After 50 DVDs my first Criterion! :-) (1 Viewer)

[dannyB]

I know for some of you it would be no big deal, but today my first Criterion Collection - Rashomon - came in the mail. It becomes the 50th DVD in my small collection. Considering a very limited budget, and that, besides birthday and Christmas gifts, I've only been buying DVDs for less than a year, its exciting.

My approach has been a bit different in that I view DVDs as a way to discover movies I would have otherwise never seen. It seems for older film buffs its more about collecting movies they have loved for years. Being only 22, there are hundreds of classics I've yet to watch. So a good 25% of DVDs in my collection were blind-buys. (Still haven't been burned yet.)

I'm always up for recommendations, so please check out the DVD Profiler link in my sig and let me know what you think about the DVDs I own, and those I should own.

TIA

 

[Bryan Ri]

Hey Danny,

Looks like your collection is comming along.

I'd reccomend some Hitchcock films such as Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, and North By Northwest. Also, any Pixar DVD is worth a look as well. Kevin Smith films have great audio commentary if you're interested in that as well.

What I've done with my collection is get the films I liked, starting with current films and working my way backwards. Any films that I see recently, new or old, if I like them enough I pick them up.

Good luck.

Bryan

 

[WillKTaylor]

I've tried to do my best judging upon your collection. Although, when someone asks for recommendations, it leaves the floodgate wide open. None of the titles that I've listed are bad persay, but to each his own, right ....

Hope this helps. At least it will keep you busy for awhile

War
Bridge of the River Kwai 2 Disc
Band of Brothers
Tora Tora Tora foreign
Das Bootforeign
Joint Security Area - JSA foreign

Western
Fistful of Dollars
Magnificent Seven
Wild Bunch

Sci Fi
Metropolis - Rin Taro version anime
12 Monkeys
Blade Runner
City of Lost Children foreign
Gattaca
Donnie Darko

Gangster
Long Good Friday (Criterion)
Heat
Tokyo Drifter (Criterion)foreign For a twist on the norm ..
Infernal Affairs foreign
BoundUnrated version (not necessarily a gangster film, but rather a figurative sideswiping of a gangster and his relationship with his woman by another woman!)

If you enjoyed Rashomon, you can't go wrong with any of Kurosawa's titles:
Hidden Fortress (Criterion)
Red Beard (Criterion)
Seven Samurai (Criterion)
Throne of Blood (Criterion)
Ikiru (Criterion)
etc.

Foreign
Irreversible (similar to Memento in the way the story is told) Do your research before this title however - truly not everyone's taste.
The Vanishing (Criterion)
Insomnia (Criterion)
AmelieOutstanding 2 disc collection had for a very reasonable price
Audition
Diabolique (Criterion)
Picnic and Hanging Rock (Criterion)

 

[richardWI]

Congrats on your first criterion. they can be addictive! Here are some ideas

Sci-fi:


Alien (great transfer + extras)
Aliens
The Thing (Carpenter)
Dark City
Animatrix

Classics:

M
Metropolis (dir: Fritz Lang)
Giant


Mystery/suspense:

Mulholland Drive

Horror:

The Brood
Suspiria
Most of the MGM double feature horror dvds

Western:

The Good the Bad and the Ugly
The Wild Bunch

Foreign:

Fitzcarraldo
8 1/2 (Criterion edition)
Blow-Up

 

[Robert Harris]

Danny,

Regardless of age...

regardless of exposure to films over a number of years.

Keep in mind that since film as we know it is 110 years old, and that few on this board have attained that age...

that everyone is still being exposed to films which they have never seen.

Enjoy those that you chose to view.

I have great envy for people who are still to experience the great cinematic art of the 20th century for the first time.

My only caveat would be to see certain films on screen for your initial viewing and not on video, as there are a handful which are considered to be a life-altering experience which you will never forget.

RAH

 

[dannyB]

Mr. Harris - its an honor to have you reply in my thread. I read with great enjoyment your articles over at thedigitalbits.com and of course appreciate all your restoration work. I did find a smaller art house theater that shows classics on the big screen, but its about 45 minutes away from me so I haven't had a chance to watch anything yet. I will indeed take you up on the recommendation.

richard - Once Upon a Time in the West really sparked interest in westerns for me, so I'm particularly excited about the upcoming SE of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Will - The second Kurosawa title I plan to order is Ikiru. Most of his films are Criterions, which is great on one hand (transfer, commentary, extras), but inhibitive on the other (price).

Thanks to everyone. Alot of the movies mentioned I already have on my wishlist (which can be seen in my DVD profile as well), but I will look in to the others.

 

[ChrisBEA]

Congratulations. My first Criterion was Chasing Amy, now closing in 30 of them things. I've gotten a bunch recently, including M, Insomnia, Knife in the Water, The Blob and Diabolique. Take a look at my collection, I think I have a pretty good selection of titles. You may also want to post in the Best 3 worst 3 needs 3 thread for more ideas!

 

[Ben_@]

neat,my first criterion was Chasing Amy as well. i love the series, but they are usually expensive. I some times find it hard to justify $30-40 for one movie (though it is definitely worth it if you care about the film).

