The Criterion Collection

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by oildude

The time has come for Criterion to announce another Preston Sturges film. The drought has been too long. I am ready for The Lady Eve to make its Blu-ray debut.

It's Valentine's Day, after all, and the perfect Valentine from Criterion to us fans is a Preston Sturges screwball comedy starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda.

I haven't seen this but my Criterion Valentine wish would be the upgrade of Summertime and Magnificent Obsession.

[Nuck Horris]

Quick Criterion box set deal:

[Show spoiler]https://gohastings.com/product/MOVIE/The-Warped-World-of-Koreyoshi-Kurahara/sku/295946669.uts

Enter IHEARTYOU at the checkout.

I would've bought it already but my wallet said **** off.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

I'd like to add one more name to the list of character actors if I could. As soon as I thought of character actors - Jack Elam popped into my head.

Westerns were very popular when I was growing up and it was there that I first noticed that there were always guys in the gangs, posses, or sidekicks that you would see over and over. Elam was one of those along with guys like Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Robert Wilke, Edgar Buchanan, Lee Marvin (before he was a star he was a great bad guy), Warren Oates, and, of course, all those guys in the Ford stock co.

I'll also mention that my guy Joe Sawer just made another appearance in the Criterion Collection in Gilda. He's Casey, one of the bodyguards if I remember correctly.

[theater dreamer]

Originally Posted by oildude

Another one that comes to mind is Angela Lansbury. Growing up I only knew her for her television role in Murder, She Wrote. Only much later did I discover she was a classic film actress before her elder TV years, and played small parts in many memorable films. Then one day I saw her performance in The Manchurian Candidate....... Anyone who has not seen this film yet is in for a treat.

She's quite good as Sybil Vance in The Picture of Dorian Gray, too. Angela didn't have a bad voice back then, I might add. Her performance garnered her a second Academy Award nomination in two years. Her first came for the 1944 film Gaslight, opposite of Joseph Cotten, Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. Bergman won her first Best Actress Oscar for her turn as Paula Alquist. I've never seen Gaslight, but TCM is showing it on February 27th at 7 AM, and I've set the DVR to record it. In the mean time, The Picture of Dorian Gray sits perma-saved on my DVR until I add the Warner Archive Blu-ray to my collection.

So many films to watch. I need more hours in the day.

[Iamspartacus]

Magnificent Obsession
Big Clock
Midnight Cowboy
Written in the Wind
After Hours
Lady Eve
Easy Rider
Last Picture Show
Hard 8
Lost Highway

any of the above would make me happy

[theater dreamer]

Originally Posted by iScottie

Cloudy with a 99.9% chance of a delay.

How Paul Thomas Anderson of you.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Today I saw a bunch of Bergman titles at a local cinema hosting a retrospective. Most were re-watches (The Silence, Virgin Spring, Seventh Seal, Summer Interlude), but I saw one new title - All These Women. Sadly it was the least of the lot and actually kinda terrible. Here, Bergman tries to do a more high-brow sort of Carry On farce and falls mostly flat. While there is some nice looking color photography (Sven Nykvist), there's little color or spark to the proceedings themselves, and the satirical jabs at the "artist" and the "critic" are groan-inducingly broad and unsubtle. Definitely not recommended viewing.

Is that the one he made to cheer himself up? I heard somewhere that making so many dark films had taken an emotional toll on him that he decided to make a wild, over-the-top comedy as a type of therapy for his depression. All I know is that I was thoroughly depressed after seeing it because, as you mentioned, it was pretty bad. If I want a Bergman comedy I'll watch Smiles of a Summer Night.

[bwdowiak]

Any classic cinema character actor love for Jo Van Fleet? Man, did she bring it in Wild River.

George Sanders and Claude Raines were fantastic, too.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Iamspartacus

Hard 8

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but it is one of the most under-appreciated films in recent memory. An announcement of Hard 8 would make my year, and it's only February. It certainly wasn't the first film on my way to becoming a Gwyneth Paltrow super-fan (that would be Malice, then of course Se7en), but it certainly cemented her place in my heart. And, after that, her "British Period."

