The Criterion Collection

[monorail91]

Saw Sorrentino's Youth today (his new film, following The Great Beauty). This one's being distributed by Fox Searchlight -- not aware of precedent between them and Criterion, so not sure what this one's chances are? (I could go either way as far as this film being "important," though I certainly enjoyed it: wrote a piece here.)

For anyone who's interested in seeing it in theaters, I think its US release began yesterday; specifically, I saw it at the Landmark in LA.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The Criterion discs are housed in the second stack of cases to the left, but those are not all of my Criterion discs by a long mile. I have the horror Criterions in the horror section, the film noir Criterions in the film noir section, and so on. The ones in the Criterion-exclusive cases are generally intricate foreign films, samurai films, the category-evasive titles, and such.

That would be really hard. I have AFI 100 Criterions on the AFI 100 shelf but the rest stay together. It gets a little tough because I also have certain directors segregated into their own sections but rows and rows of Criterions just look too darned good together.

[WonderWeasel]

I came across this at a used bookstore today... if only I had $100 of expendable income to blow.

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by darkness2918

So, what has been everyone's top 3 Criterion blind buys? I only started buying this past summer & have thinned out my collection already to make room for other stuff. Mine are:

The Devil's Backbone
Shallow Grave
Purple Noon

That's easy.
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
The Phantom Carriage
Jubal

But then I'd be leaving out The Wages of Fear, Les Visiteurs du Soir, Badlands... On second thought, I'll get back to you.

[jw007]

I think I might have to expand my worst chosen blind-buys to F for Fake. I watched it last night and did not enjoy it too much. Has anyone else seen this film by Orson Welles? It was an impulse purchase a few weeks ago during the sale, but I knew I shouldn't have done that.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by jw007

I think I might have to expand my worst chosen blind-buys to F for Fake. I watched it last night and did not enjoy it too much. Has anyone else seen this film by Orson Welles? It was an impulse purchase a few weeks ago during the sale, but I knew I shouldn't have done that.

I've seen it twice and I disliked it both times.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

So, I came across this at a used bookstore today... If only I had $100 of expendable income to blow.

Just get the Region free French 4k remaster, which has almost all of the same extras AND better PQ and save a lot of money.

[cicada88]

Originally Posted by jw007

I think I might have to expand my worst chosen blind-buys to F for Fake. I watched it last night and did not enjoy it too much. Has anyone else seen this film by Orson Welles? It was an impulse purchase a few weeks ago during the sale, but I knew I shouldn't have done that.

I watched about 45 minutes of it on Hulu and found it too annoying to continue

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by jw007

I think I might have to expand my worst chosen blind-buys to F for Fake. I watched it last night and did not enjoy it too much. Has anyone else seen this film by Orson Welles? It was an impulse purchase a few weeks ago during the sale, but I knew I shouldn't have done that.

I really enjoy F For Fake, the film itself, as well as the overall Criterion package.

I find Orson Welles to be super interesting and that release is a great exploration of so much of who he was.

[BobbyMcGee]

Watched this evening:


Absolute masterpiece. A must own Criterion title.

Up next:

[WonderWeasel]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Just get the Region free French 4k remaster, which has almost all of the same extras AND better PQ and save a lot of money.

Honestly, I'm fine with my American StudioCanal release. I'd probably never spend $100 on an individual film anyway, unless I had a job that gave me enough expendable income to start seriously collecting. Until that day, I'm on a severely limited budget!

[Knaldskalle]

Originally Posted by jw007

I think I might have to expand my worst chosen blind-buys to F for Fake. I watched it last night and did not enjoy it too much. Has anyone else seen this film by Orson Welles? It was an impulse purchase a few weeks ago during the sale, but I knew I shouldn't have done that.

I really liked F for Fake. I saw it as a kid and was blown away by the duplicity of it. Revisited it a year or two ago and was still impressed. It toys with the idea of the unreliable narrator in a way we're not used to and I liked the challenge. Having said that, it's not a favorite Welles of mine, but I'll get it at some point.

Right now I'm holding out for the Welles box set that Criterion is rumored to be working on.

[applemac]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Just get the Region free French 4k remaster, which has almost all of the same extras AND better PQ and save a lot of money.

I think the criterion still had better PQ when I was trying to look this up recently, but its no where near $80+ better PQ.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by applemac

I think the criterion still had better PQ when I was trying to look this up recently, but its no where near $80+ better PQ.

There are three 'generations' of releases in play now.

Criterion released The Third Man on BD in 2008 and Studio Canal released it in 2010. Of those two, the Criterion was pretty widely believed to have an edge.

In addition to those releases, BDs based on a brand new 4K restoration are available overseas and the reviews of those releases have been glowing to say the least.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Knaldskalle

I really liked F for Fake. I saw it as a kid and was blown away by the duplicity of it. Revisited it a year or two ago and was still impressed. It toys with the idea of the unreliable narrator in a way we're not used to and I liked the challenge. Having said that, it's not a favorite Welles of mine, but I'll get it at some point.

Right now I'm holding out for the Welles box set that Criterion is rumored to be working on.

