Posts Tagged ‘Criterion Collection’

335 results.
Jun20

Toivon tuolla puolen / The Other Side of Hope (2017) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 20th, 2018 at 12:33
Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy, Drama

The Other Side of Hope 2017 Criterion Collection
Khaled (Sherwan Haji) is a young Syrian refugee who has fled his war-torn home and, after hopping from country to country looking for his sister after they got separated at one border, ends up on a cargo boat bound to Helsinki. He decides to do things properly here, after previously avoiding the authorities, and heads to the police station to register himself as an asylum seeker. This doesn't go very well though and he is forced to hide out as an illegal immigrant. Second narrative concerns Wikstrom (Sakari Kuosmanen), an ageing shirt salesman who leaves his wife and decides to sell his stock, gamble the proceeds on a high stakes poker game and use all this cash to open a restaurant. This all goes largely to plan and he ends up being the new owner of a mildly popular but ramshackle bar called the Golden Pint, which comes with a motley crew of staff in with the deal. After a while the two stories intertwine of course, as Wikstrom decides to help out the hard-done-by Khaled, who's avoiding the authorities and still looking for his sister.

Director: Aki Kaurismaki
Cast: Ville Virtanen, Kati Outinen, Dome Karukoski, Sherwan Haji
Country: Finland, Germany
Genre: Comedy, Drama
↓ Download movie...

└ Tags: , , ,
Jun20

Dupa dealuri / Beyond the Hills (2012) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection, DVD9

by movieworld on June 20th, 2018 at 12:18
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama

Beyond the Hills 2012
Based on two nonfiction novels by Tatiana Niculescu Bran, "Beyond the Hills" begins with Alina (Cristina Flutur) arriving from Germany to a monastery in Romania where her friend (and former lover) Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) lives to serve God. Determined to stay close to Voichita, who has been with her since growing up in the orphanage together, Alina tries to get her to move to Germany with her. Voichita won't give up her calling though and the monastery's father (Valeriu Andriuta) won't take her back if she just leaves for a couple of months (“the man who leaves is not the same when he returns”). Due to this, Alina tries her best to live amongst the nuns at the monastery, but her jealousy and passion drive her to violent episodes which prompt the father and his nuns to take desperate and increasingly drastic measures to restrain and 'cure' her.

"Beyond the Hills" tells the story of a real-life Romanian tragedy that attracted international media attention in 2005: the death of a young woman submitted to a shockingly medieval exorcism at a small monastery in Moldavia. The monastery was located near director Cristian Mungiu's hometown, so it is not by chance that this third feature by one of the most important filmmakers in contemporary European cinema explores this incident.
↓ Download movie...

└ Tags: , ,
Jun12

Sommarlek / Summer Interlude (1951) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 12th, 2018 at 15:38
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama, Romance

Summer Interlude 1951
Touching on many of the themes that would define the rest of his legendary career — isolation, performance, the inescapability of the past — Ingmar Bergman’s tenth film was a gentle drift toward true mastery.

While sitting in her dressing room before a big final rehearsal for a production of Swan Lake, troubled prima ballerina Marie (Nilsson, star of Bergman's earlier To Joy) receives a diary in the mail. It was written by her first lover from a few years before, Henrik (Masculin Feminin's Malmsten), and she decides to retreat to the countryside away from her current boyfriend (Kjellin) after a technical glitch puts the rehearsal on hold. There she remembers the events and experiences them through her beloved's eyes in flashbacks, showing how she went from an optimistic young lover to a more jaded, wounded soul in the present.

This early film by the legendary Swedish master focuses on the nostalgia that grips the heart after a loved one is lost and the pain that inevitably comes with it. Bergman completed the film in 1951, after he apparently spent a couple of years working on adapting a short story he wrote about a girl he once fell in love with.
↓ Download movie...

└ Tags: , , ,
Jun11

L’argent / Money (1983) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection, DVD9 Artificial Eye

by movieworld on June 11th, 2018 at 21:51
Posted In: .Other movies, Crime, Drama

L'argent 1983
Based on the novella The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy, L’Argent (Money) is the story of a counterfeit bill that would shape the lives of the various individuals it would encounter. Written for the screen and directed by Robert Bresson, the film is an exploration of money and the ills that it can bring into humanity all through a forged bill made as a prank that goes horribly wrong.

