"Since our last report many things have changed; indeed it would be foolish to assume that is could be otherwise."—Throbbing Gristle, sleeve notes, D.O.A. The Third And Final Report Of Throbbing Gristle, 1978.
Oy.
When last we spoke, things were getting on track for this to be a monthly feature again, but then, you know, actual paying work, and my domestic player broke and all that. And then I started getting queries about am I doing a Holiday Gift Guide, which made me think, "Well, there's a hook," as if I needed a hook when the whole point was to get this back to being a monthly thing, and then...
And in the meantime as I'm getting new equipment and prevaricating the discs are piling up, bless them. And really, as you'll see, they've been of really high quality, which is always nice. So here's 34, reviewed and rated, and I've still got a pile to go, and I hope to get that done before the actual holiday itself, but I make no promises. Enjoy.
Equipment: Playstation 3 (broken noisy fat model replaced by quieter skinny model) and OPPO BDP 83 the players, Panasonic Viera TC-P50S30 the display, Pioneer Elite VSX-817 AV the amp.
3 Women (Criterion)
A pretty straightforward upgrade from the standard-def edition same extras) with a BIG uptick in image quality; Chuck Rosher’s cinematography here reaches the apogee of “impressionism” that most cinephiles with a minor in the ‘70s tend to associate with Vilmos Zsigmond; look at those aquas in the pool mural, etc. In its odd way this is one of Altman’s most perfectly realized films, that is, whatever it is, it’s exactly what he wanted to put across. My Lovely Wife: “It’s a very interesting film and I’m glad I watched it. I never want to have anything to do with it again.”— A+
The 10th Victim (Blue Underground)
Elio Petri’s futuristic quasi-Marxist satire is no Death Lays An Egg, but it’s sharper and brighter and funnier than, say, The Running Man. 
You’ve heard of this, it’s the one where Ursula Andress wears a bra that shoots bullets, got pop-art sets, all that. It’s actually a good deal more substantive than its rep indicates, but the real news here is the transfer: So gorgeous, smooth, yet filmlike, And it’s a 1965 picture. Which somehow, to my mind, once again evokes the question of what the fuck is the deal with the Argento Blu-rays. One salient feature of the picture quality here is that there’s zero speckling in the whites, and there are a LOT of whites. — A
Le Beau Serge (Criterion)
Chabrol nuts (I’m one) are suitably gratified that Criterion is putting out this and Les Cousins (see below), the prolific, perverse maestro’s two opening features, a criss-crossing duo, thematically. 
This 1958 debut, in which frail city mouse Jean-Claude Brialy goes back to the provinces and reenters the life of his childhood buddy of the title, a dissolute and surly Gerard Blain, is deceptively simple and plain and very beautiful. The Blu-ray image is impeccable; the winter-gray sky of the French village is so crisp it’s chilling. Very consistent throughout. The commentary by Guy Austin is informative albeit rather formal. —A+
Ben-Hur (Warner)
I understand the party line on big-studio sword and sandal and Jesus epics is that they stink because they’re all lifeless and such, and that the ones directed by one-time studio greats such as William Wyler stink even more because…well, I’m just not getting into all that again. As for me, I think my prior-stated sentiments of affection for the likes of Quo Vadis and even The Robe testify that I have a thing for this sort of stuff. And I do. 
And as Johnny LaRue would say, it’s not a gay thing, and even if it was, what business would it be of yours? I dunno, something about all that production value and the attendant/inadvertent cinematic inertia that result s in making sure it all gets on screen create in an atmosphere that I find perversely engaging. Also, I like Charlton Heston and I don’t care who knows it. This grand anniversary edition of the remake of the General Lew Wallace vision is a spectacular Blu-ray realization, for better and/or worse (check out the “swarthy” makeup on that Arab dude who yells “Roman pig” [no, he really does!] during the chariot race). Hence, that aforementioned atmosphere, perfectly transposed to home viewing. Hooray!— A+
Blue Velvet (MGM/UA)
It looks great, but given how many times I’ve seen this well-projected in a theater, I can’t say it’s revelatory. The big news here is the sole extra of note, almost an hour of deleted scenes, some of them so fully realized (scored and everything) that they must have come out fairly late in the post process. Good, weird, Lynchian stuff it is, too, and demonstrative in hindsight of what a resourceful recycler Lynch is: you see a lot of things that would go, in some form, into Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, those “Rabbit” sequences of his online videos and INLAND EMPIRE, and more. The odd thing, or really not so odd, is that you never get the impression that having these scenes in the film proper would have substantively improved it. (Admittedly the whole jettisoned subplot involving Jeffrey’s college girlfriend Louise IS pretty hilarious.) Great to see it though. — A+
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Paramount)
I’ve seen scads of prints of this, 
16 mostly I suspect, and I’ve never seen it look down-and-out awful, but the brightness and detail of this rendering really is eye-popping and delivers a really great viewing experience. God DAMN Mickey Rooney is grating though. —A+
Cape Fear (Universal)
Shot by Freddie Francis, production-designed by Henry Bumstead, directed by Martin Scorsese in an attempt of sorts at making a mainstream work (if not product), this comes across well on Blu-ray; the most salient feature for me is seeing Scorsese doing some of his signature camera moves and shock cuts with such slick surface material. 
