Josh's Blind Buys: Watching The Unseen Collection (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

I had some things to say about The Paradine Case, too. My review can be found here.

 

[Joel Arndt]

LOL regarding "faith vertical lines"!!!!!

And I'm in synch with your other thoughts.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I had some things to say about The Paradine Case, too. My review can be found here.

I'd go one step further and call Matt's review essential reading on the film and disc.

 

[Joel Arndt]

Yes, and I'll second that. Matt's review is excellent!

 

[Nelson Au]

Josh, I have a title I'll be watching soon and I was curious if it's on your list. It's not, but if it was, it made me wonder if there was a way on your first post to make each title a link so we could tap it and be taken to the review post for convenience. I'm not saying you should do this, but it would make it easier for reference. I've searched for specific reviews the hard way and manually clicked pages till I found it. I suppose the search tool would help.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don't know how to do that but it is a great idea!

 

[BobO'Link]

I don't know how to do that but it is a great idea!

To start with, a mod would have to provide you with continuing edit capability for the "index" post (normally you have 3 days before you can no longer edit a post). I think this can be done on an individual post basis but you'd have to ask a mod. The easiest way would be to "report" your post and put your request in the comments section.

Once that's done, you can get the direct link to a post by copying the link on the post number.

For example, your post I quoted is #1186 and has a unique link of:
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...unseen-collection.351292/page-60#post-4524363

Just embed the unique link for each review to the post with the title. Presto! An index.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

How many movies have I watched in this thread already? Man, that's a lot of edits. I should have been doing that from the start. Doh!

 

[Nelson Au]

At this stage it would be a lot of work!

 

[BobO'Link]

How many movies have I watched in this thread already? Man, that's a lot of edits. I should have been doing that from the start. Doh!

I see you already have continuing edit rights on that first post (I should have looked at that first, eh?). Updating with links to each review won't be hard, it'll just take time. Do a few a day so you don't get overloaded.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Will try to get to it one day...heck, I've been slacking on the blind buy watching. It's not like I ran out, I've just temporarily been stolen away by the world of television.

 

[Nelson Au]

I'm continuing my exploration into my 3D collection and for conditioning my eyes to better see 3D.

I have had Hugo blu-ray 3D sitting on my shelf for some time and I forgot about it. I had absolutely no idea what the film is about or the genre. I just knew it was an Academy Award winner. Wow and I bought the disc in 2012.

I just watched it last night and wow, what a visual feast! The 3D was popping all over the place especially for the actors faces when emphasis was used to focus on them. The clock-works inside were also amazing in their depth. Seeing the dust and snow flakes in the air was amazing as well. I don't have 4K capability, but for shear clarity at 1080, this was quite a nice looking disc.

The story was very interesting in the mystery that Hugo is so compelled to resolve. And it was so fortuitous that I discovered this disc so soon after viewing Apollo 13, Hidden Figures, The Right Stuff and then From The Earth To The Moon. I had known about the film A Trip to the Moon. ( Le Voyage dans Le lune ) But I had no real knowledge of George Méliès except what was told in From The Earth To the Moon. I did read up a little about him after I saw Hugo and it sounded like Hugo was a little bit fact and a little bit fiction. The story was great and had a positive resolution for everyone whose had difficult situations. Also some cool history in cinema. Glad I finally saw it. And I'm having some fun with the 3D collection too.

 

[B-ROLL]

I'm continuing my exploration into my 3D collection and for conditioning my eyes to better see 3D.

I have had Hugo blu-ray 3D sitting on my shelf for some time and I forgot about it. I had absolutely no idea what the film is about or the genre. I just knew it was an Academy Award winner. Wow and I bought the disc in 2012.

I just watched it last night and wow, what a visual feast! The 3D was popping all over the place especially for the actors faces when emphasis was used to focus on them. The clock-works inside were also amazing in their depth. Seeing the dust and snow flakes in the air was amazing as well. I don't have 4K capability, but for shear clarity at 1080, this was quite a nice looking disc.

The story was very interesting in the mystery that Hugo is so compelled to resolve. And it was so fortuitous that I discovered this disc so soon after viewing Apollo 13, Hidden Figures, The Right Stuff and then From The Earth To The Moon. I had known about the film A Trip to the Moon. ( Le Voyage dans Le lune ) But I had no real knowledge of George Méliès except what was told in From The Earth To the Moon. I did read up a little about him after I saw Hugo and it sounded like Hugo was a little bit fact and a little bit fiction. The story was great and had a positive resolution for everyone whose had difficult situations. Also some cool history in cinema. Glad I finally saw it. And I'm having some fun with the 3D collection too.

I would recommend the Méliès bluray from Flicker Alley but is is out of print (or going to with the current music option)
https://www.flickeralley.com/classi...aordinary-Voyage/p/41384371/category=12445054

 

[TJPC]

Not to just be a contrarian, but if you are talking about "From the Earth To The Moon" thank goodness this is going out of print. I have the Melies sets, so I am familiar with this short. The Flicker Alley blu ray has the worst music I have ever heard. I borrowed a friend's disc, and it was all I could do to prevent myself from ejecting it and firing it across the room.

