The Criterion Collection

[octagon]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

How is everyone doing with their "sales purchases" from July? I am done with all the Blu-ray movies, now starting the big part of it, the Eclipse sets. Will start with the Alexander Koda set I think, only seen one movie from this set in the past.

I've watched 3/12 so far which for me is practically a break-neck pace.

Hell, I might still have stuff from last July I haven't watched yet.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by octagon

I've watched 3/12 so far which for me is practically a break-neck pace.

Hell, I might still have stuff from last July I haven't watched yet.

I am a bit less active in the summer time watching movies compare to winter. I hate winter and I don't do much outside activities during winter.

This chunk of movies from those Eclipse sets will take me a while to see them all however

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

How is everyone doing with their "sales purchases" from July? I am done with all the Blu-ray movies, now starting the big part of it, the Eclipse sets. Will start with the Alexander Koda set I think, only seen one movie from this set in the past.

I somehow finished watching all 20-something films at the beginning of this month... guess I had a lot of free time last month. I just got Weekend in, and there's nothing from them I really need right away in September, so I'm hoping they'll have the second sale this year for me to catch up on the next couple months then.

[ParticleDan]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

How is everyone doing with their "sales purchases" from July? I am done with all the Blu-ray movies, now starting the big part of it, the Eclipse sets. Will start with the Alexander Koda set I think, only seen one movie from this set in the past.

I only ordered two titles (the Stillmans) because I caught up on the other titles I wanted during Deep Discount's sale. Sadly, my order still hasn't arrived.

[*DrStrangelove*]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

How is everyone doing with their "sales purchases" from July? I am done with all the Blu-ray movies, now starting the big part of it, the Eclipse sets. Will start with the Alexander Koda set I think, only seen one movie from this set in the past.

I've watched everything except Fanny and Alexander. Ive only got through the first episode. Might stay up tonight and watch the rest. I am extremely happy with everything I bought during this sale. If I had to choose my least favorite of the 13 that I got I would say Bottle Rocket. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, it was just my least favorite (as well as my least favorite Wes Anderson). My favorite's are La Haine, The Samurai Trilogy, and M. Out of everything I got, M was the only non blind buy. I also picked up The Royal Tenenbaums which is now one of my favorite Criterions (I know right?) I know most people bash the film and filmmaker but I think that the scene when

[Show spoiler] Richie Tenebaum is attempting suicide while Elliott Smith's "Needle in the Hay" played was genius.

No surprise thou, Anderson always puts great music on his films.

[shadedpain4]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

How is everyone doing with their "sales purchases" from July? I am done with all the Blu-ray movies, now starting the big part of it, the Eclipse sets. Will start with the Alexander Koda set I think, only seen one movie from this set in the past.

It's hard to keep track of which ones were purchased when.

I've watched 82 of the Criterion Blu-rays that i own, and I'm looking forward to getting that number into the triple digits.

The 6 BFI Ozus I just ordered are *not* going to help that.

[Trace17]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

Happy Together and In The Mood For Love are absolute must-buys for people interested in Wong Kar-Wai.
Kino's Happy Together blu-ray is very good and easily the best I've seen the film look.
Kino's Fallen Angels blu-ray is also meant to be very good, but I haven't upgraded that yet; my DVD is still pretty good.
If you like Chungking Express, you should definitely be looking at Fallen Angels, because they were all filmed at the same time. Wong Kar-Wai took a break from Ashes Of Time (which I love) and filmed a series of short-ish films. There was enough for a whole film in Fallen Angels, but Chungking Express is really a 30 minute film and a 60 minute film that are loosely connected.
I recently bought and watched for the first time Days Of Being Wild, which was also lovely, but the Asian blu-ray has dreadful subtitles. I would double-dip if Artificial Eye or Kino picked up that title.
I've been waiting for this In The Mood For Love upgrade. It's one of my favourite films.

Thanks for the suggestions

Originally Posted by Cinemach

I mentioned this after watching Chungking recently that I found an affinity with Double Life of Veronique, because both focus on two tangentially related characters; are largely plotless; and feature a major socio-political change

[Show spoiler]the end of Communism in Veronique, the end of British Hong Kong rule in Chungking

in the background.

Yeah I watched Double Life a couple weeks ago, I definitely see the parallels between them. Not sure if I favor one over the other though, both were very good.

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

How is everyone doing with their "sales purchases" from July? I am done with all the Blu-ray movies, now starting the big part of it, the Eclipse sets. Will start with the Alexander Koda set I think, only seen one movie from this set in the past.

I still have about 15+ left unwatched. But between work and my occasional PS3 gameplay, I usually only get about 2 Criterion viewings a week (I try to mix it up with some non-Criterions I have unwatched as well).

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

How is everyone doing with their "sales purchases" from July? I am done with all the Blu-ray movies, now starting the big part of it, the Eclipse sets. Will start with the Alexander Koda set I think, only seen one movie from this set in the past.

I have watched about 10 blu-rays. Just finished up Samurai Trilogy. The only single blu-ray release I still need to watch is Wings of Desire.

I do have a couple of Eclipse sets to get to, as well as the Lean directs Coward. So really I'm only about half way through what I bought, despite the fact I've watched almost all of the "standard" blu-rays. For whatever reason I always have a hard time breaking open "boxed sets".

[Darkcritic]

Well, I might hold a record here. I have owned the America Lost and Found: The BBS Story boxset for around two years and I STILL haven't seen anything from it . I always watch the new BDs I get as well as the DVDs and my backlog has been reduced considerably in the past few months but I don't know how to tackle that boxset. It feels overwhelming.

[SpiderBaby]

Originally Posted by Darkcritic

Well, I might hold a record here. I have owned the America Lost and Found: The BBS Story boxset for around two years and I STILL haven't seen anything from it . I always watch the new BDs I get as well as the DVDs and my backlog has been reduced considerably in the past few months but I don't know how to tackle that boxset. It feels overwhelming.

You have never seen Easy Rider, or just the BD they released?

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

How is everyone doing with their "sales purchases" from July? I am done with all the Blu-ray movies, now starting the big part of it, the Eclipse sets. Will start with the Alexander Koda set I think, only seen one movie from this set in the past.

I watched all three films in the Josef Von Sternberg set and thought they were all masterpieces. Amazing cinema.
Each has got two soundtracks, so I've got an excuse for watching them all over again
In the Jean Grémillon set, I've watched Remorque and Lumière d’été and loved them both. Might re-watch Lumière d’été again because I was pretty tired when I watched that. It is reminiscent of La règle du jeu.
I definitely want more Jean Gabin, so I'll be getting La Grande Illusion and Le Quai Des Brumes from the UK soon.
If there's a sale in November I'll be getting the Sacha Guitry eclipse set.

[P@t_Mtl]

Last night I started Alexander Korda's Private Live set but of course the first movie is the set is the movie I already seen before Decided to watch it anyway since it had been a while

The Private Life Of Henry The VIII (1933)

Do not expect to see The Tudors when watching this movie, you will be disapointed. In fact historical wise the movie is on the simple side. Some spoilers here just in case

[Show spoiler]you do not actually see Catherine Of Aragorn and the movie begin with the execution of Anne Boylen

. Charles Laughton is however extremely good as Henry VIII at least in certain point. He of course as the "body" for the role, much more than Jonathan Rhys Meyers in The Tudors but he also play's it as a much more childish Henry then the historical tyrant we would expect to see. The movie concentrate mostly with his relations with the next 5 women of his life. A few political scenes and historical scenes but these are kept discreet and far between. Overall it's a movie of it's time but if you need one reason to see it, that would be for Charles Laughton as Henry, it's almost as if he walked out of a painting.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by drbikeshorts

I watched all three films in the Josef Von Sternberg set and thought they were all masterpieces. Amazing cinema.
Each has got two soundtracks, so I've got an excuse for watching them all over again
In the Jean Grémillon set, I've watched Remorque and Lumière d’été and loved them both. Might re-watch Lumière d’été again because I was pretty tired when I watched that. It is reminiscent of La règle du jeu.
I definitely want more Jean Gabin, so I'll be getting La Grande Illusion and Le Quai Des Brumes from the UK soon.
If there's a sale in November I'll be getting the Sacha Guitry eclipse set.

