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Calvin wrote: Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:09 pm

Coming Soon on 4KHUD!

Nobody’s Fool (1994) Starring Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Jessica Tandy, Dylan Walsh, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Josef Sommer, Philip Bosco & Philip Seymour Hoffman – Directed by Robert Benton (The Late Show, Kramer vs. Kramer, Twilight).

I was just talking about how badly I want to see Paul Newman not be a fool in 4K

Coming Soon on 4KHUD!

Nobody’s Fool (1994) Starring Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Jessica Tandy, Dylan Walsh, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Josef Sommer, Philip Bosco & Philip Seymour Hoffman – Directed by Robert Benton (The Late Show, Kramer vs. Kramer, Twilight).

Sorry to the Italian Job fans, but Paul Newman is one of my favorite actors and this is one of his very best films and performances IMHO, so as long as they don't mess it up, I'm more than happy with the announcement.

If Kino can do a 4K of the overrated, mawkish Nobody's Fool maybe they can rescue Benton's excellent first film, Bad Company, from obscurity. Doesn't even have to be 4K. Just something better than the piss poor DVD.

Part of that great early Jeff Bridges run of offbeat, interesting films from Last Picture through Hearts Of The West.

Like Indecent Proposal, Nobody's Fool is one the 3-4 Paramount 4K UHD releases Kino is only doing because Paramount has already prepared a DolbyVision/HDR 4K master of it. In other words, Kino wouldn't have picked it to release on anything more than BD if they had to do the work themselves for a couple of these titles. The Italian Job is not in such a situation.

Very happy with my recent blind buys from the Kino sale:

Heartworn Highways - Tremendous. Can't believe I hadn't seen this before, especially being a big Townes Van Zandt fan.

Buffet Froid - A wonderful surprise. Thanks to therewillbeblus for the suggestion on these boards. I've been on a Bertrand Blier kick since I watched this. Now I'm going to have to buy Get Out Your Handkerchiefs as well.

Valentino - Bad but in an entertaining way, like several of Russell's films. Looks pretty great on blu. Seeing Winkler and Chartoff as producers and Mardik Martin as one of the screenwriters makes me wonder if this project was pitched to Scorsese before they settled on Russell.

Beyond Therapy - Bad but in an occasionally entertaining way, like several of Altman's films.

The Birthday Party - Friedkin doing Pinter seems like an odd match but it works. And it's always fun to watch Patrick Magee.

Eastern Promises 4K - Looks and sounds fantastic. Glad I upgraded.

Bad Company would be a good pick, but I wouldn't call Nobody's Fool mawkish at all - it generally stays on the right side of sentimentality and it gets the flavor of small time life just right. It's probably the only Benton-directed film I'd want to revisit besides the promising Bad Company, though a lot of credit goes to Newman.

Also forgot Philip Seymour Hoffman's in it - he has a small role as a buffoon, not the type of role that would overshadow his later work, but it was done early enough that he was still literally a starving artist. After he died, I heard a story somewhere how someone was nice enough to pack him up the leftover food from the catered meals.

hearthesilence wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 2:38 am Bad Company would be a good pick, but I wouldn't call Nobody's Fool mawkish at all - it generally stays on the right side of sentimentality and it gets the flavor of small time life just right. It's probably the only Benton-directed film I'd want to revisit besides the promising Bad Company, though a lot of credit goes to Newman.

Also forgot Philip Seymour Hoffman's in it - he has a small role as a buffoon, not the type of role that would overshadow his later work, but it was done early enough that he was still literally a starving artist. After he died, I heard a story somewhere how someone was nice enough to pack him up the leftover food from the catered meals.

It’s not a great movie or anything but I’m not gonna turn my nose up at Paul Newman on 4K. The Howard Shore score is pretty wonderful too.

hearthesilence wrote: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:18 pm

Coming Soon on 4KHUD!

Nobody’s Fool (1994) Starring Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Jessica Tandy, Dylan Walsh, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Josef Sommer, Philip Bosco & Philip Seymour Hoffman – Directed by Robert Benton (The Late Show, Kramer vs. Kramer, Twilight).

