The Criterion Collection

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by D2Girls

My roommate is SO dumb, when she opened the plastic wrapping on my sealed copy of Brazil yesterday, she punched a fingernail slit into the paper somehow. GRRRR.

[Show spoiler]

Totally ruined, FML.

That's terrible.

I feel for you bro.

On the bright side, it looks like you have Harakiri...so life is good!

[jw007]

The lesson is:

Fingernails and Criterion don't mix.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by D2Girls

My roommate is SO dumb, when she opened the plastic wrapping on my sealed copy of Brazil yesterday, she punched a fingernail slit into the paper somehow. GRRRR.

[Show spoiler]

Totally ruined, FML.

Is your roommate a German Shepherd?

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by the sordid sentinel

Yeah, I think Yojimbo means bodyguard or something like that. I just refer to him by that since his actual name seems to always be vague.

I just call him "the ronin".

[Polaroid]

15th falls on a Sunday.

[The Great Owl]

I just finished watching my Criterion Blu-ray of The Honeymoon Killers.

The Honeymoon Killers plays out in that middle ground between classic-era film noir and 1960s exploitation cinema. The movie is quite tame for the most part, but one late scene provides one of the most unsettling sequences that I've seen in recent memory.

[Show spoiler]The couple have just drugged a woman to the extent that she is coherent, but paralyzed, and she is listening to them talk about their plans for her and her young daughter while they are standing in the next room.

Although I do not consider The Honeymoon Killers to be a horror movie in terms of genre, that one scene is a masterful horror moment.

This is a fascinating sort of pop-trash examination of the underbelly of the American Dream. I guess that it's cruel for me to say, but I kept thinking that I'd much rather make ends meet by working a normal everyday job than dealing with the hassle that Ray Fernandez deliberately dealt with by running his scams with the Lonely Hearts women.

Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco are both amazing in their roles, and The Honeymoon Killers makes perfect use of black-and-white close-ups. The Blu-ray looks terrific across the board.

The supplementary interviews are all good, but I was most impressed with a short documentary that compared the events in the film to the real-life Lonely Hearts murders from which the story is based.

I'd love to see the 1950 film noir, Lonely Hearts Bandits, which was the first film interpretation of the real-life crimes.

I wish that Criterion would delve into more exploitation flicks of this nature. I guess that Arrow and other such labels do a good enough job of bringing these to Blu-ray, but there's a lot more out there.

Sadly, my Blu-ray of The Honeymoon Killers is missing a booklet/leaflet. I just emailed John Mulvaney to have a booklet mailed to me.

Incidentally, I watched The Honeymoon Killers a couple of hours after watching my new Blu-ray of the Russ Meyer film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. Man...the 1960s had some awesomely offbeat movies.

[ShellOilJunior]

The Wenders double bill was great. Goalie and Alice in the Cities look terrific. The latter has plenty of healthy grain throughout. I also learned the Cleveland Cinematheque is trying to get Wenders in to speak about his films. Although, if it happens it's likely 2016 at the very least.

[tisdivine]

Whats everyones thoughts on Code Unknown? Thinking about picking it up Tues since I literally have nothing else to wstch right now but the preview on itunes looks like it might not be my thing lol

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The movie is quite tame for the most part, but one late scene provides one of the most unsettling sequences that I've seen in recent memory.

[Show spoiler]The couple have just drugged a woman to the extent that she is coherent, but paralyzed, and she is listening to them talk about their plans for her and her young daughter while they are standing in the next room.

I thought the same of that scene, but there was an earlier scene that also was very unsettling to me

[Show spoiler]when the old lady (the one before the last) starts to realize what is going on, and doesn't care for her money anymore before she gets killed

, all of that old lady scenes in particular where unsettling and in a way a bit sad knowing what was probably going to happen, and how she was being deceived.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by tisdivine

Whats everyones thoughts on Code Unknown? Thinking about picking it up Tues since I literally have nothing else to wstch right now but the preview on itunes looks like it might not be my thing lol

Just watched it.

