The Criterion Collection

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by Vinyl

For me I have been sitting near 50 criterions for some time and have mainly bought ones I have already seen and enjoyed. A major reason I slowed to a near stop is my time.

I have a job, a wife, and a new kid (just turned one). Don't feel like sitting down for 2-3 hours watching some obscure film that I blind bought when I would much rather hang out with the family or just sit and relax/zone out for an hour.

Space is also a big factor. It just isn't as important as time. What is the point in collecting things you can't use/enjoy?

I would think kids are a big factor. My wife and I are DINKs, so those factors aren't really an issue for us. I world imagine the life changes involved with having kids, both time and financial, would greatly effect how I purchased and collected.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Agree I just sold my Masterpieces of Polish Cinema Vol 1 box and it felt strange, while I didn't loved all the films there were some I really liked and some that I might get something extra on a second viewing, but it was just too damn expensive , I can only get peace of mind thinking the ones I want will get individual releases at some point.

On the other hand there are some impulse buys that I can sell with no problem but still I have many on a list to rewatch to be sure I want to keep or sell.

I can only imagine what that Polish set must sell for now.

[belcherman]

I've already exceeded the shelf space I have in my media room and am looking at moving some of my collection to another room in the basement. I told myself that I would "thin the herd" when my collection reached 500 (dvd and blu total). That hasn't happened yet because it's hard for me to let go and also because I just haven't gotten around to it. I have a handful of duplicate blu rays that I have no reason to keep other than pure laziness. Lately, the wife and I have been talking about down-sizing, in which case I would then have to part with most of my collection. That's some tough decision-making that I'm not looking forward to.

Anyway, my hat's off to folks like iScottie who can keep this in perspective. With streaming options and digital purchase options abounding, physical media seems like more of a luxury now.

I think that if I had to choose I would only keep the movies I know I'll be watching on a regular basis and those that have valuable extras that I couldn't replace digitally.

[The Great Owl]

Lots of talk today about selling Blu-rays, storage space, and such...

Blu-ray storage space is not a problem for me yet, but I'm reached the point where I've got tons of still-unwatched Blu-rays due to the fact that I've been spending most of my spare time running and with working some local races, and these things have cut into my sofa time in front of the television.

I've also taken some financial hits lately that have eaten away savings, since I had the exterior of my house repainted this past month (along with everyone else in the neighborhood), I'm having to go to the dentist a couple of times over the next month for dental work after having trouble-free teeth for years, and I had to shell out for some truck maintenance. Resultantly, I'm now reacquainted with the hell that is credit card debt after being debt-free for a while.

I won't stop buying new Blu-rays, but I'll need to be a lot more judicious about my choices in the near future. There are a lot of intriguing blind-buy Criterion titles that I normally would purchase under other circumstances (The In-Laws, Dekalog, Wim Wenders: The Road Trilogy, Le Amiche, The Naked Island, etc.), but I'm going to let them pass me by for a long while. They'll probably still be around when and if I want to buy them. Instead, I'll be focusing more of film noir movies, limited-edition movies that I want to see, and such.

The end result is that I'll thankfully be catching up on a lot of still-unwatched Blu-rays that have been in my stack for too long. That's a good thing and a long overdue thing.

I'm not planning to sell any of my movies right now. In almost every instance during my DVD collecting days, I later regretted selling movies after the fact, so I've avoided doing that with Blu-rays.

[jw007]

Here's my 2 cents.

I've got about 300 Criterion Blu-rays and DVDs in my collection now (that includes box sets too).

I started getting into serious Criterion collecting around the same time I got into collecting blu-rays too (around 2010 or 2011).

Before I knew it, I probably had spent over $7,500 (that is taking into account I spend an average price of $15 for 500 blu-rays and counting now).

Years later, and this is about 5 or 6 years and counting now, I have not an ounce of shame or regret of spending this much money on something I love, which is cinema.

