The Criterion Collection

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

That’s really cool that you share this passion with your father. Shortly after Pulp Fiction came out in the mid-90’s, I wanted my Dad to see it with me. (I had already seen it once.) He was making snarky disapproving comments throughout the first half of the film. By the time the gimp showed up, he was downright appalled by it. That’s when I knew with no uncertainty that our appreciation for the arts are on entirely different wavelengths.

I’m glad I’ve got you guys (and gals,) though. You are living, breathing human beings, right?

I had the exact opposite experience as you. My dad has never been much of a John Travolta or a Bruce Willis fan, so he was a real tough sell as far as getting him to the theater (I had seen the film twice already). He loved it, thanked me for "dragging him out to see it", and the only thing he was appalled at was the fact that some idiot brought what looked like his 9-year-old son to see it. He watched his VHS copy so much that he wore the tape out (the only other videotape he did that to was "Predator"). He now has the Blu-ray .

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by BagheeraMcGee

I had the exact opposite experience as you. My dad has never been much of a John Travolta or a Bruce Willis fan, so he was a real tough sell as far as getting him to the theater (I had seen the film twice already). He loved it, thanked me for "dragging him out to see it", and the only thing he was appalled at was the fact that some idiot brought what looked like his 9-year-old son to see it. He watched his VHS copy so much that he wore the tape out (the only other videotape he did that to was "Predator"). He now has the Blu-ray .

About growing up on the north side of Chicago in the 1960’s my father has said, “you were either a greaser or a duper.” My dad was a greaser – leather jackets and pompadours. I’m not sure about dupers, but I think he might mean like khaki pants.. yuppies, maybe. He worked on cars and played drums in a garage band called the Soundwaves (I think that is what they were called. I know they had a song called Hatful of Rain, which is a pretty cool song title.) A greaser wouldn’t be caught dead in a pair of shorts. He obviously had a strict definition of cool and that didn’t include foreign films or anything outside of the mainstream really. Great guy, but I don’t share those things with him. Lucky for those of you who do.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by BagheeraMcGee

I had the exact opposite experience as you. My dad has never been much of a John Travolta or a Bruce Willis fan, so he was a real tough sell as far as getting him to the theater (I had seen the film twice already). He loved it, thanked me for "dragging him out to see it", and the only thing he was appalled at was the fact that some idiot brought what looked like his 9-year-old son to see it. He watched his VHS copy so much that he wore the tape out (the only other videotape he did that to was "Predator"). He now has the Blu-ray .

Haha my dad took me to a bunch of completely age-inappropriate movies when I was a kid. Took me to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" when I was 11 or 12, "Jackie Brown" when I was 11, the Darren Aronofsky movie "Pi" when I was 12. It's pretty funny thinking back on it. I remember when we went to "Fear and Loathing", people were looking at us like, "Why is this guy taking his kid to this?" But "Fear and Loathing" is actually a good movie to show a kid because it's just colors and noises to a child and a kid has very little idea of what's actually going on in it.

[CPinheiro]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Has anyone seen Malick's Knight of Cups yet?
I see in the net there are webrips so i guess it is there in itunes or another digital service?
Also, a German Bluray is coming in a week.
I have seen all of Malick's films up to The Tree of Life, but i don't know, I can't bring myself watching the last two.
And about the last one I don't see very good comments.
Also the theme doesn't interest me, judging from the trailer.

I watched Knight of Cups yesterday. I'm a huge malick fan but I was kinda disappointed with his last two (maybe disappointed is not the proper word since I liked both, but I wasnt "affected" like I was with the other movies). Nevertheless I always love the experience of watching his movies and it wasnt different this time. I hope it gets a BD release in my country but I doubt it.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by CPinheiro

I watched Knight of Cups yesterday. I'm a huge malick fan but I was kinda disappointed with his last two (maybe disappointed is not the proper word since I liked both, but I wasnt "affected" like I was with the other movies). Nevertheless I always love the experience of watching his movies and it wasnt different this time. I hope it gets a BD release in my country but I doubt it.

