The Criterion Collection

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

What are people's thoughts on Il Sorpasso? I haven't seen it but it intrigues me.

Il Sorpasso is one of my favorite Criterion titles of the year so far. Here is my User Review.

I started watching Il Sorpasso late one night when I was sleepy, and I only expected to watch the first half hour or so. Like the bewildered law student in the film, though, I found myself swept away on a journey, and I loved every minute of it. It's a tremendous work of filmmaking that carries you along with a brisk rhythm.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by iScottie

I think she's mixing up Roy Scheider and Rod Steiger.

Which would otherwise be very hard to do.

[Mansinthe]

Originally Posted by JoeBuck

I tried to use mine with a zipcode and it denied it stating that it didn't match the credit card info.

You can get a vanilla mastercard for $25 and just change it to a US card though, its pretty easy to do

unblock-us is much faster. only 4,99$ a month and works for a lot of other stuff as well. getting a vanilla mastercard and making up a fake zip code etc is not that hard...


criterion should reconsider dropping dual format already... just drop the digipacks and use the 3 disc scanavo cases... feels like a huge step back

[Clare2904]

Originally Posted by oildude

Robert Shaw was in Jaws, not Rod Steiger. Or am I misreading your post?

Originally Posted by iScottie

I think she's mixing up Roy Scheider and Rod Steiger.

Oops *runs away*

[Clare2904]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

I finally got around to watching Koyaanisqatsi from the Qatsi Trilogy set which I blind bought during the November B&N sale. Wow. This is pure cinema. It's a film absent of actors, dialogue, plot, and is stripped down to the bare essentials: visuals and music. Ron Fricke's cinematography is stunning and there are so many incredible, awesome, memorable shots. The manipulation of speed and editing are brilliant, not to mention fairly entertaining. The score by Philip Glass is one of the best I've ever heard and elevates the hypnotic imagery. I was apparently a fan of Glass before I even knew it, as I had previously heard the excerpt used by Zack Snyder from this movie in Watchmen and loved listening to that track "Pruit Igoe & Prophecies" over and over. Koyaanisqatsi does have an experimental documentary feel but to call it that feels wrong and doesn't quite do the film justice. There is a definite message there, but since there is no dialogue (ie talking heads, narration) and the organization of the images is such that the meaning can be slightly different to every person (no hitting over the head with trite editing), the film is more of an experience, and an important one at that. It's so strange to see our life from an almost alien angle, and director Godfrey Reggio really captured something about humanity and our daily existence in my opinion, and it stuck with me. This is one of those films I feel everyone should see before they die. It is a masterpiece, and I don't pull that word from my film vocabulary regularly.

I was so lucky last year to go to the world premiere of Visitors. It was screened with a live score by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. It was STUNNING!

Even more stunning was meeting Godfrey Reggio & Steven Soderbergh afterwards and have them autograph the booklet we was given. I had picked up a spare for my friend in London as he is a Qatsi fanatic and they signed this one too. They both took time to speak to me which was just

I really need to pull the trigger on the Trilogy.

[Thebunk]

Originally Posted by Clare2904

I actually tried to use my Canadian CC but it wanted a registered zip code.

I live in New Brunswick and had used Hulu Plus for almost 2 years via Unblock Us.

I was able to get around the credit card issue by following the instructions in Option 1 and it worked:

http://support.unblock-us.com/custom...for-hulu-plus-

EDIT - I see a few others noted this on this page as well. It is definitely worth, especially to be able to select different regions for Netflix as well.

[jhiggy23]

Thanks guys for the feedback on Il Sorpasso!

[The Bronx Bull]

I watched Kiss Me Deadly today - a great follow up to Out of the Past, which I watched last week. Every time an address or location is mentioned in a film, I have a tendency to look it up in Google Maps. More often than not, the addresses are fake, but the geographical areas area real.

In this film, they mention that the main character lives at 10401 Wilshire Blvd. Sure enough, it's the exact location:









Kind of neat!

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by PrestonXI

Just watched L'Eclisse on Blu Ray from NetFlix. A truly unique and incredible film. Some of the best black and white images I have seen. I may have to pick up my own copy at some point.

I would highly recommend L'Avventura. It is filled with great wide-angle scenes of the beautiful Aeolian islands.

It has, in my opinion, a better coherent story than L'Eclisse, and it does not have a silly Monica Vitti playing and painting herself as an African woman (a distasteful minstrel show, in a few words).

