The Criterion Collection

[xxnomad]

Originally Posted by Arawn

Nothing in Batman Begins looks as clunky to me as, for example, the rooftop scene in TDKR, that's all I'm saying.

oh man come on remember the end when he's fighting ninjas and stuff? i haven't seen the film in a few years (it's still my favorite of the trilogy though), but even in highschool the first time i saw it i was getting dizzy during the end.

i recall it's after he saves the girl and kid and is on a ledge looking at some of the bad henchmen and he tackles one of them, they tumble off a ledge into another building and he's fighting a bunch of dudes. just a lot of handheld close ups of a black suit batman vs black suit bad guys at night.

compared to the rocky esque fight between batman and bane (their first fight) it looks horrible. of course everyone is welcome to their opinions.

i gotta re watch the trilogy soon.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I would've preferred a Criterion release of Barton Fink or Miller's Crossing myself.

Those both feel like quintessential Coen brothers movies imo.

I like Blood Simple, but it doesn't really feel like one of those films that could only have been directed by the Coen rothers.

Really? I think it's one of their very best, and certainly quintessential. It started their well-known crime thriller set-up where a simple ****-up leads to a giant snowball of mayhem and death, explicitly predating the likes of Fargo and The Man Who Wasn't There.

[Arch Stanton]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Really? I think it's one of their very best, and certainly quintessential. It started their well-known crime thriller set-up where a simple ****-up leads to a giant snowball of mayhem and death, explicitly predating the likes of Fargo and The Man Who Wasn't There.

And of course No Country.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by Arch Stanton

Really? Blood Simple is the distinctive Coen bros template that they've basically remade time and time again since. The opportunistic characters and their converging plotlines, interweaving of black comedy, violence and its ability to manifest in the everyday man, the overall sweeping nihilism.

Production design, black comedy and catchy dialogue aren't nearly as distinctive in Blood Simple as they are in Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing imo.

Nor are the characters as unforgettable.

...maybe with the exception M. Emmet Walsh.

...he's pretty memorable.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

Really? I think it's one of their very best, and certainly quintessential. It started their well-known crime thriller set-up where a simple ****-up leads to a giant snowball of mayhem and death, explicitly predating the likes of Fargo and The Man Who Wasn't There.

Fine!

...agree to disagree!!!!

[theater dreamer]

Absolutely. Save me from importing it.

Originally Posted by The_Iceflash

I hope Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy gets a Blu-ray release soon!

[Rich Pure Doom]

Originally Posted by xxnomad

oh man come on remember the end when he's fighting ninjas and stuff? i haven't seen the film in a few years (it's still my favorite of the trilogy though), but even in highschool the first time i saw it i was getting dizzy during the end.

i recall it's after he saves the girl and kid and is on a ledge looking at some of the bad henchmen and he tackles one of them, they tumble off a ledge into another building and he's fighting a bunch of dudes. just a lot of handheld close ups of a black suit batman vs black suit bad guys at night.

compared to the rocky esque fight between batman and bane (their first fight) it looks horrible. of course everyone is welcome to their opinions.

i gotta re watch the trilogy soon.

From someone who's recently re-watched all three, Batman Begins is the best and least clunky of all three. The Dark Knight and TDKR are heavily flawed and have severe logic and pacing issues.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by Rich Pure Doom

From someone who's recently re-watched all three, Batman Begins is the best and least clunky of all three. The Dark Knight and TDKR are heavily flawed and have severe logic and pacing issues.

Couldn't possibly disagree more.

TDK is as close to a perfect film as superhero movies get imo.

[Rich Pure Doom]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

[/B]

Couldn't possibly disagree more.

TDK is as close to a perfect film as superhero movies get imo.

Sorry, but the last third of this film not only doesn't belong with the material that preceded it, it's simply bad filmmaking.

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by xxnomad

oh man come on remember the end when he's fighting ninjas and stuff?

What did you think I meant when I referred to "camera trickery"?

[Giant Machine]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

TDK is as close to a perfect film as superhero movies get imo.

Yes. This. All day.

[AwkwardBoner]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I would've preferred a Criterion release of Barton Fink or Miller's Crossing myself.

Those both feel like quintessential Coen brothers movies imo.

I like Blood Simple, but it doesn't really feel like one of those films that could only have been directed by the Coen rothers.

...still happy for the rest of y'all good people.

Hey man I agree with ya. I prefer both of those films over Blood Simple. Though Blood Simple is a phenomenal theatrical debut from the Coen bros and just a great movie in it's own right. I have no problems seeing it make the Collection first.

[oildude]

Because these things have a way of spiraling out of control, I will ask that ya'll self moderate and do not bring the superhero fanboy wars into the Criterion thread. If a few of you want to start arguing Batman movies, please take it into one of the many Batman threads.