I hadthe exact same reaction. Ah well.

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by mja345

Haha my dad took me to a bunch of completely age-inappropriate movies when I was a kid. Took me to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" when i was 11 or 12, "Jackie Brown" when I was 11, the Darren Aronofsky movie "Pi" when is was 12. It's pretty funny thinking back on it. I remember when we went to "Fear and Loathing", people were looking at us like, "Why is this guy taking his kid to this?" But "Fear and Loathing" is actually a good movie to show a kid because it's just colors and noises to a child and a kid has very little idea of what's actually going on in it.

LOL, it would be tough to describe "Fear & Loathing" to a kid. I figure that would be the far less evil than explaining what's happening to Marcellus Wallace in Zed's basement.

So I imagine your experience was more like "Oh, wow! Cool bats! Check out that lizard! That's awesome!"?

[mja345]

Originally Posted by CPinheiro

I watched Knight of Cups yesterday. I'm a huge malick fan but I was kinda disappointed with his last two (maybe disappointed is not the proper word since I liked both, but I wasnt "affected" like I was with the other movies). Nevertheless I always love the experience of watching his movies and it wasnt different this time. I hope it gets a BD release in my country but I doubt it.

I really didn't enjoy "To the Wonder". It's a real shame "Knight of Cups" looks to be similar. I think Malick has lost sight of what made "Badlands", "Days of Heaven" and "The Thin Red Line" such masterpieces. I enjoy "The New World" and "The Tree of Life", but they're not as special as his first three. I'll be honest, sitting through "To the Wonder" was a real chore.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by BagheeraMcGee

LOL, it would be tough to describe "Fear & Loathing" to a kid. I figure that would be the far less evil than explaining what's happening to Marcellus Wallace in Zed's basement.

So I imagine your experience was more like "Oh, wow! Cool bats! Check out that lizard! That's awesome!"?

Definitely. I just remember "Fear and Loathing" was like a giant blur when I saw it as a kid. I remember seeing "The Shining" on TV when I was visiting my grandma's house. I think I was about 9. My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were out in the living room chatting and I went back to my grandma's bedroom to watch TV. "The Shining" came on and I just started watching. That is a movie that truly messes you up as a kid.

[filmmusic]

Hmmm.. All your Malick comments don't make it easier for me to bring myself and watch these last 2 films..
I'll see what I'll do.
Hope Voyage of Time is released eventually (been waiting for many years for this), because it's the only Malick I'm really looking forward to watching.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by Ausjdm

I liked Hateful 8 way more than Django. I just can't get over Jamie Foxx. Regardless of QT's "Historical trilogy" imo Inglorious is the strongest of the three.

Tangerine visually is cool no doubt (shot on all iPhones impressive) just felt flat maybe it was the acting, I laughed afew times but the taxi driver sub-plot seemed too cliche? Idk.

Tangerine was on most critics top 10 lists. I read like ten lists. I think the #1s were:

Mad max 4
Carol 2
Spotlight 2
Assassin 1

Assassin seems like a future CC movie going by the trailer...

I'd agree with you regarding Inglorious B's being the best one in terms of a "trilogy" between the 3 films, definitely. My favourite of his films is still a toss up between Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. Also agree on Tangerine, from the opening scene you can tell the acting isn't going to win an Oscar but after reading the premise and how it was made I didn't expect to even want to sit through the whole thing let alone be so impressed with it. Hopefully Sean Baker can get some financing for his next because he's surely proven he can put a film together.

Assassin looks wonderful, that one and The Revenant I hope to see next week.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by mja345

I really didn't enjoy "To the Wonder". It's a real shame "Knight of Cups" looks to be similar. I think Malick has lost sight of what made "Badlands", "Days of Heaven" and "The Thin Red Line" such masterpieces. I enjoy "The New World" and "The Tree of Life", but they're not as special as his first three. I'll be honest, sitting through "To the Wonder" was a real chore.

