That list should give you a sense of what Criterion DVDs I’ve seen. Generally speaking, I try to see the ones everyone talks about as being superb. I’m not suggesting these films are bad per se, just some of the weakest of the ones I have seen.
Fredo, you’re nothing to me now. You’re not a brother, you’re not a friend. I don’t want to know you or what you do. I don’t want to see you at the hotels, I don’t want you near my house. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance, so I won’t be there. You understand?
You’ve listed nine of the finest films under the Criterion banner! What would you consider a “good” Criterion release? [gawks incredulously]
Le Samourai is one of the best Criterion releases.
Out of context it appears you are listing Le Samourai as one of the “Worst Criterion DVDs”.
Hahaha – I guess that’s true!
Fixed.
Michael Bay needs to take filmmaking 101 taught by Uwe Bowel
Most dissapointing Criterion has to be The Blob for lack of/weak extras….movie is not that great either but I’m a big Steve McQueen fan so I dug it for no other reason than that…..
This thread is so stupid and pretentious. I’d like to see anyone on this forum have one of their movies taken up by Criterion.
I haven’t seen Armageddon, but I’ll tell ya something. For the kinds of movies they are, I enjoyed “The Rock” and “Chasing Amy” a whole heck of a lot more than I enjoyed watching “Andrei Rublev” for the first time. I don’t own “The Rock” or “Chasing Amy” on Criterion, but I’d definitely welcome owning “The Rock” before I would’ve bought Tarkovsky’s movie.
I AM going to give “Andrei Rublev” a second viewing very soon, but as of right now, I am very much ambivalent about its overall merits. Out of the 20 or so Criterions I own, it’s the one I could definitely do the most without, even compared to Cecil B. DeMille’s “The King of Kings.”
FREDO: If you’re not “feeling” your “In the Mood for Love,” “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeois,” “Yi Yi,” and “Grand Illusion” Criterions, I’ll GLADLY take them. :-D
I have to go with Armageddon. But so much bashing on Robocop, I figured people would at least respect it for it’s “So-bad-it’s-good-” quality, haha. At least that’s why I freaking love it.
Samuryan, i loved the use of the Godfather quote! nice.
I still think Grey Gardens is by far the worst and most painful Criterion I’ve seen. I still have nightmares and chestpains when i think of it. I happen to like Slacker, i think its a brilliant film (full disclosure, i went to school in Austin a few years after that film was made, so when i get home sick for Austin i just throw it in and go back in time). though, i will say that "Its Impossible to Learn to Ploy by Reading Books’ is one of the most useless and idiotic extras Criterion has ever deemed necessary to add.
Fear and Loathing has a special place in my heart because its one of the first Criterions I bought. i will admit, it does get long (particularly the third act) and some of the extras make me scratch my head, but on the whole I really dig the film.
I was introduced to Brief Encounters because of another movie (the title of which escapes me at present). that movie was so good and Brief Encounter played an important part in the plot, so i came to Brief Encounter already prepared to enjoy it.
Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill are some of the first Japanese crime films I’d ever seen. they are also just so “stylized” that I just get a kick out of them.
Hard Boiled and The Killer are also two of my favorites, for no other reason than they are just good fun.
I haven’t been able to get through The Flowers of St Francis, but i don’t think i was in the mood for it when i was watching it. i felt it was too episodic. its narrative thread is, to say the least, “lacking.”
Overlord is another one that i was kind of to borrow a phrase “underwhelmed” with. though, the use of captured Nazi stock footage is quite good and adds much to the film.
Days of Heaven. its a beautiful film visually, but what drives me nuts is the actress Linda Manz. they are supposedly from chicago. i’m sorry, but Manz’s lowereastside new yawk accent borderline ruins the film.
Short Cuts: a film about broken people. again, a beautiful film visually. well done from a cinema point of view (at least IMO) but the story is just hard for me to watch.
i think i went far afield with this and i do appologize. comments welcome.
Two-lane Blacktop is another amazing film. it took me a couple viewings to think that. it was a blindbuy on my part and at first i didn’t really get it.
Alphaville. I’m sorry, but I really like the film and the Criterion release of it was really quite a let down. A very mediocre, if not below average, transfer with absolutely no extra features and a single-essay foldout that really contains no meaningful information.
Loofrin, I agree about Short Cuts.
I know what you mean about Short Cuts. As a big Altman fan and a sucker for Criterions (Criteria?) I’m surprised I don’t own it, but the plot is so bleak that I can’t imagine myself rewatching it all that often…
[Requisite Michael Bay jab]
“Short Cuts: a film about broken people”
What an interesting thing to say about Short Cuts. I’ve always felt that it’s a film about ordinary people, the typical “people next door” that are nothing special at all. It never even occurred to me to think of them as “broken”.
Fredo, when I say broken I should probably say “no joy,” much like Faces, there just isn’t much happiness in the story. its not as creepy as 3 Women, though.
The Samurai Trilogy. These are good films, but the DVDs are of poor quality.
I haven’t really seen a bad Criterion title but my two cents on a few titles that people have mentioned. “Beastie Boys Anthology”, I sort of looked at that release as potential of Criterion getting into the music market at the time. I bought it and although it doesn’t contain their old material, I definitely thought at the time, that Criterion really utilized “angles” via DVD technology in an innovative way.
