The Criterion Collection

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by llj

I've never seen an Antonioni I didn't like. Even Zabriskie Point, his most slagged film, is highly fascinating to me.

That's one which I haven't seen. Which reminds me: I want to see all of them by the end of the year, which I'm not sure is possible. Some might simply be unavailable, such as his very early work. I will have to look into that.

[tallrichard]

Originally Posted by jshaide

By the way, my buddy told me that the project description for the Criterion sale made mention that coupons would not be allowed on Criterion titles. So there's that.

I'm sure some will get apathetic/oblivious cashiers, but it sounds like they're being more strict about it.

The coupons which B&N mailed last week do not block use on the Criterion sale.

[Trekkie313]

I would love for Criterion to get Fast Times too. The current Universal release isn't bad considering what the movie is, but it can look much better and more can be said about it from the cast. Plus the original cut had some rather risque scenes.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by tallrichard

the coupons which b&n mailed last week do not block use on the criterion sale.

yet

[joy-division]

Originally Posted by javy

I just scored The Last Temptation of Christ for $19. Yay. I seen part of it once when I was a kid. I'm confident I'll appreciate it more now that I'm something like an adult.

C got the criterion of that when it first came out on DVD you should buy the score. It is one of the best in my opinion

It Is Accomplished - YouTube

[castor]

I got Revanche a few weeks ago for $21. Why had I never seen this before? I was stunned by how good it was. Great film, great BD.

[BluRayBuddy98]

Originally Posted by jshaide

By the way, my buddy told me that the project description for the Criterion sale made mention that coupons would not be allowed on Criterion titles. So there's that.

I'm sure some will get apathetic/oblivious cashiers, but it sounds like they're being more strict about it.

Well I guess I'll be getting a 30 day refund on my membership.

[BluPops]

Did the same with Blow Up and Ugetsu.
and with a $20 credit from the Amazon Dash Wand! $20 for two Criterions! Yay!

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I jumped the gun ahead of the Barnes & Noble sale and purchased Woman of the Year from Amazon for $17.85.

Sorry, Barnes & Noble, but...well...you know...

[Ray Jackson]

I just watched Linklater // On Cinema & Time on the second disc of The Before Trilogy.

It was one of the most moving things I've seen in a long time.

Only eight minutes long, but it perfectly encapsulates the spirit of those three films.

...in some indescribably visceral way.

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by BluRayBuddy98

Well I guess I'll be getting a 30 day refund on my membership.

The ten percent member discount does still apply. But it seems the days of getting ridiculous deals on box sets may be coming to an end.

[ShirleyFilms]

Originally Posted by oildude

Lots of really good ones on your list. Awesome collection. Some of my favorites that you are missing jump out at me.
...

Thanks for the list! Plan to get a few, based on all the recommendations. Plan to pick up:

The Brood
Picnic At Hanging Rock
Pale Flower
Shock Corridor
Rififi
Phantom Carriage
All That Jazz
Stalker
(the last 2 I've been wanting anyway)

Hopefully that will hold me over until the next sale. Heh.

[phobicsquirrel]

picked up pans labyrinth from CC, I'm looking forward to it.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by llj

The Breakfast Club is to Gen Xers what The Big Chill is to baby boomers.

They resonate mostly within a certain segment of those generations, and they are very broadly written with many of the typical tropes you would usually find in mainstream Hollywood writing, so more discerning cinephiles can easily roll their eyes at many of those elements.

Still, even though they have hackeneyed elements and such, you can't dismiss their impact because clearly a lot of people found a lot about them that they could relate to. Most audiences aren't snobs like us or Criterionforum.org.

A lot of my Gen X and early Gen Y peers really love those John Hughes teen films and The Breakfast Club is basically the cream of the crop for them. And you know, it's pretty daring to basically make a mainstream film that's mostly just people talking for the entire film. I still watch whenever it's on TV and I do still admire it even as I see it as less "truthful" as I thought it was when I was a child.

During ages 8-14, I passed many a lazy afternoon watching The Breakfast Club reruns on TV. They ran it A LOT on one local channel where I lived.

Great points. I don't dislike "The Breakfast Club". It's just a very populist film that naturally won't have as much of an impact as you've seen more and more films. All of the characters have remarkably easy arcs. The angry a-hole softens up a bit. The princess becomes more relatable. The nerd learns that grades aren't everything. The eccentric girl becomes normalized due to a fairy tale makeover. The jock learns to question what is going on around him and not have tunnel vision about wrestling. I would like it much more if at least one of the characters didn't really shift in a very cliched way.

With this film, more than many others, nostalgia seems to play a factor when people label it as great. I mean, I saw "Chasing Amy" when I was 13 or 14 and thought it was so deep, but I'm not really a huge fan now when I put the nostalgia aside. "The Big Chill" is an interesting parallel, but the cast is so superior to "The Breakfast Club" that it elevates it above "The Breakfast Club" for me. But I can see why some would call it a masterpiece. I don't ever want to shit on a film because it's populist or makes people feel good, because that's a visceral part of watching any film. I recognize its importance while maintaining my opinion that it's far from great.

[Tony208]

Breakfast Club is a little dated now. So is Fight Club.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Tony208

Breakfast Club is a little dated now. So is Fight Club.

What often seems dated is filmmakers relying on cliches. There are vast amounts of films from past decades that don't seem dated because the director didn't rely on cliches or stereotypes. The problem with "Fight Club" is that the novel tries to be edgy in a way that is very specific to the mid-90s, so some of that comes across in the film. If a director attempts to make a film completely outside the zeitgeist of a particular time, then the issue of seeming dated will be completely eliminated.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Tony208

Breakfast Club is a little dated now. So is Fight Club.

I would argue that Fight Club couldn't be more relevant than it is today.

At least in American society.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I would argue that Fight Club couldn't be more relevant than it is today.

At least in American society.

"Fight Club" is a much better film than it is a novel because Fincher is a much better filmmaker than Chuck Palahniuk is a novelist. Fincher gave that film a lot of subtext that didn't exist in the novel IMO. It's similar to how that braying jackass Bret Easton Ellis wrote "American Psycho" and Mary Harron came in and gave the film a satirical, absurdist bent that wasn't anywhere near as present in the novel. Easton Ellis is a great novelist to adapt into film because his novels always contain the outline of intriguing ideas, but he consistently f**ks it up because he's just not that talented. You don't want to adapt novelists like Tom Wolfe, John Irving, or Kurt Vonnegut into film because they had/have immense talent.

[ShellOilJunior]

It seems like the road is being paved for a Saved by the Bell blu-ray.


Criterion related. These are my summer picks. Films I tend to watch when the weather gets hot:

[Shanghai Express]

Is the Mulvaney email address still in use? I've sent two emails regarding a missing booklet (for a then-newly-bought Blu-ray edition of Lola Montes) and received no reply to either. Is there another I can use?

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

It seems like the road is being paved for a Saved by the Bell blu-ray.


Criterion related. These are my summer picks. Films I tend to watch when the weather gets hot:

[Show spoiler]

I should really re-watch Still Walking.

I liked the movie when I watched it several years ago, but I was definitely detracted as I couldn't help but compare it to Ozu's films.