Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
Film critic Sonny Bunch has put out a list of his Top Ten Criterion Collection movies. The Criterion folks, in case you're unfamiliar, put together top-notch quality prints and editions of (typically) critically acclaimed films.
I love their products, and thought I'd share my own suggestions for a Top Ten, which has only minor overlap with Mr. Bunch. If you're looking for entertainment this weekend, I strongly urge you to pick one of these up. In no particular order:
1. The 39 Steps - Fantastic Hitchcock suspense from 1935. "Hello, what are we stopping for? Oh, it's a whole flock of detectives." I'd recommend Notorious as well, but the 39 Steps transfer is better.
2. The Third Man - This is a gorgeous black and white print of the Orson Welles classic. "Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever?"
3. Stagecoach - The movie that made John Wayne a star is as sweeping and epic as any of John Ford's excellent work. If you haven't seen it - and too few have! - it's a must watch.
4. The Killers - A collection of multiple adaptations of the Ernest Hemingway story, including a Russian version, is worth purchasing for the too-violent-for-TV 1964 version with Lee Marvin, John Cassevetes, and Angie Dickinson - which also happens to be Ronald Reagan's last film, and the only one where he played a bad guy. He was great at it, except for the punching bit.
5. Anatomy of a Murder - My favorite courtroom drama movie, here's what I wrote about it at Awkward Awesome: "It’s a shame so few people have seen Jimmy Stewart’s best performances — in things other than the mawkish films of his youth. Here he is in an Otto Preminger picture as a whip-smart country lawyer, arguing in defense of Ben Gazzara, a hotheaded Army lieutenant who shot his wife’s rapist. The build-up to the climactic scene with George C. Scott is beautiful in its construction. I like that there are no flashbacks; I like the juxtaposition of dark humor and mortal seriousness; and I like the sheer weight of the character actors in this thing. And oh, Lee Remick is dangerous."
6. The Killing - Bunch is absolutely right to pick this Kubrick noir classic for his list - I'm not sure that anyone can top Elisha Cook, Jr.'s pathetic nature as the doomed husband - and it's the inspiration for more caper films than you can count.
7. Before the Rain - A superb Macedonian film about genocide and its ever increasing circle. You'll recognize Rade Serbedzija as the star, and the Tarantino-esque pivot is very well done.
8. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - Bunch prefers Wes Anderson's Royal Tenenbaums, which is also quite good and garnered buckets of praise, but I've always found Anderson's box office and critical flop, The Life Aquatic, to be one of Bill Murray's best performances.
9. Homicide - Difficult to choose between this and House of Games, but David Mamet's clipped dialogue is just superbly enjoyable, and Mantegna's performance here is excellent.
10. The Rock - Really. Michael Bay is a national treasure and I will truck with no one who believes otherwise. Why do you hate America?
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Comments:
Mar '11
Re: Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
I'd have gone with House of Games for Number 9. And both of you missed my all-time favorite, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, with Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle. I understand that many of these Criterion Collection movies are available for streaming from Hulu Plus.
Re: Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
I haven't seen that! I'll look it up.
Apr '11
Re: Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
Ashamedly, I've only seen three of the films on your list, Ben (The Third Man has been on my netflix instant queue for what seems like years!). Life Aquatic is a good choice, definitely my favorite of Anderson's films, and I would have gone with House of Games as well, personally. Also, both lists are seriously lacking one of my favorite filmmakers of all time, Akira Kurusawa. High and Low is a classic if you haven't seen it, and I would always recommend The Seven Samurai. Also, I would have to throw in The Killer, my favorite John Woo / Chow Yun-Fat action masterpiece.
Re: Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
How about Casablanca, Strangers on a Train, The Lady Vanishes, To Have and Have Not, and, of course, The Godfather and Godfather II?
Mar '12
Re: Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
"and I will truck with no one who believes otherwise. Why do you hate America?" Now I'm going to double up on today's ration of Zoloft knowing that disliking this Michael Bay movie is hating America... ;-)
Aug '10
Re: Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
I hear the Criterion edition of Baby's Day Out is superb.
;-)
Re: Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
No Criterion editions of those yet! But of course excellent films.
Jul '10
Re: Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
Your list blows the doors off the Sonny's list, Ben. Leans a little heavily towards the death and destruction thing, but I've had weeks like that myself. It is great that so many movies from the backlist are so readily available these days. I've finally seen a couple of Ronald Reagan movies, even.
Anyone that wants to take issue with any element of the Rock, the line starts right here. Pack a lunch. Long after Sean left the Bond films he made yet another great Bond film. From Dr. Goodspeed giving himself a shot in the heart to John Mason revealing little known uses for a quarter to the Strangelove quality of Brigadier General Hummel and his motley crew--no matter what else he may have done or will do--Michael Bay directed a great cast in a masterpiece.
I would throw in My Man Godfrey, stand firmly behind Notorious, the Four Feathers, the Last Emperor, Broadcast News, and Blithe Spirit. There are an awful lot of titles here that I recognize from my misspent youth watching chopped up TV versions in the 60s, that I should go back, rewatch, and reassess.
Hmmmm. Sounds like work.
Edited on May 18, 2012 at 10:54pmOct '10
Re: Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
Add the French film, Wages of Fear. 1953. A work on why driving trucks loaded with Nitro on unimproved jungle roads my not be for you. Not a documentary, but an impressive film.
Jun '10
Re: Top Ten Criterion Edition Movies
I can't simply choose a top ten without omitting some great films in my current Criterion Collection...uh...collection, which includes the following:
The Third Man, Spartacus, Notorious - Hitchcock, Henry V - Olivier, Seven Samurai, The Virgin Spring, The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, I Know Where I'm Going!, Beauty & The Beast - Cocteau, Orphée - Cocteau, The Last Wave - Peter Weir, Days of Heaven, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse - Fritz Lang, The Last Emperor - Bertolucci, Rebecca - Hithcock, Howard's End, The Leopard - Visconti, Brazil.
And that said, still so many more I need to get:
Fanny & Alexander, The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp, The Seventh Seal, Sanjuro & Yojimbo, Ran, High & Low, Rashomon, The Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood, The 400 Blows, The 39 Steps...and on...and on...
Edited on May 19, 2012 at 4:59am