The Criterion Collection

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by PrestonXI

Thanks for mentioning this film. I have never heard of it before and will most likely import it.

Thanks to Pro B for his convincing review

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by retablo

Buy it now! It's 46% off ($160 + shipping... $80 cheaper than Amazon) at importcds.com

http://www.importcds.com/movies/2504...ction-15-discs

And promptly watch The General, The Navigator, Steamboat Bill, Jr., and Sherlock Jr. Then come back and thank me.

Everyone should promptly watch the Orson Welles' "introduction" on The General, where he talks about Keaton as a great director and one of the most beautiful faces in all of cinema

[the sordid sentinel]

Watched Letter Never Sent tonight. Rare blind buy for me but the price was good and I love survival stories. It definitely doesn't disappoint. The crew and actors had to go through a lot to get this movie made. I wish there were some bonus features that documented the making of this film, but oh well. Werner Herzog had to be influenced by this movie. Rescue Dawn has very much the same feel.

I've always been fascinated by the Soviets as well. They were so ubiquitous in school texts plus on the news when I was a teen.

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by the sordid sentinel

Watched Letter Never Sent tonight. Rare blind buy for me but the price was good and I love survival stories. It definitely doesn't disappoint. The crew and actors had to go through a lot to get this movie made. I wish there were some bonus features that documented the making of this film, but oh well. Werner Herzog had to be influenced by this movie. Rescue Dawn has very much the same feel.

I've always been fascinated by the Soviets as well. They were so ubiquitous in school texts plus on the news when I was a teen.

Speaking of influences, I watched The Grey again the other night, surprised how much it reminded me of Letter Never Sent in some regards. Thought a triple bill of Pitch Black, The Grey and Letter Never Sent is something I'm going to do one day just for the hell of it.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by KRW1

Speaking of influences, I watched The Grey again the other night, surprised how much it reminded me of Letter Never Sent in some regards. Thought a triple bill of Pitch Black, The Grey and Letter Never Sent is something I'm going to do one day just for the hell of it.

I've enjoyed double-features with Letter Never Sent and The Grey before. I can really feel the chill in the air while watching both movies.

Letter Never Sent is a criminally-underrated Criterion title.

I agree with Sordid Sentinal that I am still fascinated by Soviet cinema.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I've enjoyed double-features with Letter Never Sent and The Grey before. I can really feel the chill in the air while watching both movies.

Letter Never Sent is a criminally-underrated Criterion title.

I agree with Sordid Sentinal that I am still fascinated by Soviet cinema.

Yes indeed. The $30 titles are all must owns.

Speaking of Soviet Cinema, CC needs to put out some Eisenstein

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Yes indeed. The $30 titles are all must owns.

Speaking of Soviet Cinema, CC needs to put out some Eisenstein

If not criterion, Kino.

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by CoopFilm

I haven't read any reactions from others yet, but I'm not completely sure how I felt about the film---there was much of it that I liked, particularly the first half hour, but for a long stretch in the middle I was a bit lost on the purpose of most of what happened was.

Well, the reactions didn't help much...but the bonus material and the essay gave me a lot more appreciation for it. It certainly looks amazing, no matter what.

[Blu-Velvet]

Just got done watching STRAY DOG for the first time, streaming in reasonably decent quality on Hulu thanks to Criterion's free Kurosawa weekend. Good movie that gets better as it goes along until it becomes a great movie. Very much classic late 1940s, film noir, and Kurosawa all at once. It certainly deserves to get a good restoration and Blu-ray release eventually.

[DarkRyder]

Not Criterion related, but I just need to whole-heartedly recommend Spring Breakers. The film is an amazing satire on modern youth culture, along with some interesting things to say about race and gender relations.

Funny thing is, the film almost felt like a Malick film, but done in the style of an MTV music video. That being said, don't expect a Malick film, it's the furthest thing, just some characters have voiceovers and during scenes and that's what I was reminded of.

[Dustin Putman]

Originally Posted by DarkRyder

Not Criterion related, but I just need to whole-heartedly recommend Spring Breakers. The film is an amazing satire on modern youth culture, along with some interesting things to say about race and gender relations.