This is maybe my least favorite Scorsese film; there’s something tense and unpleasant about it that has little to do with the tension and unpleasantness of the actual subject matter. Try as he might, Scorsese can’t quite key into the film’s “ordinary” characters, so he throws all manner of effects into his mix (image going to negative, etc), while simultaneously allowing DeNiro to turn his Max Cady into Freddie Krueger. By the end the whole thing seems like an exercise in masochism for pretty much everybody involved. There’s still striking stuff here, and the meagerly-appointed disc sports a first-rate image.—B+
Carlos (Criterion)
Vicissitudes of contemporary filmmaking: While director Olivier Assayas and cinematographers Yorick La Saux and Denis Lenoir shot this in 35, the U.S. theatrical run of this picture (a television mini-series originally), such as it was, never saw a 35 projection, and don’t quote me on this, but I don’t think there were a whole lot of 35 prints struck for the European market either. So the visual quality of your experience of this film (which, as you may have noticed, is one I’m pretty crazy about) is entirely reliant on the quality of its digitization, as it were. And the quality here is, as you might expect, first rate, as are the extras. It’s a common argument these days that the quality line between cinema and television is disappearing because Breaking Bad. There are corresponding (or is it concomitant? Or neither?) views that movies where there aren’t a lot of shots at Dutch angles aren’t “cinematic” because Some Dude™ doesn’t think The Descendants is all that. Sigh. I look at stuff such as Carlos, and at stuff like Fassbinder’s World on Wire (made for German television in the early ‘70s for heaven’s sake, and coming soon from Criterion) and think, well, hell; cinema is where you can find it. And Breaking Bad ain’t cinema. But that’s an argument for another time. This rules. —A+
Citizen Kane (Warner)
This amazing rendition is not just the result of lessons learned about too much DNR application and such. Word on the street is that a new element was found, and given something along the lines of the Zhivago treatment. (See here.) The result is the most compulsively watchable version of the film imaginable, or close, I guess it depends on the limits of one’s imagination. What’s as impressive as what you see I what you don’t see—Welles’ old-age makeup for Kane doesn’t “pop” as makeup the way it did in the prior standard-def edition. One potential pitfall of the genius here is that you’re apt to start telling your spouse or roommate that you’re going to send him or her to Sing Sing, do you hear me, Sing Sing. —A+
The Collector (MGM)
Here’s a Wyler pic I’d be hard-pressed to accept any arguments against, although it is true that they don’t make ‘em like this anymore on any number of levels, so unusual is the balance between old school and new that it poises on (the year was 1965, and it was only Wyler’s second film after Ben-Hur). No way in hell they’d get away with the ending today, that’s for sure. This is a very handsome disc, solid…good hair detail on Samantha Eggar and better freckles! The film, or its making, is also the source for the cover of the Smiths’ 1984 single “What Difference Does It Make,” so, you know…—A
Les Cousins (Criterion)
Haven’t seen this puppy, Chabrol’s second feature, in maybe 40 years (I remember watching it as a kid on “Cinema 13,” my local PBS station’s invaluable film series) but it must’ve made a huge impression on me, as I remember the final shots almost exactly. Weird. Here the country-mouse/city mouse scenario is reversed, although Brialy and Blain play roles that both correspond to AND invert their roles in Chabrol’s first. It’s great, it looks great, get it. The commentary here is licensed from the Australian issue of the film on the Madman label, and features Down Under quasi-tyro Adrian Martin, who really does sound almost exactly like whoever used to do the voiceover for the American Foster’s beer ads. At one point Martin translates the French title of Chabrol’s debut feature thusly: “The Good Serge, The Good Lookin’ Serge, something like that.” Very funny. —A+
Despair (Olive)
Very solid, not a jawdropper, just consistently very good overall quality, no print damage, none of the soundtrack issues that have cropped up on prior Olive issues. I’m working on a longer piece about this interesting confluence of Fassbinder, Nabokov, Stoppard, Bogarde,Ferreol, et. al., so I won’t say much else here except that if you think you liked this movie back in the day, it’s worth another look; it seems even more interesting eccentrically multi-layered than it did back in the late ‘70s. —A
