The Criterion Collection

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

That’s great. Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Wim Wenders, Francois Truffaut, and Jim Jarmusch (who I know you are a big fan of) all admire JLG greatly and have paid homage to him in their careers one way or another.

Alfred Hitchcock might be the only other director from whom I’d choose his top 5 films over Godard’s. …and I still haven’t seen Contempt yet. Breathless, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, Pierrot Le Fou, and Vivre sa Vie can scarcely be beat.

I gave a thanks to that post mostly because I agreed with him on the film A Man for Himself, I detest Weekend and Goodbye to Language too but love his earlier more playful stuff.

[Bluyoda]

I got a bit crazy and ordered these Criterions from amazon.com:

My own.jpg

The great.jpg

The Freshman.jpg

The life aquatic.jpg

Picnic.jpg

Limelight

High and Low

In the Mood for Love

Monsieur Verdoux

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

But your post was about cinematography. The lush setpieces and visuals of Hugo were a lot more interesting to me than the boring Americana neighborhood in Tree of Life, though the latter had some interesting and beautiful scenes. If your argument is that it's harder to compose beautiful shots, scenes, etc. when you're limited to a pedestrian house and neighborhood, and that is what makes Tree of Life more deserving, I'll grant you that. I still disagree, but I understand the argument. Not only were Hugo's environments more creative, so were the way they were shot.

I'm sure this will open up a debate on exactly what constitutes cinematography, and quite frankly, I doubt even the Academy members are entirely sure or would all agree on its meaning.

I think anything involving sets should be included in the Production design category, which was formerly named Art Direction.

As much as I liked Hugo visuals and use of 3D, for photography alone I would have gone with Tree of Life too, too bad the newer Malick films seem to have adopted the same style of shooting which kind of undervalues the work done in Tree of Life since it isn't as unique anymore, just look at those trailers, looks like Tree of life on different settings

[colbyw]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

I gave a thanks to that post mostly because I agreed with him on the film A Man for Himself, I detest Weekend and Goodbye to Language too but love his earlier more playful stuff.

I'm liking your post because I am currently watching the film that your profile pic is from (and at the same scene). Only own two Godard's - Breathless and Band of Outsiders. Haven't watched either yet so can't join in on the current topic of discussion

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by colbyw

I'm liking your post because I am currently watching the film that your profile pic is from (and at the same scene). Only own two Godard's - Breathless and Band of Outsiders. Haven't watched either yet so can't join in on the current topic of discussion

Haha, first of all, get out of here and go finish that movie, and stop pausing it to see if someone made a new post here

Second, those two Godard movies you mention are among the safe ones I think, had to see Breathless twice before liking it, and it was my first of his, so I suggest you to start with Band of Outsiders.

[colbyw]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Haha, first of all, get out of here and go finish that movie, and stop pausing it to see if someone made a new post here

Second, those two Godard movies you mention are among the safe ones I think, had to see Breathless twice before liking it, and it was my first of his, so I suggest you to start with Band of Outsiders.

I've seen Mulholland Drive many times, but this is the first time with my Criterion copy

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

I got a bit crazy and ordered these Criterions from amazon.com:

Attachment 131359

Attachment 131360

Attachment 131361

Attachment 131362

Attachment 131363

Limelight

High and Low

In the Mood for Love

Monsieur Verdoux

Nice selection!!

[colbyw]

Nice choices. I own them all. Only have watched High and Low so far - which was Excellent!

*Actually, beyond Excellent.

[kingdoxie]

Just watched Anatomy of a Murder and thought it was excellent. I used the 5.1 sound mix and it worked very well; the Duke Ellington score was fantastic.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

RIP to the great Haskell Wexler. One of the all time great DPs (and not a bad director, either.)

Bizarre bit of synchronicity. I hadn't planned it, but last month, I ordered some BDs from FoxConnect when they had a flash sale. Two of the titles I got were Wexler-shot (excellently) films: The Thomas Crown Affair and In the Heat of the Night.

[AlucardtheIII]

What's the status of Merry Christmas, Mr Lawerence?
I only saw 1 copy at Barnes and Noble & It's sold out at Amazon.com

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by AlucardtheIII

What's the status of Merry Christmas, Mr Lawerence?

Still in print.

I only saw 1 copy at Barnes and Noble & It's sold out at Amazon.com

It's still available from Criterion.

[Ray Jackson]

Just got back from The Force Awakens and was pretty disappointed by it for reasons that I'll spare y'all from having to read about.

Thankfully I returned home to find my ordered copy of The Music Room waiting for me at my front door. So I'll be watching that tonight in a desperate attempt to wash this Force Awakens letdown out of my mouth.

I'm just disappointed it's not a digibook case.

...the pictures I saw led me to believe it was a digibook.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

That’s great. Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Wim Wenders, Francois Truffaut, and Jim Jarmusch (who I know you are a big fan of) all admire JLG greatly and have paid homage to him in their careers one way or another.

