The Criterion Channel - Page 41 - Blu-ray Forum

fdm · 10-31-2022, 12:25 PM

I did watch Shopping For Fangs last night. Not too shabby either. Not quite as good as Better Luck Tomorrow but had its own set of strengths.

Also watched Blake Edwards' He Laughed Last. About what you might expect for a mid-50s Blake Edwards gangster type film. But it was pretty well done, but not from an hd master.

Dunno what tonight has in store, though I probably will at least try to get through Tape, depends on my mood. King of Chinatown sounds like it's worth a shot. Might also try China Doll again.

Quick edit: Yup, watched Tape which picked up speed beyond where I stopped watching it a while ago (started it over from the beginning), so

for that one; King of Chinatown was prety good too; and that's about where I ran out of steam. Tried a few other things but ran out of diet coke a day too early I guess.

fdm · 11-09-2022, 07:45 PM

Watched The Keep a coupla days ago. I'd never seen it before and really enjoyed it. Check it out.

Also cleared out a few shorts from my watch list while I was at it.

(Turns out watching a few of the films that I last minute dvr-ed from MGM channel that they did announce their last day on the channel itself (don't know how far back they started doing that) and that Epix is going to become MGM+ somehow or other. Saw this while watching Red Corner this morning, gosh I really like that one, saw it ages ago, probably also on the MGM channel. Edit: Similarly with In The Time Of The Butterflies, fwiw. C'est la vie.)

DaBargainHunta · 11-09-2022, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdm

Quick edit: Yup, watched Tape which picked up speed beyond where I stopped watching it a while ago (started it over from the beginning), so

for that one; King of Chinatown was prety good too; and that's about where I ran out of steam. Tried a few other things but ran out of diet coke a day too early I guess.

I ended up watching Tape instead of a noir + three shorts (Limbo, The Last Bread, and Fire Ted Cruz).

All were good, but Limbo was weird and nothing really happened - looked pretty though.

This month, I recommend these:

- Across 110th Street
- My Own Private Idaho
- Kes
- Seconds
- Robots of Brixton (short)

I plan on watching Bim Bam Boom, Las Luchas Morenas for sure. Only 12 minutes and a very interesting subject - a documentary about three luchadora (Mexican female pro wrestler) sisters.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdm

Watched The Keep a coupla days ago. I'd never seen it before and really enjoyed it. Check it out.

This sounds wild. It's not expiring yet, is it?

fdm · 11-10-2022, 12:30 AM

No idea when The Keep expires, but I was in the mood and figured I'd watch it sooner rather than later. It is pretty wild.

Also no idea what I'll be watching this month, can't even remember what's going away. Hope to move beyond just the expiring stuff if I can manage it.

And now it's dinner time…

fdm · 11-14-2022, 08:56 AM

Not expiring soon, but it's where I ended up last night: Elvira Madigan has to be one of the prettiest films I've seen in quite some time. Good story too. Check it out some time. (Oh, and a good hd transfer too.) Who knows maybe Criterion will get around to releasing it some day.

After that I thought about finishing up The Rose Tattoo which I started the other night, but the discrepancy between the two was just too much. I'll get to it soon though (and this one is expiring eom).

Deadend45 · 11-19-2022, 10:52 PM

You were warned long ago streaming titles would be pulled, thats the deal you signed up for.

DaBargainHunta · 11-20-2022, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deadend45

You were warned long ago streaming titles would be pulled, thats the deal you signed up for.

Who or what are you responding to?

Unless someone deleted a post, absolutely no one here is complaining about expiring titles.

We're just saying we're getting to the ones we want to watch before they do expire.

meremortal · 11-20-2022, 02:17 AM

Keep forgetting about this service and it's more expensive than I remembered. .Not saying it's a terrible deal considering the more arthouse/indie type catalog, but I'm pretty terrible at keeping up with streaming given the physical media backlog. Used to enjoy catching the occasional Criterion title when they were still on Hulu a few years ago. Just realized I've gone months without even using AMC+ or Hulu that I got a yearly subscription of last BF. Their service would definitely help with blind buys, though. I'm often now sure how I'll like the lesser known movies that aren't comfort food variety like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and other "more popular" ones.

