there are none. even stuff like the rock, armageddon, benjamin button, etc serve a purpose. they gotta keep the lights on some how, dont they?
There’s actually an Armageddon Criterion? I thought Criterion was reserved for titles that have made some sort impact on the film world…? Pfft.
The Robocop Criterion DVD is a let down, the print is grainy and the mix is the original 2 channel dolby. They released the same ‘Directors’ cut when MGM bought the rights from Orion a few years later and restored it and made a new 5.1 mix in the box set (with sequels). It’s a fucking brilliant film, but most people just write it off because on the surface it’s a pretty goofy concept and it’s completely over the top.
Apparently the Blu Ray is not very good though…read poor reviews.
tristan do u alan rudoph’s equinox; it is a good movie!
As far as the DVD’s and NOT the films themselves go, I’d have to say that the DVD editions of Insomnia, The Vanishing, Rashomon, Rififi, In the Mood For Love and I Vitelloni are all fairly weak in terms of special features and the picture quality of I Vitelloni, The Vanishing and Fallen Idol are very haphazard with a lot of “cut” frames and poor colours/B&W.
However, in terms of preference the following are my least favourite Criterions:
The Vanishing
Element of Crime
Rashomon
Rififi
Before the Rain
Seventh Seal
I downright HATE The Element of Crime, as it is nearly illogical in communicating its story. Visually it was very rewarding, but comes across as an incoherent student film with money where the director tries to say something profound by demonstrating how smart he is.
Seventh Seal would have been much better for viewing if I knew anything about Catholicism in Europe around 1950. I definitely want to watch it again.
The Vanishing was much better on a second viewing as it themes and ideas regarding fate and destiny seemed to call for a foreknowledge of the events of the film in order to hit home. However, on a third viewing The Vanishing lost most of its impact on me.
My favourite films released by Criterion are in order: Le Samourai, The Third Man, The Earrings of Madame de…, Insomnia, Eyes Without A Face, The Passion of Joan of Arc.
The one I’d say i’m the most disappointed with is Diabolique. Don’T get me wrong, this is one of my favourite movie. But the criterion edition as no extras except a 3 pages booklet. Since in Quebec theres a regular dvd of the movie for like 1/3 of the price, I hope criterion will make a decent rereleased loaded with extras!
Alex Cox Walker
I was somewhat disappointed in the picture quality of the early DVDs of The Third Man and the Wages of Fear – lots of encoding artefacts. At least now they have been done justice with their Bluray releases.
I think the quality of the encoding on a number of early Criterion DVDs was disappointing, but they have improved on that significantly. Another one that seemed to have a lot of digital weirdness was Mon Oncle.
In the treatment and transfer of the print, the beautiful Powell Presburger masterpiece THE RED SHOES, in spite of nice features, is very very poor for Criterion standarts.
This one need a new edition !
All the Wes Anderson movies EXCEPT “Rushmore.” I think “Rushmore” is a terrific movie, but Anderson’s style gets old after two or three movies. Quaint set pieces, British Invasion soundtrack, blah blah blah I get it already. I really hate the fact that he apparently has some sort of “contract for life” with Criterion.
I find it interesting that so many people would de-list otherwise outstanding films just for lack of special features. That seems to be outside the scope of the original topic.
In any case, I’d ditch Carl Theodor Dreyer: My Metier. It is not a “great” documentary, and in my opinion should be relegated to special feature status.
White Dog.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, at least Armageddon was an enjoyable popcorn flick, but Benjamin Button was shockingly mediocre (I really wanted to like it too).
jubilee
the picture and (especially) sound on the Life of Brian DVD struck me as rather poor.
also, The Samurai Trilogy and Good Morning could use some fixing up.
So far in the seven pages I have read…
“I hate Micheal Bay”
“I didn’t like _______________, so therefore it shouldnt be in the collection.”
These are Criterion releases that either bored me out of my gourd or were really annoying. Some of these may be more deserving than others to be included as a Criterion title, for whatever reason, but I didn’t like any of them.
8½
Boudu Saved From Drowning
Chasing Amy
Crazed Fruit
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Double Life of Veronique
Les Enfants terribles
Hiroshima mon amour
Jules and Jim
Lacombe Lucien
Lola Montès
Last Temptation of Christ
Made in U.S.A.
Metropolitan
Tin Drum
Sweetie
These are the Criterion titles that I really enjoyed, for comparison.
