The Criterion Collection

[mja345]

Originally Posted by bigbadwoppet

The book had me laughing all the way through so I don't see why the movie should have been any different.

Kubrick, on the other hand, took a picaresque novel and turned it into his most boring film. Revisionists have tried to make it into his unappreciated masterpiece but the original reviews were right:nobody liked it.

"Barry Lyndon" is really not boring at all. I think people instinctively think, "Three hour period piece, must be boring as hell." But there's nothing revisionist about saying it's a great film. It's objectively a film that isn't boring and is very, very good. Maybe people in 1975 thought, "My god, Kubrick is making a period piece after 'A Clockwork Orange'. So boring." And those people were just flat out wrong. Sometimes, people need distance from things to form an objective opinion.

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I think that Get Out is the best movie about race relations in a long long time. The fact that it successfully avoids preachiness by concealing the themes inside a killer intense Twilight Zone-esque horror flick makes it all the better.

I bought the 4k edition to watch and sell it afterwards. I kept it after watching...It's quite good & different.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by bigbadwoppet

The book had me laughing all the way through so I don't see why the movie should have been any different.

I saw the movie first, I hope you aren't disappointed about things that aren't in. If I had read the book first, I really think I would've been immediately annoyed that the scene where the baby is found is so tamed compared to the book. It's very faithful overall to the tone and general plot, but it obviously had to reduce a lot.

the Academy that nominated for a bunch of Oscars when it was released were right

fixed it for you!

[Doctor Jack]

Just watched Le Samourai for the first time in my life. I can say, with complete certainty, I will watch it dozens of more times in my life. I absolutely loved it.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by CinemaScope

There's a good book about film making in England in the sixties, Hollywood England by the film critic Alexander Walker, there's a lot about Woodfall Films in it. I haven't read it for years, but Tony Richardson, John Osborne & Albert Finney really wanted to make Tom Jones, but they insisted it had to be in colour, they kept raising the money only for the deal to fall through, John Osborne kept rewriting the script, cutting out stuff to make it cheaper to make. United Artists came in & saved the day (it was a cheap film as far as they were concerned), Richardson, Osborne & Finney were working for next to nothing so United Artists gave them a percentage of the profits (they obviously had no idea just how popular it would turn out to be) & it made the three of them rich. And the film made a huge difference to film making in England, as after its success all the big studios started making films in England, it was boom time, but hardly any of the films were successful, so by 1970 the boom was over.

I definitely want to get this book, but I may wait until the Blu-ray gives me a fresh watch of the movie. It's funny, in my head I had imagined Finney taking this just because he wanted a job after getting fired from "Lawrence", and then wound up accidentally starring in the next year's Best Picture anyway.

Has anybody actually seen "Joseph Andrews"? It's Richardson adapting a different Fielding book, about a decade later (when I'm guessing he might've been chasing another hit). I've been eying copies on ebay, but now that we're talking so much about this stuff, I'd like to hear if anybody has a strong opinion on it one way or another.

[malakaheso]

I haven't seen Tom Jones, but those Anglo films influenced by Euro art film techniques from the late 60s/early 70s generally haven't aged well to me. e.g Performance, Easy Rider etc.


Re: Barry Lyndon. I much prefer it to A Clockwork Orange, which is just blunt force trauma. The degree of analysis that has gone into that film blows me away. It's such an obvious film.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by shadedpain4

I'm not sure what you're asking here, but if you clarify I'll try and take a stab at it.

Sorry. I meant to ask does the continuation of new releases mean they still have the previously released titles for a while. I'm trying to scoop up all the Ray films. I still haven't bought Apu.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by mja345

"Barry Lyndon" is really not boring at all.

Kubrick was brilliant and I have no doubt that my appreciate for Barry Lyndon will only grow over time. That's been the case with all of his films.

[Show spoiler]

I do find it a little hard to imagine ever watching Barry Lyndon without my mind wandering just a bit from time to time. And ftr the same is true for 2001. I love 2001 but that freaking docking sequence seems to get longer every time I watch it

Originally Posted by mja345

It's objectively a film that isn't boring and is very, very good.

Is it even possible for something to be objectively not boring? How would that even work? How would one apply any remotely objective measure to what is essentially an emotional response?

Originally Posted by mja345

Maybe people in 1975 thought, "My god, Kubrick is making a period piece after 'A Clockwork Orange'. So boring." And those people were just flat out wrong.

Maybe. Or maybe they watched it and were bored. I don't really see how we can rule that out.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by mja345

"Do the Right Thing" is probably the best film about race relations IMO because it doesn't offer easy solutions and isn't preachy. It also shows how sometimes an issue like race can blow up in spite of the best efforts of many (i.e. Mookie, Vito, and Sal) because they get drowned out by people who don't want harmony among human beings (Buggin' Out and Pino). It's an incredibly honest depiction of how things deteriorate despite how f**king senseless it is to judge someone on the color of their skin..

In the late 80s yes, but now I think Lee's intentions are much clearer and perhaps less ambiguous. i.e his comments on how blacks and whites responded to the film (i.e.whites were angry about property damage, blacks were angry about the death of Radio Raheem). Read between the lines and you can see what he really thinks, especially in light of contemporary identitarian politics which Lee sides with.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by mja345

Nah, "Talk Radio" is still with Universal. As far as I'm aware, it's available to any label that has a deal with Universal. Hopefully, either Shout Factory or Indicator in the UK releases it.

In that case I'm surprised they haven't released their own DNR EE disc yet. Isn't most of Stone on HD now? I think Alexander alone has three releases. Oof.

I may just spring for the DVD. I'm really interested in the film.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

In that case I'm surprised they haven't released their own DNR EE disc yet. Isn't most of Stone on HD now? I think Alexander alone has three releases. Oof.

