What are you watching on the Criterion Channel?

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

  1. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Might be the video. Some of my favorites are not in perfect synchronization. Must say, CC has a Black History feature actually worth considering (most streaming services trot out the same tired titles) -

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    Baldwin’s writing and overall work encompasses the HUMAN predicament, really, but his particular evolution certainly includes a crucial part of “Black History” of the 20th century. Recommended.
     
  2. guidedbyvoices

    guidedbyvoices Old Dan's Records

    Location:
    Alpine, TX
    The Seventh Seal.

    I watched Seventh Seal years ago and it was alright. Thought I'd give it another go last night, see if my opinion changed since I don't remember that much. Made it half way through and called it a night. Just doesn't click for me, one of those famous "world all time classics" that feels like homework. I remember having a similar experience with Wild Strawberries.
     
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  3. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Just watched this one again. It’s become one of my favorite Criterion titles.
     
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  4. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Agreed about Wild Strawberries; it’s a long slog to sit through but at least Seventh Seal has that strong visual tableau going throughout the film. Philosophically, it was Bergman’s admitted didactic attempt at a kind of moral reconciliation with the divine which he would not have made ten or fifteen years later. But that doesn’t take away from the power of its use of religious iconography. The forces that have created those images are historic as well as archetypal so although the film sometimes feels like a relic the images still have persuasion if you care to follow the narrative.
     
  5. VU Master

    VU Master Senior Member

    Just wanted to thank all who contribute to this thread. I noticed it at the beginning and was interested but for some thickheaded reason couldn't quite grasp what the Criterion Channel was. Then when I finally understood what it was I couldn't find a way to add it to my system. Finally it's on my sets and I'm really digging in to some of the great titles. I feel like this is the only streaming channel that doesn't insult me with a load of junk films. I don't love the UI and with my Fire stick it's a little buggy on one set, but that's ok. Lately I've been enjoying the Siodmak noirs but I'm seeing loads of other intriguing titles. I'll be watching the channel, and also this thread. Thanks again!
     
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  6. ATR

    ATR Senior Member

    Location:
    Baystate
    We watched this over the weekend. I saw Moonlighting when it was originally released, thought it to be excellent. I recently saw The Deep End and The Shout. I'd never known about The Deep End, which I found disappointing, but The Shout was quite good with a framing narrative including the author of the story, Robert Graves, as a character that calls into doubt the reality of the entire thing. I wondered why it's considered a horror movie, although sinister and mysterious it is.
    As we watched Eo, and I had no preparation for it, I wondered if it wasn't in fact a remake of Au Hasard Balthazar which I'd never seen. The classic Bresson movie from the 60's is also currently up on Criterion. When I consulted some reviews after watching it they mentioned it of course. Another movie that comes to mind is Todd Solondz's Weiner Dog, the story of an animal who goes from owner to owner.
    A thread was begun about EO that wasn't worth contributing to, but here I'll say that this is a great picture with excellent visuals and cinematography. The donkey is a watcher, observing human folly in all its diversity and passing no judgment.
     
  7. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Another revisit title tonight. I remember the hallucinations sequence being pretty hokey but a first rate Powell picture, otherwise. He was an amusing old school storyteller, Powell, as the above doc illustrates.
     
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  8. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
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    Douglas Sirk Rarities & Some

    I actually started a Sirk retrospective with a melodrama film club viewing of All That Heaven Allows last weekend. Curious to see if there was more of that sort of Jane Wyman/Rock Hudson led tepid potboiler streaming in HD on CC I found this little collection. Tonight’s selection, the Lauren Bacall/Rock Hudson/Robert Stack/ Dorothy Malone led Written on the Wind is the unrare Sirk melodrama on the channel (I’ll get to the rares this weekend). Sirk was, no doubt, aware of Hudson’s closeted status and wisely put him in the “gentlemanly”, slightly odd-man-out roles, which makes watching him somewhat intriguing in retrospect though he always seems to have lid on any free emotional expression. From what I’ve seen so far, though, he’s the ballast around which everyone else can flit. But the real star of the Sirk picture is “the look”. All That Heaven is almost a moving Rockwell painting. Written is a lot less self-consciously arty but that 50s color coded Americana is in full display. See it for that.
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2023
  9. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    Is All That Heaven Allows available on the US channel or is it just a Criterion DVD? It doesn't show up on the Canadian channel. I might have to do something 'fancy' to see it.
     
  10. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    No, All That Heaven kicked off my foray into Sirk movies but I initially watched a streaming Criterion copy here: Одноклассники . (Many take umbrage at watching the site but I wouldn’t have been able to join my online film club viewing otherwise.) You’re inspiring a second viewing and I must say Sirk really managed to pulled all the stops in the technicolor department without the often “gaudy” effect of the more freewheeling spectacles of the era. Every shade of each color seems to have an implication. Fun stuff.
     
