Breathless (Criterion)

I’ve not seen this in years — and from what I remember this is hardly my favorite Godard film — but it’s an iconic piece of history nonetheless, moving-pictorial evidence of the ways the French New Wave synthesized elements of hard-boiled American culture with a distinctly Euro sensibility to effect a sharp demarcation from your daddy’s cinema. Slate it as the capper to a triple feature with The 400 Blows and Hiroshima Mon Amour, also on Criterion DVD.

Buy it from Amazon.com: Breathless - Criterion Collection

Eyes Wide Shut (Warner)

Warner Bros. is reissuing a whole slew of Kubrick movies on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc today. I’m singling out Eyes Wide Shut not because it’s a particular favorite but because, as far as I know, it represents the first time a non-bastardized version of Kubrick’s final film has been available in the U.S. (Previous versions had clumsily inserted digital figures blocking simulated sex acts during the film’s orgy scene, which were added — after Kubrick’s death! — in order to secure a contractually obligated R rating.) If we’re lucky, this will also exhibit the return of some very heavy film grain that seemed to have been noise-reduced out of previous versions. Even if you own them already, the other releases are likely well worth picking up, since they boast improved transfers and, in several cases (notably Eyes Wide Shut and The Shining) they’re available for the first time in their proper, widescreen theatrical framing. (Why this has been the source of online controversy for years and years I’ll never understand; Kubrick was said to prefer full-screen telecine for television versions of his films, but he was making those decisions in the days before anamorphic DVD and high-definition displays changed the rules of the game.)

Buy it from Amazon.com: Eyes Wide Shut (Two-Disc Special Edition), Eyes Wide Shut [HD DVD], Eyes Wide Shut [Blu-ray], or Stanley Kubrick - Warner Home Video Directors Series

Days of Heaven (Criterion)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is only the latest in a long line of films that were influenced by Terence Malick’s direction and Nestor Almendros’s famed golden-hour cinematography. If you’ve never seen this before, consider yourself lucky to have the chance to watch it in an improved transfer; if you’re a fan, this is probably a necessary upgrade. (The nagging question that may hold you back: when will Criterion announce its first catalog of high-definition releases?)

Buy it from Amazon.com: Days of Heaven - Criterion Collection