The Criterion Collection

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by monorail91

A couple other that come to mind --

• Amarcord - which goes through all the seasons, but ends with a sweet spring/summer scene

• Il Sorpasso - two men's journey while everyone else is out on spring/summer vacation

Thanks.
Haven't seen Amarcord but i would certainly see Il Sorpasso as a summer film.
(after all its plot is set on August 15th-16th)
Have seen it twice already last year, and can't wait to watch it again this summer.

[Fabs]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Can anyone recommend any Spring films in Criterion collection?
Films that is, in which we see bloomy countrysides and generally feel very spring-y?
One that comes to mind is Howards End, maybe Badlands too.
(also know about Late Spring but haven't seen it)
I guess Kes too? (or is this more autumny?)

You need to see Late Spring soon. I rewatched it recently, and it's still one of the most emotionally and visually beautiful films I've ever seen.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I think your love for Noir films has colored some of your choices. Still, while I might quibble with some of your choices, the following are ones I definitely disagree with you on:

Scott: Blade Runner
Hawks: His Girl Friday

Funny, I was thinking of His Girl Friday too. That film has probably the best dialogue of any film ever made. Grant and Russell couldn't possibly have delivered it any faster. It's really an amazing film, and one that's been copied so numerous times since. Or tried, anyway.

I think a lot of people will write it off since it's (nominally) a comedy.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Nice. The only Hitchcock films I've seen in a legitimate theater (that is, not in some film class auditorium with a crap projector, etc.) are Vertigo and The Birds. I guess not unsurprisingly those are my two favorite Hitch films. I know I'm probably in the minority with The Birds, but I've always found it very, very unsettling. For me, it's horror at its most basic level: Things suddenly go wrong for no clear reason whatsoever, and just as suddenly, they go back to normal. That's unfortunately how life so often works, and I find it eerie as hell.

Plus, I might possibly just have a "thing" for Tippi Hedren.

The Birds and I go back a long way, and I was fortunate to see it on a big screen as well, back in 2013 when it played at the Fox Theatre here in Atlanta. With the sound system in that theatre, the conclusion of the film almost made me believe that birds were really surrounding the theatre itself.

As for Tippi Hedren...

One of my good friends from a running forum lives near Bodega Bay. Every year, the town has a convention devoted to The Birds.

This friend knew that I was a huge Hitchcock fan, so he messaged me one day and told me to watch for a shipment coming from him in the mail. A few days later, I found this in my mailbox...

[Show spoiler]

I now have this framed on the wall in my apartment.

[pedromvu]

Finally watched my last blind buy from the flash sale, L'Avventura, while the film is visually stunning, i am still not sure how i feel about it, seems to me very similar to L'Eclisse in that both films are about the internal emotions of two very different people, but the way it is shown in the film is very subtle, maybe too subtle for my taste, but i think that is why these films can have replay value.

Still there is something i find missing compared to La Notte and Red Desert that i can't pinpoint.

I would rate the trilogy like this for now:

1.- La Notte
2.- L'Avventura
3.- L'Eclisse

BTW has anyone seen Le Amiche? it is another very good and early Antonioni film, there is one scene in particular that reminded me a lot of this film were all the characters met on the beach.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The Birds and I go back a long way, and I was fortunate to see it on a big screen as well, back in 2013 when it played at the Fox Theatre here in Atlanta. With the sound system in that theatre, the conclusion of the film almost made me believe that birds were really surrounding the theatre itself.

As for Tippi Hedren...

One of my good friends from a running forum lives near Bodega Bay. Every year, the town has a convention devoted to The Birds.

This friend knew that I was a huge Hitchcock fan, so he messaged me one day and told me to watch for a shipment coming from him in the mail. A few days later, I found this in my mailbox...

[Show spoiler]

I now have this framed on the wall in my apartment.

I'd call you a name, but that would be wrong.

Damn. That's beautiful. Wow.

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Finally watched my last blind buy from the flash sale, L'Avventura, while the film is visually stunning, i am still not sure how i feel about it, seems to me very similar to L'Eclisse in that both films are about the internal emotions of two very different people, but the way it is shown in the film is very subtle, maybe too subtle for my taste, but i think that is why these films can have replay value.

Still there is something i find missing compared to La Notte and Red Desert that i can't pinpoint.

I would rate the trilogy like this for now:

1.- La Notte
2.- L'Avventura
3.- L'Eclisse

BTW has anyone seen Le Amiche? it is another very good and early Antonioni film, there is one scene in particular that reminded me a lot of this film were all the characters met on the beach.

