The Criterion Collection

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by 14728

Lucky, if only I had a daughter.

I rely on her since I have no B&N here plus she's a member and that extra 10% comes in handy.

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by 14728

Lucky, if only I had a daughter.

I have a daughter, but she's mostly good for watching Dora the Explorer, and eating yogurt and raspberries by the metric ton.....



I'm going to get out of the Front-Projection game (somewhat) and buy a small screen, but my main screen will be a 60+ inch plasma, with a much closer viewing distance to compensate.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

My movie room had an "Accident"

Sparing you the details, I find myself less one 135" Screen, and down to just my 6-7 year old 37" 720p LCD that bangs out netflix for the kids etc....

Because of this, I've found the urge to unwrap things that I truly want to get engrossed in that have come in recently, diminished.

All of my speakers pre-pro/etc. are in the room that housed the projector screen too.... so it's basically the equivalent of watching a film on the T.V. you keep in the kitchen to watch the morning news while you make your morning coffee (not that I have one of those, this is my only other screen in the house, but the analogy works)

Other circumstances/moving/life/etc. prevents me from replacing the screen immediately, so I'm stuck here with an influx of films, and little desire to watch many of them for the first time (and all for the first time on Blu-ray) on my less-than-to-be-desired conditions.


Rant over.... Watching disney movies with the kids anyway until they go to bed.... then back to streaming Netflix with TV series I never watched.


I have 25+ Criterion BDs I need to catch up on, and of those, 10 or so are films I've never seen

In other places this would seem trite and out of sorts, but "I'm sorry for your loss." Good luck catching up on your films.... when you can.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by jw007

And hey everyone, today is my birthday too by the way!

Happy Birthday Dude!
(mine's around the corner... )

[14728]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

I have a daughter, but she's mostly good for watching Dora the Explorer, and eating yogurt and raspberries by the metric ton.....



I'm going to get out of the Front-Projection game (somewhat) and buy a small screen, but my main screen will be a 60+ inch plasma, with a much closer viewing distance to compensate.

The largest TV in my house is 46".

[Sherlock_Jr]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Somebody here on this forum (I think that it was Pro-B) said it best...

"If I don't own something on a disc, then I don't own it at all."

That's the way I look at it. I have almost 1,000 CDs, and that's after my collection has been pared down to the essentials over the past few years as I've been increasingly minimalist at my place. It's quite a commitment in terms of storage space, just as my movie collection is, but I dislike the idea of entrusting the music and movies I grew up enjoying to some ephemeral "cloud" or to a hard drive susceptible to problems.

This makes me think of an unfortunate friend who sold his entire CD collection after putting the songs on an iPod several years ago. His iPod was stolen shortly after he sold his physical collection.

Well, that's why you should have a backup. I put my 1,000 CDs on my computer and it's the best thing I've done with my media. Got rid of all the waste - cases, shelves, the space it takes up - and now everything is on a hard drive the size of my wallet.

I don't equate owning something with holding it in my hand. If I can download a physical file and have it on a hard drive, to me that's enough. In theory, downloads should be cheaper, since distributors won't have the cost of the physical packaging (which is the costliest part anyway). But I doubt that'll happen.

I also see a future where films at theaters cost different prices. The ticket for a small indie film won't be as much as a ticket for Avengers 8 in super IMAX 4-D. That is, if we even have theaters... which I think we will. But the same thing happened to theater owners - Hollywood forced them to upgrade all their equipment to digital, saying they will no longer send out film prints. Theater chains complained, because it was a huge expense, but the complied. The same thing would/could happen to home video... if Hollywood stops offering physical discs, and says the ONLY way you can get copies is to download, then people WILL comply. Some may not like it, but them's the brakes.

[14728]

Originally Posted by jw007

And hey everyone, today is my birthday too by the way!

I would use the Happy birthday smilie, but that is too obvious, so hear is something no one else would do... Now was that expected?

Also, my birthday is in 1.5 months,

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by 14728

I would use the Happy birthday smilie, but that is too obvious, so hear is something no one else would do... Now was that expected?

Also, my birthday is in 1.5 months,

Darnit.. I almost went with that, but said no... now you're the cool one.

[lordmorpheus72]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Somebody here on this forum (I think that it was Pro-B) said it best...

"If I don't own something on a disc, then I don't own it at all."

I agree. As an IT professional I never feel like I own software unless I have a physical copy... especially with more and more software companies wanting you to move to SAAS, as opposed to buying a copy of their OS or latest game or program.

Storage takes up space, by gods, I own 'em!

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by TJS_Blu

You want criterion treatment for music? Check out Bear Family Records, Mosaic, Rhino Handmade, Hip-O Select, even the Legacy & Deluxe editions (if you can take brickwalled sound). I'm sure there are other labels that apply.

Rhino Handmade is a great label. My favorite album of the 1990s, Ride - Nowhere, was beautifully reissued by Rhino Handmade, and the remaster soars.

The main Rhino label has always excelled at reissues, and the Handmade subset of the company does some fascinating things.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Rhino Handmade is a great label. My favorite album of the 1990s, Ride - Nowhere, was beautifully reissued by Rhino Handmade, and the remaster soars.

The main Rhino label has always excelled at reissues, and the Handmade subset of the company does some fascinating things.

Dude, I can't stop listening to "Vapor Trail"

Also, I really liked your Thin Red Line review, the two main paragraphs read bery nicely...but it seemed like you were eager to get to the finish. If the mood ever strikes, consider adding an epic conclusion..it kinda felt like you went straight from the body to the AV/PQ nods.

[The Great Owl]

I just finished watching John Frankenheimer's Seconds for the first time.
Mind = blown.

