my old Criterion DVD, but the movie really made an impact on me when I saw it a second time. It gets better with each viewing.

I purchased the Dual Format package of Ace in the Hole on the way home from work today despite the undiscounted price, because I especially wanted a spotlessly immaculate digipak for this film. I'm short on time tonight, so I'm going to watch something else, but I'll probably dive into the Ace in the Hole Blu-ray tomorrow after work.


On a funny side note, I stood in Barnes & Noble for a good five minutes with the Blu-rays of Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster and Godzilla on Monster Island in my hands, deliberating whether or not to buy them. I exercised fiscal restraint this time, because I'm well aware that these movies probably will not stand up to my wide-eyed childhood memories of them, but that was a long moment of temptation.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

A few more of my thoughts about The Great Beauty, since folks are discussing it here again...

I did not write about this in my User Review of the film a few weeks back, but it's worth sharing here in context to how the movie affected me.

Back in February, one of my best friends from my hometown committed suicide for unknown reasons. I had met Rob on the first day of first grade, when we both caught the same ride from the school to where our parents worked, and he was a great friend through elementary school, middle school, and high school. We attended the same college, but fell into different crowds and gradually lost touch. He was living out of state, but we reconnected on Facebook a couple years ago, and things seemed to be going pretty well for him.

I drove down to my hometown for Rob's funeral, and enjoyed visiting with a handful of childhood/high school friends, although I obviously wish that the circumstances had been different. We're all in our early 40s, and the experience of sharing memories about our friend and about the old days was bittersweet, because we are not getting any younger, and more sad "reunions" like this are inevitable in the coming years.

Because of this, the funeral scene in The Great Beauty absolutely destroyed me.

In fact, without revealing spoilers, the general tone of the movie pretty much destroyed me. The side story about the death of a significant person in Jep Gambardella's past, the funeral sequence, and the closing credits all reverberated with me for so many reasons.

I guess that I had a real life reminder this winter that we are all "tourists" who are just passing through. Seeing The Great Beauty after that was pretty amazing, to say the least.

I'm closer to Jep's age than I'd like to admit, but I find myself honestly (I hope) reflecting on my life in the rear view mirror that age presents you with and that; combined with a who knows how many years of life ahead and what quality it will be, can be quite sobering as the film shows. Sorry to be somewhat morbid here but, as Owl notes, a lot of reunions we have as we get older are under less than happy circumstances. Once again, the film captures that.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Ace in the Hole is a slow grower compared to most of the Billy Wilder films, or least it was to me. I had a muted reaction the first time that I watched my old Criterion DVD, but the movie really made an impact on me when I saw it a second time. It gets better with each viewing.

It's a great release. Picture quality and audio quality are top-notch.

That being said, Billy Wilder is one of those directors where I either immediately fall in love with his films (The Lost Weekend, The Seven Year Itch, Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard [one of my all time favorite films], Witness For The Prosecution) or I don't (Ace In The Hole, The Apartment, Death Mills [oh, come on, who immediately warms up to this?], Double Indemnity, Sabrina, Stalag 17). I still think they're all excellent, though!

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by iScottie

What a coincidence, I have A Face in the Crowd on my DVR.

I'll probably throw it on in a little while.

As I've said before-if you've only known Andy Griffith as his Sheriff Taylor or Matlock personas be prepared for a shock.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

As I've said before-if you've only known Andy Griffith as his Sheriff Taylor or Matlock personas be prepared for a shock.

Yes, I saw A Face in the Crowd for the first time a couple of years ago & was extremely impressed; in fact, I would even go so far as to call it a minor masterpiece. Andy Griffith was amazing here; I never liked watching him on his TV series (too goody-two-shoes), but this film really shows that he was able to act in a dramatic role extremely well. The character he played in the film

[Show spoiler]was the worst type of person; i.e., someone who acts nice to get people to like him, but is actually quite evil.

It's too bad Griffith didn't act in more roles like this over the years; this film pre-dated the AG show, so probably what happened is he either got type-cast by the show, and/or he didn't want to ruin his wholesome image by acting in more dramatic roles like this.

