Criterion
28 July 2004, the wee hours
Criterion make some very nice DVDs. They are expensive as fuck, don’t get me wrong, but there is still something satisfying about owning one. They are like the Apple Computers of DVDs. Criterion have been hard at work making sure that cinema classics are maintained and presented in a stunning manner. For whatever reason, that apparently costs a lot of money. Their DVDs seem to have a median price of 50 dollars.
Why am I talking about Criterion? Well today I went to the Scarborough Town Centre with Steph, looking to blow a 100 dollar gift certificate valid at any store in the mall. The Scarborough Town Centre is, for the most part, a pretty lame mall. For example, there are three different stores that sell Rocawear and Sean Jean clothing. Trust me, you don’t need three stores supplying that stuff. One is more then enough. I decided early on to buy a DVD, a gaudy overpriced Criterion DVD I wouldn’t buy with real money.
I settled on Black Orpheus, a film I have been meaning to see for quite some time. I am a big fan of Bossa Nova music, and this movie is credited with exposing it to the rest of the world. I’ll write a ‘review’ of the film after I watch it. This is the first movie I have spent 50 bucks on. I don’t know if I can bring myself to do it again. Time will tell. I also bought the Office, a British television series that is supposed to be quite funny. I’ll write more about that as well.
If you are interested in buying some Criterion DVDs, there are sites dedicated to selling them, as well as Amazon’s own Criterion site
good choice. that’s one of the few criterion movies i really want to see, and now i can.
by rishi on July 28 2004, 1:54 am #
Wicked. I was trying to decide between that and The Third Man, which stars Orson Welles, who I think is wicked. It had way more special features, but Black Orpheus caught my eye first.
by ramanan on July 28 2004, 2:12 am #
I remember back in the mid-80’s when those biggish digital disc movies were all the rage. They looked just like DVDs but they were the size of an old record. I can’t recall what the name of that media was. “Big digital disc?” “Digital videodisc?” “Laserdisc?” I dunno.
Anyway, guess who made the high-priced versions of the “big digital disc” movies. Criterion. They sold themselves as the elite of that media at the time. My friend had a bunch of them. I couldn’t really tell the difference, but he swore he could. Of course, it was his money, so I’m sure he could. :)
by Tim on July 28 2004, 2:25 am #
Black Orpheus is a pretty good movie. If I remember correctly, Paul Desmond the saxophone player has a song on the soundtrack.
by Robert on July 29 2004, 12:47 am #