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Egbert Souse posted:There's two choices. You can buy just the movie on iTunes, but if you have a Filmstruck subscription, there's a lot of complete editions up for streaming. They even have limited engagements for stuff Janus Films doesn't control like major studio films. My impression (and it sounds like I may have been off on this) was that iTunes movies came with difficult to remove DRM that impeded play other than through iTunes. I'm happy to pay for movies, and they're just for me, but I do prefer to just stream everything from my Plex server. Is that incorrect and/or is it not to difficult to deal with the DRM? Eta: I'll probably just keep getting DVDs, they're just a little more inconvenient. Just got The Seventh Seal on Blu-ray and very much looking forward to screening it. Red Dad Redemption fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Sep 20, 2017 |
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Sep 20, 2017 17:36
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I have DVDFab, which lets me rip Blu-rays. When I have some time, I intend to move all my DVDs to a hard drive, along with any short films on Blu-ray.Steen71 posted:A shame it doesn't include Le Samourai. There's a French BD from Pathe, but it doesn't have English subs. It's owned by Pathe in Region B. Criterion is putting out their edition in November, though.
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Sep 20, 2017 17:59
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Glad to hear the Criterion FWWM is the same quality as the one from Complete Mystery. I'd be a total dork about not having the best-quality version.
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Sep 20, 2017 22:19
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According to someone on Blu-ray.com, Peter Becker (CEO of Criterion) confirmed The Silence of the Lambs and This is Spinal Tap are coming next year, along with more OOP titles.
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Sep 21, 2017 21:15
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Egbert Souse posted:According to someone on Blu-ray.com, Peter Becker (CEO of Criterion) confirmed The Silence of the Lambs and This is Spinal Tap are coming next year, along with more OOP titles. The single greatest mistake in the collection is giving Spinal Tap spine number 12.
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Sep 21, 2017 21:34
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Egbert Souse posted:According to someone on Blu-ray.com, Peter Becker (CEO of Criterion) confirmed The Silence of the Lambs and This is Spinal Tap are coming next year, along with more OOP titles. That's great news! That being said, wake me up when we get The Killer and Hard Boiled back.
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Sep 21, 2017 21:36
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Cloks posted:The single greatest mistake in the collection is giving Spinal Tap spine number 12. This spine goes up to 12
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Sep 21, 2017 21:56
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Egbert Souse posted:According to someone on Blu-ray.com, Peter Becker (CEO of Criterion) confirmed The Silence of the Lambs and This is Spinal Tap are coming next year, along with more OOP titles. Yeah, they're supposed to get back "The Man Who Fell to Earth" too. Makes me real excited.
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Sep 22, 2017 03:58
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Hewlett posted:That's great news! That being said, wake me up when we get The Killer and Hard Boiled back. Dragon Dynasty has pretty good releases of both, each with bonus features and commentary.
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Sep 22, 2017 13:25
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Hector Beerlioz posted:Dragon Dynasty has pretty good releases of both, each with bonus features and commentary. The extras on the DD releases are good, but from what I gather, the actual transfers of the movies are not great. e: yeah, The Killer is 1080i and apparently looks worse than the Criterion DVD does upscaled.
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Sep 22, 2017 13:28
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Janus Films now lists Night of the Living Dead and The Passion of Joan of Arc as coming soon to theaters.
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Sep 26, 2017 17:40
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Hector Beerlioz posted:Dragon Dynasty has pretty good releases of both, each with bonus features and commentary. The subtitles are also derived from the English dub and are not an actual translation.
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Sep 26, 2017 20:19
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Cacator posted:The subtitles are also derived from the English dub and are not an actual translation. i didnt know that, but the subtitles could be the john galt speech and they'd still be rad af movies.
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Sep 26, 2017 21:32
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Hector Beerlioz posted:i didnt know that, but the subtitles could be the john galt speech and they'd still be rad af movies. They're extremely terrible releases of rad af movies. Those movies deserve way the gently caress better than the treatment DD gave them.
