The Criterion Collection

[senseabove]

Has anyone ever confirmed whether the Rialto restoration of Leon Morin, Priest going around is a different cut than the OoP Criterion release? I notice that Rialto now lists the running time as 117 minutes on their own website but still has the "Complete Director's Cut" descriptor:
http://www.rialtopictures.com/catalo...?view=slider#2

I swear the Rialto site used to say 130, and some upcoming and recent screenings still lists it as 130:
http://bampfa.org/event/l%C3%A9on-morin-priest-2
http://www.hudsonsquarebid.org/neigh...-morin-priest/
(From the latter: "This restoration of Melville’s never-before-seen director’s cut puts back 13 minutes excised from the original release version. 4K DCP restoration. Approx. 130 min.")

But the Egyptian lists it as 128:
http://www.americancinemathequecalen...morin-priest-0

And the Avon, the latest screening listed on the Rialto site, goes back to 117:
http://www.avontheatre.org/films/502...,-priest-(1961)

I haven't seen the movie, but I picked up the OoP Blu for cheap and I've got another film I'm interested in seeing the night it's screening near me, so I'm curious whether I should make an effort to see this Rialto restoration or just stick with the Blu.

[Zodokai]

Originally Posted by BluRayBuddy98

Kinda wanna try my hand at a trilogy or box set...any suggestions? Before Trilogy, Lone Wolf and Cub, War Trilogy, Three Colors & Del Toro set have peaked my interest (love pan's labyrinth, haven't seen the others). Thoughts?

Of the box sets you listed, I have the Before Trilogy and (in their individual Criterion disc format) the del Toro set films. Personally, I would recommend the del Toro trilogy. If you love Pan's Labyrinth, I think you'll really like The Devil's Backbone. It was a blind buy for me (based on my prior love of Pan's Labyrinth) and I was very happy with it. I still prefer Pan's Labyrinth, but The Devil's Backbone has some similar themes and was an obvious lead-up to Pan's, but is more of a mystery ghost story. I enjoyed Cronos as well (another blind buy for me), though it's not one of my favorite del Toro films. A friend of mine absolutely loves it though, so he might have hyped it a bit too much for me before I watched it.

The Before films are fine as well, so I guess it depends on your tastes. I'm not sure if you've seen any of those films before, but they are basically in-the-moment romance movies. The trilogy was a blind buy for me (hmm... I see a pattern forming here) and I enjoyed the first two films quite a bit, but wasn't a fan of the third film. I think I'm in the minority for my lack of undying love for this trilogy, though. I can't really speak to Lone Wolf and Cub, Three Colors, or the War trilogy since I haven't seen any of those films, but I hear very good things about them as well.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by BluRayBuddy98

Kinda wanna try my hand at a trilogy or box set...any suggestions? Before Trilogy, Lone Wolf and Cub, War Trilogy, Three Colors & Del Toro set have peaked my interest (love pan's labyrinth, haven't seen the others). Thoughts?

Three Colors is one of the best trilogies ever made. Ditto Before trilogy. War trilogy is also great. Del Toro "trilogy" is the weakest, and I have zero interest in Lone Wolf & Cub.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by BluRayBuddy98

Kinda wanna try my hand at a trilogy or box set...any suggestions? Before Trilogy, Lone Wolf and Cub, War Trilogy, Three Colors & Del Toro set have peaked my interest (love pan's labyrinth, haven't seen the others). Thoughts?

If you like PL then you will likely appreciate the other films in the set. If older British films appeal to you I recommend the David Lean - Noel Coward set, which has some of the finest films Lean made.

[malakaheso]

Who owns Distant Voices Still Lives in the US? Any chance of Criterion releasing it?

[captainron_howdy]

Originally Posted by BluRayBuddy98

Kinda wanna try my hand at a trilogy or box set...any suggestions? Before Trilogy, Lone Wolf and Cub, War Trilogy, Three Colors & Del Toro set have peaked my interest (love pan's labyrinth, haven't seen the others). Thoughts?

