The Criterion Channel

[fdm]

Originally Posted by mrjohnnyb

For what it's worth, my recommendation on streaming something that is leaving tonight would be The Green Fog, by Guy Madden, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson. If you are a fan of Hitchcock's Vertigo, this is a must-see film!

I'll start with that one when I get CC rolling again later today, it was on my now very short list but no telling whether I would have got to it without a little nudge.

I just watched a couple that I mentioned earlier, started with Bone, good times. And also All The Sleepless Nights after that. Worthwhile in their ways. Also caught a few not expiring just yet shorts Green Bush and Nana, ditto their worthwhileness, though Nana in particular is a bit of a hoot (should be worth 6 minutes of anybody's time).

Started Another Country, I'll finish that up also. After that ???

Oh, and now that I'm not getting emails from blu-ray.com about new thread posts, finally figured out how to take best advantage of its long neglected by me Subscribed Threads in Folder feature, only took me 15 years… and a few hours of stumbling around the past coupla days.

[DaBargainHunta]

Caught a couple more at the last minute:

Cry of the City (1948): An awesome noir with great performances by Victor Mature and Richard Conte about two childhood friends on opposite sides of the law.

Force of Evil (1948): John Garfield has a megawatt screen presence. The movie itself isn't quite as compelling, but it's still worth watching for him.

I might try to polish off a couple of shorts tonight. The aforementioned The Green Fog sounds really interesting, but we'll see if I have enough time to get to it.

[fdm]

Well for the last day of the month I made it through relatively unscathed, with Another Country (another documentary), which specifically focused on the Australian aborigines and their history past and present. Also worthwhile. So most all of that Gulpilil material that I made it to this month didn't have too much overlap.

I was getting a bit tired or something towards the end of the above and so The Green Fog kind of didn't quite work for me when I decided to watch it, I nodded off during most parts of it. I guess my question is was it just a random bunch of film bits and pieces, or did it end up being an actual story of some sort. Didn't seem to be that coherent while I was still awake, even less so when I'd unsnooze from time to time. Oh well.

And after that finished, I looked at the rest of my list, played a bit of each and decided I was done for the month, time to go tackle that old dvr again.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by fdm

I was getting a bit tired or something towards the end of the above and so The Green Fog kind of didn't quite work for me when I decided to watch it, I nodded off during most parts of it. I guess my question is was it just a random bunch of film bits and pieces, or did it end up being an actual story of some sort. Didn't seem to be that coherent while I was still awake, even less so when I'd unsnooze from time to time. Oh well.

I tried The Green Fog too, but I wasn't in the mood. It seemed like a glorified music video to me. In a better frame of mind, I would've stuck with it. I'd probably give it another go if it ever comes back.

To answer your question, I believe all of the clips come together to tell the same story seen in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, turning the movie into an experimental remake of sorts.

I watched a bunch of shorts after that because it's easier to get through those when the clock is ticking.

The best of them was Guy Maddin's really cool and inventive Accidence, which is his take on Rear Window. It shows multiple windows and balconies outside an apartment complex. You'd probably notice different things every time you watch.

The bizarre Boyant, about a guy in a Michael Jordan mask learning to swim, was WTF nightmare fuel but also funny - and the "joke" didn't overstay its welcome at less than five minutes long.

[fdm]

Actually, come to think I did watch Accidence last night too, the wife even watched some of it. It was pretty fun.

Not sure if I'll ever actually be in the mood for his other stuff though… Maybe after this dreary winter goes away give him another shot.

[koberulz]

I'm getting three minutes of buffering for every 10 seconds of playback right now. Anyone else?

[nathan_h]

Originally Posted by koberulz

I'm getting three minutes of buffering for every 10 seconds of playback right now. Anyone else?

Yes.

Criterion has far less robust streaming tech in place than just about any other service including niche services like Mubi.

So if there are any network issues, either your provider or your own network, or something on the server side, it can bring a stream to its knees. That buffering is the result.

Contrast this with other streamers where my internet can go completely dead for 30 seconds and I never know it because there is a a large buffer…..or even if I am on an old slow DSL line, most services will just lower the bitrate and resolution but still keep playing…..but not Criterion. They quickly fail and greet me with buffering, too.

One workaround would be to download a movie to a mobile device for viewing and attach that to your tv……except they still haven’t got that enabled on their mobile apps.

[kuro_sawa]

The channel is streaming EO starting Feb 21st. I don't think it was listed in the Feb announcements so just a heads up for those of you that might be interested.

[DaBargainHunta]

I watched The Long Goodbye this week before it expires. Good Robert Altman movie starring Elliott Gould as the P.I. Philip Marlowe (a role originated by Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep and based on the Raymond Chandler character).

Others expiring picks I've already seen:

My rankings

1. Ball of Fire (Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper; dir. Howard Hawks)
2. The Lady Eve (Babs, Henry Fonda; dir. Preston Sturges)
3. The Awful Truth (Irene Dunne, Cary Grant; dir. Leo McCarey)
4. The Palm Beach Story (Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea; dir. Preston Sturges)

All screwball comedies. All good. The Palm Beach Story is slightly disappointing compared to what I was expecting but still decent.

[fdm]

Speaking of screwball comedies, that ended up being what I started this month's worth of expiring films with.

First was You Can Never Tell which was okay, quite a bit on the goofy/odd side (to say the least). All told, still worth a watch.

Then was Love Is News, which starts out really good/funny, then got a little too dumb towards the middle, which has a tendency to make me nod off which I did both yesterday and today, but finally I made my way through it. All in all pretty good fun.

