In the theater, I haven’t really fallen asleep, except the time when I was about five and I was at a drive in on a pretty cold night. Other than that, though, at home, I haven’t finished Spider-Man since 2003, I think, simply because I cannot stay awake during it. I can’t stay awake during P.S. I Love You (although we always put that one on really late). Usually, if it’s a criterion, I’ll pause it, like with Berlin Alexanderplatz, and then wake up later. Sometiems I am just too tired to finish what I began, but, lately, I’ve been pretty good about it.
Yes, Brian Oestreich! Yes! I, too, have been waiting for Kill Bill and Grindhouse to come out for forever, and I also need to pick up copy’s of Touch of Evil, Bottle Rocket, and Chungking Express, as well as Gimme Shelter, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, and, if Criterion EVER puts out a copy of Godard’s Weekend, I’ll have to pick it up.
Oh, and, yes, The Dark Knight is a must own, although I am a little disappointed about the lack of any commentary, or something like that. So far as I know, Nolan has only done one commentary, and that was on the Memento special Edition. He should do more. Oh well…at least we get the great segments from Gotham Tonight!
I am a student in my first year of college, very fascinated by films, and one who, of course, wants to be a filmmaker. I have been sutdying movies for about four years now, which, for my age, is not necessarily bad. I am very pleased that such a company like Criterion exists. If not, where else would I find all of Roger Ebert’s list of great movies?
Mainly, my focus is on films, but I also love art and writing, two things that I tend to do well (with an emphasis on tend).
Recently, I purchased seven films off the Criterion site during the forty percent off sale, although I wish I had started sooner, so that I could have gotten Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales and 4 by Agnes Varda (although, of course, getting Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage is NOT a bad thing).
Bergman is my favorite director, followed closely by Truffaut, Linklater, and Fellini. I tend to like Godard’s stuff, but I can’t get over his complete arrogance toward Truffaut. (That does not mean, of course, though, that I will not watch his films)
I love the twenty plus minute bedroom chat in Breathless, one of the most remarkable conversations I’ve ever seen put to film.
The last minutes of The 400 Blows, I have to agree with. Absolutely fantastic.
The scene in Cries and Whispers where Erland Josephson describes Liv Ullman’s face and how it has aged is one of the greatest scenes ever filmed, and one of the most beautiful.
The opening of 8 1/2.
The vast majority of Lost in Translation.
The ending of Waking Life (something I cannot get over).
The opening to The Royal Tenenbaums.
The first fourteen minutes of There Will Be Blood, as well as the church scene in which Eli throws the spirit out of the building.
The ending of Casablanca.
The opening of Once Upon a Time in Mexico, as well as the great shootout (or one of them).
Winter Light. Period.
There are probably more, but this should be enough for now
Well, I haven’t seen much of Polanski, but I am always excited when they release new Criterions. And, yes, Weekend by Godard is necessary, and putting Vivre sa Vie on Criterion wouldn’t be such a bad idea, either…
10. The Wicker Man (Niel Labute remake – the guy knows how to make a good film, but this one?)
9. Battlefield Earth (completely forgot to think about this one til it was mentioned…awful film)
8. Wedding Crashers (the movie just doesn’t work for me)
7. Labyrinth (probably lambasted for this, but I just don’t like this movie, though it’s definitly not the worst)
6. Batman and Robin (someone mentioned this earlier, and I had to agree…)
5. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (sucks…so terribly cheesy and cringe inducing)
4. You, Ma, and Dupree (stupid, stupid movie)
3. Mama Mia! (everyone in that film, as in every character, not actor, was insane)
2. Twilight (sucks. The dialogue was excrutiating to sit through)
1. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (this movie blows the lid off cheesy – compared to this, Nick and Norah looks tame. No one in this film could act).
Frankly, looking at this list again, I’m pretty sad that I’ve actually seen some of them, primarily because they all just suck so bad, and I like to say I have good taste in movies (most of the time, though, I was with my family, who wanted to see them). Oh well. At least I KNOW good movies.
