The Criterion Collection

[Nuck Horris]

Originally Posted by Trace17

So I plan on watching The Killing of a Chinese Bookie this weekend and in searching for which version I found a couple replies from 1.5 years ago. I haven't decided which one yet, but I'm leaning towards the longer version. Any other opinions on which might be best viewed first?

The longer version. Haven't seen the short one. I was blown away when I saw it... hope to get the BD eventually. The audio on the Criterion DVD is pretty bad.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by Nuck Horris

The longer version. Haven't seen the short one. I was blown away when I saw it... hope to get the BD eventually. The audio on the Criterion DVD is pretty bad.

I'm confused at this advice. If you've only seen one of the two versions, how do you know the other one isn't better to be watched first?

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by oildude

You know, I was struggling to see how this post was Criterion related, then it dawned on me.....

You and your new friend made it a Criterion evening of

[Show spoiler]Ride the Pink Horse and The 400 Blows.

[Show spoiler]OK, that was really bad. I apologize for my pervy mind. But I feel better knowing that you, of all people, can understand.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by mja345

Another four titles to summarize that college experience for Ray...

Don't Look Now

Head

Mister Johnson

And Everything is Going Fine

You sicken me.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

unrelated, Shell, but I'm curious...

did you move all of those titles already because I'd maybe take the 2 Fuller titles off your hands and perhaps get you a bit more cash than you can make through some other outlet

All gone.

[llj]

Originally Posted by Trace17

So I plan on watching The Killing of a Chinese Bookie this weekend and in searching for which version I found a couple replies from 1.5 years ago. I haven't decided which one yet, but I'm leaning towards the longer version. Any other opinions on which might be best viewed first?

It's definitely a YMMV situation here. There is no wide consensus as to which is "better" between the two.

If you have the time to kill, watch the longer one first. If not, watch the shorter one. Both have their strengths and flaws. It's not just a matter of some added scenes here and there in the longer cut. It's also edited differently, which alters the structure of the narrative. So the longer cut isn't necessarily more "clear" than the shorter one because of this.

I personally prefer the shorter cut.

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

You do realise that from a restoration you see in a screening to a Bluray transfer which involves encoding (which sometimes may be incompetent) a lot of things can change, don't you?

I'm pretty sure I said master, not blu-ray. I was talking about the restoration itself, not the Criterion release that no one has seen.

[Scottie]

I watched The Naked Island this afternoon.

It's hard to watch this film and not place yourselves in the shoes of this family. The work they perform on a daily basis is incredibly difficult and I get the feeling that most people would not do it. I was most taken back by just how simple this film truly is. The lack of major dialogue and the emphasis on natural sounds, for example, makes the film much more reflexive. In fact, this film really made me think about just how technologically dependent we have become in the 21st century. I'm very much at fault for this, and to some degree, one can find it depressing.

Two of the biggest standouts of this film are the musical score, which appears quite regularly throughout the film, as well as the unbelievably beautiful cinematography. I don't think I've seen Japan like this on film before.

Releases like these are why I will continue supporting Criterion until the day that I die.

[Nuck Horris]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

I'm confused at this advice. If you've only seen one of the two versions, how do you know the other one isn't better to be watched first?

He can watch both at the same time for all I care. He can melt the blu-ray to his face and jump out the window of a moving vehicle if he feels like it. But I'm almost always going to recommend the original version of a movie over one edited due to commercial failure... Besides, I already watched the original first and I can't go back in time to watch the shorter version before that... not yet at least.

[Ray Jackson]

I'm at work right now and I'm bored, so I'm going to share something with you homme fatales and cocaine-crazed ne'er-do-wells.

I've put together a tentative list of potential buys for the B&N sale in July. I've done quite a bit of reconnaissance work at my local store and on the website and I think I've created a list that I can be proud of...something I can tell my grandchildren about...assuming they don't hate me...assuming that I can actually get a woman pregnant some day.

I have $160 in gift cards to work with and I'm willing to throw in another $40 out of my man purse/European carry-all. That gives me a budget of approximately $200 to work with, give or take $5 or so.

I would like to get a boxset of some kind--maybe a trilogy set or something like Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Here are the single titles I have on the last as of now:

-Kiss Me Deadly
-Sweet Smell of Success
-Day For Night
-Pickpocket
-The Big City
-Letter Never Sent
-Amarcord
-The American Friend
-The Emigrants/New Land

I would like to get The New World, but that looks like it's going to miss the sale by a couple of days.

At $17 a piece (50% off+non-member coupon) those nine titles come to $153, which leaves me with $47 to use for the Wenders Trilogy or Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Tis a good list I think.

...a fine list.

Any blind buy suggestions?

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

I'm pretty sure I said master, not blu-ray. I was talking about the restoration itself, not the Criterion release that no one has seen.

Oh, I'm sorry.
You said "This release is going to be the definitive master for years to come" and I thought you meant the Criterion release and the Criterion master.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I'm at work right now and I'm bored, so I'm going to share something with you homme fatales and cocaine-crazed ne'er-do-wells.

I've put together a tentative list of potential buys for the B&N sale in July. I've done quite a bit of reconnaissance work at my local store and on the website and I think I've created a list that I can be proud of...something I can tell my grandchildren about...assuming they don't hate me...assuming that I can actually get a woman pregnant some day.

I have $160 in gift cards to work with and I'm willing to throw in another $40 out of my man purse/European carry-all. That gives me a budget of approximately $200 to work with, give or take $5 or so.

