The Criterion Collection

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Correct me if I'm wrong but at this point the only remaining Criterion upgrade of Altman is Secret Honor.

Yes, it is. Well, other than Tanner '88, which is an unlikely candidate for an upgrade, as it was shot on SD video.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by mja345

"Salo and "Sweet Movie" are rumored to be the two that could go OOP soon. So, you may want to pick those up pronto.

Salo's words will disappear.

It's cover art will disappear.

It's name will disappear.

...all memory of its scatological horror will disappear.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Yes, it is. Well, other than Tanner '88, which is an unlikely candidate for an upgrade, as it was shot on SD video.

I totally neglected Tanner 88. I suppose that's a shoe in Hulu queue title for all of us that haven't seen it and don't plan on jumping on board FilmStruck right away.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Salo's words will disappear.

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom is the most disturbing film that I have ever seen.

That's saying a lot, too, since I recently watched Cannibal Holocaust for the first time.

[bwdowiak]

saw two very good Criterion films the last few days

Shoot The Piano Player - I don't think anyone will agree with me here, but I think it is a disservice to this film to call it a noir. That kind of genre pigeon-holing kept me away from this one for a while even though Truffaut is one of my favorites.

Humorous, sweetly romantic at times, and quite an accurate display of the male psyche. It is as much a noir as Band of Outsiders is. Nonsense. Just a very good film.

Close-up - engaging from start to finish and quite an original set up for a film. I think the film works best when it is a true documentary and the very wise and articulate man on trial is speaking his heart. His words are the star here. Kiarostami had a pretty neat idea about putting all of this together and it made for a very good film.. short of great, though, for me.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by mja345

I'd argue that the decline in Quentin Tarantino's work has been related to him being far too self-conscious of the fact that he is deconstructing genres. "Pulp Fiction" was a deconstruction of crime films, but felt organic. "The Hateful Eight", which I thought was a pile of shit, felt way, way too self-conscious in its deconstruction of the Western. Genre deconstructions become very annoying when they seem self-conscious.

I thought Hateful Eight was his best film since Jackie Brown, but I definitely agree that he has become too self conscious. His films are like fanboy films now, I'm not even sure if they qualify as serious'deconstructions' of any kind at all.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

I thought Hateful Eight was his best film since Jackie Brown, but I definitely agree that he has become too self conscious. His films are like fanboy films now, I'm not even sure if they qualify as serious'deconstructions' of any kind at all.

I'm not a big fan of Tarantino's newer stuff in general. The performances in "The Hateful Eight" nearly saved it for me, but I just think Tarantino can't get out of his own way as a writer at this point. I thought the script was just cringe-inducing. While I wasn't a giant fan of either "Django" or "Inglorious Basterds", where he basically ripped the Hans Landa character straight from a film called "The Passage" with Malcolm McDowell, "The Hateful Eight" was the first film where I thought his writing was really starting to show huge cracks.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The Hateful Eight and Death Proof are actually my favorite Tarantino films since Pulp Fiction, but I get what you're saying. I warmed up to The Hateful Eight a lot, because I like its similarities to John Carpenter's The Thing.

I had initially decided to hold out for a Blu-ray of the 70mm Roadshow version of The Hateful Eight, which is the one that I saw at the theater, but I recently changed my mind, and pulled the trigger on the existing Blu-ray, since I figure that this will be the best possible way to ensure a near-future release of the 70mm version.

The structure of the film was cool, in terms of the characters being trapped in the cabin. I just think Tarantino's writing style is really starting to annoy me.

[Nuck Horris]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance is not quite outstanding, and I found myself looking at my watch quite a few times, but it does benefit from some truly amazing camerawork. An early scene, where Lady Snowblood is hacking up police offices as she walks down a slight incline during a single camera take, is a thing of beauty. The final fight scene is wild and really quite terrific.

