Criterion Does It Again

[Martin]

Yeah, some early Wenders would be great (and doesn't seem that implausible).

[Rainer]

Yeah, some early Wenders would be great (and doesn't seem that implausible).

You wouldn't think so, but apparently not. I bought "The Wim Wenders Collection" because it included The American Friend and Lightning Over Water, and when I saw "The Wim Wenders Collection II" on Amazon, I assumed that it would include early films.  But no:

Room 666
Tokyo-Ga
Wrong Move
Lightning Over Water*
The Scarlet Letter
A Trick of Light
The American Friend*
Notebook on Cities & Clothes*

*On The Wim Wenders Collection [Part 1]"

I'm very surprised that Jean Eustache's work is not available either ... art film director that committed suicide.  What's not to like?



 

[Martin]

Yeah I know, the collection (esp II) are a bit disappointing, at least in terms of what films are included (although Room 666 is awesome). The early ones would've been great to get hold of - so I can ditch my old TV rips and whatnot.

[Matt]

I'm very excited for this:



Hopefully they'll be able to fix the typo on the side of the package before March 25.

[Martin]

That looks interesting. Mr. Freedom is nuts.

[Matt]

Mr. Freedom is nuts.

Have you seen it?

I haven't heard of William Klein or any of his films, but they look like they'd be pretty fun, Jodorowsky-esque type stuff.

[Martin]

Mr. Freedom is nuts.

Have you seen it?

I have. It's pretty outrageous, a very 68-era blunt critique of America and capitalism. In brief, the Mr. Freedom of the title is an American anti-communist superhero based in Paris, who on the one hand saves the world from evil, on the other rapes and beats people up at will. Basically, he's an asshole.

It's perhaps better on paper than in execution, and it suffers from a low budget (especially since many of the scenes call for rather spectacular costumes, sets and effects), but it's funny and worth seeing nevertheless. Haven't seen the others.

[Chris L]

Sundance has been running Polly Maggoo a lot lately and it was on again tonight.  It was suitably delirious.  More of that blunt American vapidism critique crimestick mentioned, but the French come off kinda bad too, so I didn't hurl my giant foam finger at the teevee.  I fell asleep and missed the last 10 minutes though. 

[Sarah]

I recorded it last night.  When I'll have the gumption to watch it, I don't know, though

[Gagneaux]

Hey fellow FOTs...

 I know that a lot of folks hate the idea of film snobbery/extravagant sales pricing, but I really like how Criterion treats the films they put out. I know I'm not alone on that. So,what underrated film (in your eyes) do you think deserves the criterion treatment?

I'd like to see Danny Boyle's Trainspotting followup "A Life Less Ordinary" as a Criterion DVD. For whatever reason, I love that film. I've never met anyone else whose even seen it.

[Sarah]

Which one?  You must mean A Life Less Ordinary.  I liked Millions better (not to mention Trainspotting and 28 Days Later; didn't care for Beaches, however).  I really wanted to like A Life, and I have quite a high tolerance for that kind of film, but I thought it tried too hard to be eccentric and charming. Of course, it doesn't help that I find Cameron Diaz grating; Ewan McGregor's charm doesn't go very far for me, either (though I thought he did a good job in Trainspotting).

[Chris L]

Criterion wish list (in many of these cases a general dvd wish list, actually)

Films that I've seen:
Chimes at Midnight
Life is Sweet
Maborosi
Mirror
The Thin Red Line (want a director's cut)

Haven't seen:
An Actor's Revenge
Celine & Julie Go Boating (opinions on this?)
A Brighter Summer Day
Satantango
The TAMI Show

Also there's a thread on the Criterionforum message board listing forthcoming titles that have been confirmed in one way or another.  The most intriguing titles for me are John Huston's Wise Blood, which they're trying to get, and the various Mizoguchi films.  

[Martin]

Ooh, Wise Blood would be awesome. Brad Dourif's greatest moment.

Second Thin Red Line.

(You probably knew, but Satantango is already out, albeit not by Criterion.)

As for me, I would love to see

Crime Wave (by John Paizs, not the Raimi/Coen one)
Judex (by Georges Franju)
The Scenic Route (by Mark Rapaport)

All three: bizarre, unique masterpieces, three of my all-time favorites. None of them are available on DVD at all, they're not even widely available as bootlegs (and thus not discussed that much).

[Chris L]

(You probably knew, but Satantango is already out, albeit not by Criterion.)

I think it quickly went out of print. 

[Gagneaux]

Which one?  You must mean A Life Less Ordinary.  I liked Millions better (not to mention Trainspotting and 28 Days Later; didn't care for Beaches, however).

Have you seen "Sunshine"? I liked that one a lot. This thread made me realise that I'm a bigger Danny Boyle fan than I'd thought. I like every one of his movies that I've seen.