The Criterion Collection

[thatguamguy]

If we're just listing great runs, I have always felt that Rob Reiner's 7-film run is up there with almost any American filmmaker:
- This Is Spinal Tap
- The Sure Thing
- Stand By Me
- The Princess Bride
- When Harry Met Sally...
- Misery
- A Few Good Men

That's a lot of classics for a career, let alone a ten year stretch.

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by Reddington

There are two very good Jamaica Inn releases on BD - Cohen in the US and Arrow in the UK. I have the Cohen and it looks great.

I'm trying not to spend money...

It probably wouldn't be the first in that set I'd look to upgrade, either. Murder!, Sabotage (or Saboteur...I can never remember which is which) and Number 17 I enjoyed more (although I've never actually looked to see if they exist). I'm probably fine never upgrading Rich and Strange or The Skin Game. The tenth was Secret Agent, which I had to look up to even remember what it was.

[Nicolawicz]

All of David Lynch's films are great (except Inland Empire).

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by koberulz

I'm trying not to spend money...

It probably wouldn't be the first in that set I'd look to upgrade, either. Murder!, Sabotage (or Saboteur...I can never remember which is which) and Number 17 I enjoyed more (although I've never actually looked to see if they exist). I'm probably fine never upgrading Rich and Strange or The Skin Game. The tenth was Secret Agent, which I had to look up to even remember what it was.

The first post in this thread is a handy quick reference to which films have had a BD release.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=198166

I noticed a couple of omissions where there have actually been Region A and B releases, but it's a good starting point.

In the wake of Rebecca, Criterion upgrades of Spellbound and Notorious are considered to be a given.

[bright75]

After Kubrick's initial two films - Fear and Desire and Killer's Kiss - his filmography is one masterpiece after another. Of course he doesn't have the volume of films that Hitchcock, Wilder, etc do.

[Nicolawicz]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

If we're just listing great runs, I have always felt that Rob Reiner's 7-film run is up there with almost any American filmmaker:
- This Is Spinal Tap
- The Sure Thing
- Stand By Me
- The Princess Bride
- When Harry Met Sally...
- Misery
- A Few Good Men

That's a lot of classics for a career, let alone a ten year stretch.

Reiner is just a hack with quality, in my opinion (kind of like Richard Donner or Barry Levinson).

[koberulz]

Even better-quality DVDs would be nice for a couple of those, although again I'm not sure what's out there or what the quality's like. The DVDs I own are near-incomprehensible.

I already have the Rebecca/Spellbound/Notorious MGM Blu.

I maintain my collection here, although only the films are anything approaching up to date so I use the word 'maintain' loosely.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Reddington

I like The Birds, although I'd agree it's not top-tier. But then again I enjoy Jamaica Inn and Topaz, and really like Torn Curtain - all three of which seem to end up towards the bottom of most Hitchcock "best-of" lists.

I'm not a fan of Torn Curtain but I do like Topaz which is another one of those Hitch films that are consistently ranked bottom-tier.

Originally Posted by koberulz

The only copy of Jamaica Inn I've ever seen was in a box set of 10 Hitchcock films that cost me $10 and consisted of four discs. The actual quality of the films was pretty much as you'd expect, so trying to follow what was going on was difficult at best, except for 39 Steps and Lady Vanishes where they'd somehow got their hands on a much better source (which I've since upgraded, along with their horrible version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, which drags this tangent somewhat back on topic).

I only vaguely remember Torn Curtain and don't remember Topaz at all. I do remember not really having any issue with the final four though - I probably liked Frenzy and Family Plot better as I can actually recall elements of those.

Frenzy is a fantastic film. If that were his final movie it would have been an amazing swansong. Not that I don't like Family Plot, it is a fun movie, but like a lot of late 70s Universal product it has that cheap TV movie quality to it.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by koberulz

I can't stand The Birds. Was lucky enough to see a dozen or so of his films in the cinema a little over a year ago, and struggled to make it through that one.

The ending of Rear Window, however, is significantly improved by a cinema lighting environment. Less improved is the dramatic moment where Grace Kelly finally decided she believes James Stewart, and a kid in the back row goes "DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN!"

Originally Posted by RCRochester

I wouldn't say I can't stand it, but I'm not a huge fan of the Birds either and find it a bit of a chore to get through.

Originally Posted by Reddington

I like The Birds, although I'd agree it's not top-tier. But then again I enjoy Jamaica Inn and Topaz, and really like Torn Curtain - all three of which seem to end up towards the bottom of most Hitchcock "best-of" lists.

See, I think The Birds is in a constant challenge with Vertigo for my favorite Hitch film.

The film creeps me the hell out. Birds are all around us, every day. Then in the film they just go nuts one day -- for no apparent reason whatsoever -- then just as quickly they just ... stop. Was this a one-time event? Will it happen again tomorrow? Next month? A few years from now? Why?

For me, that's a lot creepier than someone with some sort of plan to accomplish something, or some psychologically damaged person who does Lord knows what, or whatever. When it comes down to it, all the birds just flipping out -- again, for no apparent reason -- is really scary. It's existential horror. Even once the film's over, there's no understanding as to what just occurred. I find that not knowing to be extremely chilling. Then toss into it that we're talking birds! Not polar bears or sharks or whatever -- something I can avoid. But birds!

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

See, I think The Birds is in a constant challenge with Vertigo for my favorite Hitch film.

The film creeps me the hell out. Birds are all around us, every day. Then in the film they just go nuts one day -- for no apparent reason whatsoever -- then just as quickly they just ... stop. Was this a one-time event? Will it happen again tomorrow? Next month? A few years from now? Why?

