The Criterion Collection

[Lepidopterous]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm about to watch Last Year at Marienbad on Blu-ray for the first time (I've seen it several times on DVD.). It's a rainy afternoon here, so nothing else to do.

This is the one I am glad many will be exposed to now that it is in the OOP spotlight. What a gem.

Originally Posted by iScottie

Leon Morin, Priest, while not my favorite Jean-Pierre Melville, is definitely a gem. The thing I like the most about Melville's films is that each of them seems to touch on a different perspective of World War II. With Leon Morin, Priest, Melville shows us war through the eyes of the clergy. Specifically, the viewer is painted a picture of how religion can be a very difficult thing to grasp and understand. The result is nothing short of great with in-depth interactions and conversations about faith between Belmondo and Riva.

I prefer Bergman's takes on faith over Melville's. The Magician as a parable for science vs. faith, and Winter Light as a more direct struggle. That said, your post definitely highlights what sets Leon Morin apart from others.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by skylog

i am sorry, but citing your own source (in the link above), you are incorrect. it is indeed not a fact. CD buyers, meaning the people who buy CDs increased, but CD sales actually decreased.

further in the same article, stating that CD sales decreased, albeit at a slower rate.

A quick comment as I am very busy today.

Actually, you need to go back and see what comment I was responding to - it was the one about a trend.

Point: Trends are set when a large majority of people do something to change a current practice. This is the very reason I pointed out in my post, which you quoted, that there is a distinction between consuming/purchasing songs, as downloads, and purchasing CDs, meaning albums.

In other words:

If I purchased 15 downloads of individual songs, this does not mean that I consumed more content than if I purchased one CD (with the same content/15 songs). 15 purchases vs. 1 purchase. Same content.

Very clearly, however, an increased number of CD buyers -- hence my use of sales -- means that this consumption of physical product has increased after a decline. Which automatically dismisses the notion that there is a trend as the one pointed out in the quote.

This very same issue by the way has been used to produce some pretty naive "observations" and pass them as facts by the folks who are in love with "the streaming future". So, unless someone comes up with a very detailed breakdown showing that content consumption levels amongst those who purchase downloads and those who purchase physical media has been altered -- and I really do not know how you do that without completely destroying someone's privacy -- for me this comment says it all:

And 10 years after the advent of Apple’s AAPL -0.20% iTunes, far more people buy CDs than downloads .

Now, Happy Easter to everyone

Pro-B

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by CoopFilm

Yeah, we can expect a couple fake titles to be announced.

Oh! How about...they're switching to Digital-Download only releases...

[dag]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just finished watching A Man Escaped.

[Show spoiler]

A Man Escaped is a superb addition to the Criterion Collection, and it takes the fast track to my list of favorites.

My love of prison escape movies and my love of minimalism are both wonderfully satisfied by A Man Escaped. This movie proceeds at a luxuriously deliberate pace to convey an attention to detail with the protagonist's escape plans, and the viewer is ultimately rewarded with edge-of-the-seat tension.

Films rarely depict the process of handiwork in the same straightforward way that A Man Escaped does, with its multiple sequences of tools being created from everyday items in a prison cell. The focus on these processes illuminates the pressure placed on the main character of Fontaine (inspired by the story of French Resistance member André Devigny) as he listens to frequent executions from outside his cell and observes the shifting of routine as governed by the addition of new inmates and by sporadic interrogations.

The restoration of this 1956 film places the utmost care for the audio quality, and for good reason, because this is a story dependent on the sounds of events that occur offscreen. The Nazi enemies are usually confined to outside of the picture frame and presented as a faceless force of evil, but the danger is always lurking just outside the edge of our field of vision by way of sounds. The use of implied events to generate suspense has rarely, if ever, been put to better use in a film.

This Criterion Blu-ray sports a great-looking video transfer and an even better audio presentation to bring this riveting story of resilience in the face of terrifying adversity to the masses.

I just finished watching this myself, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very understated, but all the more gripping in its simple realism.

[Guitar Joe]

Originally Posted by octagon

I finally got around to finishing Following the other day and I'm still not sure if I'm totally on board with all the masterpiece rhetoric but yeah, it was awfully good.

This will sound like a left-handed compliment but it's actually not - I ultimately had some pretty significant issues with plot but absolutely did not care because the atmosphere and performances were so good.

