The Criterion Channel

[fdm]

Originally Posted by jt839

I feel like Body Heat is in every monthly lineup. Maybe Criterion will release it soon.

Really needs a remaster and a 4K release. (The original blu-ray was pretty weak.)

[eightslicesofpie]

Wong Kar Wai's "Blossoms Shanghai" comin to the Channel, just announced today ~

[DaBargainHunta]

With the end of the month approaching, it's time for me to plan out which expiring picks I want to watch.

I think I've decided on three definites:

• Little Murders
• The Magic Christian
• Try and Get Me

I'll see if I have any time and room for more than that.

Maybes:

• The Lawless
• You’re a Big Boy Now
• What's Up Connection

I'll probably pass on these because they're either on other streaming services and/or common:

• The Angel Levine (feels like the 10th time it's come and gone from the Channel)
• Barbarella (ditto)
• Black Caesar
• Tongues Untied

[fdm]

^^ You should at least try and give In Country a shot, I really liked it.

(I've been doing the expires from prime within the next 2 weeks thing again (less than a week to go, and just a few left), so not a lot going on with the channel just yet.)

From my channel watch list, I did get to Breillat's Last Summer a week or so ago. More often than not her films are kind of a miss for me (at least at the times I've tried to watch them), but this one was a hit. (Not expiring yet though.)

And I started to watch The Childhood Of A Leader, but no closed captions and some echoing sound kind of turned me off early on, and it was sort of getting late… May try it with headphones if I get a chance, it could be worth another shot (though I may check out a review before doing so).

Among the maybes for me is The Magic Christian, though I remember trying to watch it once upon a time and not succeeding… Hard to tell what I'll actually get to this month, nothing else expiring on the channel is really grabbing me (I've seen Little Murders and Try and Get Me and The Lawless somewhere along the line), but you never know…

[Cpt. Feeney]

I got into it last night with L.A. Confidential. Didn't get the fuss when the film came out but I figured it was time to try again, and... while I love Dante Spinotti's work on it, and a lot of the scenes early on, and Spacey's performance, there's something about the very efficient dialogue which starts to feel constructed to me. And the Kim Basinger character is kind of one dimensional considering she's playing a dual persona. I don't buy the allure and power that the script assigns to her. Dialogue and characterization just feel a bit restrained or something, overall. I don't know, I don't get it.

Anyway, lined up I've got 4 I've never seen before - Paper Moon, Joseph Losey's The Lawless, not a huge fan of Losey's work but this early American feature about race relations sounds intriguing, then possibly Bye Bye Braverman and Childhood of a Leader.

I watched a lot of the Vietnam collection when it arrived, including In Country, which I enjoyed for the Emily Lloyd character more than Bruce Willis. It is a good, atypical role for him, but I found the PTSD angle a bit tame and ineffective. One entry in that collection which is leaving at the end of the month, and which I would highly recommend, is the doc about Robert McNamara, The Fog of War, which I can't seem to get enough of. His persona is a very practical, and disarming, lens to view the wars of the 20th century through.

@fdm - Sorry to read you got struck by covid. Are you over it at this stage?
Nobody takes precautions around these parts anymore, I never see masks, but as my brother has a more or less permanent cough as a result, there will be no forgetting it.

[apricissimus]

This is probably silly, but in LA Confidential, I really don't think Kim Basinger looks like Veronica Lake at all (no matter how they do her hair). Maybe there's another star of the era that she looks more like that they could have used... but I can't think of anyone.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by fdm

^^ You should at least try and give In Country a shot, I really liked it.

[Show spoiler](I've been doing the expires from prime within the next 2 weeks thing again (less than a week to go, and just a few left), so not a lot going on with the channel just yet.)

From my channel watch list, I did get to Breillat's Last Summer a week or so ago. More often than not her films are kind of a miss for me (at least at the times I've tried to watch them), but this one was a hit. (Not expiring yet though.)

And I started to watch The Childhood Of A Leader, but no closed captions and some echoing sound kind of turned me off early on, and it was sort of getting late… May try it with headphones if I get a chance, it could be worth another shot (though I may check out a review before doing so).