The tale Bresson spins is relatively faithful to Tolstoy's (though updated to contemporary France). A forged bill is passed on to a hapless soul who is powerless to fight the punishment he receives after unwittingly passing on the fake money. Losing his job and any reasonable prospect of employment to support his wife and child, he takes on the job of a getaway driver during a heist. He is caught, sentenced to prison and loses his child to a fatal illness and his wife who decides to move on and begin a new life. Upon his eventual release from prison, he has nothing. His soul seems drained and his actions become increasingly violent.

Director: Robert Bresson
Actors: Christian Patey, Sylvie Van den Elsen, Michel Briguet, Vincent Risterucci, Caroline Lang
Country: France, Switzerland
Genre: Crime, Drama
↓ Download movie...

└ Tags: , , ,
Jun07

Midnight Cowboy (1969) 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection, Blu-Ray 20th Century Fox

by movieworld on June 7th, 2018 at 17:19
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama

Midnight Cowboy 1969
1969 was an interesting turning point in American cinema and no film better reflects that than Midnight Cowboy. Not only was it the first X-rated film to win the Best Picture Oscar but it presented a view of New York City that was the most bleak and depressing portrait since Ray Milland hit every seedy Manhattan bar in The Lost Weekend (1945). While more traditional Hollywood films like Hello, Dolly!, Anne of the Thousand Days and True Grit were well represented at the 1969 Academy Awards ceremony, it was obvious that the counterculture movement of the sixties had finally made an impact on mainstream cinema with major nominations that year going to Midnight Cowboy, Last Summer, Alice's Restaurant, Easy Rider and Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice - films that ushered in a new permissiveness in dealing with sex on-screen.

Midnight Cowboy was easily the most provocative of the lot. It's a tale of urban alienation and human need, expressed through two social outcasts. The main character, Joe Buck, is a hopelessly naive Texan who leaves his dishwashing job and catches a bus to New York City where he plans to hustle wealthy women for sex and money. Once he arrives in Manhattan, he is quickly fleeced by Ratso Rizzo, a slightly crippled two-bit con artist. Yet, despite their initial conflagration the two men develop a supportive relationship with Ratso playing pimp to Buck's male prostitute. The irony is that Buck's macho cowboy getup mainly attracts homosexuals and not the clientele he originally envisioned.
↓ Download movie...

└ Tags: , ,
Jun07

Lost in America (1985) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 7th, 2018 at 15:32
Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy

Lost in America 1985 Criterion Collection
The film begins in sunny Los Angeles where successful advertising executive David Howard (Brooks) and his wife Linda (Julie Hagerty) are on the verge of relocating to a much bigger and more expensive home, even though they are both secretly dreaming of living a life on the road, a lot like the main characters in one of their all-time favorite films, Easy Rider. So they are visibly tense and occasionally even openly blame each other for not being brave enough to follow their hearts. On the day when David is supposed to get the crucial promotion that would make the purchase of their new home possible, however, things go terribly wrong and he gets fired. Barely able to contain his anger, David then rushes into Linda's office and with a short but very passionate speech convinces her to quit her miserable job. A few days later the two sell all of their possessions, then combine their financial assets, buy a Winnebago and hit the road. For the first time in years David and Linda feel truly free and even blessed that they have been able to escape the corporate world. But when Linda foolishly loses all of their savings in a casino in Las Vegas, their American Dream very quickly evolves into an American Nightmare.

Director: Albert Brooks
Cast: Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty, Sylvia Farrel
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy
↓ Download movie...

└ Tags: , ,
Jun06

Bacalaureat / Graduation (2016) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection, DVD9, Blu-Ray

by movieworld on June 6th, 2018 at 16:40
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama

Bacalaureat / Graduation (2016) DVD9
Graduation tells the story of Romeo Aldea (Titieni), a physician living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter Eliza (Dragus) with the idea that once she turns 18, she will leave to study and live abroad. His plan is close to succeeding - Eliza has won a scholarship to study psychology in the UK. She just has to pass her final exams – a formality for such a good student. On the day before her first written exam, Eliza is assaulted in an attack that could jeopardize her entire future.

The film follows Romeo's efforts to make sure Eliza gets the high marks she needs. His position as a chief doctor in the city's hospital gives him the power to exchange "favours", and as soon as he gets one, he owes one. These commitments start to agitate his professional prestige and an already fragile family structure.

Director: Cristian Mungiu
Cast: Adrian Titieni, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Rares Andrici, Malina Manovici, Vlad Ivanov, Ioachim Ciobanu
Country: Romania, France, Belgium
Genre: Drama
↓ Download movie...

