Posts Tagged ‘Criterion Collection’

449 results.
Jun24

Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman: A Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955), Invention for Destruction (1958), The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962) 3 x Blu-Ray and 3 x DVD9 Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 24th, 2020 at 16:28
Posted In: .Other movies, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Three Fantastic Journeys by Karel Zeman
A former marketing man for a shoe company, Karel Zeman took a job for an animation studio and went on to create not only several of the most influential Czech films of all time, but become arguably the most important Czechoslovak filmmaker of the pre-New Wave era. Zeman’s works demonstrate an imagination unrivaled by many filmmakers to have come since, and ingenious approach to special effects more artful than utilitarian.

Criterion's new boxed set, Three Fantastic Journeys by Karl Zeman offers his best three (and most representative) films: Journey to the Beginning of Time, Invention for Destruction (aka The Fabulous World of Jules Verne), and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen. Previously released to Blu-ray in other parts of the world, Criterion's set mostly repurposes supplements from those releases while packaging everything in a wonderful pop-up style folder/booklet consistent with Zeman's designs.

3xBD50, 3xDVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 248 min | 135 Gb, 21.9 Gb
Language: Czech
Subtitles: English
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Family, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Comedy

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Jun24

Topsy-Turvy (1999) 2 x DVD and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 24th, 2020 at 14:19
Posted In: .Other movies, Biography, Comedy, Drama, History, Musical

Topsy-Turvy 1999
Mike Leigh's "Topsy-Turvy" is the work of a man helplessly in love with the theater. In a gloriously entertaining period piece, he tells the story of the genesis, preparation and presentation of a comic opera -- Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado" -- celebrating all the dreaming and hard work, personality conflict and team spirit, inspiration and mundane detail, of every theatrical presentation, however inspired or inept. Every production is completely different, and they are all exactly like this.

Topsy-turvy is not a strictly biographical film. In it facts and fantasy continuously overlap and it is next to impossible to tell where the former end and the latter begin. But it does not matter because Leigh's objective was to reconstruct the atmosphere that preceded the staging of The Mikado, not chronicle the exact events that inspired it. The film succeeds in doing precisely that - it gives one the opportunity to experience the ruthless, chaotic and often bizarre world Gilbert and Sullivan shared.

Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Dexter Fletcher
Country: UK, USA
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama, History, Music, Musical

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Jun24

Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales: La boulangere de Monceau / The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1963), La carriere de Suzanne / Suzanne’s Career (1963), Ma nuit chez Maud / My Night at Maud’s (1969), La collectionneuse / The Collector (1967), Le genou de Claire / Claire’s Knee (1970), L’amour l’apres-midi / Love in the Afternoon (1972) 6 x DVD and 3 x Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 24th, 2020 at 12:43
Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales
“Why film a story when one can write it? Why write it when one is going to film it?” This is how Eric Rohmer (1920-2010) introduced his Six Moral Tales.

Welcome to the exciting, hesitant, guilt-laden and provocative world of Eric Rohmer, and his varied voyages of slightly intimidated romantic discovery. There are six Moral Tales (and some short subjects) and each finds a main character stymied by indecision: should he hew to the narrow moral path, or stop being so conflicted and let relationships happen as they may? Some are moral debates and others are just ruminations on the foolishness of males that overthink their love lives — or are these self-directed men simply trying to be considerate and fair while navigating their amorous possibilities?

For viewers who only care about plot, here's a quick summary that applies to most of the films in Eric Rohmer's "Six Moral Tales" series, now collected in a box set: Boy meets girl. Boy flirts with girl. Boy leaves girl for another girl whom he already loves. The story basically stays the same from the 1962 short "The Bakery Girl Of Monceau" through the 1972 feature Love In The Afternoon, although the second entry, Suzanne's Career, veers from it slightly.

