@ReanSchwarzer7 Really, really good film, and there are a few actors in it who put in career-best performances, but for the love of all that is holy don't watch it if you're squeamish
Good job, Parappa. You can go on to the next stage now.
@KALofKRYPTON Yeah I'd definitely recommend it. For me Kurt Russell hasn't been this good since The Thing, that's how good he is in it. Richard Jenkins is in it too, he's always excellent.
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts actually. Maybe we can start a support group...
Good job, Parappa. You can go on to the next stage now.
@JohnnyShoulder The awful moustache removal is the worst of it - the altered tone towards the end is odd, and while mostly looking really good, there are a couple of GamesMaster looking moments on Cyborg.
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
@KALofKRYPTON I was about to say that it's funny how the conversation swung back around to Star Wars again, and that it'd be good if somebody changed the subject, but it's changed to Batman, the one other thing we've been talking to death about of late!
I do have to say one thing regarding the Star Wars special edition "tweaks", though, although I'm sorry for doing so as this runs the risk of descending into a copy and paste from countless corners of the internet happy to exist in a neverending cycle of nerd debate... but I get really frustrated when people complain about George Lucas changing things in his films. HIS films. Yes, okay, I hate what he did to those two moments from the prequels I mentioned earlier, but I don't hate him for doing so, and support his right to. He owned them (he doesn't any longer, but he did at the time, and at the point of him selling the franchise to Disney the latest cuts of the films should be considered the "proper" ones, because they were his final word on them) and he will forever be their creator, primary writer and, in most cases, director (and on those he didn't direct, he was on set almost every single day, consulting and guiding the process). I've been toying with the idea of getting some writing of mine published and if anybody ever told me that I couldn't and shouldn't edit it, at any stage, I'd be furious.
Almost everybody else just slaps a "Director's Cut" or "Definitive Edition" strapline on the box and enjoys the subsequent fair and level-headed critical analysis, but when Mr. Lucas made his changes... well, you'd think from some of the reactions that he'd inserted scenes of baby seals being clubbed to death. Art has always evolved and with something as enduring as Star Wars, I think it's certainly a valid position to want to implement that evolution with each generation. I like the softening of Han's character in the Mos Eisley cantina; I don't want my heroes to be cold-blooded murderers, especially not in something as light and as family-oriented as Star Wars. I would also challenge anybody who says that the embarrassing 'Yub Nub' is a more artistically effective and emotional ending to the saga than the new 'Victory Celebration' music and montage, whether just viewing the original trilogy alone or the entire Anakin Skywalker storyline (the latter making the addition of Hayden Christensen's ghost a must).
Okay, so after that mini-rant (apologies again), I get that you were mostly talking about picture quality and your example of RoboCop (another apparent classic that I've never seen) does sound like an interesting case study. Your point about immersion reminds me of the Bond films. I'm a huge Bond fan but in some cases, the fantastical production values of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s just suffer under the ultra-sharp Blu-Ray microscope. Moonraker was a lavish film that always looked utterly gorgeous on VHS or DVD, but all the Blu-Ray does is highlight the limitations of 1979 film craft (thankfully they fixed the most glaring for the complete 50th Anniversary collection, the version I now own, but the original standalone release had terrible errors, like being able to see the edges of the canvas in a matte painting shot).
Nevertheless, I was happy to give my DVDs away to a friend when the Blu-Rays arrived. And it's probably because of my obsession with a select few things, rather than a wider appreciation of cinema, because my suspension of disbelief is only going to survive three, maybe four viewings of any film, and yet I've watched each Bond film at least seven or eight times and no longer watch them for anything other than nostalgia or periodic refreshers. By the time the Blu-Rays came along and highlighted the flaws, I already knew about them or had read about them, or seen them in the behind-the-scenes special features. Or they'd been mentioned in the audio commentary.
Blimey... one day I'll come in here and post something simple like "Just watched this film. It was good." Sorry for another wall of text!
Good luck with Justice League, @JohnnyShoulder and, for what it's worth, my advice would be to sit back, switch off your brain and just let the film happen. It's certainly different from Batman V Superman, a film you hated, so fingers crossed!
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger I think with the best Star Wars, ESB (obviously) - Lucas actually wasn't around all that much. I think he was having some sort of breakdown or trouble with his marriage. Irwin Kirschner (also directed RoboCop 2 - a great sequel that also gets unnecessarily derided) directed with aplomb - and I doubt Lucas would've done a better job.
