Back in the day there was an urge to watch all the Criterion movies – after all, they’ve got completist-friendly catalog numbers and are self-described as “important.” Now I have lists, and lists of lists, and I don’t need to rely on any one distributor as a gatekeeper of excellence, but there’s still that urge, and I still keep track of what they put out, and subscribe to their streaming service, and believe in the back of my mind that if I was stuck at home for a long time, like say if there was a global pandemic, it’d be fun to watch them all. Early this year I realized I’ve seen almost all of their first 50 releases, so I decided to catch up with the last couple David Lean\/Dickens films and some odds and ends.<\/p>\n
These were released 1998-1999 before I had a DVD player, but I’d pick one up whenever I saw a sale, ended up owning about ten (or their reissues). 30 have come out on blu, and I’m not gonna count how many on streaming.<\/p>\n
–
\nMovies I’ve written up here, roughly\/hastily ranked:<\/p>\n
Beauty and the Beast<\/a><\/em> – Black Orpheus<\/em> – The Lady Vanishes<\/em> add-on feature Crook’s Tour<\/a><\/em> was decent.<\/p>\n The Steamroller and the Violin<\/a><\/em> is on the Rublev blu.<\/p>\n Peter Weir’s Homesdale<\/a><\/em> was on the Picnic at Hanging Rock<\/em> reissue.<\/p>\n
\nThe Red Shoes<\/a><\/em>
\nThe Seventh Seal<\/a><\/em>
\nThe 400 Blows<\/a><\/em>
\nAmarcord<\/a><\/em>
\nDiabolique<\/a><\/em>
\nWalkabout<\/a><\/em>
\nWages of Fear<\/a><\/em>
\nThe Lady Vanishes<\/a><\/em>
\nBranded To Kill<\/a><\/em>
\nNights of Cabiria<\/a><\/em>
\nGrand Illusion<\/a><\/em>
\nHigh and Low<\/a><\/em>
\nPicnic At Hanging Rock<\/a><\/em>
\nAlphaville<\/a><\/em>
\nSummertime<\/a><\/em>
\nAndrei Rublev<\/a><\/em>
\nGreat Expectations<\/a><\/em>
\nOliver Twist<\/a><\/em>
\nThe Most Dangerous Game<\/a><\/em>
\nAnd The Ship Sails On<\/a><\/em>
\nThe Long Good Friday<\/a><\/em>
\nThe Killer<\/a><\/em>
\nHenry V<\/a><\/em>
\nA Night To Remember<\/a><\/em>
\nSamurai<\/a><\/em> trilogy
\nBlood For Dracula<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
\nWatched in the pre-blog dark days, ranked by how urgently I need to revisit:<\/p>\n
\nTokyo Drifter<\/em>
\nShock Corridor<\/em>
\nSeven Samurai<\/em>
\nThe Naked Kiss<\/em>
\nTime Bandits<\/em>
\nFlesh For Frankenstein<\/em>
\nDead Ringers<\/em>
\nTaste of Cherry<\/em>
\nFishing With John<\/em>
\nThis Is Spinal Tap<\/em>
\nRobocop<\/em>
\nNanook of the North<\/em>
\nM<\/em>
\nHard Boiled<\/em>
\nThe Silence of the Lambs<\/em>
\nSid & Nancy<\/em>
\nLord of the Flies<\/em>
\nInsomnia<\/em>
\nArmageddon<\/em>
\nSalo<\/em><\/p>\n
\nBonus Features:<\/p>\n