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Aaron, Travis and Tim Leggoe dig into the world of Terry Zwigoff, the Barnes & Noble Sale, predictions and wish lists for October Criterion releases, reactions to the Sean Baker episode, and plenty more. We also have announced a contest so listen carefully.

Episode Notes

8:00 – Sean Baker Reactions

19:00 – Barnes & Noble

30:00 – October Predictions

47:00 – Ghost World

1:10 – Short Takes (The Exterminating Angel, Summer Interlude, Crumb)

1:21:30 – FilmStruck

Episode Links Barnes & Noble Criterion Sale Thora Birch: How Hollywood’s Darling Disappeared Janus Films – The Human Condition Tweet Criterion Close-Up 23: Breaker Morant and Mister Johnson Episode Credits Aaron West: Twitter | Website | Letterboxd Tim Leggoe: Blog | Letterboxd | Twitter Travis Trudell: Twitter | Instagram Criterion Now: Twitter | Facebook Group Criterion Cast: Facebook | Twitter

Music for the show is from Fatboy Roberts’ Geek Remixed project.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Best in Show (Christopher Guest)

Christopher Guest has had an exceptionally strong ’00s with A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration, and it remains to be seen how his upcoming Mascots will be received, but his arguable peak is still the gloriously funny mockumentary Best in Show. Guest’s other films have lovingly skewered egotistical oddballs and the insanity of subjective or objective criticism, so Best in Show is...

Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This July will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.

To sign up for a free two-week trial here.

Saturday, July 1 Changing Faces

What does a face tell us even when it’s disguised or disfigured? And what does it conceal? Guest curator Imogen Sara Smith, a critic and author of the book In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City, assembles a series of films that revolve around enigmatic faces transformed by masks, scars, and surgery, including Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face of Another (1966).

Tuesday, July 4 Tuesday’s Short + Feature: Premature* and Ten*

Come hitch a ride with Norwegian director Gunhild Enger and the late Iranian master...

This is the first Criterion Close-Up double feature. Mark and Aaron take a close look at two films from Bruce Beresford, released theatrically a decade apart and just recently as part of The Criterion Collection. We look at Breaker Morant and how it reconciled British Colonialism on both its subjects and enemies, and how it dispensed justice. We then look at Mister Johnson, which deals with colonial issues such as commerce and civilization.

About the films:

At the turn of the twentieth century, three Australian army lieutenants are court-martialed for alleged war crimes committed while fighting in South Africa. With no time to prepare, an Australian major, appointed as defense attorney, must prove that they were just following orders and are being made into political pawns by the British imperial command. Director Bruce Beresford garnered international acclaim for this riveting drama set during a dark period in his country’s colonial history,...

Mark and Aaron start the New Year as members of CriterionCast, and jump into the world of Merchant Ivory’s A Room with a View. With such a lavish, large production with quite an ensemble of characters, there is a lot to say. We discuss the social constraints placed upon the characters, and how some groups have opposing world views that resemble traditional versus modernity, while also touching on the nature of wealth, class, and even gender. We also enjoy discussing how the film surprisingly works as a dry comedy, and we are pleased to have Merchant & Ivory back in print in the Criterion Collection.

About the film:

Merchant Ivory Productions, led by director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, became a household name with A Room with a View, the first of their extraordinary adaptations of E. M. Forster novels. A cherubic nineteen-year-old Helena Bonham Carter plays Lucy Honeychurch,...

To celebrate the past year of Criterion Collection releases, Ryan is joined by David Blakeslee, Scott Nye, Aaron West, Arik Devens and Keith Enright to discuss their favorite releases of 2015.

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Corrections: In the episode, I should have had Aaron go before Arik, since I said I was going alphabetically.

Episode Links & Notes Favorite Covers Arik Odd Man Out by Eric Skillman Aaron Hiroshima mon amour by Sarah Habibi David Moonrise Kingdom by Michael Gaskell Keith Day for Night by Roman Muradov Process post Ryan The Black Stallion by Nicolas Delort Scott Blind Chance by Gérard Dubois Favorite Supplement Arik 65 Revisited Aaron Un tournage a la campagne David Interview with Gregor Dorfmeister, author of The Bridge Keith Reflections on … My Beautiful Laundrette – Colin MacCabe and Stephen Frears Ryan Restoring the Apu Trilogy by kogonada Scott Interview with Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne on Two Days,...

