The Criterion Collection

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Bad Sandwich

I'm tempted to say Ive always been a little irked by the ol' "Im TEMPTED to say..." template, since it's simply a way to say precisely the "harsh" thing you want to say under the pretense of softening the blow via the ineffectual "tempted" buffer and that I think it eminates from a dubious place psychologically, but I won't actually say that. hehe~! #armchaircriterionthreadshrink #highlyrelevant

Joking...In all seriousness I agree with these astute assessments of the western genre you've made

Wow. In about a week or so that I've been seeing posts from you, I've got to say - you are doing an excellent job of making friends around here.

[zoodermin]

Originally Posted by rezpekt

Unfortunately, Warner owns Sunrise and Sunset while Sony owns Midnight. Warner does not like to license out their titles and bundling together films from different licensors might also be a problem.

Right. Well at least I hope Warner releases the first two films on BD soon.

[The Stick]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

My first ever Criterion was The Blob DVD. I remember thinking, why is this so expensive?!

I first remember seeing Criterions at the old TOWER RECORD stores and never gave much thought to buying them because of the price...

but I finally blind-bought my first title years later at BORDERS using one of their member coupons - a film at the time I've always wanted to see: BLACK NARCISSUS - it's one of my favorite films now.

I've only bought a total of 13 Criterion dvds over the years...but I'm pretty sure BLACK NARCISSUS was also the first blu-ray purchase.

Needless to say, my purchases of Criterion titles have grown exponentially ever since I discovered this forum

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

Boyhood has been confirmed by Linklater.

I love the Criterion/IFC partnership.

[SlickDamian]

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...tures-20140718

IndieWire has Linklater confirming that Boyhood is coming to Criterion with a big special features package. Going to be one of the top releases of the year for sure.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by SlickDamian

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...tures-20140718

IndieWire has Linklater confirming that Boyhood is coming to Criterion with a big special features package. Going to be one of the top releases of the year for sure.

Does Criterion get it out by the end of the year? Possibly for December?

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by fahrenheit290

Don't let the AFI list contain you so much and drive your collection. Quite frankly both iterations weren't that strong. Many key films were overlooked; the ranking is flawed as well. It's a popular conception of the greatest films in American cinema rather than the greatest films in American cinema.

I understand the limitations of the AFI lists -- the films were selected based on artistic merit, cultural significance and commercial earnings. Thus, you have a film like Forrest Gump on the same list as Citizen Kane. The omissions are as glaring as the inclusions. Still, I still think it is a good basis to start with. I've also included my own idiosyncratic tastes, and am just starting to include non-American and non-English language features.

I'm not suggesting anyone adhere to the AFI list, or any other list for that matter. It's just something I used when I was getting started.

[myka22]

First Dvd: Ran
First Blu: 8 1/2

[Joe Dalek]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Heres a question:

What was everyones first Criterion? and why?

DVD: The 400 Blows, given to me as a gift by a relative who was schooling me in the classics.

Blu-ray: Pierrot le fou, because it was going out of print and I knew I was going to be buying a Blu-ray player later that year.

Yeah, I like the nouvelle vague.

[Joe Dalek]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Does Criterion get it out by the end of the year? Possibly for December?

Probably early next year. Awards season.

[SilentDawn]

I just finished Persona.

No words.

[Joe Dalek]

Originally Posted by ngower

Given the number of folks who say they blind-buy a Criterion title and leave it unwatched, I'm curious, what are the top five Criterion films you own that you haven't watched yet but most want to?

My top 5:

1. Tokyo Story - I've started it a couple times, never finished it. I'd love to go through the entire features set before judging it.
2. Bicycle Thieves - Again, one of those "all-time-bests" that I just haven't watched. I'm holding out for the Blu Ray—still haven't opened my DVD.
3. The Rules of the Game - I made it about twenty minutes into watching it once before I had to turn it off—I was tired—and I've never gone back to it. No particular reason.
4. The Hidden Fortress - I've only owned this one for a couple of weeks, but I bought it based on the Star Wars influence.
5. Breathless - I've probably seen this film in it's entirety, but never in one sitting. I've also not gone through the special features at all on this set.

I feel like these are all well-reputed titles so I feel like I have to be in the right frame of mind before I watch them, which usually means I just never end up watching them...

Stop typing and start watching?

[Scottie]

I spent the entire evening watching Ingmar Bergman's Faith Trilogy. If he wasn't my favorite director prior to seeing the three films, he sure is now.

I would rank the films in the following order: The Silence, Through a Glass Darkly, and Winter Light. Both Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light are incredibly deep from a religious perspective, and as such, I would need to watch them several more times in order to get a better grasp on them. A lot is thrown at the audience in such a short duration of time that it is often hard to keep up, especially during Winter Light. The Silence, on the other hand, is very deep from a humanistic point-of-view. I would even go so far as to call it one of my Top 3 favorite Bergman films - tied with both Persona and Wild Strawberries.

I enjoyed The Silence as much as I did because it is a very simple film, yet it draws upon many deep questions at its core. The film only uses dialogue, for example, when it is absolutely necessary to move the story along. The usage of body language is therefore essential for showing the tension that exists amongst all of the characters in the story. Furthermore, Bergman's directing style, specifically the usage of a variety of camera sizes and lengths, was necessary for showing the isolation and emptiness that exists in both the hotel and in the lives of the characters. I like how the hotel was displayed as a maze, almost as much as the relationships that each person had with the other. No matter how hard they tried, the characters could not make a meaningful human connection with the other.

I wish I could say more, but I'm truly at a loss of words. Add me to the list of people who would love to see these films on Blu-ray.

[Scottie]

Have any of you read this book? If so, does it do a good job at analyzing and reflecting on Bergman's films? I would love to dig deeper into all of his works to get the bigger picture out of them.

[blu-bry]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I spent the entire evening watching Ingmar Bergman's Faith Trilogy. If he wasn't my favorite director prior to seeing the three films, he sure is now.

I would rank the films in the following order: The Silence, Through a Glass Darkly, and Winter Light. Both Through a Glass Darkly and Winter Light are incredibly deep from a religious perspective, and as such, I would need to watch them several more times in order to get a better grasp on them. A lot is thrown at the audience in such a short duration of time that it is often hard to keep up, especially during Winter Light. The Silence, on the other hand, is very deep from a humanistic point-of-view. I would even go so far as to call it one of my Top 3 favorite Bergman films - tied with both Persona and Wild Strawberries.

I enjoyed The Silence as much as I did because it is a very simple film, yet it draws upon many deep questions at its core. The film only uses dialogue, for example, when it is absolutely necessary to move the story along. The usage of body language is therefore essential for showing the tension that exists amongst all of the characters in the story. Furthermore, Bergman's directing style, specifically the usage of a variety of camera sizes and lengths, was necessary for showing the isolation and emptiness that exists in both the hotel and in the lives of the characters. I like how the hotel was displayed as a maze, almost as much as the relationships that each person had with the other. No matter how hard they tried, the characters could not make a meaningful human connection with the other.

I wish I could say more, but I'm truly at a loss of words. Add me to the list of people who would love to see these films on Blu-ray.

"Through a Glass Darkly" was the first Bergman film I ever saw, several years ago. I was immediately hooked. It remains one of my favorites. There are still several that I haven't seen, but I am gradually buying my favorites.

[RojD]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Can someone give me a good rational as to why Westerns in the collection are so great and what is so good about them?

I have never really found much appreciation for that genre and find it very dull/boring, not sure if its the twangy voices or the sandiness or whatever haha but would be nice to see why you guys find so much appreciation towards this genre?

As I said before, I think it was the scene in 'The good, The Bad, The Ugly' I did find a certain scene in that really amazing and well executed but thats all I can think of.

Not sure if its just cause I've caught snippets of bad westerns on TV and I just have an image in my head and am expecting them all to be the same but yeh - let me know please ! Thanks ))

and a westerny style emoticon

I'm a recent re-convert to Westerns. For years, I pretty much dismissed the whole lot as Roy Rogers and Bonanza, but I saw Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven and realized it was more than a p***ing contest between a couple of macho guys but instead a look at a bigger idea, like considering "what is evil?" You see the same theme in lots of American New Wave and even today's Coen Bros, which made me realize that Westerns can be relevant. Then I saw the incredible character study that is The Assassination of Jesse James by the.... and the fine observation of power and women in Meek's Cutoff, and I realized there was a lot more to Westerns than spittin', cussin' and shootin'. All that stuff is just a genre vocabulary that a good director use for his own purposes.

Now I'm constantly (re)discovering Westerns I should've noticed. The Searchers is an honest-to-god classic dealing with racism but also with a dark existentialism that is just as present in post-war French cinema as here. It easily stands with Army of Shadows in looking at the effect of conflict on the human spirit. The Furies and Johnny Guitar use Western conventions to talk about women in society. Class issues inform Stagecoach, and as might be expected, the loss of virility is as much the focus of Huston's The Misfits as it is of Visconti's The Leopard. Pick a theme, and there are Westerns dealing with it.

