The Criterion Collection

[captainron_howdy]

Originally Posted by javy

The only Antonioni films I've seen are Red Desert and L'Avventura and I have the Criterion's. I just ordered La Notte. Judging by the screenshots and synopsis it sounds and looks amazing. I'll get L'eclisse next time...

Those are both amazing films also, La Notte was a great choice. It was one of Kubrick's fav films I think. I'd say Blow-Up & L'eclisse are prob. my 2 favs. La Notte would be right after those films tho.

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by Cinema74

Anyone been able to find copies of Stalker in-store? My 10% member discount isn't applying online. Besides, I'd like instant gratification on this one

Stores near me shows it in-stock. There is no 10% discount online, only free express shipping for members.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

Stores near me shows it in-stock. There is no 10% discount online, only free express shipping for members.

Thanks. I'm sorta new to B&N so wasn't aware the member discount doesn't apply online. It will apply in-store, though?

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by kwillard37

I'm considering picking up By Brakhage blu ray release in the sale. Anyone offer any insight into whether it's worth it or not?

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by Cinema74

Thanks. I'm sorta new to B&N so wasn't aware the member discount doesn't apply online. It will apply in-store, though?

Yes

[javy]

Originally Posted by captainron_howdy

Those are both amazing films also, La Notte was a great choice. It was one of Kubrick's fav films I think. I'd say Blow-Up & L'eclisse are prob. my 2 favs. La Notte would be right after those films tho.

One of Kubrick's faves, all the better.

[llj]

Originally Posted by movieben1138

I like Plaza fine, but this video does nothing for her. They both come off not being very well spoken and even fairly ignorant of the films. At least when Cera was in there he did more than mumble and ask "what is this?" He actually had some decent insights and completed his sentences.

Cera was mostly helped by actually having decent taste and knowledge of arthouse and foreign films

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by llj

Cera was mostly helped by actually having decent taste and knowledge of arthouse and foreign films

Cera is cool...I like him & liked his closet video...

[llj]

Originally Posted by KrugerIndustrial

I generally hate to ask for recommendations on what to buy from a BN sale, but it has been way too long since I've purchased a Criterion. There are so many titles I'm interested in. Which ONE of these would you choose and why?

L'eclisse (I own the other two films in the trilogy)
Anatomy of a Murder
Wings of Desire
Friends of Eddie Coyle (seen)
Dr. Strangelove (seen)
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Don't Look Now
Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Blow-Up
Straw Dogs
Umberto D.
The Graduate (seen)
Medium Cool
Eyes Without a Face
I Knew Her Well
Island of Lost Souls
Still Walking
His Girl Friday
The Kennedy Films Of Robert Drew

Thanks!

They're all great. But if I had to choose just one film, I'd say Anatomy of a Murder.

[senseabove]

Originally Posted by kwillard37

I'm considering picking up By Brakhage blu ray release in the sale. Anyone offer any insight into whether it's worth it or not?

I wouldn't say he's the best first stop if you're new to avant-garde short film. He's one of the most important film-makers of the 20th century, and the set is great, beautifully done, has helpful essays, and collects most of his most important work (which is, in turn, some of the most important experimental/avant short film ever). But Brakhage is... well, if not the deep end, certainly on the slope. His work focuses on obscuring or stripping away identifiable visual information so that your vision is constantly shifting between trying to figure out what it's seeing and just seeing, just receiving visual content. It's remarkably demanding, not just "sit back and look at the pretty colors." Not even "get high and sit back and look at the pretty colors," really. It's not really "pretty" work, most of it at least. I'd also say that the set is best appreciated in a good home theater set-up, particularly one using a projector rather than a TV if possible, but a very large screen in a very dark room at the least.

That said, if you know all that going in, I highly recommend it.


If you're looking to dip your toes in a-g/exp film without going whole-hog quite yet, I suggest picking up the Flicker Alley "Masterworks of American Avant-Garde Experimental Cinema" in the next all-BR sale at BN: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd...=0617311679490
Or you can get it cheaper elsewhere right now (either Flicker Alley's own site or Amazon). It's a nice survey, and can help you get your sea legs and figure out what you do and don't like.

