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pospysyl
Nov 10, 2012




Never has there been a more obvious Adventures in Moviegoing pick than the Safdie Brothers selecting Mikey and Nicky.

Raxivace posted:

Amazing stuff and also Around the World in 80 Days for some reason.

The Saturday Morning Matinee series is weird. I guess they want to have stuff for kids on the service, but I'd expect a parent who's in the Criterion Channel market would have kids precocious enough to appreciate stuff like Dr. Strangelove or Anatomy of a Murder.

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Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008

They seem to pick stuff that would be obvious or stuff that would at least be safe for most kids.

The '56 Around the World in 80 Days was my favorite movie as a kid and probably helped me in not having an issue with longer movies. Now that I've seen stuff like Karel Zeman's films, it's perhaps a little more conventional. But it's still a fun movie with great leads (David Niven, Cantinflas, Shirley MacLaine, and Robert Newton), there's all the cameos to look out for, and Victor Young's score is fantastic. Plus it's the rare 50s film with zero opening credits, though has a brilliant end credits sequence by Saul Bass that pretty much made the rest of his career.

Macdeo Lurjtux
Jul 5, 2011

BRRREADSTOOORRM!
How many of Wong Kar Wai's movies are on the channel? I've been listening to James Clavell's Asian Saga lately and his love of Hong Kong is starting to rub off on me.

FancyMike
May 7, 2007

Macdeo Lurjtux posted:

How many of Wong Kar Wai's movies are on the channel? I've been listening to James Clavell's Asian Saga lately and his love of Hong Kong is starting to rub off on me.

Four and one short. They don't have much other Hong Kong stuff, but what's there is good. I'd recommend all of Police Story 1&2, Chinese Odyssey 2002 (especially for wkw fans), and Last Hurrah for Chivalry (early Woo).

Also, you don't need an account to browse their available films: https://films.criterionchannel.com

Franchescanado
Feb 23, 2013

If it wasn't for disappointment
I wouldn't have any appointment

Grimey Drawer
Last Hurrah For Chivalry indeed owns.

DeimosRising
Oct 17, 2005

¡Hola SEA!


Several other Jackie Chan movies being added next month as well.

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



WONG BOX WHEN

Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008


Pandemic delays aside, we're supposed to get a possibly 8-film box before the year is out. (Janus definitely has As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Happy Together, Fallen Angels, Chungking Express, and In the Mood for Love while Sony Pictures Classics has Ashes of Time and 2046).

As well as supposed complete works box sets for Varda and Fellini.

My money is on Wong for July, Varda in October, and Fellini for November.

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



Egbert Souse posted:

Pandemic delays aside, we're supposed to get a possibly 8-film box before the year is out. (Janus definitely has As Tears Go By, Days of Being Wild, Happy Together, Fallen Angels, Chungking Express, and In the Mood for Love

:blastu:

GrandpaPants
Feb 13, 2006


Free to roam the heavens in man's noble quest to investigate the weirdness of the universe!

I don't care how low it is on the Wong Kar Wai rankings, give me a goddamn uncut The Grandmaster. And I guess 2046, since I'm curious about a Wong Kar Wai sci fi film.

Chris Knight
Jun 5, 2002

me @ ur posts


Fun Shoe

Franchescanado posted:

Last Hurrah For Chivalry indeed owns.

100%. It's so good.

FancyMike
May 7, 2007

GrandpaPants posted:

I don't care how low it is on the Wong Kar Wai rankings, give me a goddamn uncut The Grandmaster.
If that's what you want it's already available. The Hong Kong blu-ray is back in print as of last year.
https://www.dddhouse.com/v3/product_details.php?ProductID=16849

quote:

And I guess 2046, since I'm curious about a Wong Kar Wai sci fi film.
It's good, but not really a sci fi movie.

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



GrandpaPants posted:

I don't care how low it is on the Wong Kar Wai rankings, give me a goddamn uncut The Grandmaster. And I guess 2046, since I'm curious about a Wong Kar Wai sci fi film.

The uncut version is...not very good.


Wong's later output was severely damaged by the absence of Christopher Doyle.

FancyMike
May 7, 2007

BeanpolePeckerwood posted:

The uncut version is...not very good.


Wong's later output was severely damaged by the absence of Christopher Doyle.

I disagree with both of these, but I haven't watched the US cut of The Grandmaster yet even though I bought the bluray. What's your thought on the cinematography of In the Mood for Love? Doyle's not the only one credited there. I don't know who shot what, but Mark Lee Ping-bing has a very impressive résumé. Which is not to say I don't love Chris Doyle, Happy Together is probably my favorite visually of their collaborations.

