The Criterion Collection

[Vinyl]

Originally Posted by CriterionBlues

The Wajda films are all terrific, yet all deep and somewhat difficult. I doubt if we'll see a Blu-grade. Criterion has been reluctant to upgrade many of the DVDs, and I'm thinking they would do something like Bergman, Rohmer, Varda, Rosselini before Wajda or Eisenstein. That's why I've slowly been buying those old DVD sets, but I don't have either of these yet.

Say it ain't so. Say it ain't so!

I realize that they are holding out on the lesser known directors, going for the more known. I still have hope of seeing Ivan the Terrible on blu. Kino decided to put out both Battleship Potempkin and Strike! On blu so here's hoping.

[CriterionBlues]

Originally Posted by Vinyl

Say it ain't so. Say it ain't so!

I realize that they are holding out on the lesser known directors, going for the more known. I still have hope of seeing Ivan the Terrible on blu. Kino decided to put out both Battleship Potempkin and Strike! On blu so here's hoping.

I'm not saying that because anyone at Criterion announced no DVD box upgrades. There just haven't been many. There's the Samurai Trilogy. What else? There are probably some I am forgetting, but the big ones haven't been upgraded. So I am not expecting it.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Last night I watched Three Outlaw Samurai by Hideo Gosha.

[Show spoiler]The opening moments of the film where the first outlaw Samurai, Shiba, walks into the village are almost a parody of the similar scene from Kurosawa's Yojimbo, and even the character's mannerisms and attitude are reminiscent of the gruff but lovable Sanjuro. Shiba comes across a trio of poor farmers who have foolishly abducted the cruel magistrate's daughter to get him to accede to their demands, but have no clue of how to deal with the situation. He takes their side, which brings him into conflict with the magistrate's henchmen, including the second outlaw Samurai Sakura, a skilled ronin who lives comfortably off the magistrate. But almost immediately he gains an ally in the third outlaw Samurai, Kikyo, a portly cheerful man skilled with a lance and sympathetic to the farmers' plight. The bulk of the film is the various cat and mouse games that are played between the poor rebels and the magistrate's army of mercenaries. Strains of Yojimbo/Sanjuro and (to a smaller extent) Seven Samurai can be seen in the screenplay. The characters are generally one-note but entertaining, especially the interaction between them, and the action is exciting. The end-result is a pleasing entertainer I would easily recommend to Samurai movie fans.

Criterion's blu-ray gives a nice presentation of the film - Detail is strong if not superlative, and there are no major damage marks. The mono sound is capably presented. This is a more bare-bones Criterion release (suitably priced) with only a trailer as on-disc extra and a booklet with an essay on the film.

I need to revisit this one. Don't really remember anything about it.

[SkyAntoine]

Originally Posted by CriterionBlues

The Wajda films are all terrific, yet all deep and somewhat difficult. I doubt if we'll see a Blu-grade. Criterion has been reluctant to upgrade many of the DVDs, and I'm thinking they would do something like Bergman, Rohmer, Varda, Rosselini before Wajda or Eisenstein. That's why I've slowly been buying those old DVD sets, but I don't have either of these yet.

I just picked up the Wajda set on eBay over the weekend for under $20. The only sets I need now are Pigs, Pimps and Prostitutes and Three Films by Pedro Costa.

Three Samurais and Cassavetes are really the only two that have gone to blu. With recent box set activity (Rock box, Hitch set, Brief Encounter out of Lean set, Stillman's titles going to a set, André Gregory & Wallace Shawn, pulling out Five Easy Pieces from BBS) I can see combining titles and breaking apart vs. upgrading older sets to blu.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

There has been nothing but praise in this forum for the Apu Trilogy, and all of my friends in my local film group have suggested I remove the cellophane and get crackin'.

I'd like to watch one tonight, but I was curious how everyone who has seen them in here experienced them. Did you watch them back-to-back, or take some time in between for reflection on each one?

1 a week, I think, is a really good plan. I'm going to try to see Apu Sansar before the end of this week.. that'll space the 2nd and 3rd films by one week.

I watched Kieslowski's Decalogue one film a night and although they are really good, occasionally great, I was Decalogued-out by the 9th film and haven't seen the last one yet. but that's just me.

