Criterion Sale Week 3

Another week and another (two) trip(s) to Barnes and Noble. All told I wound up adding 13 titles to my collection this week. A few that I was happy to finally cross off and a couple that are getting surprisingly difficult to find. Along the way I got myself engaged, so you could say things are getting pretty serious.

In terms of what I’ve watched recently, I finally got around to watching Galaxy Quest a full 21 years after it was released. I’d love to dig a bit deeper into 1999 as the year has gotten more attention recently as possibly the greatest year for movies. For the record Galaxy Quest is pretty damn satisfying so if you have Amazon Prime give it a view. In terms of everything else, I crossed off another couple of Wes Anderson re-visits, which I swear will lead to a detailed re-cap at some point in the future.  I watched Miss Annie Rooney with Shirley Temple and (not a porn star) Dickie Moore. It was nauseatingly awful, but one less film from 1942 I have to watch.

Back to the title of the post, here is what I got this week in part three of the Dave’s ever growing Criterion blu-ray collection. I also recognize that some people have very little if any interest in reading these haul blogs, but for those checking in, I appreciate it. I will get back to a somewhat normal blogging schedule soon. As always these are by spine number so let’s get to it.

Picnic at Hanging Rock - This is the first Peter Weir film I ever heard of. It was referenced in Danny Peary’s Cult Movies Volume 2 and when I eventually watched it I was a little confused and slightly bored. This edition includes his early film Homesdale, but enough bells and whistles to shed some light on what made this a cult favorite and an enduring classic. It certainly falls into the “I’d like to take another look at it” club so why not get it? I have an older DVD of The Last Wave somewhere in my collection and it only makes sense this should join it.

Taste of Cherry - Taste of Cherry just came out on blu-ray this past Tuesday and Abbas Kiarostami’s masterpiece is an essential bit of viewing. Like Picnic this is one of the first 50 releases Criterion ever put out. In fact I don’t think any other company ever released this film on DVD or blu-ray. I’ve seen it a couple of times but only had a VHS copy of it, so when I heard it was making the leap to blu-ray I got excited. The fact that it was actually in stock on Tuesday made me even happier.

The Honeymoon Killers - Another film who I have Danny Peary to thank. He featured this in the first volume of Cult Movies and he always seemed a bigger fan of it than myself. Leonard Kastle only made one feature as a director and in Peary’s eyes it was a 1/1 masterpiece. It’s definitely a film I knew I would like more on a repeat view, and since I’m getting more inclined to revisit some cult films lately, this was definitely jumping out. I can’t say the special features are jumping out at me, but the film itself is worth the price of admission, and the more old VHS tapes I can replace the better.

The Earrings of Madame De . . . - Max Ophuls film always fell into the I thought I had it category. Lola Montes (another Peary selection) was one of the first films I got on blu-ray and for whatever reason I think I got it mixed up with his preceding effort.  La Ronde and La Plasir have not made the jump from DVD to blu-ray but for Ophuls I’ll take what I can get. Paul Thomas Anderson offers his own introduction to the movie which is a nice feature and there is a commentary track which I may have listened to during the last top 100 film research. If anything I want to encourage Criterion to upgrade Ophuls other offerings so it was high time I got this.

Close-up - Speaking of Kiarostami here is his other best known film. After I picked up The Koker trilogy it seemed appropriate to get a few of his other releases. I’m not a huge fan of his offerings from the 2010s, but Close-Up remains a vital piece of cinema. It was featured in The A-List and the critic who wrote about it there (Jonathan Rosenbaum) offers a commentary track here. Like the Homework extra on the other set, this features The Traveler as an added bonus. I do wish Makhmalbaf’s superior The Cyclist was included here considering it’s very literal and direct influence on this narrative, but alas he has yet to join the Criterion ranks.