[Show spoiler]Among the maybes for me is The Magic Christian, though I remember trying to watch it once upon a time and not succeeding… Hard to tell what I'll actually get to this month, nothing else expiring on the channel is really grabbing me (I've seen Little Murders and Try and Get Me and The Lawless somewhere along the line), but you never know…

Thanks for bringing up In Country. I somehow completely missed it on both the official Channel page for expiring picks and a fan's Letterboxd list that I use to generate my own expiring watchlist. Much to my relief, the movie is also on Kanopy.

I grabbed Childhood of a Leader when it was $5 on iTunes. Not a safe blind buy at all, I'm sure, but at least Apple doesn't screw around when it comes to captions. They're required for any movie sold there.

Originally Posted by apricissimus

This is probably silly, but in LA Confidential, I really don't think Kim Basinger looks like Veronica Lake at all (no matter how they do her hair). Maybe there's another star of the era that she looks more like that they could have used... but I can't think of anyone.

I wonder if this is intentional. The character is supposed to "look better than Veronica Lake." She also said she only colored her hair and never had any plastic surgery like the other models. So, at least there's an explanation in the dialogue for why she doesn't really look like Lake.

Originally Posted by Cpt. Feeney

I got into it last night with L.A. Confidential. Didn't get the fuss when the film came out but I figured it was time to try again, and...

[Show spoiler]while I love Dante Spinotti's work on it, and a lot of the scenes early on, and Spacey's performance, there's something about the very efficient dialogue which starts to feel constructed to me. And the Kim Basinger character is kind of one dimensional considering she's playing a dual persona. I don't buy the allure and power that the script assigns to her. Dialogue and characterization just feel a bit restrained or something, overall.

I don't know, I don't get it.

Anyway, lined up I've got 4 I've never seen before - Paper Moon, Joseph Losey's The Lawless, not a huge fan of Losey's work but this early American feature about race relations sounds intriguing, then possibly Bye Bye Braverman and Childhood of a Leader.

[Show spoiler]I watched a lot of the Vietnam collection when it arrived, including In Country, which I enjoyed for the Emily Lloyd character more than Bruce Willis. It is a good, atypical role for him, but I found the PTSD angle a bit tame and ineffective. One entry in that collection which is leaving at the end of the month, and which I would highly recommend, is the doc about Robert McNamara, The Fog of War, which I can't seem to get enough of. His persona is a very practical, and disarming, lens to view the wars of the 20th century through.

@fdm - Sorry to read you got struck by covid. Are you over it at this stage?
Nobody takes precautions around these parts anymore, I never see masks, but as my brother has a more or less permanent cough as a result, there will be no forgetting it.

I think if you're going into L.A. Confidential after hearing it hyped up as one of the best movies of the 20th century, you'll be disappointed. I really like it, but it falls a little short of being an all-timer for me. It's a very good neo-noir - that's it! - and there's nothing wrong with that.

Paper Moon is fantastic!

[fdm]

Originally Posted by Cpt. Feeney

@fdm - Sorry to read you got struck by covid. Are you over it at this stage?
Nobody takes precautions around these parts anymore, I never see masks, but as my brother has a more or less permanent cough as a result, there will be no forgetting it.

My wife has had a much more persistant cough which finally seems to be tapering off some this past week. And she just flew off to Seattle early this morning for a few days so we'll see how that turns out. (And thankfully she went back to work Sat, Mon, and Tue, giving me a well deserved rest from all that noise… )

Me I was pretty much over it after a week or so, but my cough just came back for a couple days, though perhaps it's more just the time of year and an unusually wet Spring, knock on wood, or maybe some lingering dust/etc in the house. Hope so anyway. Not too much coughing today, so maybe that's done with too (although, the wife's gone too now, so??). A headache here and there too I suppose could be related.

Thanks for asking.

[Cpt. Feeney]

Really enjoyed Paper Moon. It led me to read up on the fortunes of the O'Neal family, and jeez that was not nearly so bright and charming as the movie, holy hell.

[DaBargainHunta]

I watched Little Murders last night. Very strange movie, not something I'd blindly recommend, but I can't deny that it was memorable and compelling.

Plus, there's no U.S. Blu-ray, it's not available to rent/buy digitally, and it's not streaming anywhere else. Surprisingly "rare" for a movie with such a high-profile actor (Elliott Gould) and director (Alan Arkin, who also acts in it).

Blame Disney/20th Century Fox for giving up on catalog media in the States (Indicator released it on Blu-ray in the UK).

[Scottie]

The Shrouds premieres on July 8.

https://www.thewrap.com/the-shrouds-...ate-criterion/

[DaBargainHunta]

Recent Channel watches: Night on Earth (NOT EXPIRING), What's Up Connection, The Magic Christian, and Try and Get Me! (AKA The Sound of Fury).

Night on Earth is really cool and looks surprisingly gorgeous.

Of the expiring picks, I recommend Try and Get Me! It's unique noir. The other two are interesting but flawed. Only see them if you really want to and were planning to anyway. With that said, What's Up Connection is a visual feast. The director, Masashi Yamamoto, has another movie expiring - Robinson's Garden - but I'm not going to get to it. Maybe if it ever comes back...

Tonight: Probably Joseph Losey's The Lawless to continue the Noir and the Blacklist and journalism themes.

On the final day, as usual, I'll see if there are any expiring shorts I'm interested in.

[Cpt. Feeney]

I watched The Lawless yesterday, the story is worth it, and I found the black and white photography to be particularly nice, but there are some rough edges around some performances, and dialogue, and stunt work, which take a bit of effort to get past.

I tried Bye Bye Braverman too, and again there are rough edges to overcome. The sets are obvious, the sound is rough, and the dialogue is heavily laden with references that are supposed to be obscure. It struck me as a kind of James Joyce in New York. And like Ulysses, I gave up on it.

[fdm]

I made it back to the channel to watch The Magic Christian. I'll probably rewatch the first half, I was mostly sort of awake, but not quite enough really, but the second half or so I got my second wind for. I thought it was pretty good for what it was, and of it's time. Glad I finally saw it and know what it's about.

(And yeah Bye Bye Braverman took me a few times to finally be in the mood for it (via my dvr), but I thought it was all right.)

Not sure whether I'll get around to anything tonight, depends on whether I hit up some other barnes & noble store(s) later today or just put that off until Tuesday and relax at home instead.

[DaBargainHunta]

The Lawless was very good and makes for a perfect double feature with the also good Try and Get Me!

I didn't get to Bye Bye Braverman, but as a Lumet movie (even an obscure one), I'm guessing there will be other chances on other services down the line. Ditto for You’re a Big Boy Now and Coppola.

[DaBargainHunta]

I watched the Criterion Channel streaming premiere of David Cronenberg's The Shrouds last night, and I can safely say I've never seen anything quite like it. Fascinating film!

[spiritinblack82]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

I watched the Criterion Channel streaming premiere of David Cronenberg's The Shrouds last night, and I can safely say I've never seen anything quite like it. Fascinating film!

I plan on watching this weekend. Seems like one to watch at night and I've been so tired after work this week that I wouldn't be able to give it my full attention.

[DaBargainHunta]

We're getting to that time of the month again. (No, not that one, ladies.)

The expiring picks I've already watched:

As always, my top picks are in bold, but these are all good (although I found Copycat disappointing when I saw it in the theater - I haven't seen it since).

• Copycat
• Crossfire
• Gun Crazy
• He Ran All the Way
• The Lady from Shanghai
• The Long Goodbye
• On the Waterfront
• Out of the Fog
• Strange Days
• Thieves' Highway

Planning to watch:

Most of the movies on my expiring watchlist aren't streaming elsewhere, making this a packed month.

I doubt I'll be able to get to most of them, as usual.

If I Should Die Before I Wake and Never Open That Door are potential standouts because they're both based on stories written by Cornell Woolrich.

[Cpt. Feeney]

I put on The End of the Road last night, which is leaving, and has been on my list. It's got a young Stacy Keach in it, a young James Earl Jones, it's shot by Gordon Willis, and it's a great transfer, so it has a lot going for it, but yikes this is just the wrong end of 60s/70s freewheeling expression for my tastes. Gave up after half and hour because I could not get any kind of a handle on it.

Not determined to catch anything else in particular, although there's quite a few I might put on, it's been a while since I saw Odds Against Tomorrow, so probably that, but there's a couple that I enjoyed on the channel recently and would recommend - Intruder in the Dust is very atmospheric and expressive for a 40s movie, Breaking Point, from a year later is a slick thriller with a cool setting, and Scarecrow, a thought provoking 70s drama, and a truly great Hackman performance, so natural and arresting it makes me think of Brando in Streetcar.

[Star Lord]

Kind of overwhelmed with so many films leaving soon, I did watch Strange Days. Great ideas but no so great execution with nice cast!