Lynos · 11-20-2022, 10:25 AM

I love the Criterion Channel but it really needs two things to make it close to perfect:

1) clickable talent names. Like, I watch a movie by Bergman, I click on "Ingmar Bergman", I see all his movies on the service. The fact I still need to go and search manually for stuff like this after all the time the service has been on the air is quite disappointing. Basically almost every streaming service has this function.

2) Make a more pronounced separation between titles and collections. Let's say I went and looked for Bergman manually in the directors' drop list. I click and I see a list of Bergman's films. Great. I click on one of them and watch the movie. I then turn the movie off and go make a sandwich. All this without relaizing there's a ton of special features that I'm not aware of, because those links only take you to the movie itself. Same for the search function. In tiny text above you see there are "movies" and "collections", and if you didn't notice that, you missed out. The solution? Make all movie links lead straight into the collection, if there is one. Why it's set-up this way I have no idea. CC is practically the ONLY streaming service around that offers so many special features on a regular basis, including commentaries (!). But it sometimes seems to me like they're doing their best to hide this fact....

regeyer · 11-20-2022, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meremortal

Keep forgetting about this service and it's more expensive than I remembered.

Too expensive? I pay less than $90 a year and, as a founding member, that's locked in. How much is it now?

DaBargainHunta · 11-20-2022, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by regeyer

Too expensive? I pay less than $90 a year and, as a founding member, that's locked in. How much is it now?

$10.99 a month or $99.99 a year.

I think it's a solid deal if you do the year.

I'm a charter member and grandfathered into the original discount, but I get absolutely dinged on this stupid state internet tax we have here, which is separate from the regular tax.

That's the case for every streaming service, not just the Channel. Still worth it!

fdm · 11-21-2022, 02:26 AM

Didn't quite make it back to The Rose Tattoo just yet, but I did watch another one of the other films in the James Wong Howe category that these came from and are expiring this month called Shining Victory. Always nice to run into Geraldine Fitzgerald in her younger days, though the lead character is pretty much a jerk. Also kind of a shame the stream probably originated from a videotape or a pretty meh dvd, doesn't do James any favors.

I've seen a good number of the others in that collection, a good category to spend some time in this month as several of them are going away soon and most of them are pretty darn good. TCM usually shows the ones I probably won't make it to and one of these days I'll probably get to them there.

At this point I may be focusing on the Ottinger films, seems like they were just added a couple months ago so thought I had more time. Started watching Chamisso's Shadow the other day, if only I had 12 hours to spend on it and its subtitles. I'll start with the shorter films first.

fdm · 11-25-2022, 09:51 AM

Well I did finish up The Rose Tattoo. Burt Lancaster popped up not too long after where I'd stopped previously. Worth a watch for Anna Magnani (and/or Burt) fans I suppose.

After that I snuck a quick look into the Ottinger films and I have a feeling I'll probably take a pass on most/all of those. (It's free access Thanksgiving weekend for all the big movie channels (hbo etc) on directv and it's been a while so the dvr got purged some and it's filling up!) The Ottinger film I noticed first before these others appeared was Ticket Of No Return which I started to watch several months ago, and it's not going away yet so likely will get around to that one sooner or later. Chamisso's Shadow wish maybe it was dubbed in English, subtitles just take away from the visual nature of it, and 12 hours would probably take quite a toll as well.

DaBargainHunta · 11-28-2022, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaBargainHunta

I plan on watching Bim Bam Boom, Las Luchas Morenas for sure. Only 12 minutes and a very interesting subject - a documentary about three luchadora (Mexican female pro wrestler) sisters.