Yet, at the same time, I know that out of the 250 Criterion releases in my collection, there are plenty that I'll not watch a 2nd time. I still have about 20 or 30 Criterion films I've yet to watch too (like Great Owl mentioned regarding looking forward to watching the films he's yet to see).

So knowing that maybe at least half of the releases are ones I won't watch a 2nd time (much less a 3rd time), it would be logical to sell these for money or trade these for other films that I would love.

There are actually maybe 20 or 30 films (about 10% in my Criterion Collection) that I absolutely love though. Whittling it down to only those few would be a serious chore.

I'm also running out of bookshelf space and only have 1 empty row left out of 16 rows of total shelving.

Physical space and "personal meaning" are the two dilemmas on my mind.

Nevertheless, just the other night, while I was watching a film on Netflix (via the digital service that is Apple TV), I encountered several breaks in the viewing and had to resume the movie many times. The signal was poor or broken. I realized that this never happened EVER with a Criterion blu-ray. The power of physical media says a lot in this case, because I never want to get stressed or angry slamming my couch or remote control every time the Netflix signal breaks down. A blu-ray disc, as long as its kept pristine and clean, will always come through for me. Also, having a physical object (such as blu-ray discs), feels more valuable than a streaming film I purchased, because I know I have this object in my possession and can never lose it or have it erased or lost in the digital realm.

I probably will not sell off my blu-ray or Criterion collection anytime soon, but I will buy more selectively in the future most likely.

[silverlakephil]

I just watched Here Comes Mr.Jordan yesterday. What a perfect film.Sharp dialogue, beautiful B&W cinematography, & great chemistry between actors. It does have some Noirish elements, but at it's core, it's a Romantic Comedy within a Fantasy realm. You couldn't pay me to watch what the call a Romantic Comedy today.

[bwdowiak]

I think I will only let the collector mentality win out over me when it comes to directors I love, so that's Hitchcock, Truffaut, S. Ray, and John Ford - even with them I don't have all of what is out there.

Frequently, I'll buy with the intention of selling it after I see it. A film like Ride The Pink Horse, for example, surprised me, so I keep it.

And then, like others have said, there is the issue of time and family. I intend to revisit everything that I've seen and decided to keep but there just isn't enough time in a lifetime to get back to some of them, so I've sold a bunch. Maybe with the proceeds I can retire more quickly and have real time to enjoy these films!

[pedromvu]

Talking about streaming I was wondering if it is just me or Hulu kind of sucks, I have a 50mbps internet connection and more often than not when watching Criterion movies I can see the resolution of the subtitles keeps changing (seems all foreign films in Hulu have the subtitles as part of the video), well the whole video resolution changes but it is more noticeable in the subtitles.

It has become a bit annoying because my connection should be more than able to handle those videos but maybe Hulu streaming algorithm is just not good enough like the Netflix one.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Talking about streaming I was wondering if it is just me or Hulu kind of sucks, I have a 50mbps internet connection and more often than not when watching Criterion movies I can see the resolution of the subtitles keeps changing (seems all foreign films in Hulu have the subtitles as part of the video), well the whole video resolution changes but it is more noticeable in the subtitles.

It has become a bit annoying because my connection should be more than able to handle those videos but maybe Hulu streaming algorithm is just not good enough like the Netflix one.

My understanding is that Hulu only streams at 720p (and in stereo). It's one reason why I'm not heartbroken over the Criterion/TCM announcent. I've not had an issue streaming, however. The video quality stays fairly constant throughout and I have a 25m connection. You may want to check with your ISP. At 50m, it should be able to handle a 720p stream.

[Scottie]

I'm very much looking forward to the TCM/Criterion service, especially because I have "officially" watched all of the unwatched films in my Blu-ray collection (although now I'm going back for a second helping in order to determine which ones I want to keep and get rid of, particularly because I hadn't seen some of these films since theatrical runs or since I was a wee lad).

However, I'm never going to stop going physical. It's just an option for me to preview many films before I commit myself to a purchase, similar to what I'm currently doing with iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and Hulu.

