The Criterion Collection

[flyry]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

My condolences on your wife.

[Show spoiler]Or were you the one who did her in? We all love Criterion noirs, but come on, man!

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

She was unresponsive.

Originally Posted by lemonski

How did your wife take that news?

Clearly talking about Jeanne Moreau here.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

Agree. Cinephiles need to be more critical when it comes to middlebrow 'critics films'. The claims made for their greatness are often completely unjustified. The King's Speech to me is another example of a passable but terribly overrated film that is essentially The Karate Kid with British royalty. It's well acted, but as cinema it's pish.

In all fairness, who talks about The King's Speech anymore? We all enjoyed it ok, then it left our collective minds months after.

Re: Crash, I don't wan't to derail this thread, but it at least tried to explore the gray area in race relations. Sure, this means everyone is part knee jerk racist and part humane or some other mild contraction, but that is significantly more intriguing and nuanced than the movies about race that are coming out today.

To merge the two topics, I'd love to put my hat in the ring for John Sayles. He's definitely a middlebrow director (one that never achieved commercial success though) but his commentaries on race and gentrification are really engaging. Criterion needs to release something of his on bluray.
---------------

Re: This Month: It's the best in quite some time. BRAVO!

[dressedtokill]

Originally Posted by Rich Pure Doom

I'm so excited about The Night of the Living Dead but my god, what is going on with that cover? The hands look awful (the makeup effects in Night do not look like this) and the plain black background just looks like wasted, dead space. It's a terrible design and they should go back to the drawing board on it.

I actually really like the cover of NOTLD. Hate the ones for Tom Jones and SOTL though.

[UncleBuckWild]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

[Show spoiler]

/Giggles like a school girl

Tell me about it.

Received it yesterday along with Atomic Blonde.

IMO, these three films would make a great boxset...

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

In all fairness, who talks about The King's Speech anymore? We all enjoyed it ok, then it left our collective minds months after.

Yes and that's kind of the point. These films often don't hold up over time, so the consensus at the time of release cannot be trusted.

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

: Crash, I don't wan't to derail this thread, but it at least tried to explore the gray area in race relations. Sure, this means everyone is part knee jerk racist and part humane or some other mild contraction, but that is significantly more intriguing and nuanced than the movies about race that are coming out today.

I actually think it was dated on arrival. The characters are too direct in voicing their racism for the most part. That might have worked in the days of Jungle Fever, but the real problem with racism in the PC world is that it's often a silent killer. How do you express this cinematically? I'm not sure, but Crash didn't really engage with this problem.

Re: middlebrow. I have really liked a few middlebrow films over the last few years (e.g Nebraska,,Lincoln etc) but I would never argue, as some do, that Lincoln is a complex engagement with history, for example, because it isn't.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

I actually think it was dated on arrival. The characters are too direct in voicing their racism for the most part. That might have worked in the days of Jungle Fever, but the real problem with racism in the PC world is that it's often a silent killer. How do you express this cinematically? I'm not sure, but Crash didn't really engage with this problem.

I don't think the movie was about addressing racism in the PC world, but rather how race tensions can be exacerbated in everyday stressful interactions. And I dunno about where you live, but here in Texas the "loudness" it isn't so far off.

It's no slam dunk, but it's leagues above just participating in victimization culture as most modern race films do. And if you're trying to express that "silent killer" component, doesn't that simply slide into being another victimization angle as it can only be about a person dealing with said silent killers. And doesn't something like that simply become about micro aggressions (yuck)?

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

In all fairness, who talks about The King's Speech anymore? We all enjoyed it ok, then it left our collective minds months after.

Re: Crash, I don't wan't to derail this thread, but it at least tried to explore the gray area in race relations. Sure, this means everyone is part knee jerk racist and part humane or some other mild contraction, but that is significantly more intriguing and nuanced than the movies about race that are coming out today.

To merge the two topics, I'd love to put my hat in the ring for John Sayles. He's definitely a middlebrow director (one that never achieved commercial success though) but his commentaries on race and gentrification are really engaging. Criterion needs to release something of his on bluray.
---------------

Re: This Month: It's the best in quite some time. BRAVO!

