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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Criterion_Collection

"The Criterion Collection (or simply Criterion) is a video-distribution company that sells "important classic and contemporary films" to film aficionados. Criterion is noted for helping to standardize the letterbox format for widescreen films, bonus features, and special editions for home video."

They are a company that releases special edition DVD, blu-ray (and, at one point, laserdisc) films. Films selected for release by Criterion are often considered a badge of honor. Over the decades their library of releases has included most seminal art, foreign, and obscure cult films. If you want to know the basic blueprints of modern cinephile canon, check the Criterion Collection.

 

Of course, like any distribution company, there are films they will never get the rights to and there are films that they had to release as part of deals with studios (hence  The Rock and Armageddon being big jokes for being part of it). It's not the end-all be-all list of the world's great films. But if you are interested in becoming a cinephile, it's a good place to start.

 

Hence Hulu Plus having so many of them being such a big deal.

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Maybe this is an American thing? I don't think we have something like this in the UK

 

Out of the list of films that I watched from the list of films that they have, I think Jubilee is the weirdest one. Adam Ant as a fairy speaking rhyme in front of the Queen Victoria, and then transported to an apocalyptic London where a group of women rape a guy and killed him was weird y'all. And it also had like the 80's neon vibe too. I don't even know if I could recommend it to anyone. It's weirdly British like the Boosh, and I wouldn't even recommend it to a British film aficionado.

 

I have had Frozen sitting on my ps3 for months now, and we haven't had the will to watch it. I highly doubt I'll have the will to watch a Criterion movie every month/week either. So count me out. I'd like to know what films you choose though.

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Well, Criterion release over here too. I know of them just from recognising their label on VHS and DVD shelves for the past couple of decades.

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So far the participants are as follows:

 

TychoCelchuuu
Patrick R
Roderick
prettyunsmart
Deleric
gormanate
spork armada
Sleepdance

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Count me in at least to start.  I'm not convinced I'm going to keep Hulu+, but I'll try it through the trial period plus one month. 

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Alright, that's a pretty good group! Let's get going! Does anyone object to the following?

Idle Thumbs Unofficial Official Hulu Criterion Hulu+ Film Club Forum Group Online Rules and Regulations Constitution:

1. Each week the group leader will choose a film and post that film in the thread. The film must be chosen from this list of Criterion films available on Hulu+.

2. The leader posts the name of the film (and, ideally, links to it!) on Friday.

3. The leader is chosen by going down the list in terms of when people signed up, starting with Tycho.

4. The leader must post at least a paragraph of stuff by Sunday to get discussion started, although others are welcome to post before then and the leader can post before then too.

5. If you're the leader you can choose to skip your week and go on the bottom of the list.

6. The leader next week is Patrick R. So, this week starts tomorrow (6/20).

7. Tycho has a list of good movies if you're at a loss for what to pick.

Leader list looks like this:

6/20: Tycho

6/27: Patrick R

7/4: Roderick

7/11: prettyunsmart

7/18: dibs

7/25: Deleric

8/1: gormanate

8/8: spork armada

8/15: Sleepdance

8/22: Bjorn

Does this sound good? Also, should we start a new thread for each film? I think that would be best, so that discussions could go on for more than a week without the overlap getting wacky, but at the same time it might be nice to keep things cozy.

(If it does sound good to everyone, the movie I'd pick would be The Earrings of Madame de... so you could watch it now and be ahead of the game!).

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Sorry, it's not on Hulu+!

 

It looks like they remove and add Criterion movies on a regular basis.  So maybe it will be! 

 

Reading the essays justifying the inclusion of The Rock (written by Ebert himself) and Armageddon are interesting. 

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From what I can tell, neither Godzilla nor Hausu are on Hulu Plus, despite being the two objectively best Criterion films.

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From what I can tell, neither Godzilla nor Hausu are on Hulu Plus, despite being the two objectively best Criterion films.

Where's Robocop in that list? 

Danke very much

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I'm not exactly sure I'll have internet access when I go out of town in mid-July. If so, I'll probably need to be moved to the bottom of the list, because I'll be back late August.

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Well, Criterion release over here too. I know of them just from recognising their label on VHS and DVD shelves for the past couple of decades.

 

I think actually I might be mixing them up a little in my head with Artificial Eye and Tartan, so it's not as wide a label over here as I thought. But I still knew of it and am pretty sure I've seen their editions regularly in places like Fopp and The Cinema Store.

 

I won't have access to a lot of these films, but I recommend Man Bites Dog!

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I'm down to participate in this, if only because the idea of having people watch Crumb makes me happy.  I actually don't know if I would even pick that movie, there's so many Criterion movies and scrolling through the list is taking a while, so I revise my previous statement to the idea of people picking movies for me makes me happy.

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I'm in. But I'll have to find alternative ways to watch some of the movies because Hulu does not want my moneys.

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I may be in though I don't like that this is somehow tied to an American BrandTM* by title.

 

[edit] * I of course mean Hulu, not Criterion

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Oh man, thanks for the heads up on that dumb bing promotion. I've been wanting to get a Hulu plus sub lately for The Daily Show and Criterion Collection. I'd totally be up for a movie club, I need a good excuse to watch more movies.

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The Earrings of Madame De

 

Quite a shocker ending! I think the most immediate puzzle of this film is how to place it in our modern minds. I get the feeling this story makes a lot more sense viewed in its proper time. First you have to get into the mindset of an age where women were these dainty, oft-fainting creatures - or at least, that was their outspoken role in society and they had to act by it.

 

This Madame de is certainly a character. She's represented as a somewhat spoiled thing, desperate for love and affection in a marriage that doesn't seem to thrill her all that much. She's at first depicted as lying, deceitful and untrustworthy, but we verrrrry slowly get to know her great affections. The romance she has with diplomat Donati is passionate and beautifully constructed (that dance scene/montage!). We know she's an adulterer in thought, but so is her husband, the general.

 

I get the feeling this isn't a morality play in the sense that it's an obvious good versus bad thing. In part it means to illustrate how frivolous the upper classes are, but also how they're ensnared in the bonds they create with others and society. Even the general only at the very last chooses to become outraged (and kills Donati in a duel). For the longest part he remained perfectly stoic and upbeat about the affair; knowing full well it was going on and even arranging for its demise in the least emotional way possible. These people are entirely concerned with their standing and their image.

 

Narratively it reminded me of a farce, but there's no jokes and no happy ending here. The two couples do not end up switching places; instead there's a deadly climax where both Madame de and Bonati (apparently) perish. Is this the penalty for their sins? Or a grave mockery aimed at the general, who ends up losing his wife no matter how he strives to control the situation?

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Just finished watching it. If I was a tea drinker I'd say "this is not my cup of tea".

I can't help to think that the whole story was made way too complicated just to keep it rolling. It was like watching a soap opera. But probably soap operas are based on these kind of stories.

 

There were quite a few scenes in the movie I cannot make much sense off. For example the hunting scene where Donati falls from his horse. It feels like this hunting scene is just there to show the feelings of Madame for this Donati guy. And then there's the ending were Donati doesn't fire his gun? Or did I miss something?

 

I like the way the opening scene was shot. Never really showing Madame except for some vague reflections in the glass. I'm not sure, but I think you could also see the crew in some parts :)

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Donati indeed doesn't fire his gun: he's killed before he got his turn. A little earlier, the arbiter explains that the wronged party has the right to the first shot, and before that we see the general as an excellent marksman.

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