FitFortDanga
Nov 19, 2004

Nice try, asshole

Egbert Souse posted:

My money is on Wong for July

Considering the July releases are already announced -- including the Bruce Lee box -- this seems unlikely.

Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008

FitFortDanga posted:

Considering the July releases are already announced -- including the Bruce Lee box -- this seems unlikely.

For some reason, I had it in my brain the last slate announced was for June. My sense of time is completely hosed up.

On second thought, I'm wondering if it'll get pushed back since Janus was clearly going to do a theatrical retrospective (like they did for Kiarostami) first.

Maxwell Lord
Dec 12, 2008

I am drowning.
There is no sign of land.
You are coming down with me, hand in unlovable hand.

And I hope you die.

I hope we both die.


:smith:

Grimey Drawer

pospysyl posted:

Never has there been a more obvious Adventures in Moviegoing pick than the Safdie Brothers selecting Mikey and Nicky.


The Saturday Morning Matinee series is weird. I guess they want to have stuff for kids on the service, but I'd expect a parent who's in the Criterion Channel market would have kids precocious enough to appreciate stuff like Dr. Strangelove or Anatomy of a Murder.

I mean, one of the cool things about Filmstruck was that it had this great catalog of just random programmers if you weren't in the mood for an important masterpiece, so I appreciate Criterion doing their best to have a selection of vintage genre pics.

Chris Knight
Jun 5, 2002

me @ ur posts


Fun Shoe
Ugh this fuggin app doesn't allow content from iPhones to play on TVs using the HDMI adapter. Sad!

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



FancyMike posted:

I disagree with both of these, but I haven't watched the US cut of The Grandmaster yet even though I bought the bluray. What's your thought on the cinematography of In the Mood for Love? Doyle's not the only one credited there. I don't know who shot what, but Mark Lee Ping-bing has a very impressive résumé. Which is not to say I don't love Chris Doyle, Happy Together is probably my favorite visually of their collaborations.

I adore ITMFL, but it's somewhat of a departure in style from their previous work together. My favorite looking film from their run is Days of Being Wild. Doyle wasn't just shooting Wong's films but was a multilevel collaborator with him since the very early on, screenplay, production design, etc. He's a very kinetic, argumentative figure, and he certainly didn't let Wong rest on his laurels too much. They brought out something in each other, like Herzog working with Kinski, just a true focus and energy, even if that energy was often used telling similar stories from different angles. Wong's stuff has drifted hard into navel-gazing since the split.

Doyle was on record saying he was exasperated with 5-year production cycles and working on remaking past ideas; Wong didn't know where to go next, didn't know how to follow up ITMFL, and was trying to make the same film again and again, which is why 2046 feels so disjointed and piecemeal. Nobody knew what to do with it, and by the end everyone felt like it had been a big redundancy. Even some of Wong's actor's had remarked that they felt like they had been making the same film for a decade or more. I also suspect that when Leslie Cheung killed himself it left a huge hole in their group of friends and collaborators that didn't mend, but that's just me.

Electronico6
Feb 25, 2011

If you go by the words of Christopher Doyle then yes Doyle was the most important person in the world. If you go by everyone else, then Doyle was a cinematographer that Wong Kar Wai replaced without sparing a thought at least 3 or 4 times.

This isn't to say that Doyle wasn't important or bad, he was important, and he is very good, especially for someone who until his first film(Edward Yang's That Day on the Beach) had no experience in cinema. But when talking about Christopher Doyle, one always has to remember that he likes to run his mouth, constantly overestimate his importance, an often obnoxious presence on set and a huge drunk.

William Chang was and still is Wong Kar Wai's main collaborator who actually has been involved in every facet of production in Wong's movies, and the man Wong Kar Wai credits the reason his films are like the way they are. You can go back to Tears Go By and everything that would eventually become a staple of a Wong Kar Wai in the 90's is already there. That and the first half of Chungking Express were shot by Andrew "Infernal Affairs" Lau, but I bet most people will attribute the whole of Chungking Express, as they do ItMfL, to Doyle.

Wong always liked to shoot scenes repeatedly, and start most days of production with no clear idea of what to film, and though his movies changed over time, that attitude to filming always remained the same. That didn't start with ItMfL or 2046. If you want to talk about collaborators confused at what the gently caress they spend years doing, Ashes of Time is right there. 2 year long trainwreck in the gobi desert that even Wong Kar Wai doesn't acknowledge anymore. Bless Jeffrey Lau(and Stephen Chow lol) for giving Wong Kar Wai a second wind after that. Days of Being Wild was also going to be another huge production, but the money people got cold feet halfway through and shut it down.

