Showgirls V.I.P. Special Edition due July 27th! Ha! (1 Viewer)

[PaulP]

No Verhoeven commentary?? He's recorded one for everything he's directed... Oh well I'll get it anyway, since we're getting a commentary from someone else. I wonder if it's a 2-disc set?

 

[Prentice Cotham]

Will some KY be packed in w/ the set?

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

A mini-pack of tissues will probably suffice, since if you're watching this with any regularity, actual sex may not be high on the priority list, and probably won't be if any blind date sees the "deluxe model" on your shelf.

Maybe the expert commentary will be from a couple of stippers, kinda like the colossally stupid "cheerleader" commentary on Anchor Bay's REVENGE OF THE CHEERLEADERS. Mind you, if they made it a visual commentary, perhaps that might make it more palatable to the hanky audience that's too chicken to go into a real-life strip club.

Berkley pretty much went to smaller roles or straight-to-video junk after Showgirls. I remember seeing her in utterly forgettable fare like LAST CALL, RANDOM ENCOUNTER, A TIME TO REVENGE and Avi Nesher's pathetic TAXMAN, which had quite a list of has-beens in the cast as I recall, always hoping that she'd at least get nekkid and make it worth my while. No luck. Guess she figured we'd seen about all we'd want to in Showgirls short of actual penetration.

 

[Bob Muir]

If Elizabeth Berkely could act, it might have been a funny movie. But when I watched it, I was too busy wincing every time she was on the screen to "get" the joke.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Also, an appearance in The First Wives' Club, in some memorable All About Eve scenes with Victor Garber and Goldie Hawn.

She's currently making her Broadway debut in Larry Gelbart's Sly Fox. Her costars include Richard Dreyfuss, Eric Stoltz, Bronson Pinchot, Peter Scolari and Rene Auberjonois. The director is Arthur Penn (as in Bonnie and Clyde and Little Big Man).

M.

 

[Thomas T]

Curious about the mean spirited slams against Elizabeth Berkeley. Meryl Streep herself would have been defeated against the inanities of Showgirls. I knew one of the actors who had a small part in Showgirls and Paul Verhoeven has lost a lot of lustre in my eyes and if Sharon Stone is to be believed, he is quite the prick.

Berkeley was quite good in Roger Dodger and the critics were generous to her. That directors like Woody Allen and Arthur Penn are working with her indicates that they've have been able to look past the Showgirls debacle and seen that the mess lies not with her but with Verhoeven.

 

[JohnRice]

The greatest blame for Showgirls has to go to that unbelievable wretched hack Esterhas. Why Verhoeven ever took the project is beyond me. As far as Stone goes, it seems pretty clear to me that he likes to use conflict to promote his films. Anyone remember the public battles between Ronny Cox and Schwarzenneggarreowqrgoikvsdn during the promotion of Total Recall? It was an obvious marketing strategy and the whole Stone thing seems exactly the same.

 

[Jon Robertson]

So what if the revenue generated from this release partly goes towards funding new restorations?

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

No, I never heard about that. Can someone fill me in?

 

[Julian Lalor]

Yes, but Meryl Streep would never have even considered the part. And nor would 99% of the starving actresses out there. If Berkely didn't know what she was getting into, then she's a bigger moron that I thought. Anyone with half a brain who read this script would know that she wasn't going to repeat Stone's success in Basic Instinct, another ugly, but at least competently written and directed, film.

 

[Matt Czyz]

Erm, what two epics would those be? Just curious.

 

[Grant H]

I swear it's not me he's talking about!

 

[JohnRice]

I don't know where to direct you, but there were many well publicized verbal battles between Cox and the Gov during press conferences for the movie. They would try to shout over each other, say all sorts of crap and that sort of thing. I saw the harping by Stone to be every bit as transparent.

 

[Larry P]

But those who have that spiffy Two Towers deluxe set up there are going to get lucky with the ladies every time.

In any case, it's good to see MGM breaking out the fanfare for this. Showgirls was a Cinemax caliber idea/script done with A-list level talent and budget. We just haven't seen nude female bodies that have been photographed this well much in the past twenty-five years or so. It's a nice break from all of the violence and regular drama that we see all the time at the cinema.

There are moments when Verhoeven and Cinematographer Jost Vacano really capture the spectacle of this type of entertainment, which is very glamorous. At times it's really hard to believe what you're seeing. It's really nice seeing Verhoeven applying all his exciting camera movement, that he usually uses for his great action movies, to view dancing nude bodies instead.

And oh yeah, Kyle MacLachlan is excellent!

The accessories in this box set sound really fun and creative (pin the pastries on Elizabeth Berkley, woohoo!). They should appeal to the college crowd and to people who don't normally go for the usual fanboy-type collectibles; like Gollum statues, for instance.

 

[Larry P]

IIRC, the problems were between Stone and Arnie on Total Recall.

 

[John Watson]

Anyone who wants to know more about DIRTY DANCING should just GO TO A STRIP CLUB.

Odds are you'll spend more than this DVD will cost tho

 

[Bolivar G]

I'll buy it. More nudity is good

 

[Scott Temple]

The anamorphic transfer alone is worth the upgrade. (for me anyway)

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

Yikes, I hope you meant to say pin the pasties.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Pinning pastries would be a lot less painful and a lot more fun to clean up.

(inner voice, Brian, inner voice...)