I watched this last night, and while I liked it for what it was, it barely scratches the surface - 12 minutes is simply not enough to do this concept justice.

I also watched another short, The Cage, about a boy who brings home a wounded bird. Excellent, and would make a nice double feature with the superb Kes.

Not sure what I'm going to dive into tonight. I have a bunch I want to watch, but at the same time, they're either on other services too and/or I feel like I can skip them and catch them down the road somewhere else.

fdm · 11-28-2022, 09:40 AM

I just got finished watching one of the better films I've seen in a while, the one called Charlatan. "Loosely inspired by the life of Jan Mikolašek", it said at the end. I stumbled upon it last night and started watching it, and was sucked in by the whole atmosphere and time frame of when the film takes place, but decided to hold off with most of it until tonight to better absorb it and was rewarded with an excellent film. Recommended.

Not sure how I will follow that up, but I see I have three more nights to come up with something, so I will do my best.

DaBargainHunta · 11-28-2022, 11:05 PM

I watched Whipsaw last night. Fun romantic heist movie with Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy. Reminded me a bit of Midnight Run.

prkchopexpress · 11-29-2022, 03:11 AM

that new flaming lips doc on the channel is quite good and worth checking out. i’m not someone who is a super fan and was only peripherally aware of them, but i really really enjoyed it.

it’s called space bubble film.

fdm · 11-29-2022, 09:36 AM

A couple hours ago I started watching The Hole but it was a bit too late. Plan on getting back to it later today some time.

And next to it is Atlantis, which rang a bell as it was one of the non-blu-rays I ran across earlier in the day via the Grasshopper BF sale. Think I'll have to give that one a shot too, as the story sounded interesting given it takes place a short time after an at the time fictional invasion of Ukraine by Russia in the not too distant future.

fdm · 11-30-2022, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fdm

A couple hours ago I started watching The Hole but it was a bit too late. Plan on getting back to it later today some time.

And next to it is Atlantis, which rang a bell as it was one of the non-blu-rays I ran across earlier in the day via the Grasshopper BF sale. Think I'll have to give that one a shot too, as the story sounded interesting given it takes place a short time after an at the time fictional invasion of Ukraine by Russia in the not too distant future.

So I did watch both of these and they were both quite good, on the slow side though. Glad I had a chance to see them in something resembling hi-def video. Hadn't seen either of them before.

May give Malina The Murderer a shot next.

DaBargainHunta · 11-30-2022, 06:35 PM

I watched The Neon Bible (good) and Death in Venice (there are two ways you can interpret this film, so I'm curious if anyone else has seen it).

I'll probably watch The Most Beautiful Boy in the World (not expiring yet), which is a documentary about the young lead actor from Death in Venice and the main reason I watched the film to begin with (I heard about the documentary a while back, and it caught my interest because I like showbiz docs).

There are a couple more shorts expiring tonight that I was hoping to get to, but we'll see.

10-31-2022, 12:25 PM	#801
fdm Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Way Out West 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Digital collection:- iTunes collection:- Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:3	I did watch Shopping For Fangs last night. Not too shabby either. Not quite as good as Better Luck Tomorrow but had its own set of strengths. Also watched Blake Edwards' He Laughed Last. About what you might expect for a mid-50s Blake Edwards gangster type film. But it was pretty well done, but not from an hd master. Dunno what tonight has in store, though I probably will at least try to get through Tape, depends on my mood. King of Chinatown sounds like it's worth a shot. Might also try China Doll again. Quick edit: Yup, watched Tape which picked up speed beyond where I stopped watching it a while ago (started it over from the beginning), so for that one; King of Chinatown was prety good too; and that's about where I ran out of steam. Tried a few other things but ran out of diet coke a day too early I guess. Last edited by fdm; 11-01-2022 at 08:39 AM.

