The Criterion Collection

[Blu-Velvet]

FIVE ESSENTIAL CRITERION BLU-RAYS

Rashomon
The Seventh Seal
Stagecoach
The Lady Vanishes
Army of Shadows


FIVE ESSENTIAL CRITERION BLU-RAY BOX SETS

America Lost & Found
Three Colors
Zatoichi
David Lean & Noel Coward
The Samurai Trilogy (or perhaps Yojimbo/Sanjuro)


FIVE ESSENTIAL CRITERION DVD-ONLY RELEASES

Contempt
Bicycle Thieves
L'Avventura
3 Von Sternberg Silents
Nikkatsu Noir Eclipse set



And as for The Beatles, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT displays a tiny fraction of their output as they were rising to fame, and is by no means representative of the group's overall significance. The importance of The Beatles is not in any of their individual songs, but in the unusually wide range of genres and styles they explored throughout their active 10-year career. From making it big largely through early 60s bubblegum routine rock & roll, they developed their own individuality and sense of experimentation, crafting pieces that today can be played as "classical music" by classical string ensembles (not "classic rock" but that as well) and popular ballads now covered as "elevator music" to ethnic (especially Indian) harmonies and rhythms to avant-garde experimental pieces to precursors of heavy metal and even to songs in the style of 1920s pop hits (e.g., "Honey Pie"). A good many of these can be found just on their "White Album." Some arrangement even include nods to J.S. Bach and others. They knew what they were doing and did what they wanted rather than catering strictly to market demands, one reason that contributed to the group's splitting up to go their own ways. By contrast, the vast majority of today's music stars quickly get stuck in whatever rut and formula that first makes them the most money.

And now, back to the Criterion Collection and other movies. As for me, when my Criterion Blu-ray of A HARD DAY'S NIGHT arrives, I plan on watching it as the first feature in a double-bill with my new Blu-ray of KISMET, a pop musical derived from the classical music of Borodin. How's that for variety and diversity!

[wickedmiranda]

12 ESSENTIAL CRITERION BLU-RAY:

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
3 WOMEN
ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS
ROSEMARY'S BABY
VIDEODROME
BLOW OUT
SECONDS
LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD
SALO, 123 DAYS OF SODOM
IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES
HAUSU
WALKABOUT

I just wish Sweet Movie was on blu and thats my kinda criterion covered.

[GoldMotel]

5 Essential Criterions (from my collection):
1) The Red Shoes
2) Monterey Pop
3) Royal Tenenbaums
4) In the Mood for Love
5) Design for Living

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by sc1957

If the location under your username is correct, you live less than a three-hour drive directly east of Liverpool, where the Beatles grew up and got their start. Seems like you'd know a bit more about them.

But... everyone has their own taste in music and film. I grew up buying Beatles LPs, though I'm not a fanatic about the band.

I've only lived here a year ^^

[pro-bassoonist]

The Young Girls of Rochefort Blu-ray REVIEW



**As noted in our review, there might be some incorrect information on this disc. I am not entirely sure yet and need to ask a few questions to find out what is going on.

The 2K restoration of The Young Girls of Rochefort was first introduced in 2010 by Arte Video in France (again via Cine-Tamaris), but on the Criterion disc there is a note that the restoration was completed in 2011. I assume that this is an error (the text was printed in France) -- unless there is some additional work that was done in 2011. I am unsure because I have the French and the U.S. releases and I can't see any signs suggesting that this is en entirely new 2K restoration.

These releases use completely different high-definition transfers, but they appear to have been sourced from the same 2K master.

I will have more information soon.

Pro-B

[JeffTheMovieGuy]

Originally Posted by smoss469

Does B&N even have shopping carts?

I don't know but I'll sure as heck will make one

[JeffTheMovieGuy]

How long is the sale on for?

[adamhopelies]

Essential 5

Vivre Sa Vie
The 400 Blows
A Man Escaped
Days Of Heaven
3 Women

DVD only

Hiroshima mon amour
Jeanne Dielman...
Le Samourai
Passion Of Joan Of Arc (tho would recommend the MoC Blu over the Criterion DVD)
2 Or 3 Things I Know About Her/Made In USA

Last Year At Marienbad and Pierrot Le Fou would feature, but as they're OOP I've chosen to leave them off.

[Helikaon]

5 favourite (essential?) Criterions:

The Red Shoes
8-1/2
Yi Yi
Persona
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Honourable Mentions: Sweet Smell of Success, 12 Angry Men, Black Narcissus, Playtime, Night of the Hunter

[SilentDawn]

Originally Posted by JeffTheMovieGuy

How long is the sale on for?

Until the 28th I believe.


So, with everyone going Criterion crazy right now, I decided to make a massive list which includes every Criterion that I would like to own. Now, being a student, this list won't go away over night. So, I ordered them in such a way that I will slowly buy every film off of the list.

How's the ranking? List here.

Are there any that I should boost up?

Oh, and my five essential Criterions?