Alfred Hitchcock might be the only other director from whom I’d choose his top 5 films over Godard’s. …and I still haven’t seen Contempt yet. Breathless, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, Pierrot Le Fou, and Vivre sa Vie can scarcely be beat.

That is of course your opinion, and you're entitled to that.

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Well, i wouldn't go so far as to say I detest them, but surely they are not for me.
And seriously, sometimes I'm thinking that it's like we're admiring the Emperor's new clothes with his films. (i had read somewhat like this in a comment somewhere).
It's like he deliberately makes these weird films with the weird editing, spotting of music etc. just for the sake of it (for the critics to admire the "high art") and not to serve any real purpose or have any real essence.

Sometimes I think of a Godard film as the equivalent of John Cage's 4' 33'':
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%E2%80%B233%E2%80%B3

A "musical" piece which is considered "high art" but I see it as a "fraud".

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Well, I'm a classical musician, and this needs often interpretation, doesn't it?

But i don't think it's a matter of interpretation with Godard films, at least to me.
I love eg. The Double Life of Veronique which isn't a conventional narrative film..
Or The Tree of Life.
So, i think your point is not correct.

filmmusic: I understand what you mean.

I was classically trained on piano at the age of 6 and played recitals just until I was 12 years old. After that I picked up the electric guitar as a teenager and playing music has been in my life for as long as I can remember.

My B.A. is in Film Studies, and out of the 14 classes I took in University, I was exposed to quite a bit of Jean-Luc Godard, the king of "intellectual film". What bothers me the most, like you said, is the odd choice in editing and structure. Watching a bad Godard film is a waste of my life, watching a good Godard film is ponderous at best, and watching a great Godard film is tolerable but I still cannot relate to it in the end.

There are some filmmakers out there that we just don't resonate with and Godard is a filmmaker I don't resonate with. Simple as that. Kubrick and Malick on the other hand I resonate greatly with.

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

I found out early enough that Pierrot le fou was going OOP, so I watched it on Netflix first...or at least tried to. Found it absolutely unbearable and never ordered the Blu. I know I could've bought and sold at a profit, but it wasn't worth it to me and I am not really a reseller anyway.

I actually preferred Pierrot le Fou over Weekend, despite once having written my senior thesis in Advanced Film Seminar on Weekend.

If I could find this essay somewhere, does anyone want to read it?

(bwdowiak, yes, I'm talking to you)



And I still would like to know, has anyone else watched Every Man for Himself? Because that is one hell of a stinker!

[classicman]

Originally Posted by jw007

And I still would like to know, has anyone else watched Every Man for Himself? Because that is one hell of a stinker!

That's one of my favorites of his

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by colbyw

Nice choices. I own them all. Only have watched High and Low so far - which was Excellent!

*Actually, beyond Excellent.

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Nice selection!!

Thank you, guys. I want to own all Akira Kurosawa and Charlie Chaplin movies.

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Just got back from The Force Awakens and was pretty disappointed by it for reasons that I'll spare y'all from having to read about.

Thankfully I returned home to find my ordered copy of The Music Room waiting for me at my front door. So I'll be watching that tonight in a desperate attempt to wash this Force Awakens letdown out of my mouth.

I'm just disappointed it's not a digibook case.

...the pictures I saw led me to believe it was a digibook.

I felt the same way.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Thank you, guys. I want to own all Akira Kurosawa and Charlie Chaplin movies.




I felt the same way.

Force awakens felt too spoon fed and a tad rushed which was what ruined it for me really

Get the AK 100 set ! Damn if they re released it on blu that would be amazing lol

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Thankfully I returned home to find my ordered copy of The Music Room waiting for me at my front door.

Good choice.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by jw007

There are some filmmakers out there that we just don't resonate with and Godard is a filmmaker I don't resonate with. Simple as that. Kubrick and Malick on the other hand I resonate greatly with.

The most important thing is to give film makers a chance and try to understand where they are coming from before moving on. Unfortunately 'understanding where they are coming from' is synonymous with approval in a lot of people's minds so you end up with this dogmatic attitude that you have deal with that's common among cinephiles, particularly those who are seriously into 'art films'. i.e 'you don't like it because you don't understand it' etc.

The other issue with Godard is his politics. Despite what film buffs often tell you, to be a Godard fan means that you have to agree with or be largely sympathetic to his politics. There are not many serious Godard fans that are on the right end of the political spectrum, but you don't have to be a 'left winger' to appreciate the likes of Breathless or Contempt.

Having said all that, any serious film buff should watch at least a few Godard films because his impact on the medium was revolutionary. That doesn't mean you have to like him though.

[shadedpain4]

I can't believe that there has been all this Godard talk without any input from our resident expert Adamhopelies. He must be busy with the holidays!