The Criterion Collection

[Egbert Souse]

Originally Posted by Xtempo

Is the Immortal Story any good? It sounds interesting though I don't know much about Well's filmography

Yes. I hadn't seen it until the Criterion Blu and it's wonderful. Welles' first color feature, shot by Willy Kurant, Erik Satie soundtrack, starring Jeanne Moreau. And it's less than an hour long.

All the Welles films are 100% worth blind-buying. I just rewatched The Magnificent Ambersons and it's better than I remembered it. And tons of extras. Othello and Chimes at Midnight are also wonderful (and stacked in extras). And F for Fake is probably my favorite film of all time.

Only one to hold off on is Mr. Arkadin because it's only DVD right now, which I hope is remedied.

[StarDestroyer52]

Originally Posted by StarDestroyer52

Grabbed the following three titles.

And just received it today. This is the quickest I ever have got Criterion titles from B&N. Probably will watch The Breakfast Club later tonight after baseball.

[belcherman]

Went to B&N during my lunch break and picked up the following:

[Show spoiler]

I also wanted to get

[Show spoiler]

but it was not in stock, so I picked up

[Show spoiler]

instead.

[SeanJoyce]

How is Diamonds of the Night as a survival movie? Do we spend a lot of time in the snowy woods?

[Mose Harper]

Originally Posted by belcherman

Went to B&N during my lunch break and picked up the following:

[Show spoiler]

I also wanted to get

[Show spoiler]

but it was not in stock, so I picked up

[Show spoiler]

instead.

I recently just finished the Dietrich/ Von Sternberg set which I picked up in last summer's sale.
I think this is the first Criterion set I've not only dipped into (most of the ones I own I haven't even cracked the shrinkwrap on yet), but actually watched in it's entirety.

I liked a few more than others but they were all great entertainment and it's a wonderful package Criterion put together here.

[BamaDullard]

Picked up these 2:



Almost certainly not finished for the month, though.

[Namuhana]

I ordered Ingmar Bergman's Cinema in-store on Friday and finally got a shipping confirmation email late this afternoon. It says it'll be here tomorrow, but I don't see that happening. Hopefully it'll be here by Friday, though.

[zoodermin]

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

[CineSicko]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I watched Mikey and Nicky last weekend for the first time.

I thought it was pretty good, but nothing special.

One of my favorites of the '70s, and has been since the VHS days. The Criterion release is nothing less than a revelation. Sorry you didn't like it more.

Honestly, I probably have the entire movie memorized.

[dancerslegs]

Originally Posted by Ray Jackson

I watched Mikey and Nicky last weekend for the first time.

I thought it was pretty good, but nothing special.

The main attraction, I guess, is the fact that the two leads are Peter Falk and John Cassavetes.

...but I can see why it flew under the radar for 40 years.

I absolutely love the gritty '70s aesthetic of this film and admire what Peter Falk was able to do with a character whom turns out to be

[Show spoiler]a turncoat

. But 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,

[Show spoiler]the intended power of the final scene was usurped by relief that I didn't have to put up with his repulsive ass any longer once Ned Beatty finally whacked him. How am I to feel any other way about a character so disgusting, it's simply not believable that anyone could be his friend for five minutes, let alone years?

A real shame because many good elements were in place...

[Bronson13]

Is Picnic at Hanging Rock OOP? The Digibook version that comes with the book.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Bronson13

Is Picnic at Hanging Rock OOP? The Digibook version that comes with the book.

Yes

[KJones77]

Originally Posted by Bronson13

Is Picnic at Hanging Rock OOP? The Digibook version that comes with the book.

Yes. The dual format is OOP. It is a regular case as either a blu ray or dvd.

However, there are some copies still out there. I found one the other day at B&N.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Is criterion's Antichrist OOP?

[Reddington]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Is criterion's Antichrist OOP?

Nope.

https://www.criterion.com/films/27524-antichrist

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by CineSicko

One of my favorites of the '70s, and has been since the VHS days. The Criterion release is nothing less than a revelation. Sorry you didn't like it more.

Honestly, I probably have the entire movie memorized.

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

[DePalma1984]

Originally Posted by zoodermin

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

Mine on Amazon says July 16th-17th. I guess they are having trouble getting more in because B&N got all the stock for their sale.

[Bronson13]

Originally Posted by KJones77

Yes. The dual format is OOP. It is a regular case as either a blu ray or dvd.

However, there are some copies still out there. I found one the other day at B&N.

Yeah there’s one at my Barnes and Noble that I put on hold but I think it’s already been put back on the shelf. Fingers crossed it’s still there by tomorrow.

[mja345]

Originally Posted by dancerslegs

I absolutely love the gritty '70s aesthetic of this film and admire what Peter Falk was able to do with a character whom turns out to be

[Show spoiler]a turncoat

. But 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,

[Show spoiler]the intended power of the final scene was usurped by relief that I didn't have to put up with his repulsive ass any longer once Ned Beatty finally whacked him. How am I to feel any other way about a character so disgusting, it's simply not believable that anyone could be his friend for five minutes, let alone years?

A real shame because many good elements were in place...

I love Cassavetes-directed films and Cassavetes can be good as an actor ("Rosemary's Baby", "Love Streams"), but I agree that he really drags "Mikey and Nicky" down. Oddly enough, the two other main actors in the Cassavetes stable (Seymour Cassel and Ben Gazzara) would have worked perfectly in the film for different roles IMO. Cassel would have worked in the Cassavetes role and I think Gazzara could have played the Falk role well, while I think Falk could have played the Cassavetes part far better as well.

I'm not sure if Cassavetes was really hitting the bottle heavy during the filming or if he simply made some poor choices in playing that particular character, but it just doesn't work. His performance in "Mikey and Nicky" reminds me of Eric Roberts' in "The Pope of Greenwich Village". Roberts' performance could have worked much better had he just toned it down a few notches, just like Cassavetes. The performances don't ruin either film for me, but definitely knock both down a bit.

[belcherman]

Originally Posted by mja345

I love Cassavetes-directed films and Cassavetes can be good as an actor ("Rosemary's Baby", "Love Streams"), but I agree that he really drags "Mikey and Nicky" down. Oddly enough, the two other main actors in the Cassavetes stable (Seymour Cassel and Ben Gazzara) would have worked perfectly in the film for different roles IMO. Cassel would have worked in the Cassavetes role and I think Gazzara could have played the Falk role well, while I think Falk could have played the Cassavetes part far better as well.

I'm not sure if Cassavetes was really hitting the bottle heavy during the filming or if he simply made some poor choices in playing that particular character, but it just doesn't work. His performance in "Mikey and Nicky" reminds me of Eric Roberts' in "The Pope of Greenwich Village". Roberts' performance could have worked much better had he just toned it down a few notches, just like Cassavetes. The performances don't ruin either film for me, but definitely knock both down a bit.

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTmyD-_pMVU

As for Cassavetes, I have not seen Mikey and Nicky (or, if I have, I don't remember it) but I've liked him in other things, particularly the Don Siegel remake of The Killers.