My point about being surround by 'yes men' is the problem with Lucas and Star Wars. For ANH at least - the constraints were largely budgetary, though I really think the whole thing became far more of a collaborative effort than anyone realises.
My friends and I used to joke that Rick McCallum must've spent most of his time telling Lucas how much of what he was trying to do was crap or unfilmable and reigning him in. Certainly, a lot of his original idea were really, really awful. If you can, try and track down the Starkiller comics produced from the original Star Wars story.
A director's cut used to get produced when the studio and a director didn't really see eye to eye. Sometimes that cut would be what the director wanted and other times not (Blade Runner and the Donner cut of Superman 2 spring to mind for the latter).
Lucas just kept on adding bits. Adding bits for very little reason other than he could, because he became so rich and retained ownership that no-one would say no.
The prequels highlight my points very well. Lucas can come up with a decent enough story idea, but he is a terrible writer and worse director. Without the worry of a budget or anyone to disagree, the prequel trilogy is what we got.
There are innumerable (formerly expanded universe) stories that could've, and would've made better films than what Lucas insisted on. Too pig-headed to accept anything but his own ideas though.
I recall being almost disgusted at the behind the scenes stuff on the prequel DVDs showing the prop room and production designers. Hundreds of examples of concept work and lightsaber hilts laid out and he just descended from on high and 'rubber stamped' the ones he liked. That is not directorial vision or crafting a world you're desperate to bring people in to - it's paint by numbers.
As is the majority of added SE content.
Anakin being young as a force ghost. Terrible - his last act to save Luke was his redemption. Younger Anakin fell - he was Darth Vader.
Yub Nub worked. The 'victory' at Endor was just that - at Endor, on the moon with some Ewoks. Without even the presence of the majority of the Imperial fleet or the legions upon legions of Storm Troopers, officers and otherwise stable Imperial worlds. The entire rebel fleet was there, without even the foggiest of how to begin deconstruction of the Empire. It's one of TFAs biggest problems too - that a republic was immediately formed and the remaining Empire forces just withdrew after Endor is really daft.
The images of Coruscant and Naboo in celebration are naive in the extreme - and bring the childish sensibilities of the prequels in to the original trilogy.
Everything has to connected, everyone has to be connected! It's laziness and ineptitude masquerading as fan service.
Another chunk of text!
Watch RoboCop! And RoboCop 2.
I very much grew up with both and they were rather formative for me, these and many others certainly drenched me with a rather dark sense of humour.
You may have seen or read various things about the RoboCop remake; it's not a bad film, but just doesn't need to exist. The first is sharp, dark, satirical and rather prophetic. The juxtaposition of man and machine then really was something special, the remake loses that - as well as the satire and creepily accurate foreshadowing of modern society and economy. It's both a big, dumb action film and an intelligent, witty, social commentary.
The sequel could never hope to surpass it, but it's a fine film.
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
@KALofKRYPTON Hnngg... I really should be going to bed, but I need to answer some of your points before I do! I thought I was the only one skulking around here at 0100 hrs. posting rants about films!
Not obviously, sorry. The Empire Strikes Back is a film about a plot twist. It's a very exciting, entertaining and well-made film about a plot twist, but that doesn't elevate it above some of the other entries in the franchise, which are all those things but have more narrative content. That being said, Mr. Lucas was a large part of pre-production, obviously laid out the story and visited the set at key points to literally whisper in Irvin Kershner's ear (at Mr. Kershner's request), so I'm not some kind of "Lucas is God" champion; he was heavily involved at all stages of the original trilogy, good and less-good.
I've got a hardback of 'The Star Wars' comic, which is the one I think you're referring to. It's an interesting piece of history to own, but it also shows how remarkable it is that Mr. Lucas got anything on film at all. Of course it was an unrefined mess to begin with; that's the truth behind the genesis of most original creative ideas, and speaks to my point earlier about continually evolving a piece of work. Of course there were people telling him "that can't be done" all the way along, but the man literally invented Industrial Light & Magic and proved everybody wrong. Those behind-the-scenes prequel DVD documentaries you mention are actually something I'd put forward as a positive thing; there are moments where people are literally telling him "you cannot make the podrace, it won't work and we can't do it" and... well, hey, say whatever you want about The Phantom Menace, but the podrace is one heck of a spectacular sequence, and on every level (from visual to audio effects) it's a triumph. And it's fifteen minutes out of a two-and-a-bit hour film that maintains the same level of production quality throughout. And it's not even the big four-part finale.
