The Criterion Collection

[the sordid sentinel]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I sometimes entertain the thought of selling all of my Blu-rays except for the James Bond 007 films and my top 10 film noir movies.

...but I always follow that up by thinking about how it would be an unbelievable pain in the tail to try selling the bulk of my collection at this point.

At some point in time, there was a thread in the main forum asking people what price they would put on their entire Blu-ray collection. I believe that I wrote that I would sell my collection for $40,000, as long as the buyer picks up everything here so that I don't have to lift a finger. That offer still holds.

Until then, I'm pretty sure that I'll someday be in the mood to rewatch each and every film in my collection, even the ones that are my least favorites. There's no telling what will intrigue me again in due time.

Wise move. Getting rid of a title or titles only to miss them on a cold rainy day really sucks.

[Ray Jackson]

I just sold Sweet Smell of Success about 30 seconds ago.

One of the most toughest decisions of my life.

...I already regret it.

[Show spoiler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4

[SuperFlyHighGuy]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I just sold a few myself to fellow members.

But that's only because I'm broke and the November Barnes and Noble sale is coming up.

The last week or so has been very traumatic for me.

...some really difficult choices had to be made.

[Show spoiler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-kvYYPYWFg

You sold Kwaidan? I just watched it Sunday night, haven't seen it since the DVD came out. What an epic film, absolutely one of the greatest film productions I've seen. And the Criterion blu-ray is just gorgeous. Still won't get as much replay as House, but it definitely moved near the top of my fav CC list.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by SuperFlyHighGuy

You sold Kwaidan? I just watched it Sunday night, haven't seen it since the DVD came out. What an epic film, absolutely one of the greatest film productions I've seen. And the Criterion blu-ray is just gorgeous. Still won't get as much replay as House, but it definitely moved near the top of my fav CC list.

Are you trying to make me feel worse than I already do?

...cause that would be nearly impossible.

[Show spoiler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijZRCIrTgQc

[theater dreamer]

Sweet Smell of Success and Kwaidan? The hell, Ray?

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

Sweet Smell of Success and Kwaidan? The hell, Ray?

Get off my back man!

iscottie is selling it too!

Along with the Apu Trilogy, the WW Road Trilogy and all his Terrence Malicks.

...the man is sick.

[theater dreamer]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3PUu88nOcw

This is madness! Madness, I tell you!!!

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?
Dr. Raymond Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr. Raymond Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
Mayor: All right, all right! I get the point!

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Get off my back man!

iscottie is selling it too!

Along with the Apu Trilogy, the WW Road Trilogy and all his Terrence Malicks.

...the man is sick.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

Get off my back man!

iscottie is selling it too!

Along with the Apu Trilogy, the WW Road Trilogy and all his Terrence Malicks.

...the man is sick.

By the amount of blu's he sells every so often, it seems he buys too many films to begin with, or maybe he is reducing his collection until he can count it with both hands

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by Gambit1138

Hey, everyone. According to a representative at Criterion, the company does not provide subtitles for the English Language portions of Foreign films if English does not make up 30-40% of the Dialogue. This prevents members of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community from fully enjoying these films. In response, I wrote this open letter encouraging the inclusion of fully-accessible captioning on their upcoming streaming website, FilmStruck. I encourage you to take some time out of today to read this, and share this if you agree that film should be accessible to Cinephiles everywhere. Thank you for your time.

http://imgur.com/a/xvAoL

I wish there was something more we could do, it is absurd to blame not adding a few words of captions in the company native language (so it's not like you need a specialist or anything) to the costs involved.

[ThisKid]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

Sweet Smell of Success and Kwaidan? The hell, Ray?

Ray, are you OK?

Who hurt you?

To sell those two Criterions, someone must've done something to you.

Who did it?

Fill the hole with Short Cuts.

When in doubt,

Altman will make it better.

[nitin]

I will start worrying if Ray parts with the Apu trilogy....

[Fabs]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

Agreed with Hou. Anything, really - but if they start out with Mambo, I will be ecstatic and probably flood this place with gifs, Polaroid style.

