The Criterion Collection

[hoytereden]

To those who have had the Bergman set delivered from B&N:

I assume it's in a box but is it well protected? Store pick-up is not an option for me. Thanks!

[Hoke Moseley]

Melville's Le Doulos coming from Kino... wonder how much more Melville they have from their SC deal.

[exzachary]

I wonder who owns the rights to the Bergman films that are missing from the set?

It Rains on Our Love
Music in Darkness
Prison
This Can't Happen Here
Face to Face - Olive
The Blessed Ones
In the Presence of a Clown

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

To those who have had the Bergman set delivered from B&N:

I assume it's in a box but is it well protected? Store pick-up is not an option for me. Thanks!

Mine came in a big box with one air pocket thing, very minimal protection but it has zero marks or dents...

[jw007]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Make sure you watch the Netflix exclusive new Coen bros film Ballad of Buster Scruggs before you quit. It's a grand movie.

And if you're not region-locking yourself a lot of stuff other than Criterion in the blu-ray space comes close to perfection. Sometimes closer than Criterion themselves do

Thanks for the tip.

Originally Posted by RockyIII

Netflix offers great content, no reason to down such a great and useful streaming service

I know, but sometimes you have to just quit "cold turkey" because in the end, an addiction is an addiction.

No doubt there are some good things about Netflix, especially that long lost Orson Welles movie that I have queued up. I'll prob. check that one out at some point.

Originally Posted by belcherman

No, but I get the OP's point. Netflix (and Amazon Prime) make it too easy for me to queue up third-rate movies rather than lift my lazy ass off the couch and load a good movie from my unwatched pile into my blu ray player.

Thank you for understanding.

Should we create a Criterion Blu-ray Lazy Owners Anonymous self help group to help inspire motivation to get up off the couch and break off the plastic on sealed blu-rays that have been sitting for ages on shelves and make a movement out of this?

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Yo. That's a bit ironic coming from you. You did sport an Orson Welles avatar for a good amount of time there.

Like it or not, you can't go cold turkey on Netflix. Quality overall may be shite, but a good chunk of their original stuff is mandatory viewing. In the last month alone they've given us: a highly acclaimed Tamara Jenkins movie, an Orson Welles movie, it's accompanying doc, a Coen Bros. movie., etc. The key is alternating your streaming services and being judicious about what's in your queue (i.e. don't follow my gluttonous example).

Yes, yes, yes. And yet I'd like to attempt the impossible: going cold turkey with Netflix. It probably won't last long. Maybe a week, maybe two... but eventually I'll be coming back for more.

Should I bring back the Orson Welles avatar?

[hagios]

received today!

Originally Posted by hagios

2nd order:

[Vesee1]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

Last night I watched half of A Woman Under the Influence, and I finished it today in the morning. This was my first film from John Cassavettes, even though I bought the set last year, so slowly bringing down the un-watched collection down. But I wasn’t “paying attention” to the direction but to the main actress. Gena Rowlands’ performance is phenomenal. Truly painful. I felt the pressure she endured from her husband and life at home. I’m honestly still in amazement at her performance, which is something I rarely feel. I need someone else to talk about it because I want to,but I just can’t bring myself to articulate it at this moment. I need a day to just think about it. It’s that type of performance.

Rowlands had a great performance and I believe Falk did too. However, I watched the film recently and was actually disappointed. I feel Cassavetes let his actors down by not directing in a more traditional way and by dragging out some of the scenes. 25-30 minutes of screen time could have been pruned without reducing the power of the story, which seems more suited to the stage anyway.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

------

More Criterion related, is anyone else planning on building a shelf exclusively for that Bergman set? I have a ton of metal shelving I bought from a closing Blockbuster, and the end units would easily accommodate that behemoth, but I'd rather have it next to the main wooden Criterion shelf on the other side of the room and that would mean building a shelf on the adjacent wall.

I was just thinking something simple like a 15-18 inch shelf resting on a couple of shelf brackets.

I'm probably going to do just the opposite and put it in one of those Great Owl Specials-A plastic storage tub. After our volcanic related earthquakes earlier this year and several of my large boxsets taking a tumble, I've switched to plastic.