I would like to get a boxset of some kind--maybe a trilogy set or something like Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Here are the single titles I have on the last as of now:

-Kiss Me Deadly
-Sweet Smell of Success
-Day For Night
-Pickpocket
-The Big City
-Letter Never Sent
-Amarcord
-The American Friend
-The Emigrants/New Land

I would like to get The New World, but that looks like it's going to miss the sale by a couple of days.

At $17 a piece (50% off+non-member coupon) those nine titles come to $153, which leaves me with $47 to use for the Wenders Trilogy or Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Tis a good list I think.

...a fine list.

Any blind buy suggestions?

The 4 films I made bold are in my collection and are indispensable. Have you seen any Bresson, though? I love him and I love Pickpocket, but he's not for everybody.

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Oh, I'm sorry.
You said "This release is going to be the definitive master for years to come" and I thought you meant the Criterion release and the Criterion master.

Oh lol sorry I should have phrased that better. I meant the Janus 4K master will be the definitive one used for releases for years to come.

[812crew]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

The 4 films I made bold are in my collection and are indispensable. Have you seen any Bresson, though? I love him and I love Pickpocket, but he's not for everybody.

Yeah, Pickpocket is one of only 3 Criterions out of 50 that I traded in after I bought it (along with Medium Cool and Beauty and the Beast). It's a movie where if you don't jive with the style, it can be fairly inaccessible (and I'm a fan of sometimes-inaccessible styles, movies like La Notte or Satyricon). I thought the extras helped illustrate what makes Pickpocket so unique, but it was a movie that I couldn't imagine watching again. Then again, that's the great thing about Criterion. It covers this wide range of styles that appeal to different people.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I'm at work right now and I'm bored, so I'm going to share something with you homme fatales and cocaine-crazed ne'er-do-wells.

I've put together a tentative list of potential buys for the B&N sale in July. I've done quite a bit of reconnaissance work at my local store and on the website and I think I've created a list that I can be proud of...something I can tell my grandchildren about...assuming they don't hate me...assuming that I can actually get a woman pregnant some day.

[Show spoiler]I have $160 in gift cards to work with and I'm willing to throw in another $40 out of my man purse/European carry-all. That gives me a budget of approximately $200 to work with, give or take $5 or so.

I would like to get a boxset of some kind--maybe a trilogy set or something like Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Here are the single titles I have on the last as of now:

-Kiss Me Deadly
-Sweet Smell of Success
-Day For Night
-Pickpocket
-The Big City
-Letter Never Sent
-Amarcord
-The American Friend
-The Emigrants/New Land

I would like to get The New World, but that looks like it's going to miss the sale by a couple of days.

At $17 a piece (50% off+non-member coupon) those nine titles come to $153, which leaves me with $47 to use for the Wenders Trilogy or Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Tis a good list I think.

...a fine list.

Any blind buy suggestions?

So do you have 9 15% off non member coupons? I believe those apply to only one item, good for boxsets.

Also remember tax and The Emigrants/New Land is $50 SRP

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

The 4 films I made bold are in my collection and are indispensable. Have you seen any Bresson, though? I love him and I love Pickpocket, but he's not for everybody.

The only ones on my list that aren't blind buys are Pickpocket, The Big City and Sweet Smell of Success...all of which I love very much.

Of the three Bresson films I've seen, Pickpocket is easily my favorite.

...an absolute underappreciated masterpiece.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

So do you have 9 15% off non member coupons? I believe those apply to only one item, good for boxsets.

Also remember tax and The Emigrants/New Land is $50 SRP

I'm usually able to get as many of the one-time use 15 percenters as I need on the Barnes and Noble sales thread that gets started during every 50% off sale.

...I'm counting on that to happen again this time.

Though I'm crossing The Emigrants off the list.

Didn't know it was $50 SRP.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I'm at work right now and I'm bored, so I'm going to share something with you homme fatales and cocaine-crazed ne'er-do-wells.

[Show spoiler]I've put together a tentative list of potential buys for the B&N sale in July. I've done quite a bit of reconnaissance work at my local store and on the website and I think I've created a list that I can be proud of...something I can tell my grandchildren about...assuming they don't hate me...assuming that I can actually get a woman pregnant some day.

I have $160 in gift cards to work with and I'm willing to throw in another $40 out of my man purse/European carry-all. That gives me a budget of approximately $200 to work with, give or take $5 or so.

I would like to get a boxset of some kind--maybe a trilogy set or something like Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Here are the single titles I have on the last as of now:

-Kiss Me Deadly
-Sweet Smell of Success
-Day For Night
-Pickpocket
-The Big City
-Letter Never Sent
-Amarcord
-The American Friend
-The Emigrants/New Land

I would like to get The New World, but that looks like it's going to miss the sale by a couple of days.

At $17 a piece (50% off+non-member coupon) those nine titles come to $153, which leaves me with $47 to use for the Wenders Trilogy or Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Tis a good list I think.

...a fine list.

Any blind buy suggestions?

Here are some I thought were really great that don't get much talk about here:

A Special Day
Code Unknown
I Knew Her Well

[tisdivine]

I think the sand in Woman In the Dunes was robbed of an Oscar. I can't believe there was not more of an outrage.

It was the most captivating performance I've ever seen.

[zakzak]

On Bluray.com page, I saw Andrei Rublev, Passion of Joan Arc, Mishima, Pandora's Box, Nanook of the North, Before Trilogy, Red-White-Blue, Blood Simple (!!), Lone Wolf & Cub series listed as coming from Criterion