Dumbo (Disney)
I’ve been waiting on this for Blu-ray for a long time and now I’ve got nothing to say about it. Just beautiful, everything I’d wanted it to be. I really wish the studio would reconsider Song of the South, not to mention putting some odder stuff—Three Caballeros, etc.—on to Blu-ray. And also uncensoring all the tobacco-based humor in the material. You can’t have everything. You SHOULD, however, have this. —A+
Fanny and Alexander (Criterion)
Whaddya know, another piece of cinema made for European TV. On the off chance that you know a lot of Bergman skeptics, I’d say this is the work of his that you’ll want to throw in their faces. It’s quintessentially Ingmar but by the same token so much more, well, well-rounded than the more severe (and to some, strained) Scenes From A Marriage. It’s also a film in which every frame seems more beautiful than the last, particularly in this thoroughly astonishing Blu-ray transfer. —A+
The Four Feathers (Criterion)
As adventure yarns go, this is hardly as rip-roaring as, say, Gunga Din; it’s a little more staid, a little heavier, which is one reason its rep is on the more subdued side. Still, it’s got its crackling bits, and the Blu-ray rendering is just beautiful. As opposed to Gone With The Wind, released the same year (1939), this is a study in the delicacy of Technicolor. Look at the blue of C. Aubrey Smith’s eyes. (There’s a sentence you’ve never read before, I bet.) Check out the wine glass, the pineapple in the early dinner scene. Whoa. —A
Go West/Battling Butler (Kino) 
Two very clean renderings of a couple of minor Buster Keaton classics, each one a great deal of fun. Like everything with Keaton attached to it, essential. —A
The Guns of Navarone (Sony)
Apparently restoring this was a real bear of a task, as materials were all over the place and originals of everything were, well, pretty much nonexistent. The resultant Blu-ray is of interestingly variant quality. Skin tones are kind of all over the place relative to day/night scenes, and that goes whether shot with rear-projection or on location or not. The storm at sea scene right after they kill all those poor Germans is a particular study in the malleability in appearance between effects shots and real-life stuntwork stuff. It’s all kind of fascinating, technically, if you look at it with an eye to that sort of thing. If you don’t, it’s still very satisfying in that old movie-movie fashion (the 5.1 surround soundtrack is mixed so as to sound appropriate to a 1961 film, if you follow me).—A
Identification of a Woman (Criterion)
The first shot-on-film feature Antonioni made in his native Italy in nearly two decades, 1982’s Identification is a bit of a puzzle film that, rather puzzlingly in and of itself, relates most directly to…well, Il Grido, if it had been made about an intellectual film director rather than a workingman. Visually, it’s got some striking stuff (not least of which is female co-lead Daniela Silverios), but, my friend John Powers’ booklet essay’s claims notwithstanding, it doesn’t hit, for me at least, the same highs as The Passenger, or Red Desert. Still. Seminal cinema in the highest home video format, it’s kinda like putting two and two together. —A
Island of Lost Souls (Criterion)
Awesome! The film itself is discussed by myself in some detail here. The Blu-ray presentation is quite impressive especially considering the picture is almost 80 years old. Where it really comes to life are in the darker scenes, those on the titular island, which itself seems plunged into what you’d call a Stygian absence of light. The varieties of shade and detail are fabulous. —A+
Jackie Brown (Miramax/Lionsgate)
A few months ago the missus expressed a desire to look at this, and I said, “Let’s wait for the Blu-ray.” A good idea, that. Very smooth, solid, punchy high-def presentation. And a terrific film, not just a high point for Tarantino but, along with Yates’ The Friends of Eddie Coyle, a kind of object lesson in how to transpose a first-rate genre novel to the screen. I could quibble about how not all of the extras are in 1080p, but what’s the point, beyond a docked notch? The play’s the thing, and this photoplay is quite the thing. Check it out. —A
Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy (Universal)
“I hate computers,” remember that thing that Sam Neill says at the beginning of the first picture? 