The Hollis Frampton set is also great, by the way. It's more conceptual and so a little easier to get a handle on, I think, and wittier than Brakhage was every trying to be. Both of those factors might make it another good place to start, though Frampton and Brakhage were doing completely different things. So one is not really a good introduction to the other, but Frampton may be an easier stepping stone to the genre.

[llj]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jack

Certain Woman and Personal Shopper obviously. Speak, the Cake Eaters, Still Alice, Welcome to the Rileys, The Runaways, Adventureland are all good places to start. She's been wonderful for awhile. A lot of people just can't get past the whole Twilight thing which, ironically, she's actually great it. That is exactly how that character is in the book. It's just a god awful character. But she played it perfectly.

She was miscast in Twilight. Bella is your typical average mainstream girl, something Stewart's entire image is not. I remember when her handlers tried to make her image more "girly" and "mainstream friendly" but that failed because she never looked comfortable with it, and she's now back to what she was before the whole Twilight fiasco.

Still, Twilight did give her a chunk of money so she could do what she wanted afterwards.

[qw0aszx]

Originally Posted by keldons

Don't blind buy this unless you're familiar with Brakhage or Avant Garde. Plenty of Brakhage stuff is available on YouTube if you wanna see what it's like.

That being said, if you like his stuff, the set is great and well worth the money IMO

Actually, I blind bought the Brakhage set a few years ago, and that's how I became a huge avant-garde fan.

[The Great Owl]

Last night, I watched my Criterion Blu-ray of Straw Dogs.



Dustin Hoffman plays David, a pacifist mathematician who moves to remote village of Cornwall in the UK to live with his beautiful wife, Amy, played by Susan George (Venom, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry). All is not as it seems in this seemingly peaceful village, though, and, after the wife is brutalized by local residents and after both of them are antagonized by these same villagers, the mathematician's reaction is equally disturbing and violent.

Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs is one of the most disturbing movies that I have ever seen in my life, but it's also a film that I keep returning to on occasion because I'm drawn in by its dark storytelling power and tensely masterful performances. Straw Dogs was greeted by controversy upon its release at the tail end of the Vietnam era, because its presentation of the notion that war can follow humans everywhere struck audiences as an endorsement and approval of violence. Even today, it's an unpleasant experience in so many ways because it makes us wonder about our own capacities for violence under the wrong circumstances.

It's one of this movie's dark charms that Peckinpah does not give us any protagonists with which to relate. Dustin Hoffman's David is an outright prick whose smugness makes itself apparent to all around him. Seemingly innocuous scenes, like an exchange between David and Amy about an air conditioner, make it clear that David is constantly placing his own comfort above that of his wife. His behavior around the working-class residents of the village come across as wrong and ill-timed at every turn, down to his insistence for paying for his own cigarettes at a bar and his insistence to argue with a local minister. Amy, in turn, is constantly throwing well-timed barbs at her husband. A scene where she alters one of his math equations on a chalkboard, is wonderfully irritating.

The disturbing centerpiece of Straw Dogs, the prolonged scene where Amy is raped by two of the villagers, one of which was a former boyfriend from her youth, has earned the ire of a great many feminists and such, because it's so oddly depicted and because, at one point, Amy appears to be actually enjoying the experience. In truth, though, it's a classic example of how 1970s cinema was able to convey multilayered emotions that we do not often see in contemporary films. The way that this scene simultaneously blends Amy's terror and helplessness with her conflicted attachment and attraction for her old flame makes it unlike anything ever seen in cinema before or since. One of the many failures of the disappointing 2011 remake of this film was its inability to convey the right nuances of this story element.

I probably speak for most people when I say that I try my best to avoid confrontation and, especially, violence, because I would rather go about my life depending on society's laws and governing rules to keep me safe. As such, Straw Dogs touches a nerve because it makes me wonder how I would behave in a situation where the laws of society did not protect me. On a more personal note, the movie also conjures my own memories of being bullied in grade school because of my lazy eye and my overweight appearance. Sometimes I merely cowered and, other times, I responded with violence and ferocity that surprised myself and everyone around me. Neither of those outcomes are ones that I look back on with pleasant nostalgia, but the film brings those memories to the surface in an uncomfortable way. I guess that the undeniable power of this film lies in the fact that Peckinpah probably intended for every male (and female, for that matter) to have their mind probed by the story in the same way.

