High and Low - Criterion Collection

Starring:ToshirÃ´ Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, KyÃ´ko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi, Isao Kimura, Kenjiro Ishiyama, Takeshi KatÃ´, Takashi Shimura, Jun Tazaki, Nobuo Nakamura, YÃ»nosuke ItÃ´, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Minoru Chiaki, Hiroshi Unayama, EijirÃ´ Tono, Masao Shimizu, Yutaka Sada, Koji Mitsui, Kyu Sazanka, Susumu Fujita
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Writer-director Kevin Smith (Clerks) makes a huge leap in sophistication with this strong story about a comic-book artist (Ben Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian (Joey Lauren Adams) and actually gets his wish that she love him, too. Their relationship is attacked, however, by his business partner (Jason Lee), who pulls a very unsubtle Iago act to cast doubt over the whole affair. The film has the same sense of insiderness as Clerks--this time, Smith takes us within the arcane, funny world of comic-book cultism--but the themes of jealousy, deceit, and the high price of growing up enough to truly care for someone make this a very satisfying movie. --Tom Keogh

Description

Chasing Amy is the third installment in the "New Jersey Trilogy" from award-winning writer-director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma). Cult comic-book artist Holden (Ben Affleck) falls in love with fellow artist Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), only to be thwarted by her sexuality, the disdain of his best friend Banky (Jason Lee), and his own misgivings about himself. Filled with Smith's unique ear for dialogue and insight into relationships, Chasing Amy offers a thoughtful, funny look at how perceptions alter lives, and how obsession and self-doubt skew reality.

Customer Reviews:

Kevin Smith's best film..........2007-05-18

Chasing Amy, the third film in Kevin Smith's classic New Jersey trilogy (along with Clerks and Mallrats), just might be the best of the bunch. It packs Smith's usual envelope-pushing dialogue about sex, relationships, etc. and showcases some great comic performances. If you're feeling tired of boring Hollywood fare, Chasing Amy provides a refreshing slap in the face.

Ben Affleck (Good Will Hunting, Bounce) plays Holden McNeil, a comic book artist who's still looking for the right woman. While attending a comic-book convention with his roommate and Bluntman & Chronic co-creator Banky (Jason Lee, Almost Famous), he meets Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), and they quickly hit it off. Holden is convinced that he's met future girlfriend material. However, there is one minor problem: She's lesbian, a fact that's conveyed in a hilarious bar scene.

After he gets over his initial shock concerning her lesbian preferences, Holden enters into a fast frienship with Alyssa. Their close bond is a source of tension between Holden and Banky, who believes that she's bad news (and perhaps is a bit jealous). As Holden and Alyssa's relationship becomes more intimate, he must also come to grips with her wild past. Whether or not you buy into the film's surprising resolution, there's no denying that it's a ballsy one.

Smith's writing is so sharp that almost any actor (or non-actor) can come off looking good. That said, Jason Lee gives a classic comic performance, spouting off numerous un-PC lines, whether introducing a young toddler to his collection of porn magazines or asking Alyssa about her lesbian habits: "Since you like chicks, do you just look at yourself naked in the mirror all the time?" Affleck delivers solid work in a gutsy role. How much you like or hate Joey Lauren Adams will depend heavily on how you cope with her nasal, high-pitched voice.

Of course, a Kevin Smith film wouldn't be complete without the presence of Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith himself), and their scene is a keeper. While dining with Holden at a restaurant, the two offer relationship advice that's alternately poignant and hilarious.

With a writer/director as daring as Kevin Smith, odds are there will be some scenes in his films that you won't like. However, that's a small price to pay for the many hilarious scenes you do get, and it's also part of the reason that Chasing Amy rewards repeat viewings.