Ha ha ha ha. Man, I’d forgotten how studio-generic a lot of the first one looked; Dean Cundey’s a solid pro, for sure, but man, this is workmanlike at the level of solid pro. And the opening: too much music, telegraphed thrills. For a groundbreaking picture, this is one of Spielberg’s weakest. The second one’s tighter and tauter and with less child-in-peril boredom, and a more distinctive look (thank you Mr. Kaminski) the third kicks out the jams with no waiting, paying homage to the B movies it was essentially inspired by, and which I myself still prefer. Not a bad looking (or sounding) set of Blu-rays though. — A-
Kuroneko (Criterion)
Certain critics/Asian cinema mavens aren’t all that crazy about this movie, and I can understand why; its stolid camera stylings aren’t exactly what you’d call cinematically distinctive. Still. It’s got spooky female corpses, black cats, evocative forest sets, and really fabulous atmospheric lighting for black-and-white, which this Blu-ray disc absolutely nails. Another study in atmosphere, then. —A
Meek’s Cutoff (Oscilloscope)
Here’s the extent to which high-def television technology is trumping projection: I saw this for the first time in a Manhattan screening room and I actually found myself doing mental compensation for the image quality. That is, I just KNEW that what I was seeing was probably not as striking as what was supposed to be on screen. 
This wasn’t the first time I’d had this experience, and I actually know of at least one filmmaker who’s pulled a film from that room because they weren’t screening a particular picture at the correct resolution. In any event, the Blu-ray of this striking some-call-it-a-minimalist-Western makes the version I saw in that screening room look dingy and dishwaterish. This was one of the films cited by that Dan Kois character in his deplorable “cultural vegetables” piece; well, the brightness and the color values shown here make it a veritable VEGETABLE SALAD, there I did it please kill me now. But seriously, if you missed this in theaters and you’ve got the equipment, go this way as soon as possible. —A+
Meet Me In St. Louis (Warner)
A version of the immortal classic that we have always wanted. Very “filmlike,” down to the occasional feeling of softness; that is, not in terms of muddied or not-sharp detail, but rather the way a film feels when you’ve got that consciousness of light being thrown on the screen from some distance. Spectacular. —A+
Mutiny on the Bounty (Warner)
I’ve read some carping on this, that it ain’t 8K brilliant, or something. I was pretty sold on the version that was on the HD disc of the Milestone/Brando version way back in, when, 2007? So this, finally, would seem to be that version on a Blu-ray, and I’m still pretty sold on it. Vivid, colorful, never visually dull. The film itself a bit of another matter. Still, if you’re a fan of it, or of excellence in high-def generally, this is absolutely solid and worthwhile. —A
Mysterious Island (Twilight Time)
Ooh. A Cy Endfield picture! With Ray Harryhausen special effects! A sequel, of sorts, to 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, with Herbert Lom very apposite as Nemo. Boy, Gary Merrill looks TERRIBLE! In any event, once again the mavens at Twilight Time come through with a very entertaining package at a mildly unpopular price, presenting a studio semi-classic that the originating studio MIGHT get around to issuing on Blu-ray some time after the end of the world. The presentation itself is solid, with lots of what they call “good grain” and the standard deviation when the stop-motion effects are optically printed on the live-action stuff. A first-rate presentation of an underrated picture. Love it. —A+
The Phantom Carriage (Criterion)
Super fucking awesome, a high-def version of what I believe was the transfer that was on foreign region disc, which I raved about back in 2008. Original intertitles on this baby. Amazing detail through all the tints, no “digital” feel. It’s got that electronic KTL score and everything. Get this baby, confuse your friends; they’ll think they’re watching Murnau. And then, after discussing this confusion, you can all sit around and think about what other amazing stuff in cinema history has been lost, or languishes in canonical obscurity. Depressing. —A+
The Rules of the Game (Criterion)
A further upgrade of this staple of cinephilia, a picture which, I’ve been insisting since I was given a published platform on which to insist (around 1987, I think), is entirely accessible and pleasurable and watchable for anyone with eyes and a brain, cinephilic or not. While the disc is not the barn-burner that the Kane Blu-ray is, it’s damn fine. —A+
The Strange Case of Angelica (Cinema Guild)
This graceful and odd fantasy from 100-plus-year-old Portuguese director Manoel de Oliviera is remarkable in both its vivaciousness and mournfulness, which is why it’s so, you know, odd. 
