The Criterion Collection

[joie]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

Please back this up.

It is a matter of opinion whether "Gravity" is more suspenseful than anything Hitchcock did, so no backup is necessary. Don't you think that "Gravity" is suspenseful most of the time?
As each story complication is resolved, the astronaut is faced with another, more trying than the last.It is sustained suspense.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by joie

You think Hitchcock is still "Master of Suspense" after Gravity? Wasn't there a lot of suspense in Gravity? I am serious about this.

I don't think one earns that name by just one film, Hitchcock made a lot of suspenseful films, if we need to name another one just because he is dead, the one that comes to my mind is Brian De Palma based on his good films, and not just because a lot of critics say he copies Hitchcock, but i think he has some outstanding suspenseful scenes with great use of split screen and slow-motion in movies like Carrie, Sisters, Blow Out, Dressed to Kill i think a lot of his scenes work in a pure cinematic way that i feel is different than Hitchcock in style.

I know he is not a particularly popular director nowadays but it is the first that i thought, i am sure there may be others better suited.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by joie

It is a matter of opinion whether "Gravity" is more suspenseful than anything Hitchcock did, so no backup is necessary. Don't you think that "Gravity" is suspenseful most of the time?
As each story complication is resolved, the astronaut is faced with another, more trying than the last.It is sustained suspense.

Gravity isn't a person, and do you think Alfonso Cuarón deserves the title 'Master of Suspense?'

Compare his body of work to Hitchcock's.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

I don't think one earns that name by just one film, Hitchcock made a lot of suspenseful films, if we need to name another one just because he is dead, the one that comes to my mind is Brian De Palma based on his good films, and not just because a lot of critics say he copies Hitchcock, but i think he has some outstanding suspenseful scenes with great use of split screen and slow-motion in movies like Carrie, Sisters, Blow Out, Dressed to Kill i think a lot of his scenes work in a pure cinematic way that i feel is different than Hitchcock in style.

I know he is not a particularly popular director nowadays but it is the first that i thought, i am sure there may be others better suited.

A better case can be made, for sure, but I don't think someone with such a string of duds can be called 'master.' Perhaps he was a former master :P

[jmclick]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

Something's not right, the cover for Sullivan's Travels says 1942, but the review and specs on the page say 1941.

Sullivan's Travels played in Los Angeles in December 1941 so that it could be a contender for the 1941 Oscars. (It didn't get any nominations, though.) It went into general release in January 1942, and a year later the National Board of Review named it as one of the Top Ten Films of 1942.

The exact opposite happened with Casablanca. It premiered in New York in late December 1942, and the New York Film Critics Circle included it among the films considered for their 1942 awards. (Bogart came in second among their Best Actor nominees.) Casablanca went into general release in 1943, and in late 1943, the National Board of Review named it one of the Top Ten Films of 1943. It also won the Oscar for the Best Picture of 1943 at the awards ceremony in the spring of 1944.

Go figure!

Usually, Sullivan's Travels is considered to be a 1941 release. It's even listed as such on Criterion's own website! It will be interesting to see the actual packaging upon release.

[joie]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

Gravity isn't a person [...].

Huh?

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by joie

Huh?

You would give the title 'Master of Suspense' to a film?

[joie]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

I don't think one earns that name by just one film, Hitchcock made a lot of suspenseful films, if we need to name another one just because he is dead, the one that comes to my mind is Brian De Palma based on his good films, and not just because a lot of critics say he copies Hitchcock, but i think he has some outstanding suspenseful scenes with great use of split screen and slow-motion in movies like Carrie, Sisters, Blow Out, Dressed to Kill i think a lot of his scenes work in a pure cinematic way that i feel is different than Hitchcock in style.

I know he is not a particularly popular director nowadays but it is the first that i thought, i am sure there may be others better suited.

But I think Gravity is better than anything Hitchcock did in terms of suspense. It is sustained, unrelenting suspense. Hitchcock's work may be suspenseful, but the suspense isn't always sustained. The scene with Thelma Ritter in "Rear Window" isn't suspenseful, for example.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by joie

It is a matter of opinion whether "Gravity" is more suspenseful than anything Hitchcock did, so no backup is necessary. Don't you think that "Gravity" is suspenseful most of the time?
As each story complication is resolved, the astronaut is faced with another, more trying than the last.It is sustained suspense.