Boxes-
War Trilogy-must
Dekalog-must
Three Colors-must
John Cassevetes-must

Eclipse sets-
Robert Downey Sr.-must
Horror came to Schochiku-must

Was never into the before trilogy, but if that's your thing I'm sure it's a great release.

Cronos & Devil's Backbone are def. pretty cool.

[kylec123]

I have and love both the Dekalog and Three Colors boxset.

Tuesday can't come fast enough, I'm TRYING to wait until Stalker comes out to get a haul of stuff.

[llj]

Originally Posted by joy-division

Can Ihear some feedback on the I am Curious films please

If you can get it cheap then I'd recommend to try it. But I wouldn't pay more than $20 for the DVD set of both films (Yellow + Blue).

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by BluRayBuddy98

Kinda wanna try my hand at a trilogy or box set...any suggestions? Before Trilogy, Lone Wolf and Cub, War Trilogy, Three Colors & Del Toro set have peaked my interest (love pan's labyrinth, haven't seen the others). Thoughts?

My favorite Criterion box sets:

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman
America Lost and Found: The BBS Story
Three Colors
The Apu Trilogy
3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman
The Samurai Trilogy


Criterion box sets in my still-unwatched stack that I'm sure will be real awesome once I actually get around to watching them:

The Before Trilogy
The Complete Jacques Tati
David Lean Directs Noël Coward
The Essential Jacques Demy
John Cassavetes: Five Films
Lone Wolf and Cub
Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy
Wim Wenders: The Road Trilogy

I own all of the Hitchcock films separately, but I enthusiastically recommend that set if you are new to his films.

I also own and love several choice 2-film sets. Lady Snowblood, Yojimbo/Sanjuro, etc.

With regard to the Del Toro films, I own The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth separately.

[Al_The_Strange]

I might be a bit late on the box sets discussion.

I think the Criterion Del Toro movies are a must and a box set for those should be a no-brainer. I didn't invest in it though because I kept hearing the packaging was bad. So I have them as stand-alones. I did have the Region-B collection from the UK (very nice, thick box with a folding front cover that turns onto a pop-up book kind of thing). Since I have the Region-A copies now, I've put the British set up for sale.

I love the Lone Wolf and Cub packaging, but I haven't taken the time to see the movies yet (although I have seen Shogun Assassin before, if that counts).

I previously bought the classic Hitchcock set for my mom as a present (39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Foreign Correspondent, Man Who Knew Too Much). I think all of those films are fabulous and in good quality.

Other Criterion sets I have are the Qatsi trilogy, Zatoichi, Yojimbo/Sanjuro, the Samurai Trilogy, the Trilogy of Life, the Jacques Tati collection, and the World Cinema Project sets. They're all worthwhile imo. For the Trilogy of Life and World Cinema ones, I'd probably recommend trying before buying. The Qatsi trilogy is my favorite of the lost (with Koyaanisqatsi being my favorite film after all), and I'd call that the biggest must-have.

I used to own the David Lean Directs Noel Coward set, but decided I wasn't a big enough fan to keep it. On DVD, I still have my Sergei Eisenstein Sound Years set (Ivan the Terrible and Alexander Nevsky). I think it's phenomenal, even to this day. Been waiting for an upgrade for a decade now. Also, the Floating Weeds set is good. I used to have an Akira Kurosawa DVD set (Seven Samurai, Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Sanjuro), which was great at the time but with all of them on Blu-Ray now it's quite antiquated.

[WrathOfHan]

Hmm, so only 4/6 of my Blus will be here today because the other two shipped a day later

[KubrickKurasawa]

Anyone a great fan of Samurai films?

I only own 47 Ronin DVD, Ugetsu DVD&BR, Three Outlaw Samurai BR, 7 Samurai DVD, Sword of Doom BR.

What best am I missing with interesting storylines....should be added say the Samurai/Japanese film fans!!? Thanks in advance! Unless you all go rogue eat horseshoe and die you dog !

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by KubrickKurasawa

Anyone a great fan of Samurai films?

I only own 47 Ronin DVD, Ugetsu DVD&BR, Three Outlaw Samurai BR, 7 Samurai DVD, Sword of Doom BR.