  11. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    I watched the beginning of Written on the Wind last night and is my first Sirk film. I don't know what to make of it and definitely not prepared for how it's edited, the style of dialogue, or just what the heck is going on here? HELP!! :)
     
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  12. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    :laugh: I felt the same way when I attempted a viewing years ago - and turned it off. But after viewing All That Heaven (which I think is a much better example of the Sirk touch) I gained an appreciation for the subtler touches of what in other hands would be routine melodramas of the entitled class. Check out the short doc on the channel titled, Cast and Crew on Douglas Sirk, in particular, what Sirk has to say about America and what capitalism does to the family unit. He’s no ranting socialist, by any means, just an amusing observer of American society.

    Editing wise, it really begins like a myriad films of that era where you see a character in a desperate situation, hear/see a gunshot, all without context and then proceed with a flashback to what precipitated the dramatic opening scene. Carol Burnett and others have made hilarious spoofs on movie beginnings like this. :)
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2023
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  13. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I would highly recommend other Bergman films and then go back to these two. These seem to get all the love, but neither would make my top ten Bergman films.

    This would be a good start:
    Summer With Monika
    Sawdust and Tinsel
    Persona
    Shame
     
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  14. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    I love Fassbinder, especially the BRD trilogy, but this was a difficult one to get through. I enjoyed certain aspects of it, but there are so many unlikeable characters. There was something hypnotic about the filming style and the despicable and boring characters, but don't expect it to brighten your day. It did make me want to watch more of these early Fassbinder films.

    Katzelmacher

    Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder • 1969 • Germany

    The arrival of a Greek immigrant alters the lives of a group of friends in West Germany.

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  15. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    My favorite Fellini films are Nights of Cabiria, La Strada, and Amarcord, but I still struggle with this one. It's beautifully shot and I love the opening sequence, but I always lose interest half way in. How do all of you feel about it? I tried watching it again tonight and I couldn't get into it.


    Directed by Federico Fellini • 1963 • Italy
    Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Bruno Agostini, Sandra Milo

    Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido Anselmi, a director whose new project is collapsing around him, along with his life. One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini’s 8½ (Otto e mezzo) turns one man’s artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema. An early working title for 8½ was THE BEAUTIFUL CONFUSION, and Fellini’s masterpiece is exactly that: a shimmering dream, a circus, and a magic act.

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  16. ~dave~~wave~

    ~dave~~wave~ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lincoln, NE
    Like you, I've tried over the years but never made it all the way through.
    However, I have the same problem with Citizen Kane and several other highly-regarded films.
    Without any guilt or apology.
    So many good films, so little time.
     
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  17. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Yeah. I guess it happens once in awhile. We all can’t love everything! I haven’t seen Citizen Kane in years, but I watched it twice in one day. I thought it was excellent, but that seems to be a film that many people can’t get into.
     
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  18. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    [​IMG]
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Ang Lee)

    Curious to see how this looks. It was recently streaming free on YouTube where it looked pretty good. For me the great set design, costuming and choreography of the now legendary, Yuen Woo-ping, are its outstanding aspects. But I imagine it takes some skill even to pull off wire-fu convincingly. :p It’s part of this month’s Michelle Yeoh Kick Ass retrospective -



    Edit: Do NOT like the burned-in subtitles. Hope this isn’t a new CC trend.
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2023
  19. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

    I'm struggling with Douglas Sirk like you're struggling with 8-1/2. :confused:
     
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  20. BradF

    BradF Senior Member

    Location:
    SW Ontario
    I'm trying to remember the name of a film I watched a few years ago on the Criterion Channel or it might have been TCM. Man sneaks out the window of his stark prison cell at night, climbs down a tree, walks a fair distance to murder someone in a house and then sneaks back into his cell the same way. It was b&w, 50s or 60s, Swedish, possibly Bergman and Max von Sydow, but if so I couldn't connect the dots at IMDB. This ring a bell for anyone?
     
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  21. jupiter8

    jupiter8 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ, USA
    Try his remake of “Imitation of Life” - I think it’s his best
     
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  22. NickySee

    NickySee Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York, NY
    :D Can't help but giggle at some of the plot points - isn't there a single name you can recall associated with the film?
     
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  23. palisantrancho

    palisantrancho Forum Resident

    Yeah. It’s not ringing a bell for me, and I have watched nearly every Bergman film within the last two years.
     
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  24. BradF

    BradF Senior Member

    Location:
    SW Ontario
  25. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage Thread Starter

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