While Leslie Cheung suicide, and Maggie Cheung retiring, did have an impact on Wong, the more important reasons for him slowing down so much these last years are the HK film industry completely collapsing during the 00's, China's film scene having no interest in him, a failed Hollywood experiment, and a traumatic experience with post-Recession global production. He is in the same boat as Hou Hsiao-Hsien, a very particular style and mode of production that nobody wants to pay, and even triads and mobsters are now to uptight to finance them. He seems to have found a way to get Blossoms in production, the same way Scorsese did The Irishman, scam a dumb rear end streaming platform to bankroll you with promises of awards and prestige.(they will get neither)

Chris Knight
Jun 5, 2002

me @ ur posts


Fun Shoe
The Ashes Of Time/Eagle Shooting Heroes story remains my fave bit of trivia about him. Basically he was taking so long to make the former and running out of money that Jeffery Lau and the cast went off and made an entire movie in-between shoots.

Electronico6
Feb 25, 2011

All based on the same source material too.

Edit: With choreography by Sammo Hung! Production by William Chang! Shot by Peter Pau cinematographer of Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger, and The Killer.

"Real" films often don't have that much talent available, in front and behind the camera.

Electronico6 fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Apr 25, 2020

FancyMike
May 7, 2007

I still need to watch Eagle Shooting Heroes. The other Jeffrey Lau movie on the channel, Chinese Odyssey 2002, is great.

Doyle's got a small acting part in Comrades, Almost a Love Story which is pretty funny given his character. And I can't remember the title, but I am interested in the movie he directed in the late 90s, that has a shared writing credit with Tony Rayns

Electronico6
Feb 25, 2011

Unfortunately the Chinese Odyssey 2002 on the Channel is the Mandarin version, which is 10 minutes shorter than the Cantonese cut, and gets rid of the best song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwBEMxsjbpM

The Eagle Shooting Heroes version on the channel is the Cantonese version.

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



Electronico6 posted:

If you go by the words of Christopher Doyle then yes Doyle was the most important person in the world. If you go by everyone else, then Doyle was a cinematographer that Wong Kar Wai replaced without sparing a thought at least 3 or 4 times.

This isn't to say that Doyle wasn't important or bad, he was important, and he is very good, especially for someone who until his first film(Edward Yang's That Day on the Beach) had no experience in cinema. But when talking about Christopher Doyle, one always has to remember that he likes to run his mouth, constantly overestimate his importance, an often obnoxious presence on set and a huge drunk.

William Chang was and still is Wong Kar Wai's main collaborator who actually has been involved in every facet of production in Wong's movies, and the man Wong Kar Wai credits the reason his films are like the way they are. You can go back to Tears Go By and everything that would eventually become a staple of a Wong Kar Wai in the 90's is already there. That and the first half of Chungking Express were shot by Andrew "Infernal Affairs" Lau, but I bet most people will attribute the whole of Chungking Express, as they do ItMfL, to Doyle.

Wong always liked to shoot scenes repeatedly, and start most days of production with no clear idea of what to film, and though his movies changed over time, that attitude to filming always remained the same. That didn't start with ItMfL or 2046. If you want to talk about collaborators confused at what the gently caress they spend years doing, Ashes of Time is right there. 2 year long trainwreck in the gobi desert that even Wong Kar Wai doesn't acknowledge anymore. Bless Jeffrey Lau(and Stephen Chow lol) for giving Wong Kar Wai a second wind after that. Days of Being Wild was also going to be another huge production, but the money people got cold feet halfway through and shut it down.

While Leslie Cheung suicide, and Maggie Cheung retiring, did have an impact on Wong, the more important reasons for him slowing down so much these last years are the HK film industry completely collapsing during the 00's, China's film scene having no interest in him, a failed Hollywood experiment, and a traumatic experience with post-Recession global production. He is in the same boat as Hou Hsiao-Hsien, a very particular style and mode of production that nobody wants to pay, and even triads and mobsters are now to uptight to finance them. He seems to have found a way to get Blossoms in production, the same way Scorsese did The Irishman, scam a dumb rear end streaming platform to bankroll you with promises of awards and prestige.(they will get neither)

This is a good post, thanks. No doubt Doyle is an rear end in a top hat and a drunk (even by sight), but there isn't really a better way to categorize the shift in texture, pace and style of Wong's films post-Doyle, so say 2004. They just feel completely different. It's impossible for me to reconcile the visual approach of The Grandmaster with any of his films made prior to ITMFL, even if William Chang really is the secret sauce behind consistency in production design. There was absolute magic in WKW films, until there wasn't.