As for “Armageddon”, at that time…there was a regular release but a lot of us who were in it for the audio-side, just loved the the Criterion release mainly because during that moment, we were looking for “reference” titles for audio quality. And I emphasize, at that time, Criterion’s release of “Armageddon” was awesome and made those of us who were impressed by the release, feel that Criterion’s dedication to PQ and AQ was very well noted with that title. And if I recall, I think it was the same situation with the “The Rock”. I recall DVD websites going crazy because if “Armageddon” was that good in terms of PQ and AQ and special features, “The Rock” would also deliver.
As for “Chasing Amy”, I admit that I was surprise at the time to see it released via Criterion but at the same time, I can easily remember that moment in time that everyone on the DVD sites/forums wanted everything Kevin Smith. So, perhaps it was a wise-decision at the time. And also, when it came out I think people were gushing of how much special features were included (despite many being from the LD).
But I haven’t seen a worst Criterion release yet. But as of this time and seeing how Criterion has evolved from LD to DVD and now to Blu-ray, looking at things now, I can see how some may see those titles as unworthy to the collection. But I have to admit when they came out back then, I was just as guilty as many others who thought they were awesome releases given the Criterion treatment.
I’m surprised there’s so much love out there for The Life Aquatic and so little love for The Royal Tannenbaums and Rushmore. I find Wes Anderson films extremely appealing, but didn’t feel it at all for The Life Aquatic. It missed the boat for me.
Also, I did “get” Magnificent Obsession as a movie (glad I bought that one on sale!), but it’s certainly a great DVD package with fantastic extras for anyone who does love the film. As a film, it is beautifully shot, I have to admit.
the beastie boys dvd just didnt do it for me. i dont really like them to begin with, but i totally respect the mark theyve made in the music industry. i just thought there might have been more on it. but, i appreciate criterion including music dvds into the collection.
Well, I love the movie, but I thought the presentation of Ace in the Hole was less than great.
Chasing Amy.
1. George Washington: Non-professional child actors unconvincingly spouting ponderous, pretentious things. Clunky symbolism and laughable melodrama. Cinematography’s outstanding, but I still wanted to take a sledgehammer to the disc when I finished watching it.
2. Life Aquatic: Unwatchably dull. Wes Anderson seems to think that snazzy art direction and massive doses of quirkiness make for a good film. If you thump any one of his films, you’ll hear a hollow sound.
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: I could not believe Criterion was releasing this thing. I still refuse to believe it and act as if it never happened.
4. Jigoku: Never finished it… Not good. And the picture quality doesn’t seem up to snuff either.
Dishonorable Mentions: Naked Lunch, Rushmore, Kicking and Screaming, Vengeance Is Mine, Night on Earth.
I found coco the gorrila somewhat of a waste of time.
I think the two that stand out for me are the “Beastie Boys” and “Golden Age of Television”.
They’re not “films” – they’re from the medium of television. I think their forays into this area might work better if they had a separate line for them, similar to Eclipse. and could build a collection that delves into this art form.
Some titles that might include would be uncut episodes of Ernie Kovak’s work (the current release consists of compilations prepared for public tv and doesn’t include his Emmy winning “silent” show) or the BBC’s production of “1984” from the 1950s.
Another thing that would help, if they did release material originating from kinescopes, would be to put them out on Blu-ray. I know that sounds illogical, but I’ve seen a projected kinescope and they don’t translate well to VHS or DVD – if you have the reproduced with a larger range of contrast and with the original frame rate of the film – 24 fps – they don’t look as bad as they do shown on video.
So, is this “most disappointing print/features/packaging” for the price Criterion asks, or just “worst movies that happen to be in the CC”??
Anyway, my answers which I guess sort of span both options:
- I bought “If…” based on a friend’s recommendation and I just couldn’t get into it. Something about it was very stale, and when I hear or read discussions about it I feel like people are trying to inject a whole lot of meaning into very little actual substance.
- Further angering many of you, I bought the most recent re-release of “The Seventh Seal” to see what the hype was all about. Could not get into it. This was my second Bergman film after “The Passion of Anna” and I’m beginning to think he just isn’t for me.
- I found a used copy of “Robocop” a few months back and was really excited to grab an OOP. Then I watched the film (after seeing it over a decade ago) and was disappointed. I enjoyed some of the satire, and there were some really shocking moments, but at the end of the day I thought “they really sold this for $40?”
- I also bought a used copy of the “Videodrome” release. I kept going back and forth between “this is getting awesome” and “this is getting stupid”, and ended up at the latter.
I’m going to give all of these a second chance, but when I realize that the list price for the four combined is over $150 … yikes.
I watched Mona Lisa last night. I wouldn’t say it’s one of the worst Criterions. But it wasn’t very good.
I watched Mona Lisa last night. I wouldn’t say it’s one of the worst Criterions. But it wasn’t very good.
I thought Armageddon was the worst until I watched Equinox.
I thought Armageddon was the worst until I watched Equinox.
liz
damn, Fredo. That’s a good list of films. Haven’t seen Grand Illusion, Two Lane Blacktop or Yi Yi, but the rest are great as far as I’m concerned. ’cept for In the Mood for Love, I agree with you on that one. The tricky clever photography and editing really got in the way of the story.