Sorry to the Italian Job fans, but Paul Newman is one of my favorite actors and this is one of his very best films and performances IMHO, so as long as they don't mess it up, I'm more than happy with the announcement.

Same. It’s a great adaptation of an incredible novel.

I’m nostalgic for the last hurrah of Hollywood studios producing lower-end budgeted films aimed at discerning, mature audiences like this and Peter Weir’s Green Card (another KL title)

hearthesilence wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 2:38 am Bad Company would be a good pick, but I wouldn't call Nobody's Fool mawkish at all - it generally stays on the right side of sentimentality and it gets the flavor of small time life just right. It's probably the only Benton-directed film I'd want to revisit besides the promising Bad Company, though a lot of credit goes to Newman.

NF isn't bad, but it has a grating case of the cutes for this viewer. Newman doing his low-key rascal bit, but his character is nice to old ladies so you know he's got heart, see. And none of the scenes with Dylan Walsh work for me. It's an uncertain, somewhat annoying performance, really, in a role that is key to the film's themes and emotions.

I like the other Benton/Richard Russo/Paul Newman collaboration, Twilight, better than NF, despite its much lesser reputation. Better pacing, a livelier Newman, and a less obvious, less haloed take on somewhat similar themes. Admittedly, the plot gets a little ridiculous in the 2nd half.

The Human Stain is a Benton film that I appreciated much more upon second viewing--so much so that I overpaid for that double blu release where it is paired with The Crossing Guard (yikes this was bad). A very thoughtful film about identity, repression, and guilt, though it is nearly ruined by the flashback scenes, which are poorly-staged and acted. All of the scenes with Hopkins are excellent. One of his more overlooked great performances.

"His character is nice to old ladies so you know he's got heart" is excessively cynical. This would be in regards to Jessica Tandy's character, Miss Beryl, and Hattie, the woman with dementia who keeps running off, the only two "old ladies" he interacts with. His relationship with Tandy is central to the film - they actually depend on each other and irritate each other much of the time - and IIRC there's only one scene with him and Hattie, and it's a comedic moment that reflects the whole film in a nutshell, not to mention one of Newman's greatest charms - bringing dignity to a person or situation that's otherwise sad and undignified.

beamish14 wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 3:00 am

hearthesilence wrote: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:18 pm

Coming Soon on 4KHUD!

Nobody’s Fool (1994) Starring Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Jessica Tandy, Dylan Walsh, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Josef Sommer, Philip Bosco & Philip Seymour Hoffman – Directed by Robert Benton (The Late Show, Kramer vs. Kramer, Twilight).

Sorry to the Italian Job fans, but Paul Newman is one of my favorite actors and this is one of his very best films and performances IMHO, so as long as they don't mess it up, I'm more than happy with the announcement.

Same. It’s a great adaptation of an incredible novel.

I’m nostalgic for the last hurrah of Hollywood studios producing lower-end budgeted films aimed at discerning, mature audiences like this and Peter Weir’s Green Card (another KL title)

Even as a fan of Green Card I have to find this hyperbole a little giggle worthy.

I remember enjoying NOBODY'S FOOL well enough when I saw it, but a recent revisit was not good. Benton's skill with actors is undeniable, but his filmmaking is pedestrian at best. The novel is a far richer and more moving experience.

knives wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:58 pm

beamish14 wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 3:00 am

hearthesilence wrote: Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:18 pm
Sorry to the Italian Job fans, but Paul Newman is one of my favorite actors and this is one of his very best films and performances IMHO, so as long as they don't mess it up, I'm more than happy with the announcement.

Same. It’s a great adaptation of an incredible novel.

I’m nostalgic for the last hurrah of Hollywood studios producing lower-end budgeted films aimed at discerning, mature audiences like this and Peter Weir’s Green Card (another KL title)

Even as a fan of Green Card I have to find this hyperbole a little giggle worthy.