An almost mature film from Kevin Smith..........2007-04-04

This is Kevin Smith's best film. It isn't perfect, but it has a lot of real emotion in it, even though Smith nearly ruins it with his usual oversexed, Generation X schtick. I think the reason this film works well for the most part is that it's really quite sincere in its best moments. Kevin Smith was dating Joey Lauren Adams (the lead actress here) at the time, and had problems dealing with her past. So he made this film as a cathartic experience, and maybe that was good for him to do so (even though him and Joey broke up, so it kind of all was for naught...oops). Anyway, you really believe Ben Affleck falls in love with Joey here, and his scene where he declares his love feels very real and sincere (something Gen X types like Smith are NOT known for). But when Joey just gives up being a lesbian right away for Affleck, it doesn't really feel authentic. Her character was a bit of a whore when she was young, she found lesbianism, now Affleck brings her back to straightdom? It's not entirely believable, but Affleck (in probably his only decent performance before he became a celebrity) is rather believable in this scene. And in the scenes immediately following it, Joey's character seems to be really in love with Affleck. Unfortunately, Smith throws in too many over the top sexual references (the scene where Joey Adams and Jason Lee talk about oral sex injuries is ridiculous and just there to be "in your face"), and the scene where Ben Affleck proposes a menage a trois between Jason Lee and Joey is ridiculous. Affleck somehow gets the idea in his head that Jason Lee has been in love with him his whole life (despite Lee talking about his oral sex injuries with women earlier on), which is completely out of place with his character. Affleck proposes this in front of a TV playing "video aquarium" for some reason. But I really like the ending of this film. It's left totally open, and Smith should be commended for ending the film like that. The film is a bit of a mess, with some questionable character motivations, but it has its good moments, and it's Smith's best film in my opinion.

A must own DVD.......2007-03-16

This is one of my all time favorite movies; I have probably seen it over 10 times and I still don't get bored with it. Great dialouge and very believable and beautifully flawed characters. Joey Lauren Adams shines in this and it's the only movie I like Ben Affleck in. But be warned, this movie might break your heart.

Kevin Smith in a nutshell........2007-02-27

It perfectly blends his potty mouth with sensitivity and good dialogue.This one and Jersey Girl is widely hated by the typical fans,but they're missing out.It's an unpopular formula that turns many away.You get the ones who like dick and fart jokes who don't appreciate the romance,and you get the other half who like the romance but hate the off-color jokes.For those of you with a taste for both,I reccomend this.

An ingenious comedy with a residual sadness .......2007-01-27

Chasing Amy is an intimate look at relationships and the uncompromising effect of regret. It is extremely rare to watch a comedy that will actually make you think.
This is by far Kevin Smith's most personal movie. It's low budget, the acting is bad (yes even by Ben Affleck), but it's still really enjoyable. Plus, the message is huge--follow your heart and ignore the distractions.
Holden(Affleck)is a comic book artist who falls in love with Alyssa(Adams), a woman who might have a questionable past. Then some rumors surface and her past endeavors start to become quite intrusive to him. Holden's insecurities boil over and puts their happy relationship in deep jeopardy.
This movie is hilarious, touching, and thought-provoking. A one-of-a-kind film.

Average customer rating:

Write what you know
Captured Vibe
Latter Baby Boomer me
I'M PRETTY SURE THIS IS THE DVD!
This is not the Dvd!

Slacker - Criterion Collection
Starring: Brecht Andersch , Rudy Basquez , Bob Boyd , Jean Caffeine , and Jerry Delony
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B0002DB4ZK
Release Date: 2004-09-14