I just got the Criterion edition of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The supplements are just wonderful. The included booklet is really top notch. Check it out if that interests you.

 

[Haggai]

The Criterion disc of M has been mentioned a couple of times, so it should be noted that they're re-releasing it later this year with supplements (there aren't any on the Criterion disc that's out now), and, I think, a new transfer. One of the all-time classics, and I'm going to be all over it when it gets re-released, so I'm glad I waited instead of buying the original feature-less disc.

EDIT: Here are the details from the Criterion site.

 

[Jake Johnson]

Nice collection. Get Traffic: Criterion It is a great dvd. One of the best I own. The fact that it is the best movie ever made should make the purchase even easier. And don't turn this thread into what the best movie is. I saw that you have The Ox-Bow incident. i have wanted to see this for a while. Is it that good? Worth a blind buy for a fan of old westerns like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance? How do I post a link on my signature?

 

[StevenFC]

I certainly second what Robert Harris said.

As for Criterion, definitely get Spartacus. And you might try a Merchant/Ivory film like The Remains of the Day or Howard's End for a change of pace...or maybe something like The Legend of 1900 or Babette's Feast.







That's kind of a silly thing to say after doing the very same thing that you don't want others to do. But, whatever.

Put this in your signature box in your 'edit profile' page in your control panel. Replacing the 'Jakes's DVDs' part with whatever you want it to say and bringing the first and last brackets up against the first and last 'url'.

[ url=http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=jakej]Jake's DVDs[/url ]

 

[Magnus T]

Personally, Do the Right Thing: Criterion Collection is my favorite Criterion relase. Quite possibly, my favorite DVD.

 

[Darren Haycock]

I've got ya beat Danny. A little over 100 DVDs (although I've been collecting since 1998) and I'm finally getting my first Criterion: Charade. I've been waiting for this baby to be released for some time.

 

[Matt_H]

Pretty solid Criterions (that I've personally seen)
Silence of the Lambs (if you can find it)
Robocop (ditto)
Wrong Men & Notorious Women: Five Hitchcock Thrillers Box Set (ditto)
Charade
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Rushmore
Chasing Amy
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Royal Tenenbaums
Straw Dogs(again OOP)

Ones I want but haven't seen
Brazil
Spartacus
Seventh Seal
Dead Ringers (OOP)
Sid and Nancy (OOP)
Time Bandits
Armageddon (Affleck commentary sounds great)
The Red Shoes
Henry V
Passion of Joan of Arc
The Most Dangerous Game
Carnival of Souls
Third Man
Last Temptation of Christ
Hamlet
Blob
Kwaidon
Do the Right Thing
and a bevy more

 

[DouglasRobert]

The 3 Criterions I own and highly recommend are.

Chasing Amy
Armageddon
A Night to Remember (The 1st Criterion I bought on DVD, one of the best Titanic films ever made, audio commentary, trailer and a long documentary about the making of the film)

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

dannyB wrote: "My approach has been a bit different in that I view DVDs as a way to discover movies I would have otherwise never seen. It seems for older film buffs its more about collecting movies they have loved for years. Being only 22, there are hundreds of classics I've yet to watch. So a good 25% of DVDs in my collection were blind-buys. (Still haven't been burned yet.)"

My own approach to collecting DVDs is very much like that. I've found that I appreciate classics - older films that have stood the test of time - more than most movies from the past couple of decades. I'm discovering film history all the time and quite rarely buy films that are younger than myself (I'm 29), except certain TV shows and Disney animation. My percentage of "blind buys" (in the sense that I hadn't seen them before) is probably in the 60-80 range...

My first Criterion was "The Third Man", which was probably also among the first five DVDs I got. And I've got quite a few more since then. You may be interested in having a look at my list. I guess I can recommend most of what I've got to someone who has opened his eyes to the classics...

http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.ht...vermundsberget

 

[Matt_P]

Being a youngster myself, I have seen many more films than most my age, but I know there is still tons to discover.

As for Criterions, well, you can't beat them. They are really the backbone of my collection. Can't go wrong with Kurosawa or their release of Traffic. I'd also recommend checking out Wong Kar-Wai's work, such as In the Mood for Love (Criterion's 2-disc is among my fav DVDs) and Chungking Express. He's the best of Hong Kong right now, IMHO. Also, Ozu is essential, such as Tokyo Story and the upcoming Floating Weeds, both from Criterion. Do some research and see if they sound interesting to you.

Happy viewing!

BTW, nice Ronin sig

 

[Jake Johnson]

StevenFC

Thanks for telling how to post a link on my sig! Yeah. it was sill of me to say that. What I meant to say was that I wasn't trying to start a debate.

Anywho. Anoother great criterion is Rashomon. Great featuretes on it. I learned a lot.

Ox-Bow Incident? Any good?

 

[StevenFC]

Okay, you're welcome.

And anyone who knows anything about anything knows that Crippled Masters is the greatest movie ever!!!

 

[Jeff_HR]

This was also my 1st Criterion on DVD, but I had previously bought the LD. "King Kong" was my 1st Criterion ever.
I'd recommend "The Red Shoes". A very beautiful film.