[Ray Jackson]

I finished watching The Human Condition for the very first time this weekend.

As a BIG Kobayashi fan, this 9 1/2 hour cinematic monstrosity was my white whale of unseen classic films.

...turns out it was everything I ever dreamed of and more.

Along with The Apu Trilogy, this was the most powerful cinematic experience of my life. Words cannot describe what this film does to a man's soul, alone in the middle of the night...under the influence of powerful psychotropic drugs.

The ending...I can't even explain what it does to you.

Like Muslims during the Hajj, I consider it the moral obligation of every true film geek to see this epic masterpiece at least once during their lifetime.

It may take me several weeks to recover from this.

But I'm going to live on.

I'm going to survive.

Boats against the current.

...borne ceaselessly into the past.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I finished watching The Human Condition for the very first time this weekend.

As a BIG Kobayashi fan, this 9 1/2 hour cinematic monstrosity was my white whale of unseen classic films.

...turns out it was everything I ever dreamed of and more.

Along with The Apu Trilogy, this was the most powerful cinematic experience of my life. Words cannot describe what this film does to a man's soul, alone in the middle of the night...under the influence of powerful psychotropic drugs.

The ending...I can't even explain what it does to you.

Like Muslims during the Hajj, I consider it the moral obligation of every true film geek to see this epic masterpiece at least once during their lifetime.

It may take me several weeks to recover from this.

But I'm going to live on.

I'm going to survive.

Boats against the current.

...borne ceaselessly into the past.

Welcome back, Ray.

[jw007]

Wanted to mention this too... I ended up using my remaining 20% coupon I received in the mail and bought Wim Wenders: The Road Trilogy during the 40% blu-ray sale. So the total was like $42 before tax. Not a bad deal.

Mr. Wenders is one of my favorite directors so I pretty much purchase anything that comes out on Criterion with his name on it.

The only thing that bothers me about him is his overly sleepy/soft-spoken voice when listening to his audio commentaries/interviews. It is just a tad irritating but I can live with it.

[dwk]

Originally Posted by Desslok

Thanks! I very much hope they do that series.

Criterion very recently added a "People Page" for Buichi Saitô. They've had a page for Yoshiyuki Kuroda up for awhile, and Kenji Misumi has a page already (his six Zatoichi films), so hopefully it'll be an October or November release date for LONE WOLF AND CUB.

[silverlakephil]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I finished watching The Human Condition for the very first time this weekend.

As a BIG Kobayashi fan, this 9 1/2 hour cinematic monstrosity was my white whale of unseen classic films.

...turns out it was everything I ever dreamed of and more.

Along with The Apu Trilogy, this was the most powerful cinematic experience of my life. Words cannot describe what this film does to a man's soul, alone in the middle of the night...under the influence of powerful psychotropic drugs.

The ending...I can't even explain what it does to you.

Like Muslims during the Hajj, I consider it the moral obligation of every true film geek to see this epic masterpiece at least once during their lifetime.

It may take me several weeks to recover from this.

But I'm going to live on.

I'm going to survive.

Boats against the current.

...borne ceaselessly into the past.

I'm holding out that Criterion announces this release before the end of the year. I think packaging and extras will be more interesting then Arrow's.

[SkyAntoine]

Watched a few Criterions over the weekend...

Here Comes Mr. Jordan - Fun movie, but a little hokier than I expected. When I read that this won an Oscar for best screenplay and I knew the general premise I thought it would be something along the lines of It's a Wonderful Life.

[Show spoiler]Somewhat confusing because it felt like Mr. Jordan was making up the rules as he went along.

