The Criterion Collection

[thebratpackwrangler]

After tax The Before Trilogy is down to $41.41 with the Prime Day savings. Great deal if you don’t own it yet. I might finally bite the bullet on it.

[MattPerdue]

Would've preferred a hardbound box for The Princess Bride but the new 4K master is exciting. I'll hang onto my current BD for possible extras.

[The Great Owl]

I know practically nothing about Shampoo, but the thought of owning a movie with Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn in their heyday is tempting me to pick it up during the next sale.

[jmspls72]

Originally Posted by thebratpackwrangler

After tax The Before Trilogy is down to $41.41 with the Prime Day savings. Great deal if you don’t own it yet. I might finally bite the bullet on it.

You can get online the sire is crashing bad. Any other deals for criterion

[senseabove]

Originally Posted by jmspls72

You can get online the sire is crashing bad. Any other deals for criterion

The Olympics set is ~$200-20%=~$160

[Shanghai Express]

Originally Posted by bigbadwoppet

Just when I recover some respect for Criterion with their Bergman box, they have to ruin it again with Shampoo. A deeply superficial and, worst of all, surprising unfunny "comedy".

Personally, I agree with you. I always thought that movie was like one big inside joke but without the joke. I saw it for the first time recently and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, but not nearly as good as it should have been. With such a strong cast and the screenwriter fresh off of Chinatown (one of the best screenplays of all time), the entire thing feels like a missed opportunity. It's pretty badly dated which usually isn't a problem for me, but the movie just isn't as funny as everyone used to say it was. In order for the movie to work you really have to believe it's a sharp, satirical commentary on sex and relationships in the late 60s... but it's not. It's overlong and nothing really happens. Every “adult” aspect of it is unrealistic and annoying. In the end they try to shoot for profundity and a lasting impression, but by then you barely care about any of the characters involved. Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, and Lee Grant made the most of their parts and Jack Warden was good as always. Overall: watchable and mildly entertaining but not important and definitely not one of the decade's essentials.

[jmspls72]

I’m thinking about going to blind buy the naked prey. I’m a fan of the movie surviving the game. Sounds like the same concept..


Any feedback Would be appreciated

[javy]

Originally Posted by thebratpackwrangler

After tax The Before Trilogy is down to $41.41 with the Prime Day savings. Great deal if you don’t own it yet. I might finally bite the bullet on it.

I almost finally picked this up as part of the sale the other day but held off yet again. Glad i did and was able to take advantage of this. Mine was $40.98 after tax.

Thanks for the head up on this.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by mja345

The whole point of the film is that Beatty's character views everything in a superficial, artificial way. He views these relationships he has with women as being completely surface-level. For him, anything beyond their physical appearance is threatening. He's used to juggling multiple women without being threatened by any of them. It's not really a comedy IMO. It's much more of a character study/drama.

That's a description of the character though, not the film, which may very well be superficial (I haven't seen it in years).

It's a Beatty picture rather than an Ashby one. Apparently Beatty was telling him what to do.

Overall a disappointing month for Criterion apart from the Bergman set which looks great, but I'll never find the time to actually watch all of those films again.

[thebratpackwrangler]

Originally Posted by senseabove

The Olympics set is ~$200-20%=~$160

That’s the DVD set. Blu-ray is still $400

[senseabove]

Originally Posted by thebratpackwrangler

That’s the DVD set. Blu-ray is still $400

I'm 90% sure I had it filtered to only show BD, BD3D, and 4K UHD... I don't see a listing for either DVD or BD versions at all, now, and both are OoS now anyway, so maybe they just pulled it from the Prime Day listings.

[Namuhana]

Just Bergman for me, but maaaaybe The Princess Bride too (I'll have to watch it again to see how much I enjoy it; I've only seen it once before).

[Jr7936]

as with dekalog, if you are all region the arrow version of eight hours don't make a day seems superior. For instance it has the Fassbinder documentary which the criterion doesn't include, a 60 page book and uses three blu rays, instead of the 2 that the criterion will use.

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by bigbadwoppet

Just when I recover some respect for Criterion with their Bergman box, they have to ruin it again with Shampoo. A deeply superficial and, worst of all, surprising unfunny "comedy".

Hehe. . . “Recover some respect”

[mja345]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

That's a description of the character though, not the film, which may very well be superficial (I haven't seen it in years).

It's a Beatty picture rather than an Ashby one. Apparently Beatty was telling him what to do.

Overall a disappointing month for Criterion apart from the Bergman set which looks great, but I'll never find the time to actually watch all of those films again.

The plight of the character is the film though. As he realizes how superficial his existence is, his loneliness and lack of human connection becomes more apparent. I don't think "Shampoo" is a masterpiece, it's hard to feel bad for a wealthy guy who has sex with a bunch of beautiful woman. It's a pretty good film as a character study, not great. But saying it's superficial is a poor reading IMO.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by mja345

The plight of the character is the film though. As he realizes how superficial his existence is, his loneliness and lack of human connection becomes more apparent. I don't think "Shampoo" is a masterpiece, it's hard to feel bad for a wealthy guy who has sex with a bunch of beautiful woman. It's a pretty good film as a character study, not great. But saying it's superficial is a poor reading IMO.

You are still talking about character content though. What might be superficial is the _how_ rather than the _what_. i.e how is this superficiality expressed? and what insight do we get into it? etc

This was the problem I had with The Bling Ring. The how didn't remotely justify the what (to me).

[plateoshrimp]

Originally Posted by jmspls72

I’m thinking about going to blind buy the naked prey. I’m a fan of the movie surviving the game. Sounds like the same concept..


Any feedback Would be appreciated

It's been so long since I've seen Surviving the Game that I had to read about it to refresh my memory. It does sound like the same concept. I think The Naked Prey would be a very safe blind buy for you if you like that kind of film. It's a very good action/suspense/chase movie. I will definitely get this one myself but I might have to wait for a sale.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

You are still talking about content though. What might be superficial is the _how_ rather than the _what_. i.e how is this superficiality expressed? and what insight do we get into it? etc

You're talking about how his realization that he is a lonely shell of a human being is presented? I'd say it's presented effectively in the party scene where he is treated more like a gigolo than a multi-dimensional human being. The insight is that feeling like a piece of meat never feels good and Beatty's character, who prides himself in feeling like an alpha male and treating women like pieces of meat, has the tables turned on him and he has no redeeming qualities (intelligence, talent) to fall back on.

[StarDestroyer52]

I'll likely pick up The Princess Bride down the road, but that's it for me. Which is OK, since I got so many other films I need to buy.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I know practically nothing about Shampoo, but the thought of owning a movie with Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn in their heyday is tempting me to pick it up during the next sale.

As you can tell from other posts, it's a bit polarizing. The first time I saw it, I was very disappointed in it. Subsequent viewings, I've come to enjoy it a lot more. For me, I think it's a tongue-in-cheek portrait of Warren Beatty basically playing around with his own public image, being a very vain, oversexed and superficial gigolo who basically has sex with anyone with a vagina. I don't look for anything profound in it, I just enjoy for its own sake and yes Christie and Hawn are wonderful in it, as is Lee Grant in an Oscar winning performance and Carrie Fisher who plays a very forward spoiled rich teenager.