The Criterion Collection

[MikeZ.]

Anyone else that bought from the sale Thursday, still waiting on their order to ship ?
Being the weekend now, I'm thinking they won't ship until Monday.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by MikeZ.

Anyone else that bought from the sale Thursday, still waiting on their order to ship ?
Being the weekend now, I'm thinking they won't ship until Monday.

It's a weird system that they have going on.

I was one of the first to place an order yesterday and my order did not ship until a few hours ago. I would assume that all of them will be out by the middle of next week.

I'm wondering if the holiday will affect those who are awaiting fulfillment.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by MikeZ.

Anyone else that bought from the sale Thursday, still waiting on their order to ship ?
Being the weekend now, I'm thinking they won't ship until Monday.

I got an email at 3:51 EST saying that my order had shipped. I am assuming it is correct.

ETA: OK, just checked, and UPS has created the label. But they haven't received the order yet. So ... status unknown.

[Chris60119]

Why is the Ice Storm so darn expensive? Its not that good of a movie...

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Chris60119

Why is the Ice Storm so darn expensive? Its not that good of a movie...

The package that Criterion puts together for each of its releases is not related at all to the quality of the filmmaking. lol.

[BTTF_]

Originally Posted by Chris60119

Why is the Ice Storm so darn expensive? Its not that good of a movie...

Roger Ebert's review made me want to watch it.

Ice Storm was an extremely visual film. The color palettes and production design were undoubtedly impressive. As far as story-line goes, it was dialogue driven. I suppose you need to enjoy that style film in order to consider it re-watchable. It's really difficult to bring scripts like that to life. IMO it was a job well done.

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by ccg1978

*reads through page after page of people's purchase gloating*

I spent all my money on Orioles Playoff Tickets

Are there any Criterion films that feature baseball in them? I've never seen one...

http://www.criterion.com/films/28007-i-will-buy-you

[pro-bassoonist]

The Vanishing Blu-ray REVIEW



Flawless film and a superb presentation.

Kudos to Criterion for creating this package before director Sluizer passed away in September.

Pro-B

[GxyExpress999]

My order was shipped via USPS Priority Mail 2-Day™ so it looks like it won't arrive until Tuesday (USPS observes Columbus Day). I wouldn't complain, though.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I dunno. It's depressing, but I think Leaving Las Vegas is more depressing. But then, it's been 10 years longer since I've seen Ironweed than since I've seen Leaving Las Vegas.

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Another word: Ratcatcher. Tiny glimmers of sunshine don't make up for the one big dark cloud that is this film. I can pretty much guarantee that you'll feel better, no matter what your situation is, after seeing it.

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Ironweed is an excellent film. But I can think of a lot of more depressing films. Heck, Blue Valentine is one off of the top of my head.

Leaving Las Vegas: its been a few years since I've seen that, but its pretty devastating. It's probably Figgis' best film. Need to see Ratcatcher and Blue Valentine still! I'm telling you, Ironweed is definitely a good film but its terribly somber in all sorts of ways, and in this way its about being homeless alcoholics and dying on the streets (pretty sad stuff).

[Blu-Velvet]

Originally Posted by jw007

Leaving Las Vegas: its been a few years since I've seen that, but its pretty devastating. It's probably Figgis' best film. Need to see Ratcatcher and Blue Valentine still! I'm telling you, Ironweed is definitely a good film but its terribly somber in all sorts of ways, and in this way its about being homeless alcoholics and dying on the streets (pretty sad stuff).

Well the thing to do is make it a weekend marathon of IRONWEED, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, BARFLY, THE ICE MAN COMETH, and maybe DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES and THE LOST WEEKEND, with the first two versions of A STAR IS BORN as bonus films. Keep an unopened bottle of 18-year-old single-malt Scotch and/or some premium Bourbon and/or Gin on the floor in front of you throughout the screenings.

[dwk]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Well, that's true, but only in a sense. As I understand it, StudioCanal was looking for a North American partner who would license the entire StudioCanal catalog (at least the films that SC owned outright). Criterion, who had been licensing titles individually, didn't want (and/or couldn't afford) to do that.

StudioCanal ended up licensing their catalog to Lionsgate, who released Ran (which Criterion had been working on upgrading at the time they lost the license) and The Third Man, as well as a handful of other SC titles. The problem is that Lionsgate only released a total of seven SC titles over a three year period, and appear to be interested only in digital platform rights.

I suspect this is why SC is maybe talking with Criterion again. I suppose the test of that suspicion will be if Criterion is able to (re-)release SC titles on physical discs, but not be able to offer them on Hulu.

On edit: With respect to dwk's posting immediately above, I notice that Criterion is offering The Vanishing on Hulu and iTunes. So there goes that theory.

I never even checked to see if Criterion was offering THE VANISHING on Hulu or iTunes. It may be some split rights situation, where StudioCanal has the home video but not the digital/streaming rights.

Come to think of it, Criterion is also offering the Tati films on iTunes, so maybe those films and THE VANISHING fall outside of StudioCanal's deal with Lionsgate.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Well, that's true, but only in a sense. As I understand it, StudioCanal was looking for a North American partner who would license the entire StudioCanal catalog (at least the films that SC owned outright). Criterion, who had been licensing titles individually, didn't want (and/or couldn't afford) to do that.

This is not true, Jay.