This is one of two recent Blu-rays from the adventurous firm The Cinema Guild, and I’m very positively impressed: the main feature looks great, beautiful pastel colors highlighted, overall a lovely impressionistic palette presents itself. No video noise, either. The special features, including a 1931 silent short from the director, are also uniformly excellent. Highly highly recommended. —A+
Strike! (Kino Lorber)
Eisenstein’s 1925 celebration of doing revolutionary stuff is a genuinely odd piece of cinema particularly in those juxtapositions that don’t quite constitute montage…you know what I mean, the animal identities of the provocateurs and all that. Also fascinating to look at are all the planes created in the shooting of the factory settings. Despite the, um, materialism of the subject matter, the vulgar vitality of its visual treatment yields to a kind of delirium; one can find a distinct influence from this film in Dreyer’s Vampyr, and that’s no accident on several levels. The Kino Lorber Blu is from a recent restoration and whole thing is so lovely it seems slightly churlish to complain about lack of original Russian intertitles. But still, woulda been nice. —A
Touch of Evil (Eureka/Masters of Cinema, U.K. import, region B locked)
Talk about OPTIONS. 
Orson Welles’ 1958 beyond-noir masterwork was, like much of his other work, subjected to studio tampering, leaving its release version, um, compromised. A subsequent 1998 “reconstruction” from Welles’ notes yielded great satisfaction but of course also some controversy. And then there’s the bedeviling aspect ratio debate: is the film Academy ratio or 1.85, and just because Russell Metty made it 1.85 for Douglas Sirk doesn’t mean…and so on. So, in the spirit that animated Criterion’s wonderful omnibus edition of Welles’ Mr. Arkadin/Confidential Report, the MoC mavens give us FIVE versions of the film: the theatrical and reconstructed versions in your choice of 1.37 and 1.85 ratios, the “preview” version in 1.85. Four different audio commentaries are doles out over four versions. Transfer quality is superb throughout. Magnificent, a strong, credible candidate for Blu-ray of the year. —A+
Winnie the Pooh (Disney)
One of the too-unsung films of 2011, a really outstanding expansion/appreciation of the design and animation styles of the Disney Pooh adaptations of the ‘60s. The Blu-ray is about as beautiful and crisp as the film itself, which is to say, very.—A+
Zombie (Blue Underground)
Quite a few of the Blue Underground Blu-rays have revealed values that we might not have appreciated on the first go-round of the films thus treated. 
For instance, the fabulous cinematography of The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue, yclept Let Sleeping Corpses Lie. Or the fact that New York Ripper, while pernicious exploitative garbage, had at one point been, and was now once more, pernicious exploitative garbage in focus! Etc. Alas, this long-awaited high-def digitalization of Lucio Fulci’s walking-dead, erm, classic, offers nothing like that in terms of revelation. Don’t get me wrong, it looks good, it mostly looks REALLY good, and Lord knows its set pieces—underwater zombie attacks topless girl, but is in turn attacked by a shark, who he then BITES! Jagged oversize splinter pierces unpleasant woman’s eyeball! Zombies walk across the Brooklyn Bridge!—still pack a punch. But it remains Zombie on Blu-ray, nothing more, nothing less. Worth noting is the pretty amusing 5.1 sound mix, the pans and reverbs of which are something like the aural equivalent of Italian horror cinema’s overuse of the zoom lens. As with that visual tic, it’s something you eventually get to like. —A-
Well, I'm glad to see another installment of this, and I hope there's another before the holiday. (But I'll prepare myself for it not to happen.)
I mentioned this to you on Twitter, but regarding Dumbo and other older Disney films the company's not interested in releasing on Blu-ray, or unwilling to: I rewatched Dumbo when it came out on Blu-ray this past fall and hadn't fully appreciated, as a kid, how discomforting the "When I See An Elephant Fly" song or the quickie roustabout number are. Considering the racial overtones in those scenes, Disney's unwillingness to release Song of the South even on DVD seems strange to me. Dumbo, though, does look incredible on Blu-ray, as expected.
