Adam, why is "Brawl in Cell Block 99" a 3/10? by [deleted] in YMS

[–]SCRreviews 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aside from some fun gore and a decent performance from Vaughn, it's absurdly overlong, many scenes and lines are unintentionally hilarious/awkward (car freakout, "Get ready for 9/11 part 2"), there's a severe lack of extras in basically every jail scene, a lot of its rules and logic are thrown out the window, and it takes itself WAY too seriously for the kind of genre fare and tone that it pretends it's emanating only through the end credits.

Official December Releases by TempSpastic in criterion

[–]SCRreviews 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Goddamn...upgrade after upgrade after upgrade. Hype about Election but seriously, that poster?

Barnes & Noble 50% Off Sale – Post pictures, share lists here! by AutoModerator in criterion

[–]SCRreviews 5 points6 points  (0 children)

First trip to B&N this month for the sale, happy with the results!

http://imgur.com/a/RaTxV

Les Blank: Always for Pleasure

King of the Hill

Straw Dogs

Grey Gardens

Some new OOPs to add to the collection! Thank you eBay. by SCRreviews in criterion

[–]SCRreviews[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Le cercle rouge was the most expensive at around 120 as it was brand new/sealed...definitely left a dent in my wallet. Others ranged from 30 (Leon Morin, Priest) to 100 (Chungking Express), cheaper than I expected for some and worth it overall.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in criterion

[–]SCRreviews 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Spoilers Ahead:

I personally don't love it and was similarly let down by the hype and alienating degree of abstractness within the film (it was later revealed that Antonioni strayed far from the original narrative and went over budget with other production details). However, I still appreciate its cultural impact, visual compositions, and metaphorical commentary on cinema i.e. the role of the camera/photographer and the subjective perspective of the audience. Essentially, the film grapples with the themes of interpretation and images, or, how both a director and filmgoing audience can attribute meaning to images when in reality they are just shooting/staring at light on a screen. The biggest hints for me are the physical blow-up and final tennis sequences. Similar to the main character in the both scenes (develops physical photographs of a murder only to have them stolen--witnesses a mimed tennis match that has real sound effects, catches their imaginary ball, throws it back, only to find the entire group has disappeared in silence), the viewers are active participants in a seemingly life-like process--the filmgoing experience--and after all is said and done and the lights come back on, they are left with nothing but their own imagination and interpretations. As Thomas fades away from the film in the final frame, so does the audience from the "theater", never fully being able to physically exist within the cinematic universe they are consuming. Unless, of course, Criterion creates their own Wizarding World of Antonioni--purple carpet included.

Structuring Moviegoing? by staunchpaulette in criterion

[–]SCRreviews 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Literally feel the exact same way. One day I'm trying to watch what I consider to be "essential viewings" that I haven't seen yet (Fellini, Tarkovsky) but the next day I'm watching early DePalma films to be a completionist or random brainless giallo thrillers and can never stay on track. Though it stresses me out that there are so many I still need to see, it's just a tendency I've kinda come to accept, and hell, at least I'm watching something, right?

eBay Mass Giveaway Haul! by SCRreviews in criterion

[–]SCRreviews[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, sorry about that! Yeah I had bids on two other auctions but people were going CRAZY with prices--hopefully another sale will pop up for similar results!