criterionforum.org

domino harvey wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 22, 2023 8:29 am

Not holding out much hope for the Durbin film, to the surprise of no one

I was right, this was awful. I appreciate the concern taken with the spoiler tags, but this movie has one of the most obvious red herrings imaginable, so we’re into Jagged Edge territory here. I agree that this is primarily a Durbin vehicle, and the lack of care with which her mooning is contrasted with a hoary murder mystery shows how little anyone involved thought of their audience. And while I too found the “Silent Night” number pretty cringe, the numbers in the nightclub are worse and just too unlikely to reconcile— sure, I bet a big nightclub just lets some rando sing a few numbers, very plausible in a musical comedy, much less so in a Diet Noir. I have the world’s biggest rope for Hollywood studio hokum but c’mon— I know anyone going to see a Durbin film voluntarily is already signaling they’re a sucker, but still

Just now noticing the last two films in Vol. 2 were directed by Michael Gordon aka the director of The Web and Pillow Talk aka Joseph Gordon-Levitt's grandfather

Release date for Vol 2 moved to October 23

Final specs for Universal Noir #2:



Lady on a Train:



Time Out of Mind:



Singapore:



A Woman's Vengeance:



An Act of Murder:



The Lady Gambles:

It was interesting to go through the set before the specs were updated from "high definition presentations" all across to this variety of workflows. The Lady Gambles clearly looks like a pre-existing (2009) master, while the other movies look much fresher, though all of them could have gone through a more thorough cleaning pass, as they all have retained different levels of dirt and small scratches. I was however surprised by the texture of Time Out Of Mind, whose grain looks video-y at times, reminding me of other Universal restorations where the grain look somewhat vertical and eletronic instead of round and more natural.

Sadly though, the movies were mostly "meh", and after the 1st set, this 2nd one tends to confirm I preferred so far what was included in the Columbia Noir sets.

OCD Alert: Volume 1 and Volume 2 are not the same height

What happened to your clear plastic boxes Dom?!

Never thought of Wait Until Dark as a noir, but that does make it more interesting

So much stuff still in plastic wrap. I don't have the willpower myself, it usually comes off before I've entered the front door.

Peacock wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 12, 2023 2:54 pm

What happened to your clear plastic boxes Dom?!

I upgraded!

Time Out of Mind is a terrific gothic-tinged romantic melodrama, but it is absolutely 100% not a noir by any definition other than “Something something shadows”. My flabber is fully gasted at it being included in this set, but it’s also better than any film in this set, so…