The Criterion Collection

[demonknight]

Originally Posted by belcherman

I recommend America Lost and Found: The BBS Story. During a B&N sale it can be had for about $50 with coupons. Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture Show alone make it worth the price -- American classics all. If The Last Pucture Show had been available as a stand-alone, I would have purchased that and the Sony release of Easy Rider, but I would have missed out on some great movies.

Plus, the underrated as hell semi-classics Drive, He Said, Head, and The King of Marvin Gardens. The latter is my favorite of the group, featuring one of the best Nicholson deliveries out there:

[Show spoiler]"Your mother is going to murder one of us. So far, the only one she hasn't nominated is you."

[jshaide]

Saw TALE OF TALES today and really enjoyed it. Wondering if Criterion will pick it up since they did pick up Garrone's "Gomorrah".

[theater dreamer]

If we're talking Peter Bogdanovich, I'd love to see Paper Moon added to the CC. Right now, it's not available domestically at all. I'm going to order the Eureka import, but I'd double dip for a Criterion release.

So, my Criterion Blu-ray want list right now is looking like this:

upgrades
Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr and The Passion of Joan of Arc.
Laurence Olivier's Hamlet and Henry V to release the Olivier's Shakespeare box set.
Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev

first time releases
Roman Polanski's The Pianist
Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend
Peter Bogdanovich's Paper Moon
John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle
Michael Apted's Up documentary series.

[Edward J Grug III]

What kind of mad world do we live in where The Lady Eve isn't on blu ray?

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

What kind of mad world do we live in where The Lady Eve isn't on blu ray?

I don't know but the word 'first' is probably in there somewhere

[Scottie]

Add me to the list of people who are begging for releases of The Lost Weekend and Paper Moon.

Having seen almost all of Wilder's major hits, I think I'd argue that The Lost Weekend is his best.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by octagon

I don't know but the word 'first' is probably in there somewhere

Weird - You're saying it's out in second or third world countries? Where can I order it from? Do they have their own database - I searched globally?

[mja345]

I sat down and watched my Criterion DVD of a film called "Dillinger is Dead" last night. I've owned it for a while, but just now got around to watching it. Man is that a trip of a film. I've seen a lot of bizarre movies, but it's right up there near the top. I ended up really enjoying it though. It basically follows a guy who works as a gas mask designer around his home on a seemingly routine evening. But it becomes much more than that. It's so weird and brilliant. I'd seen another Marco Ferreri film, "La Grande Bouffe", which I also loved, but his films aren't for everyone. I honestly can't imagine what the response to "Dillinger is Dead" would be if you showed it to the average viewer. Check this one out if your tastes run toward the surreal and bizarre.

[Canada]

The folks at Criterion need to try to get there hands on Brian De Palma's Carrie so they can do a nice AVC transfer because the MPEG 2 transfer that Fox used wasn't good at all. Criterion could do wonders with it.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Add me to the list of people who are begging for releases of The Lost Weekend and Paper Moon.

Having seen almost all of Wilder's major hits, I think I'd argue that The Lost Weekend is his best.

Maybe my opinion would change because it has been a while, but I found The Lost Weekend silly in a way not too dissimilar to Bigger Than Life. It seems that many of these 'addict' movies have tried too hard to get you into their character's psyche.

[Popcorn_Bliss]

Thanks for the box set info. I wasn't even aware Criterion did multi-film sets!

It does look nice, but I still think I'll wait and see if "The Last Picture Show" gets a stand-alone release. At worst, I still have my old DVD for the time being...

[buffetfroid]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Maybe my opinion would change because it has been a while, but I found The Lost Weekend silly in a way not too dissimilar to Bigger Than Life. It seems that many of these 'addict' movies have tried too hard to get you into their character's psyche.

Agreed. To me this is more mid-range Wilder. But I haven't seen it in 15 years or so.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Maybe my opinion would change because it has been a while, but I found The Lost Weekend silly in a way not too dissimilar to Bigger Than Life. It seems that many of these 'addict' movies have tried too hard to get you into their character's psyche.

