The Criterion Collection

[Polaroid]

If in doubt:

BUY THEM ALL.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

I'm sorry, but I don't understand why we aren't allowed to say our opinion, based on what we see..

No one has said that you are not allowed to have an opinion. This is why we have the forum -- for people to exchange opinions. But you are dismissing releases without even having touched the discs, let alone seen them. How would you feel if someone extracted select words from the sentences you write on this forum and then went on to produce observations about your personality and intentions while rearranging and using these words somewhere else? Wouldn't you want someone to quote your entire sentences? And read them? And then address what you have written?

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Ok, maybe we can't see it in motion, but I think I have said it again:
If i want to make a poster of a screenshot, I would choose the best edition, won't I?

Then make posters and discuss your posters. It is pretty obvious that people are discussing films/releases in this thread.

Originally Posted by filmmusic

And right now, as I see it, Criterion isn't the one, but Arrow.
It's really evident to me in a 1080p screenshot, let alone when it will be magnified!

That seems to be the problem, isn't it? You keep referring to Arrow all over the site and suggesting that they would have done different work/better work, and this is yet another case of awful generalizing. Have you seen Arrow's release of Fox's new 4K restoration of 3 Women? How come Arrow did not do a better job? So, again, let's stop generalizing and playing favorites. If you get a disc, watch it, and share your opinion.

Originally Posted by filmmusic

I got Paris-Texas in the sale, but I have a hunch that if when I see it I stick to my opinion, you'll still be bothered that I said something bad about Criterion, which honestly I can't understand.

At this point I am pretty sure that you will stick to your opinion. But let me state the obvious: There is already a UK release, and we have reviewed it on this site, and it is not superior. So, I also have to be honest and say that I don't understand how someone could form a definitive opinion by looking at screencaptures and then go on to question why someone else who has actually viewed the disc/presentation finds the "logic" behind the "criticism" flawed.

Originally Posted by filmmusic

By the way, I have nothing personal with Criterion!
I don't get anything for saying somethind bad!
We're just sharing opinions here..

No personal feelings here either. But, please consider this: When you wish to praise or dismiss someone else's work -- and please remember that someone else is a real person -- you should first get the product you are addressing, view it/examine it, and then offer your opinion.


Thanks.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by ChromeJob

I don't think that comparison establishes that the Arrow release is superior. Looks like some dirt or other artifacts that Criterion judiciously removed. Feel free to stick with the one you like.

"Try to get the best even if I don't see it" is a great policy, would you care to buy "Rolex" from me? I can offer a great price, and you'll never see "difference."

People have different levels of eyesight.
I see it in that picture.
Perhaps you woudl see it when we zoom in?
http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleich...ess=#vergleich

I think it's clear that the Criterion has a worse encoding than Arrow, that results in worse depiction of grain..

[octagon]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

well, I think he said it because I haven't bought the discs and I'm based solely on screenshot comparisons.
But even so, I would prefer the Arrow.
If I have to choose between 2 t-shirts, one without a hole, and one with a hole which is in a place that is not evident but I know it's there, it's the logical thing that I will choose the T-shirt without the hole!
Even if I don't see it.
Even if noone can see it!

I don't see anything wrong in that..

A more apt analogy might be selecting sheets on the basis of thread count.

Sure, 800 is more than 600 but those two numbers don't necessarily tell you all that much about which of those sets of sheets - if either - is better than the other.

[InTheMood]

Originally Posted by Bob Kramer

I agree about Clockwork Orange. It is bravura film making, but unfortunately the sort of thing that attracts fanboys and and film students (all male, of course.)

Salo is actually a very moral film, and more honest than Clockwork.

This post is from several pages back but I have to ask.

Care to elaborate why you said "all male, of course"?

Just interested.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

People have different levels of eyesight.
I see it in that picture.
Perhaps you woudl see it when we zoom in?
http://caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleich...ess=#vergleich

I think it's clear that the Criterion has a worse encoding than Arrow, that results in worse depiction of grain..

It does look slightly worse than Arrows when you look at the blue shirts - but as said when in motion you really don't notice it and it isn't really a deal breaker. Don't forget most of the film is time lapse and th images last mere seconds usually.

Its a superb put together set and with Criterion you get all 3 films as well, whereas Arrow is only 2 :P.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jmclick

After all the fascinating posts about Kubrick earlier today, I was motivated to sit down tonight and experience Barry Lyndon. What an incredible film; no wonder it has received almost universal praise.

Funny thing. Back around the time it was released, there was this guy that worked the same part-time-while-in-college job that I did. He liked going to movies, but he said that he never bothered to see any movie more than once...just didn't see the need for it. He went to see Barry Lyndon four times.

I don't recall what it was about that film that caused him to change his attitude about multiple viewings.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Funny thing. Back around the time it was released, there was this guy that worked the same part-time-while-in-college job that I did. He liked going to movies, but he said that he never bothered to see any movie more than once...just didn't see the need for it. He went to see Barry Lyndon four times.

I don't recall what it was about that film that caused him to change his attitude about multiple viewings.

He hasn't seen Primer then. lol.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

You keep referring to Arrow all over the site and suggesting that they would have done different work/better work, and this is yet another case of awful generalizing.

The comparison is between Criterion and Arrow.
if an X studio compared better to the Criterion, I would say the same about the X studio.