Hou would be an amazing add to Criterion. I would hope they'd release one of his films from the 1980s. His 1990s-2000s stuff is alright, but nothing will compare to his 1980's masterworks IMO.

[bwdowiak]

I mean, even in the extremely unlikely event that Malick's next film, Weightless, is horrible I'd still pick it up. I have all of his films on Blu, and I don't plan on that ending anytime soon.

Wait... This is extremely unlikely?

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Wait... This is extremely unlikely?

[bwdowiak]

Only two titles in my entire collection have ever seen my disc player twice. That is, I’ve only watched the main feature of my physical Blu-ray copy for two films. Neither here nor there, but those were Breathless and Heaven’s Gate. I don’t suspect that this is that out of the ordinary.

EDIT: and Army of Shadows, too, so 3.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by Fabs

Hou would be an amazing add to Criterion. I would hope they'd release one of his films from the 1980s. His 1990s-2000s stuff is alright, but nothing will compare to his 1980's masterworks IMO.

I find his entire body of work to be fascinating, actually. As I said to Scott, it helps if you start from the beginning. His later work wouldn't resonate with me as much had I not been familiar with him as a filmmaker or the Taiwanese movement. A friend of mine started with Flowers of Shanghai, which probably wasn't the best idea, ha.

I'm probably in the minority, though. Millennium Mambo is my personal favorite of his, though I will readily admit that City of Sadness and Puppetmaster are undisputed masterworks. His absence is the biggest question mark in the collection, I'd say.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by SammyJankis

I find his entire body of work to be fascinating, actually. As I said to Scott, it helps if you start from the beginning. His later work wouldn't resonate with me as much had I not been familiar with him as a filmmaker or the Taiwanese movement. A friend of mine started with Flowers of Shanghai, which probably wasn't the best idea, ha.

I'm probably in the minority, though. Millennium Mambo is my personal favorite of his, though I will readily admit that City of Sadness and Puppetmaster are undisputed masterworks. His absence is the biggest question mark in the collection, I'd say.

what format or how are you seeing or have seen his films?

I'm interested, but there sure isn't much out there.

[SkyAntoine]

I experienced Eraserhead for the first time last night. Or, maybe that was a dream. I'm not actually sure what in the heck I saw. Not sure if I hate it...respect it...or what.

I need to dig into the supplements of this stacked release to get a better appreciation for it. I consider every other project of Lynch's I've seen to be masterful. Maybe this one just isn't my cup of tea.

Any similar reactions to this film?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Only two titles in my entire collection have ever seen my disc player twice. That is, I’ve only watched the main feature of my physical Blu-ray copy for two films. Neither here nor there, but those were Breathless and Heaven’s Gate. I don’t suspect that this is that out of the ordinary.

I've watched Out of the Past about 20 times since I purchased the Blu-ray. No lie.

I've gone through all of my James Bond 007 Blu-rays at least twice. I've also revisited the first few Friday the 13th films multiple times (just to keep things classy, with all of the lowbrow cinema discussion that goes on around here).

As far as Criterion fare goes, I've watched In a Lonely Place three times since I bought it only a few months ago. I've revisited The Night of the Hunter, Paris, Texas, Le Cercle Rouge, Army of Shadows, The Vanishing, Insomnia, Gilda, Kiss Me Deadly, The Killing, The Killers, Letter Never Sent, Seven Samurai, and several others as well.

I might or might not have watched The Pom Pom Girls and The Beach Girls more than once.

[SammyJankis]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

what format or how are you seeing or have seen his films?

I'm interested, but there sure isn't much out there.

Most of his 80s work I've had to resort to unfortunate methods to view them. I was fortunate to be in New York last year to attend the MoMA Mark Lee Ping Bin retrospective and was able to see Dust in the Wind, Puppetmaster, and Flowers of Shanghai in 35mm, the latter two I had never seen. (I purposely waited to see Shanghai on the big screen, as I knew how sumptuous its visuals were.) A professor of mine has some shoddy DVDs that contained some of his 90s/00s work. The quality ranged from merely acceptable to objectively terrible.

Of course, I saw The Assassin in theaters twice.