Sayles' style is remarkably understated, so it seems like his films never found as much of an audience as they probably should have. His films don't overtly appeal to an art-house crowd, but they certainly aren't tripe that large audiences would eat up either, so they kind of float in the ether as far as finding a consistent niche. A director similar to Sayles IMO is Robert M. Young, who had a nice run in the late 70s and early 80s with films like "Short Eyes", "Alambrista!", "Rich Kids", and "One Trick Pony".

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by mja345

Sayles' style is remarkably understated, so it seems like his films never found as much of an audience as they probably should have. His films don't overtly appeal to an art-house crowd, but they certainly aren't tripe that large audiences would eat up either, so they kind of float in the ether as far as finding a consistent niche. A director similar to Sayles IMO is Robert M. Young, who had a nice run in the late 70s and early 80s with films like "Short Eyes", "Alambrista!", "Rich Kids", and "One Trick Pony".

Undertated style if we are talking images, but sometimes overstated in terms of theme and crosscutting (not a negative, mind you). I could be slightly off, though, as my viewing of Sunshine State is still pretty fresh in my mind. It's been years since Ive seen Lone Star and his 90s work

Oh nice, I'll be sure to check him out. I'm only familiar with Alambrista (which I really liked) and the soundtrack to One Trick Pony. Is Short Eyes a good place to start? It's on Prime.

Edit: I have to start there; the Amazon synopsis sounds great:

In "The Tombs," Manhattan's Men's House of Detention, the criminal fraternities - blacks, Puerto Ricans and a minority of whites - develop their own caste system and codes. When a white man, Clark Davis, accused of child molestation - a "short eyes" in prison parlance - arrives at the prison he becomes a catalyst for the anger and violence that erupts amongst the inmates.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by mja345

Sayles' style is remarkably understated, so it seems like his films never found as much of an audience as they probably should have. His films don't overtly appeal to an art-house crowd, but they certainly aren't tripe that large audiences would eat up either, so they kind of float in the ether as far as finding a consistent niche. A director

His films aren't formally impressive enough to appeal to the arthouse crowd and they are often a bit too 'dense' and unfashionably topical for mainstream audiences, so he doesn't really fit anywhere as you correctly noted.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Undertated style if we are talking images, but sometimes overstated in terms of theme and crosscutting (not a negative, mind you). I could be slightly off, though, as my viewing of Sunshine State is still pretty fresh in my mind. It's been years since Ive seen Lone Star and his 90s work

Oh nice, I'll be sure to check him out. I'm only familiar with Alambrista (which I really liked) and the soundtrack to One Trick Pony.

Definitely. "Rich Kids" is one of my favorite discoveries of the past few years. It deals with the subject of divorce like "Kramer vs. Kramer", but views it from the perspective of the kid as opposed to the parents. It's a fantastic movie. Olive put it out a year or two ago on BD. "Short Eyes" is excellent as well.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by mja345

Definitely. "Rich Kids" is one of my favorite discoveries of the past few years. It deals with the subject of divorce like "Kramer vs. Kramer", but views it from the perspective of the kid as opposed to the parents. It's a fantastic movie. Olive put it out a year or two ago on BD. "Short Eyes" is excellent as well.

Thanks for shining a light on that film. I doubt it would have crossed my radar seeing as there's very few reviews and it has rather dull artwork. It's not on streaming, but I bet it'll be part of a sale in the next two weeks. I might just pick it up

[Purplenoon]

Tom Jones was an absolute sensation when it arrived. Many of us saw it multiple times. Fall on your face, laugh out loud funny, sexy, brilliant. Great cinematography and music as well. A triumph of 60s cinematic anarchy. One of the best forgotten best picture Oscar winners ever. I finally settled for a dvd on eBay a couple of years ago. Couldn’t believe it wasn’t out on bluray. Just as good as the day I first saw it. If only those girls, oh but time passes. Finney was once young and vibrant too. An ode to some forgotten times. Hurrah for Hero, but TJ is the gem of the month. Bravo again, Criterion!

[burningfool]

The "Night of Anubis" work-print edit of NOTLD certainly sounds interesting.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

Agree. Cinephiles need to be more critical when it comes to middlebrow 'critics films'. The claims made for their greatness are often completely unjustified. The King's Speech to me is another example of a passable but terribly overrated film that is essentially The Karate Kid with British royalty. It's well acted, but as cinema it's pish.

