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Criterion Coming Soon

William Speruzzi — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:04:42 +0000

I occasionally check out the Criterion site just to salivate over what will be coming out soon. Now that I have a Blu-ray player it really takes this fetishism to another level. Admittedly, I am buying less DVDs than I have in the past even though I do have a pretty impressive collection. But since the whole delivery system is in flux I’ll stick with Netflix, my collection and the occasional buy. I was pretty happy to see a couple of interesting choices added to their coming soon list. Resnais’ Last Year At Marienbad, a film that I haven’t seen because a good print is so hard to come by and I missed the last Film Forum run. A big surprise was Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Looking forward to seeing that on Blu-ray.

Now all we need is a decent version of Rocco and His Brothers.

Added: The most recent Coming Soon list.

Synecdoche, New York Trailer

William Speruzzi — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:55:44 +0000

I uhhhhhhhhhhhh, don’t know what to say other than I’m preparing my mind to be blown as we speak.

[Hat tip: BSLS]

See below for meta thoughts on the film, career and being percieved as a recluse from Kaufman.

My Fall 2008 Radar

William Speruzzi — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:27:49 +0000

These are some of the films I will attempt to see this Fall, you know, the film release season that pushes all the crap aside and pulls out all the stops. I’m sure there are others that I will add as the season progresses. Am I missing something?

* denotes must sees.

September

Burn After Reading…9/12

Elite Squad…9/19

Choke…9/26

Miracle at St. Anna…9/26

October

Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist…10/3

Religulous…10/3

W….10/17

*Synecdoche, New York…10/24

Zack and Miri Make a Porno…10/31

November

Milk…11/26 and whatever I didn’t see in September and October.

December

*The Curious Case of Benjamin Button…12/25

Valkyrie…12/25

Note to self: take this number and cut it in half, add the remaining to Netflix queue.

More Fall coverage from New York Magazine.

Coming Soon

William Speruzzi — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:55:41 +0000

2001: A Space Odyssey entered the cinematic landscape 40 years ago today.

Tomorrow….a new being enters the world.

Give Me A “C”

William Speruzzi — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:28:11 +0000

Now that the holidays are here a lot of people are scrambling to get gifts for their family and friends. One gift always undeniably works for the cinephile – a DVD from the Criterion Collection. Looking over the site today I noticed that there is a four disc set of Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor in the works. Nice! As we all know a lot of films are still missing from the catalog. A couple came to mind for me:

The Landlord – This 1970 Hal Ashby [not the Will Ferrell/Adam McKay wacky short] satirical gem taking place in pre-gentrified Park Slope, Brooklyn is no where to be found on DVD.
Angelo My Love – A little seen but excellent film written and directed by Robert Duvall about the rituals of a gypsy community in New York City is also nowhere to be found.

Added:

Last Year at Marienbad – Alan Resnais’ strange and mysterious classic. How can you go wrong with characters named A, X and M? [screening at the Film Forum in 2008]

Are there any films you would like to see Criterion do a hi-def transfer with all the extras? Which one’s do you think deserve the treatment?

Related: The Criterion Contraption.