Citizen Kane also looks incredible in its transfer, as you point out. (And maybe it's me, but shouldn't he be shouting about Sing Sing? Gotta go full throttle.)
Also, do you think the Jurassic Park trilogy is worth it for someone who only enjoys the first film in the series? I've heard the overall special features and transfer are worth it, but I'm curious to know what you think.
Posted by: Mousterpiece | December 03, 2011 at 11:02 PM
I saw Meek's Cutoff first at NYFF at the Lincoln Center and then months afterwards at the Film Forum and there was simply no comparison in terms of image quality. It blew me away at the NYFF--certainly the best I had seen up to that time in 2010 (for me, only Angelica compares)--but at the Film Forum it was like watching a different movie; I don't know if it was projected digitally or badly or what (I'm no expert) but frankly it looked like shit and I was completely unmoved by it, which shocked me considering how profoundly it had affected me the fall before.
Posted by: Peter Lenihan | December 04, 2011 at 01:07 AM
THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE is tremendous. I would like to put in a good word for the Matti Bye score also included on the Criterion disc. That's the one I listened to, and although the film isn't EXACTLY a horror film, Bye's music still struck me as one of the finest horror scores I've ever heard. Especially during that nearly-unbearable, in a good way, ending.
Posted by: bill | December 04, 2011 at 01:47 AM
Ah, god, FUCK Film Forum! Every time I see something there I vow that I'm never going back and then sooner or later there's something I just HAVE to see and the projection is terrible and I vow that I'm never... And fuck their pretentious snacks.
Sorry to hear STRIKE didn't use the original intertitles---there's some very cute animation in the Russian that was included in the DVD edition. On the other hand, the DVD also does this incredibly annoying thing of shrinking the frame every time there's intertitles and then snapping back at the end, which kills one of the movie's best visual jokes (the mug shot scene), so it's a fair trade. I 'm surprised and delighted STRIKE's come to Blu-Ray so (relatively) quickly, though, as it's by far my favorite Eisenstein. Its so constantly free and inventive in a way the more consistent and classroom-friendly POTEMKIN and OCTOBER aren't. Plus I'm really excited to see the plotters-reflected-in-a-puddle shot in gleaming high-def.
Posted by: That Fuzzy Bastard | December 04, 2011 at 02:14 AM
@Peter, I saw it at the NYFF too, in one of the rush seats (i.e. two rows from the screen), and it did indeed look amazing, especially the first 20 minutes or so. Very disappointing to hear that it was projected so poorly in so many places because I thought it was one of the best-looking films I've seen in the past two years.
Posted by: MW | December 04, 2011 at 03:26 AM
Just out of curiousity, did anyone see "The Phantom Carriage" with Jonathan Richman's live score?
Posted by: MW | December 04, 2011 at 03:31 AM
"cinema is where you can find it. And Breaking Bad ain’t cinema."
Well if you say so. But that doesn't explain why the episode "Crawl Space" was easily one of the most thrilling new things on any screen, large or small, this year.
But, uh... Another time.
"The Phantom Carriage" really is an incredible release, and an incredible film - and it is sad that it doesn't have the name value of a "Faust" or "Nosferatu," or that Sjostrom isn't as beloved as Murnau (which isn't a knock against Murnau, but rather a testament to the greatness of Sjostrom.) Hopefully this release helps to rectify that a bit - and hopefully Criterion's allegedly forthcoming release of "Lonesome" will help that film get the reputation it deserves as one of the greatest of all films, of any era.
Posted by: Thomas | December 04, 2011 at 04:11 AM
Breaking Bad isn't cinema, but it's great, great television. And that's a terrific thing to have. As is this Guide, thanks for another wallet-sapping installment, Glenn.
Posted by: Paul Duane | December 04, 2011 at 05:33 AM
Not to take this further off track with arguments for another time, but how is television (or maybe we're just talking Breaking Bad) not cinema? I'm not going to argue that Breaking Bad is great cinema, but I'd certainly consider it as part of the cinema family nonetheless.
Anyway, discussion of the convergence of television, cinema, and whatever the internet ends up doing to replace both of them is a really fascinating one, and one worth having. But as you say, Glenn, another time. Thanks much for the great write up on these discs, many of which will likely find their way into my viewing schedule in the near future.
