What are you watching on the Criterion Channel?

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

  1. Plinko

    Plinko Senior Member

    watched last night. thought it was great. will need to seek out more films by this director.
     
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  2. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    ... and Alan Bates, of course!
     
  3. Plinko

    Plinko Senior Member

    yes. a brilliant actor. one of the best of all time.
     
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  4. Plinko

    Plinko Senior Member

    Well, I just watched a film that is clearly top five most hilarious films I have ever seen. Maybe tops.

    And that film is Nuts in May by Mike Leigh.

    As long as I can access it, I have no doubt I will watch this many more times.

    Seems the whole film is on YouTube right now!

    Nuts in May (1976) – Nostalgia Central
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2023
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  5. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    Currently in the middle of this hilarious Italian film by Dino Risi. I came across it on Criterion after reading a review in the New York Times on Feb. 2 about a recently rediscovered and equally hilarious film of his called A Difficult Life, not on Criterion. For those with access, here is the link: ‘Una Vita Difficile’ Review: Life Comes at You Fast

    Promo video on YouTube:


    Il sorpasso
    Directed by Dino Risi • 1962 • Italy
    Starring Vittorio Gassman, Jean-Louis Trintignant

    The ultimate Italian road comedy, IL SORPASSO stars the unlikely pair of Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant as, respectively, a waggish, freewheeling bachelor and the straitlaced law student he takes on a madcap trip from Rome to Tuscany. An unpredictable journey that careers from slapstick to tragedy, this film, directed by Dino Risi, is a wildly entertaining commentary on the pleasures and consequences of the good life. A holy grail of commedia all’italiana, IL SORPASSO is so fresh and exciting that one can easily see why it has long been adored in Italy.

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    From the NYT's article mentioned above:
    "Right after “Una Vita Difficile,” Risi made “Il Sorpasso,” a road comedy starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Vittorio Gassman that has long been regarded as a classic. The original English title of that film was “The Easy Life.” Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita”(“The Sweet Life”) dates from the same period. So much life! All of these movies pulsate with the breathlessness and disorientation of a country simultaneously grappling with the past and speeding toward a confusing future. “Una Vita Difficile” belongs in their company. It also stands by itself as an exuberant bad time, a pity party that has no business being so much fun."
     
  6. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    And everybody does The Twist.
     
  7. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    And what are the other four?
     
  8. Plinko

    Plinko Senior Member

    Tough one. Will require some thinking. I think a qualifier has to be that I need to go back and watch multiple times. I know this will be the case with this Leigh film. It’s one of those films where every other line is hilarious.

    A definite in the list for me is The Big Lebowski. In Bruges is also extremely funny. Life of Brian, also. Spinal Tap, maybe.

    Maybe one of Albert Brooks’ films. Whit Stillman’s films are deceptively hilarious. Bill Forsyth made some great ones (Gregory’s Girl). Watching these films multiple times helps to uncover the humor.

    Swingers. Arsenic and Old Lace. The Lobster. Many more. I know I am missing something major here.

    what do you think?
     
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  9. skinnyev

    skinnyev Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    I noticed that Mike Leigh’s BBC films were on there, but I let my subscription lapse, but am considering renewing to watch those. I really enjoy his films, but haven’t seen any of those older ones. I would recommend Topsy Turvy if it’s still on the site.
     
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  10. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    Unfortunately, my favourite comedies are not on the Criterion Channel. (Ishtar is one.)
     
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  11. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Finding time is KEY. But Criterion remains my favorite streaming app. I watch at least 10 films every month on the service - about half repeat viewings of favorites that are rotated titles. Also, my movie viewing occurs in phases. Some months I’ll watch a dozen, other months, 20 or 30. Viewing sometimes goes down to single digits during the summer months. But CC’s my new/old stand-by option.
     
  12. ~dave~~wave~

    ~dave~~wave~ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lincoln, NE
    To follow up, I've been streaming in 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus for a while now from my Fire Stick using my CC subscription on Prime.

    The trick was to change the surround sound configuration from Best Available to DD+.
    tools -> displays & sounds -> audio -> surround sound -> dolby digital plus

    For anyone with home theater surround surround sound, big enhancement to newer films or musicals from the Collection like Buena Vista
    Social Club, Quadrophenia, etc.

    Especially the best thing I've seen lately, stunning sound design on this one:


    Il buco
    Directed by Michelangelo Frammartino • 2021 • Italy
    Starring Claudia Candusso, Paolo Cossi, Mila Costi

    During the economic boom of the 1960s, Europe’s highest building is being constructed in Italy’s prosperous North. At the other end of the country, young speleologists explore Europe’s deepest cave in the untouched Calabrian hinterland. The bottom of the Bifurto Abyss, 700 meters below Earth, is reached for the first time. The intruders’ venture goes unnoticed by the inhabitants of a small neighboring village, but not by the old shepherd of the Pollino plateau whose solitary life gradually becomes entwined with the group’s journey. A work of nearly wordless organic beauty from visionary director Michelangelo Frammartino, IL BUCO chronicles a visit through unknown depths of life and nature and parallels two great voyages to the interior.