I watched Chasing Amy first and thought it was brilliant. Sadly, at the time, I didn’t know what Criterion was. The first movie that I watched that I knew was a Criterion, though, was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Good that someone said My Wiinnipeg. I was waiting for that one (you can only get it at Blockbuster, I think). Yes, Synecdoche deserves the Criterion treatment; frankly, I think it’s the best film I’ve ever seen (even though I think Bergman is the greatset director who ever lived…oh well). Also, yes, In Bruges, which was a phenominal film with not enough on the DVD.
And the Let The Right One In controversy with the subtitles, as well as the lack of special features, makes me want to urge Criterion for an edition.
Oh, good. I didn’t much like the carboard cases, since it seem to me as though they’d break easily, or that they’d at least bend and become less awesome.
I used to be able to do this, since my library in Indianapolis had many, many criterions (although, as far as I was concerned, it didn’t have Slacker). Then, though, I moved, and now I think the only Criterion I was able to find down here was The Seven Samurai. I was kind of pissed when I walked into the library and saw how small their film selection was.
I am very pleased to see that they are releasing more Godard (always great for the collection). I’m still waiting on Weekend, though, since its apparently one of the great Godard “film as essay” works, which I find fascinating (don’t get me wrong, though, because Breathless and his other works that are more “plot-heavy (haha)” so to speak are also marvelous – I’ve just never really seen films like his later ones before).
Also, with The Human Condition coming out, that gives me another chance to spend a boat load of cash on something that will sit on my shelf until I one day watch it (feel bad that I still haven’t watched Berlin Alexanderplatz after getting it over a year ago). Very pleased, though!
God idea. I was thinking of starting a Top-Ten like all of the awesome Top Ten lists Criterion does, but this is good, too.
1. Winter Light
2. 8 1/2
3. The 400 Blows
4. The Royal Tenenbaums
5. The Silence
6. Breathless
7. Dazed and Confused
8. The Third Man
9. Brand Upon the Brain!
10. Pierrot le Fou
11. Cries and Whispers
12. L’Avventura
13. The Double Life of Veronique
14. The Exterminating Angel
15. Scenes from a Marriage
16. Patriotism
17. Bottle Rocket
18. Days of Heaven
19. Under the Volcano
20. Stolen Kisses
Frankly, there are plenty I own that I haven’t seen yet (too little time!), but these are ones I know that rock. Also, though, since my collection is only at 52 (although it will grow perhaps exponentially this summer…I hope), I don’t really have enough to say what I dislike the most.
I would want to talk to Bergman, but I think I’d be so in awe of him that I wouldn’t be able to speak. I’d probably talk to Truffaut, then, but I hope I’d know enough about movies, since he once kicked a hitchhiker out of his car for his lack of knowledge of the subject matter.
I would show them Bergman, but, sadly, most people around my age would be turned off from him, probably, since it is not only in Black and White and in Swedish, but it also centers on big ideas, often very subtely, that many people just might not want to sit through.
I think Y tu Mama Tambien was a good choice, but I’d probably show people The 400 Blows, since it is very “filmic,” I think, and since it has a great amount of soul and heart. I don’t think I’d show them Breathless first, because of the jump cutting.
Yeah, it’s probably be between 8 1/2 and The 400 Blows.
I always wanted Bresson’s two Dostoyevsky adaptations (Four Nights of a Dreamer and Une Femme Douce) to be put on Criterion. Sadly, I’ve never seen either of the two (I don’t think many people have) since Bresson told his wife not to realease them, or something like that. Kind of sucks, if you ask me. Being a very large admirer of Dostoyevsky, I try to see and read a lot of stuff about him, or that was influenced by him; when you get someone like Bresson making movies from his works, you are bound for gold.
Love his work, absolutely. I can see why some people don’t, but honestly, there’s nothing that’s going to knock me down into “Wes Anderson is a hack” mode.
I hope it will be good. Frankly, I’ve pretty much liked everything Tarantino’s done (excluding his Four Rooms segment, although it had some charm…I guess), even considering Kill Bill and Jackie Brown to be masterpieces of a very high calibre. I don’t know, though. Looking at the trailer for Inglourious Basterds kinds of irks me a little, like I don’t really know what to expect. It seems like it’s going to be a comedy more than anything (although, of course, it will have a lot of action). Basically, I think, I really like Tarantino when his work is taken seriously by him.
