The Criterion Collection

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by anthonyls

Regarding "Moonrise Kingdom"...

I hate buying digibooks. Does anyone know if Criterion has released the second reprinting of this in their standard blueray plastic case yet?

No...Not so soon...

[Ray Jackson]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

There is no dislike button, so I will say this...

Indian films (not talking about commercial/Bollywood films) are highly underappreciated by the western world and Japanese films have so much focus compared to other Asian countries.

Not many in this forum (even this thread, where so many good film lovers post/read) can name 5 Indian film directors (most I assume, will start & end with one name). If same question is asked about Japanese directors, I think we will average 10 names...all this without referring to google/wiki etc.

Japan/France/Italy is the mainstream of art films...

I know I couldn't name five Indian directors.

I don't think I could name two.

But I'm always open to suggestions.

...as long as they have nothing to do with Bollywood.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I know I couldn't name five Indian directors.

I don't think I could name two.

But I'm always open to suggestions.

...as long as they have nothing to do with Bollywood.

I lived through a few Bollywood movies back when I was reading comics, and trying to convince people that Priyanka Chopra would make the perfect Wonder Woman on film. But I had to watch some of her movies to see what she was made of, other than looks.

That was not a fun couple of days. Not.

Of course, Priyanka's on an American TV show now. So ...

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I know I couldn't name five Indian directors.

I don't think I could name two.

But I'm always open to suggestions.

...as long as they have nothing to do with Bollywood.

Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur is pretty great, well I think so! It's got some Bollywood flourishes, but I would say it's more in the gangster genre!

[nitin]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I know I couldn't name five Indian directors.

I don't think I could name two.

But I'm always open to suggestions.

...as long as they have nothing to do with Bollywood.

Criterion has East Bengali (now Bangladesh so strictly speaking it's not Indian) director Ritwik Ghatak's film A River Called Titas is the WCF box set.

I would kill for getting Guru Dutt's Pyaasa on blu ray from anyone competent but I doubt it will happen.

[nitin]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I lived through a few Bollywood movies back when I was reading comics, and trying to convince people that Priyanka Chopra would make the perfect Wonder Woman on film. But I had to watch some of her movies to see what she was made of, other than looks.

That was not a fun couple of days. Not.

Of course, Priyanka's on an American TV show now. So ...

She has become a much better actress in recent times IMHO (although not on Quantico lol) but some of her role choices are still poor.

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by nitin

Criterion has East Bengali (now Bangladesh so strictly speaking it's not Indian) director Ritwik Ghatak's film A River Called Titas is the WCF box set.

I would kill for getting Guru Dutt's Pyaasa on blu ray from anyone competent but I doubt it will happen.

Apart from Satyajit Ray & Ritwick Ghatak (He was born in a place now in Bangladesh) but he moved to Calcutta when India got Independence and died there (not immediately, just saying )...so we can consider him Indian...

Other Indian origin director (resides in USA now) in collection is Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding)

I think Scott posted a news that criterion is working on a/some Guru Datt movie(s)...Don't remember the specific film name(s) though...

[mrjohnnyb]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

That image

[Show spoiler] completely shocked and disturbed me when I saw Raising Cain. (The blaring intense soundtrack that supported that moment certainly helped.) I rank it up there with a handful of many great DePalma moments; perhaps John Lithgow's creepiest moment on film.

[bwdowiak]

Too lazy to look up the directors name and I've given this film a shout out before but The Lunchbox was a very good Indian art film (not Bollywood) from a couple years ago. I think it was that directors first film, so Id be interested to see what's next for him.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by nitin

She has become a much better actress in recent times IMHO (although not on Quantico lol) but some of her role choices are still poor.

Actually, I thought she was fine in the Bollywood films I watched. I might not have enjoyed the films, but I thought she did a good job. As to "Quantico" I think she does the best she can with the material she's given. That show should be written much better than it is.

But she has an incredible screen presence. And I'm not talking about her beauty alone, though that obviously helps. She owns the screen when she's on.

Keep in mind that these comics discussions about her being WW were about a decade ago. Back in the days when I spent most of my life on a WW board. Granted, no one, that I remember, agreed with me. But I just thought she would have been perfect at the time.

Now, I just want to say, and I realize this is totally OT, that I am incredibly happy with the choice of Gal Gadot. She's a total badass, looks the part, is beautiful. Snyder totally locked the door when he chose Gadot for the role.

OK, now I'm done talking Wonder Woman. At least in this thread.

