The Criterion Collection

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by Magic Dishwasher

This is a little random and won't be helpful for everyone, but Target.com has matched Amazon's $23 price for most Criterion blurays, and there's a Target Circle Buy-One-Get-One-50%-Off deal on movies right now. That discount on top of the 5% off with a Target red card makes for a pretty nice savings on two Criterions -- about $10 cheaper than buying at Barnes and Noble.

Thanks for the tip. I picked up The Great Dictator and The Age of Innocence for $36 and change. That's about a $4.50 savings for me (I don't have a Target red card) over the B&N sale price (including tax).

[BenOswald]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 187 times: Buffalo 66’ NEEDS to get a Criterion release.

From now on I’m going to make at least one post about Buffalo 66’ every 4-6 weeks.

And if you think I’m kidding, then you don’t know a damn thing about Ray Jackson.

I’m a pit bull.

I’m relentless when I want something.

I’m an angel-headed hipster looking for an angry fix.

I’m borderline psychotic when it comes to three things: original Nacho Cheese Doritos, vintage 80s erotica and Buffalo 66’.

...FACT.

The opening 10 minutes or so where he can’t find a place to go to the bathroom is arguably the greatest 10 minutes in the history of cinema.

“Don’t tell me to relax!...Get your Freaking Face out of my pants!“

At the risk of enabling your psychosis, I can tell you that someone told me that they heard Vincent Gallo can be often be seen walking around the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles.

He walks much slower than the in the opening of Buffalo 66, perhaps due to ample hipster gourmet winebars, juicebars, and coffee shoppes with restrooms in the area.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by Magic Dishwasher

This is a little random and won't be helpful for everyone, but Target.com has matched Amazon's $23 price for most Criterion blurays, and there's a Target Circle Buy-One-Get-One-50%-Off deal on movies right now. That discount on top of the 5% off with a Target red card makes for a pretty nice savings on two Criterions -- about $10 cheaper than buying at Barnes and Noble.

Thanks so much! It proved to be very helpful to me. Two Criterion Blus (LOCAL HERO; THE CAMERAMAN) for $17.00 each, including shipping and tax! I may go back for more, so thanks again. Your post and alert made my day.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Magic Dishwasher

This is a little random and won't be helpful for everyone, but Target.com has matched Amazon's $23 price for most Criterion blurays, and there's a Target Circle Buy-One-Get-One-50%-Off deal on movies right now. That discount on top of the 5% off with a Target red card makes for a pretty nice savings on two Criterions -- about $10 cheaper than buying at Barnes and Noble.

thanks! out the door w/ The Lady Eve and They Live By Night @ $17.21 each!

[Dankk]

Originally Posted by Magic Dishwasher

This is a little random and won't be helpful for everyone, but Target.com has matched Amazon's $23 price for most Criterion blurays, and there's a Target Circle Buy-One-Get-One-50%-Off deal on movies right now. That discount on top of the 5% off with a Target red card makes for a pretty nice savings on two Criterions -- about $10 cheaper than buying at Barnes and Noble.

Oof. Wasn't planning on buying anymore Criterions for a little bit, but this pushed me over the edge. I ordered Pale Flower and Fail Safe for a total of $35.14.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 187 times: Buffalo 66’ NEEDS to get a Criterion release.

From now on I’m going to make at least one post about Buffalo 66’ every 4-6 weeks.

And if you think I’m kidding, then you don’t know a damn thing about Ray Jackson.

I’m a pit bull.

I’m relentless when I want something.

I’m an angel-headed hipster looking for an angry fix.

I’m borderline psychotic when it comes to three things: original Nacho Cheese Doritos, vintage 80s erotica and Buffalo 66’.

...FACT.

The opening 10 minutes or so where he can’t find a place to go to the bathroom is arguably the greatest 10 minutes in the history of cinema.

“Don’t tell me to relax!...Get your Freaking Face out of my pants!“

I feel your pain!

