Woohoo!

[yendi]

This weekend, lokilokust posted a list of Criterion DVDs that she owns.

For some strange reason, I decided to write up my own list.

This is the equivalent of walking up to John Holmes (when he was alive), dropping trou, and saying, "now, how's this for a penis?"

I decided not to bother once it became clear that I had fewer than thirty Criterion DVDs*.

That said, I did wander by the Criterion Web Page.

And on this page, I saw that they're releasing a Criterion edition of Metropolitan!

This is only one of my top ten films of all time, and probably #1 on my list of films whose non-existance on DVD is a fucking crime. No release date, but it'll be out sometime in 2006, with commentary by Whit Stillman and some of his cast members (including Chris Eigeman). This is most definitely a film I'll own on the day of release.

*At one time, compiling this list would have been simple, as I kept my DVDs sorted by category, like "Criterion," "John Carpenter," "Jackie Chan," etc. But my wife insists on this bizarre organizational system called "alphabetizing," I don't quite get it myself, but I humor her.

Comments

[voldsom]

*laughs* I think this is why I'm so anal with the MDB. It means that I can keep stuff physically ordered in that strange alphabetical mode that allows me to find stuff, but every time I want to see things grouped sensibly, I can poke the database and there it is.

[yendi]

*nods* I need to really spend a day or two putting our inventory online, for that very reason.

urban haute bourgeoisie

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

I went to college with those people. *shiver*

My friend Faith, who roomed with the daughter of a major corporation's billionaire CEO, showed me Metropolitan freshman year and it explained EVERYTHING.

Did you see that HBO documentary on spoiled Park Avenue heirs? It was frightening and amusing all at once.

Re: urban haute bourgeoisie

[yendi]

Hell, I was one of those people. That's one of the reasons the movie resonates so much for me.

Re: urban haute bourgeoisie

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

Really? Wow, I had no idea. Sorry if I was insulting, but they didn't treat me very well at school. :)

Re: urban haute bourgeoisie

[yendi]

No worries -- I wasn't a big fan of them, either, but I understand what motivated the characters pretty well.

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

Now that's interesting. I always thought "Criterion" was just another label DVD makers slapped onto a movie to make it a must-have. Like "Platinum" and "Titanium" editions of movies. Perhaps you could do a post (or even an article) to explain the difference to us lay DVD watchers.

[yendi]

I could go on for days about the collection, but it looks like the good folks at Wikipedia already have. :-)

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

What is a Criterion DVD? Is it a brand name?

[zarhooie.livejournal.com]

http://www.criterionco.com/asp/about.asp

I think the basic gist of it is they take older movies and put them on to DVD...? O.o Something like that. Totally something yendi would be fanatical about.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Cute icon.

[featheredfrog.livejournal.com]

I feel so inadequate...Last thing I was looking for was "Toot, Whistle, Plunk, Boom"


found it on two different dvds, though.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

it's coming out in february.

i'm a friend of mgrasso's and wandered in looking for the genesis of the criterion meme. at this point i will step away from the computer and refrain from any comments about metropolitan. [grins]

[yendi]

February? Awesome!

And it's okay to not like Metropolitan -- different strokes, etc. Besides, I live perfectly confident that my opinions on movies are the One True Way, so it doesn't matter if others disagree. :-)

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

there are a few tasty releases coming out in feb. when i saw the schedule i was all "ace. all these great movies. oh, and metropolitan." ^_^

[lokilokust.livejournal.com]

i alphabetise most things by title, but i have seperate sections for criterion (by spine number) and merchant ivory (by date).
box sets are just kind of shelved randomly.
willy nilly, you mihgt say.
.
a lot of folks i know are pretty nonplussed about 'metropolitan' and criterion releasing it.
i, however, am excited!

[yendi]

What's the controversy over the release? I figure that after the various Wes Anderson films and Chasing Amy, people would be okay with contemporary releases from them by now.

[lokilokust.livejournal.com]

the same sort of comments people make about anderson's films being in the collection.
about how it' s'too soon' and they aren't 'appropriate' because they're not some long lonst renoir film, basically.

[yendi]

Hunh. Damned snobs.

Not that I wasn't first in line with the pitchfork and torches when Armegeddon got a release, but with Metropolitan, we're talking about a sixteen-year-old indie flick with no DVD distribution deal.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

speaking as one of the people who's wetting her pants over the release of la bete humaine...i guess i have a hard time justifying the attention criterion invests in releasing a decently well-made indie also-ran (hey, one of my all-time favorite movies is also a decently well-made indie also-ran) when there are other films that haven't seen any release at all, or a very tiny release (overlord, etc). wes anderson has some talent and a great reverence for the history of film, which i don't see as much of in stillman's stuff. then again, i'd rather see criterion put something like this out than some of the other recent films (1980s/90s indies) they've released, so.

i know i'm probably a pariah in the criterion comm for spouting off about this, but i figured i'd at least take the opportunity to explain why i'm lukewarm on a criterion release of metropolitan. in what i hope is a helping, friendly way, of course.

[lokilokust.livejournal.com]

i seem to be one of the only people that actually enjoys wes anderson being in the collection.
i saw 'metropolitan' once, shortly after it was released.
i don't recall much of it, and i'm excited to see it again based, mostly, on what i've heard in recent years.
'.i guess i have a hard time justifying the attention criterion invests in releasing a decently well-made indie also-ran'
i can't fault you for that.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

as happy as i am about a potential release of trust, i keep asking myself "does this really need a criterion release?" (this is one of my favorite movies, and the film that most inspired my decision to become a filmmaker.) the release of wes's stuff makes me really happy too, since he does a good job of bridging the commercial and artistic goals of criterion but also because he is an amazing filmmaker.

[yendi]

Honestly, I think the CC has expanded so much over the last few years, it's hard to try to pin it down to any one area. The second they released Armageddon, that was pretty much ensured (and probably before that, with Chasing Amy), but even before that, I'm sure arguments can be made against Robocop, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and the John Woo flicks. Hell, even Yojimbo and Sanjuro were comparatively mainstream, as these things go. I'm pretty sure that people in ten years will still be rallying against whatever new release Criterion has (although, unless they start a Uwe Boll line, I can't really imagine they'll ever sink lower than Michael Bay).

The way I see it, if no one else was ready to release and restore these movies, Criterion's doing a good thing.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

Sadly, it's pretty much the only worthwhile thing Whit Stillman directed.

[yendi]

Liar! You take that back!

Um.

I mean, I liked The Last Days of Disco. Although I'd be lying if I said that the fact that I've got a crush on Kate Beckinsale has something to do with that. But I still liked it.

And weirdly enough, the nearly-eight-year-old website for LDOD is up, although all the image links appear to be broken.

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

I loved Metropolitan. I found Barcelona more of the same, only with twentysomethings instead of teens, which isn't nearly as charming. And LDOD was just one more of those late-'90s retro-'70s movies that did nothing for me.

[yendi]

I wasn't a huge fan of Barcelona, but I really enjoyed LDOD. That said, I managed to avoid most of the other retro-70s movies (other than Charlie's Angels.

[terracinque.livejournal.com]

I liked Metropolitan too. I never got around to seeing Barcelona or Last Days of Disco.

[charliegrrrl.livejournal.com]

Why hasn't Metropolitan been on DVD already? I've been mystified! Can't wait to get it...

[yendi]

I'm as baffled as you are -- I'm guessing that the indie nature of it might have led to it slipping through the cracks.

Yay! Metropolitan

[pharminatrix.livejournal.com]

I think I saw this on opening weekend my senior year of high school in a gorgeous old art house theatre in Norfolk.

"It's really vulgar...I like it a lot" is one of my most commonly used phrases. My crush on Chris Eigemann remains true through the years. Kicking and Screaming (Baumbach) for example? CLASSIC!

Re: Yay! Metropolitan

[yendi]

Ha! You just named the other movie that I desperately need to see released on DVD (I mean, how the hell does a Baumbach film with Eigemann, Stoltz, Posey, and D'Abo not get released?).

Re: Yay! Metropolitan

[pharminatrix.livejournal.com]

Kicking and Screaming is an artifact of personal nostalgia for me. Noah Baumbach made that right after he graduated from Vassar, where he was three years ahead of me. That school was my school. There's a ton of inside jokes.

Also, Josh Hamilton is a major player in that too. You may know him as the brother to Posey's deranged sister in House of Yes.