Posted by: Jason M. | December 04, 2011 at 09:49 AM
I actually don't have anything against "Breaking Bad." I was just once again venting my resentment against that whole Slate-and-beyond crowd that likes to slag Tarkovsky and Godard and then act like their rabid television dribbling makes them intellectuals. "Bad" seems to be the television art object of choice among these bozos. I sometimes need to remind myself that just because something is well-liked by assholes it doesn't invalidate the thing itself (something poor Kurt Cobain could never quite grok).
Posted by: Glenn Kenny | December 04, 2011 at 11:35 AM
There's no link to Zhivago in the Citizen Kane writeup.
GK Update: Now there is. Crap. KNEW I'd forgotten something. Thanks for the heads-up.
Posted by: Johnny K | December 04, 2011 at 11:38 AM
Wonderful. I love these guides, especially the way they do sort of sidle into evaluation, as with The Collector--and how great, and bleak, and gorgeous, is THAT movie? Better than the novel, and I liked the novel a lot. And I'd probably cite Cape Fear as my least favorite Scorsese too, for the record.
Posted by: The Siren | December 04, 2011 at 04:08 PM
I actually really like Dean Cundey's photography on Jurassic Park. It's that simple, clean, colourful look that really makes it pop - and fits nicely with the whole theme park ... er, theme. He also shot my favourite film, Back To The Future. What I love about Cundey's style is that there's no pissing about. Straightforward but handsome.
I'm pleased at your description of Jurassic Park III, Glenn, because I feel the same way. It has a really nice pulpy feel to it and moves along like a bullet, kind of like a well thumbed and yellowed adventure paperback that 12 year old boys used to read. Today's franchise movies don't hold a candle to the Jurassic Park flicks.
Another great guide, Glenn. Hooray!
Posted by: Owain Wilson | December 04, 2011 at 05:50 PM
Oh, and Cape Fear was the very first 18 certificate film I saw at the cinema here in the UK. I was 16 at the time, so the thrill of actually getting in to see it has helped it become one of my favourite Scorsese films, despite its flaws.
Ah, memories.
Posted by: Owain Wilson | December 04, 2011 at 05:55 PM
@bill: Happy to see praise for the Matti Bye’s score of “The Phantom Carriage” (which indeed is one of the greatest movies of all time). One of the pleasures of watching silents in Stockholm is that they often come with Bye on piano (or sometimes with a small orchestra). He’s especially good with horror and 20s German movies – just the other week he did a splendid job with Murnau’s “Faust”.
Also count me in among the bozos with “Breaking Bad” as an art object of choice.
Posted by: Johan Andreasson | December 04, 2011 at 06:53 PM
The crucial difference, Johan, is that the "Breaking Bad" fans I'm talking about think "The Phantom Carriage" is a bore and that its fans are oppressive art-film-dribbling dweebs, and they would like nothing better than to toss the negative of that film onto their cultural-vegetable bonfire. Is my point.
Posted by: Glenn Kenny | December 04, 2011 at 07:03 PM
I think had a similar response as your Lovely Wife to 3 WOMEN, and in fact that's been my response to a lot of Altman when I've first seen it-- NASHVILLE, THIEVES LIKE US, MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, SHORT CUTS...When Altman is on, there's something about his work that can be deeply unsettling, in ways I can't articulate but are very palpable and present, and the movie can evoke an almost physical desire for me to want to back away from it. But then it's under my skin, and it haunts me for days, and I always return to it, and suddenly those are among my favorite movies.
All of which is to say, I guess, that I really like 3 WOMEN, in part because of that very strong initial response it evoked. And man, I really miss Robert Altman.
Posted by: Brian | December 04, 2011 at 07:28 PM
I thought your initial dig at "Breaking Bad" fans was directed at me, since I called it cinematic in the comments section here. As much as I like the show (and a number of other current TV shows), I've never used it as a cudgel against Tarkovsky, Godard or any other art cinema. I'm glad you've clarified what you meant.
Posted by: Steve | December 04, 2011 at 08:47 PM
".When Altman is on, there's something about his work that can be deeply unsettling, in ways I can't articulate but are very palpable and present"
That's because he's telling the truth.
Posted by: Hollis Lime | December 05, 2011 at 07:18 PM
Glad to see some good word in here for Winnie the Pooh, a film which will no doubt land amongst The Tree of Life, The Turin Horse, and Certified Copy in my best-of-the-year list. It's at least as delightful as the Kiarostami, and only a little less intellectually prodding once you start to dive into its approach to language and literature.