Amazon.com

Richard Linklater's debut feature is a comic kaleidoscopic portrait of the quirky characters stuck in a college town (it's Austin, Texas, but it could stand for hundreds of such places), a devilishly clever and endlessly inventive film that overcomes its nothing budget with scene after hilarious scene of short, sharp cinematic shots. Structured something like Luis Buñuel's The Phantom of Liberty, Slacker is a comic series of character pieces, each lasting a few minutes before the camera picks up and follows someone, perhaps simply an extra in the scene, to the next conversation. Characters spout off theories on everything from JFK and Charles Whitman (we even get an eerie glimpse of the water tower he climbed for his killing spree) to Elvis and UFOs, and more (wanna buy a Madonna pap smear?) on our bohemian tour of a condensed day-in-the-life. Linklater lets the characters set the pace but provides a loose, almost imperceptible rhythm to the film as a whole, giving a kind of structure to what seems like a series of improvisations. But the heart of the film is the freewheeling array of obsessed, self-absorbed, or simply lost souls wandering streets and coffee shops ready to talk your ear off about absolutely nothing. Killing time has never been more fun. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Richard Linklater's Slacker presents a day in the life of a subculture of marginal, eccentric, and overeducated citizens in and around the University of Texas at Austin. Shooting the film on 16mm for a mere $23,000, writer/producer/director Linklater and his close-knit crew of friends eschewed a traditional plot, choosing instead to employ long takes and fluid transitions to create a tapestry of over a hundred characters, each as unique as the last, culminating in an episodic portrait of a distinct vernacular culture and a tribute to bohemian cerebration. Slacker is a prescient look at an emerging generation of aggressive nonparticipants, and one of the keynote films of the American independent film movement of the 1990s.

Customer Reviews:

Write what you know.......2006-06-06

The old adage "write what you know" has been used to good effect here. Richard Linklater, hailing from Austin, Texas, has decided to grace the silver screen with his appealing look at what he and his friends must have spent their days doing, just so that he can make a movie and practice his craft.

The result is something of a movie that, interestingly enough, is almost like a companion piece to Gummo, of all things. These characters wander around a city trying to fill their lives with whatever they can, mostly conversation and the occassional cigarette, kind of like the characters in Gummo crawl over the wasteland that is their hometown. However, these characters mostly succeed and the movie isn't really about emptiness, so while it's apathetic it's certainly not nihilistic. At most the characters are willing to give in to some eccentricities just so that they have something to do.

It seems like something that would be boring, wouldn't it? Following random characters around, watching as they do next to nothing with their lives... kind of like an American Neo-Realism. However it's actually pretty visually interesting, and heck, if you want something to do with the time you can actually listen and think about the things that they're talking about. Indeed it's easier to philosophize and argue subjectivity than it is to actually get up and do anything, but if you're going to wax poetic you might as well aspire something to it, like Wannabe Dostoyevsky and his notebooks, or write a book about what you've managed to distract yourself with, like the guy focusing on JFK's assassination.

It's also kind of a prelude to Linklater's Waking Life, though I'd say that this is better merely because it's not nearly so self-serious as Waking Life is. Fundamentally, these characters don't really mean anything by their conversations, they're just looking for something to do. That makes it a lot easier to engage with, knowing that somebody actually isn't going to base their life around these things.

--PolarisDiB

Captured Vibe.......2006-01-28

This movie perfectly captures the inexplicable vibe of Austin, Texas before the tech boom transformed it into a trendy traffic jam.

Latter Baby Boomer me.......2006-01-02

I am not Gen-X, . . . wasn't really a hippie either, although I liked Led Zeppelin back in 1968. Anyway, what I like about Slacker, the movie, is that it does define Gen-Xers who, to me, are really scary people.

They may have broken boundaries that formerly bound the world to "prehistoric" social-economic cultures (i.e., vertical business structure, white-male dominated government and business, American Imperialism, royal sovereignty, rampant communism, etc.); yet, in spite of all this, they are essentially just a "modern" version of the same-old-sh*t.

I am disappointed in Gen-Xer's lust for status and material things. Moreover, if you don't pay them huge bundles of money, they will not do anything. Does anyone wonder whom it is that writes all those horrible computer viruses? What a waste of genius.

