im focusing on going thru my collection and getting thru all the special features as possible. i pulled out cronos and the great dictator first not sure where im gonna begin.

I can't wait to get started! I got quite a few Criterions during the last B&N sale as well as some Eclipse sets from HPB when they had their last major coupon. I definitely want to watch the Kenji Mizoguchi set. I watched Ugetsu for the Sci-Fi/Fantasy challenge and really enjoyed it.I'm also hoping to finally settle down and watch Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage.

If everything goes according to plan, I am going to sit down after my evening class and kick things off with Bottle Rocket. I have Mark Browning's Wes Anderson: Why His Movies Matter and plan to read along as I work my way through Anderson's filmography.

I think my goals for the Challenge will be to watch 30 new-to-me Criterions, all Blu-rays except for one Eclipse set, one Hulu title, and one former laser disc title. Actually, since I own a player, I think I'll buy on eBay an actual Criterion laser.

I'd say First Man Into Space but that would involve getting up and getting the disc. I know that in reality, the starting time will come, I'll be sitting on the couch and in an effort to not get up, I'll just pick the first decent sounding thing I run across on Hulu Plus.

I love Scenes from a Marriage. There's still a bunch of Bergman I need to see, but of the ones I have seen, that is my favorite.

I think my first title is going to be The Blob. Incidentally, I noticed while browsing Hulu today, some of their Criterion titles are expiring tomorrow, so if anyone wants to watch certain titles before they expire, better do it quick.

But I thought the terms of the Criterion deal with Hulu is that their titles don't expire, and in fact Criterion planned to have every film in the collection available on Hulu by year's end.

That's what I thought, but I know 3 at the very least. The Seven Samurai, Breathless, and Cronos all say expiring in 15 hours.

Just what's visible should keep me busy for the month. That's 45 or so eligible films on that shelf alone!

I know this is slightly silly but I actually requested to come into work tomorrow 2 hours late so I can watch "Videodrome" (for the first time) at midnight my first title of the challenge. I'll probably blow through the BBS set durring the remainder of the week

Save those for the last title you watch in this Challenge and you two can double count them for the Horror Challenge as well.

I am ridiculously excited for this challenge to begin because I am now in possession of the LaserDisc commentaries for the first three Bond movies. For those unaware, Criterion released Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Goldfinger on LaserDisc but then Albert R. Broccoli heard the commentaries and objected to the unflattering nature of many of the recorded statements and he had them taken out of production. I've never owned a LaserDisc player, so I was never able to play those but through the wonder that is the Internet, I'm now rarin' to go for this challenge!

Done. But for OCD here is my conversational post from there:
I just found and downloaded the commentaries! Thanks for the idea! I may start tonight with a DVD or BD of a Bond film synced with one of those banned commentaries.

But then, perhaps I'll save them for February or March for a Bond marathon in my formulating Action/Adventure/Crime/Mystery Challenge.

Then the end date for this challenge needs to be extended since it only shows it goes to the 31st.

No, both list and discussion threads post #1 show it going to dawn on October 1st.

So everyone has about a 7 hour window to watch stuff that counts for both Challenges. Of course, most of us sleep during those hours....

Now if only I could find some Criterion animation to double-count tonight....

TV schedule for Criterion titles:

(Times Eastern)

The 400 Blows
Showtime 3: 2nd; 4:20am, 14th; 3:50am

Picnic at Hanging Rock
Showtime Women: 1st; 7:05am, 4th; 11:40am, 7th; 1:30pm, 13th; 3:25am, 12:45pm, 17th; 8:35am, 25th; 9:05am, 29th; 5:45am

The Browning Version
TCM: 11th; 1:00am

Naked Lunch
Fox Movie Channel: 1st; 5:00pm, 19th; 12:00am, 21st; 9:00pm

Salesman
TCM: 13th; 3:00am

The Long Good Friday
Showtime Women: 2nd; 8:30pm, 6th; 12:30am, 18th; 10:40pm, 24th; 9:00pm

Spartacus
TCM: 27th; 5:00pm

Broadcast News
HBO2: 2nd; 8:45am, 6th; 7:15am
HBOC: 5th; 5:45pm, 8th; 10:15am, 8:00pm, 13th; 2:05pm, 18th; 11:15pm, 28th; 10:25am, 8:00pm, 30th; 12:00pm

The Bank Dick
TCM: 14th; 2:00am

The Last Wave
The Movie Channel Xtra: 19th; 3:50am
FLIX: 7th; 8:00pm, 13th; 5:05pm, 23rd; 9:30am,

Howard's End
TCM: 15th; 7:30pm

The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Showtime Extreme: 7th; 4:55am, 10th; 9:15am, 15th; 8:30pm, 19th; 2:15pm,27th; 11:50am

Paths of Glory
TCM: 20th; 7:15pm

Mala Noche
FLIX: 3rd; 1:00am, 7th; 6:30pm, 12th; 11:15pm, 22nd; 8:45pm, 27th; 10:15pm