It's interesting and perhaps the only look at Japanese anarchism in film. There are hardly any historical films which cover anarchism so for that I thought it was pretty unique. The writers obviously had some heavy political influences which they needed to project out to the world. Lady Snowblood sort of took a back seat to the message and the politics. They could've used an entirely new character and called it something else but I'm guessing they used her just to reach a wider audience...

http://raforum.info/spip.php?article77

[jw007]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

I think that many of us can agree that the Criterion Collection of 2016 could be called The Year of Altman. In the past, several other auteurs have been given similar attention. One director that has not has been Luis Buñuel. Buñuel is arguably one of the greatest directors of all time, yet he only has one film (Belle de jour) in the CC blu-ray format. I am hoping that more of his films are given the CC treatment in the months to follow!

Is there an unofficial list where we can see what years were the most prominent for certain directors in Criterion's catalog?

2016 was the year of Altman
2015 was the year of ---
2014 was the year of ---
2013 was the year of ---
2012 was the year of ---
2011 was the year of ---

And so forth...

If someone can do the research and hard work figuring this out, I'd love to see.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by jw007

Is there an unofficial list where we can see what years were the most prominent for certain directors in Criterion's catalog?

2016 was the year of Altman
2015 was the year of ---
2014 was the year of ---
2013 was the year of ---
2012 was the year of ---
2011 was the year of ---

And so forth...

If someone can do the research and hard work figuring this out, I'd love to see.

You'll have to look individually.

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movie...leasetimestamp

[ShellOilJunior]

Wenders has the most films in 2016.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by jw007

Is there an unofficial list where we can see what years were the most prominent for certain directors in Criterion's catalog?

2016 was the year of Altman
2015 was the year of Morris
2014 was the year of Antonioni/Tati/Demy
2013 was the year of Ray/Cassavettes
2012 was the year of Bergman/Dardennes/Soderbergh/Stillman/Pasolini/Reggio
2011 was the year of ---

And so forth...

If someone can do the research and hard work figuring this out, I'd love to see.

That's all I had the patience for. As far as I could tell, barring box sets, all other years had two separate releases by one director max.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jw007

Is there an unofficial list where we can see what years were the most prominent for certain directors in Criterion's catalog?

2016 was the year of Altman
2015 was the year of ---
2014 was the year of ---
2013 was the year of ---
2012 was the year of ---
2011 was the year of ---

And so forth...

If someone can do the research and hard work figuring this out, I'd love to see.

2013 was the year of Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman, methinks. Director? I'm not sure.

[Abdrewes]

If Blow Up gets a release this year it'll be the year of Antonioni in my heart (which would make it two years in a row).

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Wenders has the most films in 2016.

I guess you're right; I was thinking individual releases. I suppose with collection sets divided up, Stan Brakhage would have to be the winner of 2010.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Yes, it is. Well, other than Tanner '88, which is an unlikely candidate for an upgrade, as it was shot on SD video.

Hoop Dreams was essentially shot on SD video and they upgraded that, so...

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Hoop Dreams was essentially shot on SD video and they upgraded that, so...

Equinox is an unlikely candidate for a Blu-ray upgrade, but I keep clamoring for it, because it's an awesome drive-in movie, and because it's one of the ones on Stephen Thrower's Nightmare USA checklist.

[ShellOilJunior]

Films on blu-ray leader board:

Ingmar Bergman - 10
Akira Kurosawa - 10
Wes Anderson - 7
Charles Chaplin - 7
Michelangelo Antonioni - 6
Jean-Luc Godard - 6
Louis Malle - 6
Robert Altman - 5
Alfred Hitchcock - 5
Roman Polanski - 5
Steven Soderbergh - 5
François Truffaut - 5
Wim Wenders - 5

I think Kurosawa and Bergman have a double count for box set offerings but even if you take 1 away they're still the clubhouse leaders.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Films on blu-ray leader board:

Ingmar Bergman - 10
Akira Kurosawa - 10
Wes Anderson - 7
Charles Chaplin - 7
Michelangelo Antonioni - 6
Jean-Luc Godard - 6
Louis Malle - 6
Robert Altman - 5
Alfred Hitchcock - 5
Roman Polanski - 5
Steven Soderbergh - 5
François Truffaut - 5
Wim Wenders - 5

I think Kurosawa and Bergman have a double count for box set offerings but even if you take 1 away they're still the clubhouse leaders.

I'm by no means a Wes Anderson hater, but the guy sticks out like a sore thumb on that list.