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Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Chakan posted:

I come again, hat in hand, and request people to look over the movies leaving on june 30th then tell me what they think I should make sure to watch. I only know a few of these, so don't be afraid to shout out anything, even if it seems obvious.

Well these do seem obvious, but they jumped out at me right away:

Mulholland Drive
In A Lonely Place
Nights of Cambria
God Told Me To
Dark Star
Raging Bull

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Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Cloks posted:

God Told Me To rules, such a weird movie. Dark Star does not.

Dark Star might be more "important" than actually good but I think it needs to be seen at least once.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Was the Grand Budapest Hotel release worth having if I already own the previous blu ray? The review I read says both releases used the same 4k master but that this one was "supervised by Wes Anderson". I assume there isn't a huge difference though?

Any special features that are particularly worthwhile?

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Srice posted:

https://www.criterionchannel.com/leaving-july-31

So what's the good poo poo that's leaving the channel this time around? Last night I watched Pierrot le fou and enjoyed it quite a bit. And I guess I've seen West Side Story ages ago in grade school. Haven't seen anything else. What's the stuff I absolutely have got to see? I definitely wanna hit up a lot of the Godard movies leaving but other than that I don't have any plans.

Aguirre, The Wrath of God is absolutely essential viewing. It's one of those movies where I don't think a person has fully experienced the potential of film as a medium until they've seen it.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

MacheteZombie posted:

I credited Fran with this rec and he demanded I give the proper due to you.

Thanks for the rec on this! Loved it, simply a masterpiece.

I believe Aguirre was an early Movie of the Month, which is where I discovered it, so as usual the real credit goes to CineD as a whole.

It's probably one of my most valued blu rays. Like, if all the sudden tomorrow I needed to start my collection again from scratch Aguirre would be one of the first two or three films I'd buy.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I wonder if there's increased demand because people are worried that Criterion might not exist a year or two from now due to the impact of the virus.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Lumbermouth posted:

Is that a rumor? Cause it would suck real hard if that were the case. I’m just buying poo poo cause I’m stuck at home and don’t have anything else to do.

No not at all but I just worry about any of these relatively small niche companies in general.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Managed to snag a Bruce Lee set right out of the cardboard box as they were stocking the shelves. Very lucky, they only had two copies.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Biff Rockgroin posted:

I'm debating picking up Heaven's Gate. I know the stories about it being a bloated mess, but I remember reading an essay years ago that praised it. Anyone know if it's worth watching?

If you like epic style Westerns that are large in scope and have huge production values, then yea it's a very good movie. It is bloated, but not in a way that I thought really detracted too much from the movie overall.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I've only watched Big Boss and Fist of Fury so far but they both looked fantastic(Fist of Fury especially). I'm realizing that most of these movies, with the exception of Enter the Dragon, I've only seen in really lovely quality and so they're all gonna be massive upgrades from what I was used to when I watched them growing up.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Fist of Fury was worth the price of the whole set imo(at 50% off at least).

Edit: this always said Fist of Fury, trust me

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Rewatched Nashville and man, I think it's probably my best Criterion blind-buy decision(thanks to this thread of course). Now having seen it twice I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of it, and it's amazing to think about how many great filmmakers were influenced by the movie(PT Anderson and Tarantino come to mind right away).

I don't think there's any other musical out there that packs as much character into every music section as Nashville. The music is good, but I love that I'm not just sitting there mindlessly listening, almost every one of those scenes has multiple characters moving through them and having little moments, and usually the performance itself is a big character moment for the performer as well. It's just a very very unique film, even within Altman's filmography.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Most movies that use the premise of "a varied group of characters go about their day as their lives intertwine in interesting ways" end up feeling a lot more contrived than Nashville. Nashville feels more expansive, it has almost an epic quality to it. A lot of the characters don't interact with each other in like, big noticeable dramatic ways. They have small encounters with each other that even the audience may not notice on first viewing, but each encounter is still important to the whole in some way. It really is a masterpiece.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
He's one of the few directors where I get a very specific itch for his films and nothing else is really a worthy substitute. I think that's about the highest praise I can give a director, I feel the same way about Kubrick and Kurosawa and Lean and a few others(John Carpenter and Wes Anderson come to mind).

