The Criterion Collection

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by schan1269

Several of those Crit are OOP. I think all the OOP are on Hulu.

Otherwise, Last Year in Marienbad from the UK almost pays for a multi-region player...

By itself.

I don't have Hulu, but I'd be surprised if any/many of the OOP titles are on there. They go OOP because Criterion no longer has the rights to them.

[aes3728]

In the Clouds with Kristen Stewart on Instagram.

Clouds of Sils Maria

[Ray Jackson]

I watched Blue for the second time last night.

Not exactly a sit back and have fun with a bowl of popcorn movie.

Very good, very dark.

Juliette Binoche was just stunningly beautiful at that stage of her career.

...possibly the Goat.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I watched Blue for the second time last night.

Not exactly a sit back and have fun with a bowl of popcorn movie.

Very good, very dark.

Juliette Binoche was just stunningly beautiful at that stage of her career.

...possibly the Goat.

I am not denying Binoche beauty on Blue, but have you seen her in Leos Carax Mauvais Sang?

[TimeandTimeAgain]

Did anyone get My Own Private Idaho yet?

If so, how is the video and audio quality?

[SkyAntoine]

Originally Posted by TimeandTimeAgain

Did anyone get My Own Private Idaho yet?



If so, how is the video and audio quality?

Mine has shipped from Amazon and will be here tomorrow. Somehow I missed this film growing up as a teen in the 90's.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I watched Blue for the second time last night.

Not exactly a sit back and have fun with a bowl of popcorn movie.

Very good, very dark.

Juliette Binoche was just stunningly beautiful at that stage of her career.

...possibly the Goat.

She's still stunningly beautiful.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by sc1957

I agree with this. The book is excellent. I found myself going back several times to re-read small bits as I was progressing through it (particularly the scenes on Earth). But there's just so much information in the book that the film doesn't have room for. Also, the change that was made to the ending

[Show spoiler](the Iron Man move)

doesn't improve it.

The film is OK. But since Scott was apparently trying to be as faithful to the book as possible, while still creating a film whose length theaters would be comfortable with, it's a much more commonplace sort of film than Blade Runner, Kingdom of Heaven, Gladiator, or Alien.

Yes sir! You are totally right. It's "okay"...but its a crowd pleaser and a Hollywood "feel-good" kind of movie. Where is the mystery? That's why I liked Interstellar more, because as science-driven as that was as well, there was still room for many unanswered questions (regarding the

[Show spoiler]tesseract and time

). It was more metaphysical while The Martian was purely objective, concrete and factual. It's a movie that atheist Carl Sagan would have absolutely loved for the joy of science embedded in the film (Contact was even better though because it incorporated supernatural elements). In any case, I don't want to create yet another derailment for my non-Criterion discussion here.

[jw007]

Last night I watched this 90s thriller Extreme Measures for the first time in decades (I remember watching/reviewing it as a teenager at the time) and couldn't help but be disappointed in the terrible directing (Michael Apted) and awful use of music and editing styles. The camera-work was pretty bad too. But damn, I didn't realize Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, Nightcrawler, the Bourne films) wrote the screenplay. He's a really good writer in my opinion. If that film had been made 10 or 11 years later it would have been amazing in the hands of a better director, but it suffers from this unexplainable "1990s" over-dramatized/over-scored editing style. It's a great story but was poorly executed. If anyone else has seen this film, let me know?

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

She's still stunningly beautiful.

Yes...but not even close to what she was back in the day.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

I am not denying Binoche beauty on Blue, but have you seen her in Leos Carax Mauvais Sang?

I prefer her in Blue.

...or Damage.

Have you seen Damage?

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by jw007

Yes sir! You are totally right. It's "okay"...but its a crowd pleaser and a Hollywood "feel-good" kind of movie. Where is the mystery? That's why I liked Interstellar more, because as science-driven as that was as well, there was still room for many unanswered questions (regarding the

[Show spoiler]tesseract and time

). It was more metaphysical while The Martian was purely objective, concrete and factual. It's a movie that atheist Carl Sagan would have absolutely loved for the joy of science embedded in the film (Contact was even better though because it incorporated supernatural elements). In any case, I don't want to create yet another derailment for my non-Criterion discussion here.

To be fair it is not the film's fault, I doubt the book it is based on is any different in that regard, the movie is simply a fictional story in space and involving another planet, but mostly grounded in reality, I am not sure I would call it Sci-fi, but on the other hand it involves science and fiction.

BTW it is actually "Agnostic" Carl Sagan although I am not sure his mention requires a title.

I also love the themes other works of science fiction brings, but that doesn't mean I automatically give a pass to movies like Prometheus or Interstellar, if anything I feel more frustrated because of all the potential they had.

Anyway back to Criterion, aside from Solaris, is there any other thought provoking sci-fi there? I don't think there is enough sci-fi in the collection.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I prefer her in Blue.

...or Damage.

Have you seen Damage?

Haven't seen that, but I am not a fan of her super short hair, like in her recent role of Sils Maria, but SammyJankis is right, I thought she looks quite beautiful in Certified Copy for example.

Wait that is from 5 years ago, thought it was more recent.

[Gusto-Guus]

Forget about the Maritan. Sicario is the movie to catch this month.

[Lutz]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

To be fair it is not the film's fault, I doubt the book it is based on is any different in that regard, the movie is simply a fictional story in space and involving another planet, but mostly grounded in reality, I am not sure I would call it Sci-fi, but on the other hand it involves science and fiction.

BTW it is actually "Agnostic" Carl Sagan although I am not sure his mention requires a title.