I'd also love to see Dekalog, obviously. But I sort of feel that it's inevitable. Though sooner is of course better than later.

As far as updates go, I've been waiting to upgrade both The Passion of Joan of Arc and pretty much any Bergman since ... well, since I started with this whole endeavor.

[diskspinner]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but it is one of the most under-appreciated films in recent memory. An announcement of Hard 8 would make my year, and it's only February. It certainly wasn't the first film on my way to becoming a Gwyneth Paltrow super-fan (that would be Malice, then of course Se7en), but it certainly cemented her place in my heart. And, after that, her "British Period."

I'd also love to see Dekalog, obviously. But I sort of feel that it's inevitable. Though sooner is of course better than later.

As far as updates go, I've been waiting to upgrade both The Passion of Joan of Arc and pretty much any Bergman since ... well, since I started with this whole endeavor.

I want Dekalog too...Any news on that?

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Is that the one he made to cheer himself up? I heard somewhere that making so many dark films had taken an emotional toll on him that he decided to make a wild, over-the-top comedy as a type of therapy for his depression. All I know is that I was thoroughly depressed after seeing it because, as you mentioned, it was pretty bad. If I want a Bergman comedy I'll watch Smiles of a Summer Night.

Why didn't he just watch a few good comedies to feel better? These auteurs...

[Edward J Grug III]

Yeah, I'd like some more Preston Sturges, but what we NEED is more Powell and Pressburger.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by diskspinner

I want Dekalog too...Any news on that?

Do my dreams and fantasies count as "news?" Because if the answer is "no," then I've got nothing. Sorry.

Originally Posted by ravenus

Why didn't he just watch a few good comedies to feel better? These auteurs...

I know what you mean, but you also have to be pretty careful with that too. Some comedies, many of them very good ones, have a very dark side to them. Some are obviously quite dark, like Bad Santa. Some, though, seem to be very light-hearted, but afterwards, when you start to think about the film, have some undercurrent of dread or the like.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

Any classic cinema character actor love for Jo Van Fleet? Man, did she bring it in Wild River.

George Sanders and Claude Raines were fantastic, too.

Jo Van Fleet was great. East of Eden -tough as nails. She showed a somewhat softer side in Cool Hand Luke.
Another tough lady was Mercedes McCambridge with her very distinctive voice ( used for great effect in The Exorcist but I also think of her in Giant, All the King's Men and her creepy cameo in Touch of Evil.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Jo Van Fleet was great. East of Eden -tough as nails. She showed a somewhat softer side in Cool Hand Luke.
Another tough lady was Mercedes McCambridge with her very distinctive voice ( used for great effect in The Exorcist but I also think of her in Giant, All the King's Men and her creepy cameo in Touch of Evil.

Who can forget Mercedes McCambridge in Johnny Guitar? She actually manages to out-crazy Joan Crawford in that one.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Who can forget Mercedes McCambridge in Johnny Guitar? She actually manages to out-crazy Joan Crawford in that one.

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never seen it.

But, if what you say is true then I must, and soon.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never seen it.

But, if what you say is true then I must, and soon.

Johnny Guitar is fantastic!

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

Johnny Guitar is fantastic!

As I said in another thread tonight, my "The List" for 2016 is already so long, and it's only February. You guys are NOT helping!

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

As I said in another thread tonight, my "The List" for 2016 is already so long, and it's only February. You guys are NOT helping!

You're welcome!

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

You're welcome!

GRRRR!

Well, I was going to watch The Red Shoes tonight, as it's been a while. But I watched All Good Things with Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst last night (B/B- ... sort of fell apart a bit in the third act), and I need to get my Dunst on. So, Melancholia it is.

And speaking of Dunst and Melancholia, the fact that not only has she not won, but she has never even been nominated for an Oscar in the 22 years since Interview With a Vampire is utterly ridiculous. She's given some killer performances in that time. Ugh. I love watching the Oscars, I really do. But sometimes I get so ... OK, I'll stop.

/rant

It's just that Awards Season sometimes gets me a bit uptight.