Criterion collection

  AOOproductions said:

The leopard is also a great DVD.

very much agreed

The "Days of Heaven" release was fantastic.

Own the original "Salo" too, but funny enough, I've never watched it (so still wrapped up).

And "Armageddon" -- wtf?

Think I have at least 90% of the collection. Just can't pass them up!

as cool as criterion is, sometimes I question their selection.

The last one I pre-ordered was "Days Of Heaven" but I didn't get to open it yet.

My favorite Criterions are the boxsets.. I own a couple and here are some of my favorites :

The John Cassavetes one... great great extras and documentaries. It has to be one of the best "Cinéma de notre temps".

The Éric Rohmer one, also great supplements with a talk with Rohmer and a scholar on Pascal's religious views.

The Cocteau one, is simply mesmerizing. "La Villa Santo-Sospir" is a fine supplement.

My movie "coup-de-coeur" is certainly "Wages Of Fear". Such a simple and classic movie.

But my fetish Criterion is "L'Avventura" for no other film literally threw me to the floor as this one.

Criterion are faired price if your consider the amount of work done on each release. Maybe a bit expensive, but well priced overall.

These things are like drugs for me. The list is so long for the stuff I want to buy or rent. The next one I'll probably buy is the Drunken Angel dvd that just came out this week. But the day they get around to releasing more of Shohei Imamura's stuff they'll get a lot of money from me, I've been waiting forever for a decent transfer of The Ballad of Narayama.

  absolu said:

But my fetish Criterion is "L'Avventura" for no other film literally threw me to the floor as this one.

Yes! That and Solaris are lovely. Gorgeous transfers and clean up and whatever other magic they did.

  absolu said:

The John Cassavetes one... great great extras and documentaries. It has to be one of the best "Cinéma de notre temps".

The Éric Rohmer one, also great supplements with a talk with Rohmer and a scholar on Pascal's religious views.

The Cocteau one, is simply mesmerizing. "La Villa Santo-Sospir" is a fine supplement.

Add the Bergman Chamber Trilogy, Dreyer and Teshigahara boxsets and you've got one hell of a collection! I'm also a huge fan of the L'avventura release(hearing Jack Nicholson talk about Antonioni on the extras is interesting). The Criterion release of L'eclisse is also excellent...

my all-time favorite Criterion releases:

Andrei Rublyov

Au Hasard Balthazar(really, all the Bresson releases)

The Battle of Algiers

Mamma Roma("La Ricotta" may be the best supplement of any Criterion release, imo)

The Shop on Main Street(this film is basically perfect)

I recently got the Criterion of The Passion of Joan Of Arc. Seriously one of the greatest movies of all time.

I've got the Criterion Collection release of 'Metropolitan'. Great movie imo.

edit: Sorry, this was for Rook's post

If ya dug that(and yes, you're absolutely right), get the Dreyer sound films boxset Criterion released...Ordet is a whole new world.

Also, word around the campfire has been that Criterion isn't printing the Dreyer boxset anymore, so it's probably a good idea to get it while ya can ;)

this is as good a place as any to air this gripe:

Why oh why, especially considering they reissued the set in anamorphic, has Criterion (or anybody else) not released the 137 minute cut of Brazil??? It was the version on the US VHS version, and I've seen it nowhere else. I have another Warner Brother's single disc of the film and it's the international director's cut:( I think it's an especially weird omission seeing as how a main point of that set is to show how editing can reshape/make or break a film. probably it's a rights issue...

My cynical thought at the moment is that including it would belie just how unnecessary and bulky the international cut is, and that would not fit in with Gilliam's mission to prove he was right and Sheinberg was a clueless money-grubbing suit n' tie man who stifled his genius.

I'd like to get Spirit of the Beehive, Hearts and Minds, Eyes Without A Face, Walkabout, M, Videodrome, and Naked Lunch...the next time I can afford to blow an entire week's pay on movies.

Someone had posted a link to the DVDtalk.com forums, there is a subforum there dedicated to trades, and most of what's on offer is Criterion. You guys should check that out maybe you can get some of these cheap or in-trade.

I like Criterion because they obviously care about the films they're presenting and they do a good job of fleshing out the film with bonus material, and preseneting it in the best quality available. My only complaint is that they let some of their releases go OOP. Hard Boiled comes to mind immedately.

I did have Time Bandits on my want list but evidently the Criterion edition is non-anamorphic, which seems odd.

Lastly...except for the picture quality there's not much to get excited about on the Fear and Loathing discs...if you like Thompson you'll get some good interview and commentary footage of him. I love Gilliam the filmmaker but Gilliam the interview subject gets on my nerves. I guess the deleted scene from the end of the film is pretty cool...

Awesome post serpico...

Not being a huge Gilliam fan(for exactly what you pointed out, the guy is a very annoying finger-pointer who has never lived up to his own ego, imo), I never went too far into researching why the intl. cut of Brazil isn't on the Criterion, but I'd suspect it was probably a rights issue(although occasionally Criterion gets suckered by the odd wishes of the artist, such as the almost-unforgivable compromise they're about to make in making The Last Emperor 2:1, not the original aspect ratio...thanks a lot Vittorio Storaro, dick).