Yeah, I liked it too. I caught part of it on TCM and was intrigued enough to put it on one my various wishlists and am very glad I picked it up somewhere. The film was interesting enough in its own rights but the supplements were fantastic.

[darkness2918]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

So, I came across this at a used bookstore today... If only I had $100 of expendable income to blow.

The good thing about buying that CC version is even though cheaper versions are available it holds its value. I bought the plastic case version for $100 about 2 months back, watched it & sold it for $115.

[jmclick]

Originally Posted by WonderWeasel

I came across this at a used bookstore today... if only I had $100 of expendable income to blow.

Does Half-Price Books still have a huge after-Christmas sale? If so, hide that and go back and get it at the end of the month! (Just kidding ... NOT!)

[jmclick]

Originally Posted by jw007

I think I might have to expand my worst chosen blind-buys to F for Fake. I watched it last night and did not enjoy it too much. Has anyone else seen this film by Orson Welles? It was an impulse purchase a few weeks ago during the sale, but I knew I shouldn't have done that.

I also watched a film last night that is one of my least favorite blind buys: A Christmas Tale. Despite the presence of a great cast headed by Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Amalric, I felt that none of the characters was likable, their relationships were unfathomable, and there were too many of them vying for attention. Plus the whole movie struck me as vaguely unpleasant. Imagine my surprise when I watched the trailers afterwards and read some of the glowing critical blurbs that described the film as "Joyful", "Exhilarating", etc. The supplement with Deneuve, Amalric, and director Arnaud Desplechin discussing the film didn't help, either ... the movie they said they made was not the movie I watched.

Maybe it was just me, but I'd have to give this one a "thumbs down." Anyone else have an opinion on it?

[MKej]

Originally Posted by jmclick

I also watched a film last night that is one of my least favorite blind buys: A Christmas Tale. Despite the presence of a great cast headed by Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Amalric, I felt that none of the characters was likable, their relationships were unfathomable, and there were too many of them vying for attention. Plus the whole movie struck me as vaguely unpleasant. Imagine my surprise when I watched the trailers afterwards and read some of the glowing critical blurbs that described the film as "Joyful", "Exhilarating", etc. The supplement with Deneuve, Amalric, and director Arnaud Desplechin discussing the film didn't help, either ... the movie they said they made was not the movie I watched.

Maybe it was just me, but I'd have to give this one a "thumbs down." Anyone else have an opinion on it?

I am an only child from a family that has almost never experienced much conflict. When I was young, I often wondered why my friends would fight with their siblings so often. Sure, squabbles for a parent's attention or for getting an equal share of something have a certain degree of psychological rationality to them, but at the end of the day, the fighting seemed to be completely habitual, as if it was ingrained in the genetic make-up of the ceaselessly feuding siblings.

What I love about this film is the way it illustrates the patent absurdity of these family feuds without ever trivializing the emotions that fuel them. Henri continually pleads Elizabeth to give him a reason for why she banished him, and in the letter he writes to Elizabeth, he suggests that Elizabeth's ill feelings towards him have been caused by a myth that neither him nor her understands. The Nietzche quote that the father reads near the end of the film sheds light on how Elizabeth could have such unwavering disdain for her brother for so long. As a seeker of knowledge and rational ways to explain the world, Elizabeth has sought to avoid the irrational, inherent discord that lies at the heart of her relationship with Henri. In rejecting experience with her brother, she failed to take any steps towards better understanding herself by reconciling this fraught relationship, preferring instead to exist in the imaginary world of her plays. Her melancholy persists, because she is unable to embrace the world as it is and seeks out the myth as escape from her people in her life who are not bound by the understandable rules and noble intentions that exist in her fantasy world.

Elizabeth justifies her banishment of Henri by saying that she was trying to protect her son, as if Henri was a dragon that she refused to conquer. (spoilers) The film beautifully ends with Henri and Elizabeth's son, Paul, exercising together, and Henri hilariously blaming Elizabeth's depressive nature for Paul's psychological problems. Turns out the dragon wasn't the problem after-all, but rather the mother herself.... or at least that's what the dragon would have you believe. So the discord between Henri and Elizabeth is not be over, but the close proximity between them might bring them to some moment of forgiveness ... or not. Just as Henri refuses to show his mother the outcome of the coin toss, Desplechin refuses to give us a final meeting between Henri and Elizabeth. Whether or not Elizabeth and Henri can overcome their discord is unknown, but as long as Elizabeth accepts Henri being her a part of her family, there is hope for reconciliation, and possibly even hope that Elizabeth can one day better know herself by engaging with her family, rather than engaging with the family myth.

[kuro_sawa]

Originally Posted by jw007

I think I might have to expand my worst chosen blind-buys to F for Fake. I watched it last night and did not enjoy it too much. Has anyone else seen this film by Orson Welles? It was an impulse purchase a few weeks ago during the sale, but I knew I shouldn't have done that.

I love F for Fake, I think it's amazing. I still remember the first time I saw it, I just remember it was such a fun time. I find the documentary extra on the Criterion disc especially interesting as you get a "straight" documentary and then Welles's version. Incredible editing, ideas and people in this film, definitely a classic imo