For me, that's a lot creepier than someone with some sort of plan to accomplish something, or some psychologically damaged person who does Lord knows what, or whatever. When it comes down to it, all the birds just flipping out -- again, for no apparent reason -- is really scary. It's existential horror. Even once the film's over, there's no understanding as to what just occurred. I find that not knowing to be extremely chilling. Then toss into it that we're talking birds! Not polar bears or sharks or whatever -- something I can avoid. But birds!

Oh, it's not the concept of The Birds that I have issue with (although as creepy as they are, I can't find myself getting too intimidated by a creature that my cat gifts to me on my doorstep every few months). I just find that there's a lot of dead air particularly during the earlier part of the film. It's not that I want wall-to-wall bird action, I just think some of the build-up could have been trimmed a bit.

But I also personally am more interested in messed-up humans, so films like Marnie or Vertigo are more compelling to me than a weird, unexplained phenomenon of birds going nutso.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

But the winner here might be William Wyler, whose output from '38 to '59 is just eye-opening:

Jezebel
Wuthering Heights
The Westerner
The Letter
The Little Foxes
Mrs. Miniver
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Heiress
Detective Story
Carrie
Roman Holiday
The Desperate Hours
Friendly Persuasion
The Big Country
Ben-Hur
[/i]

I was going to mention Wyler, but you beat me to it. There's no need to stop at 1960, however.

1938 Dead End
1939 Jezebel
1039 Wuthering Heights
1940 The Westerner
1940 The Letter
1941 The Little Foxes
1942 Mrs. Miniver
1946 The Best Years of Our Lives
1949 The Heiress
1951 Detective Story
1952 Carrie
1953 Roman Holiday
1955 The Desperate Hours
1956 Friendly Persuasion
1958 The Big Country
1959 Ben-Hur
1961 The Children's Hour
1965 The Collector
1966 How to Steal a Million
1968 Funny Girl

Twenty films in thirty years. Not a dud in the bunch. The thing about Wyler that separates him from today's directors is that he spent most of his career working within the studio system and didn't get to develop his own projects.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Oh, it's not the concept of The Birds that I have issue with (although as creepy as they are, I can't find myself getting too intimidated by a creature that my cat gifts to me on my doorstep every few months). I just find that there's a lot of dead air particularly during the earlier part of the film. It's not that I want wall-to-wall bird action, I just think some of the build-up could have been trimmed a bit.

But I also personally am more interested in messed-up humans, so films like Marnie or Vertigo are more compelling to me than a weird, unexplained phenomenon of birds going nutso.

Gotcha.

Though, I doubt your cat is gifting you many crows on a regular basis.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by Nicolawicz

Reiner is just a hack with quality, in my opinion (kind of like Richard Donner or Barry Levinson).

It's hard to argue that he's not, but man what a run he had. I think that's slightly unfair to Levinson because Levinson has at least dabbled in personal movies, like "Diner" and "Tin Men" and "Avalon" and "Liberty Heights".

[koberulz]

The dated effects absolutely kill it for me. Sometimes you can look past things like that, but The Birds is not one of those times. The whole thing is simply dull.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Gotcha.

Though, I doubt your cat is gifting you many crows on a regular basis.

Just the one time. It obviously put up more of a fight than the usual sparrows and such because it was a bit of a mess and there were black feathers all over the place.

[MJD64]

Sometimes a filmmaker has one great film in him and in Levinson's case I think it's Diner, one of the best films of the 80's. I still revisit this film with pleasure, and think Boogie remains one of Mickey Rourke's finest performances.

I'm not crazy about the rest of Levinson's films, though the underrated Bugsy is terrific and I do have a soft spot for the atmospheric Young Sherlock Holmes.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Just the one time. It obviously put up more of a fight than the usual sparrows and such because it was a bit of a mess and there were black feathers all over the place.

Wow. Impressive. I've had three cats, and they were more into rodents than birds to be honest. Lots of mice, etc.

Of course, we have hawks and the VERY occasional eagle here. But any cat that can take down a crow -- I'm impressed.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by MJD64

Sometimes a filmmaker has one great film in him and in Levinson's case I think it's Diner, one of the best films of the 80's. I still revisit this film with pleasure, and think Boogie remains one of Mickey Rourke's finest performances.

I'm not crazy about the rest of Levinson's films, though the underrated Bugsy is terrific and I do have a soft spot for the atmospheric Young Sherlock Holmes.

I think all four of the Baltimore movies are strong (though Diner is the best of the batch). Outside of that, a lot of his best work seems to be situations where somebody else did the heavy lifting and he just got it across the finish line. I mean, Steven Spielberg spent something like two years developing "Rain Man" (Hoffman was involved way before Levinson), and "Wag The Dog" show's Mamet's influence a lot more than his.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by MJD64

Sometimes a filmmaker has one great film in him and in Levinson's case I think it's Diner, one of the best films of the 80's. I still revisit this film with pleasure, and think Boogie remains one of Mickey Rourke's finest performances.

I'm not crazy about the rest of Levinson's films, though the underrated Bugsy is terrific and I do have a soft spot for the atmospheric Young Sherlock Holmes.

Have you ever watched it as part of a double-bill with Beautiful Girls (which desperately needs a re-release while we're at it)? Those movies compliment one another beautifully, two all-time favorites.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Wow. Impressive. I've had three cats, and they were more into rodents than birds to be honest. Lots of mice, etc.

Of course, we have hawks and the VERY occasional eagle here. But any cat that can take down a crow -- I'm impressed.

Yes, we've been gifted our fair share of rodents as well. He's a large male cat and kind of the alpha of the neighbourhood so he was probably feeling strong that day. Like I said though, it was a bit of a mess so it probably won't happen again.