I also love the themes other works of science fiction brings, but that doesn't mean I automatically give a pass to movies like Prometheus or Interstellar, if anything I feel more frustrated because of all the potential they had.

Anyway back to Criterion, aside from Solaris, is there any other thought provoking sci-fi there? I don't think there is enough sci-fi in the collection.

There is also the Criterion of ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS. It's about an astronaut who is stranded on Mars and has to survive.

[ajburke]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Anyway back to Criterion, aside from Solaris, is there any other thought provoking sci-fi there? I don't think there is enough sci-fi in the collection.

I agree that there should be more sci-fi in the collection. It tends to be my favorite genre. Solaris is great, and off the top of my head, I think Brazil, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Videodrome and Scanners are worth adding to that particular list.

[Namuhana]

Just to chime in on The Martian (yeah, I know I'm continuing to derail the thread)...

For those who've read the book, what do you find so fascinating about it? Why do you think it's so good? I read it back in August and found it to be just okay. I found Watney to be generally annoying (and only slightly funny at certain moments; and I love dark humor, so I figured I'd like him more than I did), the writing was a bit sloppy at times, and the information overload left me, like the Red Planet, cold. I actually really enjoyed the Earth sections, though, and much more than I thought I would at that. I may see the film tomorrow, and I think Matt Damon will get me to like Watney.

Anyway, back to Criterion...

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Haven't seen that, but I am not a fan of her super short hair, like in her recent role of Sils Maria, but SammyJankis is right, I thought she looks quite beautiful in Certified Copy for example.

Wait that is from 5 years ago, thought it was more recent.

I can't decide whether Blue has a devastatingly depressing ending or a somewhat uplifting ending.

...what do you think?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Gusto-Guus

Forget about the Maritan. Sicario is the movie to catch this month.

Or... You could do what I did this past Saturday (when it was raining all day) and go see both of them back to back...

My review for The Martian...

[Show spoiler]I think of space exploration as the last vestige of intellectualism when it comes popular culture here in America. All too often, the daily news is dominated by reality show celebrity gossip and such, so I am always uplifted when I see a story about the latest findings on Mars or about future plans for space travel. Ridley Scott's latest film, The Martian, which is based on the Andy Weir novel, celebrates the spirit of adventure spurred by mankind's curiosity about the universe, and is a sprawling homage to the astronauts and mission control personnel who devote their livelihoods and even their lives to solving one problem after another. The film is rated PG-13, but I believe that it is an ideal movie for children of elementary school age to see, in that it depicts humanity at its best in moments when creative thinking is imperative to one's survival, and because it illustrates the importance of saving just one human life. Matt Damon is superb in a lead role that goes to show how personality can carry one through difficult circumstances. During his career, Ridley Scott has excelled at showing us true horrors, especially with his 1979 film, Alien, and his underrated 2013 neo-noir, The Counselor, but he has also excelled at showing us true heroes. The Martian is one film with quite a few true heroes. Highly recommended!

My review for Sicario...

[Show spoiler]Sicario, which translates to "hitman" in Spanish, is unflinching in its depiction of how innocent families, dedicated law enforcement officers, and entire cities along the Mexican border pay a gruesome price for the ability of the oblivious privileged to enjoy the recreational use of drugs. Emily Blunt, one of my favorite contemporary actresses, plays an FBI agent who is recruited to assist a shadowy joint government team dedicated to tracking down Mexican cartel leaders. This film hits the ground running with a brutal scene involving an FBI discovery of multiple corpses stashed inside a suburban Arizona home, but this scenario barely scratches the surface of the horrors that Blunt's character encounters as she is led by two weathered officials, played by Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro, through the shellshocked metropolis of Juárez, through haunting border landscapes, and even through dark underground tunnels. Nothing is what it seems in this twisted world, and the motivations of even the closest allies are suspect. Denis Villeneuve's 2013 directorial effort, Prisoners, which stars Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, was a good movie that seemed to be missing a special something that would have made it a great movie. Sicario is even more intense and uneasy than Prisoners, but it also comes closer to achieving greatness. This is not a film for the squeamish or those who are easily unsettled, but I personally give it an enthusiastic recommendation, because of its awesome ensemble cast, its ability to shock the viewer with abrupt violence, and its focus on a real-world situation that most news media sources seem oddly reluctant to cover.
Sicario was the second movie that I saw at the theater on a rainy day today, and I watched it immediately after seeing Ridley Scott's The Martian. The Martian illustrated the importance of saving just one precious human life, but Sicario sways the pendulum in the other direction by showing how thousands of lives are discarded like litter for the sake of a murderous industry that thrives on addiction and misery.
Perhaps I'm being overly-optimistic, but I would like to think that Sicario might encourage someone somewhere out there to stay away from drugs.

To make this Criterion-related, I'll say that The Martian and Robinson Crusoe on Mars would make for a fine double-feature, while Sicario and Traffic would, likewise, make for a fine double-feature.

Oh...and...yes...I did pay for both movies before I walked into the theater, just in case anybody was wondering. I care about cinema too much to steal a movie.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I can't decide whether Blue has a devastatingly depressing ending or a somewhat uplifting ending.

...what do you think?

It's been a while since my last watch, but somehow in my mind I always relate the Blue ending sequence to the ending sequence in Donnie Darko (maybe because I watched this one first), even if the music is somber, I remember that scene to be so good that my impression of it was of an uplifting ending.

Originally Posted by Gusto-Guus

Forget about the Maritan. Sicario is the movie to catch this month.

Unfortunately that one doesn't come out in Mexico until December, if it comes at all