└ Tags: , ,
Jun06

Election (1999) 2 x DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 6th, 2018 at 16:34
Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Election 1999 Criterion Collection
This snappy and fast-paced film is set in Omaha, Nebraska, where Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) is running for the presidency of the student council at George Washington Carver High. This overachiever feels superior to everyone else and firmly believes she is entitled to success because she works so hard at being a winner. She strives to be every teacher's pet, but one of them, history and civics teacher Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick), is not at all charmed. He watched Tracy walk away unscathed after she had an affair with his best friend and colleague, who subsequently lost his job and his wife.
McAllister decides to stop Tracy now. He recruits Paul (Chris Klein), a dim-witted but good-hearted football star, to run against her in the election. A wild card in the race is the entry of Tammy (Jessica Campbell), Paul's lesbian sister. She is miffed because her former lover has become Paul's girlfriend. A rebel at heart, Tammy runs on a platform of abolishing student government altogether, a position that wins amazing support from the other students.

Director: Alexander Payne
Cast: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
↓ Download movie...

└ Tags: , , , ,
Jun06

Dead Man (1995) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 6th, 2018 at 16:04
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Western

Dead Man 1995 Criterion Collection
The films of Jim Jarmusch are generally multi-layered reflections of differing aspects of humanity. His films have a subtle and gentle humour that seem to ride well with his philosophical tales and poetic visions. The deliberate pacing and ambiguity of his films are generally not embraced by mainstream audiences, but are devoured by lovers of arthouse cinema.

The fact that Jarmusch had ventured into the western genre surprised many in 1995, with the release of Dead Man, although upon viewing the film, you realise quickly that Dead Man is much more than a simple stereotypical western. This tragic tale of a young man's decent into personal oblivion is rich in black humour, visually stunning and is highly intelligent filmmaking.

Johnny Depp plays William Blake, a Cleveland accountant who arrives in a frontier town ready to start a new life only to find out that the job he was promised has been given to another man.

While he is spending the night with a woman, her lover shows up and kills her. In self defense, Blake shoots the man and flees with a bullet in his chest. Nobody (Gary Farmer), an outcast Native American who was educated in England, looks after Blake and dispenses his spiritual vision of life. They have to elude various lawmen and bounty hunters who are on his trail.

Nobody is convinced that Blake is the reincarnation of the famous English poet and sees it as his mission to usher him back to the spirit world.

Neil Young's electric guitar score punctuates this imaginative Western which includes interesting meditations upon the myth of the frontier, violence, artistic outlaws, and the plight of mistreated Native Americans. Blake's arduous journey toward death is a wonder to behold.
↓ Download movie...

└ Tags: , , , , ,
Jun06

Sanma no aji / An Autumn Afternoon (1962) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 6th, 2018 at 15:33
Posted In: .Other movies, Asian, Drama

An Autumn Afternoon 1962 Criterion Collection
Yasujiro Ozu died of cancer in December 1963, leaving behind one of the most extraordinary bodies of work any filmmaker has ever produced. Beginning with his silent films of the late '20s, Ozu produced a film virtually every single year until his death with the understandable exception of the mid-'40s.

An Autumn Afternoon is primarily about the Hirayama family, but Ozu also takes the time to look at some of the lives in their extended circle.

The father Shuhei (Chishu Ryu) is a widower living with his son Kazuo (Shinichiro Mikami) and his daughter Michiko (Shima Iwashita). Michiko is 24 years old, an age where, according to Hirayama’s old school friends, she ought to be looking for a husband. Michiko however has not considered leaving her father so soon, concerned about how he and her brother will manage for themselves. Hirayama’s other son, Koichi (Keiji Sada), is married to Akiko (Mariko Okada). Like the other males in his family, he seems to be untroubled by the realities of the world, looking to buy a set of expensive second-hand golf clubs that he cannot afford, while his wife is crying out for a new fridge.

When the old school friends gather for a reunion, they are reacquainted with an old schoolteacher of theirs known as the Gourd (Eijiro Tono). A man they once respected, the elderly gentleman now works in a noodle shop, drinks heavily and is largely dependent on his unmarried daughter who lives with him. The situation strikes Hirayama with fear for his own daughter being placed in a similar position – he is seen throughout the film increasingly turning to drink himself - and he is determined to see that Michiko should be married as soon as possible...

↓ Download movie...

└ Tags: , ,