The moments where he meets with the art department and selects design directions for props and costumes are pretty much what happens with every film; just because the documentaries show us little minute-long clips as part of a wider narrative about how vast the project is, doesn't mean that's all that happened, and it's not like Mr. Lucas is standing there in a vacuum. He's alongside the artists, looking at every single piece of work they've produced, and talking about refinement of things he likes and directions to steer the process. Isn't that what every director does? Read some of the art books, particularly the one from The Phantom Menace. They're incredible at showing how the entire look and feel of the film was a collaboration between Mr. Lucas and talented artists like Doug Chiang (what a genius) and Iain McCaig, folk who weren't just in a basement drawing sketches but who were at casting meetings and script table reads, because all the elements informed one another. It's tough to have an artistic vision in your head and get other people to produce it for you (believe me) but looking at the process in detail, I can't see it as anything other than a hugely positive and successful team who enjoyed working together.
We don't know the reasons why Mr. Lucas decided to continue to tweak his films, beyond those he gave in interviews which many seem quick to disbelieve or dismiss. He obviously feels incredibly strongly about Star Wars and didn't just see it as a money train, because he made some (pretty awful and mis-judged in the emotional heat of the moment) comments about what it felt like to sell the franchise to Disney, which he did to make money to create a film school for disadvantaged kids. Again, as somebody who writes fiction in what little spare time he has, I know how it feels to live with the constant nagging that something you've created is "never quite finished". Maybe there's a better way to word that sentence. Maybe I could make that character a tad more sympathetic. Oh, but then that would alter this scene down the line... yeah, but I never quite liked that scene anyway, so if I just... hold on, the entire storyline just fell apart. The creative process is an unfortunate sequence of nightmarish "less worse" decisions and Mr. Lucas was in a position to continue tweaking his work. I cannot and will not blame him for doing so, and I think many would do the same if it were a more widely accepted practice, or if the Hollywood system allowed for the retention of creative control.
Again, this is HIS universe. He allowed the Expanded Universe to flourish (and often consulted with authors and helped them if they were stuck with story ideas, or gave them background guidance on plot points he'd never even considered before, because people were taking his two-hour films and blowing them up to insane proportions) but all stories are subjective and, ultimately, he got to write the "core" canon because he owned it... and also, let's remember that it was always assumed Mr. Lucas would return and make the prequels at some point, because The Empire Strikes Back opened with "Episode V" in the crawl and, at the same time, the repeat showings of what had thusfar just been entitled "Star Wars" now carried the subtitle "Episode IV - A New Hope". Anybody who wasn't Mr. Lucas and who decided to try and write about the forty-odd years before Luke blew up the first Death Star knew what they were getting into, and knew that their stories would likely be overridden, and so did the fans picking the books off the shelves. I'd also like to point out the many elements of pre-prequel Expanded Universe content that Mr. Lucas reinforced and upheld, most notably Darth Bane and the Rule of Two.
We're gonna have to agree to disagree about the alterations to Return of the Jedi's finale. I think it all comes down to how one interprets the severity of Darth Sidious' rule through fear and fragile grasp of power across the galaxy. A cult of personality as extreme and as powerful as his would obviously lead to utter chaos as word of his death spread, and a citizenry so downtrodden and oppressed would naturally react with an equally-extreme outpouring of emotion at the news, so I'd argue that scenes of spontaneous demonstration, celebration and revolt (the toppling of the Palpatine statue on Coruscant foreshadowing the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Iraq, for example) were valid... but that's even if you wanna take 'em literally. It could just be a montage of the hopes and dreams of the heroes. It's a film. It can be whatever you wanna interpret it as!
At least it made some effort to show something, unlike the new films which seem to handle all the major intergalactic political developments whilst nobody's looking and then explain them away in the opening crawl... but hey, we gotta get back to having the Empire chase the Rebels, so let's just undo everything the entire saga achieved and hit that big reset button! Because reasons.
As for Anakin's Force ghost reverting to Hayden Christensen, remember that it takes place in the same film as Obi-Wan explaining how Anakin ceased to exist (in other words, died) when he became consumed by the evil of the Dark Side and therefore became Darth Vader. I'd argue that it's Vader who turns to the Light and saves Luke, but that doesn't immediately mean that he reverts to being Anakin, because Vader killed Anakin years before. It's the duality that makes the character so tragic, but the redemption, not the defeat, of Vader that makes the struggle all the more powerful. Even beyond the Obi-Wan "I didn't lie to you, honest" speech, Luke himself says that Vader was "once" Anakin, not "is". Beyond the amazing performance from Mark Hamill as Darth Bane in The Clone Wars, we know that Sith cannot become ghosts, but Jedi can and Anakin was born of Sidious' manipulation of the Force anyway, so he gets an auto-ghost pass and his young Jedi spirit is finally free, released from the oppressive Vader personality.