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
My copy of Short Cuts showed up in the mail today. This is a movie I probably wouldn't have bought if I hadn't been completely won over by Nashville, another movie that I really had no interest in but fell in love with almost immediately.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Nashville was when I decided to just trust Altman from here on out because a musical about country musicians is like the last thing I'd ever expect to end up as one of my favorite movies. At this point I'm just excited to see whatever new Altman I can get my hands on.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Cacator posted:

When's The Long Goodbye Popeye gonna get a Criterion release :(

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I haven't seen any of these movies so 2021 is definitely gonna be the Year of Altman for me.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Wait, Days of Heaven and Nashville are out of print? Holy poo poo do I feel lucky. Now I'm worried I might wear out my copy of Nashville from overuse, I must've watched it 4 or 5 times already just in the 18 months or so that I've had it.

What do these out of print Criterions typically go for? Does Criterion normally bring them back at some point down the line?

Edit: Oh I see they actually lost the rights. That makes it seem unlikely they'll get them back any time soon. Man I dodged a bullet on that one because Nashville and Don't Look Now are two of my favorites in my collection.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I blind bought Don't Look Now so I've only ever watched the Criterion edition, but to my eyes it looks fantastic. At least with Don't Look Now there has been another blu ray release recently so you have options. With Nashville the only other options are DVD and region 2, for those with region free players.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I try to buy catalog releases right away if I think I might want them because there's definitely reason to worry that they could go out of print quickly. Or like that Columbia Classics set, I assumed within a year or so there would be a standalone release for all those movies but it never happened and now the set sells for full price at $249. Luckily I picked it up on release due to my obsession with Lawrence of Arabia and at that time I was able to get a much better preorder price.

There was a similar situation with a Jack Ryan UHD set, where Hunt for Red October got a standalone release but I'm still waiting for Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Chris Knight posted:

Just wants to say "thanks" to the thread for talking up Nashville. Finally got a chance to watch it tonight, and hot drat it's great.

What other Altman films have you seen? If you loved Nashville then you probably should grab McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Short Cuts, at the very least.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Short Cuts was another case of "this doesn't seem like the kind of subject matter that would interest me", but because I'd learned my lesson on that with Nashville, I blind-bought it which was a very good decision.

The real through-line in the majority of Altman's films is how immersive and complete they are in terms of the world he creates. So while the subjects couldn't be more different in films like McCabe & Mrs. Miller/Nashville/The Long Goodbye/The Player/Short Cuts, you know that Altman is going to transport you to a fully fleshed out world that you can't possibly experience fully on first viewing. It's all encompassing in a way that even very highly regarded filmmakers like P.T Anderson haven't quite been able to replicate. Like, since discovering Altman I've had a hard time going back to something like Magnolia because it feels like a half-strength Altman and I'd rather just experience full-Altman.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Thom and the Heads posted:

Anybody watch any of the Japanese Noir collection on the channel? Any recommendations?

I've watched a few of the films in The Gamblers collection - I love love loved McCabe and Mrs. Miller and really enjoyed California Split as well. First Altman's I've seen and I'm super impressed - going to track down and watch Nashville and The Long Goodbye this weekend. I also watched Hard Eight which was a fine debut but definitely not my favorite PT Anderson film.

You've got a great weekend coming, those are two of Altman's absolute best.

I still need to check out California Split, and especially 3 Women. 3 Women is probably the last "big" Altman film that I have left to see.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Anyone have opinions on Deep Cover? It's just been announced as one of the July releases. I see it was directed by Bill Duke, which is interesting.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Cloks posted:

If anyone hasn't seen California Split, get on that.

Watched it last night, which was long overdue. Really enjoyed it, although I can see why it's a bit of a forgotten Altman film. It's much more focused on a few specific characters and so it doesn't feel quite as expansive as stuff like Nashville or Short Cuts. But the performances are excellent, it's funny how like 90% of Elliott Gould's status as a movie star was created by being in Robert Altman films. I don't think it's really possible to "get" why Gould is so good without seeing The Long Goodbye and California Split.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I think with Spartacus the issue isn't really the quality of the movie, it's that Kubrick basically just did it as a director for hire and really didn't have anywhere close to the amount of input and control over it that he did with his other films. So in his filmography it sticks out as the one that really isn't even identifiable as his work, because it was made as a big studio epic and fits very nicely into that whole niche but doesn't have his usual stamp on it.