It's really, really, really different from most films. It's pretty cool in terms of its message on a lack of conversation, but I can't say I cared much about it to see it again.

[SkyAntoine]

Nice relaxing weekend to take in several flicks. Watched The Double Life of Veronique, Magician (Coen films documentary on Orson Welles), Night and the City, I Saw the Devil, Alambrista, Hidden Fortress, Gold Rush and The Gift. Whew.
I'll get up some thoughts on the Criterions tomorrow. I needed this weekend.

[Persona]

What time does the B&N normally start?

[Gusto-Guus]

Originally Posted by Bucko

What time does the B&N normally start?

I don't know about the website, the store starts as soon as it opens.

Let see what y'all lists are:

My own private Idaho
Macbeth
Umberto D
Aus revior les enfants

Maybe:
YiYi
Kes
L'avventura

What do you guys think of the maybes? Know l'avventura is highly praised but I've never seen it.

[Fabs]

Originally Posted by Gusto-Guus

I don't know about the website, the store starts as soon as it opens.

Let see what y'all lists are:

My own private Idaho
Macbeth
Umberto D
Aus revior les enfants

Maybe:
YiYi
Kes
L'avventura

What do you guys think of the maybes? Know l'avventura is highly praised but I've never seen it.

YiYi is a masterpiece. One of the purest films about life anywhere. Beautiful camerawork as well. It's hard to find a film that uses a city as well as YiYi does.

[ijustblumyself]

Originally Posted by Fabs

YiYi is a masterpiece. One of the purest films about life anywhere. Beautiful camerawork as well. It's hard to find a film that uses a city as well as YiYi does.

Edward Yang's other masterpiece The Terrorizers might come close.

[darkness2918]

Cant wait for Tuesday. Ill be there in the morning. I also did reserve at store today so I know the titles I want are being held for me . For this first trip im grabbing:

The Brood
Dressed to Kill
Mulholland Drive
Solaris

[Sifox211]

I'll be getting these new titles:

Kwaidan
A Special Day
Apu trilogy
Dont look back

Then I might pick up these later on:

Ikiru
Sweet Smell of Success
Battle of Algiers
Ingrid Bergman / Rossellini set
Robinson Crusoe on Mars

Can't decide between the Criterion or the forthcoming MoC of RCoM - the Criterion will probably best it on extras though Eureka! have mentioned there's going to be something special on theirs'. I also prefer their cover by a long margin!

[Priam]

I'll probably pick up:

Mulholland Dr.
Kwaidan
The Brood
Apu Trilogy
In Cold Blood

and check out:

World on a Wire
The Magician
Eraserhead

Really looking forward to Mulholland Dr. (never seen it).

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just finished watching my Criterion Blu-ray of The Honeymoon Killers.

I ordered the DVD on an off chance back when it first was released, and it took me completely by surprise. While it's not a a very graphical explicit movie, I remember feeling rather uncomfortable by the tone and their awkward social interactions. And that one murder with

[Show spoiler]the hammer

is IMO one of the most brutal on film aside from the first murder in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. So low-key that it felt almost too realistic.

Any fan of offbeat exploitation movies should definitely get this!

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by Gusto-Guus

I don't know about the website, the store starts as soon as it opens.

Let see what y'all lists are:

My own private Idaho
Macbeth
Umberto D
Aus revior les enfants

Maybe:
YiYi
Kes
L'avventura

What do you guys think of the maybes? Know l'avventura is highly praised but I've never seen it.

Great list! Umberto D and Au Revoir are incredible films. For your maybes, I'm a big fan of all three and blind bought all three, soon after each was released. I think each of them are true classics and I couldn't be happier. I'd strongly recommend them. That being said, each has an aspect which may be off-putting: Kes with the accents, Yi-Yi with its length, and L'Avventura with its ambiguity. None of these things bothered me in the least though.