The Criterion Collection

[HyperRealist]

Originally Posted by santasangria

Sooo this is ten dollars.

Damn mine just shipped. I paid $14 for it.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by HyperRealist

Damn mine just shipped. I paid $14 for it.

Yeah me too, I jumped on it at $14.

I'd love to see a bunch more Eclipse sets drop to $10. But it seems to just be that one. Even the MSRP is showing $13.98 so it's probably some type of mistake.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

I mean what is wrong with people?
it's not that hard to understand.
what is Criterion supposed to do when the restored master they were given was degrained and ruined in post with excessive dnr and digital filtering?
THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO.
they can't take out the filtering.
they can't un-ring the f&*king bell ok.
what's done is done.
only Pathe can undo this mess by taking the unmolested files and creating a new master that leaves off all the digital tampering.
that is the only "solution" or "fixing" that could occur.
It's not a matter of Criterion "ignoring" anything because they couldn't change anything even if they wanted to.

This post by Mr. Arkadin essentially sums up the entire situation.

The only party to blame in this fiasco is on the other side of the Atlantic, in France, and it is called Pathe.

Pro-B

[tenia]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

This post by Mr. Arkadin essentially sums up the entire situation.

The only party to blame in this fiasco is on the other side of the Atlantic, in France, and it is called Pathe.

Pro-B

As a French person, I'm quite shameful of the situation.
Again.

[ravenus]

^Criterion may not be directly responsible for what the transfer looks like but the trust placed in them by their fans, some of whom blind-buy films under the CC label, to provide the best possible releases for classic films will be eroded with such episodes.
They may not be able to fix the issues on this release but they could perhaps soothe the disappointment of people that have bought this with expectations with store credit incentive or something like that.

[Darkcritic]

Originally Posted by oildude

The First Films of Samuel Fuller is an outstanding Eclipse set. No brainer at this price for anyone who doesn't have it. The Steel Helmet is worth it by itself, but you also get Vincent Price in The Baron of Arizona. The transfers look good, too.

There are clips on YouTube if anyone wants to sample.

I end up going through all the ordering until I saw the final price. Apparently, Amazon shipping to Mexico is way too expensive (Which is weird as I have placed other orders that have charged me a lot less for more products). The final price was around $21 so I thought I might as well wait for the B&N sale (It takes around 1-2 MONTHS for things to get here anyway). Amazon UK, on the other hand, seems to do great here. Ordered Kenneth Anger's Magick Lantern Cycle and the only charged me half a pound for shipping that should be here in two weeks .

[Darkcritic]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

This post by Mr. Arkadin essentially sums up the entire situation.

The only party to blame in this fiasco is on the other side of the Atlantic, in France, and it is called Pathe.

Pro-B

I am wondering if they HAD to use this restoration. If it was a contractual thing so they needed to release it as it is instead of waiting for another on. If it was contractual than Criterion has not the fault but still has to take responsability for putting a subpar release of one of their BIG titles. Let hope they don't use the same Pathe restoration for the eventual Le Samourai release just because "They HAD to".

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by tenia

As a French person, I'm quite shameful of the situation.
Again.

This is a very harsh stance, Tenia. It is an unfortunate situation, but mistakes happen. No company's record is flawless. And nationality has absolutely nothing to do with it.

For every missed opportunity there will be hundreds more incredible releases. Look at what your Lobster Films accomplished with Georges Melies' A Trip to the Moon, easily one of the greatest restorations ever done. And hands down the most impressive release this year.

Life goes on, and there will be many more fantastic restorations of classic films on Blu-ray to celebrate.

Pro-B

[BohemianGraham]

So Children of Paradise is apparently utter, utter shit now, what about Les Visiteurs de soir? Is that one that apparently everyone must boycott now?

[lim.davidd]

I already have the DVD of Criterion.s Children of Paradise and I did not double dip. It turned out to be a wise choice

[ShellOilJunior]

I got to Rosetta this weekend.

Some thoughts:

[Show spoiler]
- I think the over-the-shoulder camera worked quite effectively here. I know some people complain it's hard to watch but I was fine with it. It makes things more personal (I think part of the way Black Swan was filmed was inspired from this film).

- The mother-daughter relationship was really painful. Rosetta functioned as "mother" for her drunkard mother.

- The characters really need swimming lessons! There are two scenes where they can barely tread water. The second of which Rosetta considers letting the guy drown. I'm glad she didn't as it would've killed all sympathy for her character.

-The film is a gem and it comes from a small idea. I really love films that do this. A lot of money isn't needed if there's a great idea and a visionary director(s)

Very much enjoyed my viewing experience. I have to catch-up on some more films (plus, the big one arrives next week - Lawrence!) then I'll double back and watch this again.

[iap738]

I used the remaining balance of an Amazon gift card and pre-ordered Rosemary's Baby for 51 cents shipped! Can't wait for that release!

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I got to Rosetta this weekend.

Some thoughts:

[Show spoiler]
- I think the over-the-shoulder camera worked quite effectively here. I know some people complain it's hard to watch but I was fine with it. It makes things more personal (I think part of the way Black Swan was filmed was inspired from this film).

- The mother-daughter relationship was really painful. Rosetta functioned as "mother" for her drunkard mother.

- The characters really need swimming lessons! There are two scenes where they can barely tread water. The second of which Rosetta considers letting the guy drown. I'm glad she didn't as it would've killed all sympathy for her character.

