Interesting new box set from Criterion, here’s the blurb:
This monumental forty-film box set celebrates forty years of the Criterion Collection by gathering an electrifying mix of classic and contemporary films, and presenting them with all their special features and essays in a deluxe clothbound, slipcased edition … Neither a historical survey nor a top-forty compilation, this exciting, personal, unpredictable anthology reflects the cinematic joys and inspirations of the creative community that makes the Criterion Collection possible.
Here are the included films, listed chronologically, with my comments:
His Girl Friday (1940) — No
Sullivan’s Travels (1941) — Yes (Great movie)
Bicycle Thieves (1948) — Haven’t seen in ages
The Red Shoes (1948) — No (gay, showbiz thing)
Ace in the Hole (1951) — No (Kirk Douglas plays an asshole)
Tokyo Story (1953) — Yes (Great movie)
On the Waterfront (1954) — No (Shirtless Brando mumbling)
The Night of the Hunter (1955) — Yes (Great movie)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957) — No (surprisingly I hated this)
Pickpocket (1959) — Haven’t seen in ages
Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) — Haven’t seen in ages
Jules and Jim (1962) — No
8½ (1963) — Haven’t seen in ages
Persona (1966) — Never seen it? Seen lotta Bergman though
Seconds (1966) — Yes (Great movie)
The Battle of Algiers (1966) — Yes (Great movie)
Weekend (1967) — Never seen it?
Night of the Living Dead (1968) — Never seen it?
Wanda (1970) — No
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) — No
A Woman Under the Influence (1974) — God no, Cassavetes is AWFUL, ALWAYS
Barry Lyndon (1975) — No
Mirror (1975) — No, Tarkovsky, has some inspired scenes, but as a whole, no
3 Women (1977) — Never seen it?
House (1977) — No (super weird Japanese thing)
All That Jazz (1979) — No (gay showbiz thing, see The Red Shoes)
Being There (1979) — No (but I usually love Peter Sellers and Hal Ashby, so it’s strange I don’t like this)
Repo Man (1984) — Yes (Great movie)
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) — No, if it’s the movie I’m thinking of
Down by Law (1986) — No, but Jarmusch made one great movie: Dead Man (also a Criterion issue)
Do the Right Thing (1989) — No, I mean yeah, Spike Lee, 1980s New Yawk, had to put a black guy on the list, etc. but no…
My Own Private Idaho (1991) — Never seen it, gay thing, I should see it
Naked (1993) — No, this is Mike Leigh? He made Kes, which IS a great movie, this one is just sort of disturbing…
Safe (1995) — Todd Haynes, very gay stuff, though I LOVE Nicole Kidman in everything, she is smart and hard-working…
Ratcatcher (1999) — Lynne Ramsay, this is slash your wrists depressing, I recommend her You Were Never Really Here, I think that’s her masterpiece…
In the Mood for Love (2000) — Yes (Great movie)
Love & Basketball (2000) — Never heard of it, uh oh, looks like another token black movie
Yi Yi (2000) — Three hour movie from Taiwan, never been able to make it through it…
Y tu mamá también (2001) — Yes, I saw this when it first came out and liked it, but recently re-watched it and wasn’t as thrilled.
La Ciénaga (2001) — YES! I’m thrilled they included a Lucrecia Martel movie, though I liked The Holy Girl best from the Salta Trilogy.