 

[B-ROLL]

Not to just be a contrarian, but if you are talking about "From the Earth To The Moon" thank goodness this is going out of print. I have the Melies sets, so I am familiar with this short. The Flicker Alley blu ray has the worst music I have ever heard. I borrowed a friend's disc, and it was all I could do to prevent myself from ejecting it and firing it across the room.

The music IS horrible but the color restoration is awesome !!!

 

[TJPC]

Too bad it did not give you a choice of audio track. Also, originally these films were shown with narration. I don't remember a narrator option on this disc.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Guys, I promise I will watch a blind buy soon.

I've been distracted by life, television shows, and rewatching things I've seen before. Thanks for keeping this thread alive in my absence!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Guys, I promise I will watch a blind buy soon.

I've been distracted by life, television shows, and rewatching things I've seen before. Thanks for keeping this thread alive in my absence!

As much as I enjoy reading your film comments, I wouldn't sweat it as it's a lot of work you put in watching movies, taking notes and then posting your thoughts. I couldn't do it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Don't underrate yourself, Robert - you do plenty I couldn't do

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#137. David Lynch: The Art Life (2017)
Viewed on: September 28th, 2017
Viewing Format: Blu-ray (Criterion)

Documentaries can be hard to review, and a documentary on the enigmatic David Lynch adds an additional layer of challenge to that. I wasn't sure what to expect from this film, but with the revival of Twin Peaks this year, I've been enjoying a major resurgence in my David Lynch fandom that I hadn't experienced in probably a decade. I have to be in the right mood to watch something by Lynch, but when I'm in the right place for one of his things, there's nothing more effective. So I was naturally curious about this documentary on him, and after missing it in theaters, I was eager to see it. Though released by Criterion, the disc was priced below their typical price point, and for about $16 on Amazon, I was willing to give it a shot as a purchase rather than a rental. Whether or not that's the best choice for you probably depends on your level of Lynch fandom; at the least, it's worth a rental.

The bulk of the film comprises of newly shot material of Lynch painting at his home studio, working both indoors and out. Occasionally, his youngest daughter Lula wanders into the frame, but for the most part, Lynch is the only person on camera. Rather than using more traditional question-and-answer based interview sessions, the filmmakers take their own presence out of the film as much as possible, and allow Lynch's comments to be the only voice we hear. The film fills in the blanks with some home movies from Lynch's childhood and early adulthood, and stills of other paintings and drawings.

The thing with David Lynch is, no matter how much some might want him to, he's never going to sit down and tell you exactly what everything means in each of his works. I'm not sure that that's a part of his filmmaking process; his films often convey meaning and story through a more experiential point of view. If a character in a Lynch film is feeling unsettled; Lynch won't have the character simply state that, rather, he'll shoot the scene in such a way that you as an audience member start to share that feeling of being unsettled. It's the same with all of the other emotions he tries to convey. The "meaning" in a Lynch film is often whatever feeling has been invoked or provoked by your viewing of it. So for people coming to this documentary hoping to find out the real secrets of Twin Peaks, for example, are going to be disappointed. But, on the other hand, in the stories Lynch tells of his childhood and his early career, we hear things that seem like obvious influences on his later life. When his art appears onscreen, there are some pieces where the resemblance to things from his films are striking. And if you put together the words that Lynch is speaking, along with the stills of his earlier artworks, along with new video of him creating his latest works, a sort of pattern or understanding begins to form.

So many people have this idea of Lynch as being a dark, twisted, unhappy, difficult person, but when you see him in this documentary, it's amazing how normal he is. At one point, he recalls showing his father some pieces he had been working on, and recalls that his father's response was to tell David that he probably shouldn't have kids. Lynch doesn't seem offended by this, but rather, is amused - the darkness in Lynch's art does not seem to be part of his persona, and Lynch points out that even if he's interested in these dark and unsettling themes, that doesn't mean that that's who he is as a person. (Lynch further laughs at the recollection that unbeknownst to either father or son, as he was getting this advice, his then-wife was discovering that she was pregnant with their first child!) I've always thought of Lynch as someone who, for whatever reason, has these dark dreams that run through his subconscious, and his filmmaking and art is a way for him to try to understand these things himself. There are times in his work where I get the sense that he doesn't have many more of the answers than we do, but that the point wasn't to find the answer but just to ask and explore the question.

So, if the subject is ultimately an enigma, the documentary was still an enlightening took into the man and his art. The film is primarily focused on his artwork, though it does cover his time in film school and making Eraserhead, but does not touch upon his studio-financed works.

The Criterion disc offers a good presented, a couple bonus features, and comes at a slightly reduced price compared to most other Criterions. Shot on both a Canon D5 and an iPhone 5, the movie looks very clean and clear, and the transfer on the disc does a good job of translating that look to disc. The 5.1 surround mix, presented in lossless DTS HD MA, has some of the atmospheric qualities of Lynch's own films, but Lynch's spoken words are always clear and easy to understand. The disc also includes a theatrical trailer, and a wonderful twenty-minute interview with co-director Jon Nguyen about the process behind making the film.

While this documentary probably won't change your mind on David Lynch, whatever those feelings might be, if you're a fan of his work, you'll probably enjoy this film.