| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 01/12/2007 : 12:36:13
My friend at work has a lovefilm subscription and so I'm going to utilise that to see a few of the big films that I have missed.
Here are the main ones I have thought of so far:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Apocalypse Now (which version?)
The Usual Suspects (have twice fallen asleep watching it; I think I read a spoiler review the other day, though  )
Spirited Away
Midnight Cowboy
Matrix Revolutions (not big big I know, but I am always trying to avoid spoilers for it, which is a nuisance)
Does anyone have any suggestions? I know that you don't know what I have seen, but what are the main things that one should have seen? I particularly want to see all those with twists so that life on here is safer. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Shiv |
Posted - 02/10/2007 : 00:06:25
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
Actually, maybe I should re-read Heart of Darkness first...
Yes, that's what I'd recommend. |
| Sean |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 21:11:35
quote:
Originally posted by Ali
Also try and catch Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper's excellent documentary account of the filming of Apocalypse, Now.
Yep, definitely worth watching. Watch Apocalypse Now first though.  |
| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 10:52:34
Actually, maybe I should re-read Heart of Darkness first... |
| Ali |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 10:44:14
Oh, yes. Definitely watch it. It's a different take by the filmmakers of the same story so of course it has artistic merits.
Also try and catch Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper's excellent documentary account of the filming of Apocalypse, Now.
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| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 10:33:47
On the general issue, I agree with both of you. I like to see everything that there is of something, but I also like concision. The ideal for me would be if the Redux version never existed. Since it does (and also that I have it), I think I'll have to watch that one. |
| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 10:31:56
quote:
Originally posted by Ali
I might be the only film geek
I never thought you'd describe yourself as a geek. 
quote:
On an only-slightly related note, I am so glad that Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola decided, while adapting the screenplay to The Godfather, to discard that bizarre subplot in the book regarding Lucy Mancini and her oversized vagina.
I've got that somewhere waiting to be read. I hope this isn't a major spoiler.  |
| Ali |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 10:13:26
I don't know. Directors tend to get lost in their own vision of a movie, and sometimes they need a good editor to trim the film down to its artistic essentials (aside: I was at the Redux premiere in London, where Walter Murch gave a wonderful speech defending it - I wasn't convinced, but it was an interesting position, nonetheless). Most directors (and Coppola is not one of them) are very hesitant to "kill their darlings," as the saying goes. I am not saying that economising is the best way to go all the time; just that with certain movies, like Apocalypse, Now, the directors' cuts seem, to me, at least, clumsy.
I am not a great fan of LotR (neither the books, nor the films) so I would have preferred a shorter - more whimsical - version (I might be the only film geek in existence to think this way, but there we go). In fact, I once wrote a huge review of the first film somewhere where I argued that the film should have ended after the huge cave scene with the trolls, and the orcs, and that flaming thing.
I agree with you regarding The Cider House Rules, though there are other reasons, besides the running time, why that film lags.
On an only-slightly related note, I am so glad that Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola decided, while adapting the screenplay to The Godfather, to discard that bizarre subplot in the book regarding Lucy Mancini and her oversized vagina.
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| Sean |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 09:49:10
quote:
Originally posted by Ali
I like the caveat William Goldman quotes in Which Lie Did I Tell? that, "if you can't tell a story in less than two hours, you better be David Lean."
I fully agree that the original Apocalypse is as effective as the Redux, and that the plantation scene isn't "necessary". But, the way I see it, with an excellent book / movie / music / food or whatever, some is good and more is better.
One of the reasons some books don't translate well into movies is precisely because they have been cut so heavily, i.e, they aren't anywhere near long enough. A good 300-400 page novel probably needs a 3-4 hour movie to do it justice. In fact as a rule of thumb I use 100 pages of novel equates to one hour of movie; if it's condensed much more than that then it will have had important material left out. (LOTR is 1100 pages, and it needed the 11.5 hour Extended Cut to do it justice, the 9.5 hour cinema version was a butchered version of the real thing. The Cider House Rules needed an extra hour at least. Etc.)
Either version of Apocalypse is fine, but I think I always prefer director's cuts for excellent movies, as more is better than less. Director's cuts are unlikely to have had garbage thrown in, as what director wants to wreck a good movie by adding stuff that doesn't work? |
| Ali |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 09:17:39
quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
I'd go straight for the redux. It's not the kind of movie you'd want to watch too often, so you might as well watch the whole thing.
Really? I appreciate the metaphorical travel-through-time aspect of the river journey that the French plantation scenes amplify (not a spoiler, Salopian, don't worry), but that scene gets bogged down all too quickly in its navel-gazing pretentiousness.
"Communiste! Socialiste!" Oh, piss off!
Besides, I've always been an advocate of "less is more (and not only because I have a mangina)." I like the caveat William Goldman quotes in Which Lie Did I Tell? that, "if you can't tell a story in less than two hours, you better be David Lean."
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| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 09:01:17
quote:
Originally posted by Chris C
And I can happily say that I have managed to avoid all of the IMDB bottom 100. Yes, even Police Academy: Mission to Moscow. 
I've only seen Unaccompanied Minors (released as Grounded here; weak but no more so than many, many films), Son of the Mask (appalling) and Hercules in New York (funny). |
| Chris C |
Posted - 02/09/2007 : 00:35:32
And I can happily say that I have managed to avoid all of the IMDB bottom 100. Yes, even Police Academy: Mission to Moscow. |
| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 02/08/2007 : 11:07:10
Dilemmas, dilemmas. I think I have already got that version, so maybe I'll go for that then. |
| Sean |
Posted - 02/08/2007 : 11:03:47
I'd go straight for the redux. It's not the kind of movie you'd want to watch too often, so you might as well watch the whole thing.
Having said that, the scenes added to redux don't change the overall effect of the movie. But with a movie this good, more is better. |
| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 02/08/2007 : 10:23:41
O.K., thanks. |
| Ali |
Posted - 02/08/2007 : 09:47:05
Watch the original. The restored scenes in the Redux are mostly superfluous (and you will only appreciate the alternate takes of the existing scenes once you have seen the original).
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