Love Streams - When Husbands came out I was noticeably excited. I had a bootleg copy of some kind of Love Streams but I quickly realized it was the only Cassavetes Criterion release I didn’t have. It is an unnecessary dual format edition, and apparently when I opened my copy the inside case is broken, so I might attempt to swap it out if possible. It was his last feature as a director and a damn fine film to go out on. Ask any random fan of Cassavetes and you might get 5 different answers for his best film, but it’s hard not to consider this in the running. It is a little product of it's time for Cassavetes letting his very underage son smoke and drink in a scene, but well times were different.

 Boyhood - I meant to get this the first day of the sale but when I picked up the case it was rattling around. I wound up buying it in Deerfield, and that version too was a bit loose. I’m taking my chances and hoping there aren’t any scratches but we shall see. Linklater’s much praised 2014 film was perhaps more respected than enjoyed when it was released. I liked it a lot and in my effort to add more contemporary films to my list it seemed a worthy edition. In the extras department, it leaves very little to be desired. I aim to revisit it with the commentary, and after all this is the only Linklater Criterion release I didn’t own so why not?

The Age of Innocence - I dismissed this film pretty quickly when I first saw it. I appreciated Scorsese stepping out of his comfort zone but ultimately thought he was ill suited to it. A friend of mine from the foreignfilms.com days was a huge fan of it and made me think I might need to give it another chance. When it was added to the Criterion collection I had that I’ll get around to it attitude and today was that day. If Daniel Day Lewis remains retired nearly all of his films (excluding the comically inept 9) are worthy treasures of cinema so that alone makes it vital, even if In the Name of the Father upstaged it a bit in 1993. I did read Wharton’s novel since my initial viewing of this which was one of my unofficial requirements before taking another look at it.

In the Heat of the Night - Somewhere in my mom’s attic is an MGM VHS of In the Heat of the Night, perhaps even in a protective case. Myself and others have perhaps unfairly dismissed this movie because it won best picture over such enduring classics as The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde. It is a landmark with a near perfect ensemble of cast and crew. Rod Steiger won a hotly contested best actor statue for his work. The Criterion release is an infinite upgrade over my crappy VHS tape that I haven’t watched in 20+ years.

Local Hero - Despite a vogue for 1980s popular cinema and a never ending mining of nostalgia there remains a group of critical darlings from that decade that faded into obscurity. Alan Rudolph, Juzo Itami and Bill Forsyth were all poised to be household names in international film in their era but are largely forgotten today. Itami’s Tampopo received the Criterion treatment as well, but it hasn’t renewed too much interest in his work. Forsyth had a very impressive run and emerged as something of a Scottish answer to Lawrence Kasdan. That Sinking Feeling, Gregory’s Girl, Comfort and Joy, Housekeeping, and Breaking In were all considered noteworthy films in their time. Local Hero however was frequently considered his masterpiece and easily the first place to look. It is also one of Burt Lancaster’s late career gems which is worth the price of admission.

The Great Escape - This was sitting in a display the first day of the Criterion sale on July 10. I looked at it and thought “Oh yeah I’ll get that” then forgot it in my haste to grab another dozen titles and by the time I returned to the store it was gone. Today I found another copy of it and was pleased to pick it up. Like In the Heat of the Night it’s another American 60s classic that’s well worth a repeat viewing but a film I largely tossed aside. Many of the special features here seem like they were made for a previous DVD release, but I am not complaining. The cast here is legendary even if I get it mixed up with The Dirty Dozen some times, but there is enough bonus features to satisfy the biggest fanatic. I had at least one film professor at DePaul who mentioned this as their favorite film, so if you're reading this please speak up so I can remember who it was.

The Cameraman - I have long held out hope that Buster Keaton would one day make an appearance in the collection. His independently produced features were all released on DVD by Kino 20 years ago but I believe The General might be his only feature to make it to blu-ray. Although The Cameraman is his first feature after his legendary independent run as director-star it is still a great movie. MGM had a knack for taking great talent and squandering it in mediocre productions and within two years Keaton was nearly obsolete. The Cameraman remains his high-point with the studio and serves as his equivalent to the Marx Brothers A Night at the Opera. As a bonus his lesser known but worth watching follow-up Spite Marriage is also included here.

