The Criterion Collection

[nitin]

Tonight I decided to rewatch Louise Malle’s The Lovers. I had forgotten how luminous and commanding Jeanne Moreau is in this acutely and beautifully observed tale of a woman’s boredom and dissatisfaction with married life in 50s provincial France. The use of visuals and music in the last third of the film is incredibly sensual and the final scene predates a very similar one from The Graduate.

I watched it via the Region B Artificial Eye blu ray which is from Gaumont’s restoration. Hopefully, Criterion upgrades their DVD at some point for Non-Region B folks.

[BamaDullard]

Originally Posted by jw007

Okay, unusual question for all you Criterion collectors...

What is your least favorite or most regretful blind-buy Criterion purchase?

Mine: Eating Raoul. I even sold it to a Second-hand media shop not long afterwards.

I guess I'd have to go with Panique. It definitely isn't a bad film, and I enjoyed it somewhat. But nothing really compels me to re-watch it.

On the flip-side, possibly the most rewarding blind buy I've had is The Cloud-Capped Star.

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by jw007

What is your least favorite or most regretful blind-buy Criterion purchase?

Fires on the Plain. I didn't get the attempts at humor and found the lead actor off-putting.

[belcherman]

My least favorite blind buy was/is Ghost World. I was swayed by the praise in this forum, plus I figured Steve Buscemi, how could I go wrong? Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything for me.

I have a few candidates for most favorite blind buy, but this morning I’m going with Make Way for Tomorrow. I couldn’t get it out my mind for days.

[Kaiju no Kami]

Did I dream it or did The Game get a Criterion release? I ask because none of my B&Ns have it instock and the employee couldn't find it in their computer.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by Kaiju no Kami

Did I dream it or did The Game get a Criterion release? I ask because none of my B&Ns have it instock and the employee couldn't find it in their computer.

Remember Barnes and Noble employees are garbage.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd...=0715515098717

https://www.criterion.com/films/28058-the-game

[BenOswald]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

Remember Barnes and Noble employees are garbage.

You get what you pay for. They probably make minimum wage.

[dbhl3000]

Originally Posted by javy

I always enjoy these celebrity Criterion closet DVD picks, but I can never help but to think to myself, why do they not already have those?

Because these movie folks are a bunch of phonies. Since they work in film, watching a lot of movies is probably the last thing they want to do but instead they pretend to be all into art films. But if the movies are given to them for free, why not take them, huh?
Of course I am being partially facetious but I suspect that may be the truth in more cases than we think.

[dbhl3000]

Originally Posted by jw007

Okay, unusual question for all you Criterion collectors...

What is your least favorite or most regretful blind-buy Criterion purchase?

Mine: Eating Raoul. I even sold it to a Second-hand media shop not long afterwards.

La Jetee/Sans Soliel, more powerful than the most powerful sleeping pill. Pretentious crap.

[Doc Moonlight]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

The Big Chill... stellar cast but I just found the whole thing so very obnoxious.

I've always felt that about THE BIG CHILL, too. As an alternative, I would highly recommend BETWEEN THE LINES, a Cohen title that is also part of the B&N 50% off sale. The thing I like about BTL, is that it shows how the spirit of the 60's was co-opted.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

Remember Barnes and Noble employees are garbage.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd...=0715515098717

https://www.criterion.com/films/28058-the-game

I’ve found B&N employees to be generally courteous and helpful, when I could find one (my store is usually understaffed). It could be that a temp holiday employee isn’t familiar with how to find things. In the past, I’ve had success pulling up the listing on my phone and showing it to the employee.

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by belcherman

I’ve found B&N employees to be generally courteous and helpful, when I could find one (my store is usually understaffed). It could be that a temp holiday employee isn’t familiar with how to find things. In the past, I’ve had success pulling up the listing on my phone and showing it to the employee.

