The Criterion Collection

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by Darkcritic

Today I was trying to pick the "Criterion of the day" so I decided to go with Diabolique, another of my last B&N sale blind-buys. I can't really explain into words how I feel towards this film now. I am extremely impressed by it and will go out of the way right now and just call it a masterpiece . Clouzot got EVERYTHING right on this one, more than I could have hoped even with my sky-high expectations. Now after seeing the film I could understand why some people said Hitchcock had a formidable "adversary" on Clouzot . Diabolique really gives Hitchcock a run for his money and then some. The level of suspense found here is off the charts. I appreciate how Clouzot give time to build-up tension and also kinda confuses the viewer with that slow-burning start. Vera Clouzot was amazing but, in my opinion, Simone Signorete completely stole the film. Characters such as this one shows the quality of an actress that was Signorete and why is one of my favorite French actresses "pre-Nouvelle Vague" (And I say pre because she also had major contributions before the whole movement begun). Overall, I felt Diabolique is one of those masterpieces that aren't as well known because of more recent similar examples like in this case Psycho's popularity. This is truly sad as Diabolique has to be one of the best french films I have seen in terms of sheer suspense. It seems like Solaris comes next (And you can bet I would go with something like Playtime or Vivre sa Vie instead ).

You're so right about Diabolique. It was a blind-buy for me, but it completely blew me away. I felt the film was already a masterpiece before the climax, but then the climax takes it to another level. Amazing.
You might already know, but both Simone Signoret and Paul Meurisse are in another Criterion film, Army Of Shadows, but in completely different types of roles.

[AgentOrange]

I just watched Pierrot Le Fou tonight, I was somewhat disappointed by it. I'm pretty sure it's my first Goddard film, though I *may* have seen Breathless maybe 10 years ago. One of the rare Criterion blu-rays that I haven't liked. Although I admittedly had some high expectations, maybe expectations were part of my disappointment? It was decent enough to watch again, and I did at least love the ending. I was just really annoyed by the disjointed nature of so much of the dialogue, and couldn't stand the narration either. Although admittedly most of the foreign films I enjoy are more "dialogue-lite" than this one.

As of now, after one viewing I would put it among my bottom 3 Criterions, right along with Shock Corridor. Playtime still holds the dubious honor of my worst blu-ray purchase ever, and that is probably the only one I couldn't force myself to sit through again.

I can't stand films that have no subtlety whatsoever with their lame "social commentaries". Can it get any less subtle than speaking directly to the camera?

[Darkcritic]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

You're so right about Diabolique. It was a blind-buy for me, but it completely blew me away. I felt the film was already a masterpiece before the climax, but then the climax takes it to another level. Amazing.
You might already know, but both Simone Signoret and Paul Meurisse are in another Criterion film, Army Of Shadows, but in completely different types of roles.

Yeah, I own Army of Shadows too, my best Criterion blind-buy so far . Is the best film I have seen this year but Diabolique comes in a very close second .

[Rodyon Raskolnikov]

Originally Posted by AgentOrange

I just watched Pierrot Le Fou tonight, I was somewhat disappointed by it. I'm pretty sure it's my first Goddard film, though I *may* have seen Breathless maybe 10 years ago. One of the rare Criterion blu-rays that I haven't liked. Although I admittedly had some high expectations, maybe expectations were part of my disappointment? It was decent enough to watch again, and I did at least love the ending. I was just really annoyed by the disjointed nature of so much of the dialogue, and couldn't stand the narration either. Although admittedly most of the foreign films I enjoy are more "dialogue-lite" than this one.

As of now, after one viewing I would put it among my bottom 3 Criterions, right along with Shock Corridor. Playtime still holds the dubious honor of my worst blu-ray purchase ever, and that is probably the only one I couldn't force myself to sit through again.

I can't stand films that have no subtlety whatsoever with their lame "social commentaries". Can it get any less subtle than speaking directly to the camera?

As Orson Welles said, Godard is gifted as a filmmaker, but it's very difficult to take him seriously as a thinker. Most of the man's films annoy the hell out of me, and I can't stand to see him in interviews. Breathless, Le Mépris and Vivre sa vie are perhaps the only movies he made that I genuinely enjoyed.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by capnnarcolepsy

And, as is often said around here, the Eclipse series are most likely never going to be released on Blu. I know it might be tough to buy a DVD nowadays, but the way these sets are is completely worth it. I have six of the sets and I've been impressed with them all.

Yup, I just had some more Eclipse sets turn up the other day: Oshima's Outlaw Sixties, Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu, and Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara (not actually Eclipse, but a beautiful box-set collection of DVDs).
I put in each film to make sure there weren't any problems and all of them upscale very nicely on a 50" plasma.
I'd obviously love them on blu-ray, but for the price (as part of the Barnes & Noble sale), it's really hard to pass them up.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by capnnarcolepsy

The reason these latter spines didn't get blus was due to Criterion only having DVD rights to them. In some cases they obtain these rights years before they are released, and have explained that they would have to renegotiate rights in order to produce the bluray version, which would hold up the release even longer. CG's reasoning for saying they would likely be the last to be upgraded is due to them being so recently released. As much griping as there is about upgrades over new releases, imagine a release that's barely been out a year taking up an upgrade spot. Personally, I wouldn't mind. Much like CG, I'd love to have "Dillinger Is Dead" on blu, but people would certainly be upset over it. A few years inbetween will soften that upgrade blow.