[SkyAntoine]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

There has been nothing but praise in this forum for the Apu Trilogy, and all of my friends in my local film group have suggested I remove the cellophane and get crackin'.

I'd like to watch one tonight, but I was curious how everyone who has seen them in here experienced them. Did you watch them back-to-back, or take some time in between for reflection on each one?

I did one big binge watch on Black Friday. It was one of my favorite days in my entire life...at least in the top 10%.

[theater dreamer]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Yeah those will set you back a tidy sum.

Just be glad you're not me.

I scored Army of Shadows for practically nothing and now I find myself sunk deep into the dark, subterranean world of OOP addiction.

...phone calls from complete strangers in the middle of the night.

...cold sweats.

...delirium tremens.

...Lynchian nightmares.

...threatening letters from American Express.

Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I can't remember who I am.

Sometimes I'm convinced that I'm being followed.

I have a mortgage and the stakes have never been this high before.

I'm not gonna lie to you...I'm scared.

Oh, you're not alone, RJ. I've awakened to cold sweats a few times, speaking French, and longing for a copy of Last Year at Marienbad.

(In heavy French accent) "Sacre bleu! What is dis? Ze French OOP films? C'est vrai, Renais es magnifique. But, can you not just watch le Godard or zee Truffaut to get your fix? Stupid American!"

Oddly enough, then the Grim Reaper from Monty Python's Meaning of Life shows up.

"Shut up! Shut up, you American. You always talk, you Americans, you talk and you talk and say 'Let me tell you something' and 'I just wanna say this.' Well, you're dead now, so shut up."

I start to wonder if something I ate the night before might be disagreeing with me. Oh, no....mon dieux!!!



Not the salmon mousse!!!!!

And, I had to order the Studio Canal import of The Third Man just so I wouldn't dump $200 on the Criterion edition. But I know as soon as I get Odd Man Out in, there's going to be a perfect little spot on my shelf for its Sir Carol Reed companion, and I'm going to start seeking it.

There should be a Criterion OOP support group. Maybe we could start one?

"Hello, my name is Bill, and I'm a Criterion OOP addict."

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

1 a week, I think, is a really good plan. I'm going to try to see Apu Sansar before the end of this week.. that'll space the 2nd and 3rd films by one week.

I watched Kieslowski's Decalogue one film a night and although they are really good, occasionally great, I was Decalogued-out by the 9th film and haven't seen the last one yet. but that's just me.

I initially wanted to watch all of the Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman flicks back-to-back until I was done, but that didn't last long. I ended up watching the first six films a few months back, and then I watched the next three last week.

I'll probably stick to watching the Zatoichi films on weeknights when I'm short on time, because they have no special features for me to go through after the individual films and because they're fairly short films anyway. On the weekends, though, I have to take a break and watch other stuff.

I've got a feeling that last couple of Zatoichi films in that box set are going to be sort of like the last couple of miles of one of my marathons, in that they'll be fun, but I'll also just want to get them the hell over with.

[Vinyl]

Originally Posted by CriterionBlues

I'm not saying that because anyone at Criterion announced no DVD box upgrades. There just haven't been many. There's the Samurai Trilogy. What else? There are probably some I am forgetting, but the big ones haven't been upgraded. So I am not expecting it.

You know what? You are right. There have been new box sets, but the sets already in the collection except the samurai trilogy are still DVD only. Would love the outlaw samurai box or the Eisenstein box upgraded. Heck, even taking certain titles from boxes and upgrading would be awesome.

I was more commenting on the big name guys getting upgrades (like Kurosawa and Bergman getting a lot of their catalogs upgraded to blu, and Hitch getting a blu box) while others are left waiting for one or two upgrades.

I guess that's how the business works. The big names keep it going and they add the smaller titles when they can.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by Vinyl

You know what? You are right. There have been new box sets, but the sets already in the collection except the samurai trilogy are still DVD only. Would love the outlaw samurai box or the Eisenstein box upgraded. Heck, even taking certain titles from boxes and upgrading would be awesome.

I was more commenting on the big name guys getting upgrades (like Kurosawa and Bergman getting a lot of their catalogs upgraded to blu) while others are left waiting for one or two upgrades.

