Criterion Film Club: Suggestions and General Discussion

[zedz]

I was thinking 'doomed, ageing men', but those are all good.

Great! Cheap therapy for half the forum!

EDIT: Great selection, as others have noted. I ruled out Late Spring because it already gets plenty of attention, and The Music Room got a bit of attention on release. I ended up going for The Browning Version because it's one of the most surprisingly great films I discovered through Criterion. I doubt I'd ever have bothered to see it without that extra push.

EDIT EDIT: And my vote seems to have given us a three way tie, so this might actually be an interesting competition.

[swo17]

Asquith in general is just severely underrated. All of his films available from Criterion and the BFI are marvelous.

[Mr Sausage]

Browning Version it is!

[Shrew]

Three cheers for the Croc.

[Mr Sausage]

The Mediaeval period is fascinating, so here're five random films taken from all those Criterions set in the middle ages (I also included Japanese films set during roughly the same era even tho' I'm pretty sure this is a Europe-centric period, because why not?).

Vote as usual.

[Drucker]

Voted for Nevsky. Would love to use this as a reason to pick up the Eisenstein set, which I've never watched.

[Mr Sausage]

Just make sure that, whatever you vote for, you're prepared to actually discuss it. I understand that it's great to read everyone else's thoughts, but this kind of thing only thrives when many people participate.

[matrixschmatrix]

I've been tapped out of these for the last several, but now the 70s list is done I'm prepared to participate. I'm committing here and now to doing this regardless of what's picked, since I own all of them.

[Mr Sausage]

Just so there's no confusion, that was directed at those who vote but don't really participate, rather than you or Drucker or other members who've put in the effort in the film club somewhere (you aren't expected to discuss every chosen film, obviously). The more people, the better.

[Mr Sausage]

No vote splitting this time--Marketa Lazarova it is!

[Mr Sausage]

To coincide with the 80's List project, here are five random Criterions from that decade.

You know what to do.

[Mr Sausage]

As I haven't seen any of these (I think the first time that's happened on these votes), my vote is completely up for sale if you want to put in a convincing case for the movie you chose. I'm open to suggestion.

[domino harvey]

All great choices and I've either seen it or own it, but let me once again throw my hat in the ring for Broadcast News, which I've defended in detail a hundred times elsewhere

[jindianajonz]

I had typed something up, and my phone lost it. To summarize:
I'm voting for Paris, Texas. Harry Dean Stanton and Dean Stockwell are great, and the article posted on Straight Story in the Lynch thread had me thinking of this

Tanner 88: great show, but long- it's an HBO miniseries.

Broadcast News is great, like everyone says.

I didn't care for Eating Raoul or Unbearable Lightness, but would love to give them another chance. Also, ULoB has Daniel Day Lewis.

[swo17]

Paris, Texas is an everloving masterpiece though it strikes me as already pretty well discussed. My vote is for Tanner '88 which is the one I haven't seen but have been meaning to.

[warren oates]

I'd vote for Paris, Texas if I were choosing the best film. But I agree that it's had plenty of attention and discussion by film fans and scholars here and elsewhere. Plus, frankly, I like the film almost too much to opt to participate in dissecting it to death. There are some films too close to one's heart to learn much from intellectually. And this is one. I had a friend in college who told me that after he saw Paris, Texas for the first time, he felt like the protagonist at the beginning, uninterested in talking to anyone for days. Which seems about right.

So I'm voting for Broadcast News, which I'd like to see again and which strikes me as more quintessentially 80's.

[Mr Sausage]

Broadcast News it is.

[domino harvey]

Finally, victory for the non-arthouse pick!

[Mr Sausage]

As a small token of thanks for his work running the genre lists and moderating (as well as his excellent contributions in general), matrixschmatrix has been given curating duties this round.

Remember: you can change your vote at any time. Have at it!

[Mr Sausage]

I like the conversations that you can have around Silence and Four Feathers, but I feel I've contributed enough to the former and that the latter has already been discussed at length. So I went with Ivan because it's long been a favourite of mine and it'll be a good chance to revisit it (that and my copy of The Naked Prey is lost in the crawlspace somewhere and I don't want to go looking for it).

[Drucker]

I have never seen an Altman, and though I would love to watch that Eisenstein for the first time, the description of Secret Honor sounds great.

[domino harvey]

Weirdly I think Secret Honor might have been my first Altman too (either it or 3 Women)-- I didn't care for it, though! I've only seen it and Silence of the Lambs from this selection and I'm interested the other three but since it'll correspond with the War list, I'll go with the Four Feathers

[Mr Sausage]

Weirdly I think Secret Honor might have been my first Altman too (either it or 3 Women)-- I didn't care for it, though! I've only seen it and Silence of the Lambs from this selection and I'm interested the other three but since it'll correspond with the War list, I'll go with the Four Feathers

We will actually be having a couple of votes that tie into the war list once it starts.

[matrixschmatrix]

You could make a case for Ivan the Terrible as a war movie, since there's an explicit war going on in part 1 and an intrigue civil war sort of thing happening in part 2.

I've never seen one of these votes where nearly all the titles were nearly tied, instead of one or two pulling away with it right away, which is kind of exciting. I believe that I have discussion questions for each of these in mind, so hopefully we'll get off and running right away for whichever movie wins.

[jindianajonz]

I've never seen one of these votes where nearly all the titles were nearly tied, instead of one or two pulling away with it right away, which is kind of exciting.

Out of curiosity, are the old voting results archived anywhere?

Great picks though, Matrix!