Canal's primary interest in North America was on the theatrical market. They have strategic partnerships there with Lionsgate on a number of big productions, and are using Lionsgate's infrastructure.

Home video licensing is an entirely different area and it was never the decisive factor as to who would have teamed up with Canal. And there were no such exclusivity limitations as your post implies.

The decisive factor was the infrastructure, which Lionsgate has.

Pro-B

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Blu-Velvet

Well the thing to do is make it a weekend marathon of IRONWEED, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, BARFLY, THE ICE MAN COMETH, and maybe DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES and THE LOST WEEKEND, with the first two versions of A STAR IS BORN as bonus films. Keep an unopened bottle of 18-year-old single-malt Scotch and/or some premium Bourbon and/or Gin on the floor in front of you throughout the screenings.

And for an encore, one can also watch The Road if you really want to put yourself out of your misery. There's nothing better than doomsday, apocalyptic films to top it all off along with that unopened virgin bottle of 18 year old single malt Whiskey, if you want to beat the Guinness Book of World Records for longest marathon of depressing films!

[GentleGiant]

Originally Posted by soarinsteven

So I watched Il Sorpasso on hulu this morning. Loved it, and easily one of the funniest films I've watched in all of the Criterion collection. Vittorio Gassman (the movie had me chuckling from the get go when his name appeared in the opening credits ) walks a pretty fine line of making Bruno an obnoxious, self-destructive jerk, but still so charming and irresistible it's easy to see how the bookish, shy Roberto (Jean-Louis Trintignant) goes along for the ride.

[Show spoiler]That ending tho Should have seen it coming, but still jarring.

That's a great one. Talk about a film that doesn't try to knock you out with a message of its own self-significance or manipulate you in any way - the story is so effortlessly and lightheartedly told that it just flows, flows, flows. Magical stuff...

[Ausjdm]

Originally Posted by jw007

And for an encore, one can also watch The Road if you really want to put yourself out of your misery. There's nothing better than doomsday, apocalyptic films to top it all off along with that unopened virgin bottle of 18 year old single malt Whiskey, if you want to beat the Guinness Book of World Records for longest marathon of depressing films!

Totally agree JW. Leaving Las Vegas and the road are in my top 5 most depressing movies ever. What about Schindler's List?

[Namuhana]

My order of Anatomy of a Murder, Il Sorpasso, and All That Jazz has been shipped and should arrive on Monday by the end of the day (through UPS)!

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jw007

And for an encore, one can also watch The Road if you really want to put yourself out of your misery. There's nothing better than doomsday, apocalyptic films to top it all off along with that unopened virgin bottle of 18 year old single malt Whiskey, if you want to beat the Guinness Book of World Records for longest marathon of depressing films!

My only problem with John Hillcoat's adaptation of The Road is that it wussed out by not including the most shocking and bleak moment from the Cormac McCarthy novel. Those who have read the book and seen the film will know exactly what I'm talking about. The moment in the book was horrible, because it really demonstrated how humanity had fallen to the lowest level of hopelessness and resignation.

The movie had some wonderful visuals, and it was spot-on with the novel in every other way, but the omission of that one moment from the novel brought it down a few notches. It's a great movie, but it could have been a Great Movie.

(I'm remembering a recent discussion here about how some of the best movie adaptations have been ones that strayed from the literary source because a director wanted to leave a distinct and innovative mark on the story. I still believe that. Unfortunately, the big change from Cormac McCarthy's The Road to the Hillcoat adaptation reeks more of compromise instead of cinematic necessity.)

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

The Vanishing Blu-ray REVIEW



Flawless film and a superb presentation.

Kudos to Criterion for creating this package before director Sluizer passed away in September.

Pro-B

Thank you! I'm really looking forward to this.

At this point in time, I'm 100% certain that my favorite Blu-ray of 2014 is going to be the Warner Archive release of Out of the Past, but Criterion is really rocking out with some spectacular releases this year (Insomnia, The Innocents, etc.), and it looks as though The Vanishing might end up being Criterion's shining moment of an already epic year.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

My only problem with John Hillcoat's adaptation of The Road is that it wussed out by not including the most shocking and bleak moment from the Cormac McCarthy novel. Those who have read the book and seen the film will know exactly what I'm talking about. The moment in the book was horrible, because it really demonstrated how humanity had fallen to the lowest level of hopelessness and resignation.

The movie had some wonderful visuals, and it was spot-on with the novel in every other way, but the omission of that one moment from the novel brought it down a few notches. It's a great movie, but it could have been a Great Movie.

(I'm remembering a recent discussion here about how some of the best movie adaptations have been ones that strayed from the literary source because a director wanted to leave a distinct and innovative mark on the story. I still believe that. Unfortunately, the big change from Cormac McCarthy's The Road to the Hillcoat adaptation reeks more of compromise instead of cinematic necessity.)

I have read Cormac McCarthy's The Road and find the film to be great. It carries the same atmosphere as the book and never strays from the main theme of the novel which is the father and son relationship of the main characters. The soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is also great.

There is a scene not from the novel that is truly amazing. Robert Duvall improvised it on the spot, where he talks about having a son once. In summary, I find John Hillcoat's an excellent film and I truly hope he will make more adaptations of McCarthy novels. Anyone interest in his filmography, I highly recommend The Proposition, I consider it one of the best modern westerns, up there with Unforgiven.