    [​IMG]
     
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  13. guidedbyvoices

    guidedbyvoices Old Dan's Records

    Location:
    Alpine, TX
    I used to have the Yo La Tengo cd of their music for this, so their extra caught my eye. Watched the films while spinning vinyl today. My kids at first were like what are you watching?! Then they hung out for a while on the seahorses part, ha.



    The Sounds of Science


    Directed by Jean Painlevé • 2002 • France

    The mesmerizing, utterly unclassifiable films of Jean Painlevé have to be seen to be believed: delightful, surrealist-influenced dream works that are also serious science. The French filmmaker-scientist-inventor had a decades-spanning career in which he created hundreds of short films on subjects ranging from astronomy to pigeons to, most famously, such marine-life marvels as the seahorse and the sea urchin. Set to an original score—never before available to stream—by indie-rock heroes Yo La Tengo, the suite of eight underwater miniatures presented here captures the strange beauty and wonder of the aquatic world with a Dadaist’s eye.


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  14. ~dave~~wave~

    ~dave~~wave~ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lincoln, NE
    Just into the inbox:
    EO Is Coming February 21
    Mark your calendars now for one of the year’s most celebrated films, coming soon to the Criterion Channel.
    With this wildly acclaimed, Oscar-nominated triumph starring six Sardinian donkeys,
    Polish master Jerzy Skolimowski directs one of the most free and visually inventive films of this or any other year.

    We saw it last week at the local art house cinema.
    Highly recommended by me, a bit too dark for my animal lover wife's taste.

    Trailer link (unable to embed): chttps://www.criterionchannel.com/videos/eo-trailer


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  15. ~dave~~wave~

    ~dave~~wave~ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lincoln, NE
    This five-minute interview with the film maker of EO is already up on the channel, you may need a subscription to view it.
    Now 84 years old, same guy who made The Shout 45 years ago.

    All the Donkeys - EO - The Criterion Channel


     
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  16. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Yep! It’s really the only channel I care about. I don’t have any others aside from some free channels like Kanopy. I realized tonight I had not watched a movie in over a month. Sometimes that happens, but tonight I watched three. I like to support Criterion. I don’t mind if I don’t watch anything one month because the following month I may watch twenty.
     
  17. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I agree. I watched this tonight and I was very underwhelmed.
     
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  18. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I watched all of these in the last couple days (except for The Killers which I have already seen a couple times recently). I absolutely love The Killers so was excited to check out the other films. I started with The Suspect which was my favorite. I Love Charles Laughton. I would also highly recommend Criss Cross and Phantom Lady. I wish there were a few more to watch!

    Robert Siodmak: Four Key Noirs

    Along with fellow European émigrés like Fritz Lang and Billy Wilder, German-born Robert Siodmak was instrumental in importing the expressionist visual style and hard-bitten existentialist sensibility that would define Hollywood film noir, arguably creating more classics of the genre than any other director. His moody, shadow-etched compositions and flair for the fatalistic are on full display in this selection of some of his finest, including PHANTOM LADY, his dreamlike first noir and a fascinating protofeminist example of the genre, and THE KILLERS and CRISS CROSS, a pair of bleak, twisty pulp masterpieces starring Burt Lancaster.

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  19. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    [​IMG]
    The Passion According to Andrei (1966, Andrew Tarkovsky)

    Meditation of the 15th century Russian icon painter, Andrei Rublev. Question is: Rublev’s Passion or Tarkovsky’s Passion? In any event, the 3 hour and 25 minute version is the one to see, imo. The other version have unnecessary cuts intended not to offend the prudish, apparently. Remains my favorite film of all time that I watch in its entirety once every few years, particularly in the midst of crises. Reminds me that all **** passes. Or should. :D
     
  20. AintGotHalfOf

    AintGotHalfOf Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
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  21. AintGotHalfOf

    AintGotHalfOf Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I have watched Nude on the Moon and Bad Girls Got To Hell. Nude was historically interesting, Bad Girls has a crazy appeal to it. The dubbing of vocals and the acting, NYC in the year I was born...worth a watch.
     
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  22. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I love Tarkovsky, but never made it through this one. Not that I didn't like it, but it's a long one! I just added it to my watch list. I also added Nostalghia, which I have never seen. My favorites are Stalker, Ivan's Childhood, and The Sacrifice.
     
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  23. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Yes! Pierre Étaix was brilliant. I bought the Criterion set. You should definitely watch Le Grand Amour and The Suitor if you haven't yet.
     
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  24. Scopitone

    Scopitone Caught the last train for the coast

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    It’s been sometime since I’ve had an active account, so I signed up for a new two week trial just now. After browsing through all of the current playlist options, of course I ended up with a movie that I’ve seen a dozen times already: Powell and Pressburger’s “I Know Where I’m Going“ starring the divine Wendy Hiller. I love it so much.

    Actually, I am watching the commentary track. I think I’ve heard it once before on the DVD copy, but it’s been a long time. This track dates back to the laserdisc version, according to the introduction of the voiceover.

    My only complaint so far is that the audio seems to be out of sync. It’s less of an issue with commentary, which is primarily voiceover, but it does from time to time switch over to the actual movie’s audio. Is this a common issue with the channel? Or did I just get an unlucky video?
     
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  25. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    Will be watching. :righton:
     
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