The Criterion Collection

[Gerby]

I love Eric Roberts but i found his performance in The Pope Of Greenwich Village too much as well to the point of irritation (whether that was by design or not).
I also agree about Cassavetes in Mickey & Nicky but i still like the film a lot.

[DaBargainHunta]

I thought Cassavetes was great in Mikey and Nicky and easily its most memorable actor and character. (And I love Peter Falk! Both in this and in general.)

[CineSicko]

Originally Posted by DukeTogo84

Yeah, I thought it was a fantastic film. You have pretty good taste in film.

Thank you, sir. Likewise. We should start our own label. Crime movie fans wouldn't know what hit them.

[CineSicko]

Originally Posted by dancerslegs

...I absolutely loathed John Cassavetes in this film. I've never been a fan of his as an actor (or director, at times), but here he's so off-putting and insufferable...

Ray Carney, who knew Cassavetes well and wrote several books about him, grudgingly claimed that Cassavetes' performance as Nicky is probably the best on-screen representation of his real life persona. Not good.

I took an entertainment law course in film school, and the teacher was at one time John's lawyer. He had some alarming stories about the man. While John was a brilliant actor, writer, director, editor, etc., he was also a complete jerk who insisted on having a family life but ignored it at every turn (his production office was open from 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM, largely so that he could avoid his duties as husband and father). Aspiring actors and filmmakers should absolutely derive inspiration from his work, but should absolutely not attempt to emulate his personal life.

[whedon]

How heavy is the Bergman set? I've ordered it but between shipping and taxes it's €50 more than having it delivered to a US address. Have family over there who are flying here next month so was thinking of seeing it it was worthwhile seeing if they could bring it back but weight could be an issue

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by whedon

How heavy is the Bergman set? I've ordered it but between shipping and taxes it's €50 more than having it delivered to a US address. Have family over there who are flying here next month so was thinking of seeing it it was worthwhile seeing if they could bring it back but weight could be an issue

I remembered this being asked before and found this post from last year. Hope it helps:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=371

[theater dreamer]

Originally Posted by zoodermin

My amazon order of Detour finally has a delivery date. It's coming between July 12th and 13th!

Mine, too, though the estimated delivery date is July 11-12.

Finally!

[BAMJoe]

I have not been able to get an answer to my question about the Bergman set. I know that not all of the film's have individual releases, but do all of the so far released films include all of the extra content from their releases? Trying to decide if I should continue with the individual releases or save money and get the box set.

[dwk]

Originally Posted by BAMJoe

I have not been able to get an answer to my question about the Bergman set. I know that not all of the film's have individual releases, but do all of the so far released films include all of the extra content from their releases? Trying to decide if I should continue with the individual releases or save money and get the box set.

Some of the booklet content is different or has been dropped, but the on-disc content is the same.

[theater dreamer]

Holy shit, we’re discussing Eric Roberts in the Criterion thread!

I’ve been sick as a dog with an infectious blockage in the Eustachian tube by my right ear. I’m going to come back and re-read the last page when I’m feeling better just to make sure I’m not hallucinating.

Long overshadowed by his sister’s celebrity, Eric Roberts is a criminally underrated actor. His performance in Star 80 is one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve ever sat through in film, but nonetheless, simply brilliant. He portrayed a low level criminal/loser Paul Snider that ultimately murders his estranged wife, model and actress Dorothy Stratten (played by Mariel Hemingway). Yet somehow, as lost as Snider was by the end-impossibly- Roberts forces you to have just the slightest bit of empathy for his character. To merely classify his performance as chilling would be a gross oversimplification. It was chilling, yes, and the man he played made my skin crawl. But it takes a real artist to evoke such a visceral reaction. He was completely gauche, and that reflected in the reactions of those he encountered.

Star 80 would make for a great addition to the Criterion Collection. It’s Bob Fossee’s last film, and he went out on a high note. It’s a cautionary tale about the allure of fame, and it’s more relevant now than ever. It might be extremely uncomfortable to watch, at times, even for those who knew Dorothy’s ultimate fate before the opening frames of the movie. Stratten never sought fame, but was convinced as a teen by Snider, a would be Svengali, to send her pictures into Playboy. She was young and naive as to the ways of the world, and Snider saw his ticket into the social elite by riding on the beautiful Stratten’s coattails. Fosse’s film shows the extent to which Snider manipulated her, eventually convincing her to marry the man that had become her manager. When Stratten began an affair with director Peter Bogdanovich while shooting They All Laughed, you see Snider rapidly spiraling downward. And Roberts’ performance makes the whole film work.

[CineSicko]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

Star 80 would make for a great addition to the Criterion Collection.