Put me down as another fan of the Matti Bye score. Absolutely terrifying. Burrows deeply into the soul for a few days there, and the film along with it.
Somehow, even though I thought my desire for it had reached its absolute peak, you've left me wanting that Meet Me in St. Louis disc even more. I was astonished by how much I thoroughly loved that film, and...man, the Blu-ray sounds like a treat.
And as with extremists of all stripes, I do my best to actively distance myself from Breaking Bad's most fervent admirers, much as I do love the show. It is quite the ripping yarn.
Posted by: Scott Nye | December 05, 2011 at 07:41 PM
The Going Places Blu-Ray is the best recent archival release I've seen. Hope you get around to it, Glenn...
(They released the standard 117 minute version I've seen before. IMDB mentions a 150 minute version from a French 1999 re-release, and it's too bad that's not what they released. I think I could be quite happy with an extra 30 minutes of that movie.)
Posted by: Petey | December 06, 2011 at 10:07 AM
Rules For Understanding Breaking Bad:
1) The long-running big-budget cable TV series for a sophisticated audience that originated with The Sopranos in conjunction with the rollout of HDTV is something new and highly interesting in the history of motion pictures.
2) This new format is not cinema. Neither is it traditional TV. Again, it is something new and highly interesting.
3) Breaking Bad, while being quite compelling and watchable, (that's a genuine compliment), is not even close to being the best work this new format has produced.
4) HBO Original Programming is the most important motion picture studio on the planet at the moment. This has been true for several years now.
Posted by: Petey | December 06, 2011 at 10:25 AM
In re BEN HUR - I'm not embarassed to profess my affection for it. Seeing it projected for the 1st time in ages as part of the Nu-Arts widescreen program a while back, I was struck by how it was really more about being a Jew than about becoming a Christian and I was totally gob-smacked by the thought that the chariot race was executed virtually millenia before the advent of Louma cranes, Shotmaker trucks and the like. That bad boy really holds up...
Posted by: Jaime | December 06, 2011 at 12:53 PM
Since several people have mentioned "Breaking Bad" in these comments (as opposed to BREAKING BAD, which would be how I type it if it was cinema), I'll jump in: I call shows like these "long-arc dramas" (I think I read that somewhere).
While HBO's "The Sopranos" in 1999 was probably the first big budget series of its time like this in the U.S. (OZ started in 1997, but was a bit more episodic in structure), for me, "The Shield" was probably the first significantly successful long-arc drama that made me take notice of the trend. And it had to suffer editing to commercial breaks - a device that seems ingrained in the momentum of how these types of shows work (deliberate beats and intervals not required of stories released in the longer theatrical running times).
I know they might seem less "sophisticated" on the surface, but I never undestood why "The Shield, or even "Sons of Anarchy" (a.k.a. 'Hamlet with motorcycles') get the short end of the critical stick when being compared to some of the HBO or AMC brand....
Sorry for the more than possibly, completely off-topic comment.
I will say that I am probably buying the BLUE VELVET Blu-ray even though I have bought two previous DVD versions, because I want that extra footage. And what's the deal with THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS only being available as a bundle with CITIZEN KANE?
Posted by: Brandon | December 06, 2011 at 07:26 PM
"I'll jump in: I call shows like these "long-arc dramas" (I think I read that somewhere)."
That is indeed better terminology.
"And it had to suffer editing to commercial breaks ... (deliberate beats and intervals not required of stories released in the longer theatrical running times) ... I never undestood why "The Shield, or even "Sons of Anarchy" ... get the short end of the critical stick when being compared to some of the HBO or AMC brand."
I think you provide the answer to your question. Those commercial beats really can really screw up a long-arc drama. In fact, I think part of AMC's genius has been to create shows with commercials that minimize the annoyance of those beats.
But HBO is just in a league by itself. When the indie film ecosystem collapsed a decade ago, it seems like half the talent migrated to HBO.
Posted by: Petey | December 07, 2011 at 01:17 PM
I really would be interested to know if the commercial break structure of different networks really does effect the writing of a Glen Mazzara or Kurt Sutter in a way that limits them comparably to a Terence Winter or even Matthew Weiner...
Posted by: Brandon | December 08, 2011 at 07:04 PM