Put it on ebay and I’ll buy it in a second.
I regret buying Gimme Shelter only for them to announce a month later that it was coming to Blu-Ray. I don’t regret the film itself at all. I also bought The Third Man on standard and was (pleasantly, of course) surprised to get a PS3 shortly thereafter. I already hocked Gimme Shelter to make way, and when I clear out some other standard DVDs I no longer watch I’ll toss in The Third Man to upgrade.
But the only Criterion buy I regretted was getting the full box set of Brazil, when I only watched the other two discs once apiece and only ever watch the proper cut of the film I could have gotten for half the price in a standalone copy. I know that none of these really fit, but I tend to rent anything I haven’t seen before shelling out Criterion money. I almost, ALMOST blind-bought Gomorrah, and thank God I decided to play it safe because I was underwhelmed and had no desire to ever watch it again.
Well, it seems like you waited a bit too long on the “Third Man” blu-ray
crusser – NERD ALERT :)
Gomorrah did suck.
I’ve actually never bought a Criterion, ever.
I never regretted any Criterion I bought but then again, it depends what you’re looking for. Now whoever fell for the “Buy Salo as a family film” joke that people posted on another thread, I’m sure they regretted it. Hehe… But really, I haven’t regretted one and I own over 200 titles.
@crusser- GAH, I hate the effing trials Criterion has to go through with rights. The death of the Ran Blu-Ray still stings so deeply. Maybe I’ll stumble across a stray copy left in a Barnes and Noble like I did the standard DVD of Ran months after it went OOP * fingers crossed *
Blind-bought “Gomorrah” & watched it tonight. Knew very little about it. It took about 45 minutes until I got a grip on the scenario; thereafter, it paid off beautifully, imo.
Reminded me of John Sayles’ 1991 film, “City of Hope”, an entire city eviscerated.
Although I haven’t seen “City of God”, I imagine “Gomorrah” also has a lot in common with that one as well.
I am thinking about making a blind buy of the complete Monterey pop festival, but I am unsure if I should. I am a huge fan of 60’s psychedelic rock and it is on sale now at amazon. Any suggestions?
i bought the musashi miyamoto trilogy and the picture quality is so bad (always way too dark) that i can’t enjoy the movies…
I don’t have any…I won’t spend Criterion dollars for a movie I may not even like.
@ Jake – Ran was never released on Blu-Ray, they only announced it and it was OOP before it was even released in stores.
I regret blind-buying The Man Who Fell To Earth, I just couldn’t get into it at all, might give it another shot one day.
@Bodine: I meant that the announcement never came to fruition because they lost the rights. I’d been all geared up to get it when the news came through that they lost the rights, which made me run to B&N to snag a standard copy.
@Patrick
Buy it, Its a great film and the extras are well worth it. Seeing Nico stand about a foot taller than Brian Jones was a shocker and I believe it is the Who’s and Joplin’s best performance. I’ll watch this and Gimme Shelter over Woodstock any day and I own the five disc Woodstock.
Also, Ravi Shankar’s performance is jaw dropping.
“WR: mysteries of the organism” would be my only blind buy regret…i found it horrendously dated and even boring. maybe i was in the wrong mood.
dudes, i haven’t bought the Criterions listed here but i’ve seen the films one way or another (cinema, rental etc) and i find it astounding that all fo the films listed are quite masterful and favorites of mine!!
“Gomorrah did suck.” i suppose it’s a movie not for the ones who love Children of Men!
City of Hope and W.R. especially are precious gems and in my opinion underrated classics!
And more for those who love Big and Jurassic Park.
I’ve had pretty good luck with the blind buys, but will say I sort of regretted paying so much for the Monsters and Madmen box set…still good, just not really worth the price…
http://www.theauteurs.com/topics/3861
Got ’em, Grafton!
I regretted That Obscure Object of Desire (just not that great), the Milky Way (better, but still not great), and Made in U.S.A. (a major disappointment). The only blind buy I’ve been happy with was 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her… and I’m only mildly happy with that. I guess I should’ve learned not to do it, but those stupid sales!!
Really, I’ve done a blind buy on almost every Criterion I own (68 of them), except Dazed and Confused. I was only mildly disappointed in two of them:
M
Juliet of the Spirits
I feel bad, because I know the movies are considered great, and I know why they’re considered great, but they didn’t hit me in the way I felt that should have. I still want to watch them again, though, to see if I’m just nuts.
Savvy
The only Criterion blind buy I regret was Andrei Rublev. I will get around to watching that movie again some day, though…..
id say half of my dvd collection is criterions and virtually all of them were blind buys except for ‘the third man’ and ‘the 39 steps’. the only ones id say were sort of underwhelming to me were ‘the river’ and ‘before the rain’. i can see why both are thought of highly and i actually enjoyed them from a film-making standpoint but their storylines just didnt really do much for me. ‘the river’ has beuatiful camerawork though. i guess i just went into it expecting another ‘grand illusion’ or ‘rules of the game’ and ended up being disappointed.
KirkGremlin, how much for Before The Rain?
Brand Upon The Brain I have not finished it yet so I may be wrong but most Maddin fans i respect seem to feel it’s not his strongest work. I’m thinking i should watch The Saddest Music in the World or some other film and return to it before simply smashing it into a million bits.
i need to watch it again before i decide. most likely ill keep it though. : )
Spartacus. I held out for a long time and finally got it for a “deal” at $25. I suppose I should give it another shot but I will champion Ben Hur over Spartacus any day.
Contempt. I bought it in 2003, tried to watch it four times over as many years, never got more then halfway through, and eventually sold it.
Funny how some movies just don’t work for some people.
Ai
Sometimes Blind-Buys payoff and sometimes they don’t. What a disappointing feeling it is when they don’t, but that’s the risk you take. Then to top it off Criterion films aren’t exactly cheap, which makes it worse.
What Criterion Blind-Buys do you regret the most?
For myself it would be:
“Solaris” (1972), directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
I just didn’t enjoy that film whatsoever. I can’t wait to sell it, and make some of my money back.