I haven't seen Le Amiche. I don't even know about it, to be honest, and that makes me feel ... stupid

But I will always think that L'Avventura is brilliance above and beyond the other of the trilogy, and WAY above Red Desert (which I also love, but come on).

I think that what L'Avventura accomplishes is an unsettling feeling that none of the other films really does. And Monica Vitti has never been more beautiful than in that film. I know that is superficial, but I can't help it.

[llj]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Finally watched my last blind buy from the flash sale, L'Avventura, while the film is visually stunning, i am still not sure how i feel about it, seems to me very similar to L'Eclisse in that both films are about the internal emotions of two very different people, but the way it is shown in the film is very subtle, maybe too subtle for my taste, but i think that is why these films can have replay value.

Still there is something i find missing compared to La Notte and Red Desert that i can't pinpoint.

I would rate the trilogy like this for now:

1.- La Notte
2.- L'Avventura
3.- L'Eclisse

BTW has anyone seen Le Amiche? it is another very good and early Antonioni film, there is one scene in particular that reminded me a lot of this film were all the characters met on the beach.

L'Avventura is one of my 5 favorite films of all time, but it is, admittedly, a less polished Antonioni compared to his later films in that his style and voice hadn't yet fully calcified into its ultimate form--which ultimately peaked with Red Desert. L'Avventura has a few strange tonal inconsistencies and the characters behave in ways at times that would almost be unacceptable in later Antonioni films.

Still, I'm just a sucker for "travelogue" movies and L'Avventura is one of the very best of that type of film.

I like La Notte a lot, better than L'Eclisse (though it's been years since I last watched it) but I do feel like Mastroianni and Moreau don't quite have a handle on the type of understated, technical performance Antonioni is usually looking for. They are "big" actors who look boxed in when they underact. Contrast them with Monica Vitti's performances, who always finds the right understated pitch without feeling pinched. Vitti reminds me of Chishu Ryu in a way; both are actors who wouldn't be considered "good" actors in conventional movies but they have completely mastered the type of performance needed with the one director they are most associated with.

[atlantajoseph]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

This friend knew that I was a huge Hitchcock fan, so he messaged me one day and told me to watch for a shipment coming from him in the mail. A few days later, I found this in my mailbox...

[Show spoiler]

I now have this framed on the wall in my apartment.

Wow, nice!

[atlantajoseph]

Originally Posted by llj

I like La Notte a lot, better than L'Eclisse (though it's been years since I last watched it) but I do feel like Mastroianni and Moreau don't quite have a handle on the type of understated, technical performance Antonioni is usually looking for. They are "big" actors who look boxed in when they underact.

Boxed-in perhaps, but I feel this very tension was used to great effect in the film. We're looking at expansive personalities reined in by circumstances and their environs -- which aligns with the themes at hand in a uniquely authentic way.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by atlantajoseph

Boxed-in perhaps, but I feel this very tension was used to great effect in the film. We're looking at expansive personalities reined in by circumstances and their environs -- which aligns with the themes at hand in a uniquely authentic way.

I have all these films on BD. I need to watch them again.

[pedromvu]

What about latter Antonioni films? just by seeing the ratings it appears Blowup and The Passenger are very well regarded, i still need to see a lot of his films, but can wait for restorations.

Talking about gaps in a director filmography, today i finally finished the one i had pending on Buñuel (don't ask me how i got some of them), i would like to do this for a lot of other directors but some of them have done so many movies it is difficult.

I found all Bunuel films very enjoyable, there are at least three Masterpieces for me Viridiana, Nazarin, That obscure object of Desire, and others very close behind Los Olvidados, El Angel Exterminador, Tristana, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Un Chien Andalou, Ensayo de un Crimen and Belle de Jour.

Also there are many of his early mexican films that while don't show his characteristic style and themes, are very entertaining, some very funny and some of them do have one or two glimpses of surrealism, would be nice if Criterion released an Eclipse set with 4 or 5 of those.

[atlantajoseph]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

What about latter Antonioni films? just by seeing the ratings it appears Blowup and The Passenger are very well regarded, i still need to see a lot of his films, but can wait for restorations.

I finally saw Blowup for the first time earlier this month. IMO it is good but not in the same league as his alienation tetralogy. BU feels slightly dated to me and I also think something intangible was lost in the shift to the UK and the English language. Certainly worth checking out however.