In a lesser film, one might cheer for Dustin Hoffman's David when he finally does respond with deadly force after the villagers trap him and his wife in their beautiful cottage. In Straw Dogs, however, there is no emotional catharsis that leads us to a happy ending, and the resolution simply makes us feel more lost inside ourselves. This is a great film, but it's one of the most difficult films that you'll ever see.

This Criterion Blu-ray sports a beautiful transfer of an ugly film, and the picture quality is miles above any previous home video release that I've ever seen. Even the already-impressive MGM Blu-ray pales in comparison to this presentation.

This Blu-ray also gives us a wealth of extras that go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to explaining Sam Peckinpah's intentions. None of the extras make the film any easier to swallow, but that just speaks volumes about its radical filmmaking that still stands heads above anything out there today.

[captainron_howdy]

Grabbed Stalker! & Burroughs also, finally. Last haul until next sale. All the stores were sent 8 copies of Stalker today I think. Most were already on hold when I was there this morning, along with my copy.

[mrjohnnyb]

I just purchased Stalker at my local Barnes and Noble store. It is one of only two times during the year (the other being during the November B&N sale) that I actually make a "Day One" purchase. Tonight, I will be watching this much-awaited film, which is the 7th Tarkovsky in my collection, for the first time.

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by kwillard37

I'm considering picking up By Brakhage blu ray release in the sale. Anyone offer any insight into whether it's worth it or not?

I consider it "must have" material for any true cinephile. Buy with confidence and enjoy!

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Last night, I watched my Criterion Blu-ray of Straw Dogs.

[Show spoiler]


Dustin Hoffman plays David, a pacifist mathematician who moves to remote village of Cornwall in the UK to live with his beautiful wife, Amy, played by Susan George (Venom, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry). All is not as it seems in this seemingly peaceful village, though, and, after the wife is brutalized by local residents and after both of them are antagonized by these same villagers, the mathematician's reaction is equally disturbing and violent.

Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs is one of the most disturbing movies that I have ever seen in my life, but it's also a film that I keep returning to on occasion because I'm drawn in by its dark storytelling power and tensely masterful performances. Straw Dogs was greeted by controversy upon its release at the tail end of the Vietnam era, because its presentation of the notion that war can follow humans everywhere struck audiences as an endorsement and approval of violence. Even today, it's an unpleasant experience in so many ways because it makes us wonder about our own capacities for violence under the wrong circumstances.

It's one of this movie's dark charms that Peckinpah does not give us any protagonists with which to relate. Dustin Hoffman's David is an outright prick whose smugness makes itself apparent to all around him. Seemingly innocuous scenes, like an exchange between David and Amy about an air conditioner, make it clear that David is constantly placing his own comfort above that of his wife. His behavior around the working-class residents of the village come across as wrong and ill-timed at every turn, down to his insistence for paying for his own cigarettes at a bar and his insistence to argue with a local minister. Amy, in turn, is constantly throwing well-timed barbs at her husband. A scene where she alters one of his math equations on a chalkboard, is wonderfully irritating.

The disturbing centerpiece of Straw Dogs, the prolonged scene where Amy is raped by two of the villagers, one of which was a former boyfriend from her youth, has earned the ire of a great many feminists and such, because it's so oddly depicted and because, at one point, Amy appears to be actually enjoying the experience. In truth, though, it's a classic example of how 1970s cinema was able to convey multilayered emotions that we do not often see in contemporary films. The way that this scene simultaneously blends Amy's terror and helplessness with her conflicted attachment and attraction for her old flame makes it unlike anything ever seen in cinema before or since. One of the many failures of the disappointing 2011 remake of this film was its inability to convey the right nuances of this story element.