Also, visual beauty in a film engages me as much as it does you, and many Westerns are stunning. Of course, there's Ford and Monument Valley. But the sparkle and mirrors in Furies yields no ground to Sirk's interiors, and I'd put McCabe and Mrs. Miller's interiors with those of other great naturally-lit interiors like Barry Lyndon.

I should've known that any good director uses the givens of his genre to make his point, but I've honestly been surprised to recognize that directors of Westerns do just that. The problem lots of us have with Westerns is that their elements are sort of jarring and, at this point, unfamiliar.

Anyway, give 'em a try. Like I'm finding, there's an awful lot of good Western cinema out there. YeeeHaaa!

[Russhole]

My first Criterion DVD was RoboCop, and first Blu-ray was Repulsion.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

I bought Criterion's RED RIVER and watched the movie last week thinking I'd seen it before some decades ago, but I remembered so little that I may have only seen clips on documentaries (and in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW). It's considered a classic western, but it really is just as much if not more a classic character drama that happens to be set in the old west, with very strong performances by John Wayne and Montgomery Clift (and the whole cast, really). It's also interesting to compare the two different cuts of the film, and go through the supplements on the disc. Haven't yet read the novel.

Thanks...now I look forward to seeing this film. I know I saw it a long time ago, probably during a film class back at the university, but I need to see this again. I always get this movie confused with Rio Grande or Rio Bravo. Both star John Wayne but one was directed by Ford and the other Hawks.

Does anyone think Red River is better than Rio Grande or Rio Bravo?

Originally Posted by jayembee

I just bought a copy today. I had a "20% off one item" coupon, and with my membership, it ran me $18.



I'd say that Red River is better than any of the above, with the exception of My Darling Clementine, which is (as I've said before) my favorite Western of all time.

Nice, we both bought Red River less than one day apart. The question now is, who's going to watch it first? My money says you will.

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'd place Stagecoach over Red River in terms of greatness, because Stagecoach just grabs ahold of me and never lets go, but Red River is a wonderful film.

I recommend reading the novella first, as it enhanced my appreciation of the movie without spoiling the fun.

I did not write one of my long-winded User Reviews for Red River when I watched it a few weeks ago, because...well...because I just was not in the mood to write a long-winded review at the time. This movie deserves attention and it deserves a big audience, though.

Wow, thanks for letting me know about Stagecoach. Maybe I'll make a move and buy this during the sale before its over. I know that its a very classic film and not just a classic western.

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by jw007

Thanks...now I look forward to seeing this film. I know I saw it a long time ago, probably during a film class back at the university, but I need to see this again. I always get this movie confused with Rio Grande or Rio Bravo. Both star John Wayne but one was directed by Ford and the other Hawks.

Does anyone think Red River is better than Rio Grande or Rio Bravo?

...

Wow, thanks for letting me know about Stagecoach. Maybe I'll make a move and buy this during the sale before its over. I know that its a very classic film and not just a classic western.

I liked John Ford's RIO GRANDE a bit better than Howard Hawks' RED RIVER, and both of them better than Hawks' RIO BRAVO (and EL DORADO and certainly RIO LOBO). RIO BRAVO is fun, but definitely overlong. The near-remake EL DORADO is just as good and improves on the pacing. RIO LOBO has its moments, but is disappointing both for Hawks and for Wayne.

RIO GRANDE is another great example of Wayne getting a character with more depth and less stereotype star persona, and I think it's the best of Ford's cavalry trilogy, with FORT APACHE a very close second.

As for STAGECOACH, it's a film that bears multiple viewings, finding new nuances and deeper levels of meaning each time through. It takes the expected western formula and stereotypes and subverts them in numerous ways, while both subtly and not-so-subtly making contemporary socio-political commentary about the era it was made, much of it still timeless today, even though it was produced 75 years ago and the story is set some 50+ years before that.

(And Criterion's Blu-ray includes the delightful Harry Carey western BUCKING BROADWAY (1917), which is western romantic comedy and social satire all rolled into one! Too bad the surviving print is so contrasty.)

[Kevin Ridge]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I recommend reading the novella first, as it enhanced my appreciation of the movie without spoiling the fun.

Cool. I picked up this and decided by chance to read the novel first before diving into the movie.