What are you watching on the Criterion Channel?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Electric, Jan 2, 2020.

  1. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    I had only seen the Coen Brothers remake of "The Ladykillers", so I gave that one a go. From the writer of "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" (who knew? not me). Well worth a look. I've never seen "I'm All Right Jack" either, so I plan to get to that one when time allows.
     
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  2. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    The acting, the drama, the innuendo, the comedy! Brilliant!!

    I’m All Right Jack
    Directed by John Boulting • 1959 • United Kingdom
    Starring Ian Carmichael, Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas

    One of a string of incisive social satires made by British filmmaking duo the Boulting brothers is a smartly caustic look at issues of corporate corruption and trade unionism in 1950s England. Unable to procure a job, upper-class Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael) takes a position on the floor of a factory owned by his uncle—and soon finds himself caught between management and labor in their struggle for power. Peter Sellers’s BAFTA-winning turn as the Communist shop steward Fred Kite is a typically inspired display of the actor’s chameleonic brilliance.

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  3. AndrewS

    AndrewS Senior Member

    Location:
    S. Ontario, Canada
    Poto and Cabengo
    Directed by Jean-Pierre Gorin • 1980 • United States

    Grace and Virginia are young San Diego twins who speak unlike anyone else. With little exposure to the outside world, the two girls have created a private form of communication that's an amalgam of the distinctive English dialects they hear at home. Jean-Pierre Gorin's polyphonic nonfiction investigation of this phenomenon looks at the family from a variety of angles, with the director taking on the role of a sort of sociological detective. It's a delightful and absorbing study of words and faces, mass media and personal isolation, and America's odd margins.

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  4. Don P.

    Don P. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate NY
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    A Master Builder
    Directed by Jonathan Demme • 2014 • United States
    Starring Wallace Shawn, Julie Hagerty, Lisa Joyce

    Twenty years after their brilliant cinema-theater experiment VANYA ON 42ND STREET, Wallace Shawn and André Gregory reunited to produce another idiosyncratic film version of a classic play, this time Henrik Ibsen’s “Bygmester Solness” (“Master Builder Solness”). Brought pristinely to the screen by Jonathan Demme, this compellingly abstract reimagining features Shawn (who also wrote the adaptation) as a visionary but tyrannical middle-aged architect haunted by figures from his past, most acutely an attractive, vivacious young woman (the breathtaking newcomer Lisa Joyce) who has appeared on his doorstep. Also featuring standout supporting performances by Julie Hagerty, Larry Pine, and Gregory, A MASTER BUILDER, like VANYA, is the result of many years of rehearsals, a living, breathing, constantly shifting work that unites theater, film, and dream.
     
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  5. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
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    Shoot The Piano Player



    Talented dive bar pianist tries to duck his life but his gangster brothers and an enamored femme fatale won't let him. One of my favorites.
     
  6. Malinky

    Malinky Almost a Gentleman.

    Location:
    U.K.
    One of the WORST films ever made, nothing but a tirade of foul mouthed `F` words, the Coen`s (and Tom Hanks) should be ashamed to have taken one of the greatest films of all time and made such a travesty of it, and I say that as a fan of the majority of the Coen Brothers output.
     
  7. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    I think that's the only Coen Bros. film I haven't seen and had never heard of until now. I must have been in a coma when it came out. Too bad it's bad, but I would watch it because it's them.
     
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  8. Big Jimbo

    Big Jimbo Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    Watching some Cary Grant films. “The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer”. Should I be ashamed to say Shirley Temple was a hottie at 17? She was a married woman then. Also interesting at the high school basketball game they are always having tipoffs, which have pretty much disappeared now. “Operation Petticoat”....Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod) as one of the seaman and Mrs C (Marion Ross) as one of the nurses
     
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  9. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Indeed.
    Re: Grant. At least Hitchcock gave Grant a workout. But North By Northwest doesn't qualify as a "Grant Comedy" so his best film (imo) is MIA. Philadelphia Story is my second favorite but as that's missing, too, I'll go with Holiday. The Hepburn pairings were fun.

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    George Cukor • 1938 • United States
    Starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan
     
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  10. Vinyljunkie22

    Vinyljunkie22 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Persona, M, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Festival, Twin Peaks so far
     
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  11. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY

    A Night To Remember (1958, Ray Ward Baker)

    One of my all time faves. And certainly more fun than this evening's news.

    Whatever happened to Baker?
     
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  12. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
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    The Life of Oharu (1952, Kenji Mizoguchi)

    This one was the prize jewel in a friend's CC library, which was considerable. He was a painter who gifted me with many Criterion titles. But Oharu touched something in him that, to be honest, escaped me. In truth, I don't think I've ever gotten past the opening five minutes. This and Sancho, The Baliff are the two Mizoguchi titles that I've found difficult to watch. Found a strange short time-piece on the lead actress in Oharu, Kinuyo Tanaka (not sure if it comes with the supplements):



    In Oharu Tanaka plays an imperial lady-in-waiting who, in an inexorable fall from grace, descends to street prostitution. The film put Mizoguchi on the map (as they say). His Five Women Around Utamaro and, especially Ugetsu, have long been my favorites. This may become a new one.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2021
  13. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    The trouble I remember having with Oharu is that she is too much the victim. And (as I suspected) the first five minutes - that long miserable walk - is like a prelude to the misfortunes (her life flashbacks) that follow. It's debatable whether her fate is character driven and/or the result of the low regard/status of women in Medieval Japan.