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

In all fairness, who talks about The King's Speech anymore? We all enjoyed it ok, then it left our collective minds months after.

Re: Crash, I don't wan't to derail this thread, but it at least tried to explore the gray area in race relations. Sure, this means everyone is part knee jerk racist and part humane or some other mild contraction, but that is significantly more intriguing and nuanced than the movies about race that are coming out today.

Nobody talks about The King's Speech anymore, but I thought it was a wonderful movie. The shameless snobbery in this thread - "middlebrow" lol - makes me laugh, especially when Criterion has released far worse.

Crash, on the other hand, was absurd, manipulative, and beat everyone over the head with its deep-in-its-own-mind themes.

Nuanced is the last word I'd use to describe Crash.

How it won the Oscar over Brokeback Mountain, I'll never know. Well, okay, I do know - many of the votes were cast by out-of-touch old homophobes.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Purplenoon

Tom Jones was an absolute sensation when it arrived. Many of us saw it multiple times. Fall on your face, laugh out loud funny, sexy, brilliant. Great cinematography and music as well. A triumph of 60s cinematic anarchy. One of the best forgotten best picture Oscar winners ever. I finally settled for a dvd on eBay a couple of years ago. Couldn’t believe it wasn’t out on bluray. Just as good as the day I first saw it. If only those girls, oh but time passes. Finney was once young and vibrant too. An ode to some forgotten times. Hurrah for Hero, but TJ is the gem of the month. Bravo again, Criterion!

Wasn’t it the “eating” scene that was much talked about and often spoofed? I’ve only seen this once on DVD which I think was non-anamorphic but I’m looking forward to revisiting it on bluray.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

Nuanced is the last word I'd use to describe Crash.

How it won the Oscar over Brokeback Mountain, I'll never know. Well, okay, I do know - many of the votes were cast by out-of-touch old homophobes.

I said "more nuanced than the race movies of today."

And not to open another can of worms, but just because an "issue movie" doesn't win awards, it doesn't mean the voter base is out of touch or in this case homophobic. Also, just because an "issue movie" wins, it doesn't mean they're "enlightened" or "in touch."

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Wasn’t it the “eating” scene that was much talked about and often spoofed? I’ve only seen this once on DVD which I think was non-anamorphic but I’m looking forward to revisiting it on bluray.

I don't think you can spoof Tom Jones, it would be like spoofing Airplane.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I said "more nuanced than the race movies of today."

And not to open another can of worms, but just because an "issue movie" doesn't win awards, it doesn't mean the voter base is out of touch or in this case homophobic. Also, just because an "issue movie" wins, it doesn't mean they're "enlightened" or "in touch."

Issues films are a big part of the problem. I felt that Fruitvale Station addressed an important issue, but as a film I thought it was mediocre sub-Dardennes social realist cinema.

Films that put politics before aesthetics generally don't age well. How many Ken Loach films do people still care about now aside from Kes? He has made a ton of them.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I said "more nuanced than the race movies of today."

And not to open another can of worms, but just because an "issue movie" doesn't win awards, it doesn't mean the voter base is out of touch or in this case homophobic. Also, just because an "issue movie" wins, it doesn't mean they're "enlightened" or "in touch."

I don't care that Crash was an "issue movie." I care that it was terrible but won anyway. The Academy is woefully out of touch and has been for a long time. What do you think that #OscarsSoWhite stuff was about? While I didn't agree with every aspect of that (Will Smith throwing a tantrum, etc. when he wouldn't have been nominated anyway), it's yet another example of how behind-the-times the stuffy Academy is.

If you're trying to paint Brokeback as an "issue movie," I disagree. Crash was an "issue movie" only - "look how racist everyone is" - while Brokeback's "issue" was merely a backdrop to tell a great story.

Originally Posted by malakaheso

Issues films are a big part of the problem. I felt that Fruitvale Station addressed an important issue, but as a film I thought it was mediocre sub-Dardennes social realist cinema.

I liked Fruitvale a lot more than you did, but it wasn't nominated for any Oscars, so that's kind of a weird example to use regardless.

[malakaheso]

It wasn't? Ok. 12 Years a Slave then. Take your pick. Compared to Hunger that film was mediocre. Fences? Aka characters talking loudly at each other on a play like fashion. Great film was it?

I know a lot of people like it though.