I agree completely. It's a remarkable film, one of the best of the '80s. It's also Roberts' finest performance. Sven Nykvist's impressive cinematography should always be preserved in HD. I'm shocked and annoyed that it isn't available yet.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Love Star 80! Saw it for the first time last December. Eric Roberts is fantastic in it! A great period film too. I'm not really a big fan of his per se but he can be fun on screen.

Also, it's funny all of this talk about Mikey and Nicky. I debated blind buying it yesterday. I'll give it a rent first due to the mixed things I've heard altogether though.

[regeyer]

I have to admit that I am tempted to order the Bergman set, especially now that Amazon is price matching B&N. It's just that most of the movies are blind buys for me, and I try not to do blind buys anymore. And I already own a couple of them. Yet, the price and the packaging of the set seems to be calling my name.

[captainron_howdy]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

Holy shit, we’re discussing Eric Roberts in the Criterion thread!

I’ve been sick as a dog with an infectious blockage in the Eustachian tube by my right ear. I’m going to come back and re-read the last page when I’m feeling better just to make sure I’m not hallucinating.

Long overshadowed by his sister’s celebrity, Eric Roberts is a criminally underrated actor. His performance in Star 80 is one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve ever sat through in film, but nonetheless, simply brilliant. He portrayed a low level criminal/loser Paul Snider that ultimately murders his estranged wife, model and actress Dorothy Stratten (played by Mariel Hemingway). Yet somehow, as lost as Snider was by the end-impossibly- Roberts forces you to have just the slightest bit of empathy for his character. To merely classify his performance as chilling would be a gross oversimplification. It was chilling, yes, and the man he played made my skin crawl. But it takes a real artist to evoke such a visceral reaction. He was completely gauche, and that reflected in the reactions of those he encountered.

Star 80 would make for a great addition to the Criterion Collection. It’s Bob Fossee’s last film, and he went out on a high note. It’s a cautionary tale about the allure of fame, and it’s more relevant now than ever. It might be extremely uncomfortable to watch, at times, even for those who knew Dorothy’s ultimate fate before the opening frames of the movie. Stratten never sought fame, but was convinced as a teen by Snider, a would be Svengali, to send her pictures into Playboy. She was young and naive as to the ways of the world, and Snider saw his ticket into the social elite by riding on the beautiful Stratten’s coattails. Fosse’s film shows the extent to which Snider manipulated her, eventually convincing her to marry the man that had become her manager. When Stratten began an affair with director Peter Bogdanovich while shooting They All Laughed, you see Snider rapidly spiraling downward. And Roberts’ performance makes the whole film work.

I've been waiting for Star 80. Eric Roberts is great, it's his sister that sucks.

[gbm82]

Originally Posted by regeyer

I have to admit that I am tempted to order the Bergman set, especially now that Amazon is price matching B&N. It's just that most of the movies are blind buys for me, and I try not to do blind buys anymore. And I already own a couple of them. Yet, the price and the packaging of the set seems to be calling my name.

do it!

[SeanJoyce]

A cool Eric Roberts movie I've trumpeted quite a bit at this forum is The Nature of the Beast, his mid-90s "two-hander" with Lance Henriksen ('95 was a great year for this type of movie...see also Heat, Crimson Tide and Zero Kelvin.)

Real trippy movie with Roberts and Henriksen engaging in a dance macabre on lonely stretches of desert highway.

Certainly nothing Criterion would ever put out, but a Scream release would be most welcome.

[Mister_Kidd]

If you were an adolescent in the late 80s like me, you probably appreciate Best of the Best, a mediocre martial arts movie which features Julia Roberts' brother and Sean Penn's brother. Probably off topic in the Criterion thread, but when I think of Eric Roberts the two movies I think of are Best of the Best and Pope of Greenwich Village, neither of which say much for him as an actor.

[dbhl3000]

Originally Posted by zoodermin

My amazon order of Detour finally has a delivery date. It's coming between July 12th and 13th!

Same here. Our Detours have taken a detour but it's good to see we will have them soon.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by captainron_howdy

I've been waiting for Star 80. Eric Roberts is great, it's his sister that sucks.

Excuse me?!

[mja345]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Not to digress to much, but I loved Roberts' performance in The Pope of Greenwich Village because it was over the top. I think the film would have been rather flat otherwise.

I'm a fan of Eric Roberts. He is brilliant in "Star 80" and "Runaway Train" and completely elevates "The Ambulance" with his insanity. However, my problem with him in Pope is that he is acting in a completely different film than everyone else. Mickey Rourke and the supporting cast are giving grounded, realistic performances and Roberts is straight out of a cartoon at times. There are moments in his performance that I love, but there are times he needed to tone it down for the overall benefit of the film IMO. Roberts' performance is so campy at times that you feel like it belongs in "The Valley of the Dolls".