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Sep 27, 2017 03:02
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Crazy fact I learned from the High and Low commentary: Kurosawa filmed summer scenes in the winter months so that people involved in the film wouldn't assume that the heat would be captured and work harder to show how hot they were.
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Sep 28, 2017 04:33
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Cloks posted:Crazy fact I learned from the High and Low commentary: Kurosawa filmed summer scenes in the winter months so that people involved in the film wouldn't assume that the heat would be captured and work harder to show how hot they were. I guess everyone should do this because I basically break into a sweat just thinking about that movie
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Sep 28, 2017 04:37
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Cloks posted:Crazy fact I learned from the High and Low commentary: Kurosawa filmed summer scenes in the winter months so that people involved in the film wouldn't assume that the heat would be captured and work harder to show how hot they were. yeah, he does stuff like that, like how he gets actors who don't drink to play drunks
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Sep 29, 2017 00:47
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Hector Beerlioz posted:yeah, he does stuff like that, like how he gets actors who don't drink to play drunks Seems like his methods worked. He also filmed the climactic fight scenes in Seven Samurai in the middle of winter so the actors were freezing in the mud.
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Sep 29, 2017 04:40
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looks like silence of the lambs is on the horizon
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Sep 29, 2017 22:25
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Looks like Criterion won't have a difficult time topping Mill Creek's Night of the Living Dead Blu-ray
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Sep 30, 2017 00:30
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Hector Beerlioz posted:looks like silence of the lambs is on the horizon I can't wait, I know it's kinda basic but I love that movie
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Sep 30, 2017 00:54
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long-rear end nips Diane posted:I can't wait, I know it's kinda basic but I love that movie Real odd pick for a Best Picture Oscar in retrospect now that I think about it. Raxivace fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Sep 30, 2017 |
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Sep 30, 2017 03:24
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Silence of the Lambs is somehow the movie I've seen in theaters most and it's been absolutely harrowing every single time, hopefully we're getting a 4k scan or something.
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Sep 30, 2017 04:03
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Basic? Silence of the Lambs is fantastic.
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Sep 30, 2017 06:09
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Egbert Souse posted:Looks like Criterion won't have a difficult time topping Mill Creek's Night of the Living Dead Blu-ray  That is pathetic.
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Sep 30, 2017 11:20
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Magic Hate Ball posted:Silence of the Lambs is somehow the movie I've seen in theaters most and it's been absolutely harrowing every single time, hopefully we're getting a 4k scan or something. New 4K supervised by the DoP, according to CF.org. I'd expect it to have all the extras from the MGM releases, as well as the original Criterion. They included both the MGM-produced and Criterion commentaries on The Graduate and Sid & Nancy.
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Sep 30, 2017 16:11
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Nice, the old blu-ray looked pretty stale.
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Sep 30, 2017 16:14
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7Jx0Pjq_kQ
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Oct 4, 2017 18:25
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Got Othello in the mail today (back when Amazon had it for under  )Just a quick skim of both versions and Filming Othello: Both cuts look fantastic (I'd give an edge to the 1952 version) and Filming Othello looks really nice for being shot on 16mm. There's still about two hours of interviews and stuff, plus the commentary. 