Funny thing is, the film almost felt like a Malick film, but done in the style of an MTV music video. That being said, don't expect a Malick film, it's the furthest thing, just some characters have voiceovers and during scenes and that's what I was reminded of.

It's funny you mention SPRING BREAKERS, as I was just thinking that it would make for a great Criterion Collection release. Perhaps even part of a Harmony Korine collection.

For those interested, here is my review of the film: http://www.dustinputman.com/reviews/...ngbreakers.htm

[drbikeshorts]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I've enjoyed double-features with Letter Never Sent and The Grey before. I can really feel the chill in the air while watching both movies.

Letter Never Sent is a criminally-underrated Criterion title.

I agree with Sordid Sentinal that I am still fascinated by Soviet cinema.

I'm not sure Letter Never Sent is criminally-underrated - every time it's mentioned it's with a lot of praise. And it does come up a bit.
Fantastic film. I just wish the blu-ray had come with some more features.

[R o d]

Originally Posted by DarkRyder

Not Criterion related, but I just need to whole-heartedly recommend Spring Breakers.

Originally Posted by Dustin Putman

It's funny you mention SPRING BREAKERS, as I was just thinking that it would make for a great Criterion Collection release.

You guys are 8 days early.

[Member-167298]

Originally Posted by octagon

I've actually taken a liking to blind buying TV seasons on BD. If you're willing to wait for a great sale and/or buy used then BDs can be a very affordable way to watch a series for the first time.

In fact, I'm in the process of watching Lost for the first time and as of the middle of season five it's been money very spent.

That would be awesome.

I have discouraged people from even starting to watch Lost because of the incredibly un satisfying conclusion. No, I am not talking about the "unanswered questions" but just the generally lazy writing. I do not believe for one second they knew where the show was headed from day one.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by PrestonXI

I have discouraged people from even starting to watch Lost because of the incredibly un satisfying conclusion. No, I am not talking about the "unanswered questions" but just the generally lazy writing. I do not believe for one second they knew where the show was headed from day one.

I have not seen Lost, so I cannot comment on the conclusion of that specific series, but I do want to say that this sort of thing is the main reason why I do not invest my time in most television shows these days.

Here's my track record...

• During the 1990s, I was an obsessive fan of The X-Files, and stayed true to the show through all the seasons. I had the seasons on VHS tapes and such, and even collected various memorabilia that I stumbled across. The show took a nosedive, though, and the final wrap-up was downright absymal. I liked the first feature film pretty well, but I'd like to forget that the second film ever happened.

• I loved Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles...until the show was canceled after two seasons.

• I loved the new version of V...until the show was canceled after two seasons.

After all that, I've pretty much made a choice to stop investing my time in television shows unless something receives extraordinary raves from trusted sources.

One could argue (correctly) that the point of television shows is the journey and not the destination, because I did get my money's worth from renting the DVDs of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and V. I don't consider my years of being a fan of The X-Files as time wasted, but I do not have a desire to invest that type of enthusiasm in a show anymore. Being strung along for years while the writers made up things as they went along sort of burned me out of that type of thing. I'd prefer to spend two or three hours watching a movie.

I really did enjoy the first season of The Walking Dead, but I'm biding my time to check out the subsequent shows.

[The Great Owl]

Back to Criterion topics...

I watched Badlands last night. This Blu-ray is everything that I hoped it would be.



The Criterion Blu-ray of Terrence Malick's Badlands goes above and beyond my old Warner DVD of this movie in terms of picture quality and audio presentation. My jaw dropped when I watched one particular scene where Holly's father is painting an elaborate billboard with the wide open spaces of empty landscape in the background. A pivotal scene involving a burning house is captured brilliantly in this format, and the added clarity helps to drive home the impression of finality in a moment where there is no turning back in life, and things will never be the same. Throughout the movie, the detail hits the mark time and time again, from appropriately hazy images in the afternoon heat to Kit's James Dean hairstyle and vacant eyes. The audio is spot-on with its range of quiet blankness of the more surreal moments in Holly's voice narration or the idyllic tranquility of a riverside setting to the louder head rush of a car chase.