Oppressing/destroying white supremacy, egomaniacal monarchs, egregious sexism, and very steeply tiered business structures is meaningless if you just only change hands and types of oppression and injustice. For example, I feel that Puffy, the fashion designer, both profits from "sweat shops" and overseas manufacturing like any greedy capitalist. Also, is white supremacy really removed from American culture/society? Women may be having a field day economically, but it seems to me that this cannot last forever, as only in America are women tolerated thus, anyway. And women's rights are too politically driven. Not many people really have more faith in a woman's military or business acumen, compared to a man's. It really is a man's world still. Gen-Xers have perpetuated all the dysfunctional systems of old, just thinly disguised

Nevertheless, the surrealistic stream-of-consciousness style of SLACKER is interesting, although the people themselves are not. They are simply scary, and it is no wonder that they are not better than whom they replaced. Everybody before and now are motivated by self and greed, even fame (with few exceptions). This movie is brilliant insight into this problem.

For radical, positive change, I still respect Martin Luther King Jr., Bill Clinton, and William Gates the most, who all are both classic and modern. These men are necessary to ground these ultra-modern slackers.

I'M PRETTY SURE THIS IS THE DVD!.......2005-11-05

I don't know what that dude below me is talking about, the whole page says that its the DVD.

ANYWAYS... This is a very cool movie. It starts early some morning in Anytown, U.S.A (ok Austin, Texas; but really, this could be ANYWHERE) with a guy taking a cab home.
It ends about twenty four hours later with some twisted concept and I can't begin to tell you what happens in between.
All I know is that I really like this movie. The first time that I saw it, it took me almost the whole first hour to realize that nothing significant was going to happen at all. NOPE, there is absolutely zero plot to this one, we just go from one set of people to the next around a town for 24 hours.

This was RICHARD LINKLATERS first film, a couple of years before he wrote and directed DAZED AND CONFUSED. Much in the same veign the movie relys entirely on interesting dialouge and zany situations rather than any type of actual plot. Only in this one its much rougher around the edges, it doesn't stop this film from being hillarious and well acted.

I would highly recommend to any fan of RICHARD LINKLATERS or the movie DAZED AND CONFUSED.

This is not the Dvd!.......2005-11-02

Most of the revies here are making references to the criterion release of slacker. This is not the movie but a companion book released at the time of the movies theatrical premiere.

It is, however, intelligent and very funny. It contatins the workprint, or script used on set(it's 4 pages long) and a transcrption of the movie. ALso included are interviews with amny of the actors, and several intelligent essays. Many of the actors interviewed reveal that they are actually weirder than the roles they play.

The essays help explain the meaining of the wokr in context (there's alot about autin broguht up).

If you liked the movie the book is definetly worth reading.

Average customer rating:

High and Low
one of the 10 best classic movies ever made
"It's interesting to make fortunate men unfortunate."
Kurosawa Goodness! Heaven and Hell.
Latter day Kurosawa/Mifune masterpiece

High and Low - Criterion Collection
Starring: Toshirô Mifune , Tatsuya Nakadai , Kyôko Kagawa , Tatsuya Mihashi , and Isao Kimura
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Manufacturer: Criterion
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ASIN: 0780021509
Release Date: 1998-10-14

Amazon.com essential video

Although best known for his samurai classics, Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa proved himself equally adept at contemporary dramas and thrillers, and 1962's High and Low offers a powerful showcase for Kurosawa's versatile skill. The great Toshiro Mifune stars as a wealthy industrialist who has just raised a large sum of money to execute his planned takeover of a successful shoe manufacturer. Fate intervenes when he receives a phone call informing him that his son has been kidnapped, and by unfortunate coincidence the ransom demand is nearly equivalent to the amount Mifune has raised for his corporate coup. A philosophical dilemma emerges when it is revealed that the executive's son is safe, and that it is actually his chauffeur's son who has been taken. What follows is both a tense detective thriller, as the police attempt to track down the kidnapper, and a compelling illustration of class division in Japan--the "high and low" of the title. Far be it from Kurosawa to make a mere thriller, however; this loose adaptation of the Ed McBain novel King's Ransom provides the director with ample opportunity to develop a visual strategy that perfectly enhances the story's sociological themes. The Criterion Collection DVD of this extraordinary film is presented in the original "Tohoscope" aspect ratio of 2.35:1. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Toshiro Mifune stars as a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a ruthless kidnapper in Akira Kurosawa's exemplary film noir. Based on Ed McBain's detective novel King's Ransom, High and Low is both a riveting thriller and a brilliant commentary on contemporary Japanese society. Criterion is proud to present High and Low in a luminous new Tohoscope transfer with new electronic subtitles.

