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As for Marilyn, I included some documentaries, some youtube videos of TV content about her, bio-pics, and even the full season one of Smash which was about a theater group developing a play about Marilyn's life. I also read through a book about all of her films as I watched each one. It was a good time.

Calgary has two REALLY good film festivals... The Underground Film Festival in April (that is mostly genre based) and the International Film Festival in September. I try to go to both. In April I see about 20 films at CUFF over 7 days. I've gone to that festival for the last 4 years and this is my 3rd year doing the international one. There's not really a horror one specifically here, but that would be awesome too. My wife wants to send me to Sundance or TIFF one of these years, which would be really cool as well. The problem with TIFF is that it is pretty much the week before the Calgary festival, so I could never do both.

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Chungking Express
Third time watching it for the CC challenge, fifth time over all. It's still free and alive and always happening NOW. And Faye Wong is the original Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but the story is actually from her POV.

A few days later, I watched Fallen Angels, which I didn't know was a kinda/sorta companion film to Chungking.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Am I crazy, or is this the forgotten Spielberg film? Everybody's seen it and everybody knows it's Spielberg. But it feels like Close Encounters always gets overshadowed by the bigger hits or the more critically acclaimed stuff.

It also kind of feels like interest in UFOs has dropped a lot in the last couple of decades. Do we just have more answers for sky phenomena, or are people just not going outside and looking up much anymore?

Multiple Maniacs
Waters's second feature length, but it comes off as barely better than a student film. I don't think B&W works with his early homemade style. I think you need those bright, tacky colors to go with Divine's antics.

I saw Female Trouble a month ago, and that was a great, sleazy, charming good time.

David Lynch: The Art Life
Portrait of an Artist. I knew it would focus primarily on his painting, and that's exactly what it did.

Doeds’ka-den
I've seen about half of Kurosawa's films now. I feel fairly certain this one belongs in the bottom third. I knew it was going to be some goofy caricatures, but how can you romanticize severe poverty so much?

L'avventura
I loved Blow-up, the only other Antonioni film I've seen. I'll keep going with his work, but L'avventura was not a high point for me. Great scenery, though.

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Yeah, isn't it odd that once people started having cameras on them 24/7 the sightings of ghosts, UFOs, and Bigfoot dried up?

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YES, Close Encounters is highly overlooked in comparisons to other Spielberg films. Glad it got a re-release and a proper 4K transfer treatment.

I'm watching Identification of a Woman, another Antonioni film, that is a perfect companion to L'avventura, even with similar plot points.

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I've been making my way through The Complete Mr. Arkadin. I've watched the Corinth Version and Confidential Report already, and all supplements on their respective discs. To be honest, I favor the latter cut. I found the scenes of Guy and Zouk intrusive throughout the Corinth Version. They made me feel that I wasn't trusted to keep up with the rather straightforward story, for one thing. They also interfered with the organic development of plot threads.

I'm going to move on to The Complete Edition shortly. Regardless of how I feel about that cut, I can already say I'm glad I finally got hold of this (thanks, Campbell County Public Library, for making it available to me through an interlibrary loan!). It's not one I feel strongly enough about I'm likely to revisit or want to own, but if a theater screened any of its cuts, I'd be keen to attend.

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I have a vague memory of this set being possibly my first immersion into what makes Criterion Criterion. I'd seen Criterion films before obviously, but this was a (possibly first) time where I immersed myself into the set, and really "studied" the film, thought about the filmmaking process, and read up on it.

Of course, I have absolutely no memory of the film itself now, but recall loving it, and should re-visit it.

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It may be the epitome of what the Criterion treatment looks like. They dug into the vaults not just to find two versions, but even farther enough to collect other material to synthesize an entirely new one (in a rare instance where, artistically, such a thing is allowable as Welles never presented a definitive cut of his own). We get a commentary (oddly, only on one of the three cuts), video interviews with a scholar and another with the key figures involved in the new cut (including Peter Bogdanovich), three episodes of The Lives of Harry Lime radio show, footage of Welles acting, footage of him directing other actors (something I've almost never seen as a feature!), outtakes, and even two alternate scenes featuring Spanish speaking actresses in the roles of Baroness Nagel and Sophie, replacing their English speaking counterparts for release in Spanish-speaking markets (it was co-produced by a company from Spain).