I think War Trilogy should be a lock for them this year, considering the restorations are there and BFI released an amazing set last year. I'd also imagine CC is going to bring out their other Dreyer films, although they seemingly already ruled out a box set by releasing Master of the House separately (which was quite a while ago and IMO was eclipsed by the BFI release)

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

Oh, you're not alone, RJ. I've awakened to cold sweats a few times, speaking French, and longing for a copy of Last Year at Marienbad.

"

I lucked out when that slew of titles went OOP--I was working at a Barnes and Noble, and I threw Marienbad and Mafioso on hold for two months until the Criterion sale and managed to get them half off. It was dastardly on my part, but I took working there to my advantage.

[Scottie]

My copy of Gilda arrived today. I think it's kind of weird that Criterion went with a hot pink spine as its so out of place with the B&W cover.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Last night I watched Three Outlaw Samurai by Hideo Gosha.

The opening moments of the film where the first outlaw Samurai, Shiba, walks into the village are almost a parody of the similar scene from Kurosawa's Yojimbo, and even the character's mannerisms and attitude are reminiscent of the gruff but lovable Sanjuro. Shiba comes across a trio of poor farmers who have foolishly abducted the cruel magistrate's daughter to get him to accede to their demands, but have no clue of how to deal with the situation. He takes their side, which brings him into conflict with the magistrate's henchmen, including the second outlaw Samurai Sakura, a skilled ronin who lives comfortably off the magistrate. But almost immediately he gains an ally in the third outlaw Samurai, Kikyo, a portly cheerful man skilled with a lance and sympathetic to the farmers' plight. The bulk of the film is the various cat and mouse games that are played between the poor rebels and the magistrate's army of mercenaries. Strains of Yojimbo/Sanjuro and (to a smaller extent) Seven Samurai can be seen in the screenplay. The characters are generally one-note but entertaining, especially the interaction between them, and the action is exciting. The end-result is a pleasing entertainer I would easily recommend to Samurai movie fans.

Criterion's blu-ray gives a nice presentation of the film - Detail is strong if not superlative, and there are no major damage marks. The mono sound is capably presented. This is a more bare-bones Criterion release (suitably priced) with only a trailer as on-disc extra and a booklet with an essay on the film.

I watched Sword of Doom again last night.

As a pure Samurai flick, that movie really kicks ass.

I was in such a bloodthirsty mood afterwards that I decided to dust off my dvd copy of Shogun Assassin, which I hadn't watched in probably five years.

I don't care what anyone says, that movie is awesome.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by jshaide

I lucked out when that slew of titles went OOP--I was working at a Barnes and Noble, and I threw Marienbad and Mafioso on hold for two months until the Criterion sale and managed to get them half off. It was dastardly on my part, but I took working there to my advantage.

You're pathetic.

Now if you'll excuse me, the plasma donation center opens at 11am.

...papa needs that copy of Pierrot Le Fou.

[ThatOneGuy]

I got really lucky on Amazon and got Throne of Blood for only $18 with some special I had no clue about, five minutes after I checked out, the price when back up to its original $28.

I also decided to dish out the $30 and buy Inside Llewyn Davis since I've been waiting for the normal Blu-Ray's price to go down but it never did. I'm glad it never did since I had no clue Criterion was releasing their own version or it would of been stuck in purchase limbo with The Graduate.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I've been going through my collection and reorganizing it in terms of my favorite films and I realized that there are very few films that I'd consider favorites. I like most of the films released and I think a lot of them are great, but the "wow" factor is missing on a lot of them for me.

so, will you be selling more titles?



how many in your blu collection now? just curious.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

You're pathetic.

Now if you'll excuse me, the plasma donation center opens at 11am.

...papa needs that copy of Pierrot Le Fou.

I have the DVD and Bluray XD

... and not even watched them yet!

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

so, will you be selling more titles?



how many in your blu collection now? just curious.

70?

I have about 40-50 that I'll be listing for sale in the future.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Vinyl

You know what? You are right. There have been new box sets, but the sets already in the collection except the samurai trilogy are still DVD only.

Well, technically, the Yojimbo/Sanjuro box counts, as well. They were released individually as well as together, but then, Inagaki's trilogy was originally released on DVD (and LD before that) as individual films before being collected in a set.

One might also consider Fanny and Alexander to be an upgraded set. As well as The Complete Monterey Pop Festival.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

I have the DVD and Bluray XD

... and not even watched them yet!

You freaking *****.