Bruce Lee His Greatest Hits - As late as the last blog post I had made peace with the fact that I would probably not get this set until the November sale. After checking two stores and striking out each time an associate offered to order it for me when he mentioned it being out of stock in their warehouse. After being told it wouldn’t re-stock until August I simply assumed it was not to be. A few Criterion releases still surprise me with how popular they wind up, and I should have known that a definitive collection of Bruce Lee’s best known work would be a highly sought after release. Well Tuesday I spotted a copy and immediately grabbed it. It was clearly a recent re-stock because they hadn’t even put a price tag on it. I’ve seen Enter the Dragon about 20 times and his other work I’ve checked out periodically but to have them all in HD transfers, with multiple commentary tracks, and multiple documentaries this seems like an essential purchase for anyone as obsessed with Kung-fu movies as I was.

At some point in time I may actually watch this massive pile of movies. I also may have finally run out of space in my case for these movies. Currently my Marvel collection and select other blu-rays share space but that real estate is getting limited. For whatever reason The Naked Kiss and Silence of the Lambs are still impossible to find on blu-ray. I thank anyone who has continued to read these blurbs from me, and some time in the future there might be a major change to this site. In the meantime keep watching great movies and let me know what you’ve picked up.   

The 2020 Criterion Sale Week 2

After a full week of the Barnes and Noble sale being on, I think I’ve set a new record for most Criterion titles purchased in a month. Sad thing is this is without me finding numerous titles I’m still looking for (most likely not getting that Bruce Lee set until November at this rate). So you might be wondering what the hell I still have to get, and if you like to read about what I buy and why then this blog is for you. Pretty much the same format as last time. I made trips to two different stores, one of which clearly hadn’t re-stocked anything since this sale began.

If you’re curious to know what I’ve been watching during the fourth month of our lockdown well Chantal Akerman has been my primary companion. As I often do with certain directors I decide to plow through as many films as I can then spend the next decade wondering if I’ve seen ‘em all. Less glamorous is my bingeing of Top Chef which begs the question what if a cooking competition show was also trashy and dramatic reality TV? It is a harsh reminder that the mid-2000s were a godless time for men’s haircuts and facial hair. Elsewhere the slow going Wes Anderson re-watch project continued with The Life Aquatic which almost feels like Wes Anderson self-parody. I might enjoy it a little more than the first time, but it remains second-tier for me.

Yesterday (July 15) Criterion announced their upcoming October titles. After teasing Parasite and Memories of Murder back in February, Parasite was officially announced. The features are great and I will certainly be hunting for it when the November sale comes around. Even better is the long out of print Pierrot le Fou returning to the collection. This is my second favorite Godard film and it always irked me it went out of print before I was able to get it. Now if you missed my last post, scroll on down after this to see what I picked up on the first day of the sale. I’m getting to that point where I might have to place my obligatory online order, but not after I hit up one more location (Deerfield I’m coming for you). So last time I started my list with the collector sets, but I’ll just do the whole entry based on spine number.

Black Narcissus - When I had a few working VCRs and hundreds of tapes in my room (Including at least 5 rows deep under my bed) I wasn’t super keen on upgrading a lot of those titles. So looking at Criterion releases it was more important to get movies I had never seen because for some strange reason I primarily purchased movies I hadn’t seen. This has led to me owning a ton of movies that would have been much better to rent once and forget about forever. However after a long period of time I’ve looked at some of these old VHS titles and decided it’s time for an upgrade. I had several Powell-Pressburger titles on DVD, but this now joins A Matter of Life and Death as my only blu-rays from the dynamic duo. Curious to listen to the Powell and Scorsese commentary track.

The Lady Eve - Just as the Bruce Lee set was sold out everywhere I was legitimately surprised to find The Lady Eve staring at me. Nearly all of Sturges’ great comedies of the early 40s I recorded off of TCM so Unfaithfully Yours was the lone DVD I had of his work. A boxed set of his work came out which featured little to no special features and I remembered passing. Glad I did, since then I’ve picked up Sullivan’s Travels. The Lady Eve is certainly one of his best movies, and this release is quite stacked with features. I wish The Palm Beach Story had a little more on it, so I haven’t pulled the trigger on that yet.