11-09-2022, 07:45 PM	#802
fdm Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Way Out West 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Digital collection:- iTunes collection:- Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:3	Watched The Keep a coupla days ago. I'd never seen it before and really enjoyed it. Check it out. Also cleared out a few shorts from my watch list while I was at it. (Turns out watching a few of the films that I last minute dvr-ed from MGM channel that they did announce their last day on the channel itself (don't know how far back they started doing that) and that Epix is going to become MGM+ somehow or other. Saw this while watching Red Corner this morning, gosh I really like that one, saw it ages ago, probably also on the MGM channel. Edit: Similarly with In The Time Of The Butterflies, fwiw. C'est la vie.) Last edited by fdm; 11-10-2022 at 12:26 AM.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

11-10-2022, 12:30 AM	#804
fdm Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Way Out West 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Digital collection:- iTunes collection:- Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:3	No idea when The Keep expires, but I was in the mood and figured I'd watch it sooner rather than later. It is pretty wild. Also no idea what I'll be watching this month, can't even remember what's going away. Hope to move beyond just the expiring stuff if I can manage it. And now it's dinner time…

11-14-2022, 08:56 AM	#805
fdm Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Way Out West 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Digital collection:- iTunes collection:- Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:3	Not expiring soon, but it's where I ended up last night: Elvira Madigan has to be one of the prettiest films I've seen in quite some time. Good story too. Check it out some time. (Oh, and a good hd transfer too.) Who knows maybe Criterion will get around to releasing it some day. After that I thought about finishing up The Rose Tattoo which I started the other night, but the discrepancy between the two was just too much. I'll get to it soon though (and this one is expiring eom).

11-19-2022, 10:52 PM	#806
Deadend45 Blu-ray Guru Member since:Mar 2019 Location:Canada 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:-	You were warned long ago streaming titles would be pulled, thats the deal you signed up for.

11-20-2022, 02:17 AM	#808
meremortal Blu-ray Champion Member since:Jan 2012 Location:Bedford Falls Trading Score:255	Keep forgetting about this service and it's more expensive than I remembered. .Not saying it's a terrible deal considering the more arthouse/indie type catalog, but I'm pretty terrible at keeping up with streaming given the physical media backlog. Used to enjoy catching the occasional Criterion title when they were still on Hulu a few years ago. Just realized I've gone months without even using AMC+ or Hulu that I got a yearly subscription of last BF. Their service would definitely help with blind buys, though. I'm often now sure how I'll like the lesser known movies that aren't comfort food variety like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and other "more popular" ones.

11-20-2022, 10:25 AM	#809
Lynos Active Member Member since:May 2017 4K collection:10 Blu-ray collection:160 DVD collection:87	I love the Criterion Channel but it really needs two things to make it close to perfect: 1) clickable talent names. Like, I watch a movie by Bergman, I click on "Ingmar Bergman", I see all his movies on the service. The fact I still need to go and search manually for stuff like this after all the time the service has been on the air is quite disappointing. Basically almost every streaming service has this function. 2) Make a more pronounced separation between titles and collections. Let's say I went and looked for Bergman manually in the directors' drop list. I click and I see a list of Bergman's films. Great. I click on one of them and watch the movie. I then turn the movie off and go make a sandwich. All this without relaizing there's a ton of special features that I'm not aware of, because those links only take you to the movie itself. Same for the search function. In tiny text above you see there are "movies" and "collections", and if you didn't notice that, you missed out. The solution? Make all movie links lead straight into the collection, if there is one. Why it's set-up this way I have no idea. CC is practically the ONLY streaming service around that offers so many special features on a regular basis, including commentaries (!). But it sometimes seems to me like they're doing their best to hide this fact....

