May Criterion Releases (1 Viewer)

[Deepak Shenoy]

The opposite has been true for me. I found only about 15 titles worth buying out of their first 100 spine numbers (releases going to about mid-2001). But since then almost every other title they have released has been a must-buy for me. I have been buying an average of 2 Criterion titles each month for the last 4 years and desperately hoping that they would for a change release some titles I am not interested in, giving my wallet the much-deserved break it needs ...

-D

 

[george kaplan]

Hoop Dreams is like a good 60 minutes episode. Worth watching once, but nothing I'd ever want to watch a second time.

These are the criterions I own, the type they just don't put out all that much anymore. :frowning:

The Lady Vanishes
The Killer
Hard Boiled
The Seventh Seal
Silence of the Lambs
M
Diabolique
Time Bandits
Sanjuro
The 39 Steps
Charade
Life of Brian - Monty Python's
The Third Man
Alexander Nevsky
Spartacus
The Rock
M. Hulot's Holiday
Mon Oncle
Playtime
My Man Godfrey
Rififi
Sullivan's Travels
Closely Watched Trains
Rebecca
Spellbound
Notorious
Rashomon
The Horse's Mouth
Hopscotch
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop
Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey
Trouble in Paradise
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
The Killers
Throne of Blood

The rest are either ones I haven't seen (and hopefully some of those will be worth adding to my collection), or ones I've seen and have zero interest in ever seeing again. I could name many, many films that Criterion could announce that would have me jumping for joy, but I'm not holding my breath for it happening anytime soon.

 

[SteveGon]

George, nothing they've put out recently piques your interest? Casque D'Or and Touchez Pas au Grisbi were excellent.

 

[Dane Marvin]

george, you're definitely a classics man and there's nothing wrong with that. I am too, but I also find that I am fascinated with a lot of the other titles they put out (Tokyo Olympiad, for instance -- with the Peter Cowie commentary playing over it).

 

[Jim_K]

George, I'm not sure if you've ever seen it or not but since you enjoy Diabolique, I'd recommend HG Clouzot's Quai des Orfèvres.

I also really like Le Corbeau quite a bit but being familiar with your taste, I'm not so sure you'd enjoy it.

BTW - I'll be saving some money with this latest batch of titles. Nothing for me here but rentals.

 

[george kaplan]

Again, don't get me wrong. I'm sure there are many other Criterions, and even new ones that I would like. But if I haven't seen the films, I can't get very excited about them.

I have not seen many that were just mentioned, including:

Casque D'Or
Touchez Pas au Grisbi
Tokyo Olympiad
Quai des Ofreves

You're right. I didn't like it (at least not enough to want to see it again).

And for the record, all of those (indeed every movie in the Criterion collection that I haven't seen), is on my to rent list. It just takes a while to get through all of them.

 

[Deepak Shenoy]

So are the 2 Dassin releases this month - Night and the City and Thieves Highway. The former is a must-see for any film-noir fan. Out of the March releases I will be picking up L'Eclisse, Jules and Jim and Kagemusha.

Some of the highlights (at least for me) of 2004 were

Renoir's Rules of the Game, Lower Depths
Fellini's I Vitelloni
Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, Scenes from a Marriage, Fanny and Alexander
Kurosawa's Ikiru, Stray Dog, Lower Depths
Ozu's Floating Weeds, Early Summer
Altman's 3 Women, Short Cuts

and other titles like Pickup on South Street, Le Corbeau, Onibaba, Port of Shadows, Eyes Without a Face, etc.

Most of these are classics in their own right, but of course they may not be to everyone's taste.

-D

 

[Mark Palermo]

I thoroughly disliked The Royal Tenenbaums, but think The Life Aquatic is the best American movie of last year--the closest Anderson has come to making a genuine masterpiece. Bring on the 2-disc Criterion!

 

[WillardK]

I'm looking forward to more Bunuel (will pass on any Wes Anderson, Kevin Smith or Michael Bay thank you).

...and for the "let's convince George to buy more Criterion discs" part of my post: from the list of likes, I'd very strongly suggest Testament of Dr. Mabuse. It doesn't get mentioned often enough as a stellar release of a fascinating film.

 

[george kaplan]

I have seen, and have no interest in:

Jules & Jim (I don't recall, but this may have been the film that motivated the last line of my signature)

Rules of the Game

Smiles of a Summer Night

Short Cuts

Pickup on South Street

I haven't seen the others, and reserve judgment (though I hold out hope) on them.

 

[Rosscoe M]

A "classics man"? He's got The Rock and Hopscotch on his list for god's sake....! Ok, he wins- I ain't posting any more responses to this thread- it's obvious he's- politely mind you- bustin' our chops by pretending that films such as Rules of the game, etc. don't really grab his interest....out.

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I don't intend to say anything about "right" and "wrong" in movie tastes. But sometimes when exposed to a "great" film, the first time might not be the right time, if you see what I mean.

About Criterion, the ones announced for May in this thread don't really "grab" my interest. Nevertheless, I tend to buy one out of two Criterions on average and I've been very pleased with 95% or so. For the record, practically all of them were "blind buys" in the sense that I'd never seen them before, only read about them.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

I'm surprised at George's comments! I would have thought that he would have a been a Criterion addict!

Recent releases that may interest you, George:

Quai des Orfèvres
The Devil and Daniel Webster
Knife in the Water
Le Cercle Rouge
Tunes of Glory Neame
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Stray Dog
The Leopard
The Lower Depths (Kurosawa and Renoir versions)
Stage and Spectacle: Three Films by Jean Renoir
- The Golden Coach
- French Cancan
- Elena and Her Men
Port of Shadows
Eyes Without a Face
Casque d’Or
Touchez pas au Grisbi
Thieves' Highway
Night and the City Dassin

Coming soon:

Kagemusha
The River
Divorce Italian Style
F for Fake Welles

Rumoured:

Last Year at Marienbad
Heaven Can (1943)
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Army In the Shadows
Au Hasard Balthazar
Mouchette

 

[george kaplan]

deleted.

 

[Dane Marvin]

Rosscoe, I'm glad you took my comment that george was a classics man and singled out two of the titles that are not (Hopscotch and The Rock) and then exited the thread in a huff. Did you happen to catch the rest of his list, Speedy Gonzales?

Movies like the classic screwball comedies My Man Godfrey and Trouble in Paradise, all five of the Hitchcock classics, Charade, Spartacus, The Third Man, M, etc.

I rest my case.

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Gordon listed a number of "recent releases". There are three on that list that I haven't bought YET (Casque d’Or, Thieves' Highway, Night and the City) but intend to buy soon - and one that I don't really intend to buy at all (Stray Dog), but is considered a classic nonetheless.

The rest of them I've got already and I'd recommend them all.

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

I loved Bottle Rocket, adored Rushmore, and Royal Tenenbaums is one of my most-watched DVDs. Having missed The Life Aquatic in the theaters, I'm placing a blind-buy order for the two-disc Criterion ASAP. In my mind, if any modern American director deserves unquestioned Criterion treatments, it's Wes Anderson (and also Terrence Malick, come to think).

May 10th is going to be a kickass day for me -- The Life Aquatic and Dune: Extended Edition on the same day. Lovely. My two most anticipated special editions. What are the odds?

 

[Dane Marvin]

Alexander Payne is another one. All three of the films he has directed ("Election", "About Schmidt", "Sideways") would make for some great Criterion releases.

 

[Vincent-P]

Payne's directed 4 films. His debut film was "Citizen Ruth".

 

[PaulP]

Criterion has the "Andrzej Wajda: Three War Films" artwork up: