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A few reviews

TM2YC

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The Skin I Live In (2011)
Pedro Almodóvar
directs an edge-of-your-seat psychological horror. It goes in some deeply disturbing directions that I was not expecting. It's like 'Eyes Without a Face' meets 'The Secret in Their Eyes', with the precision of Stanley Kubrick, the suspense of Alfred Hitchcock, the queasy body-horror of David Cronenberg and Almodóvar's own taste for colourful visuals and sexual exploration. The creepy string score by Alberto Iglesias adds a lot to the macabre atmosphere. Antonio Banderas is terrifying in the way he's so controlled and ruthless. Unfortunately the ending was a bit abrupt and the final confrontation between the main characters was a bit unimaginative.


 

mnkykungfu

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^I hated that movie so much. The way the multiple rapes are portrayed alone was enough to make me discount the director's point of view (who I've never connected with).

Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)
This is one of the funniest documentaries I've ever seen.

Yes! Now THAT is a movie! I too added a bunch of films to my watchlist after this, including Stone, Road Games, Fair Game, and The Man From Hong Kong. It was funny how even though everyone said Jimmy was a Wang, they admitted that the movie came out pretty good.
 

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Broken Embraces (2009)
Another great mystery thriller from Pedro Almodóvar, in which a blind former film Director recounts in flashback his doomed romance and final disastrously received film. Penélope Cruz is the object of his and other men's obsessions, something that is very believable given that it's Cruz. I'm a sucker for films set in the world of film-making. The framing of shots, the vibrant colours and beautiful interior design is a feast for the eyes, even if the plot was not interesting, which it is. There was a shot halfway through which reminded me of the 1960 British Horror movie 'Peeping Tom' (a favourite of mine), then that film is referenced in the dialogue at the end to confirm it. The conclusion is a lot more heart-warming than in some other Almodóvar scripts but was earned by the complex, flawed characters. I felt there were one or two unresolved plot points at the end, left overs from red herrings which were there to obfuscate the mystery.

 

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Dutch Angle: Chas Gerretsen & Apocalypse Now (2019)
A 32-minute short documentary about the life and career of Dutch photographer Chas Gerretsen but it's 90% about his time documenting the production of 'Apocalypse Now'. It's interesting that he went from being an actual Vietnam war photographer, into a fictional movie about the war. The madness and scale of Francis Ford Coppola's vision wasn't entirely dissimilar. There are hundreds of super hi-res beautiful photos to see, including some of deleted or unfilmed scenes, so this is must for AN and photography fans. By the way, I love the title pun!




Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019)
Another fine movie documentary from Alexandre O. Philippe after ones about works by George Lucas, Alfred Hitchcock and George A. Romero. I wasn’t sure there was anything fresh that I could hear about Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’. I had the ‘Giger’s Alien’ book when I was a kid and Charles de Lauzirika’s ‘The Beast Within’ doc was definitive but Philippe finds a new angle, exploring the influences and ideas that underpinned the movie rather than the nuts and bolts of it’s creation. The 2013 ‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’ doc covered some of this "deep background" stuff already so repeating those parts are largely avoided, the assumption being you’re a fan and you’ve seen that first. Critics, authors and professors discuss the influences from things like Francis Bacon, EC Comics, H.P. Lovecraft, 70s politics, ancient Egypt, Greek myth and writer Dan O’Bannon’s own medical trauma. The contributors have provocative opinions and I wasn’t always sure the things they saw in the piece were really there but they open up a lot of new intellectual avenues to explore a movie I thought I was completely familiar with.

 

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Gonna have to watch that Alien documentary, thanks for letting me know it exists. Especially since I can't find any of the Alien Appendix files anywhere...
 

TM2YC

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Pandora's Box (1992)
I'm a big fan of BBC documentary maker Adam Curtis but only started watching his films after seeing 2004's astonishing 'The Power of Nightmares'. I've been hoping the Beeb would get round to putting some of his earlier works onto iPlayer and finally they did, with just about all of his filmography, so I'm beginning with his first "true" work, 1992's 'Pandora's Box'. As far as I know, it's the first he narrated in his own voice, using his now trademark style (after a decade of making various more conventional TV docs). 'Pandora's Box' is divided into six distinct parts but the overall theme is hubris and unintended consequences, the application of simple human theories, on to a vast complicated world. There is; a comparison of the surprising similarities between Soviet and American planned cities; the RAND corporation and the cold war "balance of terror"; how Keynesian and Friedman economic theory were used in Britain; the "miracle" and then "nightmare" of DDT and the burgeoning environmental movement; and finally how public perception of atomic power went from world-saving panacea, to world-threatening Armageddon. There are tons of great interviews, amazing old footage, persuasive arguments from Curtis but less of the more esoteric editing choices he's known for now.




The Living Dead (1995)

The title of Adam Curtis' 2nd major work is a reference to 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'The Evil Dead' (he draws clips and audio from both) but is also about how the past has been kept alive, altered, magnified and enhanced to serve the purposes of politicians and power structures. It's in three parts; the first is about how the Nazis created their version of German history, then how the Nazis themselves were remembered by the German generations that followed; the second concerns "brain washing", CIA experiments with changing memory and artificial intelligence; the third part links together the dreams of Britain's past evoked by Churchill and how they were picked up by Thatcher and her close ally Airey Neave, who had escaped Colditz. It was beautiful the way Curtis intercut footage of Thatcher trimming roses, with a terrified Deborah Kerr doing the same in 'The Innocents' (1961), then cleverly used that to imply that Kerr (Thatcher) was literally being haunted by the ghost of Churchill. The use of that trademark sped-up Evil Dead-cam (with audio from the movie) to zoom around the Palace of Westminster was amazing.

 

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A Martin Scorsese double bill...

New York, New York (1977)
The USO dancehall-based opening of Martin Scorsese's 'New York, New York' is so much like the opening of Steven Spielberg's '1941' that I almost thought it was on the same sets (Except one is set on V-J Day, the other is set just after Pearl Harbour). Plus Scorsese goes for a deliberately artificial "Old Hollywood" visual aesthetic, a bit like Francis Ford Coppola's 'One from the Heart', so I guess this is just the type of movie a "New Hollywood" Director made when they were doing cocaine by the handful (allegedly). 'New York, New York' is as close to a failure as Scorsese has got in my opinion. The relationship between Liza Minnelli's Jazz singer and Robert De Niro's hot-head saxophonist begins well, it's quirky, spiky and very amusing. However, his erratic behaviour quickly goes from exasperating, to unpleasant, to downright obnoxious, leaving me totally unable to sympathise with him. Minnelli's passive tolerance of his unforgivable behaviour made me dislike her character too. De Niro is given too much leeway to improvise endlessly, it's like when somebody does an impression of De Niro, with all the ticks and mannerisms turned up to 11. E Street Band star Clarence Clemons, one of the all-time great saxophone players, is cast as a fellow musician but a trumpet player for some reason? Minnelli is dressed and made up just like her mother Judy Garland was back in the 40s, and the plot has similarities to 1954's 'A Star is Born', which or course starred Garland. It's a little weird. I watched the 163-minute "Special Edition", rather than the 155-minute theatrical cut and it felt way too long, so maybe the shorter version was the way to go. By the way, the song 'New York, New York' was written for this movie, then Frank Sinatra scored a hit with it in 1980, although the definitive version is of course sung by the Brain Gremlin in 'Gremlins 2: The New Batch'.





After Hours (1985)
I thought this was a relatively minor entry in Martin Scorsese's illustrious filmography but it has to be one of the very best and surely his funniest comedy. It's best to go in knowing nothing about the plot (like I did) because it's about Paul (Griffin Dunne), a bored office worker tumbling on a whim into the world of the people that populate night-time Soho, New York. Not knowing for a single second where the story is going to turn next is a big part of the fun. Scorsese puts you off guard with his first shot, an exciting super fast, super smooth camera glide over onto to something totally banal. Howard Shore's creepy organ score also keeps things tense, then develops into an oppressive Goblin-esque Giallo synth sound (quite unlike anything else I've heard by the composer). The atmosphere is a constant ride of paranoia, melancholy, mania and jet-black comedy. Dunne's exasperated performance is fantastic, he gave me a real big laugh with his deadpan of the line "I'll probably get blamed for that". 'After Hours' needs to be more widely available, I think you can only get a Spanish blu-ray import.

The trailer gives away far too much...


...but this very short clip gives a hint of the humour:

 

mnkykungfu

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'New York, New York' is as close to a failure as Scorsese has got in my opinion.
Ironically, a lot of critics put After Hours in that bracket, too. Comedy really is subjective.

quickly goes from exasperating, to unpleasant, to downright obnoxious, leaving me totally unable to sympathise with him.... (her) tolerance of his unforgivable behaviour made me dislike her character too.
You've just described my feelings on about 50% of Scorsese's films.

although the definitive version is of course sung by the Brain Gremlin in 'Gremlins 2: The New Batch'.
Oh, you! Any excuse to post something from Gremlins 2!
Seriously, speaking of 'doing handfuls of cocaine'.
Anyone who says the '80s weren't the most magical, awesome decade of filmmaking has no soul.
 

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Justice League Grindhoused a fanedit by Gieferg

I went into this edit hoping that it would redeem this movie for me. I wasn't impressed by the original at all. I felt like it was a promotional tool used to imprint into our minds, each of the DCU characters for whom they had (or would eventually) release multiple movies for individually.

It's a good concept in theory. Similar to the cartoon I watched as a kid. I would get to see all of my favorite good guys beat the smack out of all of my favorite bad guys.

That much was true, but it was assembled into a mess that was not cohesive. It seemed more like a DCU consecution.

I watched every fanedit of the original release that i could get my hands on. At least ten.. Every editor did something that improved the movie for me but they could only do so much with the available material.

I'm sure they were as excited as I was to find out about the Snyder version. When it was released I was very excited. Maybe, that would redeem this mess. It was better but not enough to redeem the movie for me. It was soooooo long.

I knew there would be edits. So I watched for them. I followed the thread for this edit and noticed the feedback given by a couple of editors that I respected. I must admit that I didn't have a clear idea of what "Grindhoused" meant. If it wasn't for the positive feedback from Blue Yoda and Dwight Fry, I might not have asked to see this edit.

That would have been my loss. Gieferg completely redeemed this movie for me. This edit may not be for a purist. It was certainly for me. I loved everything about it. I loved the music choices, I loved that there was so many of my favorite songs incorporated. I got to a point where I was guessing if certain songs like "Children of The Sun" would pop up. It felt like a live action Heavy Metal to me. I feel like the cuts and the direction that the narrative choices took made sense.

Most importantly, Gieferg made this movie entertaining, which it really wasn't originally. At least in my opinion. This is my go to version of this movie. I may never look at the DCU or super hero movies the same way again.

Very very enthusiastically recommended. Good job! I can't wait for your next idea. Congratulations on your much deserved win!
 

TM2YC

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Dune (1984)
I treated myself to the new Arrow Video super-deluxe/limited-edition/steelbook/UHD/poster/2xbooks/extras-stuffed 'Dune'84 boxset! I don't have a UHD player yet but the new 4K remaster looks wonderful on the blu-ray. The colour grade looked in line with previous releases, there's just more detail to look at, a benefit of being a movie nobody cares enough about to do any revisionism. I completely love the movie (in any version) and struggle to see the flaws that others see. It's an intoxicating, mad, kinky, visually sumptuous fever-dream with one of my all-time favourite scores. The big hit of electric guitars when Paul conquers Shai-Hulud is difficult to top. The new bonus feature on the toys/merchandising and making-of the soundtrack are very welcome. Whatever the new Denis Villeneuve 'Dune: Part One' turns out like, it will have been worth it just to precipitate this new boxset of Lynch's movie.

Dune-4K.jpg


Here is a 4K sample of the harvester crew rescue scene:


^ At 01.11 you can see the detail of Patrick Stewart's scar makeup. Back when I was watching this movie on a blurry taped-off TV VHS tape I didn't even know he had a scar. If only I'd had a copy with this much reference detail when I sculpted my own harvester model when I was a kid (with just the VHS to pause).



Space Truckers (1996)
I was a teen in the 90s and there hadn't been any new Star Wars for practically my whole life (be careful what you wish for) so I was prepared to watch anything vaguely "space western" at the cinema in 1996 and so were my friends, so off we trooped to see this Stuart Gordon directed schlock $25M b-movie adventure. IIRC, we felt we had been adequately entertained for our ticket price. Rewatching it again, I was still entertained but by laughing with it, as well as at it. The oddball humour and colourful designs are very 2000AD which I liked. The horrifying genetically engineered "square pigs" and satirical "synth burgers" and hot dogs labelled "do not feed to pets" would feel at home in Mega City One. There is also a 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'The Fifth Element' vibe to some of it. The three leads aren't the greatest (including a lacklustre Dennis Hopper) but Charles Dance's scenery-chewing, pervert cyborg space-pirate is worth the watch. Dance trying to pull-start his malfunctioning robot penis is very funny and him deadpanning the line "If I had an anus, I'd probably soil myself" was a scream. Some of the practical model FX are great, some of the 90s CGI is terrible and a lot of the wires are blatantly visible (although that might be down to mistakes in the HD remaster). I always associated this with 1997's 'Alien Resurrection' because it also concerns a cargo crew shipping an illegal payload of killer alien/robots on a ship called "Betty". The two films are on a par quality wise but AR had the benefit of being associated with a once noble franchise, so didn't bomb as badly as the original 'Space Truckers' IP.

 

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Okay...so this is a fanedit...

American Gangster Two Tales by L8wrtr

Gangster movies have always been one of my favorite genres. Scarface is my favorite movie of all time. Barely beating out Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner. Go ahead and laugh, I can almost hear you.

When I found out that the multiple award winning L8wrtr had blessed us with his return ("My man!") and his first project was going to be to finish this edit, my hopes were very high. Very very high. I was not disappointed. I was even fortunate enough to get to preview it. Hell yeah!

I won't spend time on the technical aspects, others more savvy than me already have and will. I think it's a flawless masterpiece. Everything flows like it was meant to be. For me...it was. I base my review on previewing the workprint and then the released version, a few days later.

I liked the original which was loosely based on the true story of Frank Lucas's rise and fall as a Harlem drug kingpin who started out as a small time hood falling into the footsteps of Bumpy (real name, seriously) Johnson. The protagonist (or antagonist? Depends on where you stand?) is Ricky Roberts a policeman on a drug task force hell bent on catching him. It feels like an excellent biopic and not really an action movie.

L8wrtr flips the script on that and takes their interwoven stories and ingeniously separates them into three individual yet smoothly consecutive acts. You are able to get to know each character intimately before their lives converge and reach critical mass in the final act.

It is an amazing well thought out narrative restructuring that causes the movie to unfold with a different vibe altogether.

Now it feels like a movie with an element of mystery and the unknown. A cat and mouse game, as it were. You play "cat" with Ritchie as he discovers and is perplexed by this mysterious new high quality heroin that is taking his streets by storm. You are with him as he encounters Lucas at the boxing match and later puts the pieces together. You play "mouse" with Lucas as he rises from Bumpy's footsteps as a criminal mastermind who figures out how to revolutionize the heroin trade. The assumed trademark name, "Blue
Magic" even seems more appropriate now. The "mouse" evades and outsmarts the "cat", the entire time schmoozing the mob while just as powerful. Finally, you are with both of them as the "cat" circles in on the "mouse" and pounces.

The stroke of genius on L8wrtr's part is that even though the acts are presented consecutively, the stories are still running concurrently until the climax that is the concluding act. It's a much better way to watch the movie-by far.

A stunning achievement from a long time missing master of the fanedit. A masterpiece for certain!

It's great to have you back! Your fans are very fortunate! Thanks for allowing me to play a small part.

You never answered me...is Frank a tragic hero?

Highly recommended!
 
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Mr. White by ItsonRandom

I came to the party late on the Breaking Bad phenomenon. I loved Sons of Anarchy with it's gritty realism and tragic hero. I still love Animal Kingdom. The latter being, in my opinion the best show currently run. Too bad that it would be almost impossible to edit...

The person who eventually turned me on to Breaking Bad had lost all credibility with me in regard to her taste in television series. She force fed me far too many episodes of Downton Abbey. Seriously, it was almost a requirement to spend time with her. Absolutely inhumane.

So...when she recommended Breaking Bad because her cousin said that it was "my kind of show", you can imagine my reaction.

That all changed when my brother recommended it, as well. He hates television and told me about how addicted he was to the gritty realism. I bought season one right then. I binge watched the entire season in one watch. Definitely, love that show. I have since watched the entire run enough times to know it well enough to write the screenplay.

I had been away for quite a while unable to spend time on this forum. When I returned there was a plethora of new edits that grabbed my interest. It wasn't until I saw this edit nominated for an award that I realized that it was a movie version of the first season of Breaking Bad. I had to have it. I've watched it twice. The first time it flowed so seamlessly that I couldn't determine most of what was left on the "cutting room floor." It was over before I knew it. The second time, I was able to appreciate the assembly and narrative structure.

ItsonRandom made excellent choices in regard to what scenes to keep for this edit. Focusing on the dynamic between Walter and Jesse was a good move. It seemed flawless and felt like an action movie with a slight docudrama vibe.

The only thing I might have suggested would have been some more music in key places, but he took more of a purist approach which is admirable. Loved the intro and outro! I somehow missed the now infamous phantom credits. Twice.

This is an awesome edit that will deservedly sit beside my Breaking Bad Collection. Oh, and my brother and that girl? He loved it and was in awe that someone would do such a thing. The girl? Well...it's not Downton Abbey, is it?

Excellent edit deserving the award! Congratulations!

Now...where's the REST?
 

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Halloween Returns by The Butcher

Holy...! I went into this cold not remembering much about the 2018 Halloween that this based on. This edit is hands down the scariest Halloween I've seen since watching the original 1978 version as a kid. I'm not a huge fan of all of the sequels or remakes. I asked to preview this last year and lost it on an external hard drive. Found it and Wow.

I'm going to have to watch the original again and compare but the editing is seamless and the movie just seems darker and more haunting. Like this could really happen somewhere. I really like that Michael is portrayed as a full-on nut job instead of a super-human monster. The music, especially that spike that grinds every so often, is perfect. Made us jump several times. Chilling.

I hope this fanedit is approved by Halloween. It is certainly as good as any other Halloween movies or edits I've seen.
 
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Stardust Memories (1980)
Having watched this soon after 'Annie Hall' which covers some similar themes, 'Stardust Memories' is more acidic, sarcastic and misanthropic in comparison. It's still very funny though and Gordon Willis' black & white cinematography is gorgeous. Woody Allen plays Sandy Bates a film Director suffering a mid-life crisis, he's basically Allen himself and the constant mentions of people preferring his "earlier, funnier movies" is clearly a dig at his detractors. He deploys 4th-wall breaks, dream sequences, flashbacks, visits from aliens and the ever present voice of film-critics alternately praising and dismissing Bates' work (both sets of opinions are presented as misguided and shallow). 'Stardust Memories' is heavily inspired by Federico Fellini's '8 1/2' but much funnier and better in my opinion. One of the best visual gags was the giant pieces of artwork in Bates' minimalist apartment, they're so outrageously on-the-nose about his character's emotional state, Allen is laughing at the use of such metaphorical set decoration.




Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies (2017)
Amanda Ladd-Jones
directs a documentary about her father Alan "Laddie" Ladd Jr., Producer and top executive at several studios, including his own 'The Ladd Company' ('Blade Runner', 'The Right Stuff', 'Once Upon a Time in America' etc). It's ironic that 'Star Wars' is viewed as the film that ended the artistic, creative-driven era in Hollywood, when Ladd was a champion for the artistic freedom of his Directors and put his reputation right on the line for George Lucas. Ladd-Jones wisely presents the interviews with a refreshing technical honesty, which was needed as you might have thought this was a fawning tribute to her father but you can really see that everyone is genuinely excited to tell her and the world about what a great guy "Laddie" is. Lucas, Ridley Scott, Richard Donner, Sigourney Weaver, Mel Brooks, Ron Howard, Mel Gibson (and many others) queue up to tell anecdotes. A bit I didn't know anything about was Ladd putting women in top positions in the film industry, decades before that conversation was seriously being had.

 

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Alien 3 (1992)
Some people really disliked 'Alien 3' but I always had a soft spot for it. Maybe it's that I was at an age when the first three Alien movies sort of arrived in my consciousness at around the same time, so I hadn't built up the kind of expectations that older viewers had over 14-years (or 6 years since 'Aliens'). Plus I played the hell out of the fiendishly difficult 'Alien 3' computer game on my Amiga 500+ and read the Alan Dean Foster novelization. Naturally I re-watched the superior 2003 extended/workprint/assembly/special-edition/whatever version on the blu-ray, rather than the Theatrical Cut. It's definitely a deeply flawed movie in all kinds of ways but has enough to keep it an interesting and worthy entry in the franchise, unlike most of the subsequent films and spin-offs which are basically trash. David Fincher brings his usual strangely beautiful grimy and dark vision, full of lice, mud, rust and bodily fluids. Perhaps that twisted sensibility is part of the problem when he's dealing with a script that already feels like it's designed to violate everything you loved from the last movie. So Fincher depicts Hick's body as a horrific pile of gore and broken jaw pieces, he lets us hear the cracks of Newt's bones as her naked corpse is sawn open, Bishop is in such a denuded state that he begs for death and of course Ripley is nearly raped and then commits suicide. As a blood drenched horror movie and as a disturbing phycological drama it works on it's own but as the third part of a franchise it's such a downer.

The fairly serious and well acted study of the troubled characters is slightly at odds with a cheesy 80s slasher-movie mentality, where it's all about the gory kills and it's got that lame 90s R-rated tendency to have people shouting "F*ck!" in every other sentence just because they can. I'd forgotten the laughable scene where the deprived prisoners are sitting round drinking bottles of Coca-Cola which they've somehow got, any excuse for product placement. The CGI and the FX compositing is terribly dated (although it looked bad in 1992 as well), which is a shame because the Alien puppets and suits are maybe the best ever. Compared to the incredible music of Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner, Elliot Goldenthal's score is mostly unmemorable. The insistence of Ripley to withhold the truth from the others for the first hour for no obvious reason gets silly. The cast is fantastic, there are so many top character actors but it never struck me before how odd it is that most of them are British. I assume it's because the film was made in the UK and Fincher didn't want the cast to be attempting phony American accents but it's never explained in the plot. The Alien POV cam zooming through the corridors, up walls and across ceilings is brilliantly done. I like the Dillon character, who looks like a weight-lifter priest. This time I noticed he's wearing what looks like a pagan Sutton Hoo helmet medallion, that combined with his Nation of Islam style glasses and Southern Gospel voice, embody the ad hock religion the prisoners seem to be following. I like the overall message that no matter how bad these men are, or what their crimes were, they still have the capacity to sacrifice themselves for others.