(by the way, I'm not paid by Arrow to say good things either)

Also:
From what i remember I only have said that "another" release was better than Criterion in Koyanisquatsi.
I also said that French Lietenant's woman could look better, and maybe I had said the same with Paris-Texas, since there doesn't seem to be a better edition out there.
i don't seem to remember to have said anything else "bad" about Criterion.
If you think these were worth to make all this fuss about, what can I say.
I'm honored!

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I'm watching The Bad Sleep Well tonight for the first time.

It's simply amazing how many classic films were made by Kurosawa.

Even attempting a Kurosawa top five is like trying to split the atom.

But here goes:

1. High and Low
2. Ikiru
3. Red Beard
4. Ran
5. Yojimbo

Yes that's right...Seven Samurai isn't even in my top five.

...how extraordinary.

Not sure it would be in mine, either. Let's see...

Drunken Angel
Ikiru
Rashōmon
Red Beard
High and Low

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Will G

Red Beard definitely ranks right up there at the top on my list. It's a shame Dersu Uzala rarely get's mentioned, it's one of my favorites.

That's the trouble with "Top X" lists. One inevitably has to leave off things that one wants to put on the list, but there are only a limited number of slots available. I've always had to make two Top 10 Westerns lists: (1) Top 10 Westerns and (2) Top 10 Westerns Not Directed by John Ford.

[SkyAntoine]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I'm not the one who used the term, so I'm not eager to define it. I know that the OP didn't mean anything by it, but 'highbrow' to me, has a negative connotation.



I just googled a definition for it, so perhaps I had the wrong idea... I would have thought that some synonyms for highbrow were snobby, condescending, elitist.. words like that.

Maybe I need to choose less debatable adjectives.
All I meant was that some movies require no thought to view. Kubrick's movies are typically more thought-provoking. The Killing, an early Kubrick film, seemed to be more straight forward than his latter films.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

The comparison is between Criterion and Arrow.
if an X studio compared better to the Criterion, I would say the same about the X studio.

The issue isn't whether you wish to say something or not. It is why and how you say things. And it is absolutely irrelevant what company produced the release you are addressing -- Kino, Cohen, BFI, etc.

If you are going to dismiss a release, at least make the effort to see it.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

If you are going to dismiss a release, at least make the effort to see it.

Can you understand that my criteria for saying a release is ABSOLUTE PERFECT, is for the release to be good both in motion and in freeze frames?
I'm sorry, but I can't change that..
If a release is better in one of these 2 parameters, I'll say it.

Although, I would think twice now about saying anything remotely negative about Criterion, since my attitude seems "offensive".

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

ok.. got it now. thanks, RayJ.

great scene for sure.. great 'final shot'? for my money, it is The Third Man

Don't know about "final shot", but my choice for greatest final scene in movies is the one in Daniel Petrie's 1980 film Resurrection.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Not sure it would be in mine, either. Let's see...

Drunken Angel
Ikiru
Rashōmon
Red Beard
High and Low

Never seen Drunken Angel or Stray Dog.

But The Bad Sleep Well is freaking amazing.

Can't believe I slept on that one for so many years.

...that might actually knock Yojimbo out of my top five.

[prior]

Originally Posted by dannyfriar

Eden Lake

Indeed a really impressive ending.

Kurosawa:

1) Seven Samurai
2) High and Low
3) Sanjuro
4) The Bad Sleep Well
5) Throne Of Blood/Stray Dog

...

The Lower Depths

not seen: Ikiru, Red Beard, Ran

[Ray Jackson]

I'm at work and it's slow and I'm bored, so I'm just gonna kill a few top-five birds with one stone:

Scorsese:
1. Goodfellas
2. Taxi Driver
3. Casino
4. Raging Bull
5. Last Temptation of Christ

Coppola:
1. Apocalypse Now
2. The Godfather
3. The Godfather 2
4. The Conversation
5. Peggy Sue Got Married

Hitchcock:
1. Vertigo
2. Rear Window
3. Psycho
4. North by Northwest
5. Notorious

Terrence Malick:
1. Badlands
2. The Thin Red Line
3. Days of Heaven
4. Tree of Life
5. The New World

David Lynch:
1. Twin Peaks pilot episode
2. Eraserhead
3. Wild at Heart
4. Mulholland Drive
5. Blue Velvet

Christopher Nolan:
1. Interstellar
2. The Dark Knight
3. Dark Knight Rises
4. The Prestige
5. Memento

Tarantino:
1. Reservoir Dogs
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Kill Bill Vol. 1
4. Inglorious Basterds
5. Kill Bill Vol. 2

Paul Thomas Anderson:
1. There Will Be Blood
2. Boogie Nights
3. The Master
4. Punch Drunk Love
5. Magnolia

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by prior

Indeed a really impressive ending.

Kurosawa:

1) Seven Samurai
2) High and Low
3) Sanjuro
4) The Bad Sleep Well
5) Throne Of Blood/Stray Dog

...

The Lower Depths

not seen: Ikiru, Red Beard, Ran

If you haven't seen Ikiru or Red Beard, then I cannot even begin to tell you how much you've been missing.

[prior]

I know. And because I'm a very thorough person I am now the proud owner of pretty much every Kurosawa Blu-ray or DVD Criterion has ever released. They only need to arrive.