Badlands is one of the least-claustrophobic movies in existence, and one cannot help but love Malick's camera eye that shoots the main characters, cannon-style, into the vastness of a world where they can literally be anybody that they want. The 1950s pulp-romance vibe of this film works wonders in the open landscapes of an America that feels young and fresh with endless possibilities, a place that seems a universe away from today's America of chain malls, boxy department stores, and structured lives. The disturbing subject matter of the film reverberates in these open spaces, because there is not a single moment in Badlands when we are not reminded that Kit and Holly are free to make their own choices every step of the way. Kit and Holly can go anywhere they want, and part of the movie's unnerving charm is that Malick's story does not dwell too closely on why these two characters take the literal and moral directions that they do. The expansive "badlands" of the outside world and the "badlands" of the human psyche are beautifully depicted in Malick's world as settings where everything can be thoughtlessly discarded, whether these things are human lives or random possessions and artifacts vacated in a container in the middle of nowhere.

[brandon_260]

Originally Posted by DarkRyder

Not Criterion related, but I just need to whole-heartedly recommend Spring Breakers. The film is an amazing satire on modern youth culture, along with some interesting things to say about race and gender relations.

Funny thing is, the film almost felt like a Malick film, but done in the style of an MTV music video. That being said, don't expect a Malick film, it's the furthest thing, just some characters have voiceovers and during scenes and that's what I was reminded of.

I've been watching Korine's films for the first time in anticipation of Spring Breakers (we didn't get it here this weekend, unfortunately), and I've found that parallel between Korine and Malick throughout his filmography, especially with Gummo. He's like a less elegant, nightmarish Malick.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by DarkRyder

Not Criterion related, but I just need to whole-heartedly recommend Spring Breakers. The film is an amazing satire on modern youth culture, along with some interesting things to say about race and gender relations.

Funny thing is, the film almost felt like a Malick film, but done in the style of an MTV music video. That being said, don't expect a Malick film, it's the furthest thing, just some characters have voiceovers and during scenes and that's what I was reminded of.

I reccomend seeing Spring Breakers but by no means would I want a CC release. I get the impression that Korine is just a prankster.

[Hawkguy]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The disturbing subject matter of the film reverberates in these open spaces, because there is not a single moment in Badlands when we are not reminded that Kit and Holly are free to make their own choices every step of the way. Kit and Holly can go anywhere they want, and part of the movie's unnerving charm is that Malick's story does not dwell too closely on why these two characters take the literal and moral directions that they do. The expansive "badlands" of the outside world and the "badlands" of the human psyche are beautifully depicted in Malick's world as settings where everything can be thoughtlessly discarded, whether these things are human lives or random possessions and artifacts vacated in a container in the middle of nowhere.

Thanks for your thoughts. While watching the film I sometimes wondered why we don't get that closer look into both characters that you reference here. I ended up realizing that wasn't the point. That middle-of-nowhere feeling and the meaningless quality to every decision as if all this exists in a strange world beyond our understanding---it's what actually made the film special. That other approach would have been fairly straight-forward.

[The Great Owl]

I finished reading Victor Hugo's Les Misérables in all its 1,463-page glory this week. It took me long enough, because I've been devoting a lot of time to Blu-rays lately, but I cannot recommend the full translation enough (I read the big Signet paperback.). It's a great read.

I will be devoting this afternoon to watching the Olive Films Blu-ray of the 1958 French adaptation of Les Misérables that stars Jean Gabin (La Grande Illusion, Touchez Pas Au Grisbi, etc.) and Andre Bourvil (Le Cercle Rouge).

Which brings me around to the Criterion subject matter...

Does anyone here have the Criterion Eclipse set of Raymond Bernard's Les Misérables and Wooden Crosses?

I've always heard that Bernard's 1934 version of Les Misérables is the best film adaptation to date. Not sure if it has a Blu-ray release anywhere, but Criterion does a stellar job with the Eclipse DVDs.