The Criterion Collection

[RojD]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Here are a couple of recommendations, Andrew
.....

9. Olivier Assayas's Carlos. Don't be put off by the fact that it is long and there is a lot of factual information thrown around. It is a fantastic production. And it has the suspense you are looking for.



10. Mesrine. A bonus recommendation. It is not from Criterion, but I have a feeling you will like it. With Vincent Cassel from La Haine. It is out in the U.S. via Music Box Films and in the UK via Momentum. It is a two-part production.

International trailer here:
https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=3865



Pro-B

Out of Pro-B's excellent 10, I'd especially second the last two:Criterion's Carlos and the non-Criterion Mesrine. I did the two as a week-long double feature, and it was a fantastic choice. Mesrine is a bit thinner than Carlos -- it lacked the depth of character and setting -- but it was still hugely compelling. Definitely try both of them.

[Al_The_Strange]

I consider Mesrine one of the most essential gangster films out there.

[Andrew1987]

Thanks for all the great recommendations guys, I own the Demy boxset, band of outsiders, purple noon and la haine and love them all so I will for sure seek out the other movies mentioned. Glad to see some other New Order fans as well!

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by joie

Seeing Ronald Reagan play a sneering villian was a treat. It's said that it didn't play on TV because it was too violent. I was thinking that Reagan may have decided to go into politics after seeing it and didn't want to be seen and remembered as a bad guy, so prevailed on the TV studio to shelve the movie.

My understanding is that it was deemed too violent for television and pulled by the studio (NBC?) primarily in reaction to Kennedy's assassination, which occurred during filming.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by joie

Seeing Ronald Reagan play a sneering villian was a treat. It's said that it didn't play on TV because it was too violent. I was thinking that Reagan may have decided to go into politics after seeing it and didn't want to be seen and remembered as a bad guy, so prevailed on the TV studio to shelve the movie. The Reagans were able to pull strings; for example, they had a house in Bel Air where the house's street number was 666, but they were able to prevail in an effort to have the house number changed.

There used to be a joke about Reagan being the Antichrist because of his full name, Ronald Wilson Reagan: each name had six letters.

While your speculation is an interesting one, I don't think there's any reason not to believe that it was shuffled into theatrical release instead of TV because of its violence. It was pretty violent for early-to-mid-60s TV.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

3. Jacques Becker's Le Trou a.k.a. The Hole. You will love this film. One of the all-time greatest escape films. Pure atmosphere. At the moment it is only out on DVD via Criterion.

Le Trou is an outstanding movie, and I love the Criterion DVD.

Also...

Jacques Becker's Touchez Pas Au Grisbi is one of my favorite Criterion titles, and it's one of my top 10 Criterion DVDs that I want to be upgraded to region A Blu-ray soon.



Touchez Pas Au Grisbi is one of the toughest gangster films you'll ever see, and the ending is just spectacular.

[CPinheiro]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

Great news. I hope there is a box as rumored and not a slow release of these on Blu-ray over the course of years, but then I've waited this long...

I was just thinking about it. If they have remastered so many movies then I hope theres a big wenders box set coming soon, or at least the road trilogy + individual releases over the next year...

[llj]

Originally Posted by RojD

Out of Pro-B's excellent 10, I'd especially second the last two:Criterion's Carlos and the non-Criterion Mesrine. I did the two as a week-long double feature, and it was a fantastic choice. Mesrine is a bit thinner than Carlos -- it lacked the depth of character and setting -- but it was still hugely compelling. Definitely try both of them.

I concur with you two regarding Carlos. This reminds me, though, I still haven't sent in my faulty Carlos disc 2 to exchange for the fixed second printing version. I wrote 'Jon Mulvaney' almost 2 years ago asking 'him' for the mailing address and I still haven't sent it off yet. I wonder if they'll still exchange it if I sent it today.

[chidecki]

Originally Posted by jmclick

DeepDiscount.com is also having a Criterion sale, with most titles discounted 42%-45% off. The nice thing about Deep Discount is that if you order $100.00 (or more) and pay with PayPal Credit, you get six months interest free financing. I don't order from them very often, but they do tend to have the best sale prices on blu-rays from Kino and Olive Films, and they put those titles on sale at least two or three times per year.

Ordered Night and the City and Night of the Hunter from them, receiving Night of the Hunter yesterday. I mirror Amazon and their prices when DD has one of these sales and for the most part, DD beats Amazon AND there's free shipping at $25 as oppose to Amazon's $35. (I also have Kino's Cover Up, which is on back order and Criterion's The Man Who Knew Too Much coming my way )

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by llj

I concur with you two regarding Carlos. This reminds me, though, I still haven't sent in my faulty Carlos disc 2 to exchange for the fixed second printing version. I wrote 'Jon Mulvaney' almost 2 years ago asking 'him' for the mailing address and I still haven't sent it off yet. I wonder if they'll still exchange it if I sent it today.