My understanding is at that point in Douglas' career, he was basically the director because he made all the important decisions and so they really just had to hire a guy who could handle the technical details without putting much of their own creativity into it.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
He seems pretty heroic to me, I can't think of any examples of him not doing the straight ahead hero thing.

Anyway you need to watch that UHD, it's like a top-5 must own UHD in my opinion.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
That's amazing, I knew the basic story about that scene but never heard that it was Hopkins voicing him.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

John Romero posted:

is beasts of no nation the Armageddon of the criterion-Netflix deal

Nah because I'd say that Beasts of No Nation actually was underseen and is worthy of the profile boost that comes from a Criterion release. The equivalent of Armageddon for the Netflix deal would probably be The Irishman.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

Franchescanado posted:

What are the major gems leaving Criterion Channel this month?

I've seen:

The Thing
The Crazies
Experiment in Terror
Hard Eight
Season of the Witch
Hills Have Eyes
Duck Soup
Driller Killer
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
The Marx Bros stuff.
Images
To Sleep With Anger
Days of Heaven

McCabe & Mrs. Miller is probably a top 10 Western of all-time, so don't miss out on that one unless you just don't like Westerns.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Just this week I discovered these Criterion Closet videos on youtube where it's actors and directors going in there and picking out their favorite movies. I love these things, and they're a great way to get inspired to check out new stuff or rewatch something I haven't seen in a long time.

Anyway I'm sure most of you all already know about them, it appears they've been doing this for several years already.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe

LionYeti posted:

Its a drat shame that the most famous Hitchcock stuff isn't on Criterion. Whats a good version of Vertigo?

There was a Hitchcock 4k set with Vertigo in it, if you're into that format. If you don't want to buy the whole set Vertigo is getting an individual 4k release in September along with Rear Window.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Videodrome is a top-tier Criterion. Great packaging, great looking transfer, great movie. No-brainer.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Picked up Deep Cover and Memories of Murder this weekend. I haven't watched Memories of Murder yet but I'm looking forward to it because I've only seen the movie once in pretty lackluster quality so this will basically be like new to me.

Deep Cover is an excellent release. Great movie, and the early 90's style really pops with the new transfer. I actually watched it back to back with Mann's Thief and Deep Cover definitely can stand side by side with a Mann film which is one of the highest compliments I can give it. And I'm always looking to add a great Jeff Goldblum performance to my collection.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
The ending is drastically changed from the book, I suppose to cut down on the runtime, but the way it goes down in the book Graham pays a much heavier price for getting so close to the case.

In the book, the dentures Dollarhyde uses to bite the victims is paid off at the end by him using them to fool the police into thinking he dies in a fire. He then shows up at Graham's beach house and nearly kills him, Graham gets much more hosed up than what happens in the movie. So for his trouble he gets another lengthy hospital stay and rehab, plus now his family is forever traumatized.

The book ending is used in the later adaptation starring Ed Norton.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
While I don't necessarily disagree with the statement that Manhunter hasn't "aged" as well as some other Mann films, I think that's exactly the reason why I love it and keep going back to it. It doesn't feel like a modern serial killer movie or crime thriller, it's totally representative of it's time and of Mann's style in the 80s.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Personally I would've preferred Black Narcissus for a 4k release but I'll take any chance I can get at some old-school Technicolor with HDR.

Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
Hard Boiled seems like such a no-brainer, especially with how willing they've become in recent years to release more action oriented films like the King Hu films, Lone Wolf and Cub, Police Story, etc.

It's probably one of the top-10 most important action movies ever made so it's place in the collection makes complete sense, it's not some sort of self-aware joke like Armageddon.

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Basebf555
Feb 29, 2008

The greatest sensual pleasure there is is to know the desires of another!

Fun Shoe
I'm guessing they'll be $49.99, which isn't unheard of in the past for certain Criterion releases so it seems reasonable in this case. The only thing I'm worried about is whether they'll be able to keep them in stock because I'm used to only buying during the sales so if they're out of stock by then that could be a problem.

Basebf555 fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Aug 12, 2021

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