Monday, July 28, 2008

Coming Out of my Criterion Closet

Can I bare my soul to you, dear readers? (Yes, I am a Stephen King fan.) I have something bothering me, plaguing me. It's like Morpheus said, 'a sliver in my mind, driving me mad.'

I haven't gotten around to watching all the DVDs I own.

Sure, maybe that's not so abnormal. I mean, there's a few discs left untouched in that Marilyn Monroe box set, I don't watch the special features laden second disc on every movie and I got some Blu-Rays in anticipation of getting a Playstation 3 soon. But, there is a much more serious collection that I have been ignoring and it is time for me to do something about it.

I own the Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films Box Set.

Click on the picture to view the list of fifty films that make up this box set. I have owned it for almost two years. It represented a significant investment for me and I bought it at a point in my life in which I decided to take my films studies more seriously. To date, I have watched six films, two of which I have seen before.

Six. Barely ten percent. For shame.

I have written before about working at DVD Planet. If you don't live in the Southern California area, you should check out their website. Until the middle of next week, they are selling Criterion discs, buy one, get one free. If you don't already own at least ONE Criterion, you are missing out on the very best DVD available. The Criterion Collection is an ongoing collection of important classic and contemporary films gathered from around the world and presented in the highest technical quality with award-winning supplements. Yes, I wrote that directly from memory. So, because of DVD Planet's sale, in the past week, for less than one hundred dollars, I obtained The Red Shoes, Life of Brian, The Blob, The Killers, The Leopard, Hoop Dreams, Le Samourai and Breathless.

Now, I will not be turning my blog into an exclusive Criterion blog, for that has been done already by Matthew Dessem at the Criterion Contraption and he does so very well. No, instead I implore you to try to keep me busy. It is not a chore to sit down and watch one of these films, but I do need to set aside time to enjoy them and not watch them while checking email or doing laundry. No, that's what I got Waiting for.

Please readers, help me help you. If I don't get out one of these reviews a week, call me out on it. I need to refocus myself and get serious again. No funny schtuff. Time to get work.

7 comments:

Dead Pan said...

I am in total awe of that collection. 650 dollars worth of pure divine filmmaking that was written by God herself and passed down to us lowly pee-ons to abandon and ignore.

You are on probation sir. I will be watching to make sure you keep to your word, or ELSE!

Big Mike Mendez said...

Wow, now I feel like I'm on double SECRET probation.

I promise to keep up my end of the bargain.

elgringo said...

I'd love to read your reviews on: Beauty and the Beast, Forbidden Games, Loves of a Blonde, and Umberto D.

They're some of my favorites.

Anonymous said...

I actually just went through my collection and made a list of DVDs I own that I have not watched, and I think it's somewhere near 230 DVDs, and some of those are box sets so the actual movies I own that I haven't watched could be near 300. That is just sad. I too went crazy with the Criterion sale in the store and probably got 16 Criterions that I need to watch. I've been thinking of doing something like Quint is doing at AICN doing a movie a day and reviewing them but that doesn't seem plausable considering I don't have the time to sit and do nothing but watch movies. If only life were that grand. But I need to do something about it. I'll do it if you do it. Can't wait to hear your reviews.

Big Mike Mendez said...

I did watch Loves of a Blonde already, so I can write up a review of that one shortly. Never tall-ly.

Phil - Alex told me you went a little crazy, but he thinks that nobody spent more than he did. I did watch Life of Brian and Red Shoes as soon as I got home, but there is so much more to get through. But, I'm trying Ringo, I'm trying real hard.

Graham said...

You must watch breathless immediately! The purest cinematic experience ever!

I do have to say, I love criterion, but I don't own that many dvds. Isn't there some way you can get them delivered to you at home for like 20 bucks a month, or something? I feel like I heard about that.

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