Germany, Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini)
Open City (Roberto Rossellini)
I watched these two films a few months ago and the quality was horrendous. Please, criterion really needs to add these to the collection.
Z (Costa-Gavras)
Z is no longer distributed, which is very, very sad. The cheapest new version I’ve found of it is $90. I really can’t spend that much yet. I will if I have to, but I really don’t want to.
I really can’t stand it when Hollywood tries to remake masterpieces. The latest one that I’ve heard of his Rififi. I can’t imagine why somebody would want to remake what was already perfect, but they do.
These are my favorites. This is not a list of “best films” or anything, just favorites.
400 Blows (Truffaut)
A Woman is a Woman (Godard)
Band of Outsiders (Godard)
The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo)
Brazil (Gilliam)
Breathless (Godard)
Bridge on the River Kwai (Lean)
Brief Encounter (Lean)
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Kubrick)
I Shot Jesse James (Fuller)
The Naked City (Dassin)
Open City (Rossellini)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer)
Rashomon (Kurosawa)
Rear Window (Hitchcock)
The Red Shoes (Powell and Pressburger)
The Rules of the Game (Renoir)
The Searchers (Ford)
The Seventh Seal (Bergman)
Shoot the Piano Player (Truffaut)
Some Like it Hot (Wilder)
Sunset Boulevard (Wilder)
The Third Man (Reed)
Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch)
Z (Costa-Gavras)
Wow, this is an incredibly hard one. But here are some of my favorites:
Desolation Row
Like A Rolling Stone
Ballad of a Thin Man
Things Have Changed
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
One More Cup of Coffee
Just Like a Woman
Queen Jane Approximately
I Dreamed I Saw Saint Augustine
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
@JOSH S. Ah yes, A Woman is a Woman is a fantastic film. There are so many things that I love about it (it’s opening, use of color, energy etc.). I would expound, but this is a thread about your “Personal top 25”, not A Woman is a Woman. Glad to see there are others that also appreciate it.
I’ve gone through a lot of this thread, but I don’t remember seeing any John Donne. Here’s one of his sonnets:
VII.
At the round earth’s imagined corners blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go ;
All whom the flood did, and fire shall o’erthrow,
All whom war, dea®th, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you, whose eyes
Shall behold God, and never taste death’s woe.
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space ;
For, if above all these my sins abound,
‘Tis late to ask abundance of Thy grace,
When we are there. Here on this lowly ground,
Teach me how to repent, for that’s as good
As if Thou hadst seal’d my pardon with Thy blood.
Personally, I wouldn’t want Criterion putting out TV shows. Most TV shows have great releases already and don’t need a Criterion release.
Plus, I’d rather have Criterion work on getting new releases of films like VOYAGE TO ITALY or BIGGER THAN LIFE out. Using their resources for TV shows and the like just seems like a waste.
I also find my buying of DVDs to be very irrational at times. I find a sense of accomplishment each time I buy a film I like. Today I bought Bicycle Thieves and Postwar Kurosawa. When buying them, I felt a sure sense of accomplishment. It is nice to look at one’s library of DVDs. At least, i know I enjoy it.
For a long time, I compared buying DVDs to buying books: I’m simply building a library that I can refer to in the future. However, I have recently found that a library of DVDs is very different from a library of books. DVDs will probably go away at some point, unlike books. Remember VHS tapes? They went away after a decade or so. I am afraid that the same will happen to DVDs, and I dread that day. I will have spent hundreds of dollars, maybe, on things that may only last for a decade?
Ever since that revelation, I have come to scale back my DVD choices – only buying ones I love. Today I bought Bicycle Thieves and Postwar Kurosawa. I know that I will love them, therefore, I won’t regret their purchases.
There a good number of Criterion titles streaming online (these are just the ones that i know of):
- Grand Illusion
- Vampyr
- In the Mood for Love
- The English Patient
- Thieves’ Highway
- The Red Balloon
- 8 1/2
- The Third MAn
- Written On the Wind
- The Ruling Class
- White Maine
- Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler
- Ivan The Terrible
- Alexander Nevsky
- Boudu Saved from Drowning
Plus, lots of great non-criterion releases:
- Strike (Eisenstein)
- Battleship Potemkin ( – )
- October ( – )
- Leaves from Satan’s Book (Dreyer)
- The Parson’s Widow ( – )
- Man with the Movie Camera
- Nosferatu
- Intolerance
- Metropolis (Lang)
- To Be or Not to Be (Lubitsch)
- The Stranger (Welles)
- My Darling Clementine
- Network
- Love in the Afternoon (Wilder)
- Seven Year Itch
- The Short Films of David Lynch
- Das Boot
- Bonnie and Clyde
- Steamboat Bill, Jr.