A lot of the psychological films of that period seem a little creaky today, but they were cutting edge for their time. I'm thinking of not just the addiction movies like The Lost Weekend but also mental illness or pychological trauma movies like Spellbound. The Lost Weekend was considered very realistic when it came out and some even thought it was too realistic. While it's not my favorite Wilder, it's probably in my top ten (in very good company). What I enjoy about it is the way Wilder tells the story of this man's struggle with the bottle and also the sly bits of humor that Wilder injects into it.

[mja345]

"Bigger Than Life" is dated if you look at it as a study on addiction. However, that film is Nicholas Ray's attempt to skewer the overall zeitgeist of the 1950s IMO. I think it works incredibly well on that level. Also, James Mason is allowed to take his performance to places that very few actors were allowed to go during that era of filmmaking.

[ShellOilJunior]

The more I read about FilmStruck the more I get excited about its potential. This could mean more WB titles licensed to Criterion for blu-ray release. Not to mention access to the TCM and Criterion libraries (or at least a good part of it). It'd be terrific if most selections were available in 1080p with some 4k support.

At the end of my wish list is Jon Mulvaney guest hosting and/or being interviewed by Robert Osborne.

[Wooden Lens]

Originally Posted by mja345

"Bigger Than Life" is dated if you look at it as a study on addiction. However, that film is Nicholas Ray's attempt to skewer the overall zeitgeist of the 1950s IMO. I think it works incredibly well on that level. Also, James Mason is allowed to take his performance to places that very few actors were allowed to go during that era of filmmaking.

Definitely agree. I think watching a lot of these older titles (I'd say all really) with historical context really helps with the appreciation of these titles!

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

.At the end of my wish list is Jon Mulvaney guest hosting and/or being interviewed by Robert Osborne.

Impossible, Osborne isn't a real person silly.

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Impossible, Osborne isn't a real person silly.

I've always felt that Osborne provides a lot for comedians to work with if they chose to imitate him. His body language and vocal cadence would make for a good impersonation. I guess he isn't well known enough for people to recognize or care.

[llj]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Maybe my opinion would change because it has been a while, but I found The Lost Weekend silly in a way not too dissimilar to Bigger Than Life. It seems that many of these 'addict' movies have tried too hard to get you into their character's psyche.

Ray Milland's performance is still genuine and strong. I feel like that's the best part of The Lost Weekend.

As for Bigger Than Life, I think it's doing something else entirely. It's less a 'study of addiction' than it is a melodrama, and everything than accompanies that genre (including the satire). All of Nicholas Ray's movies are over-the
-top though, so the hysterics are not just limited to Bigger Than Life. Ray was always working on a more expressionistic level, and that kind of approach has always been misunderstood I guess, partly because very few people today are doing that anymore, or at least they aren't doing it in a sincere way.

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by llj

Ray Milland's performance is still genuine and strong. I feel like that's the best part of The Lost Weekend.

As for Bigger Than Life, I think it's doing something else entirely. It's less a 'study of addiction' than it is a melodrama, and everything than accompanies that genre (including the satire). All of Nicholas Ray's movies are over-the
-top though, so the hysterics are not just limited to Bigger Than Life. Ray was always working on a more expressionistic level, and that kind of approach has always been misunderstood I guess, partly because very few people today are doing that anymore, or at least they aren't doing it in a sincere way.

I'm an alcoholic myself and I haven't had a drink in almost five years.

I saw The Lost Weekend when I was first starting to get sober, so it will always have a special place in my heart. I actually think it did a very good job of illustrating the mindset of an alcoholic and the mental hurdles they have to clear to finally get over the hump of addiction. Ray Milland did a fantastic job imo. I don't know what level of public awareness about the disease (as AA refers to it) existed at that time or whether Billy Wilder had even heard of Alcoholic's Anonymous, which published the first edition of the AA Big Book in 1939.

But it's a film that I was able to relate to on a very personal level and I think it was way ahead of its time in terms of subject matter.

In purely cinematic terms, I would not put it on the same level as Sunset Boulevard or Double Indemnity, but I happen to think those films are untouchable.

...Billy Freaking Wilder.