[Santa Barbara]

Originally Posted by llj

L'Avventura is one of my 5 favorite films of all time, but it is, admittedly, a less polished Antonioni compared to his later films in that his style and voice hadn't yet fully calcified into its ultimate form--which ultimately peaked with Red Desert. L'Avventura has a few strange tonal inconsistencies and the characters behave in ways at times that would almost be unacceptable in later Antonioni films.

Still, I'm just a sucker for "travelogue" movies and L'Avventura is one of the very best of that type of film.

I like La Notte a lot, better than L'Eclisse (though it's been years since I last watched it) but I do feel like Mastroianni and Moreau don't quite have a handle on the type of understated, technical performance Antonioni is usually looking for. They are "big" actors who look boxed in when they underact. Contrast them with Monica Vitti's performances, who always finds the right understated pitch without feeling pinched. Vitti reminds me of Chishu Ryu in a way; both are actors who wouldn't be considered "good" actors in conventional movies but they have completely mastered the type of performance needed with the one director they are most associated with.

L'Avventura is one of the most picturesque films I've ever watched. It is one of the few films that made me not find a pondering film to be slow and dull, quite the contrary. It was a very reflective film and immediately entered my cinema to revere list.

[llj]

Blow-Up was the very first Antonioni I ever watched; it intrigued me enough to seek out more of his work but I have never felt a great compulsion to revisit it, unlike most of his other films. I should, though. But as atlantajoseph said, it seems more dependent on its time period which typically does not work in Antonioni's favour.

The Passenger is one of the great, flawed films. It's simultaneously awkward and yet at the same time completely mesmerizing. As a whole it is not as consistently brilliant compared to most of Antonioni's Italian films but it has moments that rank among the very best stuff he's filmed in his career. Nicholson disappears into a sort of blankness in a more comfortable way than you'd expect. You can really see the respect he had for Antonioni's style of filmmaking.

Identification of a Woman is also worth checking out, though many seem to have mixed reactions on that one. I've heard it being described as a "dirty old man film" but I don't really see it. I feel like it is his last truly great film.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

If we're talking about the best film by a director, then I would not refer to that title simply as a masterpiece.
I would refer to it as the director's crowning achievement.

A director can have several masterpieces, but only one crowning achievement.

I think that Rear Window is Alfred Hitchcock's crowning achievement.
I think that Double Indemnity is Billy Wilder's crowning achievement.
I think that Stagecoach is John Ford's crowning achievement.
I think that Seven Samurai is Akira Kurosawa's crowning achievement.
I think that Out of the Past is Jacques Tourneur's crowning achievement.
I think that The Conversation is Francis Ford Coppola's crowning achievement.
I think that Laura is Otto Preminger's crowning achievement.
I think that Criss Cross is Robert Siodmak's crowning achievement.
I think that The Shining is Stanley Kubrick's crowning achievement.
I think that Touch of Evil is Orson Welles's crowning achievement.
I think that The Gold Rush (1925) is Charlie Chaplin's crowning achievement.
I think that The General is Buster Keaton's crowning achievement.
I think that Chinatown is Roman Polanski's crowning achievement.
I think that The Big Heat is Fritz Lang's crowning achievement.
I think that Jaws is Steven Spielberg's crowning achievement.
I think that The Maltese Falcon is John Huston's crowning achievement.
I think that On the Waterfront is Elia Kazan's crowning achievement.
I think that Fanny and Alexander is Ingmar Bergman's crowning achievement.
I think that Blow Out is Brian De Palma's crowning achievement.
I think that Alien is Ridley Scott's crowning achievement.
I think that Play Misty for Me is Clint Eastwood's crowning achievement.
I think that The Thin Red Line is Terrence Malick's crowning achievement.
I think that Casablanca is Michael Curtiz's crowning achievement.
I think that The Big Sleep is Howard Hawks's crowning achievement.
I think that Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) is John Carpenter's crowning achievement.
I think that In a Lonely Place is Nicholas Ray's crowning achievement.
I think that Escape from Alcatraz is Don Siegel's crowning achievement.
I think that La Dolce Vita is Federico Fellini's crowning achievement.
I think that L'Avventura is Michelangelo Antonioni's crowning achievement.
I think that Taxi Driver is Martin Scorsese's crowning achievement.
I think that The Sound of Music is Robert Wise's crowning achievement.
I think that Pickup on South Street is Samuel Fuller's crowning achievement.
I think that Friday the 13th (1980) is Sean Cunningham's crowning achievement.
I think that Raw Deal (1948) is Anthony Mann's crowning achievement.
I think that Point Blank is John Boorman's crowning achievement.
I think that Detour is Edgar G. Ulmer's crowning achievement.
I think that The Night of the Hunter is Charles Laughton's crowning achievement.

