The Criterion Collection

[MeMynonsense]

A friend recently bought the arrow R2 DVD of The Tree Of Wooden Clogs, so it was only a matter of time before I nicked it!

In true neo-realistic vein TTOWC follows the lives of a quartet of peasant families striving for daily existence in turn of the century Italy.
There’s no conventional plot here but a series of ritualistic vignettes that flawlessly capture their strenuous survival over a course of a year. A grandfather demonstrates and passes the secrets behind his early tomatoes, a bright five year old trudges miles to attend school wearing a pair of clogs, a devout widow with six children prays for their ailing livestock, a young couple's restrained courtship and subsequent marriage, a pregnant mother foregoes the services of a midwife to save for warm clothing. All these threads are expertly interwoven and are blended with a sense of humanity and poetic optimism.

Couple of movies that instantly spring to mind which succeeded in capturing the monotony emanating from its character(s) this arrestingly are: Jeanne Dielman (which was a brilliant character study within the contemporary setting) & The Naked Island (another ruminative dissection of a farming family boasting stunning imagery). TTOWC on the other hand is more epic in scale and works like a gritty documentary featuring non-actors. There are couple of gruesome sequences of a hog being disemboweled and of a goose-beheading which only serve to highlight the harsh realities of peasant life. TTOWC is also relatively more interactive while the above two were virtually dialogue-less.

I’d only seen Olmi’s Il Posto before this - which was an indelibly honest coming of age film. And considering the fact that he wrote, directed, shot and edited this meditative epic - speaks volumes of cinematic acuity. He had that unique ability of making the mundane almost miraculous.

This should transition splendidly to blu and hopefully the goalpost won't be shifted again.

[SuperFlyHighGuy]

Anyone looking for a criterion to watch at Christmas, I just watched All That Heaven Allows last night. Only a little bit happens at Christmas but it's a good excuse to watch a great movie.

Been sitting in my queue forever and it came up, I'm so glad I watched it. Absolutely amazing PQ on this disc, the color cinematography is just gorgeous. I love watching color films from the 50s, and this one is a real treat. Great performances and production values, and a few punches to the gut. Highly recommended.

[ThisKid]

The Christmas movies my family have been watching for the last two days have been the first two Die Hards.

They're set at Christmas time.

Therefore, they are Christmas movies.

Nothing says Merry Christmas more than a guy being stabbed in the eye with an icycle.

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

[Show spoiler]

The genre of film noir can be summarized with one sentence. "This will not end well." The 1950 noir, The Asphalt Jungle, is a a masterwork of riveting suspense, and it is often considered the father of all modern heist films, but its characters seem to march toward their fates with a sense of resignation even as they all dream about having the means to travel away from their claustrophobic city surroundings.

Sterling Hayden, who is best known to today's audiences as Captain McCluskey in The Godfather, plays a bruiser who is enlisted to be the violent backbone of a major jewelry heist in order to earn money to buy back the horse farm where he spent his early years. James Whitmore, who is known today for his role as the institutionalized librarian, Brooks, in The Shawshank Redemption, plays a loyal underworld figure who is enlisted to be the driver in the caper. Sam Jaffe plays "Doc", who masterminds the operation as a way for him to escape to the beaches and women of Mexico. Louis Calhern plays Emmerich, the potential fence for the jewels who wants a way out of bankruptcy as he struggles to afford his girlfriend, played by none other than a young Marilyn Monroe, although he also seems to know deep down in his heart that his extravagant way of life has caught up with him at long last. Director John Huston, who also helmed such classics as The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, was adept at examining the lives of people who dwell in the shadows of their own broken dreams, and he lends an offbeat humanity to this story by tweaking W.R. Burnett's source novel for a film that focuses on the criminals and their own tightly-knit world, instead of creating major characters out of the police force.

The Asphalt Jungle is as gritty as its name, with its depiction of small rooms in a cityscape that is given a neorealist sensibility, and its characters, who are burned-out everyday types instead of being the elegant thieves that thrived in older films. Harold Rosson's cinematography expertly blends the unflinching sights of crumbling buildings with the stylistic light-and-shadows approach of classic film noir, where characters look sharp in fedoras as they go through the motions toward their doom.

This is a tremendous film, and it is one of the highlights of my classic noir collection.

The 2K restoration of The Asphalt Jungle looks great on this Criterion Blu-ray, and I'm pleased to report that this disc is quite an improvement upon the Warner Bros. DVD. An informative commentary track is ported over from the DVD, while an Eddie Muller interview is the highlight of the newer extras.

Cool! I decided to blind-buy this since it popped up on Amazon for a mere $20 or so.

Got a slight backlog of noir building up from all the Black Friday sales--all blind-buys unfortunately, but I seem to have become more open to the genre lately. What are your thoughts about The Naked City and Man in the Dark?

I gotta thank you for recommending House of Bamboo in the Twilight Time thread--I grabbed it during whatever sale they had and watched it right away. I could dig it--I always liked Robert Stack (probably because I grew up watching him host Unsolved Mysteries--his voice is phenomenal), but I also loved the film's style and locales.

[jbieste]

Worked today and was processing some new library materials. Came across a new children's picture book that might be of interest to those with young children or those who love Tati. Mr. Hulot at the Beach

[Show spoiler]

Someone must have been visiting boutique book stalls at an ALA convention to find this gem.

It's from a very small book company called NothSouth Books in NY. Beautifully put together, slightly elongated, oversized, just over 30 pages. Perfectly sized for reading to a child next to you. One of the things I really liked about it, no print for you to read to your child so you make up your own story. This creates a very personal experience between you and your child. You'll both remember the experience and it encourages an ever changing story between you.

NorthSouth also published Hello Mr. Hulot. I haven't seen Hello but I'd think it's of the same quality. It's a little late for a Christmas gift but if you're thinking you'd like to share your love of film with your children someday, this would be a great introduction to a beloved French children's icon. These can be purchased from Amazon, I believe you can get both for under $30.

[Abdrewes]

Speaking of noir, i recently saw Farewell My Lovely and boy, if The Great Owl hasn't raved about it, I'm sure he's thought about doing so.

[SuperFlyHighGuy]

Originally Posted by ThisKid

The Christmas movies my family have been watching for the last two days have been the first two Die Hards.

They're set at Christmas time.

Therefore, they are Christmas movies.

Nothing says Merry Christmas more than a guy being stabbed in the eye with an icycle.

Yeah, I like Die Hard, watched it a few days ago. Sounds like everyone watches it at Christmas. Die Hard 2 is terrible though, utterly boring. Eh, I might watch it this weekend anyway, while I eat some cheese shaped like a pig.

Still need to watch Fanny and Alexander one of these years, always meant to get around to it.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

I seem to have become more open to the genre lately. What are your thoughts about The Naked City and Man in the Dark?

They're both pretty impressive, although I'd give preference to The Naked City. I wish that Criterion would upgrade it soon. Man in the Dark is a lot of fun, though, and the Twilight Time disc is superb.

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Speaking of noir, i recently saw Farewell My Lovely and boy, if The Great Owl hasn't raved about it, I'm sure he's thought about doing so.

I've read Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely several times, and I've seen the superb adaptation, Murder, My Sweet several times. Sadly, though, I've never seen the 1975 adaptation, Farewell, My Lovely, before. Soon...

[KyleW]

Anyone know when Criterion will be posting the New Years drawing? Is it on New Years or like after


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hoke Moseley]

Has The Asphalt Jungle improved for anyone on re-watch?

I watched it a few years back on TCM and didn't think it was anything special, but on paper it's right up my alley and I am tempted to buy the Criterion edition.

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Do any of you keep a cumulative list of everything you've seen in your life?

I've always wanted to but I always end up getting discouraged.

I've done it only for films I've seen in a theater, but it's not up to date. (Thanks for reminding me). The mind does play some tricks, but I only list a film if I'm absolutely sure I saw it in a theater. My methodology was to search on Wiki for films of a given year and then pull all the ones I remember seeing in a theater and then add them to my database on here. For a fair number of those films I can even remember which theater I saw the film in, who I was with and sometimes even approximately where I sat.

Since I follow and sometimes write about film technology history, I also have a spreadsheet where I have all the films released in special formats going back to Cinerama, all films released in 70mm, the early Dolby films, the early digital sound films and their formats, 3D films, Dolby Atmos/Dolby Vision films, etc. In that spreadsheet I also highlighted any titles that I knew I saw in a theater.

The funny thing is that it seems easier to remember films I saw decades ago than films I've seen more recently. Don't know if it's because those older films were better or were reinforced for subsequent viewings on TV or home video or whether it's just short term memory dissipating as I age. Having said that, I still think it's remarkable that one can see a still or a few frames of an old film and frequently immediately recognize it, and I'm not talking about the easy ones like a Frankenstein or Lawrence of Arabia.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by ThisKid

The Christmas movies my family have been watching for the last two days have been the first two Die Hards.

They're set at Christmas time.

Therefore, they are Christmas movies.

Nothing says Merry Christmas more than a guy being stabbed in the eye with an icycle.

So ironic... I just finished watching all 5 Die Hard movies the other night. I have to admit, the more recent Die Hard films are totally different (and not as good) as the first 3 films. Maybe its the fact that the "Christmas" theme is no longer prevalent in the 2007 and 2013 Die Hard films but it just sucks having to see Bruce Willis need a younger actor to make up for his aging self. They did the same thing to Harrison Ford in the most recent Indiana Jones film, and now once again Ryan Gosling will replace Ford in the newest Blade Runner movie!

I mean, comeon, why does Hollywood think that an older actor can't stand his ground and they need someone younger to come in to fill the lead role to sell movie tickets??? Can someone explain the reasoning behind this?

[kingdoxie]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

The genre of film noir can be summarized with one sentence. "This will not end well." The 1950 noir, The Asphalt Jungle, is a a masterwork of riveting suspense, and it is often considered the father of all modern heist films, but its characters seem to march toward their fates with a sense of resignation even as they all dream about having the means to travel away from their claustrophobic city surroundings.

Sterling Hayden, who is best known to today's audiences as Captain McCluskey in The Godfather, plays a bruiser who is enlisted to be the violent backbone of a major jewelry heist in order to earn money to buy back the horse farm where he spent his early years. James Whitmore, who is known today for his role as the institutionalized librarian, Brooks, in The Shawshank Redemption, plays a loyal underworld figure who is enlisted to be the driver in the caper. Sam Jaffe plays "Doc", who masterminds the operation as a way for him to escape to the beaches and women of Mexico. Louis Calhern plays Emmerich, the potential fence for the jewels who wants a way out of bankruptcy as he struggles to afford his girlfriend, played by none other than a young Marilyn Monroe, although he also seems to know deep down in his heart that his extravagant way of life has caught up with him at long last. Director John Huston, who also helmed such classics as The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, was adept at examining the lives of people who dwell in the shadows of their own broken dreams, and he lends an offbeat humanity to this story by tweaking W.R. Burnett's source novel for a film that focuses on the criminals and their own tightly-knit world, instead of creating major characters out of the police force.

The Asphalt Jungle is as gritty as its name, with its depiction of small rooms in a cityscape that is given a neorealist sensibility, and its characters, who are burned-out everyday types instead of being the elegant thieves that thrived in older films. Harold Rosson's cinematography expertly blends the unflinching sights of crumbling buildings with the stylistic light-and-shadows approach of classic film noir, where characters look sharp in fedoras as they go through the motions toward their doom.

This is a tremendous film, and it is one of the highlights of my classic noir collection.

The 2K restoration of The Asphalt Jungle looks great on this Criterion Blu-ray, and I'm pleased to report that this disc is quite an improvement upon the Warner Bros. DVD. An informative commentary track is ported over from the DVD, while an Eddie Muller interview is the highlight of the newer extras.

This is better than the write-up on most of the Criterion covers and even some of the essays in the liner notes. Definitely getting this one!

[rocknblues81]

I wish Criterion would get a hold of HUD. That film deserves a quality release.

[Member-167298]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

I wish Criterion would get a hold of HUD. That film deserves a quality release.

What about a HUD UHD?

Whoa.

[ThisKid]

Originally Posted by SuperFlyHighGuy

Yeah, I like Die Hard, watched it a few days ago. Sounds like everyone watches it at Christmas. Die Hard 2 is terrible though, utterly boring. Eh, I might watch it this weekend anyway, while I eat some cheese shaped like a pig.

Still need to watch Fanny and Alexander one of these years, always meant to get around to it.

Actually, we don't watch it at this time.

Mum forced me to pick a festive film.

So I picked Die Hard.

Haven't seen it since I was 6.

Very good film.

Yesterday afternoon we watched Die Hard 2.

Still a good film.

But very violent.

I thought the guy in the church got stabbed in the cheek, not the eye.

Aside from that, Merry Christmas to all.

Currently celebrating it down here.

[moviebuffed]

Originally Posted by PrestonXI

What about a HUD UHD?

Whoa.

Well, DUH!!

[theater dreamer]

It's back up, again, but having the pre-order price guarantee locked in that nice low price.

Originally Posted by kuro_sawa

Hi everyone - heads up for those of you who are interested ...

Amazon dropped the pre-order price on Mildred Pierce to $20.95

Do yourself a favor: forget re-watching Die Hard 2, especially if you think it's "terrible, utterly boring." Watch Fanny and Alexander instead.

Originally Posted by SuperFlyHighGuy

Yeah, I like Die Hard, watched it a few days ago. Sounds like everyone watches it at Christmas. Die Hard 2 is terrible though, utterly boring. Eh, I might watch it this weekend anyway, while I eat some cheese shaped like a pig.

Still need to watch Fanny and Alexander one of these years, always meant to get around to it.

No, but I fell in love with it on first viewing. It's still just as enjoyable in subsequent viewings. Must own noir, in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Hoke Moseley

Has The Asphalt Jungle improved for anyone on re-watch?

I watched it a few years back on TCM and didn't think it was anything special, but on paper it's right up my alley and I am tempted to buy the Criterion edition.

It's not an issue of an Ford standing his ground, or being a box office draw. At 74, Harrison Ford is just too old to do many of the stunts a film like the Blade Runner sequel will likely require. He's just too far past his prime to jump from one building to the next, especially without Rutger Hauer there to pull him up.

Originally Posted by jw007

So ironic... I just finished watching all 5 Die Hard movies the other night. I have to admit, the more recent Die Hard films are totally different (and not as good) as the first 3 films. Maybe its the fact that the "Christmas" theme is no longer prevalent in the 2007 and 2013 Die Hard films but it just sucks having to see Bruce Willis need a younger actor to make up for his aging self. They did the same thing to Harrison Ford in the most recent Indiana Jones film, and now once again Ryan Gosling will replace Ford in the newest Blade Runner movie!

I mean, comeon, why does Hollywood think that an older actor can't stand his ground and they need someone younger to come in to fill the lead role to sell movie tickets??? Can someone explain the reasoning behind this?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Hoke Moseley

Has The Asphalt Jungle improved for anyone on re-watch?

I watched it a few years back on TCM and didn't think it was anything special, but on paper it's right up my alley and I am tempted to buy the Criterion edition.

Yes, definitely.

I really enjoyed The Asphalt Jungle when I first saw it years ago, but it also got buried in the mix, because I watched it along with other films noir in the first Warner Bros. Film Noir Classic Collection DVD box set, and it was overpowered by Out of the Past and Gun Crazy. With each subsequent viewing of the DVD, though, the film went up in stock.

When I revisited The Asphalt Jungle last night, by way of the Criterion Blu-ray, I was reminded that it really is about as close to perfect as a movie can be.

The high definition Blu-ray presentation of The Asphalt Jungle really enhances the experience, and I happen to think that the old Warner Bros. DVD had outstanding picture quality in itself. This Criterion Blu-ray transfer makes a Mercedes Benz into a Rolls Royce.

Originally Posted by kingdoxie

This is better than the write-up on most of the Criterion covers and even some of the essays in the liner notes. Definitely getting this one!

Thanks for the kind words!

Truth be told, however, I'm not really happy with my above review of The Asphalt Jungle that I wrote last night. I was exhausted last night from work and from an evening run with some friends. I watched the movie excitedly, and plowed through most of the extras, including the commentary, but I couldn't keep my eyes open while writing the review. In fact, I kept dozing off between sentences during the last half of the review. Haha. I'm glad that it helped someone here make a decision to buy the disc, though.

[Ray Jackson]

I watched Down By Law last night...great film.

Then I listened to the 74 minute audio interview with Jim Jarmusch.

The whole time the interview is playing, you're looking at this close-up black and white photograph of Jim Jarmusch gazing into the camera like a silver-haired, beatnik madman.

You can't avoid it...you can't look away.

You stare at this photograph for over an hour, listening to this interview and slowly losing control over of your own mind as the soothing voice of Jim Jarmusch creeps into the back of your cerebral cortex like a virus.

After about 45 minutes I started to hallucinate.

I saw things that no man should see.

There's something in those eyes...those dark, shimmering pools of hipster cool.

Is it god?

...or is it the devil?

Or some mysterious force emanating from the collective unconscious of all living things?

I don't know.

I just know that I couldn't sleep last night.

I stayed up all night thinking about that face.

...that goddamn, magnificent, beautiful face.

I'm afraid that I'm going to be haunted by the face of Jim Jarmusch for the rest of my life.

[Show spoiler]