Plus, it was even packaged with a reprint of the novel! Alas, the library that loaned me their DVD did not include the novel, so it's the one thing I can't claim to have absorbed over the last few days. (The booklet was also missing, but thankfully Criterion posts their essays online.)

As for the Comprehensive Edition cut that I watched last night, I can easily get behind the argument that it's as definitive as one could ask given the circumstances. I complained previously that I found the frequent present-day scenes intrusive in the Corinth Version and that I favored the Confidential Report cut for removing them. Oddly, I found them more acceptable and even appreciated them being restored for this cut.

I think the key reason they worked better for me here is that some of the sequences were rearranged from those other two cuts. The story felt more organic overall, and because of this, the present-day scenes weren't jarring interruptions.

I've changed my mind about my interest in this set. It's currently DVD only, but if/when they should issue it on Blu-ray, that will go on my wishlist. As you said, Trevor, it's a fantastic edition for actually beginning to study a film. I would be interested to come back to it every now and again and see what all may stand out to me in subsequent viewings of the different cuts.

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I don't know how accurate the assessment is, as I've never seen the movie myself, but I just read an interesting blog entry where the author suggested Miami Vice was long overdue for the Criterion treatment. I don't have the link, but if anyone wants to read it, just do a search for Miami Vice Criterion Collection. He made quite a few good points in his article.

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Thanks Trevor, for letting me know some of the other places you can find Criterion content. I was looking on YouTube, and discovered that Fishing With John is on YouTube. I just finished the first episode where he was with Jim Jarmusch, fishing for sharks off Montauk Island.

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I dunno; the proliferation of Photoshop and video editing software has given new life to the hoaxes, and in turn, seems to have spiked a curiosity in the phenomena themselves. I mean, there are whole cable channels that have become dedicated almost exclusively to those things (looking at you, History Channel).

But to get back to the spirit of Dr. Mantle's question, I think we collectively aren't "going outside and looking up much anymore". I attribute this in large part to the U.S. government de-emphasizing space exploration over the last several decades. I was born in 1978. I hear about the space race of the 60's and the awe and wonder it inspired, and I don't believe it was just because no previous generation had ever done it. I believe it was also because it was made to feel like a collective achievement. I've often heard people who were around for those things say, "We went to the moon." They felt included in that.

Throughout my own lifetime, though, the attitude has often been that NASA was a big waste of everyone's money ("What did we get? A couple of rocks? Big deal!") and that if anyone gives a damn about space exploration, they should get some money and do it through a capitalist venture. There's no "we" in what a business may do unless you're an employee. That's a much smaller demographic than everyone in the country feeling part of something conceived and carried out by their duly elected government.

The damage done to our sense of wonder hasn't come through slashed funding. It's come from our people being told time and again that space exploration is frivolous. Look at the reaction to Richard Branson's plans to go into space. It's lofty, but it also comes off as little more than a novelty for the uber-rich to indulge in than as something for humanity to celebrate.

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Last night I watched the very funny comedy The In-Laws. It stars Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. As I stated in my Letterboxd, it's "a hilarious late 70's comedy that became more hysterically funny the more it tried to play it straight. Definitely worth checking out."

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As we close in on the final days, how's everyone's challenge going? Find any gems? Any remaining goals you're going to push to reach?

When this challenge is over, I think it'd be neat if everyone* would share one film from what they watched during this year's challenge they think others ought to make a point to watch. Could be fun to come back to those recommendations next year!

*Everyone meaning those who care to participate. We run a low-pressure operation here.

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A few days ago, I asked Travis for another suggestion of something to watch and he suggested, 45 Years. His feelings were that while I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much as he had, I should enjoy it and at worse be neutral toward it. I have to admit to being indifferent. I didn't hate it but I didn't really enjoy it.

The movie follows a couple that is about to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. A few days before the party, the husband receives a letter that upsets their lives unexpectedly. The whole movie has a very melancholic feel to it. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood to watch it, but it just didn't grab me. I can understand why this made it into the Criterion Collection, but I truly don't have any strong feelings about it other than the end feels a little too abrupt, like nothing was truly resolved and that there should be another movie following to see what happened next.

Travis, I think I'll stick with my previous selection of Harold and Maude as my recommendation!

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While I haven't really done much this month, I'd like to watch some from my DVD collection, so I guess that would be my goal.

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Well, you didn't hate it so I'm calling it a win! :P

I would certainly agree that "melancholic" is an appropriate characterization of this one, but I would like to qualify that by clarifying that it isn't a monotonous downer. It's about the husband processing something difficult and the wife processing the husband's processing. There's a vulnerability here that resonated with me.

