The Criterion Collection

[diskspinner]

What's everybody's opinion on "Blue is the warmest color"...Is it worth a blind buy?

[bwdowiak]

I finished Solaris this weekend. I liked it, but I feel like I understood probably less than half of it. I am now convinced that some films in the CC absolutely require a minimum of two viewings before assessing any kind of a grade to them. This film falls into that category. Persona is another one.

I find that this happens more with great music albums than great films - you greatly anticipate something only to find some initial disappointment. You expect it to resonate with you and your tastes and preferences when in reality, what makes it great is the fact that it is outside of what you have come to expect and appreciate. Understanding the world/rules (so to say) in which it operates, lends greater appreciation to the work. There is, for lack of a better way to put it, too much to get used to - ideologically, stylistically, etc.

Pierrot Le Fou is another one. Towards the end of the film, when the somewhat more conventional narrative is unfolding, I felt during the first viewing, "why isn't there more narrative cohesion throughout like Band of Outsiders? (for instance)" I watched it twice in a week and the second time did the trick. I came to understand and appreciate the film more for what it was intended to be.

Don't know if that makes sense.

[Scottie]

Criterion films to be shown on TCM in August.

Please note that I am not familiar with every film in The Criterion Collection, so I apologize if I am missing any.

-----

August 02
Tout Va Bien (04:15 A.M. EST)

August 08
The 400 Blows (06:00 A.M. EST)
La Notte (07:45 A.M. EST)
The Fire Within (10:00 A.M. EST)
Bay Of Angels (12:00 P.M. EST)
Elevator To The Gallows (10:15 P.M. EST)

August 09
Jules And Jim (12:00 A.M. EST)
The Lovers (02:00 A.M. EST)
Diary Of A Chambermaid (03:45 A.M. EST)

August 10
To Be Or Not To Be (08:00 P.M. EST)

August 11
On The Waterfront (11:45 P.M. EST)

August 14
Shoulder Arms (Hulu) (07:30 A.M. EST)
Sunnyside (Hulu) (08:30 A.M. EST)
A Day's Pleasure (Hulu) (09:00 A.M. EST)
The Pilgrim (Hulu) (09:30 A.M. EST)
A Woman Of Paris (Hulu) (10:15 A.M. EST)
The Gold Rush (11:45 A.M. EST)
Chaplin Today: The Gold Rush (Extra) (01:15 P.M. EST)
The Circus (Hulu) (01:45 P.M. EST)
Modern Times (03:00 P.M. EST)
The Tramp And The Dictator (Extra) (04:45 P.M. EST)
The Great Dictator (05:45 P.M. EST)
A Dog's Life (Hulu) (09:00 P.M. EST)
The Kid (Hulu) (09:45 P.M. EST)
The Idle Class (Hulu) (10:45 P.M. EST)

August 15
City Lights (12:30 A.M. EST)
Monsieur Verdoux (02:00 A.M. EST)
A King In New York (Hulu) (04:15 A.M. EST)

August 16
Trouble In Paradise (11:30 A.M. EST)
Foreign Correspondent (08:00 P.M. EST)

August 17
Lifeboat (Long-Rumored Title) (08:00 P.M. EST)

August 18
It Happened One Night (Newsletter Title) (06:00 P.M. EST)

August 20
Pickup On South Street (10:00 P.M. EST)

August 30
The Third Man (12:15 A.M. EST)

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

What's everybody's opinion on "Blue is the warmest color"...Is it worth a blind buy?

i liked it alot. and will defintly revisit the movie again.
for me it is a well done modern "classic"...
... movie got a lot of bad reviews in the U.S because of the sex scenes and the homosexuell stuff.

some people are really offended by such stuff, but are perfectly fine with exploding heads and guts all over the place in other movies

its nice to see some "modern" movies in the criterion collection as well.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

i liked it alot. and will defintly revisit the movie again.
for me it is a well done modern "classic"...
... movie got a lot of bad reviews in the U.S because of the sex scenes and the homosexuell stuff.

some people are really offended by such stuff, but are perfectly fine with exploding heads and guts all over the place in other movies

that statement is completely false.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

some people are really offended by such stuff, but are perfectly fine with exploding heads and guts all over the place in other movies

Is it wrong that the first thing that popped into my head upon reading that was "It takes guts to make a horror movie"?

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

that statement is completely false.

i found a lot of reviews such as this one:

I have no interest in watching the sex lives of one or more people. I have no interest in watching two women having sex. Rate the movie X and get it out of here.

someone did even go crazy with some christian stuff and child porn comments.. xD

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

i found a lot of reviews such as this one:

was that a professional critic, though?

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

was that a professional critic, though?

nope. i count amazon reviews as well sure i give them not much attention but they are still opinions of other people.


