326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

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Murdoch
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#176 Post by Murdoch » Sat Jan 16, 2016 2:26 pm

Ah, my second favorite Stillman after Damsels finally makes its way into Criterion. Looking forward to that Cavett interview and of course seeing the film in HD. The last time I saw it was a good five years ago on a loaner from the library.

felipe
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#177 Post by felipe » Sat Jan 16, 2016 4:34 pm

Ribs wrote:I Wonder why the price of the set is $79.99? The Wallace Shawn/Andre Gregory set was $100.
I wonder why the bd and dvd sets have the same SRP.

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Ribs
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#178 Post by Ribs » Fri Mar 18, 2016 11:24 am


criterion10

Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#179 Post by criterion10 » Wed Mar 30, 2016 2:23 pm

Blu-Ray.com
Dr. Svet Atanasov wrote:There is a very obvious intent to frame the Americans like clueless outsiders, however, that makes the big picture rather questionable. The events in the film take place around the time when Spain voted to join NATO and there was plenty of well publicized political drama. The film tries to sell the idea that the Americans (or at least those who did not work for the government) were unaware of it and were quietly drowning in a sea of animosity for which they were somehow responsible.

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domino harvey
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#180 Post by domino harvey » Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:13 pm

They should have had the conservative reviewer who loves all the Christian movies review it instead

criterion10

Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#181 Post by criterion10 » Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:14 pm

My favorite is still Pro-B criticizing Hearts and Minds as being a "carefully constructed propaganda film"

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domino harvey
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#182 Post by domino harvey » Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:51 am

Discussion of the obnoxious #FilmStruck4 plague moved here

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hearthesilence
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#183 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Oct 17, 2019 9:45 am

I almost picked this up - if you were planning to get two of the titles, you might as well get this set because the way it's priced during the flash sale, it's basically buy two Stillman titles and get the third free. I didn't because of the transfer for The Last Days of Disco - some reviews mentioned problems so I checked out a friend's copy last night and it looks pretty crummy. Even for a dated transfer it looks really bad, mainly for the way the film grain and details are rendered (especially in medium shot, when people are close enough to the camera that you still expect fine details, but it's a bit more difficult to attain than with a full on close-up).

I didn't check Barcelona but Metropolitan looked so-so with lots of room for improvement - it needs a new and better transfer, ideally off the OCN just to get the film grain to look good, and there's a lot of it.

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FrauBlucher
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#184 Post by FrauBlucher » Sat Oct 19, 2019 8:43 am

Barcelona looks the best of the three.

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The Elegant Dandy Fop
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#185 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Sat Oct 19, 2019 11:14 am

hearthesilence wrote:
Thu Oct 17, 2019 9:45 am
I didn't because of the transfer for The Last Days of Disco - some reviews mentioned problems so I checked out a friend's copy last night and it looks pretty crummy. Even for a dated transfer it looks really bad, mainly for the way the film grain and details are rendered (especially in medium shot, when people are close enough to the camera that you still expect fine details, but it's a bit more difficult to attain than with a full on close-up).

I didn't check Barcelona but Metropolitan looked so-so with lots of room for improvement - it needs a new and better transfer, ideally off the OCN just to get the film grain to look good, and there's a lot of it.
Do you buy films for the transfers or the films? It probably won’t ever look better than the Criterion Blu-ray and it is probably the only way to see it unless you see a film print of it (then again, you might be bothered by potential film damage). Not to sound aggressive, but perhaps you should sometimes accept less than stellar transfers if it allows you to see a film that’s otherwise unwatchable, especially if no improved version is conceivable in the future.

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domino harvey
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#186 Post by domino harvey » Sat Oct 19, 2019 11:15 am

My thoughts exactly

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hearthesilence
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#187 Post by hearthesilence » Sat Oct 19, 2019 2:14 pm

The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote:
Sat Oct 19, 2019 11:14 am
Do you buy films for the transfers or the films? It probably won’t ever look better than the Criterion Blu-ray and it is probably the only way to see it unless you see a film print of it (then again, you might be bothered by potential film damage). Not to sound aggressive, but perhaps you should sometimes accept less than stellar transfers if it allows you to see a film that’s otherwise unwatchable, especially if no improved version is conceivable in the future.
If you lived in New York, you'd know how often Stillman's films get shown projected in 35mm prints, especially Metropolitan, which has become something of a holiday tradition. (Stillman himself is often at the screenings.)

And this is true for a lot of films, this is why I love living in this city. So at the end of the day, a big reason for a home viewing library is the transfer quality because accessibility is much less of a motive given what's available to cinephiles here. And while it's true you can say "it'll never look better," people could have said that about every title I've bought that wound up getting upgraded within a couple of years. It's not always a given, and regardless even though I do spend a lot of money on these things, it's important to manage your spending to some degree.

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bearcuborg
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#188 Post by bearcuborg » Sun Oct 20, 2019 10:33 am

I get it, one always hopes to have the final version of any product they buy-like our movies or electronic gizmos and toys. But hey, if we didn’t complain about aspect ratios or transfers, things wouldn’t be the same here.

I’ve been to one of those screenings with Whit in attendance, and asked him if every book he signed was a former library copy-he said “yes,” lol. I swear every copy you’ll find of Last Days of Disco is from some old library...

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hearthesilence
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#189 Post by hearthesilence » Thu Nov 14, 2019 5:58 pm

Speaking of which, Stillman is introducing a screening of The Last Days of Disco at Metrograph on Dec. 1. (FWIW, I noticed he did a Q&A at Doc Films in Chicago for a screening of Metropolitan this past weekend.)

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hearthesilence
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#190 Post by hearthesilence » Tue Nov 26, 2019 2:17 pm

And like clockwork, Stillman's doing a Q&A for a Dec. 1 (this Sunday) screening of Metropolitan at Metrograph. This is in addition to his intro of The Last Days of Disco on the same day. DCP's this time though.

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omegadirective
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#191 Post by omegadirective » Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:58 am

Is there a link to the complete box art for the trilogy?
Is it just a cardboard box around the individual releases?
Any bonus feature differences between the set and the individual blu rays?

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swo17
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Re: 326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy

#192 Post by swo17 » Fri Dec 31, 2021 6:32 am

Yes and no to your second and third questions

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