Okay, brace yourselves. Mind blowing news. Criterion has just released a new eclipse series box set including The X From Outer Space, Goke, The Living Skeleton, and Genocide. This is absolutely amazing, as I have been waiting for these movies to come out, and coming from Criterion you know they will be done right. Fan-friggin-tastic, going right on my Christmas list. http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/92...ce=Campaign Monitor&utm_term=View the box set
...and 50% off @B&N ($29.99) right now - go! http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-cri ... u/25099739 For another 30% off: use code T9P3E3W...
This is as necessary a purchase as the coming Ultraseven set! Dean beat you to the punch on a mention of the set back in August, but it's still damn exciting news. I only wish they'd given the films the full Criterion treatment - I can only imagine how cool the extras could be for these gems. @bunnyboy - damn, with the coupon that makes it only $20.99 before tax and ship... incredible!
^^ Incredible indeed - and ordered! Btw, this is the first Eclipse set I'm getting; I understand these box sets delve into even more obscure arthouse/genre realms than the usual Criterion releases, but this is the first one that really struck my interest besides the Nikkatsu Noir box... Any other recommendations?
^ Oh man, so many! To name just a few... If you want to stay in Japan you can't go wrong with Oshima’s Outlaw Sixties or The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara; I really enjoyed every minute of The Delirious Fictions of William Klein - Really strange stuff out of France; and Pearls of the Czech New Wave is pretty amazing, especially Věra Chytilová's Daisies; Up All Night with Robert Downey Sr. is kinda the shit, too. If you haven't Swoped you haven't lived!
Big thanks, bunnyboy. Just ordered the Shochiku set. toothaction, couldn't agree more with your selections. I love Klein's "Mr. Freedom," one of the greatest DIY oddball films, ever. Other favorite Eclipse series: Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy - A bit on the niche side of life, for sure, but I dig this stuff a lot. "Carmen" is the most famous of the three but my favorite is the first one, "Blood Wedding." Strongly recommended if you like Spanish music, history, and dance. Dušan Makavejev—Free Radical - Crazy free-spirited stuff from the director of the outrageous films "Sweet Movie" and "WR: Mysteries of the Organism." Nikkantsu Noir - cool, cool, cool Most wanted (but don't have yet) - Postwar Kurosawa
Thanks for the coupon code. Too bad its valid for 1 item only. I guess I'm gonna have to wait on Roman Polanski's Repulsion. At least I was able to get Rosemary's Baby.
^^ Yeah, unfortunately the code also only works once. Per e-mail... Take advantage folks, it's only good until 11/25!
A great movie. A fan favorite that for some reason the professional critics don't seem to think much of. The first sequence of that film alone is so beautiful. I finally got around to viewing "Putney Swope" last night, and can't wait to view it again. How did this midnight underground classic elude me all these years? Dang, Robert Downey Sr. was a true radical in an era when political correctness hadn't yet tethered the imaginations of artists with something to say.
Criterion uploaded the trailer for X From Outer Space. You gotta see this ... the origin story of the name of monster Guilala! "A Pinnacle of Filmmaking."
Over a year ago I mentioned Repo Man was deserving of the Criterion treatment on their face book page… BAM!!! April 16th So psyched!!!
For those that can access it (that means you America), apparently the library of Criterion films available on Hulu is going to be available for free viewing over the weekend. Hurrah?
I guess it is the cinema nerd in me, but I am loving these Criterion video essays. I just watched this one on aspect ratio in regards to their upcoming release of On the Waterfront: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7-aMi4Rr-4&feature=youtu.be It is so interesting to see the different 'feel' of films with the varying aspect ratios. One thing I did not know was that so much of the frame is cut off during the masking, I was always under the impression that widescreen gives you the optimum scene exposure, but it turns out a lower aspect ratio can offer more of the original print. Of course, it is at the cinematographer's and director's discretion when it comes to the final release, but now I am left wondering how many 'full-screen' films might actually be full screen, rather than cropped versions of the widscreen versions.
Plenty of other great titles in the pipe, but I'm particularly excited over: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me Barry Lyndon The Lure Almost makes me want to finally go BLU.
A lot of the time, when you see/saw a movie on TV or VHS and a boom mike is visible, or some other goof, it's because you are getting that "full screen" version. One example I remember is in Pee Wee's Big Adventure when he's pulling the never-ending chain out of his bike-rack you could see it coming up through the false bottom. In the theatre you didn't see it because it was, as you say, masked out. A lot of Stanley Kubrick's movies were shot this way as well, where you actually got "more" of the picture on TV or VHS versus seeing it in the theatre. He actually preferred the 4:3 format. The other side of this is movies shot with anamorphic lenses where on TV or VHS you got the ol' pan and scan. I think ultimately it should be shown as the director intended, but we don't always get it that way.
Amen. Or videotaped off of an old 16mm print, then videotaped again off of the TV screen, then videotaped again before you screen it for your friends. At least that's how I remember reading that Guy Maddin liked to do it!
Okay, I think I might be able to remain content with my stack of rips, and I still don't own a blu-ray player, but... ...makes a stellar argument for catching up with the times. Funny how it's almost always the past that gets me to consider contemporizing. You kids up on your Karel Z? Fans of Ray H and Eiji T take note! The basic sell, complete with packaging pr0n: https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/2880-three-fantastic-journeys-by-karel-zeman