Received Picnic at hanging Rock today , does the book add much to the story of the movie?
im not sure if i should read or watch it first.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

nope. i count amazon reviews as well sure i give them not much attention but they are still opinions of other people.

oh, ok. but if you are counting the reviews of the common folk, I'm pretty certain that the homosexuality didn't fly more so in other countries than in the U.S. any mainstream critics would be publicly lambasted for opinions like that.

the sex.. I once had a stopover at the Munich airport and saw the porno mags on the shelves next to candy bars and whatnot, so needless to say - (you guys) Europe is and always has been more open in that regard.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

i found a lot of reviews such as this one:
[snip]

But was that a typical review? It's worth noting that Blue Is the Warmest Color had a 91% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. While RT isn't restricted to just American critics, it's too easy (for any film) to come across a few whackadoodle reviews and conclude that they're representative of a larger consensus.

[Brad1963]

My Collection Stats for each studio in my Collection. Criterion wins by a landslide. This is just Blu-ray, I still have quite a few DVD's still.

20.3% Criterion
14.1% Warner Bros.
12.0% Sony Pictures
11.9% 20th Century-Fox
8.7% Universal
6.1% Disney
6.1% Twilight Time
5.9% Metro-Goldwyn Mayer
2.4% Paramount Pictures

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by Mansinthe

some people are really offended by such stuff, but are perfectly fine with exploding heads and guts all over the place in other movies

Whats worse for me is 'Sex is becoming to real in films'... Well, a lot of violence looks very real in A LOT of films haha

[dannyfriar]

To be honest, it has more to do with misogyny, than it does to do with just sex alone. Films such as Blue is the Warmest Colour and Blue Valentine (complete coincidence that both have the colour blue in them!) are slapped with an NC17, whilst films like Hostel etc, are given a general R. Those views certainly don't represent everyone, but it is a problem when it is considered more dangerous to view women enjoying sex, then it is to see people's heads blown off, body parts cut off, etc...

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Whats worse for me is 'Sex is becoming to real in films'... Well, a lot of violence looks very real in A LOT of films haha

i think we got some movies with a PG -12 rating in the EU/UK got are rated R or NC-17 in the us for sex jokes sometimes its really odd how movies get rated in different countrys.

Those views certainly don't represent everyone, but it is a problem when it is considered more dangerous to view women enjoying sex, then it is to see people's heads blown off, body parts cut off, etc...

some of the amazon reviews instandly made me think about if these parents are thinking their 14-17 year old "children" do not have sex etc.. srsly.

[Show spoiler]just a few days ago i did read in some news online, that a Male (21 years old) was send to jail for having oral sex with his 15 (nearly 16) year old girlfriend.
but i think he got the same sentence that someone else would get for raping a girl that age.

laws are laws.. but sometimes.. lol

if someone got a problem with such themes feel free to send me a PM and i will delete it.
its a movie forum after all.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by dannyfriar

To be honest, it has more to do with misogyny, than it does to do with just sex alone. Films such as Blue is the Warmest Colour and Blue Valentine (complete coincidence that both have the colour blue in them!) are slapped with an NC17, whilst films like Hostel etc, are given a general R. Those views certainly don't represent everyone, but it is a problem when it is considered more dangerous to view women enjoying sex, then it is to see people's heads blown off, body parts cut off, etc...

I don't think misogyny is the right word here. Im pretty sure penises and men having sex with each other would get NC-17 just as quickly. The MPAA (and a huge chunk of the US it seems) is much more comfortable with depictions of violence than depictions of sex.

[SammyJankis]

The more I step away from Blue is the Warmest Color, the more I find the sex scenes to be problematic. I'm no prude, and I don't mind when sex is displayed in film when it's for an understandable reason, which, in context, it is here. But those sex scenes just stick out with inconsistent stylistic choices and indulgence. The film is shot, to nearly an intrusive degree, with close ups and a point-of-view from Adèle. We see what she hears and sees what she sees. We understand her hesitance on certain actions and feelings for certain people. There's a stylistic consistency with the way her arc is shot, and it's noticeably disrupted once that jarring sex scene begins. The camera steps back, almost to the point of view of the director, and the lighting is so flat that you can see every angle and every detail on the women. Jump cuts are also employed, which don't feel at all natural. It's as if the director wanted to cram in every single position into this segment. For a film that strives for - and achieves - realism, this makes her first encounter with a woman feel entirely unnatural. His defense for these scenes essentially boil down to entitlement. "Because I'm a man, I can't direct two women make love?" Yeah, you can. I wouldn't argue against that. But that's only a portion of the criticism that is being directed towards him; there's much more that should have been addressed.

The film is marvelous, however. It's just a shame that it's interrupted with such a problematic segment.

[dannyfriar]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

I don't think misogyny is the right word here. Im pretty sure penises and men having sex with each other would get NC-17 just as quickly. The MPAA (and a huge chunk of the US it seems) is much more comfortable with depictions of violence than depictions of sex.

Yeah, that's a fair statement. I didn't mean to derail the thread from its usual Criterion talk - my apologies!

[Ausjdm]

I saw Pickpocket last night (though the dvd copy 9$ was too good to pass up) I liked it a lot good blind buy, solid small short movie with great style. The bonus sound real good def will watch them later...

[aes3728]

Not to be that guy but how do I go about seeing my statistics? I have checked it seems every option and just cannot find it.