This week, Criterion releases beautiful new editions of two films by Bruce Beresford: The riveting Boer War court-martial drama Breaker Morant (1980), one of the most important works of the New Australian Cinema; and Mister Johnson (1990), a drama about the efforts of an eager, ambitious Nigerian clerk during British colonial rule. The two releases will hopefully bring some new attention to the career of Beresford, one of the more underrated filmmakers of the past several decades. His best-known films in the U.S. are probably 1989’s Best Picture–winning Driving Miss Daisy and 1983’s Tender Mercies, with Robert Duvall as a down-on-his-luck country singer, which won the actor an Oscar (the movie also garnered one for original screenplay). Those two films were well-rewarded, but Beresford’s filmography is replete with remarkable, underseen work — including 1991’s Black Robe, a gorgeous epic about a Jesuit priest attempting to travel to a mission...

This week on Off The Shelf, Ryan is joined by Brian Saur to take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for the week of September 22nd, 2015, and chat about some follow-up and home video news.

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Episode Links & Notes Follow-up December Criterion Announcements Thunderbean Update News Warner Archive: Twice Upon A Time on September 29th Arrow USA: What Have You Done To Solange? Masters Of Cinema: Day Of The Outlaw, December 7th Sony: Better Call Saul / You Can’t Take It With You Kino Lorber Studio Classics: The Black Sleep / Donovan’s Brain Vinegar Syndrome Dilemma Oscilloscope’s new web store New Releases The American Dreamer Arrow: Season 3 Beginning Or The End Black Caesar Breaker Morant Busting Destructors Deuces Wild Dirty Work Doctor Who: Dark Water/Death in Heaven 3D Dog Day Afternoon 40th Anniversary Fatal Instinct Flash: Season 1 For Us the...

Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.

Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson)

Wes Anderson’s leap through the animated realm was a key moment that shifted his filmic characterization toward metaphysical poignancy, thus making way for Moonrise Kingdom, an impressionistically stylized portrait of a pre-Vietnam adolescent bliss. It’s not just Pierret Le Fou for children, but a story about the recreation of storytelling, appropriating aesthetics from low and high arts to burn memories of innocent times as a protection against the fears of adulthood, portrayed here as a melancholic,...

This month on the Newsstand, Ryan is joined by David Blakeslee and Scott Nye to discuss the September 2015 Criterion Collection line-up, as well as the latest in Criterion rumors, news, packaging, and more.

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Shownotes Topics The September Criterion Line-up (and the delayed announcement) Orson Welles Updates: Issa Clubb at the University Of Michigan, Chimes At Midnight, It’s All True, The Immortal Story, Othello New titles rumored: In Cold Blood (Richard Brooks), The Decalogue, The Graduate, Valley Of The Dolls / Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, Janus Films: A Poem Is A Naked Person theatrical run, poster, trailer, etc. Last month’s E-mail newsletter drawing: empty coat (Young And Innocent?) The Apu Trilogy poster is now available from the Criterion store Episode Links The September Criterion Collection line-up … Blind Chance (1981) Gérard DuBois Breaker Morant (1980) Mister Johnson (1990) Sean Phillips.

This article was originally published in If Magazine #132 (June 2010).

Bruce Beresford When I was going to do Driving Miss Daisy, I offered it to Don McAlpine, but he turned it down. And then I offered it to Russell Boyd but he was doing something else. And then I remembered Peter and I thought .Hang on, I like that bloke Peter James. and said .Do you want to come over here and shoot this low-budget film?. And he did. That was the first.

I did enjoy working with him but we never thought it was anything special. In fact, when we finished the film they were planning not to release it.

We had very similar ideas on lighting and he had tremendously good taste . his lighting was always exqusite. Also, the thing I liked about him (and for that matter Don McAlpine) was that he would vary his style to suit the subject matter,...