The Criterion Collection

[GxyExpress999]

Originally Posted by mcvitie

Hey guys. I don't suppose any of you have a side by side spine size comparison pic of the new 3 disc cases and regular ones. Im intrigued as Ive heard they are slightly thicker? I for one am glad they have sussed an alterative to oversized recent digipaks. Thanks!

Here you go. Yeah the new one is slightly thicker. Personally, I love digipaks though.

[JJJ225]

Originally Posted by iScottie

By the way, have you seen The Cranes Are Flying? My favorite Russian film behind Solaris.

YES! Such an under seen masterpiece. It's in my top 5 of all time. I'm hoping for a Blu Ray upgrade soon!

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by smoss469

I haven't seen The Cranes Are Flying yet, but I've been keeping an eye out for it on TCM. I'll eventually catch it somewhere I'm sure.

I often wonder how much ambiguous plot points are by intention vs the writer really didn't know how to explain it so they left it open ended. It's why I could never get too much into H.P. Lovecraft's writings. You can only read a story so many times where important details are left out because "they're too horrible to repeat for fear I would go mad" (or something to that effect).

Often it seems leaving things open ended is judged as something like deeper thought, but I usually feel cheated. I don't want to be hand held through any movie, but sometimes shoring up some unexplained details really makes it enjoyable for the viewer.

I have always looked for TCM recordings but I have not had any luck. I ended up finding it on a YouTube like website when I was browsing the internet a couple of months ago and figured I'd watch it. I don't think the subtitles were word for word from Criterion, but I got the gist of it.

Regarding ambiguity, I think it's a combination of the two. The writers may have an idea in mind, but it may or may not work to their liking and can ultimately take away from the film.

Take The 400 Blows' ending, for example. It leaves the viewer wondering what Antoine Doinel's fate will be. However, the bigger message of the ending is clearly how Antoine has always ran all of his life and he will continue running until he confronts the main source that he runs away from, himself.

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I love The Cranes Are Flying!

Me too. I think it's one of the better films that tackles World War II.

Originally Posted by JJJ225

YES! Such an under seen masterpiece. It's in my top 5 of all time. I'm hoping for a Blu Ray upgrade soon!

You and me both!

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I have always looked for TCM recordings but I have not had any luck.

We recently switched our service from a cable based DVR to a multi-room Tivo setup and I'm loving it. The cable box only went forward 1 week, the Tivo goes several weeks in the future and has a lot more storage space, plus now both TV's that get the most usage are now running HD channels as well.

It's been great. I've snatched up 1/2 a dozen recordings in the last week and have another 5-6 releases set to record, many of them are CC titles that interested me.

[brandon_260]

I watched Franju's Judex tonight and enjoyed it quite a bit. It doesn't come near the brilliance Franju reached with Eyes Without A Face, but his direction is still razor sharp. It comes very closes to becoming too convoluted near the end, but it always manages to stay on the right side. The homages to silent cinema are wonderful, especially the jaw dropping rooftop scene.

[Slyth66]

Has anyone preordered "Y Tu Mama También"? I've never preordered a Criterion Collection film before and can't decide where to do it from.

Amazon: $37.98 (Free 2-day Shipping)
GoHastings: $29.99 (Free Standard Shipping)
Criterion Collection: $31.96 (+ Shipping)

Any pros/cons to each or do you know of another site?

[jw007]

I spent some quality time in the library earlier today and borrowed 5 films (4 of which are in the Criterion Collection).

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
All that Jazz
Overlord
Rififi

and then that new Redford movie (All is Lost)

So I'm going to watch these movies this week and determine whether or not I will want to buy these on Blu-ray. I know Rififi is a classic but I still need to see this first. The other 3 I'm not too familiar with, so I look forward to this.

By the way, I had a longer list of films that I need to watch before purchasing... some or most of these were not available though:

The Long Day Closes
The Innocents
Judex
Tess
La Promesse
All that Heaven Allows

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by smoss469

We recently switched our service from a cable based DVR to a multi-room Tivo setup and I'm loving it. The cable box only went forward 1 week, the Tivo goes several weeks in the future and has a lot more storage space, plus now both TV's that get the most usage are now running HD channels as well.

It's been great. I've snatched up 1/2 a dozen recordings in the last week and have another 5-6 releases set to record, many of them are CC titles that interested me.

There's quite a few CC titles coming in July on TCM-The Housemaid, Pandora's Box, Salesman, Throne of Blood, Trouble in Paradise, World on a Wire, a whole evening of Bergman titles including the "Faith Trilogy," etc.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by Slyth66

Has anyone preordered "Y Tu Mama También"? I've never preordered a Criterion Collection film before and can't decide where to do it from.

Amazon: $37.98 (Free 2-day Shipping)
GoHastings: $29.99 (Free Standard Shipping)
Criterion Collection: $31.96 (+ Shipping)

Any pros/cons to each or do you know of another site?