Customer Reviews:

High and Low.......2007-06-27

Both a gripping detective story and meditation on the nature of honor and Japanese class differences, "High and Low" ultimately earns high marks, thanks mainly to a snappy second half focusing on the investigative work handled by Chief Detective Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai), and his idiosyncratic but dogged team of cops. In one of his last signature roles, Mifune is also electrifying as Gondo. Adapted from a novel by Ed McBain, an American writer of police procedurals Kurosawa admired, "High and Low" is an absorbing dramatic thriller by a world-renowned master craftsman.

one of the 10 best classic movies ever made.......2007-05-18

this is a fascinating movie. screenplay, directing, acting, editing, scenario, plot...you name it, all perfect, and all a perfect 10. that's how good it is.
just because you lived at the foothill slum, so cold in winter, so hot in summer, you looked up to the hilltop, saw that great mansion fully air-conditioned....wow, what a story. so many familiar faces appeared again in this great film like meeting old friends. what a thrilling joy by watching this great film. i'd put this 'high and low' next to 'the battle of algiers' as two of the best films ever made.

"It's interesting to make fortunate men unfortunate.".......2006-11-24

Although he is best known for his samurai epics, "High and Low" proves that Akira Kurosawa can handle material of a different nature just as effectively. Helping him out is constant collaborator Toshirô Mifune whose character is also a change of pace from the familiar

Japanese businessman Kingo Gondo (Mifune) is working on a plan to acquire control of a local shoe company. A crisis soon emerges when he receives a phone call telling him his son has been kidnapped. Gondo is devastated because paying the ransom would mean the planned takeover will not go through. The situation then changes when Gondo realizes it was not his son who was kidnapped but rather the son of his chauffeur. Now knowing that the kidnapper has made an error, Gondo must decide whether he will still go ahead and pay the ransom.

"High and Low" not only works as a police procedural thriller but as a philosophical conundrum. Would you give up your dream and endanger the financial security of your family in order to save the life of another? Kurosawa ably examines this difficult question through the lens of Japanese culture and the nuances of its class system. Perfectly channeling all of the conflicting emotions at work is Mifune who turns in an outstanding performance. Although his acting is rather subdued in "High and Low," he skillfully conveys all the pain and agony Gondo goes through via his facial expressions and body language. Fans of both Kurosawa and Mifune who are looking for a story set in more modern times will not be disappointed with this small but satisfying film.

Kurosawa Goodness! Heaven and Hell........2006-07-18

Yes, I am a fan of Kurosawa, but I am also a critic. This film, like some of his others, does seem to wander off from the narrative thread. Focusing on characters that, initially, don't seem as important to the story, for large chunks of film. However, as Kurosawa also often does, when the final scene has played and you are left with what the film is. You realize all of the footage is vitally important to what Kurosawa is trying to show you. As the title suggests, this film is an examination of the human condition and how people can strive to become all that they can or how they can let themselves become much less than they should. The separation of heaven and hell or, of high and low.

Latter day Kurosawa/Mifune masterpiece.......2006-06-04

Like one of the other reviewers said I too was a bit hesitant in seeing this. I had, up to that point, seen only Kurosawa's samurai based films, but then I saw Stray Dog and was sold on the fact that the man truly was a master of not just samurai films, but cinema, as an art form, in general.