White Dog
Wise Blood
Written on the Wind
A Woman Under the Influence
Vengeance is Mine
This Sporting Life
Two-Lane Blacktop
The Virgin Spring
Sans soleil
Nights of Cabiria
Onibaba
Repulsion
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Jigoku
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Gate of Flesh
Grey Gardens
Le Bonheur
Elevator to the Gallows
Contempt
3 Women
Black Narcissus
Ali Rear Eats the Soul
All That Heaven Allows
And God Created Woman
Ahhh, that should be “Fear Eats the Soul.” I hope ‘Rear" isn’t a Freudian slip, or something.
I’m beating a dead horse here but the fact that Michael Bay has not just one but two films(Armageddon and The Rock) in the Criterion collection is flat out embarrassing.
That horse is more than dead – by now it looks a bit like that guys head did at the beginning (end?) of Irreversible after it was introduced to the fire extinguisher a few dozen times.
6,000 HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
The only Criterion film so far that I couldn’t watch was The Pornographers. I like Japanese films in general, and I know that’s considered a classic one, but I just couldn’t get into it.
I think Contempt movie wise is boring as shit does not deserve to be in the collection. I do not like Dillinger is dead at all. I’m sure part of me does not understand what ferreri was trying to do or say but another part of me doesn’t care to find out. I enjoy Armageddon and the Rock and robocop though. Don’t care if I sound like a major tool. Also Monsoon Wedding… you guys keep naming the rock and armageddon but Monsoon Wedding….
the ice storm.
heres the thing. Armageddon, The Rock and Ben Button releases were done because they had the rights to the “special edition” production. do i agree with them doing the bay movies? HELL NO. but they did it cause they were more special editions than a traditional Criterion release. and the could release a better Fincher movie than Ben Button too.
and i think the most pointless release is The Red Balloon.
I actually loved The Rock, but Armageddon is beyond embarrassing. I have yet to see a Criterion release I have disliked, except for Armageddon.
I’m suprised at the addition of In the Mood for Love as a disappointment for it’s special features, I mean that dvd was filled with them! I don’t see how you could improve on it, unless of course Criterion decided to release BR edition :)
i dont like that alot of the earlier releases were single layer.
I don’t get why people keep bringing up RoboCop, that’s one of the best damn action films of the eighties. Its a great movie on virtually every level. I also don’t get the hate for The Rock, but I’ll get back to that in a second.
My least favorite disk is Yasujiro Ozu’s Good Morning, not because its a bad film, but because the cover is just so damn ugly, and it doesn’t include a single extra.
I think that The Rock gets a bad rap that it doesn’t deserve. There are certainly a lot of problems with it, but I can understand its place in the collection. I’d like to start off by saying that I am in no way a Michael Bay fan, and although I’ve seen almost all of his movies, theres only one other that I would not call a complete waste of time (I enjoyed The Island quite a bit. Stop looking at me like that.). In fact, I’d go as far as to say that I absolutely despise most of his work, but its impossible to deny his influence. For better or for worse, Michael Bay’s work completely changed the playing field of action movies in the mid-ninties, and The Rock is his best of the period, if not the best by any director. His visuals were unparalleled at the time, filling every shot with energy and urgency, and sucking as much as he possibly could out of every moment. In fact this is the only Bay film where I find it hard to fault him for any of its problems. The number of imitators that followed him are only rivaled by Quentin Tarantino’s.
So yeah, the leads aren’t really connectable, Nick Cage’s girlfriend was pointless at best, and there are numerous plot holes and unnecessary scenes, but there are a lot of positives to it too. The action is both coherent and exciting, the acting is for the most part far above average for this type of film (with a few notable exceptions), but for me the biggest surprise was the villain. As a big fan of the post Die-Hard action scene (along with blaxploitation classics like Shaft and Cleopatra Jones, these are my ultimate guilty pleasure films) I can honestly say that The Rock is the only film I’ve seen of the era where the main villain not only has a cause that the audience can sympathize with, but we are given a chance to actually connect and sympathize with the character himself. All these things combine to make The Rock one of the best films of a notable chapter of action cinema, and making it a film worthy of preservation.
But don’t even mention Armageddon. Even me, with my infinite compassion, can’t find a goddamn reason for that awful film to be included.
Dazed and Confused
Gommorah
Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Yojimbo
tonymurphylee
I thought Armageddon was the worst until I watched Equinox.