Why So Blu?

Not sure. I figure it was due to Rip Torn's death.

DJariya

I watched about 1 hour of that 16 Days of Glory documentary from the 100 years of Olympics collection. Great looking film. It's going to take me awhile to finish it since it's 4 hours and 45 minutes long.

But, I am glad to have this option to be able to see the Olympics films I want on this service without shelling out a very hefty $200 for that collection that I have no space for,

The Questyen

I just got an email that 21 movies are being removed on July 31st.

https://www.criterionchannel.com/lea...ed82d-68872859

LorenzoL

I have officially signed up for this service. I have the free 14 days trial until August 28th and then I will be billed for the year. My wife and daughter don't care for it but it was part of my birthday gift. Looking forward to the Criterion Challenge!

LorenzoL

After one day, I’m not disappointed that I subscribed. As always I wish it had more movies but I’m happy with their selection so far.

However, I’m extremely disappointed in the Apple TV app for this service. This app does not support English subtitles on English language films. It’s strange since the iOS app for the iPhone and iPad does support this feature. I emailed their support team for this and I’ll wait to see their response.

Why So Blu?

What? It has a shitload of films.

LorenzoL

I’m disappointed about the lack of subtitles on English language films on the Apple TV app not the movie selection of the service.

andicus

Are you certain that it's a question of platform? I see subtitles for some English language films, but not others (viewing with Chrome on Windows). When subtitles are not available, you don't see the speech bubble icon.

LorenzoL

Yes, it’s platform. I used two movies for reference: Swing Time and The Third Man. Both have English subtitles on iOS but none is available for the Apple TV.

Edit - Here is the response from the Criterion Channel support:

andicus

You've got to love suggestions like that...

So I was curious whether the titles you mentioned would have subtitles on my PC, and I found that Swing Time does, but The Third Man does not. Weird.

Dan

Did anyone ever get those membership cards they said they'd be mailing out? It was supposed to be in June or July, I thought.

Why So Blu?

I have not.

LorenzoL

Don’t watch the movies on a big screen, use your phone instead! Thanks for the great suggestion Criterion Channel

Anyways, I won’t cancel the service because of the subtitles issue but it pisses me off that they couldn’t have foreseen it. I love having the subtitles as I’m able to catch more of the dialogue and nuances.

I’m very happy with the movies selection as I like the mix of current and older titles. Even the fact that they carry non Criterion movies is a plus.

LorenzoL

Even though I stated the above, it is annoying that some of the movies are not available in Canada because of rights issues (I'm assuming). I think andicus mentioned this previously.

The movies in questions for me are: "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" and "Volver" which are available in the US but they are not in Canada.

I spent the weekend watching "Dragon Inn" and "A Touch of Zen", two movies that I would had purchased blindly before because of the genre and content. Thanks to the service, that's two purchases that I don't have to do anymore. I enjoyed Dragon Inn much more than A Touch of Zen.

Dan

Watched my first Barbara Stanwyck movie last night (Night Nurse) on CC. I really enjoyed it and now I'm looking forward to checking out some of the other films from the pre-code era.

mphtrilogy

Night Nurse was great, I checked out So Big with her, melodrama, but a young Bette Davis was worth the watch, and I love anything Barbara...

This service has been very good so far and I think it's been better than Filmstruck overall..

Didn't get my member card yet either....

andicus

Regarding the member cards, Criterion tweeted that they're just receiving them, now. We should expect to see them around the end of October.

I'd gladly trade mine for a better browser interface/playback experience. It was driving me crazy, yesterday. It doesn't remember where you left off, so accidentally hitting 'back' means I have to remember what point I was at, when I try to continue playing. Then, it's very clunky when you try to jump around to get to the correct spot. At times, it was stuck in low res mode for at least a minute. Still no replay/skip ahead feature, either. They really need to work on this.

Still loving the content, though. Latest watches for me are:

Fish Tank - 2009 - Andrea Arnold
I Knew Her Well - 1965 - Antonio Pietrangeli
All Night Long - 1962 - Basil Dearden
Bottle Rocket - 1996 - Wes Anderson
True Stories - 1986 - David Byrne
Fry Day (short) - 2017 - Laura Moss
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud - Elevator to the Gallows - 1958 - Louis Malle
Jour de fête - The Big Day - 1949 - Jacques Tati
Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot - Mr. Hulot's Holiday - 1953 - Jacques Tati
The Skin I Live In - 2011 - Pedro Almodóvar
Playtime - 1967 - Jacques Tati

The Skin I Live In was certainly not what I expected.

dex14

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...

mphtrilogy

they just added escape form new york, what a treat, just started checking it out and the print looked terrific.

working my through the pre-code stanwycks, always a treat!

really enjoying this service a lot, above expectations....

mphtrilogy

two recent watches

The Long Good Friday with Bob Hoskins... he was great in this, nice flick

and Elevator to the Gallows, the 1958 Luis Malle film, with the Miles Davis Score, this was great.

Enjoying the service quite a bit and I feel like I am getting my charter member moneys worth, they do seem to move stuff in and out of the lineup so it makes you want to jump on something that looks good.

andicus

I've been having too many other shows to watch, so a bit slow with Criterion for the last month, or so.

Night Nurse - 1931 - William A. Wellman
Rendez-vous - 1985 - André Téchiné
Trafic - 1971 - Jacques Tati
Passionless Moments (Short) - 1983 - Jane Campion
Sightseers - 2012 - Ben Wheatley
Kitty (short) - 2016 - Chloë Sevigny
À ma soeur!/Fat Girl - 2001 - Catherine Breillat

Dan

Maybe this question is better suited in Movie Talk, but with the Criterion announcement of a new Almodovar Blu-ray, it got me thinking...

I haven't seen a single Almodovar film. Not one. So... what should I watch on Criterion Channel?

dex14

andicus

The Skin I Live In is on the site. At least, for Canadians.

It was... interesting.

Dan

Weird. Both show up when I do a search, but The Skin I Live In goes to a 404 page.
Looks like TMUTMD will be my first, then.