Best way is just to give them the UPC -- the B&N computer sometimes using the std 12 digit code, but sometimes will only work with the 13 digit with the leading 0

But overall, I generally find the B&N employees by far the best of the Big Box stores -- not counting the holiday temps. Like with most things, it depends on which store and who you happen to get at the time. Many of the the clerks I deal with have been there for years and many of them actually watch movies and read the books they sell. It's exceptionally rare when I can ask about a movie and not only have the employee recognize the name, but more than a few time they'll end up knowing the lead actor or director before even looking it up. My favorite Clerk was a Film Major at the local college who absolutely loved Japanese films -- he was so much fun and saved me so much money with coupons way back I literally was considering buying him Zatoichi Boxset as a graduation present when I heard he was moving to CA, but he left before I could do it.

[AaronJ]

How weird. I have a bunch of discs and sets that aren't yet completely organized, basically because I ran out ofstorage room temporarily. Thus, I need to do a bunch of re-organization on top of the monster amount of cleaning I need to get done. Anyways ...

I thought that tomorrow I would finally start digging into what looks to be that incredible Koker Trilogy of Kiorastami films. I'll take some time off of watching the mini-series of "The Mist" for a bit and get to know, at least physically, this trilogy of films.

Turns out, somehow, I don't have it! I could swear, I would have put money down! that not only did I order it, but I received it! I remember it as if it were this morning!

The only thing I can think of is that it was a dream -- an especially vivid one, but a dream nonetheless. Oh well. Now it's supposed to arrive tomorrow. But that was odd.

[BamaDullard]

Originally Posted by dbhl3000

La Jetee/Sans Soliel, more powerful than the most powerful sleeping pill. Pretentious crap.

How is it pretentious? Or do you mean you just didn't like it?

[Sommerswerd]

Originally Posted by dbhl3000

Because these movie folks are a bunch of phonies. Since they work in film, watching a lot of movies is probably the last thing they want to do but instead they pretend to be all into art films. But if the movies are given to them for free, why not take them, huh?
Of course I am being partially facetious but I suspect that may be the truth in more cases than we think.

Or maybe they just don't own those titles. I personally own almost 100 Criterion titles, but there are perhaps still 25-50 titles on my wish-list.

[dbhl3000]

Originally Posted by BamaDullard

How is it pretentious? Or do you mean you just didn't like it?

Dude traveled around a lot and shot a lot of footage and instead of making a more straight forward documentary about his travels, he contrives this pseudo-intellectual narration which apparently fooled a lot of people into thinking there was great profundity in it about "the nature of time." Such bullshit. The closest thing in cinema to watching paint dry.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Sommerswerd

Or maybe they just don't own those titles. I personally own almost 100 Criterion titles, but there are perhaps still 25-50 titles on my wish-list.

Yeah, I think I own around just over 160 titles (it says that 30.2% of my 554 titles are Criterion), and there are still so many I want.

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by jw007

Okay, unusual question for all you Criterion collectors...
What is your least favorite or most regretful blind-buy Criterion purchase?

I don’t have any regrets or “least favorite”. I buy titles that interest, or sound like they will, me so I don’t have to be disappointed.

[145gtw]

Originally Posted by jw007

Okay, unusual question for all you Criterion collectors...

What is your least favorite or most regretful blind-buy Criterion purchase?

Mine: Eating Raoul. I even sold it to a Second-hand media shop not long afterwards.

Didn’t really care for any of these. Just not my kind of work, I guess.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by belcherman

I’ve found B&N employees to be generally courteous and helpful, when I could find one (my store is usually understaffed). It could be that a temp holiday employee isn’t familiar with how to find things. In the past, I’ve had success pulling up the listing on my phone and showing it to the employee.

Yeah, I was being more dramatic based on my issues with them. My store used to have dedicated employees for the media section and they were great and helpful, then they got rid of them, so now the employees just search things on the floor, which I’ve Already done. So I have found no point in asking them, if I need to, I’ll already pull up the item on my phone and show them so they can find it in the computer easier.

Side story. I went in last year to get the Ingmar Bergman collection and two employees said check the Criterion section, and I had to tell them it’s larger than regular Criterion’s, it won’t be there. The older dude employee ignored me and checked the Criterion section, while the younger girl noticed the larger boxes on the desk and opened them and found the Ingmar Bergman collection. So I’ve had good and bad employee experiences. The Christmas employees are gonna be more of a mixed bag.