But I'll tell you what I did.

I bought the Japanese blu-ray of Buffalo 66 (its also Region-free) many, many, many years ago and still consider this an incredible release due to the high quality bitrate transfer and solid audio.

Of course I'd love to see this film in the Criterion Collection, but that's not up to me or any of us for that matter.

Hopefully wizard Jon Mulvaney, who is working behind that curtain pulling the strings, will hear our pleas, click his red slippers 3 times, and magically announce a release for this incredibly strange but fantastic film about one lonely man who is too neurotic to love another woman, but adheres to his bladder only when the timing is right, while respecting his dismissive parents who are obsessed about a single play in a football game from decades past.

And yes, let's hear it for The Brown Bunny that will hopefully be part of the supplements too.

There is no man with a bigger ego than Vincent Gallo. Period.

[ravenus]

Hiroshi Teshigahara's celebration of the justly famed architect Antonio Gaudi is not a conventional facts and figures documentary, but an audio-visual poem in which the camera loving stares at or lingers over Gaudi's highly individualistic work. To my architecturally illiterate mind Gaudi's style suggests a desire to replicate the unevenness and rugged majesty of natural formations in his constructions, which is constantly revealed in the camera. An equal participant is the brilliant Toru Takemitsu score which goes from ambient experimental to full-blown waltz without batting an eyelid. It blows one's mind to think of the immense amount of work that must have gone into executing that style of construction, far more difficult than making regular geometric structures.
It is only at the end that the film makes a concession to providing context, for Gaudi's most revered creation the magnificent Church of the Sagrada Familia. A richly meditative 70 min.

The blu-ray has a dazzling transfer in which one can almost feel the textures of the surfaces, and the colors are fresh without appearing manipulated. The LPCM 1.0 soundtrack ably carries the beauty of the score (although it would IMO have been an interesting experiment to additionally do a surround remix). Looking forward to the extras which include more explorations of Gaudi.

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Hiroshi Teshigahara's celebration of the justly famed architect Antonio Gaudi is not a conventional facts and figures documentary, but an audio-visual poem in which the camera loving stares at or lingers over Gaudi's highly individualistic work. To my architecturally illiterate mind Gaudi's style suggests a desire to replicate the unevenness and rugged majesty of natural formations in his constructions, which is constantly revealed in the camera. An equal participant is the brilliant Toru Takemitsu score which goes from ambient experimental to full-blown waltz without batting an eyelid. It blows one's mind to think of the immense amount of work that must have gone into executing that style of construction, far more difficult than making regular geometric structures.
It is only at the end that the film makes a concession to providing context, for Gaudi's most revered creation the magnificent Church of the Sagrada Familia. A richly meditative 70 min.

The blu-ray has a dazzling transfer in which one can almost feel the textures of the surfaces, and the colors are fresh without appearing manipulated. The LPCM 1.0 soundtrack ably carries the beauty of the score (although it would IMO have been an interesting experiment to additionally do a surround remix). Looking forward to the extras which include more explorations of Gaudi.

[Show spoiler]

I almost bought the DVD on a number of occasions, and the BD is firmly on my list. Sounds very much my sort of thing.

Thanks for posting your thoughts.

[blujazz]

Any news on more Kore-eda on Criterion? He's so underrepresented on Blu-ray in the US...

[DaBargainHunta]

Gloria (1980)



John Cassavetes' Gloria is a crime chase picture about a former mob associate (Gena Rowlands) who ends up taking care of her neighbor's 6-year-old son - albeit very reluctantly - after he and the rest of his family are "marked" by mobsters. The boy has in his possession a book of vital information the goons want for themselves. Most of the film is spent with the woman and the boy on the run, going from taxi cabs to hotels to restaurants to train stations, as she tries to protect him.

Even at a running time of 2 hours and 1 minute, the movie flies by, because the chase is on and something is always happening. Filmed in the late 1970s, the movie makes great use of gritty New York street locations. There's no gentrification in sight here!