Yes, why hasn’t there been a bluray of The New World? I’ve been waiting for that one, keeping myself from buying it very cheaply at Borders…oh well. Oh, and, by the way, this happens to be one of the most awesome threads on here.
La Dolce Vita
Gimme Shelter (Criterion)
The Battle of Algiers (Criterion)
The Triplets of Belleville
Triumph of the Will
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Bluray)
I meant to get Frost / Nixon and the Wrestler when they came out on Tuesday, but I haven’t been to the store…
This may be difficult, although I know some of them that just seem to rock my socks off.
1. Ingmar Bergman
2. Francois Truffaut
3. Wes Anderson
4. Richard Linklater
5. Federico Fellini
6. Paul Thomas Anderson
7. Jean-Luc Godard
8. Krzysztof Kieslowski
9. Sophia Coppola
10. Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu
This is very difficult. I have so many others, as well (Luis Bunuel, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Orson Welles), but these are the ones I’m feeling right now. Frankly, I’ve only seen one of Sohpia Coppola’s films (Lost In Translation), but that movie has had such a profound impact on me that I had to put her on the list. I’m also surprised that I didn’t put Michel Gondry, Spike Jonez, or Charlie Kaufman on there, even though Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York is (right now) my favorite film. Oh well.
Gosh, I wish I could help. I had to find those movies for myself, after I read Ebert’s The Great Movies (a book I highly reccomend to your friend, since Ebert loves both new and old movies). Probably start with something in color (not something colorized) though, and see how you do. Or, slip in something that he won’t be able to take his eyes off of, like 8 1/2. You don’t have to even tell him it’s old. Criterion editions tend to be great for that, since the transfers can be beautiful.
Does anyone think it wrong of Godard as a director to put his own film on the list? I mean, sure Vivre sa Vie has been really hailed by everyone, but should he have been a little more modest and said something like, “Because I made this film, I can’t necessarily review it”? I don’t know. Ebert didn’t review Beyond the Valley of the Dolls when he wrote it, so…
But, hey, it’s great that he has a lot of good movies on there, most notably, for me, being those of Bergman’s Silence trilogy, which is the best trilogy of films I’ve ever seen (although Through a Glass Darkly tends to feel a little more weak than the other two).
I agree completely. I’m Not There is just a powerhouse film, made directly from the soul. Frankly, how does one make a movie about the shifting nature of Bob Dylan than with the inspired choice of casting completely different people? I think that’s why most films that are about Dylan tend to be documentaries (like Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back, and Scorcese’s No Direction Home). Very fantastic filmmaking.
Wow Jeff. How true. Stuck in the foreign films section…
-the numbers of movies you own equals or surpasses the number of movies your entire other five family members own (combined).
-when you aare told to multitask while watching a film (i.e. fold clothes), and you say back, “But I can’t! It’s foreign! I’ll miss everything!”
-when you plan a summer vacation to Faro, Sweden, just to see where Bergman liked to spend his time.
-when you spend all of your time on google maps’ Street View, trying to find all of the locations in Breathless and The 400 Blows.
I tend to have a low tolerance for voice over, since I often feel that it is technically un-cinematic, but I have to say that, lately, I’ve enjoyed most of teh voice-over I’ve seen (Pierrot le Fou, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Europa). I think in many cases, it’s those voice-overs that have not a lot to do with the plot that rock the most.
Frankly, although I thought Vicky Christina Barcelona was a very good film, I feel like the voice-over was completely unnecessary, since it appeared as almost everything that was said was being shown on-screen, or that the stuff told to the audience wasn’t important enough, and that good story-telling (which the film did have) could completely get around it.
I ould be completely wrong on this, but Andrei Rublev, although the movie follows (and is named after) its main character, it kind of lets you determine the characters for yourself. There’s no person who is just right, or who is just wrong; there are only people.
I think I’m wrong, though, and therefore I may have a hard time finding one.
I think that this was one of my favorite films of 2008, although everything comes after Synecdoche, New York. The story was simple enough (in a good way), with some great acting, and absolutely beautiful cinematography. I think that there were things hinted at, and ome things left unsaid, but I like that idea, since everything doesn’t come to a clear and complete unfolding, like in real life; we have to make our own assumptions on many, many things, and this film lets me do that myself, without someone telling me.