Holy cow, I can type out a largely meaningless bunch of nerd nonsense, can't I? Sorry again. For all our disagreements, I do (obviously) enjoy talking with you about all this. I'm rediscovering my geek, it would seem.
Thanks for the RoboCop recommendation. It's another that's on the list, although I've seen a clip and it looks pretty dark and gory, so I might pass.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger Any opportunity for a film rant! I also don't sleep very much, sadly.
Oh yeah, make no mistake - RoboCop is a very violent film, with a couple of quite gory scenes. Go for the theatrical cut to omit a couple of the extended and differently framed gorier scenes.
I remember getting my hands on the amazing unrated Criterion Collection DVD of the Director's Cut many, many years ago (for £50 no less!) and seeing an extended boardroom scene for the first time. While I really do consider myself pretty desensitised and not at all squeamish, I really thought I might throw up just then. The intended context of the scene was to be so drawn out that it was ridiculous and thereby funny, which it is - but so very, very brutal.
@JohnnyShoulder@RogerRoger It often surprises me that films that are so integral to my life, character, humour and friendships are completely missing from the lives of others.
I'll bet most here have never even heard of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
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"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
Isle of Dogs: Interesting film. The story is set-up like a kind of modern day fairytale (the Grimms' Fairy Tales, not the sanitized Disney versions), and follows an alternate history (and more than slightly dystopian) Japan that is controlled by a dog-hating clan. The current leader of this clan, Mayor Kobayashi, rules Megasaki City (which seems to be portrayed as the capital of Japan in this story) and exiles all of the city's dogs to an inhospitable and trash-filled island after a canine-borne disease breaks out. The Mayor's young ward sets off to this island to find his dog Spots and is helped on his journey by a ragtag group of dogs, including the cynical Chief.
Life is harsh on trash island, and the canines trapped in this place endure massive suffering, but the grim subject matter of the film somehow manages to never overwhelm the narrative, which often finds a kind of twisted humor in the strangest of places. The film's narrative is somewhat complex for a film of this type, oscillating between the boy's odyssey to find his missing dog and the efforts of a foreign exchange student on the mainland who is trying to uncover evidence of a conspiracy that goes all the way up to Mayor Kobayashi.
The real reason to see this film, though, is its fantastical, surreal, and sometimes overwhelming aesthetic. This is the best use of stop-motion animation I've seen since Coraline, and it creates a similarly evocative and nightmarish vision of a Japan that has gone very wrong.
It won't change your life, but if you have the opportunity to see it, I'd take it. Great movie!
Sicario: Another grim movie, we follow an FBI agent, Kate Macer, who finds herself traveling into the heart of darkness when she joins a government task force that is fighting against a powerful Mexican cartel around the city of Ciudad Juárez. She soon finds that she can trust almost nobody around her, especially the mysterious Alejandro Gillick, who is helping to head this task force, and that there are no heroes in this conflict.
This one is violent, methodical, and engaging if you open yourself up to it. Wonderful direction, acting, and cinematography.
@Ralizah There's a very funny 'Every Wes Anderson Movie' trailer going around. Check it out. Hell never do better that The Life Aquatic for me.
Went to see A Quiet Place tonight. I would recommend it. Plenty of genre plot holes if you want to find them, but it is a very enjoyable watch.
It's alsobthe quietest audience I've been amongst at a regular cinema in a good long while!
PSN: KALofKRYPTON (so you can see how often I don't play anything!)
Twitter: @KALofKRYPTON (at your own risk, I don't care if you're offended)
"Fate: Protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." - Cmdr William T. Riker
@KALofKRYPTON Oh, nice! I'm going to see A Quiet Place this weekend. It has been way too long since we got a really decent theatrical horror movie. Hopefully it's not another case of mass overhyping like with The Conjuring (a serviceable film that received a lot of rave reviews for whatever reason) or It Follows (amazing synthwave soundtrack, good central metaphor, but far too much of the film was spent watching these uninteresting teenage hipster characters lounge about).
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