And, as is often said around here, the Eclipse series are most likely never going to be released on Blu. I know it might be tough to buy a DVD nowadays, but the way these sets are is completely worth it. I have six of the sets and I've been impressed with them all.

Yeah. I've posted a few times about the Eclipse sets, and that pretty much seems to be the consensus (that they are not likely to EVER be on blu-ray). I'm sure most of these are relatively "low volume" sellers even on DVD, so on blu-ray would probably be even worse.

I was very close to grabbing a couple during the last 50% sale but decided to grab a couple more blu-rays instead. Nikkatsu Noir and Postwar Kurosawa are the main ones I'd want, but there's probably a couple more I could look into as well. I'll probably just bite the bullet and get at least those two next time around. You are correct though, I have a hard time buying DVD's at this point. Even for a Criterion/Eclipse box set $25-40 on DVD's feels like a lot (might seem silly to you). I almost wish the format would just die off already so Criterion didn't even have to worry about DVD's anymore.

I understand why that poster thinks Night Train blu-ray will be among the last upgrades. It's reasonable to think that, yet at the same time when you look at what's has actually been upgraded it really is pretty random. I mean it might not imminent , but it could juts happen one day out of the blue. I know there are certain people that hate mere "upgrades", but I certainly hope Criterion doesn't feel that way when deciding what to release! There's just so much of their back catalogue I want to see upgraded! The fact that there are existing DVD's is meaningless to me because I'm not buying DVD's anymore. I actually hope they accelerate the pace of their upgrades until their whole catalogue is on blu-ray, or as much as possible anyway.

[tenia]

Originally Posted by horseflesh

Yes, Axel are great for that, but the flip-side is that you probably paid close to twice as much per title from them compared to B&N.
Ok, maybe not quite but definitely 60-70% more.

In this case, almost, but remember that I'm in France, so I pay $10.99 of shipping fees per order, just for the starters, and then $0.99 per item.

The 2 BRs cost me $12.98 just for the shipping, but since it was at 50%, it was interesting.

Now that the sale is over, Planet Axel is much better, and the shipping fees are much more interesting for me. Moreover, hopefully, I won't have to wait 2 months of delivery time.

I've bought Blow Out at Amazon.com, and Pierrot le fou on Amazon.com Marketplace. They arrived within 2 weeks (maybe even less).

Here, I'm starting to hope that they're not stuck at the customs, or simply lost somewhere, because B&N probably won't send a replacement, but just give me a voucher that I might only use for the November sale.


Anyway, it was just amusing me to see that one of them takes a month to have the delivery, when I might have the other ones the very day of the release.

[monque]

Originally Posted by Darkcritic

Yeah, I own Army of Shadows too, my best Criterion blind-buy so far . Is the best film I have seen this year but Diabolique comes in a very close second .

These two titles have also been my best blind buys along with Paths of Glory.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by Darkcritic

Yeah, I own Army of Shadows too, my best Criterion blind-buy so far . Is the best film I have seen this year but Diabolique comes in a very close second .

Did you watch The Wages of Fear yet? I watched it last night, and it was just as suspensful, if not moreso, than Diabolique. It's now a definite buy on my wishlist.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by Yankees0222

Let me preface this by saying that I blind buy most of my criterion films and don't regret any of them.... I just got around to watching insignificance and found it to be not a particularly good movie (and that's putting it Mildly). Am I missing something? Maybe I'm just overreacting to it because my expectations going in were pretty high but I just did not get what they were going for......

The only part of the movie I enjoyed was the scene where "The Actress" is explaining the theory of relativity. There was a refreshing energy during that scene that caught my attention. The rest of the movie fell flat for me though

Any opinions on the film?

Me, I loved it. That sequence with The Actress explaining Relativity was excellent, but my favorite scenes involved The Indian Elevator Operator, played by the late, great Will Sampson.

"I am elevator operator now. I eat hot dog. I watch TV. I go up and down."

[octagon]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Me, I loved it. That sequence with The Actress explaining Relativity was excellent, but my favorite scenes involved The Indian Elevator Operator, played by the late, great Will Sampson.

"I am elevator operator now. I eat hot dog. I watch TV. I go up and down."

I'm halfway to really liking it. My setup doesn't handle some PCM tracks particularly well and instead of constantly battling lip synch issues I'm going to shelve Insignificance until I upgrade my receiver. But what I've seen so far has been pretty impressive. Tony Curtis as a Criterion rock star I would have never expected but here we are.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

I'm trying to stop my blind buying of CCs, so I can avoid buying something I hate. I haven't had it happen yet, but the chance is still there.

I started blind-buying Criterions back in the laserdisc days, when I decided to accumulate a complete set of them (never did complete the run). While there are a few I was indifferent to, there were only four that I can honestly say I hated: let's see...Salò, Armageddon (which I saw, and hated, in the theater), Flesh for Frankenstein, and Blood for Dracula.