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Jun20

Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on June 20th, 2020 at 13:39
Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy, Drama

Me and You and Everyone We Know 2005
With this compassionate, startling comedy that could have come from no other artistic sensibility, the brilliant Miranda July reveals a world both familiar and strange—an original vision of creativity, sexuality, childhood, and loneliness that emerges from a series of braided vignettes around a pair of potential lovers.

Richard Swersey (John Hawkes) is a shoe salesman and father of two, whose marriage has broken down. He sets up house in a close knit neighbourhood and shares custody of his 14 year old son Peter (Miles Thompson) and 7 year old Robby (Brandon Ratcliff). Christine (Miranda July) is an artist who lives in a world of her own. When she meets John at the shoe shop, she is drawn to him and they begin an unusual relationship. In the meantime, Peter becomes the guinea pig for two teenage girls experimenting with their sexuality and little Robby gets caught up in a sexually permissive internet chat with an anonymous stranger. Then there's little Sylvie (Carlie Westerman), who is secretly stashing all her dreams, along with various useful items, in her hope chest.

Director: Miranda July
Cast: John Hawkes, Miranda July, Miles Thompson
Country: USA, UK
Genre: Comedy, Drama

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May31

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on May 31st, 2020 at 13:52
Posted In: .Other movies, Adventure, Comedy, Crime

The Grand Budapest Hotel 2014
Wes Anderson's THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is the director's celebration of Central Europe culture and fashion in the years between the World Wars, and an elegy for what was lost with the rise of fascism and communism. Set in 1932 in a fictional country called Zubrowka, the streets, military regalia and (ersatz) German names we are shown could have come from anywhere between Germany and Estonia.

Told in flashback by a man who lived it, the story of the Grand Budapest Hotel is both wildly fantastic and incredibly heartbreaking. Meet Zero Moustafa, a refugee from a war-torn land who has come to the famous European hotel to begin a better life. He signs on as Lobby Boy under the respected and enigmatic Mr. Gustave H, the concierge of the hotel and the lifeblood of every event within it. Gustave takes Zero under his wing, teaching him the secrets of a good hotelier, and becoming his fast friend. So when one of Gustave's mistresses dies, leaving behind a great fortune, the pair become blood-brothers & co-conspirators, attempting to win their share of the wealth. But it won't be easy...

Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray
Country: Germany, USA
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Crime

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May23

The Prince of Tides (1991) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on May 23rd, 2020 at 13:59
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama, Romance

The Prince of Tides 1991
"Human pain does not let go of its grip at any one point in time," Robert Veninga writes in Gift of Hope: How We Survive Our Tragedies. "Rather it works its way out of our consciousness over time." The grip of pain and the liberation that comes when it is released is the theme of The Prince of Tides, directed and produced by and starring Barbra Streisand.

The Prince of Tides is all about family: the ties that bind, through thick and thin, good and bad, love and hate. All his life, Tom Wingo (Nick Nolte) has been a good "Southern boy," putting on a good show of jokes and banter rather than showing pain... and in the process, pushing away the people who matter most in his life. But when his beloved sister Savannah is hospitalized after a suicide attempt, Tom receives a call for help from her psychiatrist, Susan (Barbra Streisand). Helping Savannah means more than making the trip north to New York to visit her in the hospital; Tom must help Susan understand Savannah's troubled past in order to resolve the issues that prompted her suicide attempt. But Savannah's past is also Tom's past, and during the course of his sessions with Susan, Tom must confront and share his most painful, hidden memories.

For her acclaimed second feature as a director, Barbra Streisand crafted a sumptuous, emotionally wrenching adaptation of Pat Conroy’s best-selling novel.

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May03

Le notti di Cabiria / The Nights of Cabiria (1957) DVD9 Criterion Collection, Blu-Ray Studio Canal

by movieworld on May 3rd, 2020 at 14:14
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama

The Nights of Cabiria 1957 Criterion Collection
Cabiria is an aging prostitute in Rome, and she uses her toughness to ward off police raids, talk down to some of the other more aggressive prostitutes, and make sure that her clients don't jerk her around.
But at the same time, Cabiria is weak, and she's not just looking for some quick cash. She wants to be loved, and her job leads her to many potential clients or lovers. In fact, the film finds her in a month-long relationship as the film begins, only to lose it all suddenly and have to go back to her profession.
The rest of the film recounts her adventures in Rome, looking for true love and a new life.

