The Criterion Collection

[The Great Owl]

Bear with me, people, because this is Criterion-related....



I rented John Wick from a Redbox booth down the street a few days ago, and I ended up liking it so much that I bought myself a copy.

This movie pays overt homage to Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï and Le Cercle Rouge during several sequences. The filmmakers also took cues from Akira Kurosawa's samurai films, and they discuss the nods to Kurosawa during the commentary track. One pivotal fight scene in the rain has Kurosawa written all over it. There's also a distinct vibe taken from John Boorman's Point Blank.

John Wick is not quite in the same league as those Criterion films from which it was influenced, of course, but you could do a lot worse if you're looking for a decent new action flick.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Bear with me, people, because this is Criterion-related....



I rented John Wick from a Redbox booth down the street a few days ago, and I ended up liking it so much that I bought myself a copy.

This movie pays overt homage to Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï and Le Cercle Rouge during several sequences. The filmmakers also took cues from Akira Kurosawa's samurai films, and they discuss the nods to Kurosawa during the commentary track. One pivotal fight scene in the rain has Kurosawa written all over it. There's also a distinct vibe taken from John Boorman's Point Blank.

John Wick is not quite in the same league as those Criterion films from which it was influenced, of course, but you could do a lot worse if you're looking for a decent new action flick.

Thanks Owl, I've passed on this a few times but may give it a shot. appreciate the post.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Bear with me, people, because this is Criterion-related....



I rented John Wick from a Redbox booth down the street a few days ago, and I ended up liking it so much that I bought myself a copy.

This movie pays overt homage to Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï and Le Cercle Rouge during several sequences. The filmmakers also took cues from Akira Kurosawa's samurai films, and they discuss the nods to Kurosawa during the commentary track. One pivotal fight scene in the rain has Kurosawa written all over it. There's also a distinct vibe taken from John Boorman's Point Blank.

John Wick is not quite in the same league as those Criterion films from which it was influenced, of course, but you could do a lot worse if you're looking for a decent new action flick.

I just watched this flick last night, rented it as well. It was as worthwhile as people were saying for the most part, and I'm glad I took a chance on it because I can't remember the last time I bothered to watch a recent action release. From the trailers this looked like Taken 16 and I usually skip stuff like that, but it had a lot of cinematic treats in it and I found it to be very neo-noir with a great world of characters. My only big gripe with it is that it is very violent, in the modern 'video game' sense. Becoming desensitized to watching people be shot directly in the head point blank because it's a "fun" film isn't really my thing. I kept waiting for some deeper scene discussing Wick's real reasons for wanting to live a peaceful life with a wife and home but it never really came. Also, how the hell did he magically end up in a

[Show spoiler]dog kennell

at the end? that was really convenient! Unless I missed something. Now you've got me wanting to watch with the commentary, Owl.

[lordmorpheus72]

Sitting down to watch The Fisher King and now I'm really hoping for a Criterion release of this sooner, rather than later. Hoping that this year's cartoon really hints asFisher King and that we get an amazing release with lots of features and some amazing quality. I really want a Criterion release of this.... I know, get in line behind everyone else wanting thier favorite release.

[Marlow27]

Not Criterion related, but there are quite a lot of knowledgeable folk around here so I thought I'd ask:


Is there a specific reason why Tarkovsky's 'Stalker' and 'Andrei Rublev' haven't been released on bluray yet? Is it a rights issue? Is there something stopping a restoration? Or is it very simply a case that no one has gotten around to it yet?

Just curious!

[Archedamian]

Originally Posted by octagon

Roger Ebert used to wax nostalgic about waiting in the rain outside a small theater in southern Illinois (apparently it rained quite frequently down there when Ebert was in college) and sitting a cramped, smoke-filled theater watching beat up prints of this or that.

I'm sorry, but I have to call you out on this. Champaign is not Southern Illinois, but Central Illinois. I'm from Decatur, and I take offense at this. Not everything south of Chicago is Southern Illinois.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by Archedamian

I'm sorry, but I have to call you out on this. Champaign is not Southern Illinois, but Central Illinois. I'm from Decatur, and I take offense at this. Not everything south of Chicago is Southern Illinois.

Yep. He was talking about The Virginia Theater, which has to be one of the greatest theaters I've ever been to.