I probably speak for most people when I say that I try my best to avoid confrontation and, especially, violence, because I would rather go about my life depending on society's laws and governing rules to keep me safe. As such, Straw Dogs touches a nerve because it makes me wonder how I would behave in a situation where the laws of society did not protect me. On a more personal note, the movie also conjures my own memories of being bullied in grade school because of my lazy eye and my overweight appearance. Sometimes I merely cowered and, other times, I responded with violence and ferocity that surprised myself and everyone around me. Neither of those outcomes are ones that I look back on with pleasant nostalgia, but the film brings those memories to the surface in an uncomfortable way. I guess that the undeniable power of this film lies in the fact that Peckinpah probably intended for every male (and female, for that matter) to have their mind probed by the story in the same way.

In a lesser film, one might cheer for Dustin Hoffman's David when he finally does respond with deadly force after the villagers trap him and his wife in their beautiful cottage. In Straw Dogs, however, there is no emotional catharsis that leads us to a happy ending, and the resolution simply makes us feel more lost inside ourselves. This is a great film, but it's one of the most difficult films that you'll ever see.

This Criterion Blu-ray sports a beautiful transfer of an ugly film, and the picture quality is miles above any previous home video release that I've ever seen. Even the already-impressive MGM Blu-ray pales in comparison to this presentation.

This Blu-ray also gives us a wealth of extras that go above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to explaining Sam Peckinpah's intentions. None of the extras make the film any easier to swallow, but that just speaks volumes about its radical filmmaking that still stands heads above anything out there today.

Awesome. I just received and watched my copy of this last night--first time ever viewing. I thought it was great by Peckinpah standards--not sure if I'm really a big fan of his work necessarily, but I can dig Straw Dogs and Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia.

Straw Dogs will hit a soft spot for me because of the setting. Having lived in England for 14 years (across three separate moves), I found the scenery and settings in the movie looked very homey. All the green hills, stone walls and buildings, the pubs, the houses, all looked like familiar territory for me.

That being said, it's also funny you mention the issue about the law. In England, there is a self-defense law that differs from the US--you can only use "reasonable force" to prevent a crime or defend yourself. So when Dustin Hoffman takes up the shotgun against guys with no firearms, I wondered if, in a theoretical aftermath, any of this would be judged as "reasonable force," or if he'd get in trouble for going too far. The way I always heard the law was, if an attacker came at you with a knife, you couldn't use a gun against him.

A minor curiosity though--the film is still creditable in its execution, and it is unsettling to think about it happening anywhere.

[alien2010]

Barry Lyndon and Personal Shopper are very much pre-orders. Will get Vampyr but I could wait for that. As much as I love Lynch's works, I simply never warmed to Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me.

[drb124]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Awesome. I just received and watched my copy of this last night--first time ever viewing. I thought it was great by Peckinpah standards--not sure if I'm really a big fan of his work necessarily, but I can dig Straw Dogs and Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia.

Straw Dogs will hit a soft spot for me because of the setting. Having lived in England for 14 years (across three separate moves), I found the scenery and settings in the movie looked very homey. All the green hills, stone walls and buildings, the pubs, the houses, all looked like familiar territory for me.

That being said, it's also funny you mention the issue about the law. In England, there is a self-defense law that differs from the US--you can only use "reasonable force" to prevent a crime or defend yourself. So when Dustin Hoffman takes up the shotgun against guys with no firearms, I wondered if, in a theoretical aftermath, any of this would be judged as "reasonable force," or if he'd get in trouble for going too far. The way I always heard the law was, if an attacker came at you with a knife, you couldn't use a gun against him.

A minor curiosity though--the film is still creditable in its execution, and it is unsettling to think about it happening anywhere.

I think the law differs from state to state in the US, but I think the model penal code in the US (which has no legal effect as it is just drawn up by legal scholars) allows for a proportional use of force. Ie, unarmed vs unarmed, etc. So I imagine in some places, you might have an issue with shooting unarmed intruders. I know people have been successfully civilly sued for injuries sustained by burglars during the commission of their crimes, though most of those suits have been under the duty owed by the homeowners to persons on their property.

I would be curious to see the aftermath of the shooting in the film though.

[cgpublic]

My B&N 50% Sale titles arrived, joining Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, picked up for $12 at Amazon:



Only time will tell if I bite for Straw Dogs, otherwise my haul is complete until the next B&N or Criterion flash sale.