The Criterion Collection

[Cat III]

Originally Posted by Coen

HA - yeah, you're not the first to think that is crazy. But I absolutely prefer Casino to Goodfellas.

I'm with you, I think Casino is the superior film. (Of course, Raging Bull and Taxi Driver are even better.)

Originally Posted by Rich Pure Doom

I agree with you. Miyazaki's filmography is as good as any live action director but I'd take Howl over Kiki anyday. Just watched Porco Rosso last night (loved it!).

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

I also prefer Howl to Kiki, although both are more enjoyable to me than Porco Rosso and Pom Poko.

Kiki's Delivery Service isn't my favorite Miyazaki film by far. Like My Neighbor Totoro it has a very lackadaisical tone and pacing. Without the electric presence of the Totoros, I can see how some would view Kiki as a snooze. Still, in the right mood I enjoy it and I always appreciate Miyazaki's artistry and restrained storytelling.

Howl's Moving Castle, on the other hand, while not without redeeming qualities, is a mess. While Spirited Away was the perfect fusion of Miyazaki's two main strands of storytelling, namely the character-centered slices-of-life of Kiki and Totoro and the more conventional action fantasies of Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke, I feel that Howl is a awkward hodgepodge of the two styles duct-taped to each other.

[CinemaBlu]

Goodfellas and Casino are both masterpieces, but I totally agree that Casino is the better film.

[SlickDamian]

Originally Posted by JoeBuck

Casino over Goodfellas? Absurdity!
I also dont understand the disdain for Bringing Out the Dead, I think its one of his most underrated movies.
Still havent seen the Aviator or The Departed but I thought that Gangs Of New York wasn't very good (and so does Scorsese himself) and Shutter Island was just okay.
Love Hugo and The Wolf Of Wall Street though, hopefully Silence will be another good one.
In terms of his older stuff, I also think that the King Of Comedy and After Hours are two of the best comedies of the 80's.

King of Comedy is amazing. Fantastic movie.

[SlickDamian]

Originally Posted by DaveyJoe

Interesting, I thought this was exactly when Scorsese became a shadow of his former self. Most of these movies are really underwhelming, especially considering how good Scorsese used to be.

I have no idea how any of those films could be underwhelming, but to each hiw own.

Personally, The Wolf of Wall Street is my favorite Scorsese, and one of my favorite films ever. Taxi Driver has always been my favorite film, love Raging Bull, Goodfellas, King of Comedy, all of the newer films I mentioned. But I see The Wolf of Wall Street as his opus. Such a deep movie, fantastic performances, and incredibly entertaining. Fantastic.

[SlickDamian]

Watched The Vanishing for the first time last night. Great film, kept me and my mrs. On edge the whole time. Fantastic suspense. The transfer and soundtrack are really good as well. I'd recommend it as a blind buy for sure.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by Cat III

I'm with you, I think Casino is the superior film. (Of course, Raging Bull and Taxi Driver are even better.)





Kiki's Delivery Service isn't my favorite Miyazaki film by far. Like My Neighbor Totoro it has a very lackadaisical tone and pacing. Without the electric presence of the Totoros, I can see how some would view Kiki as a snooze. Still, in the right mood I enjoy it and I always appreciate Miyazaki's artistry and restrained storytelling.

Howl's Moving Castle, on the other hand, while not without redeeming qualities, is a mess. While Spirited Away was the perfect fusion of Miyazaki's two main strands of storytelling, namely the character-centered slices-of-life of Kiki and Totoro and the more conventional action fantasies of Nausicaa, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke, I feel that Howl is a awkward hodgepodge of the two styles duct-taped to each other.

I find Kiki gets better upon repeat viewings. I liked it enough to buy it when it came out reently on Blu-ray, and I find I did enjoy it upon viewing it again, but compared to Spirited Away, Totoro, Mononoke, and yes, even Howl, it still falls behind them.

I think the problem with Howl is that Miyazaki tried to add more action to a novel that didn't have a whole lot of action. It is pretty much a slice of life character piece, with mild action.

[Show spoiler] Howl turning into a massive bird and fighting in the war, and all the anti-war commentary do not occur in the novel

He's also cut out a bunch of stuff from the novel such as

[Show spoiler] the Black portion on the door circle goes into our world, notably to Wales in the 1980s, where Howl and Suliman are actually from, Sophie's sisters and their love interests, Markel is actually Michael and closer to Sophie's age, and Suliman's actually a man and marries one of Sophie's sisters. He and Prince Justin have been fused together by the Witch of the Wasteto create the perfect man.

So I do enjoy it, and the late Diana Wynne-Jones enjoyed this adaptation of her beloved novel but it does indeed have issues.