Nights of Cabiria is a beautiful and heartbreaking film.
It's not just the amazing perfomance by Giullietta Masina, it's not just the wonderful, semi-crazy characters wondering around the screen and emphasizing Kabiria's sad and lonely world, it's -and that's the film's greatest quality- this sense of optimism that Fellini wants the viewer to take with him/her as he/she is leaving the theater.
This is a must-see film, and, most important of all, a film so generous to its viewers that one time is not enough.
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May02

Show Boat (1936) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on May 2nd, 2020 at 17:50
Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy, Drama, Musical, Romance

Show Boat 1936
Credited as the Broadway musical that shifted the form away from frivolous comedies to dramatic plays, Show Boat is based on Edna Ferber’s popular multi-generational novel about the fortunes of a river-going entertainment troupe.

Covering a time period from about the 1890s to the 1920s, the story follows the life of Magnolia Hawks-Ravenal (Irene Dunne), the daughter of a Show Boat captain. (A Show Boat was a paddle-wheeler that traveled the Mississippi River, putting on stage shows and advertising in each town with a parade like those of old-time circuses.) Her mother has always forbidden her from acting in the stage shows; but when the leading couple are forced out of the troupe by a local sheriff because the lady is a mixed-race person posing as white, Magnolia’s father lets her play the female lead and gives the male lead to an attractive riverboat gambler. Against mother's dictates, the new pair falls deeply in love...

Director: James Whale
Cast: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Musical, Romance
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May02

Le petit soldat / The Little Soldier (1963) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

by movieworld on May 2nd, 2020 at 16:44
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama, War

Le petit soldat 1963
The politically charged film takes place during the Algerian war for independence from France. The setting is Geneva, and introduces us to Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor), a Frenchman who has deserted the army he was in, now making a living as a newspaper photographer. He also does work for an underground organization with anti-Algerian leanings based out of Switzerland. He's also very much in love with a beautiful Russian woman named Veronica Dreyer (Anna Karina, in her debut role). When this group asks him to assassinate a radio host with Algerian sympathies, he gets caught in the middle and is captured and then tortured by his own team, men who now suspect him as working as a double agent.

It was filmed in 1960 but banned in France for three years due to the French film censorship because of its references to the Algerian War for independence from France and its scenes of torture. It was finally released slightly cut.

Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Cast: Anna Karina, Michel Subor, Henri-Jacques Huet, Laszlo Szabo
Country: France
Genre: War, Drama

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May02

Mala Noche (1986) DVD9 Criterion Collection

by movieworld on May 2nd, 2020 at 14:57
Posted In: .Other movies, Drama

Mala Noche 1986
Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by maverick writer Walt Curtis, the film is set in Portland, populated by non-professionals, and shot in high-contrast black and white (with a couple of color interludes).
Mala Noche follows the struggling author on his quest to connect with Johnny, the pretty illegal alien who rode a train to Puddletown from Mexico and who is far cagier than his silence would suggest. Johnny keeps Walt at arm's length, even when money is offered, sticking around for the things he can get from the desperate store clerk and playing at street games that skirt the edges of danger. The closest that Walt ever gets to sleeping with Johnny is Robert, a.k.a. Pepper, the even quieter sidekick. Over the course of a couple of weeks, the boys move in and out of Walt's life, twist him in knots, and also get more trouble than they bargained for.

DVD9 | NTSC 4:3 | 01:17:55 | 7.44 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: English

Director: Gus Van Sant
Cast: Tim Streeter, Doug Cooeyate, Ray Monge
Country: USA
Genre: Drama
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