 

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The Color of Money (1986)
I wish many belated sequels were more like this follow up to 1961's 'The Hustler'. It feels like an earnest answer to the question, "what would the life of this character really be like after 25-years", not "let's just remake the same film". Paul Newman's elderly pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson looks loaded down with the years gone by, regrets and opportunities missed but with experience and perspective too. Newman deserved his "best actor" Oscar for the performance, it's all about watching how he watches others, silently weighing up the odds. I went in expecting him to be relegated to the mentor of Tom Cruise's cocky young pool ace but he's just the protagonist/antagonist for Eddie's story. Martin Scorsese uses lots of whip pans, dollies, rack ins and zooms to bring a lot of energy to a movie that's mostly set in and around pool tables. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's performance is fascinating and Forest Whitaker has a sparkling early cameo. 'The Color of Money' isn't quite up there with Scorsese's greatest films but it's still a quality movie.


This is a great fan trailer cut to the music from 'Drive':




The Mayfair Set (1999)
'The Mayfair Set'
feels like a transitional work for Adam Curtis. It's halfway between the clearly defined episodic structure of his early documentaries and the long form essays he made afterwards. So he's trying to do both, make one complete argument and one overall story but also stand-alone episodes, so there is a lot of unnecessary repetition when you binge watch the thing. The four parts take in; arms dealers Adnan Khashoggi (uncle of the recently murdered journalist Jamal) and Sir David Stirling and his private armies; the rise of asset-stripping in the UK and Africa; corporate raiders like Sir James Goldsmith, insider trading and the increasingly malign influence of pension fund managers; and finally how Mohamed Al-Fayed and the unshackled markets challenged the UK establishment and the earliest stirrings of the Brexit movement (20-years early). It's shocking to see all this being (mis)managed by a small number of members of an exclusive Mayfair gambling establishment, the Clermont Club. The spectre (pun intended) of the private-island and giant-yacht owning Bond villain comes up a few times. All the footage of a possessed Goldsmith raging against the perceived financial and political mistakes of anybody who isn't him is something to see!

 

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The Color of Money (1986)
I wish many belated sequels were more like this follow up to 1961's 'The Hustler'. It feels like an earnest answer to the question, "what would the life of this character really be like after 25-years", not "let's just remake the same film". Paul Newman's elderly pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson looks loaded down with the years gone by, regrets and opportunities missed but with experience and perspective too. Newman deserved his "best actor" Oscar for the performance, it's all about watching how he watches others, silently weighing up the odds. I went in expecting him to be relegated to the mentor of Tom Cruise's cocky young pool ace but he's just the protagonist/antagonist for Eddie's story. Martin Scorsese uses lots of whip pans, dollies, rack ins and zooms to bring a lot of energy to a movie that's mostly set in and around pool tables. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's performance is fascinating and Forest Whitaker has a sparkling early cameo. 'The Color of Money' isn't quite up there with Scorsese's greatest films but it's still a quality movie.
It's an awesome movie. The only low point IS Tom Cruise, as usual. It's just not really a Gangster movie, which kind of socks but it's still red.
 

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another fanedit...

Split Unbreakable Glass by Wraith

When I returned to this forum about four years ago after being gone for several, I noticed that several of the editors that I considered to be the masters (geniuses some) of their craft had disappeared. They had moved on to another forum (no names), got banned (sometimes you have to follow rules, m.), or disappeared entirely. Sure, fanediting geniuses like Q2 and TM2YC stuck around, fortunately. And a lot of new masters arose. Much to my dismay, one of the disappeared ones was Wraith.

About three years later...Guess who returns to the forum? Wraith. With a great big bag of fanedits to share. I guess it's obvious what he was doing for those six years. I always thought of him as a frustrated genius who didn't always execute his ideas in a manner that would please all of his critics. Amazing ideas. I just don't think everyone gets him.

I've watched so many fanedits lately, its difficult to keep up with my promises to review them. So I held off on requesting this edit. Even though I respect Wraiths edits...I didn't really care for the movies it is derived from. I liked Unbreakable, but bought the others out of curiosity, watched them and put them in the chest. Then the edit was recommended to me by a prolific editor here whose opinion I respect. And then another. And another. So I checked it out.