What best am I missing with interesting storylines....should be added say the Samurai/Japanese film fans!!? Thanks in advance! Unless you all go rogue eat horseshoe and die you dog !

Harakiri

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by KubrickKurasawa

Anyone a great fan of Samurai films?

I only own 47 Ronin DVD, Ugetsu DVD&BR, Three Outlaw Samurai BR, 7 Samurai DVD, Sword of Doom BR.

What best am I missing with interesting storylines....should be added say the Samurai/Japanese film fans!!? Thanks in advance! Unless you all go rogue eat horseshoe and die you dog !

Samurai Trilogy
Rashomon
Samurai Rebellion (DVD)

The Hidden Fortress, adn Yojimbo/Sanjuro are also classics in the genre, though not your traditional samurai fare.

[theater dreamer]

I couldn't wait until the end of the month to start buying. Grabbed The Lodger yesterday afternoon, and came home to find Yojimbo/Sanjuro waiting for me in the mail. Now I'm just waiting on Safety Last! to get here.

Almost grabbed Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words, but I have plenty to keep me busy until the 25th.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by KubrickKurasawa

Anyone a great fan of Samurai films?

I only own 47 Ronin DVD, Ugetsu DVD&BR, Three Outlaw Samurai BR, 7 Samurai DVD, Sword of Doom BR.

What best am I missing with interesting storylines....should be added say the Samurai/Japanese film fans!!? Thanks in advance! Unless you all go rogue eat horseshoe and die you dog !

Can't go wrong with Kurosawa (Seven Samurai, Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Throne of Blood, Rashomon, Kagemusha, Ran--all classics). The original Harakiri is indeed awesome (wasn't a fan of Takashi Miike's remake, even though it is pretty close to the original).

The Zatoichi collection might interest you. That sucker has 25 films and I've only scratched the surface myself.

Lone Wolf and Cub should be up your alley too. I have it next to the Shogun Assassin collection--if I understand it right, both are the same but different.

The Samurai Trilogy is pretty good, and it's a very nice Blu-Ray set. Lady Snowblood is fun--maybe not as refined as these other movies, but there's definitely plenty of bloodshed (should be a must if you liked Kill Bill or other movies starring Meiko Kaji).

I think Onibaba was a movie that had a Criterion DVD but not a Blu-Ray just yet (although I have the UK Region-B Blu-Ray). Doesn't have samurai per se, but it is a pretty wicked and interesting thriller set in feudal Japan. Same for Kuroneko (which is available on Blu-Ray), it's a ghost story. Kwaidan is a good film too, but it's also more about the supernatural, and I remember thinking it was very slow.

Outside of the collection, I'm personally a big fan of the Ninja Scroll, Samurai X: Trust/Betrayal, Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, and most movies starring Sonny Chiba. I remember liking Ichi as well, but that might be more worthy of a rental. There's also 13 Assassins and Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai--I wasn't a fan of either, but you might enjoy them more than I did.

[saprano]

Wow. Criterion please fix your cases so the damn plastic doesn't chip the top and bottom of the booklet! I just got Ghost world in the mail and i can already see the booklet is damaged!

I thought they addressed this? Theif has 2 plastic boarders that the booklet sits on so it's protected from scratching them. WTF man. Why not continue doing that??????

[joy-division]

Originally Posted by saprano

Wow. Criterion please fix your cases so the damn plastic doesn't chip the top and bottom of the booklet! I just got Ghost world in the mail and i can already see the booklet is damaged!

I thought they addressed this? Theif has 2 plastic boarders that the booklet sits on so it's protected from scratching them. WTF man. Why not continue doing that??????

This is alway a case with booklets, not just Criterion either

[silverlakephil]

Criterion really did a good job with the packaging for Ugetsu. Nice fat booklet inside. I can't wait to delve into its contents tonight.

[saprano]

Originally Posted by joy-division

This is alway a case with booklets, not just Criterion either

No. Arrow has a shelving compartment, similar to PS4 game cases, for their booklets. It sits above the plastic pieces and doesn't get scratched. Criterion had something similar for Thief. They should use it for every release.