Thanks for your cooperation and understanding.

[ZeTi]

I really do hope we'll see some more Hideo Gosha in the (near) future. Criminally underrepresented in the collection.

Goyokin, Hitokiri and of course The Wolves also the Samurai Wolf movies.

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by ZeTi

I really do hope we'll see some more Hideo Gosha in the (near) future. Criminally underrepresented in the collection.

Goyokin, Hitokiri and of course The Wolves also the Samurai Wolf movies.

Dear god, the things I would do for this to happen

[Arch Stanton]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Production design, black comedy and catchy dialogue aren't nearly as distinctive in Blood Simple as they are in Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing imo.

Nor are the characters as unforgettable.

...maybe with the exception M. Emmet Walsh.

...he's pretty memorable.

Catchy dialogue, fair enough. But I wouldn't put production design up as one of the Coen bros main distinctive feats if I'm honest, as cool and Kafkaesque as it is in Barton Fink.

[MeMynonsense]

Watched LVT's Europa last night!

It begins with a hypnotic Max Von Sydow voice-over during which he eerily draws us into its surrealistic depths.
It tells the story of a naive, passive american who gets employed as a sleeper-car conductor in Kafkaesque, post-WWII Germany, and unsuspectingly becomes a pawn in the sordid schemes of industrial-sabotage, espionage and war-terrorism between the Allies, a group of Nazi sympathisers known as “werewolves” and the shady Zentropa Corporation - his employers.

Uber-stylistically lensed and incessantly nightmarish, Europa is a visual marvel. Extremely self-aware of its noirish- war-weary- Lynchian undertones and golden-hollywood influences LVT has loads of fun with rear projections, bizarre-transitions, super-imposed shots, gimmicky snow-falls and seamless switching of dialogues between german and english or of the mood between colour & luminous B+W.

The pessimistic off-kiltered tone was reminiscent of Alphaville and the appearance of Eddie Constantine as the unscrupulous Colonel Harris only confirmed my suspicions (but it however proved to be infinitely more satisfying than the Godard film).

Despite suffering from some murky noir-plotting and an overlong claustrophobic finale, Europa is a virtuoso demonstration of Von Trier’s technical wizardry, and has enough visual dynamism to separate it from conventional war-time thrillers.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by oildude

Because these things have a way of spiraling out of control, I will ask that ya'll self moderate and do not bring the superhero fanboy wars into the Criterion thread. If a few of you want to start arguing Batman movies, please take it into one of the many Batman threads.

Thanks for your cooperation and understanding.

Besides, everyone knows that the most perfect superhero film ever is The Incredibles.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Production design, black comedy and catchy dialogue aren't nearly as distinctive in Blood Simple as they are in Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing imo.

Nor are the characters as unforgettable.

...maybe with the exception M. Emmet Walsh.

...he's pretty memorable.

Dan Hedaya and Frances McDormand are also pretty memorable in "Blood Simple". John Getz was very unmemorable in that film because dude is a pretty generic actor. Though, that generic quality worked for the role. It's kind of similar to how Craig Wasson's performance works in "Body Double" despite the fact that he's not a very memorable actor. Film noirs/crime films can use the protagonist's blandness to their advantage at times.

"Miller's Crossing" is one of my favorite Coen bros. films, but is pretty light on the comedy outside of Jon Polito and Gabriel Byrne's black humor. Although, one of the best lines in any Coen bros. film is when Byrne shows up at the lightly-attended funeral (I won't say which character in case anyone hasn't seen the film) and quips, "Big turnout" very dryly. I always loved that line.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by mja345

Dan Hedaya and Frances McDormand are also pretty memorable in "Blood Simple". John Getz was very unmemorable in that film because dude is a pretty generic actor. Though, that generic quality worked for the role. It's kind of similar to how Craig Wasson's performance works in "Body Double" despite the fact that he's not a very memorable actor. Film noirs/crime films can use the protagonist's blandness to their advantage at times.

"Miller's Crossing" is one of my favorite Coen bros. films, but is pretty light on the comedy outside of Jon Polito and Gabriel Byrne's black humor. Although, one of the best lines in any Coen bros. film is when Byrne shows up at the lightly-attended funeral (I won't say which character in case anyone hasn't seen the film) and quips, "Big turnout" very dryly. I always loved that line.

Whenever I watch Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Hudsucker Proxy, Raising Arizona or The Big Lebowski, I get the feeling that I'm watching a movie that could only have been directed by the Coen brothers. It's like listening to the opening notes of a Jimi Hendrix song you've never heard before.

...you know immediately who it is.

I don't get that same feeling with Blood Simple.