Jean Gabin was a amazing actor. Another great movie you may want to see is La Traversee De Paris who also include Bourvil and in the early part of the movie Louis De Funes

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Last night I started Alexander Korda's Private Live set but of course the first movie is the set is the movie I already seen before Decided to watch it anyway since it had been a while

The Private Life Of Henry The VIII (1933)

Do not expect to see The Tudors when watching this movie, you will be disapointed. In fact historical wise the movie is on the simple side. Some spoilers here just in case

[Show spoiler]you do not actually see Catherine Of Aragorn and the movie begin with the execution of Anne Boylen

. Charles Laughton is however extremely good as Henry VIII at least in certain point. He of course as the "body" for the role, much more than Jonathan Rhys Meyers in The Tudors but he also play's it as a much more childish Henry then the historical tyrant we would expect to see. The movie concentrate mostly with his relations with the next 5 women of his life. A few political scenes and historical scenes but these are kept discreet and far between. Overall it's a movie of it's time but if you need one reason to see it, that would be for Charles Laughton as Henry, it's almost as if he walked out of a painting.

Actually Rhys Meyers had the body for the earlier part of Henry VIII's reign, he didn't get fat until middle age after some hunting accident. He was a good looker back in the day. Rhys Meyers had the wrong colouring, Henry was a redhead (much like the current Prince). Elizabeth I got her colouring from him. Henry also was childish, which is why he was a tyrant. Most of his tyrannical behaviour came out of being a spoiled brat who was never supposed to be king. There were other liberties taken with this story that you didn't mention, but it's not as wildly outrageous as those horrid Philippa Gregory novels/films.

My main beef with Tudor history on film/tv is that they always portray Catherine of Aragon as olive skinned and dark hair. This is a painting of Catherine of Aragon:

[Show spoiler]

Catherine was quite short in stature with long red hair, wide blue eyes, a round face, and a fair complexion. She was descended, on her maternal side, from the English royal house; her great-grandmother Catherine of Lancaster, after whom she was named, and her great-great-grandmother Philippa of Lancaster were both daughters of John of Gaunt and granddaughters of Edward III of England. Consequently she was third cousin of her father-in-law, Henry VII of England, and fourth cousin of her mother-in-law Elizabeth of York.

She also had a stronger claim to the throne than Henry VII or Henry VIII.

Sorry, I'll stop now. Henry VIII and his wives were the reason why I became a history major. I read Alison Weir's non-fiction book back when I was 13 for shits and giggles and have been a Tudor fan ever since. Actually, I'm a fan of English/British history in general, but the Tudors are my main interest.

Originally Posted by Darkcritic

Well, I might hold a record here. I have owned the America Lost and Found: The BBS Story boxset for around two years and I STILL haven't seen anything from it . I always watch the new BDs I get as well as the DVDs and my backlog has been reduced considerably in the past few months but I don't know how to tackle that boxset. It feels overwhelming.

I watched one movie a day in the order they are presented in the box set. Well, I would have watched the Monkees first anyways, regardless as to how they were ordered. Criterion pretty much put the films in chronological order actually.

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Jean Gabin was a amazing actor. Another great movie you may want to see is La Traversee De Paris who also include Bourvil and in the early part of the movie Louis De Funes

Never heard of it, but would love to see it

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

How is everyone doing with their "sales purchases" from July? I am done with all the Blu-ray movies, now starting the big part of it, the Eclipse sets. Will start with the Alexander Koda set I think, only seen one movie from this set in the past.

Have watched none so far. They took around a month to arrive here and I am currently really too busy editing to watch any movies. Plus I just figured out how to get US Netflix on my EU TV model. I must admit that re-watching old episodes of some favorite shows has taken precedence over watching my latest Criterions.

I do plan to watch a few in the weekend, though.

[Kull]

Why, why, oh why only Region A? I'd buy half of criterion's catalogue if I could actually play it. :/

[Simple Lines]

Originally Posted by Darkcritic

Well, I might hold a record here. I have owned the America Lost and Found: The BBS Story boxset for around two years and I STILL haven't seen anything from it .

You need to watch Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture Show.

The King of Marvin Gardens is pretty good...

The rest is average or below average.

[Mooch360]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

How is everyone doing with their "sales purchases" from July?

I haven't gotten too far, and I am still waiting for 3 of them to arrive.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by Simple Lines

You need to watch Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture Show.

The King of Marvin Gardens is pretty good...

The rest is average or below average.

you're being far too generous to A Safe Place by calling it "below average" and I would say Head is more than average and would switch The King of Marvin Gardens to must watch and the Last Picture Show as pretty good. of course we could also let Saul decide for himself as to what films are good.