Note that I never even heard about AFITC until I read an online article about this a couple of years back right around the time AG passed on; it's too bad this film was not more well-known over the years...Even these days, I doubt you'll be able to find many people who have actually seen this....

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by AnamorphicWidescreen

Yes, I saw A Face in the Crowd for the first time a couple of years ago & was extremely impressed; in fact, I would even go so far as to call it a minor masterpiece. Andy Griffith was amazing here; I never liked watching him on his TV series (too goody-two-shoes), but this film really shows that he was able to act in a dramatic role extremely well. The character he played in the film

[Show spoiler]was the worst type of person; i.e., someone who acts nice to get people to like him, but is actually quite evil.

It's too bad Griffith didn't act in more roles like this over the years; this film pre-dated the AG show, so probably what happened is he either got type-cast by the show, and/or he didn't want to ruin his wholesome image by acting in more dramatic roles like this.



Note that I never even heard about AFITC until I read an online article about this a couple of years back right around the time AG passed on; it's too bad this film was not more well-known over the years...Even these days, I doubt you'll be able to find many people who have actually seen this....

This was his first film role and I know his familiar persona showed up in No Time For Sergeants and that Onionhead was a combination of the good/bad Andy. I remember him doing some villain roles in made-for-TV movies like Savages a variation of The Most Dangerous Game, after TAGS was cancelled. I also liked him in a film called Hearts of the West.

[Scottie]

I just finished A Face in the Crowd.

The beginning won me over, but as the film progressed, I wasn't as wowed as I initially was. That being said, the last 30 minutes are PHENOMENAL.

This film MAY have the greatest ending to any film that I've seen. Perfect.

[Edward J Grug III]

Australian release of a Jacques Tati set: http://www.madman.com.au/catalogue/v...ray&labelId=62

All 6 Tati features and 7 shorts.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by AnamorphicWidescreen

Yes, I saw A Face in the Crowd for the first time a couple of years ago & was extremely impressed; in fact, I would even go so far as to call it a minor masterpiece.

I'll even take the minor out. I think it's Kazan's best film.

And if anybody's looking for another double feature match you can't go wrong with The Bad and the Beautiful.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by octagon

I'll even take the minor out. I think it's Kazan's best film.

And if anybody's looking for another double feature match you can't go wrong with The Bad and the Beautiful.

I don't think I will ever enjoy a Kazan film more than A Streetcar Named Desire. That movie floored me from the moment it began until it faded to black.

I'd have to say On The Waterfront is also another Kazan favorite of mine, followed by A Face In The Crowd and lastly East Of Eden (two other great films).

I have Splendor In The Grass on my DVR, as well as Gentleman's Agreement, Pinky, and Wild River set to record on my DVR. I often see The Last Tycoon, Man On A Tightrope, and Viva Zapata! airing periodically.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I don't think I will ever enjoy a Kazan film more than A Streetcar Named Desire. That movie floored me from the moment it began until it faded to black.

I'd have to say On The Waterfront is also another Kazan favorite of mine, followed by A Face In The Crowd and lastly East Of Eden (two other great films).

I have Splendor In The Grass on my DVR, as well as Gentleman's Agreement, Pinky, and Wild River set to record on my DVR. I often see The Last Tycoon, Man On A Tightrope, and Viva Zapata! airing periodically.

Check out Panic in the Streets if you get a chance. It's very close to the perfect Late Late Show type B movie. There's really nothing all that exceptional about it except for the fact that everything is almost perfectly executed. Nothing is really great but everything from top to bottom (casting, writing, directing, sets, location, cinematography, score) is really, really good.

Fox did a really nice job with the BD too.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by octagon

Check out Panic in the Streets if you get a chance. It's very close to the perfect Late Late Show type B movie. There's really nothing all that exceptional about it except for the fact that everything is almost perfectly executed. Nothing is really great but everything from top to bottom (casting, writing, directing, sets, location, cinematography, score) is really, really good.

Fox did a really nice job with the BD too.

Thanks for the information! Will do.