I felt the conflict developed organically, too, which has not been the case for me with a lot of movies. Usually there's a sense that something happens because the structure of the story needs that thing to happen, rather than because it's where the characters would go next with their journey. 45 Years is a slow burn, and while it does lead to an explosion of sorts, it's a much smaller scale explosion than I think we're used to in film, and I think that's another part that endeared it to me.

I dig that you dug that one. I know this particular challenge is more miss than hit for you, so it's exciting for me on a personal level when you have a hit!

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Lovely Challenge so far here! Have kept a fairly steady pace, pretty much watching a couple films on each day off work. As always as of the last couple years, my non-October Challenges are mainly focused on filling in my personal checklist, where I make sure I watch at least one item on every subscription service, device, and collection niche. Gives me a broad variety of content each month, which keeps me focused and moving, never feeling like it a slog to get thru too much of the same thing, as I have about 30 different "types" of things to get through.

No real goals left now that that checklist is complete, other than perhaps finding a new-to-me item to qualify for the crossover Horror period. Don't think that exists, except perhaps as an unlistened to commentary track.

Gems? Several, mostly Harold and Maude. More on those later hopefully.

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I'd say the gem of the month so far, is the original, classic, Gojira. While Godzilla:
King Of The Monsters is a typical 50s atomic monster movie, the original Japanese version is a deep, thought provoking anti nuclear allegory.

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Definitely call it a win! I am glad I watched it. It's definitely outside of what I normally am drawn to. I thought the actors all did a great job and it was well paced and filmed. That being said...Got a little frustrated at the wife. I'll put the rest in spoilers though...



So yeah, pretty ambivalent on this one! :)

You are right that I tend to have more misses than hits in the Criterion Challenge. But the hits really do make up for the misses! It's why I keep plugging along with it.

I did also enjoy King Kong this year. Still think Harold and Maude is better, but I think Kong is a good gateway movie into the challenge for those not quite sure about it.

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I'm 20 films deep into the film festival I'm attending, but I'll take a moment to say that I really enjoyed Punch-Drunk Love. It wasn't my first viewing of it, but it really struck me this time. I ordered the Blu-ray version of it right after I watched the library version of the DVD. Just had to have it.

I also bought Lost In America during the month and preordered The Lure, Vampyr and Jabberwocky.

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I realized I hadn't watched The Black Stallion yet this challenge so I decided to today. I have always been a fan of this movie since first saw it. I think it must have been the movie that introduced the idea that people make movies out of books. It was also likely it introduced me to the idea that the two sometimes have a lot of differences!

Love the filmography on this movie. Everything is very grand. Francis Ford Coppola made it so you don't miss the dialogue-instead of being spoken, it's being shown.

That being said, I have to admit to being a bit disappointed in the Criterion treatment of this film. Some of the picture is very clear and crisp, but a lot is still very grainy and makes me feel like I'm still watching the movie on my tiny little 13 inch TV on the VCR. One of the scenes has Alec staring up at the blue sky with white puffy clouds and it's just horrible. It could almost be considered static. :/

There is an included essay but it's on the back of a large poster of Alec and the Black which makes it hard to read. I'm also worried about tearing it or snagging it as it's pretty large when unfolded.

The other bonus features include supplemental films and an interview with the director of photography. I have to look again for the interview as I didn't see it on first go through of the menus before the film started.

It would have been nice to have some commentary on here about the filming of it or something on Mickey Rooney as he died about a year before this came out on Criterion.

I guess I've seen some of the extras Criterion has put together for other films and wish this was treated just a little better, but I'm sure that's more to do with my fondness for the film than anything...

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I spent the last hour writing and revising responses to the points you raised. This one is just too personal for me to discuss openly. I'm not even sure I'm up to discussing it privately at present.

The one thing I will address, though, is your frustration over the ending. Writer/director Andrew Haigh is on record as saying the ambiguity of the final shot was so clear to him when he began writing the screenplay that he built the entire picture around it.

My reading of it is no more "right" than anyone else's. I can only tell you that the night I watched this last year in a theater with only two other people sitting about ten rows behind me, I went through the wringer and by the end, I was left not feeling I needed to see a single minute further, but instead simply with a feeling of hope that Kate, Geoff, and Kate and Geoff, can all begin to truly heal. Maybe, though, I just felt that way because that night, I needed to feel that hope for myself and these characters had become my proxies.