11-21-2022, 02:26 AM	#812
fdm Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Way Out West 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Digital collection:- iTunes collection:- Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:3	Didn't quite make it back to The Rose Tattoo just yet, but I did watch another one of the other films in the James Wong Howe category that these came from and are expiring this month called Shining Victory. Always nice to run into Geraldine Fitzgerald in her younger days, though the lead character is pretty much a jerk. Also kind of a shame the stream probably originated from a videotape or a pretty meh dvd, doesn't do James any favors. I've seen a good number of the others in that collection, a good category to spend some time in this month as several of them are going away soon and most of them are pretty darn good. TCM usually shows the ones I probably won't make it to and one of these days I'll probably get to them there. At this point I may be focusing on the Ottinger films, seems like they were just added a couple months ago so thought I had more time. Started watching Chamisso's Shadow the other day, if only I had 12 hours to spend on it and its subtitles. I'll start with the shorter films first.

11-25-2022, 09:51 AM	#813
fdm Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Way Out West 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Digital collection:- iTunes collection:- Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:3	Well I did finish up The Rose Tattoo. Burt Lancaster popped up not too long after where I'd stopped previously. Worth a watch for Anna Magnani (and/or Burt) fans I suppose. After that I snuck a quick look into the Ottinger films and I have a feeling I'll probably take a pass on most/all of those. (It's free access Thanksgiving weekend for all the big movie channels (hbo etc) on directv and it's been a while so the dvr got purged some and it's filling up!) The Ottinger film I noticed first before these others appeared was Ticket Of No Return which I started to watch several months ago, and it's not going away yet so likely will get around to that one sooner or later. Chamisso's Shadow wish maybe it was dubbed in English, subtitles just take away from the visual nature of it, and 12 hours would probably take quite a toll as well.

11-28-2022, 09:40 AM	#815
fdm Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Way Out West 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Digital collection:- iTunes collection:- Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:3	I just got finished watching one of the better films I've seen in a while, the one called Charlatan. "Loosely inspired by the life of Jan Mikolašek", it said at the end. I stumbled upon it last night and started watching it, and was sucked in by the whole atmosphere and time frame of when the film takes place, but decided to hold off with most of it until tonight to better absorb it and was rewarded with an excellent film. Recommended. Not sure how I will follow that up, but I see I have three more nights to come up with something, so I will do my best.

11-28-2022, 11:05 PM	#816
DaBargainHunta Blu-ray Duke Top contributor Member since:May 2011 Location:Parts Unknown - because I blabbed about Mars! Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Trading Score:25	I watched Whipsaw last night. Fun romantic heist movie with Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy. Reminded me a bit of Midnight Run.

11-29-2022, 03:11 AM	#817
prkchopexpress Blu-ray Samurai Member since:May 2016 4K collection:101 Blu-ray collection:1404	that new flaming lips doc on the channel is quite good and worth checking out. i’m not someone who is a super fan and was only peripherally aware of them, but i really really enjoyed it. it’s called space bubble film.

11-29-2022, 09:36 AM	#818
fdm Blu-ray Ninja Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Location:Way Out West 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Digital collection:- iTunes collection:- Blu-ray reviews:2 Trading Score:3	A couple hours ago I started watching The Hole but it was a bit too late. Plan on getting back to it later today some time. And next to it is Atlantis, which rang a bell as it was one of the non-blu-rays I ran across earlier in the day via the Grasshopper BF sale. Think I'll have to give that one a shot too, as the story sounded interesting given it takes place a short time after an at the time fictional invasion of Ukraine by Russia in the not too distant future.

11-30-2022, 06:35 PM	#820
DaBargainHunta Blu-ray Duke Top contributor Member since:May 2011 Location:Parts Unknown - because I blabbed about Mars! Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Trading Score:25	I watched The Neon Bible (good) and Death in Venice (there are two ways you can interpret this film, so I'm curious if anyone else has seen it). I'll probably watch The Most Beautiful Boy in the World (not expiring yet), which is a documentary about the young lead actor from Death in Venice and the main reason I watched the film to begin with (I heard about the documentary a while back, and it caught my interest because I like showbiz docs). There are a couple more shorts expiring tonight that I was hoping to get to, but we'll see.

Best iTunes Movie Deals