It actually had a bit of a Hitchcock feel in that way.

And it looked absolutely fantastic. This will be Exhibit A whenever anybody says 'eh, blah blah blah was shot in 16mm, it wouldn't really benefit from an HD upgrade'.

As for my plot issue...

[Show spoiler]I have no quarrel with elaborate frame-ups themselves. That's a time-honored noir/thriller convention. Body Heat used it very effectively. In this case though the frame-up was very well-executed and basically pretty believable it seemed - unless I missed something and that's definitely possible - entirely pointless. Why not just kill her? Why go to all that trouble to set somebody up for a crime that probably wouldn't generate much attention and would likely go unsolved even if it did?

Like I said, not a deal breaker but if I was at all on the fence to begin with that's the kind of thing that would generally leave a sour taste.

[Show spoiler]
I think Cobb did what he did just because he could. He seemed to really enjoy messing with people.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

If I purchased 15 downloads of individual songs, this does not mean that I consumed more content than if I purchased one CD (with the same content/15 songs). 15 purchases vs. 1 purchase. Same content.

Pro-B

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...-healthy-boost

in 2012:

CD sales continued their decline, dropping 13.5% to 193.4 million while digital album sales jumped 14.1%. Vinyl album sales actually managed to outpace digital's sales growth, increasing by 17.7% to 4.55 million units. But that's still a meager 1.44% of all U.S. album sales in 2012.

That's album sales, not individual sales.

[A Sith Lord?]

Finally finished watching Rashomon after spanning it out for about a week and some change.

I kept turning it on when I got home from work late to fall asleep and stop it there.

Loved the movie itself. I'll have to watch it again in its entirety to appreciate it more. Not going to comment on it yet, plan on watching it it again next week.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just finished watching Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. It's quite a remarkable Blu-ray, and I had a lot of fun revisiting this movie for the first time in a couple of years.

I love the tip of the hat to Henri-Georges Clouzot's Le Corbeau (show on Shosanna Dreyfus's theater marquee), and the possible tip of the hat to Jean-Pierre Melville (when Shosanna told Landa that her father's name was "Jean-Pierre").

It's a tie between Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds for my favorite Tarantino film. I want to say that Inglourious Basterds is the better movie, but I have so many memory ties to Pulp Fiction from over the years.

I think this is the first time I totally disagree with you, Great Owl.

Inglorious Bastards to me is one of the worst war movies I have seen. I would put this at the bottom of his filmography.

The whole idea of an organized tactical american (or western allied forces) WWII soldiers having the same moral values as the Nazis is dumbest film idea ever. I would like to believe that the western allied forces were different than the fascists, at least ethically. Massacring/torturing the fascists or leaving them in poverty (like Treaty of Versailles did before WWII) would not helped the outcome.

The red army helped greatly in the defeat of the nazis, but there are many accounts of horrendous acts against the German civilians.

I will remember this film as the looney tunes of all war movies which seems to be written by 13 year old with no sensibilities.

[A Sith Lord?]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

I think this is the first time I totally disagree with you, Great Owl.

Inglorious Bastards to me is one of the worst war movies I have seen. I would put this at the bottom of his filmography.

The whole idea of an organized tactical american (or western allied forces) WWII soldiers having the same moral values as the Nazis is dumbest film idea ever. I would like to believe that the western allied forces were different than the fascists, at least ethically. Massacring/torturing the fascists or leaving them in poverty (like Treaty of Versailles did before WWII) would not helped the outcome.

The red army helped greatly in the defeat of the nazis, but there are many accounts of horrendous acts against the German civilians.

I will remember this film as the looney tunes of all war movies which seems to be written by 13 year old with no sensibilities.

Great Owl never said anything about it being a great war movie, he just said it was one of his favorite Tarantino films.

[Visco.]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

I think this is the first time I totally disagree with you, Great Owl.

Inglorious Bastards to me is one of the worst war movies I have seen. I would put this at the bottom of his filmography.

The whole idea of an organized tactical american (or western allied forces) WWII soldiers having the same moral values as the Nazis is dumbest film idea ever. I would like to believe that the western allied forces were different than the fascists, at least ethically. Massacring/torturing the fascists or leaving them in poverty (like Treaty of Versailles did before WWII) would not helped the outcome.