Criterion gives you a form of "store credit" which can add up if you order from their site fairly often, but Amazon will most likely have the cheapest price of the three by the time the disc actually comes out. If you have amazon prime (and it looks like you do) I'd say just go with amazon.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by jw007

I spent some quality time in the library earlier today and borrowed 5 films (4 of which are in the Criterion Collection).

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
All that Jazz
Overlord
Rififi

and then that new Redford movie (All is Lost)

So I'm going to watch these movies this week and determine whether or not I will want to buy these on Blu-ray. I know Rififi is a classic but I still need to see this first. The other 3 I'm not too familiar with, so I look forward to this.

By the way, I had a longer list of films that I need to watch before purchasing... some or most of these were not available though:

The Long Day Closes
The Innocents
Judex
Tess
La Promesse
All that Heaven Allows

Depending on your region situation you might want to go with the UK (Arrow) version of Rififi, it's got equivalent picture quality and more extras. I went with it cause I'm an extras fiend. It's a great flick.

[Slyth66]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Criterion gives you a form of "store credit" which can add up if you order from their site fairly often, but Amazon will most likely have the cheapest price of the three by the time the disc actually comes out. If you have amazon prime (and it looks like you do) I'd say just go with amazon.

Ahh, yeah I probably wouldn't order from the Criterion site very often. I'm just nervous to preorder for Amazon and their price not go down before release. I guess I'll probably just wait it out and watch the prices as time goes on. Thanks!

[jw007]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Depending on your region situation you might want to go with the UK (Arrow) version of Rififi, it's got equivalent picture quality and more extras. I went with it cause I'm an extras fiend. It's a great flick.

Thanks for the tip but the picture quality and supplements don't matter much to me for the "try before you buy" phase. I just want to get a feel of whether or not this is a movie I want to own. I'm in the USA so I go with Region A. But I found the Criterion DVD in the library today and have it here ready to watch. I'm going to stick with the Criterion BD version if I do decide to buy this.

[smoss469]

Originally Posted by jw007

Thanks for the tip but the picture quality and supplements don't matter much to me for the "try before you buy" phase. I just want to get a feel of whether or not this is a movie I want to own. I'm in the USA so I go with Region A. But I found the Criterion DVD in the library today and have it here ready to watch. I'm going to stick with the Criterion BD version if I do decide to buy this.

All I can say is, Rififi was awesome. I think at face value it's an excellent movie, no in depth analysis needed!

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by Slyth66

Ahh, yeah I probably wouldn't order from the Criterion site very often. I'm just nervous to preorder for Amazon and their price not go down before release. I guess I'll probably just wait it out and watch the prices as time goes on. Thanks!

Ahh but you see, Criterion themselves have two 50% off Flash sales every year, one coming up sometime in September/October where those loyalty points really add up/come in handy.
Couldn't hurt to go through them!
Also been noticing how badly Amazon has been sucking with pre-orders recently.
They used to have 30% off right off the bat but now its usually significantly lower

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by smoss469

We recently switched our service from a cable based DVR to a multi-room Tivo setup and I'm loving it. The cable box only went forward 1 week, the Tivo goes several weeks in the future and has a lot more storage space, plus now both TV's that get the most usage are now running HD channels as well.

It's been great. I've snatched up 1/2 a dozen recordings in the last week and have another 5-6 releases set to record, many of them are CC titles that interested me.

TCM plays a good bit of Criterion films.

If you go on their website and look at the schedule, you can see films scheduled months in advanced.

[ultlife2013]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I watched Ivan's Childhood the other night on Hulu Plus and the cinematography there was just ! I don't know if I've ever seen a film with such visual depth to it. I felt like if I put my hand on the screen it would actually go through it and into the scene. 3D without the glasses and it was that way throughout the film but the forest scenes were the most memorable for me. Another film added to my Criterion 50% off list.

I like that last line, it was a memorable film but not memorable enough to buy sooner than the next 50% off sale.

[dtyner92]

Originally Posted by jw007

Thanks for the tip but the picture quality and supplements don't matter much to me for the "try before you buy" phase. I just want to get a feel of whether or not this is a movie I want to own. I'm in the USA so I go with Region A. But I found the Criterion DVD in the library today and have it here ready to watch. I'm going to stick with the Criterion BD version if I do decide to buy this.

Enjoy! I bought Rififi when Amazon had it for $20 and it was one of the best blind buy purchases i've made.

[Scottie]

I just finished The Magician and it completely exceeded my expectations. It's an incredibly fun film!

[polygon1371]

I've always wanted to see Criterion release Dennis Hopper's little known 1980 masterpiece Out of the Blue. Fantastic performance by Linda Manz of Days of Heaven... sadly she disappeared into cinema obscurity after a short role in Gummo. I requested the film in a suggestions email to CC and surprisingly, the person who replied said they'd also hoped the company would release it. Fingers crossed.

[Tin Drum]

Originally Posted by ultlife2013

I like that last line, it was a memorable film but not memorable enough to buy sooner than the next 50% off sale.

Agreed. Really great film but I sold it off after watching. Not something I'd watch again.

Also, I just saw the Criterion release announcements. Super excited about Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. A spectacular film as are most of his movies. Really interesting month.