Band of Outsiders - With the Pierrot le Fou announcement I was thinking how light my Godard collection was. The majority of his films are somewhat lacking in the extras department. Like Powell and Sturges most of Godard’s work I had on VHS, so when this originally was released I passed. Despite some great moments I always considered it a second tier film. I did however want to revisit it, and what better time than now? Slightly frustrating that one of the most fascinating filmmakers has such few audio commentaries on his releases.

Umberto D - Another VHS upgrade, sorry for the theme here. Umberto D was considered by many the last great Neo-realist film and it’s legacy was a little bittersweet. It usually pops up on the short list of best films ever made with or about dogs. I think I had a particular aversion to titles without audio commentary tracks, but that prejudice has largely elapsed. I remember so little of this film except that I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales - One of the recent re-releases I meant to get. During the first day that fellow addict who left with a full box of titles took the only copy of the Rohmer set. To be honest I’m not sure I ever saw the first two parts of the Six Moral Tales. Fear not they aren’t a series in terms of connecting characters. Realizing this late I figured if it ever got the blu-ray treatment I’d bite the bullet. Well I got it and I’m curious to watch all the films again. Claire’s Knee is problematic in terms of it’s pedophilia, but the entire series always seemed like the type of movies intellectuals in their late 30s-50s would appreciate. So when I watched the last three installments at the age of 20 I assumed I was too young to really have them resonate. Perhaps time will change my initial perception. There area also a handful of early short films from Rohmer which make this a somewhat essential set for fans of the fab five Cahiers du Cinema crew.

The Last Emperor - When Bernardo Bertolucci and Nicholas Roeg died I naturally started thinking of their films. Roeg was very well represented by Criterion, but Bertolucci was more sporadic. I lamented the fact that none of Bertolucci’s best work was part of the collection, then I remembered that the 5 star film of his that won best picture in 1987 very much was part of Criterion. Yes I had the double VHS tape of this film, so that trend continues. It is loaded with enough special features to satisfy the pickiest of critics, and well it’s been a good 19-20 years since I’ve seen it. Bonus points for being referenced in The Simpson’s Stonecutters episode. Now just put out Last Tango in Paris and The Conformist.

3 Silent Classics by Josef Von Sternberg - Like Rohmer’s set, this was another older collection that went out of print. It represents the three films where Von Sternberg really emerged as a powerhouse force in film. Underworld got a lot of attention for taking the gangster film mainstream, and the Last Command did quite well in the very first Academy Awards ceremony. The Docks of New York I was not a fan of when I originally watched it, but I wanted to give it another look. Of all the films I’ve purchased since the sale began Underworld is the only one I’ve watched so far, which goes to show my priorities. A little sparse on special features they are still important films and considering the overall lack of silent classics on the collection I’ll take all I can get. I don’t see myself getting the Dietrich/Von Sternberg set however considering I already own several of those on DVD and The Blue Angel isn’t included. I really appreciated the visual essay on Underworld that goes into detail on how Von Sternberg came to be.

The Four Feathers - Along with The Thief of Baghdad, this is the pinnacle of the Korda families many lavish and exotic productions. Having watched a few of these titles during quarantine, it made me think about how long it had been since watching The Four Feathers. Perhaps because it was a British production it doesn’t get nearly the type of iconic love that other glorious Technicolor spectacles from 1939, even if it’s still well regarded. For a brief time it did seem as if Hollywood could have some competition, and this is well worth checking out.

The Great Beauty - I have a noticeable bias towards modern films. This particular sale I wanted to make a point to contemporize my collection. The Great Beauty was one of my favorite films of 2013 and a spiritual descendant of the Italian cinema of La Dolce Vita. It was released in that odd limbo period where Criterion was putting out dual format versions of their films, so I have a useless DVD copy of it now for no extra cost.

Phoenix - Christian Petzold is running largely unopposed as Germany’s best contemporary director, although Maren Ade is arguably one more great film away from challenging. This is a film that I thought of more and more after seeing his latest Transit. It imagines a unique post WWII that hearkens back to Fassbinders’ Marriage of Maria Braun with more smoke and shadows. At some point in time I will put together a list of the best films of the 2010s and this will be essential re-watching.

Dheepan - Continuing my Dave doesn’t just buy old movies trend is Jacques Audiard’s stunning 2015 feature. I have little memory of A Prophet and The Beat that My Heart Skipped but Dheepan stuck with me. Easily one of the best French films of the past decade I was a little embarrassed to learn of it’s existence when Criterion announced it was joining the collection. It’s been a few years since I watched it, and it has proven worthy of adding.

Holiday - The other great Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn comedy from 1938. Holiday is a classic film that I’ve always had a soft spot for. I think Cary Grant’s carefree vacationer would fit in well with today’s transient working culture. His character might seem novel and eccentric in 1938 (or in the also included original version from 1930). Perhaps a lovely double feature with this and The Philadelphia Story is in order. I can’t bring myself to get Woman of the Year considering it was one of the first DVDs I ever purchased and it has been viewed approximately once. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a shot.

As you can surmise, Silence of the Lambs and The Naked Kiss have proven harder to locate then expected. Not sure how many big hauls I got in me this month, but I already have enough titles for a year.

The Barnes and Noble Criterion Sale Day One

I have spoken at length here about the Criterion Collection and all the wonderful titles within it to the point where you might wonder if this blog was sponsored. It isn’t, but if you’re reading Criterion, feel free to send me a copy of everything, or a shirt, that would be nice. Anyways usually twice a year Criterion offers a 24 flash sale on their site. The last one occurred right around the time this current covid-19 shutdown began. These sales are fun, but all too often I find that they announce this right after I pay rent, credit cards, or have work done on my car. I take advantage when I can and usually wind up with a couple must have titles for my trouble.

As you might expect these flash sales are random and unpredictable, hence the name. More regular are the July and November sales that Barnes and Noble has where all Criterion titles are 50% off. This year was a little different. Imagine going to bed Christmas Eve waiting to wake up and get your presents then you wake up and then your parents tell you Christmas day has been moved to January 3. Well this essentially is what happened this year with the B&N sale. Most years I simply scroll through my Instagram and I see a post about it, then say “oh yay, guess I better hit up a store”. Due to the fact that I’m sitting at home all day and looking for any damn reason to leave the house, I was chomping at the bit like a kid on December 24 to get to it. After looking through reddit threads and other forums July 10 was the date that was floated around. By contrast in 2019 the “July” sale started June 27^th, so this was a near two week delay. I can chalk it up to pandemic related things. I certainly have no concept of how much work goes into having a nation-wide sale at hundreds or thousands of locations, so I’ll stay out of it. First world problems indeed.

Well last night when I went to bed I checked the old B&N website and saw that it was in fact on. It’s always preferred however to go to a physical store. Added bonus, it just so happens that my favorite bakery in Chicago is about two blocks from a Barnes and Noble, so twist my arm. Among the rumors I heard going into this sale was that perhaps the additional 10% discount for members would not be eligible for this sale. This made my capitalist-justice/anti-bureaucracy brain spiral out of control. I can say from personal experience that when I had my own membership I ONLY had it so I could get that extra 10% during these sales. After going and checking out I discovered that was a false alarm, I was angry over nothing, the added 10% still worked. Not to get too math heavy but the 10% is taken after the 50%, so it isn’t a full 60% discount. Long story short a $40 MSRP disc turns out to be $18 instead of $16. Sorry to make your brain hurt. I also saw on the website that for whatever reason a few titles were only showing an 8% discount, but the sale said all titles, and that is the case. I imagine the website has fixed what ails ‘em by now hopefully.

So after all of this, I got up bright and early to hit up my store, buy some stuff, and I wanted to re-cap here what I got and why I got it. For the record, the most films I bought during a month long sale was 22 different titles, so on day one I got more than half-way there.

First up, the sets:

Yojimbo/Sanjuro 2-pack - This has been on my “one of these days” lists for years upon years. I had a copy of both films on VHS, and I believe Yojimbo might have been one of the many DVDs that was stolen from me back in 2001, but I never wound up with it before. My hesitation for this set was the fact that Yojimbo was vastly superior and it seemed like I was dropping and extra $15 for a competent but forgettable sequel. Well this sale I wanted to get my Kurosawa collection up a bit so I decided long ago it’s time. This set has audio commentaries, documentaries, and all the special features I could want, time to re-visit I guess.

 
3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman - Journey to Italy which I’ve always known as Voyage to Italy has long been one of my favorite films and usually is on the precipice of cracking my top 100 movies. Europe ‘51 is another damn great movie and I have no strong feelings about Stromboli either way. This is another set that I’ve always been planning on picking up but the price tag was a little off-putting. I’m also curious why the fourth Rossellini/Bergman film Fear wasn’t included here. I guess Joan at the Stake isn’t either so I’ll cease my petty complaints that a boxed set isn’t more extravagant. This does feature the alternate audio versions of all three, which in the case of Stromboli and Europe ‘51 are different lengths. So cool to see more complete versions, but I would have been happy with a solo disc of Journey/Voyage.

The Koker Trilogy - Kiarostami is a bit of a mixed bag as a director. Some of his work is painfully boring, yet some of it is sublime perfection. His Koker trilogy is definitely closer to the latter. Through the Olive Trees in particular is probably my favorite film of his, and Where is the Friend’s House? is everything wonderful about Iranian cinema. I have very few memories of the middle film in this “trilogy”. None of these movies are related in a typical trilogy sense, more thematically. Perhaps the best part about this release is it features the incredibly hard to find 1989 documentary Homework made by Kiarostami. With Taste of Cherry getting re-released later this month it’s a good time to explore his best work.

Now the individual titles by spine number:

Shock Corridor - Samuel Fuller is a cult favorite of nearly every critic and fan of classic cinema. He achieved legendary status thanks to Cahiers du Cinema crew who constantly referenced his films and in the case of Godard even put him in his own movies (the unfortunately out of print Pierrot le Fou). Shock Corridor is one of the best places to start with his work, and it was the 19^th Criterion title released. This is another title I only had on VHS and the lack of audio commentary seemed to keep me from ever picking it up. They’ve added at least one new interview to the blu-ray edition. I meant to pick up this and The Naked Kiss (Spine number 18), but the store I went to was out of that, or I just didn’t quite register because as I said earlier I found plenty else.

 
High and Low - This is another classic Kurosawa/Mifune collaboration that I never had a proper DVD of. In 2001 I ordered 8 Kurosawa films that were imports with subtitles. A few of these were stolen and nearly all have been replaced. This features the It is Wonderful to Create episode about it as well as a commentary track from Stephen Prince. Like a lot of Kurosawa films this was also eventually remade by Hollywood as the Ron Howard film Ransom. I loved it when I first watched it, but literally haven’t seen it for about 18-19 years.

The Cranes are Flying - Someone happens to get advanced copies of Criterion titles and sells them to Half Price Books in Niles, sometimes. Before this was even officially released I saw it there during one of those classic 20% off sales right before the apocalypse. I was very jazzed until I saw the case was cracked. I asked if there was a replacement, there wasn’t, so I figured next sale. This is possibly my favorite cinematography in any movie ever made. Mikhail Kalatozov was a nutcase when it came to setting up shots, and he would go even more over the top in I am Cuba, but story and style blend perfectly here. Another older title I had on VHS years ago, but the blu-ray added some extra features to spark an upgrade.

Army of Shadows - When I first got around to picking up titles on blu-ray this was one of the earlier releases I wanted to snag. I saw it initially in theaters during it’s 2006 release. I wanted to give it another shot, and seeing all the cool extras made me think this was a must-have. The only problem it was one of several titles that went out of print. I looked high and low for it (get it) and contented myself to watching it on the Criterion Channel, as well as every other Melville film. Well then they announced it was getting put out again, and I knew if I let it fall out of print again I’d kick myself indefinitely. This has rightfully earned it’s status as Melville’s masterpiece. Here’s hoping Leon Morin, Priest is also resurrected from the dead soon.

Medium Cool - This and the next film are both from cinematographers turned directors. In the case of Wexler however this was his only major work as a director, and it’s a masterpiece. Shot around the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, it’s part fiction and documentary and one of the best films about what the hell was happening in the 60s. Like many of these films I never owned this, but because it is Wexler’s only film that I know of it was typically forgotten whenever sales came around.

Don’t Look Now - Unfortunately whenever someone dies I think it’s a reminder to revisit their work. When Nicholas Roeg passed away I grabbed my DVD copy of The Man Who Fell to Earth (which is sadly out of print) and I realized I never owned Don’t Look Now (sensing a pattern here). Considering my VHS collection has been sitting in my mother’s attic for 12 years now and I don’t even own a VCR, it is certainly high time to upgrade that literal garbage. I remember trying to find this streaming after his death and couldn’t find it then (since may have changed). It has long considered to be one of the great “serious” horror films. Also who doesn’t want to see some naked Donald Sutherland?

The Breakfast Club - Sometimes when Criterion announces an upcoming title I say “don’t mind if I do” then I play the long waiting game for it to get released, then the longer game of waiting for the next sale. The Breakfast Club was always on the “next sale” list of titles. It got to the point where I had to actually check my collection to make sure I hadn’t picked this up already. This is one of those films everyone seems to love, and part of what made John Hughes so iconic for a generation. Much more mainstream than the typical title, it is nevertheless a welcome addition.

 
The Cremator - If forced at gun-point to say what my favorite film from Czechoslovakia was, The Cremator wins. It did make my last top 100 list, and watching it again with Caroline I have no regrets with my selection. Criterion has put out plenty of Czech films over the years (and there is even a nice retrospective on the channel right now), but the blu-ray offerings have been limited. Some of the early DVD releases were also borderline pointless in terms of extras. These were better suited to an Eclipse release, and there even was one for Czech films. I know I will watch this again, and I will never not recommend this movie to everyone who will listen.

Husbands - Might be a good time to say I love the design of Criterion. Their branding is flawless and their titles look excellent. I got a kick out of the fact that the Cassavetes films released after that initial 5 film boxed set (which I have on DVD) have a similar design. Lord knows I like matching spines, so I was particularly tickled when Husbands was announced with a consistent look. I nearly picked up his final film Love Streams as well, and I will probably go back for it later this month. Husbands however is my favorite film he made and another entry into my personal top 100. I understand this film and his work in general is not for everyone, but damned if this didn’t speak to me on some gut level. It has all the things I want for extras, and look forward to revisited it with Marshall Fine’s commentary track.

Come and See - I believe this is the most recent Criterion release at the time of this writing. Elem Klimov’s WWII masterpiece is one of the most widely seen foreign films around. I’ve always been a little surprised by it’s status as one of those international classics well loved by people who think Shawshank Redemption is the greatest movie ever made. It is great, but like so many other films in this haul, I haven’t seen it for ages. I don’t even think I revisited it during my last movie list research. When you’ve gone 20 years without watching a movie you know you’re overdue, especially when it’s one you know is great. Looking forward to sitting through this again.

Talking about these movies has made me itching to get to Old Orchard and see their selections. So many brick and mortar stores are disappearing and even a few of the existing Barnes and Noble’s in my vicinity don’t have any Criterions. Next week the Bruce Lee boxed set and The Lady Eve are set to release, so I’m not done with this sale yet. So feel free to let me know what you’re planning on snagging. Also can’t believe I forgot Silence of the Lambs again.