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Oct 11, 2017 03:53
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As the criterion.com flash sale is likely happening this Tuesday, I wanted to compile a list of 10 (at least slightly) overlooked Criterions that I think are worth considering, either now or for the B&N sale in November. The first is available only on DVD, but you can get the rest on Blu-Ray. 508- Letters from Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa - Let’s say you’re tasked with teaching a class on the promise of digital cinema. What do you include on your syllabus? Probably Lynch’s Inland Empire, maybe a Hertzfeldt film, and, for me, Pedro Costa’s work from the second film in this set onward. For those not in the know, Costa has worked exclusively with DV since 1999, when the medium was brand-new. And unlike other filmmakers (myself included), Costa used the new technology to create an entirely unprecedented film genre – something halfway between documentary and narrative, always elliptical and shifting, pushing cinema (and perhaps the viewer’s patience) to its limits. These three films (admittedly my least-favorite of Costa’s, but all still worth a look) center on the Portugese community Fontainhas, a crumbling community kept together by its residents’ unwillingness to go anywhere else. They’re not fun movies, by any stretch of the imagination, (drug use, mental illness, and nihilism abound) but for a certain kind of viewer, they’ll be a revelation. 612 - Certified Copy – A difficult film to describe without ruining the experience of watching it. Juliette Binoche and William Shimell have an extended conversation – about art, life, love, and honesty – and...things happen. Kiarostami emphasizes the sunlight in the beautiful Tuscan setting, which manages to transcend the cliches fifty years of mediocre rom-coms have unfairly piled atop it. I don’t really want to say much more about the plot, because you really should go in almost totally blind. Just know that it’s both engaging and jarring, somehow threatening in its level of intimacy. 619 - Le Havre – We as a society tend to give fairy tales a bad rap once we’re past a certain age. I think that’s unfortunate – they can teach us a lot about what we should aspire to with the short time we’ve got here. Fortunately, this one from Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki was released back in 2011 to rave reviews, a rare treat in an increasingly cynical age. I haven’t really singled out actors yet, but Andre Wilms is so goddamn lovable in his central role as a down-on-his-luck shoe shiner who harbors a young African refugee. Add to that Kaurismaki regular Kati Outien as his devoted wife; Blondin Miguel as the stoic refugee Idrissa; and Jean-Pierre Darroussin as the inspector tasked with finding the boy, (along with some surprising cameos from French cinema heros) and you’ve got quite an ensemble. Not that they have to “act,” really – Kaurismaki has the driest wit in perhaps all of cinema (one of his earlier films makes a joke out of a man committing suicide in a bathroom), and he often tells his actors to emote as little as possible. Still, there’s something to be said for this style. If you can come to grips with Kaurismaki’s static camera shots, unsubtle use of lighting, and bizzare penchant for French rock and roll, you’ll be rewarded richly. Le Havre is a testament to the way kindness ripples out from one man; the power of tightly-knit communities; and the belief that maybe, if we take care of each other, things will turn out ok. Just a movie? Maybe. But a good one. 644 - Pina: Dance, Dance, Otherwise We Are Lost – Forget Avatar – this is hands-down the best 3-D film I’ve ever seen, and the best disc to demo a system with. It’s a documentary, sort of, but not a traditional talking-heads piece. Instead, director Wim Wenders shows the impact that choreographer Pina Bausch had on the dance world through...her dances. Much of the film is simply cleverly framed dance sequences, making use of theatrical spaces and the outside streets of Germany. Bausch’s choreography is so visceral, so spatially-motivated, that I can’t imagine seeing it in any other context, theatre included. Wenders has long been an advocate for 3-D, and while his recent fictional films that use the same effect haven’t exactly been stellar, this one demonstrates why it’s not just a fun, gimmicky side-step in cinema but a promising, even vital development. The included documentary on the making of the film, also shot in 3-D, is engaging, moving, and a great addition. 