To The Wonder was awful. I am a huge fan and own all his films, loved Tree of Life, but that one is borderline trash.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

To The Wonder was awful. I am a huge fan and own all his films, loved Tree of Life, but that one is borderline trash.

Maybe that the film was made and released one year after his last one (Tree of Life) had something to do with it?
I mean, in his previous films there were long gaps from film to film, so maybe he didn't have much time to think this very carefully?

By the way, disappointed that there was no "tree of Life" clue in Criterion's new drawing.
Still waiting before deciding to buy the existing Bluray.
Since they have released/will be releasing the others (up to The New World), I would expect they won't leave this out.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

To The Wonder was awful. I am a huge fan and own all his films, loved Tree of Life, but that one is borderline trash.

It really is. It's one of the worst films by a great director I've ever seen. I've heard people say this, and it's true, but it was bordering on self-parody. "To the Wonder" kind of embodied what people who have never seen Malick films seem to ignorantly criticize them for. Ponderous, pretentious, etc. And the funny thing is that his first five films are almost the polar opposite of being pretentious IMO. They're as organic as any films ever made. But I have no idea what he was thinking with "To the Wonder".

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by mja345

It really is. It's one of the worst films by a great director I've ever seen. I've heard people say this, and it's true, but it was bordering on self-parody. "To the Wonder" kind of embodied what people who have never seen Malick films seem to ignorantly criticize them for. Ponderous, pretentious, etc. And the funny thing is that his first five films are almost the polar opposite of being pretentious IMO. They're as organic as any films ever made. But I have no idea what he was thinking with "To the Wonder".

I think that self-awareness began to seep in during The Tree of Life, although I did come to appreciate and enjoy it.

I like Badlands, but found a second watch to be a bit of a letdown, so I sold my Blu-ray. Days of Heaven is fantastic, though. My favorite Malick.

[Scottie]

I've seen ever Malick film and I loved them all.

I'm looking forward to watching Knight of Cups in the next day or so.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by BagheeraMcGee

I had the exact opposite experience as you. My dad has never been much of a John Travolta or a Bruce Willis fan, so he was a real tough sell as far as getting him to the theater (I had seen the film twice already). He loved it, thanked me for "dragging him out to see it", and the only thing he was appalled at was the fact that some idiot brought what looked like his 9-year-old son to see it. He watched his VHS copy so much that he wore the tape out (the only other videotape he did that to was "Predator"). He now has the Blu-ray .

Some parents are clueless. Back in the mid-to-late-70s, I went to a local cattleplex to see a re-release of A Boy and His Dog. There were only a few people in the audience with me, but among them, a couple of rows behind me, was a youngish woman, her pre-teen daughter, and an older woman I assumed was her mother. They obviously didn't notice that the filmed was rated "R", or that the tagline was something on the order of "A kinky tale of survival in the year 2070" (quite frankly, I was more horrified that the box office drone didn't make it clear this movie wasn't for children).

I was going to speak up, and suggest that this wasn't a film they were going to want their little girl to see, but I said to myself, "Screw them, if they didn't pay attention," and thought it might be fun to see how long they lasted. Unfortunately, I got absorbed in the movie, and by the time I remembered to check, they were already gone.

A similar incident happened in the 90s, when Boston's Museum of Fine Arts Film Program was doing a program of a variety of Hong Kong films. I'm sure that this man I saw there with his two children -- I'd guess around 12 or 13 -- thought that he'd be expanding his kids' horizons by exposing them to another culture's films. But did the movie he chose to do that with have to be Naked Killer?

(Actually, that might not be quite fair, as he might well have brought them to some previous films in the program, and they were enthusiastic about them.)

[ShellOilJunior]

I recall when TREE OF LIFE was released my buddy called it "pretentious" trash. I asked him what in particular was pretentious and he couldn't give me any examples. It was merely an emotional response to a film he did not connect with...

I think Malick wants his audience to feel his films. I've read up on what little is available on his life and it's clear his films are very personal. He's dealt with a few tragedies in his life and some of them show up in his work (Tree of Life). With TO THE WONDER he seems to be moving toward a free form, collage approach to cinema. I haven't seen his latest but I'll bet he's moving even more in this direction. Probably more than any director his films are made in the editing room.