It’s great to see Dostoyevsky on so many lists. Great novels.
The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishmnt – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Antigone – Sophocles
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said – Philip K. Dick
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch – Philip K. Dick
Night – Elie Weisel
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Making Movies – Sidney Lumet
Rebel Without a Crew, or How a Twenty-Three year old with 7000 Dollars Became a Hollywood Player – Robert Rodriguez
The Great Movies vol. 1 & 2 – Roger Ebert
That list is in no order. Sadly, I feel as though there iss o much great literature that I have no read, mainly Chekov, Tolstoy (although I never want to read War and Peace for my own reasons), Dickens (who I’ve never read anything by), and Kafka.
Also, I very much so need to read Ubik by Philip K. Dick. I own the novel, but I haven’t sat down to read it yet; I am usually too busy trying to re-read The Man in the High Castle (which I’ve also never finished).
MOMENT OF TRUTH: HAVE YOU EVER GONE TO THE MOVIES AND FALLEN ASLEEP DURING THE FILM? over 3 years ago
In the theater, I haven’t really fallen asleep, except the time when I was about five and I was at a drive in on a pretty cold night. Other than that, though, at home, I haven’t finished Spider-Man since 2003, I think, simply because I cannot stay awake during it. I can’t stay awake during P.S. I Love You (although we always put that one on really late). Usually, if it’s a criterion, I’ll pause it, like with Berlin Alexanderplatz, and then wake up later. Sometiems I am just too tired to finish what I began, but, lately, I’ve been pretty good about it.
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DVD'S YOU MUST OWN over 3 years ago
Yes, Brian Oestreich! Yes! I, too, have been waiting for Kill Bill and Grindhouse to come out for forever, and I also need to pick up copy’s of Touch of Evil, Bottle Rocket, and Chungking Express, as well as Gimme Shelter, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, and, if Criterion EVER puts out a copy of Godard’s Weekend, I’ll have to pick it up.
Oh, and, yes, The Dark Knight is a must own, although I am a little disappointed about the lack of any commentary, or something like that. So far as I know, Nolan has only done one commentary, and that was on the Memento special Edition. He should do more. Oh well…at least we get the great segments from Gotham Tonight!
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New to The Auteurs? You Belong Here over 3 years ago
I am a student in my first year of college, very fascinated by films, and one who, of course, wants to be a filmmaker. I have been sutdying movies for about four years now, which, for my age, is not necessarily bad. I am very pleased that such a company like Criterion exists. If not, where else would I find all of Roger Ebert’s list of great movies?
Mainly, my focus is on films, but I also love art and writing, two things that I tend to do well (with an emphasis on tend).
Recently, I purchased seven films off the Criterion site during the forty percent off sale, although I wish I had started sooner, so that I could have gotten Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales and 4 by Agnes Varda (although, of course, getting Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage is NOT a bad thing).
Bergman is my favorite director, followed closely by Truffaut, Linklater, and Fellini. I tend to like Godard’s stuff, but I can’t get over his complete arrogance toward Truffaut. (That does not mean, of course, though, that I will not watch his films)
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BEST SEQUENCE OR SCENE FROM ANY FILM(CAN BE AN OPENING OR ANYTHING ELSE) over 3 years ago
I love the twenty plus minute bedroom chat in Breathless, one of the most remarkable conversations I’ve ever seen put to film.
The last minutes of The 400 Blows, I have to agree with. Absolutely fantastic.
The scene in Cries and Whispers where Erland Josephson describes Liv Ullman’s face and how it has aged is one of the greatest scenes ever filmed, and one of the most beautiful.
The opening of 8 1/2.
The vast majority of Lost in Translation.
The ending of Waking Life (something I cannot get over).
The opening to The Royal Tenenbaums.
The first fourteen minutes of There Will Be Blood, as well as the church scene in which Eli throws the spirit out of the building.
The ending of Casablanca.
The opening of Once Upon a Time in Mexico, as well as the great shootout (or one of them).
Winter Light. Period.
There are probably more, but this should be enough for now
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No. about 3 years ago
Well, I haven’t seen much of Polanski, but I am always excited when they release new Criterions. And, yes, Weekend by Godard is necessary, and putting Vivre sa Vie on Criterion wouldn’t be such a bad idea, either…
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Ten Worst Movies You've Ever Seen? about 3 years ago
10. The Wicker Man (Niel Labute remake – the guy knows how to make a good film, but this one?)
9. Battlefield Earth (completely forgot to think about this one til it was mentioned…awful film)
8. Wedding Crashers (the movie just doesn’t work for me)
7. Labyrinth (probably lambasted for this, but I just don’t like this movie, though it’s definitly not the worst)
6. Batman and Robin (someone mentioned this earlier, and I had to agree…)
5. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (sucks…so terribly cheesy and cringe inducing)
4. You, Ma, and Dupree (stupid, stupid movie)
3. Mama Mia! (everyone in that film, as in every character, not actor, was insane)
2. Twilight (sucks. The dialogue was excrutiating to sit through)
1. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (this movie blows the lid off cheesy – compared to this, Nick and Norah looks tame. No one in this film could act).
Frankly, looking at this list again, I’m pretty sad that I’ve actually seen some of them, primarily because they all just suck so bad, and I like to say I have good taste in movies (most of the time, though, I was with my family, who wanted to see them). Oh well. At least I KNOW good movies.
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What was the first Criterion movie you watched? about 3 years ago
I watched Chasing Amy first and thought it was brilliant. Sadly, at the time, I didn’t know what Criterion was. The first movie that I watched that I knew was a Criterion, though, was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
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What 2008 film deserves the Criterion treatment? about 3 years ago
Good that someone said My Wiinnipeg. I was waiting for that one (you can only get it at Blockbuster, I think). Yes, Synecdoche deserves the Criterion treatment; frankly, I think it’s the best film I’ve ever seen (even though I think Bergman is the greatset director who ever lived…oh well). Also, yes, In Bruges, which was a phenominal film with not enough on the DVD.
And the Let The Right One In controversy with the subtitles, as well as the lack of special features, makes me want to urge Criterion for an edition.
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Last movie you saw and rate it about 3 years ago
The Triplets of Belleville: 9.5 / 10
Oh, and I saw Ghost Town: 7 / 10
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Criterion Blu-Ray Packaging about 3 years ago
Oh, good. I didn’t much like the carboard cases, since it seem to me as though they’d break easily, or that they’d at least bend and become less awesome.
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GO TO YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY about 3 years ago
I used to be able to do this, since my library in Indianapolis had many, many criterions (although, as far as I was concerned, it didn’t have Slacker). Then, though, I moved, and now I think the only Criterion I was able to find down here was The Seven Samurai. I was kind of pissed when I walked into the library and saw how small their film selection was.
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Criterion Coming Soon and Discussion about 3 years ago
Yes! More Tarkovsky indeed!
I am very pleased to see that they are releasing more Godard (always great for the collection). I’m still waiting on Weekend, though, since its apparently one of the great Godard “film as essay” works, which I find fascinating (don’t get me wrong, though, because Breathless and his other works that are more “plot-heavy (haha)” so to speak are also marvelous – I’ve just never really seen films like his later ones before).
Also, with The Human Condition coming out, that gives me another chance to spend a boat load of cash on something that will sit on my shelf until I one day watch it (feel bad that I still haven’t watched Berlin Alexanderplatz after getting it over a year ago). Very pleased, though!
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The top twenty Criterions you own. about 3 years ago
God idea. I was thinking of starting a Top-Ten like all of the awesome Top Ten lists Criterion does, but this is good, too.
1. Winter Light
2. 8 1/2
3. The 400 Blows
4. The Royal Tenenbaums
5. The Silence
6. Breathless
7. Dazed and Confused
8. The Third Man
9. Brand Upon the Brain!
10. Pierrot le Fou
11. Cries and Whispers
12. L’Avventura
13. The Double Life of Veronique
14. The Exterminating Angel
15. Scenes from a Marriage
16. Patriotism
17. Bottle Rocket
18. Days of Heaven
19. Under the Volcano
20. Stolen Kisses
Frankly, there are plenty I own that I haven’t seen yet (too little time!), but these are ones I know that rock. Also, though, since my collection is only at 52 (although it will grow perhaps exponentially this summer…I hope), I don’t really have enough to say what I dislike the most.
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If you could have lunch with one filmmaker, alive or dead, who would it be? about 3 years ago
I would want to talk to Bergman, but I think I’d be so in awe of him that I wouldn’t be able to speak. I’d probably talk to Truffaut, then, but I hope I’d know enough about movies, since he once kicked a hitchhiker out of his car for his lack of knowledge of the subject matter.
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Movies Teenagers Should Watch about 3 years ago
I would show them Bergman, but, sadly, most people around my age would be turned off from him, probably, since it is not only in Black and White and in Swedish, but it also centers on big ideas, often very subtely, that many people just might not want to sit through.
I think Y tu Mama Tambien was a good choice, but I’d probably show people The 400 Blows, since it is very “filmic,” I think, and since it has a great amount of soul and heart. I don’t think I’d show them Breathless first, because of the jump cutting.
Yeah, it’s probably be between 8 1/2 and The 400 Blows.
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection about 3 years ago
I always wanted Bresson’s two Dostoyevsky adaptations (Four Nights of a Dreamer and Une Femme Douce) to be put on Criterion. Sadly, I’ve never seen either of the two (I don’t think many people have) since Bresson told his wife not to realease them, or something like that. Kind of sucks, if you ask me. Being a very large admirer of Dostoyevsky, I try to see and read a lot of stuff about him, or that was influenced by him; when you get someone like Bresson making movies from his works, you are bound for gold.
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Do You Like Wes Anderson? about 3 years ago
Love his work, absolutely. I can see why some people don’t, but honestly, there’s nothing that’s going to knock me down into “Wes Anderson is a hack” mode.
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Cannes about 3 years ago
I hope it will be good. Frankly, I’ve pretty much liked everything Tarantino’s done (excluding his Four Rooms segment, although it had some charm…I guess), even considering Kill Bill and Jackie Brown to be masterpieces of a very high calibre. I don’t know, though. Looking at the trailer for Inglourious Basterds kinds of irks me a little, like I don’t really know what to expect. It seems like it’s going to be a comedy more than anything (although, of course, it will have a lot of action). Basically, I think, I really like Tarantino when his work is taken seriously by him.
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The Auteurs' Fake Criterion Covers about 3 years ago
Yes, why hasn’t there been a bluray of The New World? I’ve been waiting for that one, keeping myself from buying it very cheaply at Borders…oh well. Oh, and, by the way, this happens to be one of the most awesome threads on here.
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Recent Acquisitions. about 3 years ago
I recently got:
La Dolce Vita
Gimme Shelter (Criterion)
The Battle of Algiers (Criterion)
The Triplets of Belleville
Triumph of the Will
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Bluray)
I meant to get Frost / Nixon and the Wrestler when they came out on Tuesday, but I haven’t been to the store…
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Top 10 Directors. about 3 years ago
This may be difficult, although I know some of them that just seem to rock my socks off.
1. Ingmar Bergman
2. Francois Truffaut
3. Wes Anderson
4. Richard Linklater
5. Federico Fellini
6. Paul Thomas Anderson
7. Jean-Luc Godard
8. Krzysztof Kieslowski
9. Sophia Coppola
10. Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu
This is very difficult. I have so many others, as well (Luis Bunuel, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Orson Welles), but these are the ones I’m feeling right now. Frankly, I’ve only seen one of Sohpia Coppola’s films (Lost In Translation), but that movie has had such a profound impact on me that I had to put her on the list. I’m also surprised that I didn’t put Michel Gondry, Spike Jonez, or Charlie Kaufman on there, even though Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York is (right now) my favorite film. Oh well.
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how can i get my friend to watch old films? please answer! about 3 years ago
Gosh, I wish I could help. I had to find those movies for myself, after I read Ebert’s The Great Movies (a book I highly reccomend to your friend, since Ebert loves both new and old movies). Probably start with something in color (not something colorized) though, and see how you do. Or, slip in something that he won’t be able to take his eyes off of, like 8 1/2. You don’t have to even tell him it’s old. Criterion editions tend to be great for that, since the transfers can be beautiful.