Rowlands' Gloria is tougher than a $2 steak and she deservedly earned an Oscar nomination for the role. The boy, on the other hand, was unfairly nominated for a Razzie "award." (The Razzies are and continue to be a joke!) No, he's obviously not a professional actor. Yes, there are scenes that feel like he's reading his lines rather than saying them. Still, the real issue is that he was given unrealistic dialogue no kindergartner could possibly say convincingly. Rowland's lines are written and delivered in a "heightened" fashion as well, but unlike her little co-star, she has the experience necessary to be able to handle the material expertly. Despite all of that, it's easy to see why Gloria continues to protect him. Since that's the whole crux of the movie, the boy did the absolute best he could considering the circumstances and obviously pulls off the role well enough.

DaBargainHunta's Decree: Even though Gloria isn't a perfect movie

[Show spoiler](the ending is so beyond saccharine that I was almost convinced everyone really died and I was watching some kind of dream or afterlife sequence - I'm surprised there's no alternate theory to that effect)

, it's compulsively compelling - you won't be able to keep your eyes off the screen. (Subtitles: Yes!)

Note: There's a remake with Sharon Stone, which I haven't seen, but I have a feeling it's not very good because I don't remember hearing about it at the time. Plus, as much as I like Stone, I can't imagine any other than Gena Rowlands playing this part.

[The Sovereign]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Damn, just as I was putting that sale @ Target out of my mind. Nice review tho.

[tatterdemalion]

Originally Posted by blujazz

Any news on more Kore-eda on Criterion? He's so underrepresented on Blu-ray in the US...

I'm with you there. I'm hoping maybe they'll get his latest film The Truth, then work on getting more titles of his.

Except for Still Walking every Kore-eda film I own on Blu-ray, and at this moment I have them all, is either from Japan or the U. K. I had bought the Bandai Visual Maborosi before Milestone released theirs, which looks like was a smart move because of the interlacing on the Milestone release. I bought an all-region BD player specifically to get the Arrow Family Values set, and the Japanese films that other U. K. boutique labels offered.

[gbm82]

Wrong Move is only my 4th (?) Wim Wenders journey...
Each of them has been fantastic. I really need to watch some more of his stuff, sadly only the Road Trilogy resides in my collection at this time.

[chocolat]

man... the sale is almost over and nothing is really restocked at all. Guess this is gonna end with a whimper;

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by chocolat

man... the sale is almost over and nothing is really restocked at all. Guess this is gonna end with a whimper;

Agreed. I know they have the COVID-19 excuse, but the sheer amount of OOS items made the sale pretty disappointing. I actually ordered more from Arrow UK than Criterion this month.

[Bn43]

I got more than I planned.



Already watched over half of them, though.

Finished the Bruce Lee collection with Enter the Dragon yesterday, which was even more entertaining this second time.

[Jason Rietman4k]

Originally Posted by Bn43

I got more than I planned.



Already watched over half of them, though.

Finished the Bruce Lee collection with Enter the Dragon yesterday, which was even more entertaining this second time.

Good movies. I enjoyed Eight Hours Don't Make a Day more than I thought I would. It's splendidly acted.

[Jason Rietman4k]

Fun fact: The main actor in Eight Hours Don't Make a Day is Gottfried John, one of the major villains in GoldenEye!

[Bn43]

Originally Posted by Jason Rietman4k

Good movies. I enjoyed Eight Hours Don't Make a Day more than I thought I would. It's splendidly acted.

I think it's one of Fassbinder's best films. Can't believe how few people have seen it compared to his other work.

[Jason Rietman4k]

Originally Posted by Bn43

I think it's one of Fassbinder's best films. Can't believe how few people have seen it compared to his other work.

Oh so you have watched it then... I think because it's not movie. Fassbinder was an odd duck. What did you think of Effi Briest?