- The Dominici Affair (Welles)
- America (Griffith)
- Le Cercle Rouge
- Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams
- Tazi Driver
- Unfaithfully Yours
- La Notte (Antonioni)
- etc.
- etc.
- etc.
So, yeah. There are definitely lots of great films streaming on Netflix.
Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 3 years ago
Germany, Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini)
Open City (Roberto Rossellini)
I watched these two films a few months ago and the quality was horrendous. Please, criterion really needs to add these to the collection.
Z (Costa-Gavras)
Z is no longer distributed, which is very, very sad. The cheapest new version I’ve found of it is $90. I really can’t spend that much yet. I will if I have to, but I really don’t want to.
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BEST SEQUENCE OR SCENE FROM ANY FILM(CAN BE AN OPENING OR ANYTHING ELSE) over 3 years ago
The closing sequence for Sunset Boulevard is pure genius. Blows my mind. Perfect.
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Heist Films over 3 years ago
Rififi – Jules Dassin. The heist is pure brilliance.
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America Classic Movies over 3 years ago
Sunset Blvd. – Billy Wilder
Lawrence of Arabia – David Lean
Bridge on the River Kwai – David Lean
Some Like it Hot – Billy Wilder
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Why Does Hollywood INSIST Upon Remaking Flawless Films? over 3 years ago
I really can’t stand it when Hollywood tries to remake masterpieces. The latest one that I’ve heard of his Rififi. I can’t imagine why somebody would want to remake what was already perfect, but they do.
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Who do you read? over 3 years ago
Franz Kafka
Albert Camus
Ovid
John Donne
Shakespeare
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Film quotes you love over 3 years ago
“What is your greatest ambition in life?”
“To become immortal and then die.”
- “Breathless”, Jean-Luc Godard
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WHICH MOVIES...PUT OUT IN LAST 5 YEARS...DO YOU THINK WILL ONE DAY JOIN THE CRITERION COLLECTION? over 3 years ago
The Motorcycle Diaries – Walter Salles
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Film quotes you love over 3 years ago
“I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.”
Norma Desmond, Sunset Blvd.
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Favorite use of a song in a film. over 3 years ago
“Windmills of Your Mind” in The Thomas Crown Affair is simply spectacular.
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Best Films of the 80's? over 3 years ago
I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned this, so…
- Brazil (1985) – Terry Gilliam
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What was the first Criterion movie you watched? over 3 years ago
Band of Outsiders. I remember it like it was yesterday.
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The Western: Ford or Leone about 3 years ago
“I think Leone is one of the greatest Western directors ever. I think Ford is one of the greatest directors ever.”
Amen, Blessing. Amen.
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What is in your Netflix "At Home" Queue right now (i.e., what the f are you renting)? over 2 years ago
I just sent back Heaven Can Wait.
Next on the Queue is I Know Where I’m Going!. Can’t wait.
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Personal All-Time 25 over 2 years ago
These are my favorites. This is not a list of “best films” or anything, just favorites.
400 Blows (Truffaut)
A Woman is a Woman (Godard)
Band of Outsiders (Godard)
The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo)
Brazil (Gilliam)
Breathless (Godard)
Bridge on the River Kwai (Lean)
Brief Encounter (Lean)
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Kubrick)
I Shot Jesse James (Fuller)
The Naked City (Dassin)
Open City (Rossellini)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer)
Rashomon (Kurosawa)
Rear Window (Hitchcock)
The Red Shoes (Powell and Pressburger)
The Rules of the Game (Renoir)
The Searchers (Ford)
The Seventh Seal (Bergman)
Shoot the Piano Player (Truffaut)
Some Like it Hot (Wilder)
Sunset Boulevard (Wilder)
The Third Man (Reed)
Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch)
Z (Costa-Gavras)
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10 Best Bob Dylan Songs over 2 years ago
Wow, this is an incredibly hard one. But here are some of my favorites:
Desolation Row
Like A Rolling Stone
Ballad of a Thin Man
Things Have Changed
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
One More Cup of Coffee
Just Like a Woman
Queen Jane Approximately
I Dreamed I Saw Saint Augustine
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
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Personal All-Time 25 over 2 years ago
@JOSH S. Ah yes, A Woman is a Woman is a fantastic film. There are so many things that I love about it (it’s opening, use of color, energy etc.). I would expound, but this is a thread about your “Personal top 25”, not A Woman is a Woman. Glad to see there are others that also appreciate it.
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Any suggestions on introducing myself with Silent Pictures. over 2 years ago
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl. Th. Dreyer) – It’s pretty amazing. One of my all time favorites.