Quite honestly, I wasn't really prepared for this edit. I couldn't make his description make sense. Then I watched it...the first time. My initial reaction was...WTF? So I watched it again. Same reaction. Then I pulled out the originals and watched them. I scratched my head. I wasn't quite sure I grasped what Wraith had accomplished with this narrative structure. Then I watched the edit again. That time I was blown away. Split Unbreakable Glass is a very deep, multilayered masterpiece in narrative restructuring.

I felt a compulsion to understand what I had watched. Wraith and I began a long discourse in which I learned what was in his mind as he compiled this amazing edit. Wraith was very transparent with me. I learned so much about the creative process that goes into such a masterpiece. There were so many "how the hell did he do that?" moments that were answered. I am still amazed at things most viewers won't even notice.

The order of scenes from the films themselves are all over the place if they are laid out the way that they appear in the edit. However, that was to fit the narrative structure of the edit. If they are played chronologically, you find many gaps. However, in the context they were placed in, the viewer fills in the gaps.

Wraith sustains the viewers attention by presenting self contained packages of information, which are very digestible, at the same time leaving an element of "I want more"...That keeps people engaged.

The edit is presented in three acts which are very thematically disciplined. Scenes are shifted into other chapters or acts to maintain that discipline in order to ensure viewer investment.

Most of Split is gone because it contained far too much of a horror element. Had it not been watered down, it would distract from the intended pacing and unbalance a very carefully planned build up. Keeping that low in emotional tone overall had the unexpected effect (on me at least) to both significantly lift the conclusion from Glass and conclude with the best ending.

Musical motifs were only cross fertilized where they served the character or emotional moments...Long takes where preseved where they were best needed rather than trimming for trimming sake.

Glass is used to frame the early scenes. Dr Staple is not a new character. There is a reason why the film opens with her. She is in the first and last shots deliberately. This edit is about The Coalition of Evil...we just don't realize it. Having her open completely changes the first scene and Glass still frames Elijah, which is vital.

I hope enough people watch this for the revelations that can still be fleshed out, even though we think we know these movies well. Each time I watch it I learn something new.

Even though the edit seems long, its really not. There is just enough room to breathe and for the viewer to absorb and go on the journey...and the journey is what this edit is about.

I love fanedits and the creative process. I am so grateful for the many hours that Wraith spent with me to let me into his mind regarding this edit. I will treasure that memory for a long time.

This will be Wraith's opus. Hell, it will be one for fanediting in general. It shows just how creative you can get.

The sad thing is...history has proven that far too many creative geniuses burn a fire so bright that it burns them out. Then they disappear. It's up to us as fans to keep them encouraged with positive feedback so that they stay with us a bit longer and share their wonderful gift.

A masterpiece that must be seen by all who appreciate a good movie/fanedit/art.

Two very enthusiastic thumbs held as high as I can hold them!



Yeah, Wraith, it was a thesis!
 
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TM2YC

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Ride the High Country (1962)
Sam Peckinpah's
first proper feature Western (after one he had little control over). It shows few signs of the violent, innovative style that Peckinpah would inject into the genre with 1969's 'The Wild Bunch', it's a fairly traditional Western but a top quality one. Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott play two old world-weary cowboys, with failing eyesight and ragged clothes, hoping a job to transport gold from a mine to a bank will revive their fortunes. A couple of impetuous youngsters accompany them, to add some good natured bickering between the generations. The first act is spent at a leisurely, amiable pace but it's needed to establish who these characters are and that they are old-fashioned men with principles. This mostly uneventful time spent in their pleasant company is abruptly contrasted when they arrive at the remote mining camp and find it full of drunkards, gamblers, prostitutes, rapists and every other form of sin. It gets very dark. We've seen that our two heroes know right from wrong but we're less sure if they still have the guts and vigour to stand up to the villains, or if they still care about upholding what's right. There is a big plot twist which I didn't see coming for a second, so I'm looking forward to a 2nd viewing to spot all the clues I know were there. The dialogue is beautiful stuff (an uncredited re-write by Peckinpah), McCrea's line "All I want is to enter my house justified." being one of the most eloquent and multi-layered.

 
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