I get that, but there is a real humanity and pathos in all of Weir’s films, which is maybe most prominent (IMO) in that one, which really speaks to me. It’s a stealthily sophisticated and elegant piece of filmmaking that just stuns me like the best of Bill Forsyth or Charles Burnett. I know that writer/filmmaker Daniel Kremer, who has contributed to quite a few KL releases, considers it to be Weir’s best, too

Roscoe wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 6:22 pm I remember enjoying NOBODY'S FOOL well enough when I saw it, but a recent revisit was not good. Benton's skill with actors is undeniable, but his filmmaking is pedestrian at best. The novel is a far richer and more moving experience.

Richard Russo has an unusually strong track record with his adaptations. Forum favorite Lawrence Kasdan was attached to adapt The Risk Pool for many years, but I think it was a casualty of Dreamcatcher

beamish14 wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 6:24 pm

Roscoe wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 6:22 pm I remember enjoying NOBODY'S FOOL well enough when I saw it, but a recent revisit was not good. Benton's skill with actors is undeniable, but his filmmaking is pedestrian at best. The novel is a far richer and more moving experience.

Richard Russo has an unusually strong track record with his adaptations. Forum favorite Lawrence Kasdan was attached to adapt The Risk Pool for many years, but I think it was a casualty of Dreamcatcher

The mention of Bill Forsyth above reminded me that I left the cinema wishing that Forsyth had done NOBODY'S FOOL. Forsyth's visual mastery is light years beyond Benton's by the numbers direction.

As for Russo, I'm looking forward, guardedly, to the AMC adaptation of his STRAIGHT MAN, to star Bob Odenkirk.

hearthesilence wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 5:06 pm "His character is nice to old ladies so you know he's got heart" is excessively cynical.

Fair enough. I realize I'm in the minority in my views on this film and perhaps my comments were a bit flippant or hot-takish.

My NF criticism was just a pretext to lobby for a decent release of Bad Company. Seems like an ideal title for Kino and Paramount doesn't seem to value the film.

And now I'm going to have to watch Green Card based on beamish's enthusiastic endorsement. I'm a Peter Weir fan yet I have never bothered with this one. A case where the poster and marketing of the film made it seem very skippable.

Bad Company does deserve a better release. Just in terms of the filmmaking alone, it's his best film, one that showed a good deal of promise that was largely unfulfilled.

Re: Forsyth, I agree, he's a far better filmmaker and assuming he'd get along well with the star actors, it's not a stretch to imagine him bringing something more to the film, but in Benton's defense, I think a lot of the physical visual details are done well. (IIRC, even the snow is dressed right with a spot-on accumulation of dirt and mud rather than the pristine white I'm used to seeing in Hollywood Christmas stories.)

More OOP based on previously being in the "While Supplies Last" sale and now no longer appearing on the website:

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985) (BD) (DVD previously OOP)

captveg wrote: Mon Jul 18, 2022 7:42 pm More OOP based on previously being in the "While Supplies Last" sale and now no longer appearing on the website:

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985) (BD) (DVD previously OOP)

Cute film.

More OOP based on previously being in the "While Supplies Last" sale and now no longer appearing on the website:

Junior Bonner (1972) (BD) (DVD still available)

Added to the WSL sale:

Bitter Moon (1992) (BD/DVD)

Death to the squeaky Bitter Moon! Long live the Danish blu!

THANK GOD those two are going OOP but moreso Bitter Moon. Will happily wait a year or two for another label to give it a fixed and proper presentation

I’m sure American labels are just dying to release a Polanski film

Their Junior Bonner release is decent extras-wise, but I would definitely buy an upgrade for a better transfer. My favorite Peckinpah film and among my favorite films, period. A gentle ode to individualism. McQueen was never better, imo, and the entire cast and milieu are just right. I was in Prescott AZ recently (great town) and had a couple beers at the Palace. The film doesn't loom as large as it once did there--they've gone all in on Wyatt Earp/Doc Holliday stuff--but there are a few pictures of McQueen as Junior and a few of Rod Hart who sings "Rodeo Man" in the film.