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I think both our interpretations are equally valid-we're both coming from totally different angles in our personal lives and I can see why it touched you a lot more than it did me. I hope, in the end, that Kate and Geoff can truly heal too! But where you were happy when the film ended, I just wanted a few more minutes for them to at least proceed a bit longer in some sort of direction.

But that's what makes life not boring-everyone has different tastes! :)

On a different note, as I went through The Black Stallion's extras, I found a really nice featurette where they talk with the director Carroll Ballard (was thinking for some reason it was Coppala, but he was the producer, not director) and his interview/discussion was what I was looking for-details about how the film was made, the actors in it and stories about the film being made. Definitely gives me the feeling that Criterion did spend enough time putting extras together (though I still would have liked something on Rooney!)

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Check the Criterion web site. More times than not the essays are on line.

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Not sure this is the right spot to discuss, but it was a cool experience so here goes.

We went to the Seattle Symphony concert last night with John Williams conducting his own music. It was an add-on to our regular subscription but we said "Hey, it's John Williams so why not." It opened with an arrangement of Hooray for Hollywood accompanied by a movie screen filled with five seconds of clips from Charlie Chaplin to Gene Kelly and on. It was pretty wonderful, and reminded me of why we hang out at this site. They also played pirate music from Tintin accompanied by clips of Errol Flynn, The Princess Bride, and other swashbucklers.

The second half started with Jaws, then Williams mentioned he had worked on it with Spielberg. Then Spielberg walked out of the wings. The crowd went nuts, and everyone started taking pictures even though they're not allowed during the concerts. Spielberg introduced every selection from then on, including War Horse, Schindler's List, and ET. They showed the River Phoenix scene from Last Crusade on the screen without the score, then they showed it again with Williams and the orchestra playing the score live. Encores were from Lincoln and Indiana Jones. A great evening.

Pic spoiled for size:

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Thanks, I did find it, I was just more wishing that instead a large poster, I had gotten a booklet.

Thanks! These online essays do come in handy.

WOW! I bet that was amazing to experience!

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I had a hankering to watch Forbidden Planet and my DVD from the TCM Classics set is split and nearly broken so I went ahead and bought a digital copy. Why are the publicity stills for it in black and white, though? I almost thought it was the wrong movie! :lol:

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I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to finish the Checklist this year since I had been really busy the last few weeks, but with the completion of the The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara Eclipse set last night, the only thing I have left to do is watch something from 0-100 which will be knocked out tonight after dusk when I watch Dead Ringers for the Horror crossover. I used to be a Criterion blu-ray completionist until last year, so this is the best challenge of them all for me in watching deep backlog stuff that has been sitting in my collection for years. This challenge is always a good motivation for that. Thanks for another great challenge, Travis!

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I fell way behind, but because we have until dawn, I am still hellbent on finishing Christopher Nolan's Top 10. First up will be the longest, The Thin Red Line, clocking in just under three hours. Wish me luck, y'all!

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Good luck! I'm a huge fan of The Thin Red Line; it's such a beautiful and contemplative film. I also didn't get much viewing done this month. I'm planning to watch Kwaidan to finish things up!

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Well, I did it, y'all! I started with The Thin Red Line, then moved on to The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, revisited 12 Angry Men, and had the sun come up as I was finishing For All Mankind. It's been ages since I last did that kind of a movie marathon. I would blame not being able to keep my plans with a friend on it, except the only reason I was even able to watch all four of those at all was that I had a rough night/morning health-wise anyway.

I didn't come close to finishing the challenge checklist (Christopher Nolan's Top 10 was largely redundant for that purpose), but at least I have now actually finished a Top 10 during a challenge, and that's a first for me.

I had to forego dashing off notes about each one after finishing it, so it'll take me some time to write up everything, but I do want to note that it was all but impossible for me to stream anything from VUDU or Filmstruck. I had to resort to Amazon for The Thin Red Line; I was stuck with Filmstruck for For All Mankind. I love the idea of Filmstruck, but so far its execution has made me resentful that they left Hulu, where I had no problems whatsoever.

Now that the challenge is officially over, I'd love to hear from everyone! How was your experience this year? What do you feel you got out of it this time? If you set any objectives for yourself, how'd you do with those?

And, of course, what one film from all that you watched this year would you recommend to participants in the 2018 challenge? I'm going to use the second post in the list thread to compile those recommendations, so let's have 'em!

