A.J. Reviews Criterion Movies

[bob]

There's a 50% off Criterion Collection movies at Barnes and Noble both online and in stores,  running through August 2.

[zelmo73]

My Criterion Collection of Bruce Lee movies just arrived in the mail today. I'm burning backup copies on to my external hard drive for my TV right now. 

[Rev. Powell]

My Criterion Collection of Bruce Lee movies just arrived in the mail today. I'm burning backup copies on to my external hard drive for my TV right now. 

Nice one!

[Allhallowsday]

Bowling for Columbine (1997)
...
I will say that there's a couple of scenes that were a little off. Apparently there's more to the process of getting a gun through a bank than depicted.
And by using Charlton Heston's "cold dead hands" speech before discussing the Denver NRA convention it made it look as if that's where the speech happened.
I don't think they were intentionally deceitful but it makes it a little harder to sway certain opinions.
...

It's been years, but I think this might clarify :
From Wikipedia :

Moore then asks Heston if he would like to apologize for leading NRA rallies in Flint, Michigan (Moore's hometown) after the shooting death of a six-year-old girl at Buell Elementary School and in Littleton after the Columbine shooting. Heston claims he did not know about Kayla's death or how soon the rally was after it. When Moore presses to know if he would have cancelled the rally, he declines to answer and walks out of the interview.

MICHAEL MOORE's first film was about his own hometown of Flint, Michigan : ROGER AND ME. 

[Olivia Bauer]

Brazil (1985)

Brazil is a film by Terry Gilliam. His best known works would be Monty Python, The Fisher King, Time Bandits and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Much like Monty Python it's somewhat of an absurdist comedy, however it's certainly darker with more of a focus on social commentary. It's surreal on top of everything else and is just a blast to watch. It seems to mostly criticize bureaucracy much like I, Daniel Blake. However it takes a more over the top approach compared to the previously mentioned film. The sets and costumes are brilliantly detailed and the story is perfectly unpredictable.

I cannot possibly recommend Brazil enough.

10/10

[Olivia Bauer]

The Fisher King (1991)

Yet another film by the absolutely brilliant Terry Gilliam. While not as good as Brazil it was still a really fun watch and I'm happy to have it in my collection.

The Fisher King is a movie about a radioshow host named Jack played by Jeff Bridges that verbally berated one of his listeners. Said listener very shortly afterward walked into a bar with a shotgun and shot several people dead before killing himself. Jack felt responsible for what happened and quit his show to work at a video rental store.

After getting drunk and wandering to some nearby docks, he is mistaken for a bum by some kids that decide to attack him. Jack is rescued by a mentally ill hobo named Parry, played by the legendary Robin Williams. The movie is largely about the bond that starts to develop between these two.

The Fisher King is a very uplifting story that will probably leave you in a good mood. It has its dark turns but overall I found myself feelings very happy and fulfilled by the end credits. It doesn't have the same outstanding writing, humor, and production design of Gilliam's magnum opus, Brazil. But it very much stands on its own and you're missing out if you haven't seen it.

8/10

[Olivia Bauer]

Watership Down (1978)

It was okay. Good animation for the time and pretty disturbing in its presentation. However, I didn't find myself being wowed by it at all. I wasn't super invested.

6/10

[bob]

There's a Criterion Flash Sale: 50% off all Blu-rays and DVDs at criterion.com

the flash sale ends tomorrow at noon ET

I picked up Blue Velvet and Until the End of the World (bluray) for prices even cheaper then those listed on Amazon

[Olivia Bauer]

Come and See (1985)

An incredibly dark and disturbing movie about a young boy that joins the Russian military to fight the Nazis. As the film goes on the boy loses people close to him because of the cruelty of the Nazi soldiers.

It very much emphasizes exactly how evil the Nazis were by showing the sort of things they did to Russian civilians in the war. The cinematography, acting, and creative choices makes it hard to watch, but damn good.

8/10

[zelmo73]

Watership Down (1991)

It was okay. Good animation for the time and pretty disturbing in its presentation. However, I didn't find myself being wowed by it at all. I wasn't super invested.

6/10

Which version of this did you watch? The superb 1978 version, the silly family TV version from 1999-2001, or the ho-hum Netflix version from 2018? I'm just not getting the "1991" date/year part of this.

[Allhallowsday]

Watership Down (1991)
It was okay. Good animation for the time and pretty disturbing in its presentation. However, I didn't find myself being wowed by it at all. I wasn't super invested.
6/10

If you're referring to the 1978 version, I thought it was wonderful. 

[Olivia Bauer]

Sorry. I copy-pasted the font formatting of a previous entry but forgot to change the year. My bad.