The Criterion Collection

[ElliesDad]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

No, the 2015 1Disc and 4 disc Studio Canal remasters are Region Free regardless of what Amazon wants to list it. That accounts for the Bluray and CD, that does not apply to the DVDs.

It depends if you want to trust the forum members with the disc who are right 98% of the time or AmazonUk listing which is around 50% accurate if it says it's locked and 95% if it claims region free

The original 2010 Optimum and 2014 Studio Canal appear to be locked.

Ok, thank you! I'll take that to the bank, in fact I just put my order in! Amazon incidentally continues to ask three hundred bucks for a third-party seller Criterion and I do have my limits. The Studio Canal will go a long way towards filling perhaps the largest hole in my little collection.

[ThisKid]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Looks like we may be getting a David Lynch documentary from Criterion!

http://criterioncast.com/news/janus-...ils-poster-art

No.

Not good enough.

We have yet to see a Criterion of either Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, or Wild at Heart.

Nothing else until those come out.

Also throw in a blu-ray of the Beastie Boys Video Anthology.

Or a collection of all the Gorillaz videos.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by jw007

...Akira Kurosawa's other films now, esp. High and Low. I have so many of his Criterion films still sealed because I haven't been able to get in the right mood to watch them. Why can I never get into a Kurosawa mood?!

What's a Kurosawa mood? Most of his films are simple to understand, extremely well-executed and entertaining. I can understand people saying they need to be in a certain mood to watch a Godard or Tarkovsky film but not Kurosawa, unless the idea of film as an entertainment is unfamiliar to you

Was starting to get into La Collectionneuse on Hulu, when it suddenly hit me that I don't know why bother, after seeing Claire's Knee and the start of this these are clearly my kind of movies so I think I better wait for an upgrade or buy the whole Rohmer set in case Criterion doesn't hurry (the Hulu transfers already look very pristine).

[easydreamer]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

No, the 2015 1Disc and 4 disc Studio Canal remasters are Region Free regardless of what Amazon wants to list it. That accounts for the Bluray and CD, that does not apply to the DVDs.

It depends if you want to trust the forum members with the disc who are right 98% of the time or AmazonUk listing which is around 50% accurate if it says it's locked and 95% if it claims region free

The original 2010 Optimum and 2014 Studio Canal appear to be locked.

Yes, they are region free, but two of the documentaries are in PAL, meaning that a Region A player may not be able to play those unless it converts PAL to NTSC.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

1) Great films were ALWAYS far and few between

Yes and even fewer of them are made now and especially in the last 15 years.

2) Lots of challenging films are made today. They simply aren't the films that people talk about and that get advertising.

Name 5 challenging films that have come out of America in the last 2-3 years. Even if you can name 5, how many of them are really good? If your respond with The Neon Demon and Inherent Vice then we aren't ever going to see eye to eye on this issue.

Better in "the old days." I'm sure there was a great number of people in the 70s who believed that cinema had gone to hell, and if only we could have the days of the 40s-50s back, everything would be great. As a sports fan, I am acutely aware of this sort of thing.

This is a popular retort, but it is misguided. Genres/mediums peak and fall or go through periods of relative stasis. That is the nature of things. There is no constant flow of quality. That is a myth. What matters is the best of the best. When people look back at the best of the past, they aren't 'cherry picking'. When the dust clears, it's really only the best films that matter, so the argument is really about the best of now, or the last ten years, vs the best of [insert decade or year here].

People like you act like it isn't possible for a medium to be experiencing a decline. Who in their right mind would argue that literature, for example, is as in good of a state as it has ever been? Film is a younger medium, but it is perfectly possible for it to have hit a wall.

[Arch Stanton]

Except mentioning Inherent Vice would be totally valid, unlike Neon Demon.

[billy pilgrim]

Wrong

[billy pilgrim]

IMHO both apply. If you want a recent challenging film, I also submit The Lobster.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

That 4 disc Third Man is oop, so find it now if you want it. Those oop Third Men get pricey.

The 4-disc is a complete waste of money unless you care that much about a CD.

Otherwise the 1-disc is the smart buy.

Just finally watched mine the other night btw and it looks/sounds phenomenal (though as much as I've always liked the zither score I wonder how the film would have been had it been used more judiciously.)

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

Yes and even fewer of them are made now and especially in the last 15 years.

I still don't agree. I think it is true, however, that we see with fewer with wide distribution.

Name 5 challenging films that have come out of America in the last 2-3 years. Even if you can name 5, how many of them are really good? If your respond with The Neon Demon and Inherent Vice then we aren't ever going to see eye to eye on this issue.

Well, American films haven't really been my favorites anyways. But I think that films from Midnight Special to Knight of Cups to Nightcrawler to, yes, The Neon Demon to The Tree of Life to Zero Dark Thirty to Her to numerous other, smaller films have all been very good films.