The Naked City
TCM: 29th; 12:15pm

The Honeymoon Killers
Showtime Women: 4th; 9:55pm, 9th; 11:15pm, 13th; 12:00am, 15th; 3:05pm, 21st; 8:30pm, 27th; 9:05pm

8½
TCM: 6th; 12:30am

Mona Lisa
FLIX: 9th; 5:05pm, 17th; 11:00am, 20th; 6:45pm, 25th; 10:45am, 28th; 6:15am

Solaris
TCM: 25th; 11:00pm

Dead Ringers
Encore: 15th; 1:00am
Encore Suspense: 9th; 8:10pm, 25th; 7:15pm

El Norte
FLIX: 6th; 11:00am, 13th; 12:35am, 21st; 2:35pm,27th; 10:30am

The Red Shoes
TCM: 5th; 5:30am, 19th; 6:45pm

George Washington
FLIX: 4th; 8:05am, 9th; 11:30am, 12th; 12:00pm, 17th; 5:45am, 25th; 6:05am, 29th; 1:15pm

Ace in the Hole
TCM: 13th; 7:00pm

Night on Earth
Showtime Women: 7th; 1:10pm, 12th; 2:40pm, 28th; 10:10pm

Grey Gardens
The Movie Channel: 4th; 4:50am, 12th; 3:50am, 27th; 7:00am

Brazil
HBO Signature: 28th; 12:00am
HBO Zone: 1st; 10:30am, 5th; 6:35am, 9th; 3:05am

The Killers (1946)
TCM: 29th; 10:15am

Monsoon Wedding
Encore Love: 4th; 9:35pm, 5th; 8:00am, 2:40pm, 13th; 9:35pm, 14th; 12:20pm, 23rd; 1:30am, 12:30pm

Three Women
HBO Signature: 26th; 4:45am

Heaven Can Wait
Fox Movie Channel: 3rd; 3:00am

Black Narcissus
TCM: 30th; 7:00am

F For Fake
Showtime Beyond: 3rd; 1:05am, 7th; 6:35am, 14th; 2:00am, 19th; 2:10am, 23rd; 5:00am, 1:30pm, 26th; 6:20am, 29th; 8:55am

Time Bandits
Showtime Extreme: 4th; 7:00am, 9th; 7:45am, 10th; 1:00am,12th; 3:00am, 12:00pm,20th; 3:15am, 24th; 5:30am, 29th; 10:30am

Louie Bluie
The Movie Channel: 15th; 6:30pm

Paris, Texas
FLIX: 2nd; 2:30pm, 5th; 3:50am, 14th; 7:30am, 23rd; 11:30am, 27th; 8:00am

Hobson's Choice
TCM: 7th; 7:00pm

The Times of Harvey Milk
FLIX: 1st; 7:15am, 3:35pm, 7th; 3:00am, 5:00pm, 16th; 6:30am, 19th; 7:30am

Bottle Rocket
Starz Cinema: 6th; 8:20pm, 16th; 10:05pm

Might've missed a few, but that's more than I expected!

Found a couple possibilities.

Criterion released Akira on laser back in the day, and the By Brakhage set of short films apparently has many that could be termed animation. Can anyone verify the latter?

I'd count many of them. If you go to the criterion list at icheckmovies.com a bunch of them have YouTube links.

Thanks!

Also found another animated Criterion film, Bluebeard in the Science is Fiction set.

I love Trevor's efforts to get double points

I just stopped at the very top where it said September 1st - September 30th, 2011.

20 minutes to go and I don't know what to do. I think I'll give Taste of Cherry a shot until it puts me to sleep. No real reason for picking it other than I'm looking at a list of unwatched Criterions and that's the first one I can watch.

I still have some unwatched B&N titles, too. I'm embarrassed. Bergman is my favorite director and I've had Scenes from a Marriage sitting on my shelf for almost a year...still sealed.

I like it...extra credit.

It's nice when you can finally tear that cellophane off!

Thanks!

Wow! Thanks for the list. I've seen a few of these floating around on those channels.

Time for a sticky on the list thread.

I got 30 minutes in until I went to sleep. The trick is to not read anything about the movie because it took about 25 minutes to finally start rolling, except I already knew where it was going, I just had to wait.

If I didn't know what he was doing, I would have assumed he

As with Timecode, I am still not a fan of watching someone either drive or be driven in a car for long periods of time. Timecode and A Taste of Cherry did have a baby at one point. It's some Iranian film I forgot the name of where the entire thing is one uninterrupted shot of a lady driving a car. She does things like pick up a friend and so part of the movie is just listening to women talk. I'll ruin it for you. If you've ever sat and listened to two women talk about nothing, you've seen a good portion of this movie.

I haven't seen it, but you might be thinking of another Kiarostami film, "Ten."

I generally really like Kiarostami ("The Wind Will Carry Us" and the Koker trilogy are all-time favorites), but some of his more "experimental" works (including "Taste of Cherry") are rather hard to take, in my opinion. One of his more recent films, "Shirin," consists almost entirely of a series of close-ups of women's faces as they watch a movie - a "film experiment" which was a bit too much for me. I can't say I've hated any that I've seen, but they do tend to me leave me feeling ambivalent and somewhat bored.