Good...not great IMO. 7/10

My Darling Clementine - Anything shot in Monument Valley is worth a watch. Solid western with my first exposure to Louisville-born Victor Mature. He and Henry Fonda provided strong charismatic roles. 8/10

Days of Heaven - One of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. Had the story been on par with the cinematography, then this would be a masterpiece. 8/10

Barcelona - Criterion Close-up's new episode on this popped up yesterday so I decided to give Stillman another shot after thoroughly disliking Metropolitan. Seems like pretty much anything Stillman does is not jiving with me. Total disconnect on the dialogue. Total. 6/10

On a non-Criterion watch...I finally saw Sicario this weekend and was a HUGE fan. It was like the cinematography of Days of Heaven plus the suspense of Wages of Fear wrapped into one film.

[Scottie]

The Dazed and Confused mixtapes.

https://www.criterion.com/current/po...fused-mixtapes

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by JJJ225

Physical space is part of it. I live in Manhattan and am not wealthy, so like...space is a major premium. I have a giant custom built shelf (about 7 feet tall by 5 feet wide). And it's gotten to the point that I need a second shelf, and I'm literally having to change the entire layout of our bedroom to accommodate.

I don't need the money per se, but I do find myself spending a lot of money on movies that I really don't know if I feel the need to re-watch. I just made my list for the July B&N sale and it was 12 movies and I wondered how many of those I would really watch more than once. Seemed silly spending $200+ on that.

There's also the 4K around the corner. How many movies will I want to upgrade (again)? And with Criterion and TCM's new streaming service, I feel like between that, Netflix, and Netflix DVD, my movie-watching desires will be satiated.

So, I'm considering keeping a portion (maybe 50? maybe 100?), selling the rest, and taking a real nice vacation with the proceeds. A week and a half in Australia sounds awfully nice.

So, I get a vacation, more space, and future savings. I'm definitely leaning towards selling right now.

Some sound thinking. Good luck with your decision.

For me, 4K is a red-herring, though. As someone who spent years despairing at the quality of videotape, I thought it couldn't get any better than DVD. BD proved me wrong, but 4K looks too vivid to my eyes; it actually looks unrealistic.

My goal is to build a library around certain themes, which does include a lot of blind-buys. Some I may only watch once, but I like having them for future reference. Or maybe I'll even be in the mood to properly re-visit one day.

I think the big question about selling up some or most of a collection is whether titles go OOP. I think most of us have made the mistake of getting rid of a DVD, CD, or even BD, that is now no longer available and commands a substantial premium on eBay, etc.

[zorbonaut]

Originally Posted by JJJ225

So, I'm thinking about getting out of the game pretty much completely, and selling off most of my physical media collection. Anyone want to talk me off the ledge?

Not sure where else to post this other than here. I think I've got about 120 Criterion Blu Rays.

I think it is a personal preference but I will give you my thoughts. During the height of the DVD world back in the late 90's early 2000's I had amassed a collection of around 2000. I began to realize that as much as I liked having all of the films I enjoyed at my fingertips that I would probably never re-watch many of those same films. It just seemed silly to have hundreds of unopened DVD's on my shelf. Fast forward 15 years- I've sold off the majority of my DVD collection (for pennies on the dollar). I made the decision to never let my Blu-Ray collection exceed what I could see myself realistically re-watching at least once every few years. As you can see I have just under 300 Blu-Ray's with 20 more on the way. I can never see myself exceeding 400 films again. If you do the math, unless you don't have a job and watch 3 films a day, you will never get through a large collection more than once every 10-20 years or so. In addition, I love watching films that I have not watched before and that accounts for a large amount each and every year.

I say keep the films you know you will revisit frequently and sell the rest.

[bwdowiak]

Sometimes it is difficult, though, to figure what you will or won’t ever watch again. I found myself re-watching Doug Liman’s Go and the Edward Norton / Richard Gere film Primal Fear in the last couple years. (My instinct on the latter was definitely right, while I’ve simply outgrown the former.) But given certain company, you never know what title you might feel inclined to pull out. I thought that I was ‘done’ with my DVD collection and that we had gone through all of the films that I figured my wife would enjoy, but since then I (or we together) have actually watched maybe 10 % of them. Since all of those are re-watches, I don’t think that’s too bad. Especially because with certain titles on DVD, you can’t even give them away.