The Criterion Collection

[seeldoger47]

Originally Posted by Arch Stanton

Good Will Hunting is fine but it's not THAT good, is it?

Good Will Hunting is vanilla.

[seeldoger47]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

When is July 5th going to get here? Seriously, this month is crawling along.

I'm getting my B&N sale list narrowed down pretty nicely. Here's where I'm at, thus far:

John Cassavetes: Five Films
3 Films By Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman

La Jetée/Sans Soleil - Chris Marker
In The Mood For Love - Wong Kar-wai
Bicycle Thieves - Vittorio De Sica
Wings of Desire - Wim Wenders


I'm looking at one, maybe two others from Insomnia, Day For Night, Late Spring, The Red Shoes, Safety Last, or The Wages of Fear.

I'll own them all, eventually; it's all about the sequencing, which drives me mad. Barnes & Noble doesn't sell the Classic Hitchcock set, so I'll get that at the next Flash sale.

Is there any reason why you are buying Criterion's release of 3 Films By Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman and Bicycle Thieves as opposed the BFI's and Arrow Academy's releases?

[Rich Pure Doom]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

When is July 5th going to get here? Seriously, this month is crawling along.

I'm getting my B&N sale list narrowed down pretty nicely. Here's where I'm at, thus far:

John Cassavetes: Five Films
3 Films By Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman

La Jetée/Sans Soleil - Chris Marker
In The Mood For Love - Wong Kar-wai
Bicycle Thieves - Vittorio De Sica
Wings of Desire - Wim Wenders


I'm looking at one, maybe two others from Insomnia, Day For Night, Late Spring, The Red Shoes, Safety Last, or The Wages of Fear.

I'll own them all, eventually; it's all about the sequencing, which drives me mad. Barnes & Noble doesn't sell the Classic Hitchcock set, so I'll get that at the next Flash sale.

Whatever you do, make sure The Red Shoes is one of your purchases. Also, if you don't have The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp I'd buy that also as it is unbelievably good.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by seeldoger47

Good Will Hunting is vanilla.

It's totally fine, it's just not very interesting. It's like Pulp Fiction or Shawshank Redemption or Star Wars or whatever - sure to be on a favorite movies list of anyone that has barely seen any movies. Basically, nothing that needs discussion in this thread!

[jw007]

I like both The Shawshank Redemption and Good Will Hunting.

Both came out in the 90s and these films meant a lot to me because I was a teenager growing up in that time.

Cinema is subjective to everyone. One person might think French New Wave is the greatest cinema ever created on Planet Earth and one person might think that B-Horror films is the greatest cinema ever created on Planet Earth. One person might think that big blockbuster Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich Hollywood films are the best just like one person might think that Animated Pixar films are the best.

Personally, I think all types of cinema have their merits, including populist, mainstream films.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

When is July 5th going to get here? Seriously, this month is crawling along.

I'm getting my B&N sale list narrowed down pretty nicely. Here's where I'm at, thus far:

John Cassavetes: Five Films
3 Films By Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman

La Jetée/Sans Soleil - Chris Marker
In The Mood For Love - Wong Kar-wai
Bicycle Thieves - Vittorio De Sica
Wings of Desire - Wim Wenders


I'm looking at one, maybe two others from Insomnia, Day For Night, Late Spring, The Red Shoes, Safety Last, or The Wages of Fear.

I'll own them all, eventually; it's all about the sequencing, which drives me mad. Barnes & Noble doesn't sell the Classic Hitchcock set, so I'll get that at the next Flash sale.

Late Spring is the best film in the collection, so...

[cakefactory]

As someone that loved Tokyo Story and would rate it 10/10, I didn't like Late Spring AT ALL. :P I would recommend Red Shoes or Wages of Fear over it for sure.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by jw007

I like both The Shawshank Redemption and Good Will Hunting.

Both came out in the 90s and these films meant a lot to me because I was a teenager growing up in that time.

Cinema is subjective to everyone. One person might think French New Wave is the greatest cinema ever created on Planet Earth and one person might think that B-Horror films is the greatest cinema ever created on Planet Earth. One person might think that big blockbuster Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich Hollywood films are the best just like one person might think that Animated Pixar films are the best.

Personally, I think all types of cinema have their merits, including populist, mainstream films.