-The film is a gem and it comes from a small idea. I really love films that do this. A lot of money isn't needed if there's a great idea and a visionary director(s)

Very much enjoyed my viewing experience. I have to catch-up on some more films (plus, the big one arrives next week - Lawrence!) then I'll double back and watch this again.

I know the feeling of catching up. I finally watched Leon Morin and Marienbad last night after having them for a month or so. My problem with them was that I watched them relatively close to when I bought them from B&N to determine whether or not I wanted to buy them.

I also watched Quadrophenia yesterday, and will have to watch it again to get a better feel for the film. I honestly disliked Jimmy as he was a bit of an ass, but

[Show spoiler] Steph was a total slag, she was just using him so I did feel a bit bad for him.

I also saw Ray Winstone in a new light, and I never expected that!

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

This post by Mr. Arkadin essentially sums up the entire situation.

The only party to blame in this fiasco is on the other side of the Atlantic, in France, and it is called Pathe.

Pro-B

Which version of Children of Paradise is a more pleasurable viewing experience then - the Criterion DVD or the Criterion Blu-ray?

[DetroitSquirreL]

Originally Posted by Zen_Amako

It's a little off topic, but this weekend, I picked up the Insignia NS-WBRDVD2 Blu-ray player at Best Buy. This player is currently on sale for $89, and if you punch in a code on the remote (9113), a secret menu pops up that allows you to set it to whatever BD region and DVD region you want. It's similar in this regard to the Momitsu and Sherwood players, but it's so cheap, I bought one just to have a second region free player. For 89 bucks + tax, region coding can be one less worry, and BB seems to have loads of these players in stock.

Originally Posted by eatingclass

Whoa - and there's not limit to how many times you reassign the region? If so, I may have to go look into it.

By the way, has anyone had problems with Che Part Two? The subtitles on my disc start speeding up at about 46 minutes in, showing up before the corresponding dialogue starts and disappearing before it's over.

I looked up similar problems online but came up with nothing.

Thanks for the help!

Originally Posted by painted_klown

Thanks for the tip!

Stupid question alert: When using this BD player, can I play all region BDs on my american t.v.? Are there compatibility issues at all?

all answers on this unit can be found in the thread in my signature

[Boob-Ray]

Originally Posted by sc1957

So... Lonesome. Highly inventive and interesting. Almost too frantic. The Coney Island crowd with confetti and streamers was way over the top, and some of the overlays were awfully busy. The roller coaster was a nice plot device. The ending was a bit trite, but satisfying enough -- my thought was "How could these people never have noticed each other?"

I also enjoyed The Last Performance -- maybe even more than Lonesome. I'll watch Broadway later. Fejos' personal story was interesting too... from medical student to theater, to film, to America, back to Europe, to filming native societies, to leading an anthropological society. I expect he felt that his commercial films were the least part of his life.

Interesting. I didn't find it frantic. If it ever was, it made sense in the context of when it appeared. To me, these techniques colorfully illustrated the cacophony and pacing of life -- not just in the city, but of young people finding each other. The ironically, lifeless swirl of people bouncing around -- and how seemingly random it is that two people meant to meet each other, can actually meet in those conditions.

[Show spoiler]And then just as quickly "un-meet." This is in an age long before cell phones and email. If you didn't get their name or anything...they could have been gone forever. How did you get in touch with someone? Yet, even today, this can still happen.

I really loved Lonesome. I thought it was such a sweet, innocent tale. All the "trite" aspects being its strength, including the ending - which was a miracle. Love and life can be boiled down to such absurdly simple events. Two people finding each other in the madness of the world isn't random. It's destiny. Small town or big, Coney Island crowds or in the middle of nowhere -- the world can be lonely. But destiny reigns, regardless of either extreme. Because it is destiny after all. It's a miracle.

Ultimately, these are simple, romantic notions -- and I felt Fejos understood that that's what mattered here. Simple was the star. His job was to provide the world for it to happen in. Nothing more. I was completely enamored with all the elements of this film. I was reminded a little of People On Sunday (having just watched it recently.) The pure notion of the lives of ordinary young people. Life can seem so simple when you're young -- yet so important. For young people have to build something -- as one gets older, its more about managing and giving back.

Fejos recreated that wonderful rush of meeting someone extremely special. Those fleeting moments of life and ultimately of understanding something as destiny. Really, really cool.

[Snicket]

Criterion will be announcing its December line up next week. Their FB page asked what titles people hoped to see...naturally I said I wanted The Cat From Outer Space...

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by Snicket

Criterion will be announcing its December line up next week. Their FB page asked what titles people hoped to see...naturally I said I wanted The Cat From Outer Space...

Really we have to wait till Monday! But I want it NOW!!!

[tenia]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

This is a very harsh stance, Tenia. It is an unfortunate situation, but mistakes happen. No company's record is flawless. And nationality has absolutely nothing to do with it.

For every missed opportunity there will be hundreds more incredible releases. Look at what your Lobster Films accomplished with Georges Melies' A Trip to the Moon, easily one of the greatest restorations ever done. And hands down the most impressive release this year.

Life goes on, and there will be many more fantastic restorations of classic films on Blu-ray to celebrate.

Pro-B

It is, of course, exagerated.

But the fact that it is, after Le samourai, Pathé screws up a huge release with a quite costful restoration. Currently, only half of their huge releases are good (The Leopard, and Apocalypse Now, but even Apocalypse Now is inferior to the US release).

So of course, we have Lobster, and Gaumont, and Carlotta and all, but we also have MK2 and Pathé.

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

Really we have to wait till Monday! But I want it NOW!!!

We have the Hitchcock set reviews to keep us busy (and entertained) until then.