I've not seen this film in about 8 months, so it's not exactly fresh in my mind, but there are two things from this film that will always stick with me until my dying day:

-The final shot of the film, of the criminal behind the glass. This was so haunting, so effective that to this day the thought of it sends shivers down my spine. If this was Kurosawa's intention or not, I don't know.
-The first, I think, 45-50 minutes, are based solely in Mifune's apartment. The fact that you can stay in one spot for that length of time and still keep an audience's interest just goes to show the directorial and acting brilliance that Mifune and Kurosawa are so widely reguarded for.

Criterion Crime Wave 6-Pack (High & Low/Tokyo Drifter/The Honeymoon Killers/Branded to Kill/Alphaville/Man Bites Dog) - Amazon.com exclusive

Average customer rating:

Criterion Crime Wave / IFC crossover promotion
Great movies, strange price
Great movies, silly collection

Criterion Crime Wave 6-Pack (High & Low/Tokyo Drifter/The Honeymoon Killers/Branded to Kill/Alphaville/Man Bites Dog) - Amazon.com exclusive
Starring: Valérie Boisgel , Jean-Louis Comolli , Eddie Constantine , Michel Delahaye , and Jean-André Fieschi
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Manufacturer: Criterion Collection
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00015WMP0
Release Date: 2004-01-11

Amazon.com

The six films in the Criterion Crime Wave 6-Pack were shown together on on the International Film Channel in January 2004.

Although best known for his samurai classics, Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa proved himself equally adept at contemporary dramas and thrillers, and 1962's High and Low offers a powerful showcase for Kurosawa's versatile skill. The great Toshiro Mifune stars as a wealthy industrialist who receives a phone call informing him that his son has been kidnapped, and by unfortunate coincidence the ransom demand is nearly equivalent to the amount Mifune has raised for a corporate coup. What follows is both a tense detective thriller, as the police attempt to track down the kidnapper, and a compelling illustration of class division in Japan--the "high and low" of the title. Far be it from Kurosawa to make a mere thriller, however; this loose adaptation of the Ed McBain novel King's Ransom provides the director with ample opportunity to develop a visual strategy that perfectly enhances the story's sociological themes. --Jeff Shannon

In Toyko Drifter, Seijun Suzuki transforms the yakuza genre into a pop-art James Bond cartoon as directed by Jean-Luc Godard. The twisting narrative takes hitman "Phoenix" Tetsu (Tetsuya Watari) from deliriously gaudy nightclubs, where killers hide behind every pillar, to the beautiful snowy plains of Northern Japan and back again, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake. Suzuki's extreme stylization, jarring narrative leaps, and wild plot devices combine to create a pulp fiction on acid, equal parts gangster parody and post-modern deconstruction. --Sean Axmaker

There's Bonnie and Clyde--then there's Martha and Ray. One-shot writer-director Leonard Kastle set out to make a film about lover-murderers that was everything Arthur Penn's movie was not. He succeeded. Consequently, The Honeymoon Killers, based on the Lonely Hearts Killers case of 1949, may be too lurid for some. But there's a heart beating inside its (tawdry) chest and Kastle clearly cared about these two crazy, mixed-up kids who should never have met. But met Martha (Shirley Stoler) and Ray (Tony LoBianco) did and proceeded to fleece several widows before doing them in. The film isn't graphic in its violence, but each murder is increasingly disturbing. Dramatic lighting and dark passages from Mahler keep the mood close and clammy throughout. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Seijun Suzuki's absolutely mad yakuza movie Branded to Kill bends the hit-man genre so out of shape it more resembles a Luis Bunuel take on Martin Scorsese. Number three killer Goro Hanada (Jo Shishido) is a hired killer who loves his work, but when he misses a target, he becomes the next target of the mob. Goro is no pushover and easily dispatches the first comers, but the rat-a-tat violence gives way to a surreal, sadistic game of cat and mouse. The legendary Number One mercilessly taunts his target before moving in with him in a macho, testosterone-laden Odd Couple truce that ends up with them handcuffed together. Kinky? Not compared to earlier scenes. The smell of boiling rice sets Goro's libido for his mistress so aflame that Suzuki censors the gymnastic sex with animated black bars that come to life in an animated cha-cha. --Sean Axmaker