[oildude]

Originally Posted by jw007

Great Tangerine Dream soundtrack. Edgar Froese who passed away last month will be greatly missed. Thief really blew me away the first time I saw it on my Criterion blu-ray... I wish Mann could get back to making great movies again, as the last few haven't been as strong as his 90's output. I haven't seen Blackhat yet, but I want to.

Oh, man. I had no idea this had happened. So sad to read this news. I was a big Tangerine Dream fan in the early 1980s and had collected most of their LPs before moving on to their CDs. Still have the CDs but all my records were stolen years ago.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by jw007

Great Tangerine Dream soundtrack. Edgar Froese who passed away last month will be greatly missed. Thief really blew me away the first time I saw it on my Criterion blu-ray... I wish Mann could get back to making great movies again, as the last few haven't been as strong as his 90's output. I haven't seen Blackhat yet, but I want to.

Excellent soundtrack! And I missed that Froese has passed away too, so sad. Thanks for the post...

[brandon_260]

Watched Truffaut's Stolen Kisses this morning and was pretty blown away. Felt like Truffaut doing a less complex Rivette.

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

As of today, February 7th 2015, the 2015 "TSPDT" 1,000 Greatest Films List is on-line. In addition, Bill Gregorius, who maintains the site, has included a new list of films 1,001 through 2,000.

Here is the link:

http://www.theyshootpictures.com

Been waiting for the latest update. Awesome. I'm at 405/1000 on the 2014 list.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by Marlow27

Not Criterion related, but there are quite a lot of knowledgeable folk around here so I thought I'd ask:


Is there a specific reason why Tarkovsky's 'Stalker' and 'Andrei Rublev' haven't been released on bluray yet? Is it a rights issue? Is there something stopping a restoration? Or is it very simply a case that no one has gotten around to it yet?

Just curious!

They are supposedly coming this summer from UK distributor Artificial Eye, see here:
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=15450
I know that there has been years of restoration work done to these films and I would imagine Criterion have something in the works for region A folks. I believe Rublev was mentioned at a Wexner conference in 2012(?) but they said it wasn't coming in the immediate future.

[jrsl76]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

I'm at 405/1000 on the 2014 list.

Looks like I'm at 503/1000.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Archedamian

I'm sorry, but I have to call you out on this. Champaign is not Southern Illinois, but Central Illinois. I'm from Decatur, and I take offense at this. Not everything south of Chicago is Southern Illinois.

It's barely Illinois period

[myka22]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

They are supposedly coming this summer from UK distributor Artificial Eye, see here:
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=15450
I know that there has been years of restoration work done to these films and I would imagine Criterion have something in the works for region A folks. I believe Rublev was mentioned at a Wexner conference in 2012(?) but they said it wasn't coming in the immediate future.

I believe that Kino still has the rights to Stalker, not sure what their plans are.

As for Andrei Rublev Criterion did discuss it a few years ago as something they were looking into. Part of the problem is that there is only one existing print of the extended version of the film that is on the criterion dvd, and the print is too damaged to restore properly.

[Bing147]

I'm at 617/1000

[LegacyCosts]

Originally Posted by octagon

It's barely Illinois period

This man speaks the truth. As does Owl, John Wick (outside of a goofy soundtrack) is fantastic.

[GenPion]

Yikes. I have only seen 216 from the list. There are tons on there that I own or should be able to see otherwise... and still need to (obviously). I'm surprised my number is so low.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

In terms of Blu-ray you're looking at:

#64 - The Third Man
#112 - Playtime*
#218 - Le Cercle Rouge
#304 - The Man Who Fell To Earth
#385 - Army Of Shadows
#421 - Pierrot Le Fou
#453 - Chungking Express
#478 - Last Year At Marienbad
#488 - Howards End
#572 - Leon Morin, Priest

* = In print as part of box set, single release OOP

Usually there is some notice given

Thanks for the list. Luckily Le Cercle Rouge is the only one I would want to own on that list, I think. I'll have to keep a closer eye on this thread in case more are added.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Thanks for the list. Luckily Le Cercle Rouge is the only one I would want to own on that list, I think. I'll have to keep a closer eye on this thread in case more are added.

I am selling my copy if you are interested. In fact, I have a lot of Criterions for sale.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=7647247

EDIT: Sorry for misreading your post haha.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I am selling my copy if you are interested. In fact, I have a lot of Criterions for sale.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=7647247

I can't find it on that list for some reason but PM me if you have it in good condition. We might be able to work something out next payday.