The Criterion Collection

[joy-division]

Originally Posted by ravenus

There are a bunch of barebones / nearly barebones blu's, you can distinguish by the fact that they're usually cheaper than the bulk of the catalog. If you list Criterions from lowest price onwards, the ones that show up first are such titles:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/movie...0&sortby=price

I guess it doesn't really work at this time of year cos IAMMMW is right there at the top!

[BluLobsta]

Originally Posted by movieben1138

Honestly, this movie passes surprisingly quickly despite the length. It's an enigma. This is a 3 1/2 hour, black and white, foreign language film that I still have found can captivate newbies and naysayers as easily as any flashy, modern Hollywood blockbuster. It really defies explanation how it's possible. An absolute masterpiece.

Not many movies have had such an influence on filmmakers. You can even see its footprint all over Star Wars.

[joy-division]

Originally Posted by BluLobsta

Not many movies have had such an influence on filmmakers. You can even see its footprint all over Star Wars.

You really need to go to The Hidden Fortress for that.
Startling to see jow much was taken from that

[Bn43]

Originally Posted by joy-division

You really need to go to The Hidden Fortress for that.
Startling to see jow much was taken from that

Not really. I'm actually annoyed Lucas felt he had to spend two to three minutes justifying his inspiration for Star Wars in that short video that was included on the disc, apparently because it is brought up so often. They're not that similar. In fact, they're very different adventure movies, both great in their own ways. He created something unique.

George Lucas on "The Hidden Fortress" - YouTube

[ravenus]

The main thing Lucas took from Hidden Fortress was the idea of starting an epic story from the POV of a pair of supporting characters, who happen to be comedy relief rather than obvious heroes. Star Wars owes as much to a lot of heroic fairy tales and pulp futuristic fiction* like Flash Gordon as it does to Kurosawa's movie.

*as opposed to Science Fiction because there's no frikkin' science here.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by movieben1138

Honestly, this movie passes surprisingly quickly despite the length. It's an enigma.

Yeah, Seven Samurai and Anatomy of a Murder are among the quickest long movies I've seen. Heck, there are trailers for Bela Tarr movies that seem longer

[BluLobsta]

I learn a lot here. I knew of Kurosawa's influence on Lucas and automatically assumed it was Seven Samurai. I saw a shorter version of that interview where he mentions that Seven Samurai is his favorite Kurosawa film so I jumped to conclusions.

Actually, it's the interview over at Criterion lol

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by movieben1138

Honestly, this movie passes surprisingly quickly despite the length. It's an enigma. This is a 3 1/2 hour, black and white, foreign language film that I still have found can captivate newbies and naysayers as easily as any flashy, modern Hollywood blockbuster. It really defies explanation how it's possible. An absolute masterpiece.

Originally Posted by joy-division

You really need to go to The Hidden Fortress for that.
Startling to see jow much was taken from that

I wanted to get THF during the sale but it’s been OOS every time I’ve checked. I assume Amazon hasn’t price matched it for that reason.

[bergman864]

Originally Posted by Bn43

Not really. I'm actually annoyed Lucas felt he had to spend two to three minutes justifying his inspiration for Star Wars in that short video that was included on the disc, apparently because it is brought up so often. They're not that similar. In fact, they're very different adventure movies, both great in their own ways. He created something unique.

[Show spoiler]George Lucas on "The Hidden Fortress" - YouTube

He borrowed a lot from The Hidden Fortress including the final scene. It's completely justified for people to point out the influence.

[Bn43]

Originally Posted by bergman864

He borrowed a lot from The Hidden Fortress including the final scene. It's completely justified for people to point out the influence.

Yeah, don't see that. At all.

[Show spoiler]

He borrowed R2 and C3PO. Most of the rest is superficial.

[bergman864]

Originally Posted by Bn43

Yeah, don't see that. At all.

[Show spoiler]

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by ravenus

The main thing Lucas took from Hidden Fortress was the idea of starting an epic story from the POV of a pair of supporting characters, who happen to be comedy relief rather than obvious heroes. Star Wars owes as much to a lot of heroic fairy tales and pulp futuristic fiction* like Flash Gordon as it does to Kurosawa's movie.

*as opposed to Science Fiction because there's no frikkin' science here.

Well, there's no "futuristic" there, either, since it was set "...a long time ago..."

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by ravenus

*as opposed to Science Fiction because there's no frikkin' science here.

Hence the term science fiction.

[JasonMichael]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Hence the term science fiction.

No, science fiction is supposed to take science and extrapolate from there, which Star Wars doesn't do. It falls squarely into pulp space opera.

[Bn43]

Star Wars is fantasy, right from the first line of fairy tale text, "long ago" and "far, far away."

Lucas in the Episode I commentary: "I had to struggle very hard on the Star Wars films to make them appear to be realistic, even though they’re totally fantasy. And they aren’t science fiction, they’re fantasy, but you still believe that this could actually happen."

[bergman864]

Star Wars is fantasy. It just mixes spaceships with its fantastical creatures.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by JasonMichael

No, science fiction is supposed to take science and extrapolate from there, which Star Wars doesn't do. It falls squarely into pulp space opera.

Yeah, okay, it's "fantasy" or "pulp space opera" or whatever preferred nomenclature you want to use in this pointless semantics debate, but the generally accepted term for that type of space movie is still "science fiction". There are tons of fictional movies out there about science that nobody calls science fiction. I've yet to see anyone refer to Junior as a science fiction.

[bergman864]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Yeah, okay, it's "fantasy" or "pulp space opera" or whatever preferred nomenclature you want to use in this pointless semantics debate, but the generally accepted term for that type of space movie is still "science fiction". There are tons of fictional movies out there about science that nobody calls science fiction. I've yet to see anyone refer to Junior as a science fiction.

Comedies get a little leeway. I'd call it and Senseless sci-fi but I bet not many others.

[joy-division]

Originally Posted by ravenus

The main thing Lucas took from Hidden Fortress was the idea of starting an epic story from the POV of a pair of supporting characters, who happen to be comedy relief rather than obvious heroes. Star Wars owes as much to a lot of heroic fairy tales and pulp futuristic fiction* like Flash Gordon as it does to Kurosawa's movie.

*as opposed to Science Fiction because there's no frikkin' science here.

Star wars is basically just a fairytale. Just set in space. It has all the ingredients:

A young upcoming hero/apprentice
A princess needing to be rescued(but not your typical princess albeit that)
Your dashing knight
The Wizard
The evil Sorcerer
Ths Sorcerer's large Castle
The duel


Only thing that is missing is romance which there are slight hints sprinkled here & there

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by joy-division

Only thing that is missing is romance which there are slight hints sprinkled here & there

There was the rather strange romance that appeared in the first sequel: