Chente:

I meant to say that from the entire Criterion collection the Wajda set is anything but an essential buy. These are great films, esp. Kanal, but they are very, very difficult to watch. In fact, I looked at Shagrath's collection of Critetion discs and believe that he should be very careful when considering a Wajda blind buy. I really believe that Wajda is as difficult to watch (and enjoy for that matter) as Bela Tarr. That's all.

Regards,
Pro-B

if only we had the opportunity to do so...

Schizopolis hasn't been mentioned, and I really enjoy it (bought it as a blind buy).

I'm glad to see the John Cassavetes: Five Films set in your list. It's a fantastic collection.

...ha ha...I know this post quite well. Good job Cygnet74!!

Pro-B

Welp, I went ahead and placed my order today. I took to heart some of the recommendations, and bought some others that just seemed cool. I guess this thread can be closed now, since I probably won't be placing another huge order like this until around XMas time. Anyways, here's my selections:

Andrzej Wadja: Three War Films
The Adventures of Antoine Doinel
John Cassavettes: Five Films
The Battle of Algiers
Man Bites Dog
My Life As a Dog
The 39 Steps
Fat Girl
Brazil
M
Eyes Without a Face
Insomnia
La Commare Secca
Ratcatcher
Au Hasard Balthazar
Jubilee

I know it's too late, but I thought I'd throw in a recommendation for Picnic at Hanging Rock, Peter Weir's first movie. It's a polarizing movie but one of my favorites. Check it out if you haven't seen it.

Breif Amazon summary:

Here are a few from my collection you may fiind appealing:

Diabolique-absolutely amazing
Ikiru-One of the best movies I have ever seen...period.
The Devil and Daniel Webster
Seven Samurai
Insomnia
M
The Royal Tannenbaums

D'you hit the lotto? That's like... well, a lot.

I can't answer this, since it seems the logical place to me.

I do kinda wish I had read the thread *before* I moved it... since it appears that David moved it out of this forum earlier!

As I had said in my first post, it was my birthday last week. I'm one of those people who just buys whatever I want when it's released, so no one ever knows what to get for me. So, I end up getting a buttload of cash every birthday/x-mas to spend on whatever I like. I ended up with about $460 in cash/checks and I put in a little of my own money to put me up around $500. Also, unrelated to dvds, I got a new Nikon Coolpix 4800 digital camera as well as a 1gig SD card. I'll say I made out pretty good this year.

That's a great haul. I'm lucky if someone remembers to call me on my birthday. The most I usually get is taken out to dinner.

Hey Shagrath, I can honestly say that having owned a few Criterions, well not nearly as many as most who have posted here anyway, but a few I would like to recommend The Killers, Peeping Tom and last, but not least Carnival of Souls. Carnival is just an awesome 2 disc set.

That's just my 2 cents. jet



P.S. On my next birthday could your family and friends either come to my party or at least send me cards?

I would recommend The Lady Eve with Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck.I think it's a great film.I think It's oop,but easy to find.

The Lady Eve is not OOP. Criterionco.com makes no mention of this, and it is readily available at all the stores I frequent. I'll definately pick it up at some point, maybe with my next huge order in December or maybe /w the DDD sale (fingers crossed).

So you have some great recommendations here, but you should really consider the following films:

Children of Paradise - Beautiful, poetic, great
Hiroshima mon amour - I wasn't sure if this would be pretentious when I got it, but it is a striking film
Seven Samurai - Essential, one of the greatest action or any other kind of movies ever! You may want to consider waiting though as there seems to be a rumor of a re-release in the near future.
The Adventures of Antoine Doinel - The films are a bit uneven (mainly the flashback heavy Love on the Run), but there is greatness there (The 400 Blows). My favorite is the short Antoine and Collette, but they are all fun and it is fascinating watching a character grow up.

All this said, I cannot really speak to most of what has come out in the past year and a half as I haven't been able to buy a lot of it as I had prior. Happy shopping!

I've gotten a chance to watch several of the discs I picked up and a couple I have had for a while that I never got around to, so I thought I'd post my thoughts.

The Lady Vanishes
This was my first exposure to Hitchcock (yeah, I know, I suck), and I really enjoyed it. The brisk pace made it all the more interesting, and I totally got sucked into the plot after the lady "vanished."

Notorious
I liked the spy story in this one, and the acting was great. I feel it ended a little too abruptly, but it seems that all the Hitchcock's I've seen tend to do this.

Rebecca
This one was great! I loved the mystery behind Rebecca's death.

Dead Ringers
Typical Cronenberg weirdness! I found this more interesting than Videodrome, but not as much as Naked Lunch. Overall, a pretty good flick with Irons' doing a great job in his dual roles.

Spellbound
The least interesting of the Hitchcock's I have viewed. I'll admit I wasn't paying my full attention while watching this, and it probably deserves another viewing at some point.

Band of Outsiders
My first Godard, and it was great. I loved the spontaneity of several of the scenes, and the general plot was excellent as well.

The Battle of Algiers
Excellent! While I was watching, I could not help but see how closely it resembled the world of today, with the increased terrorist activity and some people's narrow-minded views of the Arab community. Definately a classic, and I can't wait until I have time to dig into the special features.

Man Bites Dog
Maybe I'm a sick individual, but I found this hilarious! It was touted as being ultra-violent, and it was, but not a gory violence. I loved the documentary feel and it definately purveyed a sense of realism.

Ratcatcher
A beautifully shot movie! The cinematography was top-notch on this one. This didn't seem to have a main plot to follow, more of just a bunch of random events thrown together. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and I enjoyed it immensely. One thing for certain, I'm definately glad they put subtitles on this one, even though it's in English, it sounds more like Pikey to me.

Eyes Without a Face
This one took a few minutes to suck me in, but once I got there, I was hooked. I loved the mask that Christiane wore through most of the movie. Also, the montage when one of the operations is a failure was magnificent.

That's all I've watched in the past week (as far as Criterions go). I'll post my thoughts of the next batch in a week or so if anyone is interested.