The Criterion Collection

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

So what does everyone think? Flash sale today?

I'm sort of thinking that.

[StLouisRibs]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

So what does everyone think? Flash sale today?

Guess not...

[shadedpain4]

::crickets::




Maybe next week.

[AaronJ]

So I ordered Three Coors a day early?

[StLouisRibs]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

So I ordered Three Coors a day early?

Well, you might need a drink if you've been banking on this sale for several months...

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by StLouisRibs

Well, you might need a drink if you've been banking on this sale for several months...

I have a drink. I haven't been banking on this sale. I am new to it.

[BTTF_]

Flash sales usually make things fairly chaotic for the folks over at Criterion. I was hoping for the sale to be today, but with Eraserhead still on backorder and the thousands of replacement discs being sent to their office, I wouldn't be completely surprised if they postponed. As they've stated in the past, there aren't too many people working in that office.

[Sifox211]

Probably just as well for my wallet that Criterion don't ship outside the US - although annoyingly I was in San Diego all of last week. Same thing happened in June with the B&N half price sale, although I managed to get the stuff without being hit by UK customs.

I did pick up some half price Criterions from Amazon when they were price matching BB, including, sorry AaronJ, Three Colours for $40

(And A Hard Day's Night poster, which I had to hand carry back to Blighty - it's for my Beatles mad younger daughter).

[StLouisRibs]

Yeah, I understand that, but I believe Criterion's warehouse in an entirely different situation located in an entirely different state so a sale would theoretically only place a burden there.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by jw007

Pressured by the latest Criterion news, i unwrapped my out of print blu-ray of Pierrot le Fou the other day to inspect the disc and tonight I watched the entire movie without any problems on my Sony blu ray player. I can't believe it took me this long to see this movie. True, I'm not really inspired by Godard much and not into his glorifications of violence and rampant sociopathic characters, but I actually liked this movie! I liked it a lot more than Week-end actually. And most importantly, I liked that my Sonopress disc wasn't bronzed and functioned perfectly!

I'd be interested to hear you articulate on this point.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by LPMA

I definitely need to get on High & Low, it definitely sounds like something I'd enjoy.

High and Low is too silly for me to call it anything more than a "good" film. Ikiru, on the other hand, is wonderful.

[Musicguy]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I'm sort of thinking that.

Does Criterion have a flash sale every October?

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by BTTF_

Flash sales usually make things fairly chaotic for the folks over at Criterion. I was hoping for the sale to be today, but with Eraserhead still on backorder and the thousands of replacement discs being sent to their office, I wouldn't be completely surprised if they postponed. As they've stated in the past, there aren't too many people working in that office.

That's what I'm thinking. Let them take care of the replacement discs. Flask sale later.

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

::crickets::




Maybe next week.

I looked back at past sales. In 2011 both Flash sales were on Thursdays, 24th Feb and 8th of Sept. So it could be this week still. If it is next Tuesday, it would fall the day before the announcements.

[Helikaon]

Hoping BIOH will have another massive sale like they did before the last B&N sale. Very good time to buy for us foreigners .

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by Helikaon

Hoping BIOH will have another massive sale like they did before the last B&N sale. Very good time to buy for us foreigners .

???

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

High and Low is too silly for me to call it anything more than a "good" film. Ikiru, on the other hand, is wonderful.

What!? High and Low is excellent. It reminds me a lot of a Japanese Hitchcock film.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

???

Blowitoutahere

[Rich Pure Doom]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

High and Low is too silly for me to call it anything more than a "good" film. Ikiru, on the other hand, is wonderful.

High and Low is definitely silly, but exceptionally well made at the same time. Kurosawa's framing and use of depth have probably never been as good as they are here.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I had a chance to see Kurosawa's High and Low yesterday and while it generally met with my approval, it didn't quite work for me as I know it did (does) for some. I can not really put my finger on it, although there were about a dozen minor gripes/annoyances I felt with the film.

Detailed spoilers for High and Low below. If you haven't seen it, don't read it!

[Show spoiler]
1) I found the scenes where Gondo (Mifune) finds out about the kidnapping to be kind of hokey. When the two boys are playing sheriff and cowboy, there is a pretty silly line of dialogue that Gondo says to the chauffeur's boy. I don't recall it exactly, but it's something about switching roles.

2) About switching roles.. "the kidnapper thought that Gondo's son was the sheriff because Shinichi was wearing his costume!!" That revelation was a little contrived.

3) "National Shoes"..... need I say more? Ok. I will. Gondo is driven by the desire to make the perfect woman's shoe. That's a bit silly, no?

4) A lot of emphasis is put on the other high ranking members of National Shoes and the fact that the narrative goes from their detailed disagreement straight to the kidnapping kind of leads the viewer down (for lack of me having a better way to describe it) - a false path.

5) Because of #4, it was difficult for me to understand what exactly was the commentary on Japanese society. Late in the film I had no idea what the name "High and Low" (Heaven and Hell) had to do with what was going on on the screen. I didn't realize it until the final scene.

6) Kurosawa's shot composition is second to none. In Yojimbo, it is jaw-droppingly good. Here, he films most of the early scenes like a stage play - his wide screen lens capturing all 50 people in the frame at once. This forces every character in the scene to have somewhat of a reaction shot. I found the dejected looks and all of the 'I'm so distraught that all I can do is stare at the ground' looks to be tiring. The reaction shots of the police are so overplayed that (and this is my fault) I thought maybe they weren't police and they were, in fact, reacting as a result of some other motive.

7) I was a bit underwhelmed with Mifune in this role. He is definitely overshadowed by the few scenes in which the kidnapper appears. Mostly the final scene, where Gondo's appearance is almost an afterthought.

8) I'll say one good thing here for my final point. The actor playing the kidnapper was pretty awesome. The scenes at the end where the police are tailing him and the shot of where he peaks his head up from the flowers and you can see not only the foliage around him but the reflection of flowers in his sunglasses is just plain .

Just to repeat myself. I liked this film. If it seems like I'm tearing it apart, I am not. It's just fun to be analytical!

@Scottie: I found my "rant" I posted it last December. The first few points are why I find it silly. Point #6 (which I had forgot about) is a big reason why I think the film is not anywhere close to his best/better films.