Stunt_enby
Feb 6, 2010

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Only 3 more days to get traumatized by a 60s Jung/Freudian analysis of sociopathy and its intersection with fascist movements!
https://www.criterionchannel.com/leaving-april-30/videos/pressure-point

Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008

If anyone needs some recommendations of Channel stuff to watch before they go away on the 30th...

Footlight Parade - pre-code screwball comedy/Busby Berkeley musical with James Cagney and Joan Blondell
Eyes of Laura Mars - Stylish thriller with Faye Dunaway, a young Tommy Lee Jones, and co-written by John Carpenter (directed by Irvin Kershner)
Performance - Trippy debut feature for co-directors Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell starring Edward Fox and Mick Jagger
The Draughtman's Contract - Second feature by Peter Greenaway is wickedly funny and gorgeously baroque in appearance
O Lucky Man! - Lindsay Anderson's fever dream epic starring Malcolm McDowell

Footlight Parade is probably my biggest recommendation because it's such a fun gem of a film. Not exactly rare (it's on Blu and DVD from Warner Archive), but it's probably my favorite of the early-30s dance musicals. It has some sharp humor thanks to it being pre-code and is surprisingly self-reflexive - the opening scene has Cagney remarking how talking pictures are a fad and another character points out what can't be shown in particular cities.

Egbert Souse fucked around with this message at 15:16 on Apr 28, 2020

Raxivace
Sep 9, 2014

I'll second Footlight Parade. I've only started to check out Cagney's non-gangster films in recent years but that one was a ton of fun.

Chris Knight
Jun 5, 2002

me @ ur posts


Fun Shoe
This sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Hollywood Shuffle is so good

https://twitter.com/mimbale/status/1255152309048229891

etherealshaq
Mar 6, 2010

COME DOWN AND EAT CHICKEN WITH ME, BEAUTIFUL. IT'S SOOOOOOOOOO DARK
https://twitter.com/ShotaM0ri/status/1255102344150216707?s=20

Doctor Teeth
Sep 12, 2008


Are the Jacques Tourneur movies still on the channel (besides Cat People)?

Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008

Criterion's 30%-off discount has been extended to May 31 (was April 30). This means you can preorder August releases with the discount.

Doctor Teeth posted:

Are the Jacques Tourneur movies still on the channel (besides Cat People)?

I saw Nightfall was still up. I'm going to binge on more of the Columbia noir since I really enjoyed the films from last year's batch.

Kart Barfunkel
Nov 10, 2009


What are people’s favorite romantic movies in the collection? In the Mood for Love notwithstanding, bc I already own that.

Escobarbarian
Jun 18, 2004


Grimey Drawer
Before Trilogy, no doubt

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?

Kart Barfunkel posted:

What are people’s favorite romantic movies in the collection? In the Mood for Love notwithstanding, bc I already own that.

Weekend

Timby
Dec 23, 2006

Your mother!

Escobarbarian posted:

Before Trilogy, no doubt

Don't loving watch Before Midnight if you're going through relationship issues, though. I made that mistake when I was in the process of separating from my ex-wife two years ago (whoa, hey, poo poo, I moved out of my house two years ago on this day) and hoo boy.

Cacator
Aug 6, 2005

You're quite good at turning me on.

The other Weekend

Egbert Souse
Nov 6, 2008

Kart Barfunkel posted:

What are people’s favorite romantic movies in the collection? In the Mood for Love notwithstanding, bc I already own that.

Holiday - Just recently watched it. Wonderful "dramedy" with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.
Now, Voyager - A little sadder, but dynamite performances by Bette Davis and Paul Henreid. One of the most sublime endings.
Swing Time - One of the best Astaire-Rogers dance films. Only caveat is a well-intentioned, but slightly awkward blackface scene.

GrandpaPants
Feb 13, 2006


Free to roam the heavens in man's noble quest to investigate the weirdness of the universe!

I don't know when Portrait comes out, but that. Also Chungking Express. I also thought City Lights and Charade had cute romances, but were far from being profound.

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FancyMike
May 7, 2007

Kart Barfunkel posted:

What are people’s favorite romantic movies in the collection? In the Mood for Love notwithstanding, bc I already own that.

Chungking Express
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Something Wild
Desert Hearts
Wings of Desire

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