Add in the stunning number of foreign films that are easily accessible, and I cannot understand how someone can think that we've "hit a wall." I mean, the 2010s have turned out an incredible number of excellent films from all around the globe.

This is a popular retort, but it is misguided. Genres/mediums peak and fall or go through periods of relative stasis. That is the nature of things. There is no constant flow of quality. That is a myth. What matters is the best of the best. When people look back at the best of the past, they aren't 'cherry picking'. When the dust clears, it's really only the best films that matter, so the argument is really about the best of now, or the last ten years, vs the best of [insert decade or year here].

People like you act like it isn't possible for a medium to be experiencing a decline. Who in their right mind would argue that literature, for example, is as in good of a state as it has ever been? Film is a younger medium, but it is perfectly possible for it to have hit a wall.

It's possible, yes. But I don't think that it has come even close. Quite the opposite, in fact.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by billy pilgrim

IMHO both apply. If you want a recent challenging film, I also submit The Lobster.

The Lobster is the least challenging film that Lanthimos has made so far, but i get your point.

[MeMynonsense]

Originally Posted by mja345

1975 is the year I always reference when people argue that film didn't used to be that much better. "Nashville", "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Barry Lyndon", "Dog Day Afternoon", "Jaws" were the five best picture noms. Any of those five films would be the best American film released since 2010 if made today. Other films from '75: "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", "The Passenger", "Night Moves", "The Man Who Would Be King", "Salo", "Dersu Uzala", "Three Days of the Condor", "Love and Death", "Shampoo", "The Mirror", "Jeanne Dielman", "Seven Beauties", "Picnic at Hanging Rock", "Rollerball", "The Day of the Locust", "Inserts", etc. And '72, '73, '74 and '76 are pretty close.

1957 was another stunning year for films, especially if one avoids looking through the prism of the Oscars (though many of them were recognised)

To name a few:

12 Angry Men
A Face in the Crowd
Mother India
Paths of Glory
Pyaasa
Sweet Smell of Success
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Cranes Are Flying
The Nights of Cabiria
The Seventh Seal
Throne of Blood
Tokyo Twilight
Wild Strawberries
Witness for the Prosecution

Not to mention, solid genre fares like : 3:10 to Yuma, Curse of the Demon, Plunder Road, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Incredible Shrinking Man etc. (I'm sure there are more)

[20th Century Boy]

So this is going on. Maybe some Criterion upgrades to follow?

http://www.bam.org/film/2017/oshima-...=MobileProgram

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

So this is going on. Maybe some Criterion upgrades to follow?
http://www.bam.org/film/2017/oshima-...=MobileProgram

Was going to mention that series the other day. I'd like to check out a few of them.

[billy pilgrim]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

The Lobster is the least challenging film that Lanthimos has made so far, but i get your point.

Agreed. I believe that Dogtooth is his finest. However, that depends on your definition of recent. Any of his is more challenging than most of the derivative mass produced stuff released today. I just have a hard time with lack of inventiveness on the part of most of the film industry anymore. Most are paint by number formulas without cleverness or soul.

Just MHO.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I still don't agree. I think it is true, however, that we see with fewer with wide distribution.



Well, American films haven't really been my favorites anyways. But I think that films from Midnight Special to Knight of Cups to Nightcrawler to, yes, The Neon Demon to The Tree of Life to Zero Dark Thirty to Her to numerous other, smaller films have all been very good films.

Add in the stunning number of foreign films that are easily accessible, and I cannot understand how someone can think that we've "hit a wall." I mean, the 2010s have turned out an incredible number of excellent films from all around the globe.



It's possible, yes. But I don't think that it has come even close. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Nightcrawler and Knight of Cups as the 'best of' modern challenging cinema? Yikes!

..and I don't mean to catch you in a gotchya moment, but you just changed your signature from a list of modern favorites that contained nothing but American films, didn't you?

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by billy pilgrim

Agreed. I believe that Dogtooth is his finest. However, that depends on your definition of recent. Any of his is more challenging than most of the derivative mass produced stuff released today. I just have a hard time with lack of inventiveness on the part of most of the film industry anymore. Most are paint by number formulas without cleverness or soul.

Just MHO.

I doubt I watch even 5% off all movies made (and this is with watching 300-400 movies a year) so even if 80% off the movies made are garbage or paint by numbers like you say, it doesn't necessarily effect what I'm watching.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Was going to mention that series the other day. I'd like to check out a few of them.

I'm def in for the Godards that don't have HD home video releases and the Oshimas that I don't own/haven't seen.

EDIT: I'm excited that some of the SD Godard films that Criterion still has the rights to are being screened.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Nightcrawler and Knight of Cups as the 'best of' modern challenging cinema? Yikes!

..and I don't mean to catch you in a gotchya moment, but you just changed your signature from a list of modern favorites that contained nothing but American films, didn't you?

Well, that was the list of the best films from each of the past 10 years, yes. But I was more or less thinking along the lines of the Oscars when I made it.

Most of my favorite films are European, however.