The red army helped greatly in the defeat of the nazis, but there are many accounts of horrendous acts against the German civilians.

I will remember this film as the looney tunes of all war movies which seems to be written by 13 year old with no sensibilities.

What do you got against the Looney Tunes?

[greekak229]

Originally Posted by iScottie

There's a good chance because they have the rights to the films Chaplin made. Not only that, but they released all of the films (including Limelight) on iTunes.

It's safe to say that we'll get The Kid sometime this year (as it was hinted during the 2013 Newsletter) and hopefully City Lights, The Circus, and Limelight are soon to follow.

Oohh, wow. Just found it on iTunes with the Criterion logo and cover on it and everything. That's pretty interesting.

On a side note I just pre-ordered Naked Lunch with an Amazon card I got. Can't wait to revisit that film again.

[Snicket]

If Criterion really wants to fool us they need to announce an outrageous title...then actually put it up for pre-order!

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by MasturB

Great Owl never said anything about it being a great war movie, he just said it was one of his favorite Tarantino films.

Yes I understand. I did mention that I would put this movie at the bottom of his (Tarantino's) filmography. This is where I disagreed with Great Owl adding that it is the worst war movie ever (even as a "fairy tale").

I then wrote why I dislike this movie ideologically.

Great Owl is one of the best posters on this forum. I hope my post is not perceived as something personal against Great Owl.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by Visco.

What do you got against the Looney Tunes?

You are right, I kind of degraded the looney tunes. Sorry

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by retablo

http://www.billboard.com/biz/article...-healthy-boost

in 2012:

That's album sales, not individual sales.

Sorry, Retablo, but you need to read more carefully the data you quote. Your article refers to album sales in digital stores...only.

Now, here's the relevant comparison you want to have, which I also outlined in my previous post - album vs. album sales.

In the album format, digital jumped 6% in 2012, though fans still favor the physical version. Last year, 193 million CDs were sold vs. 118 million digital albums, according to Nielsen SoundScan's year-end data report. While album sales at digital services outpaced those at mass merchants, they were far exceeded by the combined sales of physical albums at all outlets.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/m...sales/1843627/

Now that this is perfectly clear, let's refocus on Criterion

Pro-B

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by octagon

Over the course of several B&N sales I've had Marienbad and The Last Metro in my hands several times and while they weren't exactly mangled they were a little too beat up to get all the way to the counter.

In fact, for a while there I was convinced I was picking up the exact same copies twice a year.

Still, I suppose I need to get over that.

I'm Also being wishy washy about the Last Metro, right now it's off the wish list, but in a few months it will probably be back on.

Finally watched Damaging, what a heartbreaking film. Watching Colonel Blimp now, my case was damaged, and it took a week and a half to show up. Also noticed that all criterions on Amazon Canada are now considered imports, and the sale prices aren't as friendly. Boo

[octagon]

I caught The Last Metro on TCM sometime last year and that will probably hold me for a while. The solid section of my wishlist is already pretty lengthy and the yeah, maybe section isn't far behind.

Speaking of books, are you a Patricia Highsmith (as usual I had to backspace and correct Hightower, I don't know why I do that) fan? I put her on my gohastings watch list after seeing several of her titles listed in the back of Vintage Crime/Black Lizard editions of various Chandler/Hammett books and finally started digging into them after watching Purple Noon a couple weeks ago.

I've read several shorts, A Suspension of Mercy and Ripley Under Ground and so far so good. She adds a darker, almost bitter edge to the traditional (read staid) English style of mystery novels that's pretty interesting (and had to be very interesting when they were written).

I'll definitely be going back for more.

[billzfan]

Just giving a heads up. Best Buy has added 10 dollar reward certificates in anyone's reward zone accounts for today only! I just used mine to order Badlands. Hope the info helps

[jcez28]

Originally Posted by Jutty

Hoping someone can push me in the right direction,, i debating on buying Rosemary's Baby.. last time i saw it was like 15-20 years ago, its is worth picking it up on BD,, ive read the review,just wanna get some other opinions,
Thanks in advance

I was born on Halloween and I like it. I'll put in a word with the big guy see if he'll do a trade the criterion for your soul

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

Inglorious Bastards to me is one of the worst war movies I have seen. I would put this at the bottom of his filmography.

:

It's not a war movie at all. It's a movie about war movies.