Criterion Collection on DVD. Recommendations please.

Damn it. My daughter's tonsils picked a great time to blow up.

ordered Simon of the Desert, The Exterminating Angel, Days of Heaven & Breathless

oh man. this might get ugly.

just refused to look at the Blu-Ray options

Criterion's making their blu-rays region 1 only - pretty huge letdown now that most big companies seem to have decided to go the region-free route. I understand that probably Criterion just doesn't own the liscening for their stuff outside the US but still...sadface.

anyone seen Wise Blood?

it's weird that some of the blurays are on sale some aren't?

even tho they're all supposed to be?

The new dvd or just the movie?

x-post

All the first page Blu Rays are 50% off, some on the second page aren't Criterions or are pre-orders.

loool i just bought 11 movies :-/

thanks, ilx!

Dan, yes, I've seen Wise Blood. Cracked movie, one of Huston's very best. Profound sense of place. The Criterion looks fantastic but the extras were de trop and not that illuminating.

i just got the new repulsion disc. half want to dive in, half don't feel up to teh psychodrama tonight.

Seconding Wise Blood. It's an incredible film, Dourif's performance especially. And how can you resist a movie with Brad Dourif and Harry Dean Stanton?

Just spent money I shouldn't have on Withnail & I, the Monsters & Madmen box set, Haxan, Patriotism and Masculin Feminin.

That Cassavetes box is tempting. I don't know why. Most of those films aren't things I really feel like I want to sit through more than once. But it's a BOX! Eh.

I ordered Wise Blood. Also got the 5 disk Fanny and Alexander I've always wanted, Gimme Shelter and Days of Heaven.

Also 50% off in store. I got Simon of the Desert and Exterminating Angel. Finding it tough to resist the urge to fill in a couple more gaps tomorrow.

Tentative list of:

Passion of the Joan of Arc
La Jette/Sans Soleil
Breathless
Masculin Feminin
Down By Law

Pretty unexciting I guess, but they're all films I've seen and enjoyed and they withstand multiple viewings.

REALLY considering these too:

Andrei Rublev
Ivan's Childhood (never seen this one)
Pickpocket
The Rules of the Game
Rififi
Brakhage Anthology
Big 5 Disc Fanny & Alexander Set

I bought Days of Heaven, Band of Outsiders, Stranger Than Paradise, and Alphaville all full price not too long ago =/

I went with Sansho the Bailiff and Masculin Feminin.

I never buy movies, but this seemed like a good time to break with habit. Thanks for the heads up!

Take advantage of this sale, people, my wrists are falling off after putting 50% off stickers on every Criterion DVD in our store last night.

1/2 off overpriced B&N is like :/

Big 5 Disc Fanny & Alexander Set

Ever since I got the standard F&A Criterion edition I have hankered after this. Andrei Rublev also A++.

I've never seen the standard theatrical F&A. Honestly, after seeing The Full Deal, I can't imagine seeing it cut down. It seems sacrilegious. Buy it if you can afford it.

And Andrei Rublev is seriously Best Move Ever material. Massive runtimes really make me less eager to buy these sort of things though. I'm weighing it.

I'm slightly on the fence because it's difficult to know what will get re-released on blu-ray; would be typical to spring for the 5-disc set and then six months later it's out on BR.

I know what you mean about massive runtimes. I got (non Criterion) "The Best of Youth" recently and finding 6 hours to watch it is proving tricky.

I have an early Rififi on Criterion where the audio is out of sync. I wrote them years ago about that and they said I should send it back to them to swap it but I never got around to doing it.

I'm slightly on the fence because it's difficult to know what will get re-released on blu-ray; would be typical to spring for the 5-disc set and then six months later it's out on BR.

― Bill A, Wednesday, July 15, 2009 7:32 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this

All the first page Blu Rays are 50% off, some on the second page aren't Criterions or are pre-orders.

― My vagina has a dress code. (milo z), Tuesday, July 14, 2009 10:12 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this isnt quite true, seventh seal isn't a pre-order and it's not 50% off. and i want.

those essential art house boxes are kinda tempting me.

I watched "Sword of the Beast" last week and it's a pretty sweet kimonos and katanas flick.

I was going to replace my old non-anamorphic Brazil box set and give the old one away but it's not on sale :(

Oh and Dan, if you care about such things, iirc Gimme Shelter is one of the titles Criterion have confirmed will be coming to blu-ray eventually.

If you come across one on the web site that's not on sale, go to an actual store... everything Criterion is 50% off in-store, no exceptions.

Any idea how long this sale is going to be on? I might have to go back for a second run if it lasts for more than a week or so.

It's until August 3rd.

oh boy

most banal quantum leap cold open ever

I bought Playtime at Barnes & Noble but with no conviction. I've been pretty blasé about Criterion probably because I'm not a quality queen and extras/commentaries in general usually amount to sucker bait in my experience. The best Criterions I've seen are F For Fake (and Mr. Arkadin cuz I love it so) and the Brakhage box.

I passed up the Criterions for Trafic, Last Year at Marienbad, Vampyr, Fanny and Alexander, and the Ozu silents box. Any passionate defenders of these?

i'm not a big extras guy but criterion ones are almost always way way better than what you find in standard releases: interesting new stuff or cool vintage docs/tv interviews, not the usual crappy BTS stuff. if you like the movies you listed above you'll probably be happy with those releases.

Latest announcements:

SD:
Wings of Desire
Monsoon Wedding
Z

Eclipse:
Series 18: Dusan Makavejev, Free Radical

no new Essential Art House

blu-ray:
Howards End (WHY DID THIS WIN THE POLL, GRR)
Wings of Desire
Monsoon Wedding

Kind of a mixed bag- no blu-ray for Z is disappointing, and the fact that they're hiking blu-ray prices by $10 (to a flabbergasting $49.95 MSRP) worries me.

makavejev BOX SET is pretty rad tho!

There was a poll?

Oh, definitely. And Z is a godsend- the old, crap DVD has been OOP and expensive for ages. Still kind of a low-key month- I'm hoping they spring another couple of releases on us Monday as they sometimes do.

Yeah, on Amazon, to determine the first of a set of classics to come out on Blu-Ray. Howards End, Down By Law, Kwaidan, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Au Revoir les Enfants.

On the one hand, presumably this means all of those films have blu-rays in the works- Kwaidan in particular should be stunning in HD- but on the other hand the most boring possible film won.

Kwaidan is actually the only one of those five I could picture being hepped up about buying on Blu-Ray.

August 3rd? Just enough time to wait for payday...

Which I did. Tonight I got For All Mankind, Made in USA and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse and am seriously considering a second run tomorrow or Monday.

For All Mankind is A+. Am currently awaiting delivery of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - loved this at the cinema and looks like the blu-ray is top notch.

for all mankind IS A+. not a fan of BB but the bluray does look spectacs.

So I said 'to heck with it' and did go for another round at a B&N near here -- 8 1/2, Last Year at Marienbad, Dazed and Confused, Threepenny Opera and Drunken Angel. That'll keep me going for a while. (But oh those Eclipse boxes that were on sale as well...)