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CAHIERS DU CINEMA - GODARD'S TOP TEN LISTS about 3 years ago
Does anyone think it wrong of Godard as a director to put his own film on the list? I mean, sure Vivre sa Vie has been really hailed by everyone, but should he have been a little more modest and said something like, “Because I made this film, I can’t necessarily review it”? I don’t know. Ebert didn’t review Beyond the Valley of the Dolls when he wrote it, so…
But, hey, it’s great that he has a lot of good movies on there, most notably, for me, being those of Bergman’s Silence trilogy, which is the best trilogy of films I’ve ever seen (although Through a Glass Darkly tends to feel a little more weak than the other two).
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I'M NOT THERE. about 3 years ago
I agree completely. I’m Not There is just a powerhouse film, made directly from the soul. Frankly, how does one make a movie about the shifting nature of Bob Dylan than with the inspired choice of casting completely different people? I think that’s why most films that are about Dylan tend to be documentaries (like Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back, and Scorcese’s No Direction Home). Very fantastic filmmaking.
Savvy
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You know your a cinephile when? about 3 years ago
Wow Jeff. How true. Stuck in the foreign films section…
-the numbers of movies you own equals or surpasses the number of movies your entire other five family members own (combined).
-when you aare told to multitask while watching a film (i.e. fold clothes), and you say back, “But I can’t! It’s foreign! I’ll miss everything!”
-when you plan a summer vacation to Faro, Sweden, just to see where Bergman liked to spend his time.
-when you spend all of your time on google maps’ Street View, trying to find all of the locations in Breathless and The 400 Blows.
Savvy
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Is Voiceover Ever Good? (& Truffaut's TWO ENGLISH GIRLS) about 3 years ago
I tend to have a low tolerance for voice over, since I often feel that it is technically un-cinematic, but I have to say that, lately, I’ve enjoyed most of teh voice-over I’ve seen (Pierrot le Fou, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Europa). I think in many cases, it’s those voice-overs that have not a lot to do with the plot that rock the most.
Frankly, although I thought Vicky Christina Barcelona was a very good film, I feel like the voice-over was completely unnecessary, since it appeared as almost everything that was said was being shown on-screen, or that the stuff told to the audience wasn’t important enough, and that good story-telling (which the film did have) could completely get around it.
Savvy
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You know your a cinephile when? about 3 years ago
Wow, Jake. That’s just awesome.
Savvy
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Playing with the viewer's mind about 3 years ago
I ould be completely wrong on this, but Andrei Rublev, although the movie follows (and is named after) its main character, it kind of lets you determine the characters for yourself. There’s no person who is just right, or who is just wrong; there are only people.
I think I’m wrong, though, and therefore I may have a hard time finding one.
Savvy
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Let the Right One In about 3 years ago
I think that this was one of my favorite films of 2008, although everything comes after Synecdoche, New York. The story was simple enough (in a good way), with some great acting, and absolutely beautiful cinematography. I think that there were things hinted at, and ome things left unsaid, but I like that idea, since everything doesn’t come to a clear and complete unfolding, like in real life; we have to make our own assumptions on many, many things, and this film lets me do that myself, without someone telling me.
Savvy
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TheAuteurs List of the Week 4/26/09: Your 10 Favorite Books about 3 years ago
It’s great to see Dostoyevsky on so many lists. Great novels.
The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishmnt – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Antigone – Sophocles
Animal Farm – George Orwell
Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said – Philip K. Dick
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch – Philip K. Dick
Night – Elie Weisel
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Making Movies – Sidney Lumet
Rebel Without a Crew, or How a Twenty-Three year old with 7000 Dollars Became a Hollywood Player – Robert Rodriguez
The Great Movies vol. 1 & 2 – Roger Ebert
That list is in no order. Sadly, I feel as though there iss o much great literature that I have no read, mainly Chekov, Tolstoy (although I never want to read War and Peace for my own reasons), Dickens (who I’ve never read anything by), and Kafka.
Also, I very much so need to read Ubik by Philip K. Dick. I own the novel, but I haven’t sat down to read it yet; I am usually too busy trying to re-read The Man in the High Castle (which I’ve also never finished).
Savvy
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