And a fourth cut which was only ever released on DVD.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

The King's Speech to me is another example of a passable but terribly overrated film that is essentially The Karate Kid with British royalty.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

In the late 80s yes, but now I think Lee's intentions are much clearer and perhaps less ambiguous. i.e his comments on how blacks and whites responded to the film (i.e.whites were angry about property damage, blacks were angry about the death of Radio Raheem). Read between the lines and you can see what he really thinks, especially in light of contemporary identitarian politics which Lee sides with.

Spike Lee's current films are pretty shit and he's clearly been swept away by the current zeitgeist of "I'm trying to be more offended than the next person". But it doesn't change what he accomplished with "Do the Right Thing" IMO.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

In that case I'm surprised they haven't released their own DNR EE disc yet. Isn't most of Stone on HD now? I think Alexander alone has three releases. Oof.

I may just spring for the DVD. I'm really interested in the film.

Eric Bogosian is absolutely incredible in it. I'd love for Criterion or anyone to release his one man performance "Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll", which is brilliant.

"Talk Radio" is one of Stone's least seen films by a large margin. That and "The Hand" are the only two non-documentaries not out on BD. "Talk Radio" is interesting in that it's clear that Stone ceded quite a bit of creative control to Bogosian, so he gets out of his own way a bit. Barry Champlain is presented as neither a martyr nor a villain, which is something I'm not sure Stone could have steered away from had he not given Bogosian so much creative freedom.

[thatguamguy]

Originally Posted by 20th Century Boy

In that case I'm surprised they haven't released their own DNR EE disc yet. Isn't most of Stone on HD now? I think Alexander alone has three releases. Oof.

I may just spring for the DVD. I'm really interested in the film.

Hey, if you don't care about cover art, I have an extra copy of "Talk Radio" because a long time ago I got the 14-disc Oliver Stone collection on ebay for something like $10. I bought it for the bonus discs, and a few movies I didn't have, but the extra discs don't do me any good, so I'd be glad to send it out if you want to pay whatever the shipping costs. Just PM me if you're interested. But it's not an expensive disc, so I get it if you'd rather buy a copy with a cover.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by Chabrolesque

Outside of Two Days, One Night and maybe Rosetta, I don’t really see the Dardennes as working in the same “issue movie” mode as, say, Ken Loach. They do tend to focus on impoverished characters, which is inevitably (?) going to involve a certain amount of social commentary—but I don’t see them as “message movies” in the traditional sense.

I guess one of the distinctions to me is that the characters in the Dardennes’ best films feel real and organic, rather than symbols meant to get a point across. They feel like flesh-and-blood humans, and I get completely caught up in their situations and their moral decisions. The Kid With a Bike and The Son are still among my most visceral film-watching experiences, and La Promesse is in the running for my favorite movie.

Of course, I don’t necessarily think being an “issue movie” is inherently a terrible thing. I have no idea how well something like I, Daniel Blake will age, but for now I found it vital and moving. And going much further back, a movie like Inherit the Wind—as heavy-handed and unsubtle as it is—is still a lot of fun to watch, and even powerful at times.

Edit: In defense of Loach—while I find him inconsistent and can agree that he often lets his tendency towards social commentary get in the way of the story he’s trying to tell, I do think he’s made more good movies than just Kes. I’ve only seen about a third of his filmography, but Sweet Sixteen, My Name is Joe, Riff-Raff, Ladybird, Ladybird, and Land and Freedom all have a lot to offer—and I might even call a few of them great.

See, I'm just less hot on the Dardennes. I haven't seen Kid with a Bike since it came out, but it felt rather flat to me. If I recall correctly, there were moments that just felt flat out manipulative and unearned in it. Again, that was a few thousand movies ago, so who knows if I'll respond different now.

I must confess I don't hold neo-realism and its offspring as a high water mark for cinema as many do. By nature they are rarely great aesthetic experiences or ones with a firm foot in genre. So compounding that with the fact that the brothers never push beyond their wheelhouse makes me feel rather lukewarm towards them.

I guess I may be too harsh on recent Loach. Jimmy's Hall worked for me despite being as unsubtle as anything he's ever done. Looking for Eric and Route Irish were chores to sit through, though. Barley was nice, but did it really deserve the Palme d' Or ?

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

Hey, if you don't care about cover art, I have an extra copy of "Talk Radio" because a long time ago I got the 14-disc Oliver Stone collection on ebay for something like $10. I bought it for the bonus discs, and a few movies I didn't have, but the extra discs don't do me any good, so I'd be glad to send it out if you want to pay whatever the shipping costs. Just PM me if you're interested. But it's not an expensive disc, so I get it if you'd rather buy a copy with a cover.

I feel a Murphy's Law moment coming... (you're all welcome in advance)

I have some credits to use at a record store that sells used films. If I don't see it there I'll take you up on the offer.

[20th Century Boy]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

And a fourth cut which was only ever released on DVD.

Since we're all talking about great directors, is it just me or is more often that not when directors finally get to do their dream project, it turns out to be one of their weaker efforts?

Which also reminds me, anyone think CC will put out Gilliam's Don Quixote film?

[batman2000]

i wish they'd annouce a blu ray of their edition of chasing amy

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Doctor Jack

Just watched Le Samourai for the first time in my life. I can say, with complete certainty, I will watch it dozens of more times in my life. I absolutely loved it.

I've been waiting so long for Le Samouraï to have a proper Blu-ray release so that I can retire my old Criterion DVD.

Now that it's in my hands, after my having purchased it on Tuesday, however, I'm still waiting a day or two. I've got a lot on my plate today and tomorrow, so I want to sit down and quietly enjoy it on Saturday, probably with a glass of scotch beside me.