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    Bamboozled (2000, Spike Lee)

    A black tv producer puts on a blackface show in protest to the material he's allowed to air. The show, however, becomes a hit. Glad to see it on the channel. Been a minute since I've watched it.

    Interesting review -
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2021
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  14. Andrew Furlong

    Andrew Furlong Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Hemet, California
    Samurai Spy
     
  15. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I have watched many movies since my last post. This was a good one I watched today.

    The Tall Target

    Directed by Anthony Mann • 1951 • United States
    Starring Dick Powell, Paula Raymond, Adolphe Menjou

    Former police officer John Kennedy (Dick Powell) doesn’t have a ticket, but he’s determined to stay aboard the overnight train rolling from New York to Washington, DC. He’s convinced that someone among the passengers intends to kill newly elected President Abraham Lincoln when the train stops in Baltimore. The true-life Baltimore Plot provides the inspiration for this crackling thriller directed with film noir overtones by Anthony Mann and possessed of a real feeling for the powder-keg political atmosphere of 1861.

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  16. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Also, many great Josef Von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich movies are featured this month. Watched this last night.

    Shanghai Express
    Directed by Josef von Sternberg • 1932 • United States
    Starring Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong

    An intoxicating mix of adventure, romance, and pre-Code salaciousness, SHANGHAI EXPRESS marks the commercial peak of an iconic collaboration. Marlene Dietrich is at her wicked best as Shanghai Lily, a courtesan whose reputation brings a hint of scandal to a three-day train ride through war-torn China. On board, she is surrounded by a motley crew of foreigners and lowlifes, including a fellow fallen woman (Anna May Wong), an old flame (Clive Brook), and a rebel leader wanted by the authorities (Warner Oland). As tensions come to a boil, director Josef von Sternberg delivers one breathtaking image after another, enveloping his star in a decadent profusion of feathers, furs, and cigarette smoke. The result is a triumph of studio filmmaking and a testament to the mythic power of Hollywood glamour.

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  17. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Going through the Sam Fuller offerings this month...

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    Not a bad handful. Here's a fun top 20 IMDB rated list of Sam Fuller films. Three of the above are in the top five.

     
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  18. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    It is on the Criterion BD, yes.

    Tanaka was the great love of Mizoguchi’s life, but he seemed incapable of expressing that to her, so the relationship never progressed beyond the professional.

    This long documentary by acclaimed director Kaneto Shindo appears on the supplements for the Criterion BD of Ugetsu. Tanaka speaks quite frankly about her relationship with Mizoguchi toward the end of the film:

     
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  19. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Thanks. I think I've seen this - isn't it the one where Shindo goes to the old Red Light district in Tokyo (Edo) and talk to some of the elders?
     
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  20. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    Exactly, yes.
     
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  21. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I re
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    Speaking of Mizoguchi's old Edo's red light district I would really like to own this set but unless I get an all-region Blu-ray player the box sets are off limits. :(
    So I'm watching as many as I can on the channel and (in my friend's words) pay for nothing. :shrug: :)
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2021
  22. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    Not looking to boast, but I have a complete set of English-friendly Mizoguchi BDs and DVDs. That Artificial Eye box set has been out of print for a few years now, and tends to be quite expensive on the secondary market. I think I paid £15 for my copy.
     
  23. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Oh, is the
    Oh, is there a more recent region-free Blu-ray box of any of M's films?
     
  24. stepeanut

    stepeanut The gloves are off

    Region-coding is not a concern for me. I refuse to be constrained by such notions. If you’re serious about collecting world cinema on physical media, you really have to own a region-free setup.

    You’re not going to like the answer to your question:

    Late Mizoguchi
    (Eureka! Masters of Cinema) is one of the most sought-after, and expensive, box sets in world cinema. If you can find a copy, in decent condition, for less than £300 then you’re doing well. They are often listed for much, much more.

    The aforementioned Artificial Eye box set is cheaper at £100+.

    Kenji Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women (Criterion Eclipse Series 13, DVD box set) is still in print in the United States, so that one at least should be easy to obtain.

    Also very rare are the two Japanese Talking Pictures DVDs, which include several Mizoguchi silents presented in an English-friendly manner. I imported mine from Japan years ago, and IIRC they cost me around £70-75 for the pair.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2021
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  25. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    Watching now. Hilarious and nasty! Films aren't made like this anymore.

    Morocco
    Directed by Josef von Sternberg • 1930 • United States
    Starring Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Adolphe Menjou

    With this romantic reverie, Marlene Dietrich made her triumphant debut before American audiences and unveiled the enthralling, insouciant persona that would define her Hollywood collaboration with director Josef von Sternberg. Set on the far side of the world but shot outside Los Angeles, MOROCCO navigates a labyrinth of melancholy and desire as the cabaret singer Amy Jolly (Dietrich), fleeing her former life, takes her act to the shores of North Africa, where she entertains the overtures of a wealthy man of the world while finding herself increasingly drawn to a strapping legionnaire with a shadowy past of his own (Gary Cooper). Fueled by the smoldering chemistry between its two stars, and shot in dazzling light and seductive shadow, the Oscar-nominated MOROCCO is a transfixing exploration of elemental passions.

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