655 - Pierre Etaix – Looking for something to fill that Jacques Tati void now that you’ve finished Parade? Look no further! This set, which collects all five of French director Pierre Etaix’s features and three of his shorts (almost his entire output) is a clear companion to the more gag-driven films in Tati’s oeuvre, but with a bit more bite – think M. Hulot’s Holiday and Mon Oncle by way of Luis Bunuel. The plots are often relatively simple (a man struggles to write a letter, a bourgeois couple insists their son get married, a business owner finds himself attracted to his new secretary), but it’s because of this simplicity of story that Etaix can build amazing sight gags around nearly every situation. Yoyo, about the life of a clown, features several gags that play with the confusion between 2-D and 3-D geometries, mirroring the constant play between the title character’s outward reputation and his inner spaces. They’re also just really loving funny. Etaix introduces every film on the set, and there’s a lovely little documentary about his career to round things out. 661 - Marketa Lazarova – There’s a movement in certain political groups right now that longs to go back to a simpler time, past the 1950s, past the 20th century, to the middle ages, when things were simpler – societal roles were clearly defined through monetary means, women were either passive sex objects or chaste nuns, and man lived in a constant struggle with nature, through which he proved his dominance. This film is a giant middle finger to those idiots, showing that no, you know what, the middle ages were a loving terrible time in which to live. Essentially the story of a war between two rival clans, the film spends three hours reminding us that the past is a brutal, foreign place. It’s likely none of us would last a single day in the world of this movie. Marketa Lazarova is grim, long, and hard to come to terms with on first watch. But it’s also strangely engrossing despite these challenges. By the end, I was rooting for events I knew I could not come to pass – the same narrative force that subsumes Romeo and Juliet is on full display here. And mmmmmmmmm, that black and white photography is just gorgeous. If you like Andrei Rublev, you owe it to yourself to give this Czech masterpiece a shot. 772 - Blind Chance – What? A Kieslowski movie? This isn’t overlooked! Well, maybe not, but this is my list, so I get to add whatever films I like. In all honesty, it bothers me that this film isn’t as discussed or as recommended as, say, The Double Life of Veronique, because it’s working on the same metaphysical level, raising questions about the implications of our choices and the impact fate may or may not have on our lives. Boguslaw Linda gives a remarkable central performance as Witek, a man torn in three different directions. Will he become a member of Poland’s Communist party? A Catholic fighter for the resistance? An apolitical man trying to live his life with his head down? It’s to Kieslowski’s testament that what could otherwise be a dry morality play is made with heart, not just head. I first saw this fim at a crossroads in my life, and I felt every question it asked not just in my brain but in my gut – how different would my world be had I gone to a different college? Had I chosen a different path in grad school? Had I run off somewhere and not looked back? If you’ve ever wondered similarly about your own life (and let’s face it, you have), then this film’s for you. It’s a little grittier and less stylized than Kieslowski’s later work, but it’s no less powerful. 845 - Heart of a Dog – Another film for the “here’s what digital cinema can do” class. The visual textures Laurie Anderson creates are clearly inspired by non-linear editing software, YouTube codec glitches, and DV artifacting. But this isn’t just a tech demo; it’s a tear-jerking elegy for Anderson’s dog and her husband, a reflection on the role of memory in a world obsessed with documentation, and a lesson in how to let go of the past even when facing an uncertain future. While the film isn’t tremendously long, and the release isn’t particularly stacked, you do get some nice bonuses. The Criterion edition has, along with its standard booklet, a lovely little scrapbook with some vellum-type pages that create a nice raindrop effect. The whole package sounds a little maudlin – and it probably is – but it’s clearly so earnest that its emotions are an advantage rather than a hindrance. Plus, you get a bonus video of a terrier “playing” Christmas carols on a chintzy Casio keyboard. Doesn’t get much better than that. 853 - Cameraperson – This film is something of a miracle. Put together from documentary cameraperson Kirsten Johnson’s work over the last twenty-five years, it’s a surprisingly coherent piece that investigates the relationship between documentarian and subject, camera and operator, and Johnson and the world around her. It does all this, however, without any voice-overs or “narrative”; rather, it presents a wild amount of different short segments that juxtapose with or add to the footage around them. It matches scenes through both graphics and theme in a deft way – you can tell its director has an eye for both the visual and moving stories. Also interestingly is