The Criterion Collection

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

Yeah, like cringey and meh but you stick around to see whodunit.

Ha ha! Fair enough. I was thoroughly engaged throughout the film, truth be told. I just thought that it crashed and burned in a pretty major way during that final act.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by joie

A way to cope with technicolor is to turn down the color control. 25% to 50% reduction works for me.

and be sure to put on the English language overdub which I know you are a proponent of... you might as well be watching the local high school's production of the same material in that case.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

That's quite a few sentences more than most Hitchcock movies

Interesting, I don't see where Hitch comes into play here, but I could see Gone Girl being something he might have taken on. Although was he ever really interested in anything other than entertaining his audience? None of his films would I classify as think pieces or heavy social commentary, and having seen his film I am not at all certain that that was Fincher's intent either.

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

lol, I was never sure if the rule of thirds actually applied to cinema. Seems like lots of movies don't bother (I found Life of Pi especially distracting that way, the ocean and sky seemed to cut off half of the picture most of the time. I started to wonder if that movie did it on purpose for some thematic reason, or if filmmakers just didn't care).

Scene in the screenshot looks great in my eyes.

If you haven't seen it, check out Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. He uses a lot of the still photography/painting composition rules, because many of the scenes are designed to look like paintings.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

If you haven't seen it, check out Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. He uses a lot of the still photography/painting composition rules, because many of the scenes are designed to look like paintings.

Didn't Kubrick have new lenses developed just to achieve this?

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Didn't Kubrick have new lenses developed just to achieve this?

If I remember correctly, to use only natural lighting such as the scene lit entirely by candlelight, he took lenses from NASA. It's indeed a film where every frame can be hung on a wall. One of the best, if not the best, shot films ever made

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Didn't Kubrick have new lenses developed just to achieve this?

Yes, with gigantic apertures, which also affected the depth of field. That's why some scenes in the film have a "soft" look to them. You can actually rent the lenses he used:

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/981...tart-saving-up

[joie]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Or, you could watch a movie you like.

I like "Wizard of Oz" and others. I don't like overly saturated colors.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

I wont really be jumping into 4k anytime soon, right now I would need to upgrade all my equipment (receiver, player and projector)

Same here. I'm at an age where I need to be thinking of spending less and downsizing the amount of stuff I have. Not that I wouldn't pine for 4K, but unless I win the $700M Powerball jackpot this weekend, I don't see myself going that route.

Having said that, if Criterion starts doing 4k blu-rays, that would be a big point for me to take into consideration.

I do admit, though, that Criterion going Blu was a big incentive for me to upgrade from DVD to BD.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

If you haven't seen it, check out Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. He uses a lot of the still photography/painting composition rules, because many of the scenes are designed to look like paintings.

If you can get past the nude Nicole Kidman some of the shots in that famous vanity scene in Eyes Wide Shut is essentially film versions of Dutch masters. I took some art course or another in high school or early college and for some reason I was extremely impressed with the detail in one particular painting that had a large mirror in the background and this large mirror was encircled by several smaller mirrors in the frame and the reflection of the room was perfectly rendered in each of these tiny mirrors.

Take that and do it with a film set and you've got that shot from Eyes Wide Shut.

Still not sure whether I like the movie or not but damn, that was impressive.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

If you haven't seen it, check out Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. He uses a lot of the still photography/painting composition rules, because many of the scenes are designed to look like paintings.

Yep, I saw Barry Lyndon some years ago and found it exquisite in its own way, especially in regards to composition. Just about all of Kubrick's movies have that painter-like quality to them, and that's part of what makes them great.

[colbyw]

Eyes Wide Shut is one of those movies that I thoroughly enjoy, but if you ask me why - I can't give an intelligent answer

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Generally speaking, it just doesn't look very good to my eyes...it's that simple.

I can't imagine a film like Seven Samurai being shot in technicolor.

I can't tell you why orange is my least favorite color.

...it just is.

I can't imagine Seven Samurai being shot in technicolor, as well. So what? I can't imagine The Wizard of Oz being shot in black & white, either. Well, that's not quite true, as I watched it on TV during its annual telecast for years on end on a B&W TV (and, not to mention, the Kansas scenes). But after I saw a reel of the film in vibrant Technicolor in the early 70s at the home of a collector, there's just no way I could ever face watching it (completely) in B&W ever again. Or films like Powell & Pressburger's The Red Shoes or Black Narcissus? Eek.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

did you see the Kwaidan trailer in b&w? I thought that was really interesting as that particular film would lose so much if not in color.

shot in TohoScope, I noticed in the opening credits...

I don't know if that was the Japanese equivalent to Technicolor or Cinemascope. ? not sure.

It was the equivalent of Cinemascope. The color process was Eastmancolor.

[joie]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

and be sure to put on the English language overdub which I know you are a proponent of... you might as well be watching the local high school's production of the same material in that case.

There is nothing wrong with Truffaut's English on the "Day for Night" dub. He sounds like he did in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by colbyw

Eyes Wide Shut is one of those movies that I thoroughly enjoy, but if you ask me why - I can't give an intelligent answer

oh, I could. I could fill up this entire page w/ why its a great movie.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

The Samurai trilogy is an example of films shot in technicolor that would have looked better in black and white.

Except they weren't shot in Technicolor.

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

Interesting, I don't see where Hitch comes into play here, but I could see Gone Girl being something he might have taken on. Although was he ever really interested in anything other than entertaining his audience? None of his films would I classify as think pieces or heavy social commentary, and having seen his film I am not at all certain that that was Fincher's intent either.

One of the common themes Hitchcock used is that a person gets involved with something he did not deserve/do...Gone Girl is something like that...but Fincher managed to give some social commentary...and I was entertained from start to finish...and many of the plot holes were actually intended...to exaggerate...to draw parallel with media...

I am ashamed to say...I have seen a lot of Hitchcock movies and always wanted to like them, But I am almost always disappointed with the ending...Dial M for murder is a good mystery movie (with an ending that made sense) and Notorious lived up to my expectation...but rest...I mean I don't hate his movies but I am always underwhelmed by most his other movies...The Big reveals always looked so silly to me... (Please do not suspend me for writing this)

BTW, Fincher & Hitchcock has something in common in criterion aspect, both of their best movies are not in collection...

Sorry...end of rant

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Nuck Horris

Does anyone think The Last Wave will ever get the BD treatment or should I just buy the DVD? I've been holding out but I really want to see it...

Take one for the team and buy the DVD, so that Criterion will move it to the top of the upgrade queue.

But seriously, The Last Wave is a terrific, eerie, moody film. It's possibly my favorite Peter Weir film (still duking it out with Gallipoli and The Mosquito Coast), and definitely one of my favorite supernatural/fantasy films.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

I am ashamed to say...I have seen a lot of Hitchcock movies and always wanted to like them, But I am almost always disappointed with the ending...Dial M for murder is a good mystery movie (with an ending that made sense) and Notorious lived up to my expectation...but rest...I mean I don't hate his movies but I am always underwhelmed by most his other movies...The Big reveals always looked so silly to me... (Please do not suspend me for writing this)

It took me a long time to make my peace with the fact that Hitchcock was far more interested in spectacle than in telling the kinds of stories I liked to see.

Once I came to terms with that I got a lot more out of of many of his films.