[mcvitie]

^ Pretty cool! That reminds me I still need to watch my copy

[olivianewtonyawn]

Anyone know if a list of criterion blu ray releases by country of origin is available anywhere? It must exist... but I can not seem to find one.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

I finally got around to watching Koyaanisqatsi from the Qatsi Trilogy set which I blind bought during the November B&N sale. Wow. This is pure cinema. It's a film absent of actors, dialogue, plot, and is stripped down to the bare essentials: visuals and music. Ron Fricke's cinematography is stunning and there are so many incredible, awesome, memorable shots. The manipulation of speed and editing are brilliant, not to mention fairly entertaining. The score by Philip Glass is one of the best I've ever heard and elevates the hypnotic imagery. I was apparently a fan of Glass before I even knew it, as I had previously heard the excerpt used by Zack Snyder from this movie in Watchmen and loved listening to that track "Pruit Igoe & Prophecies" over and over. Koyaanisqatsi does have an experimental documentary feel but to call it that feels wrong and doesn't quite do the film justice. There is a definite message there, but since there is no dialogue (ie talking heads, narration) and the organization of the images is such that the meaning can be slightly different to every person (no hitting over the head with trite editing), the film is more of an experience, and an important one at that. It's so strange to see our life from an almost alien angle, and director Godfrey Reggio really captured something about humanity and our daily existence in my opinion, and it stuck with me. This is one of those films I feel everyone should see before they die. It is a masterpiece, and I don't pull that word from my film vocabulary regularly.

Pruit Igoe and Prophecies are some of my favorite musical compositions by Glass. It has appeared in countless films. He has also made a tribute symphony based on David Bowie and Brian Eno's Low album using some of the electronic parts in the album. It is also really great.

Another of his works I always return to is his Concerto for Saxophone (quartet version). It is also great to revisit Cocteau's La Belle et Bête with Glass' alternate soundtrack/score (on the criterion blu ray) giving the movie an operatic perspective.

[TJS_Blu]

Originally Posted by olivianewtonyawn

Anyone know if a list of criterion blu ray releases by country of origin is available anywhere? It must exist... but I can not seem to find one.

Here

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

Pruit Igoe and Prophecies are some of my favorite musical compositions by Glass. It has appeared in countless films. He has also made a tribute symphony based on David Bowie and Brian Eno's Low album using some of the electronic parts in the album. It is also really great.

Another of his works I always return to is his Concerto for Saxophone (quartet version). It is also great to revisit Cocteau's La Belle et Bête with Glass' alternate soundtrack/score (on the criterion blu ray) giving the movie an operatic perspective.

Only seen that film with Glass' alternative score, he is my favourite composer and his music is incredible.

Check out Mishima for the score alone!

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by Polaroid

Only seen that film with Glass' alternative score, he is my favourite composer and his music is incredible.

Check out Mishima for the score alone!

Very true, to be honest, with all due respect to Cocteau, that was my main reason for purchasing the film (I was really glad that criterion included it in their final product)

I am almost certain there must be a Glass lover working at criterion, (the only way they knew to include it).

Thank you for the recommendation. Right now I am listening to Rene Jacob's SACD surround sound version of Bach's Matthaüs Passion. It is glorious, I am huge fan of Bach's work.

[dtyner92]

Would love to see Criterion rerelease The Human Condition on blu-ray. It's such a beautifully shot film.

[Fellini912]

Originally Posted by dtyner92

Would love to see Criterion rerelease The Human Condition on blu-ray. It's such a beautifully shot film.

Totally agree. I am also wanting for Ugetsu, it is one of my all time favorites.

So far criterion has released or announced Persona and Pickpocket, I have hopes that they will release Ugetsu, Hiroshima mon Amour or Andrei Rublev this year. This year has truly been criterion's best year for blu-ray releases.

[zoodermin]

Ok, so I've been debating which films I'm getting in the upcoming B&N sale and here they are (although some may change).

Persona
Certified Copy
Throne of Blood
The Hidden Fortress
Red River
Jules & Jim
Tess
Kiss Me Deadly
All that Heaven Allows
Ace in the Hole

All of them are blind-buys with the exception of Persona and Certified Copy.

[jhiggy23]

Haven't seen much talk about King of the Hill and La Vie Boheme. What are people's thoughts? I really like almost all of Soderbergh's films, but heard KotH is a very minor work and ignored period details and concerns. I'm also interested in La Vie Boheme, as I loved Le Havre.

[Polaroid]

Originally Posted by Fellini912

Very true, to be honest, with all due respect to Cocteau, that was my main reason for purchasing the film (I was really glad that criterion included it in their final product)

I am almost certain there must be a Glass lover working at criterion, (the only way they knew to include it).

Thank you for the recommendation. Right now I am listening to Rene Jacob's SACD surround sound version of Bach's Matthaüs Passion. It is glorious, I am huge fan of Bach's work.

God, I adore Bachs work.

I bought Beauty and Beast for the story and director, wasn't until I got the bluray I realised Philip Glass had worked on it! Was over the moon - need to watch ilm with normals soundtrack but its was so incredible with Philip Glass' opera that I doubt I would enjoy as much.