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Decided to order this for my next Criterion, and got it cheaper than the Studio Canal Blu-ray edition that's out here in Britain. So happy with that.

You've bought the winner of the Mofo tournament congratulations on behalf of someone around here



I might buy one more boxset depending in if my old video games sell tommorow
__________________
Yeah, there's no body mutilation in it



Bugger, the Qatsi trilogy has gone up in price a bit.


You've bought the winner of the Mofo tournament congratulations on behalf of someone around here



Two more orders, sigh, I need to stop being so wasteful


Danton


Andre Rublev



I ordered another blu-ray in this wonderful sale:



I'm glad I'm not in America right now, I'd be getting a lot of these on blu-ray since I wouldn't have to pay for postage! Remind me never to go to America in July or November...



I considered getting Last Year at Marienbad, Empire of Passion, and Vanya on 42nd Street, but cheapness won out. I got Letter Never Sent - the only one I really wanted that isn't available via netflix or the libraries - for $10. Going to watch it tonight.



I bought Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law.



The black and white visuals shown over at Blu-ray.com impressed me so much that I wanted to check this out. The director of photography had also done Repo Man, which is a movie I love. I had never even heard of Down by Law before. The movie was good -- kinda straightforward and not very dramatic, but definitely cinematic. I'm not sure what I'd rate the movie.
perhaps. I do recommend it.



I got Letter Never Sent - the only one I really wanted that isn't available via netflix or the libraries - for $10. Going to watch it tonight.
Letter Never Sent is good. The story is as simple as can be but it's worth seeing for the Siberian wilderness. The natural lighting conditions must have been a huge pain in the ass to get but it's worth the effort. The camerawork has some wonderful movement but it seemed to be much more fixed to actual people and the way people move. (I'll have wait till I re-watch it to get a greater sense of how prominent this affect actually is. My personal preference is for the free-floating eye of Soy Cuba).



Branded To Kill - A review for my Japanese Canon thread



Branded To Kill is one of my favourite Japanese films and watching this on the new criterion is delightful. It looks much better than the one I saw a year ago on the out-of-print criterion. There are not a lot of special features here (just ordinary interviews) unlike criterion's High And Low which has an audio commentary. The booklet essay is pretty neat, but it doesnt really go into a more in-depth analysis of the film itself.

Branded To Kill has such a nonsensical plot that defies physics and reason. Neither gangster film nor film noir per se, the film is highly original in its deliriously paced structure. It's also utterly hilarious and playful at the same time. Plus it has one of the sexiest femme fatale I've seen on film.

What I love most about the film is its visual kineticism. In Suzuki's world, bullets can be stopped by butterflies and killers compete with each other over farcical rankings. The poetry of sound complementing surrealistc, avant garde images gives rise to a wholly submersive experience, one that sucks you in and only lets you out after seducing you from first frame to last.

+



The Great Dictator
Film: I've been a Charles Chaplin fan since I was a child, and watching this for the first time solidified my belief that he's the king of slapstick. Bean, Keaton, and The Stooges are all great, but this man is the klutz you can't rely on. The film parodied the WWII dictators, and life in the earlier ghettos. A lot of people seem to prefer one to another, while the scenes had more to follow, the dictator scenes had the laughs. The chair scene was comedy gold, no one can mock Nazis like Chaplin, well Mel brooks, but thats his main gig.
The end was so unbelievably beautiful and unimaginably relevant today. That was the greatest speech delivered in a film. Show this film and Duck Soup to the young people of the world, and we will have world peace.
+

Audio: The sound was very clear and crisp, vivid, and had good range


Picture: It looked very nice, and not jumpy, but as it's B&W I can't give it more than four, because theres only so much quality you can put in it


Artwork: I really love the cover art, I had a good laugh when i realized what it was showing, I don't like double layered discs though... all the art looked great though


Supplements: I'm not gonna listen to the commentary since that's not my thing, and I'll read the booklet tonight. I saw everything on the second disc including the 54 minute documentary, and while everyone was saying the same thing, it was still very informative on the unique character of Charlie Chaplin. The visual essays were very nice


Total:



March releases being announced tommorow, since Eraserhead has been added to the criterion on Hulu, I really hope it'll get it's DVD/Blu-ray criterion. Should also be expecting and eclipse, since there been none since the November one



March releases being announced tommorow, since Eraserhead has been added to the criterion on Hulu, I really hope it'll get it's DVD/Blu-ray criterion. Should also be expecting and eclipse, since there been none since the November one
I hope Eraserhead does get one, I put off buying the blu-ray release here in the UK and glad I did now if that's the case!



I just watched Jarmusch's Down By Law. The movie I give 3 stars. I was expecting more from the film and was let down by its downbeat narrative.

Dead Man and Stranger Than Paradise are imo, much better films by Jarmusch.



Wow March releases are pretty good

A new Chaplin, MonSieur Verdoux
A man Escaped
Life and Death of Colonel Blimp now has an official criterion
Mallicks Bad Land
The Blob
And Fritz Lang Ministry of Fear

TBH, I want them all



I'm getting this as soon as it's out:



One of my all time favourite films and it's finally getting a blu-ray release(don't think it's ever been out on blu-ray yet), and on Criterion!!



Story about my mother: The Castrating Zionist
I just watched Jarmusch's Down By Law. The movie I give 3 stars. I was expecting more from the film and was let down by its downbeat narrative.

Dead Man and Stranger Than Paradise are imo, much better films by Jarmusch.
I agree with your sentiment regarding Dead Man, I still adore Down by Law for its mise-en-scene. The noirish New Orleans, steady, understated. Roberto Benigni's character kept the movie interesting after the break out (the restaurant with the Italian woman is particularly fun) Waits and Lurie were uninspiring.