I'd "discovered" so many terrific filmmakers by blind-buying Criterions, that I think it's worth continuing to do so.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by boredhusband

the gojira news is really awesome, hopefully they knock it out of the park with an excellent transfer.

I would make two suggestions, don't expect miracles and don't expect anything too soon.

They did great jobs with M and Stagecoach but even they couldn't get around the limits of the sources they had. When Stagecoach is solid it looks surprisingly good (almost too good, some of the cleaner scenes almost seem like rehearsals) but it has some awfully rough material too. Chances are Gojira would look a lot more like that than even M.

As for how soon, they posted a pic of a Drunken Angel film canister in July '10 and afaik there hasn't been a peep about it since.

Of course, if they want to make a liar of me on either or - better yet - both counts I suspect I wouldn't complain a bit. I might pout a little but really that would be only fair, I think.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I started blind-buying Criterions back in the laserdisc days, when I decided to accumulate a complete set of them (never did complete the run). While there are a few I was indifferent to, there were only four that I can honestly say I hated: let's see...Salò, Armageddon (which I saw, and hated, in the theater), Flesh for Frankenstein, and Blood for Dracula.

I'd "discovered" so many terrific filmmakers by blind-buying Criterions, that I think it's worth continuing to do so.

Salo and Armageddon are shit, albeit for vastly different reasons. I'll still blind buy, but the problem is that there are too many Criterions I want, and I don't want to spend all my money on them and not like them. Out of the 40 Criterions I own on Blu, 32 of them have been Blind Buys. There's still a few on my list that I won't watch before I buy, because I know enough about them that I'll like them. It's stuff like Black Moon, and Insignificance I'm worried about.

My mom just e-mailed me and told me that High and Low (my last CC blind buy) came in the mail yesterday! All of my B&N 50% off sale items have shown up. I'm still waiting for Hausu to arrive, as that shipped on the 8th of August. I bought it with a giftcard I got from ebates. I won't be able to watch it until Saturday though, but I've waited this long, I can wait some more.

The Killing is supposed to show up today, if Canada Post can be arsed to move it from Halifax to Central Nova Scotia. It's been sitting in Halifax since Monday. It should have been delivered Monday actually, but between DHL and Canada Post, I don't know who's worse for having crap sit around for days on end needlessly. My order that I placed last Thursday is finally showing up in DHL's system today, despite the fact Amazon shipped it Friday. It's been sitting in Illinois since Monday. </rant>

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by SpiderBaby

They should have blu rights to Janus films like Dillinger is Dead. I think most of these are under that "minor" crap we joke about now. Those "minor" films "THEY THINK" are "minor", they put out in dvd-only.

I might get crap for this, but I believe those "minor" dvd only films are not getting the releases they used to anymore. They did go to all blu releases, but I feel they have drastically reduced the obscure movies. Back then, they could of put them out on just dvd. Now, they have to think which films they want to spend the $ and time restoring and getting rights to, and is it worth it.

You may be right about this, they may well have a dilema in adding movies to their Blu-ray release. I also forgot about Dilinger Is Dead, it never got the release on Blu-ray, good thing I did not rush out and sold my DVD

[blkhrt]

Originally Posted by octagon

I would make two suggestions, don't expect miracles and don't expect anything too soon.

They did great jobs with M and Stagecoach but even they couldn't get around the limits of the sources they had. When Stagecoach is solid it looks surprisingly good (almost too good, some of the cleaner scenes almost seem like rehearsals) but it has some awfully rough material too. Chances are Gojira would look a lot more like that than even M.

As for how soon, they posted a pic of a Drunken Angel film canister in July '10 and afaik there hasn't been a peep about it since.

Of course, if they want to make a liar of me on either or - better yet - both counts I suspect I wouldn't complain a bit. I might pout a little but really that would be only fair, I think.

As this post points out, there is some reason for optimism. The canister for Gojira that they pictured says "Dupe Posi" on it, which suggests that they are working on a new master from the interpositive materials. This probably means it will take longer, but it will likely look as good as possible. There is a lot of speculation that Gojira will be spine #600 (including in this post), which would be great. I guess it all depends on how long they have been working on it.

http://augustragone.blogspot.com/201...54-dvd-bd.html

[blkhrt]

Ugh.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118041655

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by blkhrt

Ugh.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118041655

Not very surprising, most of today's filmmaker have no imagination, all that is left for them is trying to remake and please note the word trying here some classic movies.

[rebelmswar]

Originally Posted by blkhrt

Ugh.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118041655

I take it they are gash?

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Not very surprising, most of today's filmmaker have no imagination, all that is left for them is trying to remake and please note the word trying here some classic movies.

Disappointing. Very, very disappointing. Seven Samuria's coming out in 3 years. No date on High and Low, got nothing about a remake of Drunken Angel or Ikiru. Ugh, as enjoyable as A Fist Full of Dollars and The Magnificent Seven are, they're still no match to the Kurosawa originals. Hollywood sucks.