the sense we get of Johnson as a character, put together piece by piece only through what she sees in her lens. The bonus features reveal that this was a long-term project for her, which isn’t surprising, as its editing must have been extraordinarily complicated. If you like documentaries, please give this unorthodox one a try. 873 - Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project, No. 2 – Not a cheap set, but for the number of stellar films here, a real bargain. For just $62.50 in the sale, you get six neglected masterworks. The set opens with the remarkable Insiang, a harrowing story of the systems that allow abuse to perpetuate itself, featuring a surprisingly restrained performance by its lead Hilda Koronel. Next is Apitchatpong Weerasethakul’s debut feature Mysterious Object at Noon, an ever-shifting mix between documentary and fantastic story inspired by the exquisite corpse game. Following this is Revenge, a Kazakh film about the cycle of, well, revenge, and how it taints an entire family line. It’s a narrative told via different “tales,” each with its own central character, plus a prologue that deepens the film’s central themes. Some have described Limite, the next movie in the set, as “Terrence Malick making a silent film,” and that’s not far off. It’s all the more astounding because it was the only feature director Mário Peixoto ever made. That we can still see it today is worth rejoicing over. Law of the Border, a story of Turkish smugglers and their run-ins with the local authorities, is, unsurprisingly, in far worse condition than anything else here, but still watchable, if not comparatively slight. And Taipei Story is not Edward Yang’s finest work, though it’s still worth a look. The set’s really worth it for Mysterious Object at Noon alone – more fun you will likely not have with a film this year. Criterion’s best box set since, oh, The Road Trilogy? Right, then, that's my spiel. If anyone has any thoughts - your own list, maybe - or just wants to fight me because they really hate one of my picks, I'd love to hear them!
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Oct 16, 2017 04:42
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Heart of a Dog is cool but Jonathan Rosenbaum's review where he complained that he learned more about the dog in Goodbye to Language was funny.
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Oct 16, 2017 04:47
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Raxivace posted:Heart of a Dog is cool but Jonathan Rosenbaum's review where he complained that he learned more about the dog in Goodbye to Language was funny. Haha, that's fantastic. I don't really agree with him, but gotta give it to Rosenbaum - even when he's an irascible prick, he's a funny one. Maybe he'd have liked the film better if it had a different title...something like "A Tapestry of Which My Dog is a Part."
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Oct 16, 2017 04:53
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Really cool writeups, oneforthe vine.oneforthevine posted:612 - Certified Copy quote:661 - Marketa Lazarova quote:853 - Cameraperson
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Oct 16, 2017 05:20
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Coaaab posted:Really cool writeups, oneforthe vine. Hey thanks! Arthouse cinema's a new thing for me, so it's really nice to see I'm not just talking out of my rear end. quote:This is such a mysterious, romantic film, I tried to grapple with it in a review I wrote a few years ago, but there's still so much left to unpack. You touch on something here that I thought about mentioning but must have forgotten to - the film's multilingual nature. I think it's a great way of using language (so often taken for granted in film) to back up the central themes. I can't think of anything quite like it. quote:I temporarily lost interest in most movies for a few years after graduating college. A touring retrospective of František Vláčil's films was probably the turning point in getting me back, starting with The White Dove and continuing with this hypnotic, bewildering masterpiece. Vláčil may not get his due in the West as one of the greatest filmmakers, but at least his homeland recognizes what a towering, marvelous talent he was. The Tarkovsky comparisons are inevitable, but earned. He's got such a strong sense of style, which is totally unlike that of his Czech and Slovak New Wave contemporaries (many of whom I love, don't get me wrong. Vláčil's just operating on a totally separate plane). quote:This was my favorite film of 2016, and if I were to compile a top ten list of best 2016 scenes, a good five or six of them would come from this movie alone. Even the opening, with the thundercloud, is a jolt, saying "this isn't going to be your typical documentary." I'd go into more detail of my favorite moments, but they really ought to be experienced firsthand.