[SkyAntoine]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

I’m glad I’ve got you guys (and gals,) though. You are living, breathing human beings, right?

I have lots of e-friends. You people only count for like 1/2 a living, breathing human being.

My wife is so sick of me watching Criterions that I'm afraid my goal of watching 200 titles in 2016 is in serious jeopardy. I hope the latter part of the year is full of John Hughes films or I'm never going to make it.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Some parents are clueless. Back in the mid-to-late-70s, I went to a local cattleplex to see a re-release of A Boy and His Dog. There were only a few people in the audience with me, but among them, a couple of rows behind me, was a youngish woman, her pre-teen daughter, and an older woman I assumed was her mother. They obviously didn't notice that the filmed was rated "R", or that the tagline was something on the order of "A kinky tale of survival in the year 2070" (quite frankly, I was more horrified that the box office drone didn't make it clear this movie wasn't for children).

I was going to speak up, and suggest that this wasn't a film they were going to want their little girl to see, but I said to myself, "Screw them, if they didn't pay attention," and thought it might be fun to see how long they lasted. Unfortunately, I got absorbed in the movie, and by the time I remembered to check, they were already gone.

A similar incident happened in the 90s, when Boston's Museum of Fine Arts Film Program was doing a program of a variety of Hong Kong films. I'm sure that this man I saw there with his two children -- I'd guess around 12 or 13 -- thought that he'd be expanding his kids' horizons by exposing them to another culture's films. But did the movie he chose to do that with have to be Naked Killer?

(Actually, that might not be quite fair, as he might well have brought them to some previous films in the program, and they were enthusiastic about them.)

He was probably just too cheap to get a sitter. It sucks when those screenings conflict with Dad's weekend

I remember when I was about 13 (give or take), I conned my mother into taking me to see a couple of R-rated films. Nothing graphic, just some very brief nudity, but I'm sure she got some strange looks. Me, I was just thrilled to see the movies. Flash forward a few years. I found out that my ex had let my then pre-teen daughter watch A Clockwork Orange. I was pretty pissed, but in the long run, I don't think she was damaged by it. Kids are pretty resilient.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'd love to share some of my foreign films with my parents, but they don't like reading subtitles. They instilled a love of movies in me at an early age, though.

One of the earliest movie-going experiences I can remember was my father taking my brother and me into Boston to see The Mysterians. A foreign film, to be sure, though dubbed rather than subtitled. What's frustrating is that I can remember bits and pieces of the film that played with it. It was a long time after that I started wondering about that film. I had been thinking it was the Stewart Granger version of King Solomon's Mines, but in catching up with that at some point, none of the scenes I remembered were in it. My best guess since then was a late-50s MGM film with George Montgomery called Watusi, a kinda sorta somewhat remake of KSM, but I've never been able to find a copy to see. I keep checking Warner Archive's site now and then to see if they've released it on DVD-R, but no luck so far.

I can't say that my folks and I had much in common regarding the kinds of movies we wanted to see, but my folks didn't shy away from taking us to the local drive-in to see all sorts of strange films that they probably had no interest in seeing themselves, but knew us kids would like them. Such as one of the Steve Reeves Hercules movies.

I remember one of the trips to the drive-in was to see a war movie involving a train. To this day, I can't remember if it was The Train or Von Ryan's Express -- both are from the right time frame -- but my hunch is the latter.

I also remember going with my mother to see The Odd Couple, and while we both enjoyed that, we both howled with laughter at the film that played with it: a James Coburn western titled Waterhole #3. Years later, it popped up on TV, and she and I made an evening of it, having all sorts of snacks ready as we watched this movie. It wasn't long before, quite puzzled, we wondered why on earth we thought it was so funny the first time. Maybe 15 years ago or so, it was released on DVD, and I bought it out of morbid curiosity to see whether our initial opinion was right or not. I never did watch it...I think I was afraid to find out.