I'm almost positive Hard Boiled will get a very nice rerelease from Criterion, ala-Playtime. Way too much interest in that film and Criterion knows it...

I need to see Spirit of the Beehive, I dunno why I've dragged my feet on picking that up.

  serpico009 said:

Eyes Without A Face

i was amazed

  serpico009 said:

M

i was disappointed

The main supplement to the Eyes Without a Face release, the film "Blood of the Beasts" is truly something to see if you're into gore...

  Soothsayer said:

Awesome post serpico...

 

Not being a huge Gilliam fan(for exactly what you pointed out, the guy is a very annoying finger-pointer who has never lived up to his own ego, imo), I never went too far into researching why the intl. cut of Brazil isn't on the Criterion, but I'd suspect it was probably a rights issue(although occasionally Criterion gets suckered by the odd wishes of the artist, such as the almost-unforgivable compromise they're about to make in making The Last Emperor 2:1, not the original aspect ratio...thanks a lot Vittorio Storaro, dick).

 

I'm almost positive Hard Boiled will get a very nice rerelease from Criterion, ala-Playtime. Way too much interest in that film and Criterion knows it...

 

I need to see Spirit of the Beehive, I dunno why I've dragged my feet on picking that up.

Actually the Criterion version includes the internation director's cut, but the American director's cut got ignored. There's just some unnecessary stuff in the int'l version, and much more of Kim Greist which, imo, is NOT a good thing ("something for an executive?").

There is a cool scene where, after being arrested at his mother's apartment, Sam is being briefed on his crimes in this plastic lined room, and you can hear people screaming and bodies goin by on hooks in the shadows, very creepy. And the guy across from him is talking about interest rates on loans for his attorney fees, etc...That's the only bit of that cut that I would keep.

The Hard Boiled release (not Criterion) from this year was not well reviewed, I think it was a cobination of picture quality and possible changing the aspect ratio?

Do you know what the true ratio for the Last Emperor is supposed to be? I've been reading alot about Tideland and how that was released open matte on DVD instead of 2.35:1 or thereabouts...and you can sort of see how opening up the frame ruins the composition slightly, like in the opening scene where the dad is rocking out on stage....it just looks too cavernous when it's probably supposed to look crowded and askew.

what dissappointed you about M, tht! tne? The sets and background in the stills is what made me want ot buy it.

M is a classic and gets my very high recommendation...Peter Lorre is brilliant, Lang's "documentary style" shooting has a very timeless creepiness to it, and on the Criterion edition, you get one of the coolest supplements ever(Lang being interviewed for an hour by William Friedkin, Lang gives a very detailed version of his Goebbels anecdote, too)

The original aspect ratio for The Last Emperor is 2:35:1. Vittorio Storaro has recently become quite notorious for his sudden change of heart. He no longer approves of any of the films he shot in 2:35:1 remaining at that ratio, as he's convinced that 2:1 is some kind of perfect ratio. The releases of Apocalypse Now, 1900 and The Conformist have all suffered from this on their recent dvd releases, and The Last Emperor is about to see the same fate(and these are ALL classics).

Boo

Criterion screwed up one of my discs so they are sending me a replacement and a gift certificate.

Which one should I buy with the gift certificate?

Just picked up :

Breathless

Contempt

Nights of Cababaria

Breathless and Contempt are gems.

  Rook said:

Criterion screwed up one of my discs so they are sending me a replacement and a gift certificate.

 

Which one should I buy with the gift certificate?

The Shop on Main Street

edit: Watched Nights of Cabiria yet, V? One of Pasolini's greatest stories, that...

Spirit of the Beehive rules. That, along with Naked Lunch, and Dead Ringers are the only Criterions I've purchased.

Here's my stash of Criterion dvd's:

I also have a couple of the Eclipse boxsets, too

Go with Contempt - you get to see Brigitte Bardot's buns ! Beautiful colors, story, score, an awesome film. If you ever get the chance to see it in the cinema, do yourself a favor.

  Soothsayer said:

  Rook said:

Criterion screwed up one of my discs so they are sending me a replacement and a gift certificate.

 

Which one should I buy with the gift certificate?

 

The Shop on Main Street

 

edit: Watched Nights of Cabiria yet, V? One of Pasolini's greatest stories, that...

I saw Nights of Cabaria in a theater when I lived in NYC. I just happened to pass a theater that was showing it, so I sort of just stumbled upon it which was really cool. I enjoyed it a lot, however when I rewatched it, it didn't hit me as hard. It's good, but it's no La Dolce Vita.

I actually much preferred Nights of Cabiria(and really any other early Fellini that has writing from Pasolini) to La Dolce Vita...I think it's a general distaste I have for Fellini when he gets into the upper classes. That, and even Giuletta Masina is probably my favorite actress to ever work w/Fellini.

edit: Also, what about the score to Contempt did you enjoy so much? I found it quite amateur and obnoxious, myself(as with most scores to Godard pictures).

like eighty percent of the movies i own are criterion.

my favorite of them is either dazed and confused or tokyo drifter.