Love seeing people's lists, it just shows how diverse peoples' tastes are. I don't agree with half of these, but every film listed here is still a classic, whether it's my "favorite" or not. The Shining, Jaws, Rear Window, Double Indemnity, Chinatown, Precinct 13, Gold Rush, Stagecoach, Touch of Evil... none of those I feel are the directors' best. As for Bergman, there are so many "best" films that I'm not sure I could choose one.

[antennahead]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

What about latter Antonioni films? just by seeing the ratings it appears Blowup and The Passenger are very well regarded, i still need to see a lot of his films, but can wait for restorations.

Talking about gaps in a director filmography, today i finally finished the one i had pending on Buñuel (don't ask me how i got some of them), i would like to do this for a lot of other directors but some of them have done so many movies it is difficult.

I found all Bunuel films very enjoyable, there are at least three Masterpieces for me Viridiana, Nazarin, That obscure object of Desire, and others very close behind Los Olvidados, El Angel Exterminador, Tristana, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Un Chien Andalou, Ensayo de un Crimen and Belle de Jour.

Also there are many of his early mexican films that while don't show his characteristic style and themes, are very entertaining, some very funny and some of them do have one or two glimpses of surrealism, would be nice if Criterion released an Eclipse set with 4 or 5 of those.

Originally Posted by atlantajoseph

I finally saw Blowup for the first time earlier this month. IMO it is good but not in the same league as his alienation tetralogy. BU feels slightly dated to me and I also think something intangible was lost in the shift to the UK and the English language. Certainly worth checking out however.

I have both Blow-Up and The Passenger in my collection on DVD, would love good BDs of both of them. If you're an old fart like me, Blow-Up has a special place as that time period was pretty special music wise. There is a scene where he enters the club and there is a live band playing on stage, it's the Yardbirds with both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck together. That's rare as they spent very little time together in the band. Jeff quit and Page carried on .... turning them into the New Yardbirds which became Led Zeppelin. You have to remember there was no internet or YouTube back then. Unless you lived in a major metro market, seeing Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck live was a treat for us teenagers hungry for all the live rock we could get

[WalterNeff]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The Birds and I go back a long way, and I was fortunate to see it on a big screen as well, back in 2013 when it played at the Fox Theatre here in Atlanta. With the sound system in that theatre, the conclusion of the film almost made me believe that birds were really surrounding the theatre itself.

As for Tippi Hedren...

One of my good friends from a running forum lives near Bodega Bay. Every year, the town has a convention devoted to The Birds.

This friend knew that I was a huge Hitchcock fan, so he messaged me one day and told me to watch for a shipment coming from him in the mail. A few days later, I found this in my mailbox...

[Show spoiler]

I now have this framed on the wall in my apartment.

"Keep Running". Lol kinda sounds like a threat

[AaronJ]

The problem with Blow Up is that it is nowhere near as good as his other films. I am not going to use the word "overrated" since I hate it. But I remember friends of mine, years ago, who were photogogs who hated it. And I never felt it like I did L'Avventura or L'Eclise or his others.

The same goes for The Passenger or Identification of a Woman. Both are good films. Don't get me wrong. No one is going to mis-spend their time watching them. But do they compare to his early work? No way.

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Funny, I was thinking of His Girl Friday too. That film has probably the best dialogue of any film ever made. Grant and Russell couldn't possibly have delivered it any faster. It's really an amazing film, and one that's been copied so numerous times since. Or tried, anyway.

I think a lot of people will write it off since it's (nominally) a comedy.

Agreed. His Girl Friday is one of my all time favorites.

[joie]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Finally watched my last blind buy from the flash sale, L'Avventura, while the film is visually stunning, i am still not sure how i feel about it, seems to me very similar to L'Eclisse in that both films are about the internal emotions of two very different people, but the way it is shown in the film is very subtle, maybe too subtle for my taste, but i think that is why these films can have replay value.

Still there is something i find missing compared to La Notte and Red Desert that i can't pinpoint.

I would rate the trilogy like this for now:

1.- La Notte
2.- L'Avventura
3.- L'Eclisse

BTW has anyone seen Le Amiche? it is another very good and early Antonioni film, there is one scene in particular that reminded me a lot of this film were all the characters met on the beach.

I think I know the scene you are talking about. The scene in l'avventura is somewhat of a parody of the one in le amiche