Regarding the set-One of the first films I'll be viewing is one of the earlier ones-Dreams. I know it's a lesser Bergman but I find it very entertaining. I went into it wanting to see Harriet Andersson after being with her in Summer With Monika but I came away with also being very impressed with Eva Dahlbeck. Both women gave excellent performances with Harriet echoing Monika's petulant behavior although much better dressed and Eva as her older boss who's cynical about life and especially love. Both find some relationship answers during a trip they take together.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by jw007

Yes, yes, yes. And yet I'd like to attempt the impossible: going cold turkey with Netflix. It probably won't last long. Maybe a week, maybe two... but eventually I'll be coming back for more.

Should I bring back the Orson Welles avatar?

Hey, at least they aren't forcing year long subs. Then we'd be screwed.

Heck yes. Make a new holiday themed avatar on your Windows 95 Paint while you're at it.

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I'm probably going to do just the opposite and put it in one of those Great Owl Specials-A plastic storage tub. After our volcanic related earthquakes earlier this year and several of my large boxsets taking a tumble, I've switched to plastic. .

Haha. I could never do that. It's gonna be displayed in a proud spot like my John Ford set.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by mja345

Gena Rowlands is my favorite actress of all-time. She's #1 in my book. There's really no one like her.

I personally can’t go past Davis, Moreau, Stanwyck and Gong Li but Rowlands probably does round out the top 5 in my book.

[CineSicko]

Originally Posted by nitin

I personally can’t go past Davis, Moreau, Stanwyck and Gong Li but Rowlands probably does round out the top 5 in my book.

Gong Li > Gena Rowlands, huh?

[nitin]

Originally Posted by CineSicko

Gong Li > Gena Rowlands, huh?

Yes I think so. Thanks for your input.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Hey, at least they aren't forcing year long subs. Then we'd be screwed.

Heck yes. Make a new holiday themed avatar on your Windows 95 Paint while you're at it.



Haha. I could never do that. It's gonna be displayed in a proud spot like my John Ford set.

Prior to this year I wouldn't either but that one day and several weeks afterward made me change. The regular cases barely moved but those deluxe size boxsets acted like lemmings on a cliff.

[AaronJ]

I forgot who said it, but I'm agreeing with him/her in that I'm going to go through the set in chronological order. It's going to take a while, especially in my case because I've been very busy lately. But there are definitely some films there which I'm very excited to revisit, and others which I'm very excited to see for the first time. It really is going to be like mini-film school.

I'm going to try so hard to see one a night, though I doubt that will actually happen. Who knows, though? Now that that the election is over I don't have the news on 24/7, and things might be slowing down. Maybe I have a shot.

If only Amazon would deliver the damn thing!

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Hey, at least they aren't forcing year long subs. Then we'd be screwed.

Heck yes. Make a new holiday themed avatar on your Windows 95 Paint while you're at it.

Windows 95 Paint? You're speaking a foreign language. I've been an Apple Mac guy for the last 25 years. But I can break out Photoshop and make a special Xmas avatar version of Orson Welles from "A Safe Place". Ha.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by nitin

I personally can’t go past Davis, Moreau, Stanwyck and Gong Li but Rowlands probably does round out the top 5 in my book.

Juliette Binoche? Maggie Cheung? Smita Patil? Isabelle Adjani?
Maybe not your top 5 but where do you rate them?

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Juliette Binoche? Maggie Cheung? Smita Patil? Isabelle Adjani?
Maybe not your top 5 but where do you rate them?

I know you weren't asking me, and I couldn't possibly make a Top-5 list. But I know that #1 on any list, were I able to concoct one, would be Catherine Deneuve.

I can't think of an actress who has been in such a wide range of roles over so many decades and in so many powerful, memorable films.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Juliette Binoche? Maggie Cheung? Smita Patil? Isabelle Adjani?
Maybe not your top 5 but where do you rate them?

There are so many great performances, but Gena in "A Woman Under the Influence", "Opening Night", and "Another Woman" are hard to beat. Isabelle Adjani is incredible. Her performance is "Possession" is top 10 for me. Isabelle Hupert is another incredible actress,

[nitin]

Binoche, Deneuve, Cheung, Adjani are all great actresses (as is Huppert but I really dislike a lot of her characterisations). I have not seen much of Smita Patil ravenus except for Ardh Satya so I don’t think I can really comment. Personally I also really like Naomi Watts out of modern actresses (although her actual movie choices in recent times is quite poor).

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by nitin

I have not seen much of Smita Patil ravenus except for Ardh Satya so I don’t think I can really comment.

Yikes! Bhumika, Mirch Masala, Mandi, Chakra, Aakrosh, Jait re Jait and even Ramesh Sippy's Shakti are highly recommended.