Being the devotee of The Twilight Zone that I am, I predicted the conclusion early on in the film, but the roller coaster ride was no less harrowing for me.

I'll write a longer review soon, but I want to go through these extras, watch the commentary track, and take another day or two to live inside the movie. (Now that I'm caught up watching my Blu-rays, I like the idea of taking the time to live with movies for a while.)

For now, Seconds strikes a nerve with me on a personal level. At the end of 2004, I weighed 400 pounds, I was morbidly obese, and I lost my breath just walking up apartment stairs. In 2005, I changed my food habits, started working out with a trainer, and lost 185 pounds. Since then, I've taken to long-distance running, and done several things that I never dreamed possible in my "former life." Through it all, though, I still struggle to this day with the residue and the mental imprint from those years of obesity, my body is always fighting to go back to that heavy weight if I'm not careful, and it has not been easy to maintain that weight loss, because I'm still uncomfortable in my own skin a lot of the time. I relate to Rock Hudson's mannerisms in Seconds all the more because of my own story. The fact that actress Salome Jens, whose character befriends the lead character in his new life, looks a lot like a woman in my local running community who befriended me as I made my way into my new life throws this movie into even more of a total mind warp. *shudders* Haha.

Hey, all of this personal stuff is Criterion-related in this instance.

This is one crazy and cool flick. God bless the Criterion Collection.

[Abdrewes]

Wow! That was a very personal revelation, Owl. Glad to see the film resonated so much for you.

[TheHighRoller]

Originally Posted by Sherlock_Jr

If the master was any good, it would have been. They planned to. But they saw the elements and turned it down.

So there's really no chance of Le Samourai being released on Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection then?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Also, I really liked your Thin Red Line review, the two main paragraphs read bery nicely...but it seemed like you were eager to get to the finish. If the mood ever strikes, consider adding an epic conclusion..it kinda felt like you went straight from the body to the AV/PQ nods.

That was a shorter review than The Thin Red Line deserves, but I was multitasking earlier today, and I wanted to divulge just enough to herd prospective viewers to the film.

I do have a few more thoughts running about after revisiting The Thin Red Line, though. For starters, I sympathize with Nick Nolte's character more as I grow older, just as I sympathize with Brad Pitt's character in The Tree of Life. At one point in the movie, Nick Nolte's Lt. Colonel Gordon Tall lays out the stakes to Elias Koteas's Captain subordinate character by explaining the strategic importance of the Guadalcanal airfield. From a historian perspective, knowing what we know now about the pivotal role that Guadalcanal played in turning the tide of a worldwide war, does Gordon's resolve to risk the lives of an entire division to maintain momentum make more sense, and is the Captain in the wrong for not being "ruthless enough"? Terrence Malick captures the devastating weight of such wartime decisions in a way that few directors have done in a war film. When the free world is at risk, a Captain has the responsibility of sending familiar faces into deadly situations, and that is why war truly is hell.

The general consensus from viewers seems to be that Nolte is a villain, but I'm not sure if that's a fair assessment. Still, I dearly love the scene where Nolte tells Cusack that he is like a son to him. We can sense what is going through Cusack's mind. Would he want the Lt. Colonel as a father?

[Sherlock_Jr]

Originally Posted by TheHighRoller

So there's really no chance of Le Samourai being released on Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection then?

I wouldn't say that. They just turned down the master provided by Pathe. They could very well get the remastered elements before the DNR was applied, or make their own restoration from other elements. I don't know what their plans are, only that they supposedly turned down the master that was provided to them. Not knowing the specifics of their licensing or contracts, I don't know what their options actually are at this point. I do know, however, that they still want to release it.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by TheHighRoller

So there's really no chance of Le Samourai being released on Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection then?

The release of Le Samourai is still a possibility, but the studio apparently wants a better transfer than the one that was submitted to them. It's worth waiting for a high definition restoration that has not been scrubbed of detail by the digital elves.

Since Le Samourai is my all-time favorite movie, I have gone against the advice of several people here on this site by ordering an existing French Blu-ray. The 2012 Pathe Blu-ray of Le Samourai is an improvement over the first printing in 2011, judging from screen capture comparisons, but it is still a scrubbed-to-death affair. I'm curious about how it will fare on my smaller television, though, and I'm interested to see the darker color scheme that reportedly reflects the cameraman's intent.
My order is just a placeholder, though, and that's all that I'm expecting.

EDIT: Sherlock beat me to it with a more articulate response.

[brandon_260]

It's been some time since I last checked in. Between relocating to Arctic Canada and working 10+ hour days, I've been swamped lately. The dual format announcement is the most exciting thing I've read in a long time. Since I've not got access to my blu-ray player while I'm up North, it's great that I'll be able to buy and watch the film on DVD, while having the blu for when I move back home, without having to buy both. Great move by Criterion that couldn't have come at a better time. Also, so glad City Lights and Frances Ha were announced.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by brandon_260

It's been some time since I last checked in. Between relocating to Arctic Canada and working 10+ hour days, I've been swamped lately.

The return of my favorite avatar! Welcome back.

That's a great point about the Dual Format.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Dude, I can't stop listening to "Vapor Trail"

Also, I really liked your Thin Red Line review, the two main paragraphs read bery nicely...but it seemed like you were eager to get to the finish. If the mood ever strikes, consider adding an epic conclusion..it kinda felt like you went straight from the body to the AV/PQ nods.

I love Vapor Trail! I love that album by Ride too (Nowhere). Shoegaze!!! That's the other thing about you I forgot almost...that you dig this style of music.

Must ask you, are you also in love with the soundtrack Lost in Translation? I really think its one of the best soundtracks in my music collection.