There is more to building suspense than just placing a series of obstacles in front of the main character. Gravity might be suspenseful, but I kind of stopped taking it seriously once Sandra Bullock stripped down to her underwear. Read the following link for some insight into the director whom many consider the master of suspense.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/gene...bday/0813.html

Then watch Psycho or Rear Window.

[joie]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

You would give the title 'Master of Suspense' to a film?

Where do you get that idea?

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by joie

Where do you get that idea?

...

Go back and reread this conversation, please.

[joie]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

...

Go back and reread this conversation, please.

I did and didn't see how you could get an idea like that.

[ijustblumyself]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

A better case can be made, for sure, but I don't think someone with such a string of duds can be called 'master.' Perhaps he was a former master :P

Let's not forget that Hitchcock had more than a few duds himself.

[joie]

Originally Posted by belcherman

There is more to building suspense than just placing a series of obstacles in front of the main character. Gravity might be suspenseful, but I kind of stopped taking it seriously once Sandra Bullock stripped down to her underwear. Read the following link for some insight into the director whom many consider the master of suspense.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/gene...bday/0813.html

Then watch Psycho or Rear Window.

Thanks, I'll read it. I've seen "Psycho" & 'Rear Window." Janet Leigh appeared in a slip and even a shower scene in "Psycho.' In "Rear Window," James Stewart's character was ogling a woman in an apartment across the courtyard, and he kissed Grace Kelly's character. The scene with Thelma Ritter was good, but didn't seem suspenseful. The shower scene was suspenseful, but the others I've mentioned weren't. That's why I say there isn't any sustained suspense in Hitchcock. He may have believed that a story's tension must occasionally be resolved, so provided some occasional relief. In "Gravity" the suspense doesn't even end at the end of the movie -- what will happen next to the astronaut (maybe they were hoping to do a sequel).

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by ijustblumyself

Let's not forget that Hitchcock had more than a few duds himself.

Well, this is true, but not like De Palma's string, I don't think.

De Palma came out strong and then lost it.

Hitch has an incredible body of work with a few missfires, but also never something that is just a plain waste of space, you know? Like his misfires are bad for him, but not really bad films. (In my opinion, anyway)

[cakefactory]

I LOVE de palma's stuff from Phantom of the Paradise straight through to Body Double. Well, I don't really like Scarface and haven't seen Wise Guys and don't plan to, but all the suspense/horror movies are great. After that, I've been warned to stay away from his stuff, and I haven't seen a single later movie. I've heard Femme Fatale is a lone beacon of hope in the middle of a sea of failure, but I haven't gotten around to watch it yet. I think he has plenty of admirers up until the mid 90s or so, but it seems that by and large the popular consensus is he has lost it as much as many of his contemporaries (George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Dario Argento, etc). Hitchcock on the other hand was doing great stuff into his 70s. He has some duds here and there, sure, but he's one of the most consistent directors of all time, and with all the stuff he originated I don't see how any film nut could get too annoyed about the "master of suspense" title belonging to him.

Sure, Gravity might be more suspenseful to contemporary audiences who've been so massively desensitized by the hundreds and hundreds of films that ripped off Hitchcock's ideas and put them on steroids, but to try to write off what came before because it doesn't pack the same punch as modern stuff is quite ignorant.

[Snicket]

I don't think it's very fair to weigh one film against an entire body of work. I mean, Cauron, even after Gravity does not have a reputation for being suspenseful. I think this is a conversation that could have more weight 15-20 years down the line.

[WonderWeasel]

Does anyone here happen to know if Windex will damage the data side of a blu-ray? I saw a clerk at a store using it to clean a disc yesterday, and was curious if it could do anything to it. I did a search, but couldn't find a definitive answer.

[ravenus]

As regards Gravity, I didn't feel it particularly suspenseful. Let's face it, for most of the picture we have just one character, and since this is Hollywood and it stars Sandra Bullock, we know she's going to come out of it alive and mostly unharmed. It was more like a visually stunning really well put together theme park ride. A film like Psycho is more suspenseful because you have characters who are not obvious heroes / villains, so there are no limits on what can happen. At least some audiences of the time would have gotten a fair jolt from

[Show spoiler]seeing Janet Leigh's character getting the knife after having spent most of the picture till that point in her company.

That's my two bits.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

Does anyone here happen to know if Windex will damage the data side of a blu-ray? I saw a clerk at a store using it to clean a disc yesterday, and was curious if it could do anything to it. I did a search, but couldn't find a definitive answer.

Blu ray has pretty thick coating so, maybe not? I wouldn't advise it though, especially since water and a soft cloth clean a BD just fine.