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Thanks for hosting, Travis. This is one of the challenges I really look forward to every year. It forces me to watch the Criterions that I purchased during the year.

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Kudos to malazar as the only participant who complete the challenge checklist this year! I have revised the second post in the list thread to make note of that, as well as to identify all the films that were watched by more than one participant this year. If you have a recommendation that you feel 2018 participants should consider, dash off a post about it in this thread and I'll link to it there.

I think what I learned more than anything else is that I don't share a lot of Christopher Nolan's taste in film. Since his remarks on that list are so terse and lacking anything resembling insight into either the films or his take on them, I have no way of knowing where it is that he and I diverge. I just know that I was split between "kinda liked it", "alright", and "meh", with Koyaanisqatsi confirmed as a film I just plain hate. Nolan seems to favor films that he finds visually interesting more than anything to do with characters or even themes, per se, and I think those priorities are evident in his own filmography.

That said, I did find myself engaged by The Complete Mr. Arkadin and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, both of which were interlibrary loan rentals. I was able to take my time and delve into all their respective supplements, and I found my interest and appreciation for them grew the more I learned about them. That's seldom the case with most DVD's/Blu-ray Discs, but it is often the case for Criterion releases, which is why I so ardently encourage participants to forego squeezing in as many movies as they can and instead dedicate some viewing time to those supplements.

I was also really into The Testament of Dr. Mabuse. That one, I own and can revisit at my leisure. I've got two weeks left on a free trial of Filmstruck (I've had enough a/v problems I can't fathom paying money for this service until I hear it's improved) and almost a full month of free HBO on Hulu (reliable streaming, but oh my God, do I hate the new interface!), so it'll be awhile before I make time for it, but it's at the front of the line when I return my attention to my own disc library later.

I had a handful of other Criterion discs that I intended to get to this year. Aside from Mabuse, I only made it to one: Tampopo. I first heard of that when it was screened earlier this year at the Speed Art Museum, and it sounded neat but of course I was too physically miserable to attend that night. I took the chance on it during July's 50% off sale at Barnes and Noble, and I'm glad I did. I found it absolutely delightful, and if I were to make a single recommendation for next year's participants, it would be that. [I would always recommend 12 Angry Men, but I figure that one is already on everyone's radar.]

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I was hoping to slip one more watch this weekend, but it was not to be. I had a reunion that went really well and didn't have any down time. Plus, the wi-fi at my hotel was horrible so I doubt I would have been able to watch more than 2 or 3 minutes at a time. :( Oh well, one of these days I'll get to Pan's Labyrinth!

Thanks for hosting, Travis! I'm glad you were able to finish your top 10 list, I know that's been bugging you for a while, now.

I also liked that 2nd post showing the overlaps and how many unique movies we've all watched. Pretty impressive list! And kudos to the other watcher of The Black Stallion!

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Thanks! I am surprised that I am the only one who completed it since this challenge is tailor made for using the checklist to get to stuff, for me at least. That's five straight years completing it for me.

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Kudos indeed! Personally, I had too many lapses where I went a few days without watching movies. I always enjoy doing this challenge. Thanks for hosting, Travis!

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Congrats on your achievements, Travis and malazar! :clap:

I had a ridiculous month in which I was out pretty much every night, but at least I managed to run through the tape with a few viewings at the end. One of these years I'm going to tackle those samurai and Samuel Fuller movies!

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Thanks for hosting! I would definitely suggest everyone watch Breaker Morant which I imagine is a crowd-pleaser. The disk highlights what makes the Criterion Collection vital and worthwhile. The many interviews and the essay included gave me a richer understanding of the film and the motives behind it. I would also recommend Stalker which is a much more abstract film that may not land with all people. However, it's a beautiful film that has so many interesting things to say.

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The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is one I've probably owned for 10 years and have still not watched! Next year for sure! And Tampopo was one of the titles I had from the library because a couple of you were talking about it but I had to return unwatched when my film festival started... bummer.

Oh man! You definitely need to watch that! I've seen that film 5 times... Twice at the theatre.

Stalker is another one I've owned for a decade and not watched! What is my problem??

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I've had it on my watch list for at least 2 challenges now, maybe 3. Just hasn't gotten watched! Part of it is subtitles-it's not that I mind subtitles, but it does take more concentration than normal. Hoping this month might be the one where it actually gets watched!