Oh man, whatever one thinks of Bay, naming him in the same sentence of Emmerich is just cold!

(No, I know what you were getting at ... But at least Bay is usually good at what he does; Roland OTOH ...)

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

Late Spring is the best film in the collection, so...

Not sure about best, but it is a very special film. That's for sure.

[mja345]

"The 400 Blows" would be one film that I would have a hard time imagining somebody disliking. I just can't imagine watching that story, with that ending, and going, "Well, that sucked". It's a film that would appeal to someone with more mainstream tastes as well as someone with far less mainstream tastes.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by seeldoger47

Good Will Hunting is vanilla.

What's wrong with vanilla?

Seriously. People tend to use "vanilla" as a synonym for "bland". I happen to love the flavor of vanilla. In fact, given a choice between chocolate ice cream and vanilla ice cream, more often than not I go for the vanilla.

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The Shawshank Redemption is one of my all-time favorite films. It was actually my number one film for many years, but it's been dethroned during the past decade. I like the way that Frank Darabont simply lets the story tell itself without cinematic flourishes. I don't think that the movie is overwrought or sappy, and I also believe that the conclusion is well-earned.

Sometimes, the masses are right.

Regarding The Shawshank Redemption: I have worked with someone who was a grip on that production. According to him, Darabont was very "green" to film production at the time. He actually filmed the movie in chronological order, which cost the studio more money, but was sublime for the actors.

[Arch Stanton]

Shawshank is just a really masterfully done movie. It's not particularly complex or even original, but all the elements are completely on point and perfect for what they set out to do - actors born to play those roles, Roger Deakins' evocative cinematography, a powerful script, assured direction to hit all the emotional beats etc. I wouldn't call it one of my all time favourites but it's hard to argue it as anything other than a 5/5 movie.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Oh man, whatever one thinks of Bay, naming him in the same sentence of Emmerich is just cold!

(No, I know what you were getting at ... But at least Bay is usually good at what he does; Roland OTOH ...)

And that's what makes horse races.

I don't find either one a particularly good filmmaker, but I'd rather watch an Emmerich film than a Bay film any day of the week. I find three of Emmerich's films at least watchable (Stargate, Independence Day, and The Day After Tomorrow). Not good, but watchable. ID4 is actually a Guilty Pleasure; it's as dumb as dirt, but I love its earnestness.

That's a lot more than I can say for Bay.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by jayembee

And that's what makes horse races.

I don't find either one a particularly good filmmaker, but I'd rather watch an Emmerich film than a Bay film any day of the week. I find three of Emmerich's films at least watchable (Stargate, Independence Day, and The Day After Tomorrow). Not good, but watchable. ID4 is actually a Guilty Pleasure; it's as dumb as dirt, but I love its earnestness.

That's a lot more than I can say for Bay.

Apparently Criterion thought more highly of Bay than Emmerich to include 2 of his films in the Collection (Armageddon, The Rock).

I do think that The Day After Tomorrow is one of the greatest climate disaster films ever made though. It's incredibly entertaining.

Ever see Emmerich's first film: The Noah's Ark Principle? Looks like an early version of that film. I've been meaning to check this out.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by jayembee

And that's what makes horse races.

I don't find either one a particularly good filmmaker, but I'd rather watch an Emmerich film than a Bay film any day of the week. I find three of Emmerich's films at least watchable (Stargate, Independence Day, and The Day After Tomorrow). Not good, but watchable. ID4 is actually a Guilty Pleasure; it's as dumb as dirt, but I love its earnestness.

That's a lot more than I can say for Bay.

I was just having a bit of fun. Actually, I enjoy both Stargate and ID4 as well.

I think Bay's first Transformers movie and The Island are both pretty good. Then again, The Island has Ewan McGregor, ScarJo, and Djimon Hounsou, so it's starting out with a pretty big lead anyway. And Pain and Gain is just dumb fun. And of course The Rock.

OMG, I just admitted to liking Transformers.

[cakefactory]

Emmerich is an inclusive filmmaker, it was really bold of him to cast Will Smith as the center of a blockbuster at the time, and the film has a lot of themes of inclusion and anti-racism despite also being jingoistic. Like, it's one of the few movies I can think of where the "redneck" character is presented in a totally positive way. Randy Quaid had a hispanic wife, and it's just a fact that isn't highlighted in the movie. It never falls into the stereotype of "poor drunk white people are all racist idiots" which almost all blockbusters do. The new one also has a very matter-of-fact gay relationship at the center. None of his movies are very good, but at least they have coherent editing in the action scenes and their heart is generally in the right place. Except maybe for this Stonewall film.