1. Seven Samurai
2. The Seventh Seal
3. Three Colors Trilogy
4. On The Waterfront
5. Paris, Texas

Plus, my top 5 favorite Criterions:

1. Thief
2. On The Waterfront
3. Paris, Texas
4. The Night of The Hunter
5. Godzilla (1954)

[Page14]

5 (+3) Criterions from my collection (that I've already seen) that I think should be essential*, (as in never to be forgotten throughout history), in alphabetical order:

12 Angry Men
City Lights
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
For All Mankind
Godzilla
A Hard Day's Night
Seven Samurai
Tokyo Story

======

10 (+2) personal favorites:

America Lost and Found: The BBS Story
Black Orpheus
Crumb
A Hard Day's Night
Harold and Maude
A Night To Remember
Paris, Texas
Repo Man
Robinson Crusoe on Mars
Stagecoach
Two-Lane Blacktop
Wings of Desire

* (These lists can change at the blink of an eye ... not definitive by any means. )

[ngower]

My 5 essential Criterion discs:

1. The Thin Red Line or Days of Heaven (beautiful Malick on beautiful blu ray)
2. The Red Shoes
3. Grey Gardens
4. Harold and Maude
5. Battle of Algiers

While Tokyo Story, Breathless, etc are fantastic, if I'm a brand new Criterion collector, these are great sets to get my foot in the door—to show the Collection isn't just Bergman, Ozu, Godard etc. Everyone buys those down the road.

[Sinthetic]

Hard to pick 5 but I would go for:

Wings of Desire
The Great Beauty
12 Angry Men
In the Mood for Love
The Night of the Hunter

[Jakamarak]

Originally Posted by SilentDawn

Until the 28th I believe.


So, with everyone going Criterion crazy right now, I decided to make a massive list which includes every Criterion that I would like to own. Now, being a student, this list won't go away over night. So, I ordered them in such a way that I will slowly buy every film off of the list.

How's the ranking? List here.

Are there any that I should boost up?

Oh, and my five essential Criterions?

1. Seven Samurai
2. The Seventh Seal
3. Three Colors Trilogy
4. On The Waterfront
5. Paris, Texas

Plus, my top 5 favorite Criterions:

1. Thief
2. On The Waterfront
3. Paris, Texas
4. The Night of The Hunter
5. Godzilla (1954)

Obviously, any ranking of films is going to be highly subjective. I was very heartened to see Persona at number 1. The biggest thing that jumped out to me was the low ranking for In the Mood For Love. That should be considerably higher, in my opinion. It would be on my list of top 5 Criterion Blu Rays. As evidenced by some of the lists supplied here, it ranks very high for many others as well.

[JeffTheMovieGuy]

Right now what I want:
1. Thief
2. Scanners
3. Eraserhead
4. Videodrone
5. Naked Lunch
6. Dazed and Confused
7. A Hard Days Night
8. Amarcord

More to be added to the list later

[fahrenheit290]

The review on this site wasn't very positive for the In the Mood for Love blu-ray. I think it was critical of the visual quality.

The essential Criterions are so widely varying here in people's lists. I wonder if there's more a consensus on what the best looking Criterion's are, visually. I was blown away by the image of Days of Heaven; so happy I picked it up. But is it a top five release, I don't know. I'd certainly include Seven Samurai, since it is one of the bedrock films in the collection. I'd definitely hold to what I said on the last page, that I see essential more as essential directors than films. Those directors being Kurosawa, Fellini, and Bergman, with so many of their films in the collection. If Renoir's Grand Illusion were there and The River and Day in the Country were updated, I'd include him too; maybe Godard as well, if Le Mepris had a Criterion BD and more of his films were in the collection. Really Criterion is Kurosawa's and Bergman's baby...and made so many of their films readily accessible.

[bstv69]

I recently watched Revanche via hulu plus and thought the quality looked great (I'm guessing since it's a newer film?) so my question is, has anyone watched it on hulu plus and blu and can compare. I'm not a pixel nazi, I'm just looking for an image that looks HD and better than DVD, also how are the extras on the movie?

[Ausjdm]

First haul done yesterday:

In the mood for love
Ivan's childhood
Naked
Black narcissus

Wanted picnic at hanging rock but the store near my job said it wasn't out yet huh?!

Next haul coming tomm..

[nondiatonic]

Well, I knew hitting the sale early was dangerous. I already picked up Close-Up, Certified Copy (blind buy that I watched last night; Kiarostami is phenomenal), Persona, and La Notte.

But, now I'm feeling the need to pick up Breaking The Waves, Like Someone in Love, and Picnic at Hanging Rock (all three would be blindbuys).

Although, as I was writing this I checked Hulu and noticed Picnic at Hanging Rock is there. And, since I've seen nothing from Peter Weir, I'll check it out there first.

Whew, well that just leaves another $36 to spend... (which will put me over my $100 per sale budget... I have no will power).

[Clare2904]

No such thing as an "essential" own from Criterion. The beauty of collection is that it is so versatile and any taste can be accommodated.

Sure, buy a film if people tell you it is "important" to the history or development of cinema, it is your money, but judge yourself on what is "essential".