[Abdrewes]

Man, is there a better value out there than the "A Brighter Summer Day" release? A great 4 hour film and a two hour doc as one of the bonus features!

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

Whaaa???

Assuming you are not in Japan or Hawaii...

You mean the Wednesday as in the day right after Tuesday you ordered? amazon USA order sits right there for at least 2-3 days unless you have prime...

Back around 10-15 years ago, I used to regularly order DVDs from CD Japan, and they typically made the trip from Japan to Metro Boston in 3-4 days.

[jshaide]

Saw WIENER DOG tonight and a special thanks in the end credits is The Criterion Collection. And this is an IFC title. Could the film be coming to Criterion?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

Indian films (not talking about commercial/Bollywood films) are highly underappreciated by the western world and Japanese films have so much focus compared to other Asian countries.

Not many in this forum (even this thread, where so many good film lovers post/read) can name 5 Indian film directors (most I assume, will start & end with one name). If same question is asked about Japanese directors, I think we will average 10 names...all this without referring to google/wiki etc.

Japan/France/Italy is the mainstream of art films...

I think a lot of the underappreciation comes from nothing more than lack of exposure. Japanese films (and French and Italian films) have regularly been released in this country for cinephiles to indulge in for decades. Unless one lives in a highly diverse art-film market (like Boston, NYC, or LA), one doesn't generally have the opportunity to see much in the way of Indian films.

In the past couple of years, I've watched five Indian films (one a Canadian co-pro) on Netflix. Four of them I rated 4/5, and one 3/5:

Bombay Summer (Joseph Mathew, 2009)
Road, Movie (Dev Benegal, 2009)
Udaan (Vikramaditya Motwane, 2010)
Peepli [Live] (Anusha Rizvi & Mahmood Farooqui, 2010)
Madras Café (Shoojit Sircar, 2013) This is the one I rated 3/5.
Water (Deepa Mehta, 2005) Canadian/Indian

[jayembee]

And speaking of Netflix, for those of you here with it and are fans of Hirokazu Kore-eda, his film Like Father, Like Son will be expiring on July 1st. Get cracking!

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Man, is there a better value out there than the "A Brighter Summer Day" release? A great 4 hour film and a two hour doc as one of the bonus features!

It's easily one of the top releases of the entire year.

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by iScottie

It's easily one of the top releases of the entire year.

Without a doubt!

[Fabs]

Originally Posted by iScottie

It's easily one of the top releases of the entire year.

I wish I could like it. I love Edward Yang as I was blown away by Yi Yi, and The Terrorizers is in my top 10 films of all time... yet I was really underwhelmed by A Brighter Summer Day.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

There is no dislike button, so I will say this...

Indian films (not talking about commercial/Bollywood films) are highly underappreciated by the western world and Japanese films have so much focus compared to other Asian countries.

Not many in this forum (even this thread, where so many good film lovers post/read) can name 5 Indian film directors (most I assume, will start & end with one name). If same question is asked about Japanese directors, I think we will average 10 names...all this without referring to google/wiki etc.

Japan/France/Italy is the mainstream of art films...

Agreed, I mean aside from Ray, all I can think is Deepa Mehta and Mira Nair, those are a bit more well known to us mainly because they don't make commercial cinema, otherwise there are very few popular Indian films that get a wide exposure, I've been watching some more Indian films so I know of few other names but the problem is they are all very hard to remember and I would need to look up one of their films to be able to write them.

Also it seems there are quite a few famous directors who made Parallel cinema along Satyajit Ray, so I guess it comes down to a method of preservation or the way the culture treated films, I don't know, but it seems most older Indian films don't have good sources.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur is pretty great, well I think so! It's got some Bollywood flourishes, but I would say it's more in the gangster genre!

I've yet to see it since it is so long, but I saw another one by him called Dev.D and was quite surprised it was very good, and while it has lots of music and some dancing I wouldn't say it is in the typical Bollywood style either.

I wouldn't dismiss Bollywood movies altogether there are quite a lot of variance between them, the more recent ones seems to be the worst in my opinion, the musical numbers are simply mini music videos with pop music interleaved in the story, some older films are more inventive although with lots of camp, but the older music is still better (at least once you get used to the women high pitched voices), I would give at least Sholay a try, if you don't find any redeeming qualities, then it's not for you

Oh and talking of Priyanka Chopra, another good one was Barfi! although I am sure it gets it's fair share of detractors because of the way it uses tons of scenes from other movies.