A week or two ago, a non-expiring but sort of also screwy comedy I rewatched was Peter Weir's The Plumber. Really liked it a lot again. Since it's not expiring no hurry, but definitely worth a watch.

Also watched something else non-expiring back then too, can't seem to think what it was… oh yeah one of the Joan Bennett films called Big Brown Eyes, yet another screwball comedy, worthwhile too.

In summary, I thought I would go through several expiring films starting yesterday, or maybe it was the day before yesterday, but got a little stuck with that second one. Actually was also kinda hoping there were some noirs, but… whatever.

Probably will get to The Secret Of Convict Lake next, one of the Snow Westerns it looks like. Probably watch a couple others from there too. A couple really good/great ones I recommend there are Little Big Man and The Far Country.

I've seen a pretty good number of the expiring films this month, I'd especially recommend the ones with Romy Schneider in them. My recollection is that it was those (and several more of her) films that got me interested in subscribing to Filmstruck, they all have their merits. (Haven't watched either Clouzot's Inferno or Boccaccio '70 just yet though…)

[DaBargainHunta]

Speaking of screwballs, I watched Theodora Goes Wild last night. I really loved it at first - until

[Show spoiler]he moves into her backyard to pose as her gardener, and then she moves into his apartment to get back at him.

Other people will consider that the highlight of the movie, for obvious reasons, but it was too much of a shift for me.

I don't need my screwballs to be realistic, but it was really interesting and grounded at first, and then it got too silly even by screwball standards.

Still, I liked it overall and would recommend it.

[fdm]

I remember liking Theodora Goes Wild when I watched it several years ago. Maybe I'll get back to it some day…

[DaBargainHunta]

I watched The Hitch-Hiker (NOT EXPIRING) the other night. Very good, and easy to fit in at only 71 minutes.

I skipped the Channel last night to watch M3GAN: Unrated Edition on Peacock, which I liked but didn't love.

Tonight? Probably Ravenous, which I should have watched last night as a double feature with M3GAN, but I wasn't in the mood.

After that? I don't know. There are a few I want to see, but nothing this month seems like an urgent priority.

Any recommendations?

[fdm]

Already made some recommendations. Try out Sautet's Les choses de la vie. Or Wertmüller's Swept Away.

Last night I watched The Secret Of Convict Lake. One of those "Snow Westerns". Gene Tierney and Glenn Ford (and Ethyl Barrymore) are the stars. Pretty good all in all. And pretty cool .

Probably will watch The Wild North any day now...

Also watched some of the beginning and some of the end of The Darkside. May give it another go to watch the rest of it.

Also nodded off here and there during Maddin's Night Mayor, but I think I rewound it enough times to see most of it. Really wasn't too bad though.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by fdm

Already made some recommendations.

That was more of a general shout-out to the thread, but considering that we're really the only two people here, I can see why you thought I meant you, haha.

I already read and appreciate your recommendation post.

On that note, I might go for...

Originally Posted by fdm

Last night I watched The Secret Of Convict Lake. One of those "Snow Westerns". Gene Tierney and Glenn Ford (and Ethyl Barrymore) are the stars. Pretty good all in all. And pretty cool .

The name alone is amazing. I hope the movie lives up to it!

Originally Posted by fdm

Also nodded off here and there during Maddin's Night Mayor, but I think I rewound it enough times to see most of it. Really wasn't too bad though.

Maddin is someone I can handle in small doses - his shorts - but I've avoided all of his feature-length films since suffering through the endurance test that was The Forbidden Room.

[fdm]

Well if you want an off topic recommendation… on the Sony Movie channel (directv) there were a number of Steven Seagal movies that I decided to take the plunge with several months ago. A lot of them were decent enough, a few were clinkers (so that gives you an idea of how lenient I can be I suppose ). Anyway, every so often I noticed the same characters in what I thought were movies but eventually it dawned on me they were part of two seasons of a tv series from 2010/12… and that I was only catching some of them so missing some of them too. So I went exploring…

The tv series is called True Justice, and the character he plays is Elijah Kane. And after a bit of a search I found that you can stream it via Prime, using its Freevee service. So I finally finished it a few days ago.

Lots of action, popcorn type stuff, really great cast for that sort of thing… the sort of thing I tend to seek out when I get a chance to when I get some free time. Gave my home theater a pretty good work out too.

So there you go.

[DaBargainHunta]

I watched two expiring "Snow Westerns" last night - Ravenous and The Secret of Convict Lake - both awesome!

[fdm]

I watched another one too, the one called The Wild North. Pretty good too, though the dvd pq was a bit offputting. Ran out of steam for Ravenous, so maybe tonight/tomorrow.

Also watched another screwball called Rhubarb. Similar in some ways to You Can Never Tell in that a pet inherits millions, but probably the better of the two.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by fdm

Also watched another screwball called Rhubarb.

I watched the other Ray Milliand baseball screwball last night - It Happens Every Spring - and while it wasn't a great movie or anything, it was light and fun. Paul Douglas (from the original Angels in the Outfield) is always good.

Tonight? Not sure. Nothing is urgently calling out to me. Maybe Day of the Outlaw, maybe something else.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

I watched the other Ray Milliand baseball screwball last night - It Happens Every Spring - and while it wasn't a great movie or anything, it was light and fun. Paul Douglas (from the original Angels in the Outfield) is always good.

Not much of a spoiler, but in Rhubarb

[Show spoiler]Paul Douglas makes a brief appearance at the end

.

Might watch It Happens Every Spring yet, your description of it sounds similar to Rhubarb, but I think I will first give Patang and/or Circumstance a shot tonight, clear my palate a little.

Edit: Watched Circumstance, very good, catch it while you can.