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Oct 16, 2017 05:36
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Finally, someone else here who's seen the Pierre Etaix set! While you can see some influence from Tati, Etaix' films are pretty much mainlined homages to Keaton (The Suitor), Chaplin and Fellini (Yoyo), and Bunuel (Le Grand Amour). In fact, he collaborated on most of his films with Jean-Claude Carriere, who wrote/co-wrote most of Bunuel's 60s/70s films. My picks for underrated gems: Pierre Etaix - Only Criterion release with cover art drawn by the director. Lonesome - Obscure silent (with a few talking sequences), but incredibly charming. The Gold Rush - If you've only seen the narrated re-release cut, the restored silent version is a revelation. Speedy - Not as well-known as the other two Harold Lloyd silents they've released (Safety Last! and The Freshman), but just as good and fun. Babe Ruth has an extended cameo that's hilarious. Tampopo - If I had to pick my favorite movie that I've watched for the first time this year, this would be it. Food has never been so beautifully photographed. It's also hilarious. What I find the most fascinating is how well it emulates the American western genre, even down to some Ford-isms, while also having a clear influence from Tati's work. Odd Man Out - Carol Reed's next two films get way more attention (The Fallen Idol and the obscure The Third Man), but this is essential British noir. James Mason never gave a bad performance and he's incredible in this. Bigger Than Life - Another great James Mason role, while Nicholas Ray skewers the conventional melodrama. It's one of those films that you wonder how the hell did it get made. Lubitsch Musicals - Eclipse DVD, but a fantastic set of Ernst Lubitsch's early talkies. The Love Parade is a masterpiece and alone worth the price of this set, with The Smiling Lieutenant and One Hour with You almost as great. For those used to seeing Jeannette MacDonald in dorky musicals, she's incredible in these pre-code films, as is Maurice Chevelier, who has never been more charming. I still think the opening scene to The Love Parade is one of the best opening scenes in the history of film and it's followed up with an equally great scene with Chevelier (and Lupino Lane) singing "Paris, Stay the Same".
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Oct 16, 2017 14:13
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oneforthevine posted:And Taipei Story is not Edward Yang’s finest work, though it’s still worth a look. I think you're kind of under-selling this one. It's very good and definitely worth a watch as more than just a lesser work by a great director. I liked it a lot and want to buy the whole set even though it's the only one I've seen from it. edit: Criterion has for whatever reason not released many Chinese-language films and I think it'd be really great for them to get into the New Taiwanese Cinema beyond just those couple Yang releases. It's something I've been trying to catch up with and the availability of some of these movies makes it pretty tough. Even from someone more well known like Hou Hsiao-hsien the films can be pretty tough to track down and even then the quality is usually awful. I'd love to see A City of Sadness get a proper restoration and release. And if they could get a hold of the Assayas Hou documentary I'd pay full price on day one for that. FancyMike fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Oct 16, 2017 |
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Oct 16, 2017 15:22
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Reviews for Barry Lyndon are up on Blu-ray.com and CF.org: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Barry-Lyndon-Blu-ray/183915/#Review http://criterionforum.org/DVD-review/barry-lyndon-blu-ray/the-criterion-collection/1842 Biggest surprise is that according to the transfer notes, the transfer used for the old Blu-ray was made way back in 2000 and that Kubrick had initiated the 5.1 remix project for his films prior to his death.
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Oct 16, 2017 17:40
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It never fails to delight me how you get to the end of a detailed blu-ray.com review and they slap you in the face with some grubby, blurry photos taken on someone's nasty carpet.
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Oct 16, 2017 18:21
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I watched the 1952 cut of Othello over the weekend and started on the extras. Absolutely stellar restoration. I wrote off the film when I watched my laserdisc rip years ago. Welles was clearly inspired by Eisenstein's sound films (Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible). It's interesting because apparently the rapid cutting was mainly to get around having to post-sync all the dialogue.Magic Hate Ball posted:It never fails to delight me how you get to the end of a detailed blu-ray.com review and they slap you in the face with some grubby, blurry photos taken on someone's nasty carpet. It's funnier because it would cost maybe $5 to get some white or black posterboard to take photos of the packaging on.
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Oct 16, 2017 19:35
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I still have the  credit from the Eraserhead gently caress up. I hope Barry Lyndon doesn't sell out before I can get to it during the rumored sale tomorrow.
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Oct 16, 2017 19:48
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