L’atalante (Jean Vigo) – Another great one.
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Our Favourite Poems- for a site anthology over 2 years ago
I’ve gone through a lot of this thread, but I don’t remember seeing any John Donne. Here’s one of his sonnets:
VII.
At the round earth’s imagined corners blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go ;
All whom the flood did, and fire shall o’erthrow,
All whom war, dea®th, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you, whose eyes
Shall behold God, and never taste death’s woe.
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space ;
For, if above all these my sins abound,
‘Tis late to ask abundance of Thy grace,
When we are there. Here on this lowly ground,
Teach me how to repent, for that’s as good
As if Thou hadst seal’d my pardon with Thy blood.
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Favourite Music Moments in Movies over 2 years ago
The Doors’ “The End” in APOCALYPSE NOW. It had quite the effect on me the first time I saw it.
Also, how could one forget “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin in TOP GUN?
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SHOULD THE CRITERION COLLECTION INCLUDE TELEVISION SHOWS? over 2 years ago
Personally, I wouldn’t want Criterion putting out TV shows. Most TV shows have great releases already and don’t need a Criterion release.
Plus, I’d rather have Criterion work on getting new releases of films like VOYAGE TO ITALY or BIGGER THAN LIFE out. Using their resources for TV shows and the like just seems like a waste.
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Most depressing comedy? over 2 years ago
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Kubrick)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (Hamer)
Divorce, Italian Style (Germi)
What’s funny about Divorce, Italian Style is that it was originally written to be a serious film, but ended up being a comedy.
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What is (are) your favorite frame(s)? over 2 years ago
Stray Dog:
The Naked City:
The Rules of the Game:
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 2 years ago
Michael (Carl Theodor Dreyer) really needs a criterion release.
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EARLY FILMS BY CARL DREYER over 2 years ago
Does anybody know where you could find/buy “The President” and “Once Upon A Time”?
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Heads up!!!! 50% off Criterions over 2 years ago
I might just be able to get that new Kurosawa box set. 25 Kurosawa films for about $160? Um. Yes.
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Criterion B&N November 2009 Sale now Live! over 2 years ago
Just bought Postwar Kurosawa and Bicycle Thieves. Thinking about buying more but my wallet is screaming “No!!”.
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Irrationality of Buying DVDs over 2 years ago
I also find my buying of DVDs to be very irrational at times. I find a sense of accomplishment each time I buy a film I like. Today I bought Bicycle Thieves and Postwar Kurosawa. When buying them, I felt a sure sense of accomplishment. It is nice to look at one’s library of DVDs. At least, i know I enjoy it.
For a long time, I compared buying DVDs to buying books: I’m simply building a library that I can refer to in the future. However, I have recently found that a library of DVDs is very different from a library of books. DVDs will probably go away at some point, unlike books. Remember VHS tapes? They went away after a decade or so. I am afraid that the same will happen to DVDs, and I dread that day. I will have spent hundreds of dollars, maybe, on things that may only last for a decade?
Ever since that revelation, I have come to scale back my DVD choices – only buying ones I love. Today I bought Bicycle Thieves and Postwar Kurosawa. I know that I will love them, therefore, I won’t regret their purchases.
Go to Comment
Criterion on Netflix on-demand? over 2 years ago
There a good number of Criterion titles streaming online (these are just the ones that i know of):
- Grand Illusion - Vampyr - In the Mood for Love- The English Patient
- Thieves’ Highway - The Red Balloon - 8 1/2 - The Third MAn - Written On the Wind - The Ruling Class - White Maine - Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler - Ivan The Terrible - Alexander Nevsky - Boudu Saved from DrowningPlus, lots of great non-criterion releases:
- Strike (Eisenstein) - Battleship Potemkin ( – ) - October ( – ) - Leaves from Satan’s Book (Dreyer) - The Parson’s Widow ( – ) - Man with the Movie Camera - Nosferatu - Intolerance - Metropolis (Lang) - To Be or Not to Be (Lubitsch) - The Stranger (Welles) - My Darling Clementine - Network - Love in the Afternoon (Wilder) - Seven Year Itch - The Short Films of David Lynch - Das Boot - Bonnie and Clyde - Steamboat Bill, Jr. - The Dominici Affair (Welles) - America (Griffith) - Le Cercle Rouge - Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams - Tazi Driver - Unfaithfully Yours - La Notte (Antonioni) - etc. - etc. - etc.So, yeah. There are definitely lots of great films streaming on Netflix.
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What is in your Netflix "At Home" Queue right now (i.e., what the f are you renting)? over 2 years ago
Diary of a Country Priest and I’m probably going to stream In the Mood for Love tonight.
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