1965's Alphaville is a perfect example of Jean-Luc Godard's willingness to disrupt expectation, combine genres, and comment on movies while making sociopolitical statements that inspired doctoral theses and left a majority of viewers mystified. Part science fiction and part hard-boiled detective yarn, Alphaville presents a futuristic scenario using the most modern and impersonal architecture that Godard could find in mid-'60s Paris. A haggard private eye (Eddie Constantine) is sent to an ultramodern city run by a master computer, where his mission is to locate and rescue a scientist who is trapped there. As the story unfolds, the movie tackles a variety of topics such as the dehumanizing effect of technology, willful suppression of personality, saturation of commercial products, and, of course, the constant recollection of previous films through Godard's carefully chosen images. --Jeff Shannon

The Belgian satire Man Bites Dog is dark, dark, dark--but also right on the money in its sly sendup of the media's fascination with violence and its complicity therein. This mock documentary has a trio of filmmakers shooting a cinéma vérité feature about a garrulous serial killer who lets the film crew follow him around as he selects victims and then dispatches them. But at what point does filmmaking become participation? These hapless documentarians soon find out as their subject eventually pulls them into his world, including a gun battle with a rival film crew and their own criminal star. Gruesomely hilarious, with a deadpan wit that's hard to resist. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews:

Criterion Crime Wave / IFC crossover promotion.......2004-01-20

From the other persons reviewing this 6 DVD bundle there seems to come confusion as to why Amazon would group said discs. The reason is for cross promotion with The Independent Film Channel (IFC) who will show all six movies on January 30th and 31st of 2004. Of course, all are Criterion titles as well, and the budding collector may feel compulsion to buy all of these at once to achieve a discount (an extra 5% PER title above individual prices here at Amazon) and saving on S&H. Aside from the tie-in to IFC, Amazon is supporting a contest with prizes to be given away and you can register here at this site.

All that being said, there is no other reason these titles would form a cohesive box set, but then again, it is not being sold as such. Unlike other Criterion box sets (which to this point have always showcased a single director), this is working off of a theme and not someone's body of work. There is no mention of a "box" to house all these DVDs, but instead are just bundled together in a group. Each of these films though are solid titles, with Man Bites Dog being far and away my favorite and the two Suzuki films probably being the least appealing (though, still good films).

If your first introduction to the Criterion Collection is from watching these films on IFC at the end of the month, you will come to find the company to be the Rolls Royce of DVDs. From film restoration to bonuses to retrieval of obscure cellulite, Criterion is unparalleled in the retail field and is a must for any serious film students or lovers of great cinema.

Great movies, strange price.......2004-01-17

This is a great collection of classic films. I have all
but one on DVD or Laserdisc.

I am confused on the pricing. ..

Great movies, silly collection.......2003-12-16

Each and every one of these films are fantastic...from the police procedural of Kurosawa's High & Low to the cinema verite nastiness of Man Bites Dog to the goofiness of Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill. That being said, they are all different one from the other and have little in common (with the exception of Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill...both by Suzuki), and other than an at times tangential relationship to the crime genre (Godard's Alphaville is "crime" film only to the extent that a private investigator is used as a plot device), it's strange why in the world these films are grouped together. Well, all of them are issued by the Criterion Collection...but even Criterion Collection boxed sets have a stronger kinship, as in the Hitchcock and Kurosawa boxes.

Truly a mystery why these are being marketed this way.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

The Robert De Niro Collection (Analyze This/A Bronx Tale/Goodfellas/Heat/Wag The Dog)

Hospital

Like Water for Chocolate (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Amc Monsterfest: Cult Classics Collection 2 Vol 1

Die goldene Gans - DEFA