I emailed Jon Mulvaney about a month ago and he didn't even ask me to send the bad disc in.

He simply put a replacement disc in the mail and I received it about a week later.

...no questions asked.

[waxHead]

Originally Posted by RojD

Out of Pro-B's excellent 10, I'd especially second the last two:Criterion's Carlos and the non-Criterion Mesrine. I did the two as a week-long double feature, and it was a fantastic choice. Mesrine is a bit thinner than Carlos -- it lacked the depth of character and setting -- but it was still hugely compelling. Definitely try both of them.

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

I consider Mesrine one of the most essential gangster films out there.

I'm putting in another recommendation for the Mesrine films. They're excellent, exciting movies, I'm looking forward to watching them again in the future.

[CriterionBlues]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Le Trou is an outstanding movie, and I love the Criterion DVD.

Also...

Jacques Becker's Touchez Pas Au Grisbi is one of my favorite Criterion titles, and it's one of my top 10 Criterion DVDs that I want to be upgraded to region A Blu-ray soon.



Touchez Pas Au Grisbi is one of the toughest gangster films you'll ever see, and the ending is just spectacular.

Completely agreed about Touchez. And it's notable for being the film that reinvigorated Jean Gabin's career. The fact that he had been cast aside is baffling, but stranger things have happened.

It is a major gap, but I have not seen Le Trou. I need to rectify that post-haste.

[ShellOilJunior]

Just got back from a double bill of Aparajito (Apu Trilogy #2) and The Third Man - both in 4K.

From the looks of the restoration thus far it looks like The Apu Trilogy is headed for blu-ray release of the year. The work they've done on these films is nothing short of a miracle.


On a humorous related noted: A band of junior cineastes was taking selfies in the lobby before the screening of The Third Man. Perhaps they were looking to get their film club card punched by attending.


PS- the trailer for Tales of Hoffmann has been showing before screenings. Really excited to see it in 4K.

[Norbie]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

...“The American Friend” starring Dennis Hopper and also features such Hollywood legends such as Sam Fuller and Nicholas Ray, the aforementioned classics "Paris, Texas" and "Wings Of Desire,” the rare 295 minute director’s cut of “Until The End Of The World,” the road movies "Alice In The Cities," "Kings Of The Road," and "The State Of Things,” “Wrong Move”...

Paris, Texas blew me away and I couldn't believe the performance of H D Stanton in that last scene with N Kinski.

But are the rare 295 minute director’s cut of “Until The End Of The World,” the road movies "Alice In The Cities," "Kings Of The Road," and "The State Of Things,” “Wrong Move" as good as Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire, or even The American Friend? I have the MADMAN - DIRECTOR'S SUITE DVD release of The American Friend - which has a fantastic commentary by Wim Wenders and Denis Hopper, and there are also some interesting Deleted Scenes as well, also with a Commentary by Wenders. I first came across The American Friend in Danny Peary's Cult Movies books, and being a fan of the books, it was one of the first cult movies/non-mainstream which I purchased.

[demonknight]

Guesses for tomorrow
-After Hours
-Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight Trilogy
-Inside Llewyn Davis
-The New World
-One-Eyed Jacks

Side note: I looked at the New Year's drawing again. I looked at the girl who people thought represented Nausicca (or however it's spelt), and I finally realized that it was Dressed to Kill (what with the swords).

[Namuhana]

The only title that I'm fairly certain we'll see tomorrow is the Apu Trilogy. Other than that, I'm hoping for some more Bergman and Powell/Pressburger (like I am every month).

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by demonknight

Guesses for tomorrow
-After Hours
-Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight Trilogy
-Inside Llewyn Davis
-The New World
-One-Eyed Jacks

Side note: I looked at the New Year's drawing again. I looked at the girl who people thought represented Nausicca (or however it's spelt), and I finally realized that it was Dressed to Kill (what with the swords).

This is out of the question, since it was reported that the studio is in process of finding the best elements available to do the restoration.
I hope too for the New world, and the Before Trilogy.

[demonknight]

Those weren't necessarily my hopes, just what I thought were likely. That said, I was unaware of the One-Eyed Jacks situation.

My hopes:
-After Hours
-Before Trilogy
-Inside Llewyn Davis
-Leaving Las Vegas
-Schizopolis

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I emailed Jon Mulvaney about a month ago and he didn't even ask me to send the bad disc in.

He simply put a replacement disc in the mail and I received it about a week later.

...no questions asked.

Maybe because he's not a real guy?

[Yami]

My crystal ball is never usually accurate but I'm feeling

The Apu Trilogy
King Lear
Midnight Cowboy
Sandra
Bicycle Thieves