[mrjohnnyb]

I went searching through John Ford releases and was impressed with the following seven in a row:

Stagecoach
Young Mr. Lincoln
Drums Along the Mohawk
The Grapes of Wrath
The Long Voyage Home
Tobacco Road
How Green Was My Valley

Then I thought about another amazing streak:

The Killing
Paths of Glory
Spartacus
Lolita
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
The Shining
Full Metal Jacket
Eyes Wide Shut

It seems that everything Stanley Kubrick touched turned to gold.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by jw007

Nice... I also have In the Realm of the Senses and Ice Storm (the latter being a film I re-watch once a year usually). I had an urge to watch Merry Christmas Mister Lawrence recently because of the holidays.

Originally Posted by jw007

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence: It's one of my favorite films in the collection and is truly a good blind buy in my opinion for any cinema buff. I remember after having watched it a while back, I totally understood and enjoyed every second of this film. The last time I had an experience like that with a Criterion film was that great Italian 60s movie called Il Sorpasso.

I've not seen this one, and really haven't heard of it until now. I'll have to check it out, thanks for the recommendation.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

I went searching through John Ford releases and was impressed with the following seven in a row:

Stagecoach
Young Mr. Lincoln
Drums Along the Mohawk
The Grapes of Wrath
The Long Voyage Home
Tobacco Road
How Green Was My Valley

Then I thought about another amazing streak:

The Killing
Paths of Glory
Spartacus
Lolita
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
The Shining
Full Metal Jacket
Eyes Wide Shut

It seems that everything Stanley Kubrick touched turned to gold.

Both are great streaks... though I'm not familiar with Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, I'll have to check it out.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

I went searching through John Ford releases and was impressed with the following seven in a row:

Stagecoach
Young Mr. Lincoln
Drums Along the Mohawk
The Grapes of Wrath
The Long Voyage Home
Tobacco Road
How Green Was My Valley

Then I thought about another amazing streak:

The Killing
Paths of Glory
Spartacus
Lolita
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
The Shining
Full Metal Jacket
Eyes Wide Shut

It seems that everything Stanley Kubrick touched turned to gold.

Eyes wide shut would have been better if Tom cruise hadn't been in the lead role, imho

[shadedpain4]

Interesting to see the opinions on Howl. While not my favorite, if probably rate it higher than Kiki, Ponyo, Wind Rises, and maybe Porco Rosso out of the Miyazaki films. .

As always, I would love to see some Ghibli with Criterion. The ultimate would be a collection of the short films they show at the museum (Good luck with that Criterion!)

And since we're on the topic of Ghibli, this:

[Show spoiler]

was my Christmas gift from my wife, framed and ready to be put over the fireplace (just the picture, not the helpful labels). Can't wait to put it up!

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by lordmorpheus72

Both are great streaks... though I'm not familiar with Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, I'll have to check it out.

You need to see Barry Lyndon. I highly recommend it as a blind-buy purchase, especially if you are a fan of Kubrick.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by Coen

HA - yeah, you're not the first to think that is crazy. But I absolutely prefer Casino to Goodfellas.

Me too, and I do feel that most of the films after Casino went from okay to boring. He seems to have lost the art of making an economical narrative - haven't seen his docu films, so don't know about that. His ad film Key to Reserva was one of the most entertaining films I saw by him in the past decade or so.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

Eyes wide shut would have been better if Tom cruise hadn't been in the lead role, imho

I used to feel the same way but over the years I've come to think that it was pretty spot on to cast a real life Hollywood husband and wife, and they are nearly perfect here.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

You need to see Barry Lyndon. I highly recommend it as a blind-buy purchase, especially if you are a fan of Kubrick.

Anyone with holes in their Kubrick collection should consider the UK Visionary Filmmaker collection. It's about $30 shipped to the US from AmazonUK right now, and is region free.

It's not all his stuff, but it's a great deal for $30 and you get the UK cut of The Shining.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

You need to see Barry Lyndon. I highly recommend it as a blind-buy purchase, especially if you are a fan of Kubrick.

I am a fan... and I've added it to my list already.

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Anyone with holes in their Kubrick collection should consider the UK Visionary Filmmaker collection. It's about $30 shipped to the US from AmazonUK right now, and is region free.

It's not all his stuff, but it's a great deal for $30 and you get the UK cut of The Shining.

I'll check it out as well.

[Scottie]

I just realized that in another day or so, we will have the 2015 New Years newsletter.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I just realized that in another day or so, we will have the 2015 New Years newsletter.

And this comes always with a drawing with clues?
Have all the clues of the previous drawing been filled?

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

And this comes always with a drawing with clues?
Have all the clues of the previous drawing been filled?

Bitter Rice from a few years ago still hasn't come to fruition.

[littleprince32]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

And this comes always with a drawing with clues?

Yes.

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Have all the clues of the previous drawing been filled?

No. One reason being while some of the clues are very obvious, others are much more obscure and people debate whether the clue refers to movie "X" or movie "Y." And even when it is obvious, they don't always come out that year. I believe Y tu Mama Tambien was first hinted at in a New Years drawing 5 or 6 years ago if not longer. It's more of a general teaser than anything, but I think most years roughly 50% of the films hinted at get released that year.