Michael Bay, on the other hand, is a racist SOB - just look at the "black" characters in the Transformers films, they're like the early incarnations of Amos n Andy. He's more interesting visually, though. But, his editing is incredibly bad, many of his action scenes are a nightmare to follow, especially in Transformers 2 and The Island. I think he COULD be a good filmmaker, but he sure hasn't made anything good, unless you count some of his early stuff like The Rock, or if you're one of those people that think the disgusting tonal mess that is "Pain and Gain" is brilliant.

I know this forum has the kind of demographics where being PC is probably viewed as a bad thing. But, at the time ID4 came out, it was pretty bold in a lot of ways.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Emmerich is an inclusive filmmaker, it was really bold of him to cast Will Smith as the center of a blockbuster at the time, and the film has a lot of themes of inclusion and anti-racism despite also being jingoistic. Like, it's one of the few movies I can think of where the "redneck" character is presented in a totally positive way. Randy Quaid had a hispanic wife, and it's just a fact that isn't highlighted in the movie. It never falls into the stereotype of "poor drunk white people are all racist idiots" which almost all blockbusters do. The new one also has a very matter-of-fact gay relationship at the center. None of his movies are very good, but at least they have coherent editing in the action scenes and their heart is generally in the right place. Except maybe for this Stonewall film.

Michael Bay, on the other hand, is a racist SOB - just look at the "black" characters in the Transformers films, they're like the early incarnations of Amos n Andy. He's more interesting visually, though. But, his editing is incredibly bad, many of his action scenes are a nightmare to follow, especially in Transformers 2 and The Island. I think he COULD be a good filmmaker, but he sure hasn't made anything good, unless you count some of his early stuff like The Rock, or if you're one of those people that think the disgusting tonal mess that is "Pain and Gain" is brilliant.

I know this forum has the kind of demographics where being PC is probably viewed as a bad thing. But, at the time ID4 came out, it was pretty bold in a lot of ways.

Huh? Not that I like Bay at all, but he cast Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in "Bad Boys" a year before "Independence Day" came out and even made a sequel with them.

[jw007]

While we're on the Roland Emmerich bandwagon, I gotta say I saw the new Independence Day: Resurgence film on opening night (Friday) and there were only 15 people in the big theater for the 10:15pm show.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film a lot, despite it being full of unnecessary subplots and silly sequences. It was a solid summer blockbuster film and perfect for those people who suffer from ADHD. Not saying I'm one of those. Lol.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by mja345

Huh? Not that I like Bay at all, but he cast Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in "Bad Boys" a year before "Independence Day" came out and even made a sequel with them.

Bad Boys was a 19 million dollar buddy cop movie, Independence Day was a giant (75 million) effects blockbuster. One had a long history of casting black men in lead roles, the other didn't at all. One was marketed primarily towards black people, the other was not at all. Etc. I think it definitely became a more mainstream success, and I'm sure Bad Boys led to Will Smith being viewed as commercially viable for ID though.

I forgot all about the ID4 acronym until I started seeing it again last week. That is kind of annoying, I guess it just looked cooler on toy packaging. Is the sequel ID2, or ID5?

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by jw007

While we're on the Roland Emmerich bandwagon, I gotta say I saw the new Independence Day: Resurgence film on opening night (Friday) and there were only 15 people in the big theater for the 10:15pm show.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film a lot, despite it being full of unnecessary subplots and silly sequences. It was a solid summer blockbuster film and perfect for those people who suffer from ADHD. Not saying I'm one of those. Lol.

Someone in another thread said that when he went to his multiplex, there were as many people in line for The Shallows as for ID:R and that made me feel good. Not because I have anything against ID:R -- haven't seen it after all -- but because it's heartening that at least some people are going to see The Shallows. It's a worthy film to get at least a decent audience.

Anyways, seems like we've gotten a bit off track here, and I feel responsible.


So ...

Who here is going to contribute to my Kickstarter fund so I can buy Dekalog?