The Criterion Collection

Gate of Hell

Teinosuke Kinugasa

ebdukes: “The color...the color...the color. Have I mentioned the color?”

Ministry of Fear

Fritz Lang

ebdukes: “A minor Lang. I don't particularly like the editing, but the camera work is nice and noirish, and Milland gives a fine performance ”

Following

Christopher Nolan

ebdukes: “Portrait of the director as a young man and simply breathtaking in its audacity. Raymond Chandler would have wished to come up with this storyline.”

Harold and Maude

Hal Ashby

ebdukes: “Becomes more modern with every passing year. I have loved Vivian Pickles for years. Gordon & Cort & Ashby & Stevens..what a group.”

This Sporting Life

Lindsay Anderson

ebdukes: “Anderson loved the heterosexual Harris...the camera caresses him,adores him..it's hard to believe that Roberts character dares to break through.”

Belle de jour

Luis Buñuel

ebdukes: “Reality is always someone else s fantasy, or is it the other way round? You decide. Think you know? I don't think so.”

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Alfred Hitchcock

ebdukes: “One of the Masters great ones. Why wasn't Lorre a huge star?”

The Moment of Truth

Francesco Rosi

ebdukes: “Is there any one more beautiful than Miguel Mateo. Rosi just glories in his grace and perfection...the "beauty of the tragedy"”

Eclipse Series 37: When Horror Came to Shochiku

ebdukes: “Bad scripts: bad editing; bad acting; no continuity,. but delirious photography; surreal stories and "Genocide..Genocide..Genocide”

Weekend

Jean-Luc Godard

ebdukes: “Godard takes nothing seriously here and the result is bleak, dark and very disturbing but hysterically funny and in it's way incredibly beautiful.”

A Canterbury Tale

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

ebdukes: “A movie that sneaks up on you. It's not what you think it is...a film about forgiveness, even forgiving oneself. Lovely stuff.”

Weekend

Andrew Haigh

ebdukes: “Moving, unsentimental and totally honest. A great surprise. It has stayed with me for days. Great performances.”

L’avventura

Michelangelo Antonioni

ebdukes: “The first half on the island is just magical, but then it losses its way. Probably the point. Again about the failure to communicate, except thru sex.”

World on a Wire

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

ebdukes: “Yes, Yes & Yes. Fassbinder & Balhaus mesmerize. Genre breaking brilliant. God, I wish this man were still making movies. ”

L’eclisse

Michelangelo Antonioni

ebdukes: “A movie about connections and landscapes Antonioni knows how to frame his camera like nobody else. Delon & Vitti at the top of their sexy game.”

Letter Never Sent

Mikhail Kalatozov

ebdukes: “Never mind the Soviet realism bull...the camera work here is brilliant. You just marvel at some scenes , "How did he do that?'””

Fishing with John

John Lurie

ebdukes: “Frigging hysterical. I can't get the theme song out of my mind. Makes you want to go out and buy a bassomatic.”

Shallow Grave

Danny Boyle

ebdukes: “Deliciously evil. Boyle makes it up on the spot and it's magnificent. I remember seeing this when it first came out and being blown away. I still am.”

Anatomy of a Murder

Otto Preminger

ebdukes: “Flawless.Preminger puts all different acting styles together. The result is a beautiful pastiche of the 30s 40s & 50s. ”

Eclipse Series 29: Aki Kaurismäki’s Leningrad Cowboys

Aki Kaurismäki

ebdukes: “Drop dead hysterical. ”

People on Sunday

Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer

ebdukes: “Gorgeous & beautiful...these people had never acted before...I don't believe it.”

Three Outlaw Samurai

Hideo Gosha

ebdukes: “What cynicism! Continuity isn't that great, but fascinating nonetheless.”

12 Angry Men

Sidney Lumet

ebdukes: “The jewel here is "Tragedy in a Temporary Town".....So come on Criterion, how abort some "Defenders" episodes? ”

Black Moon

Louis Malle

ebdukes: “Everyone's allowed to make a mistake and this is Malle's. He wanted to make it. He made it. Move on.”

Bad Timing

Nicolas Roeg

ebdukes: “Russell gives a tour de force performance, matched by Roeg's direction, camera & editing. Riveting.”

Grey Gardens The Beales of Grey Gardens Box Set

ebdukes: “Like a car crash so unsettling, but you can't wait to watch the second disc. ”

Cul-de-sac

Roman Polanski

ebdukes: “Polanski takes on Beckett & Pinter and produces a savagely funny piece of "absurd cinema".”

Godzilla

Ishiro Honda

ebdukes: “Amazingly somber and reflective. The Americanized version is a hoot.”

Onibaba

Kaneto Shindo

ebdukes: “Still scary after all these years.”

Wings of Desire

Wim Wenders

ebdukes: “Joins Marienbad as one of the most overrated of films.”

The Third Man

Carol Reed

ebdukes: “What can I say..simply the best. A picture about absolute evil and cuckoo clocks. Ravishing to look at; beautifully written with amazing acting.”

Salò, or The 120 Days of Sodom

Pier Paolo Pasolini

ebdukes: “has lost none of it's power to shock and unnerve.A very important film. You don't want to watch but can't stop yourself, which is exactly the point.”

Last Year at Marienbad

Alain Resnais

ebdukes: “Boring, Dreary...like watching a never ending Chanel commercial. Was so excited about its release and so disappointed. But the extras are worth it.”

Identification of a Woman

Michelangelo Antonioni

ebdukes: “Sometimes Antonioni does it just right and this is one of those times.”

Island of Lost Souls

Erle C. Kenton

ebdukes: “2 words...Charles Laughton”

Eclipse Series 27: Raffaello Matarazzo’s Runaway Melodramas

Raffaello Matarazzo

ebdukes: “Wow...what a find...you know you shouldn't love it but I dare you not to. I'm addicted .....more please.”

Design for Living

Ernst Lubitsch

ebdukes: “Sexy and erotic with ne'er a nipple or buttock in sight.”