LIFEFORCE SE desperately wanted... (1 Viewer)

[Largo]

My thoughts exactly, Mark! I'm going to get my chance to see the lovely Mathilda May in anamorphic widescreen when I receive my German region 2 Lifeforce DVD via Amazon.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

I heartily concur with the bit about Mathilda May. The rest sounds just a bit sniggeringly elitist, as if all science fiction/horror films that aren't ALIEN or BLADE RUNNER are "B-" movies and not able to be appreciated as anything other than camp and guilty pleasures. If it weren't for those "B-" sci-fi horror flicks, there's be no ALIEN or BLADE RUNNER.

Yes, Golan-Globus re-edited and otherwise effed up the film for the American market; the international version is far superior IMO.

Railsback may have been miscast in LIFEFORCE, but he was far from a second-rate actor. Or perhaps you haven't heard of HELTER SKELTER...just because he was in a lot of low-budget productions in the latter part of his career doesn't mean he didn't study under Lee Strasberg or receive critical praise for his work with Elia Kazan and Richard Rush. All the male leads in LIFEFORCE are great character actors, and Miss May is exactly what she needs to be...

As for Sir Ridley Scott, he's no guarantee of quality big-budget filmmaking. Or perhaps you haven't seen BLACK RAIN or G. I. JANE, two glossy major studio hack jobs that are far worse than many "B-" movies I've seen.

 

[Mark_TS]

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Hmmmm...interesting, but could you elaborate?

 

[Mark_TS]

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Ah you waste precious bandwidth my friend. Why get your panties in a bunch over the small stuff..and my being SNIGGERINGLY elitist!?

get out of town!

whats the sentence for that? ive never had the honor!

Its a B movie-railsback is too stiff-and if helter skelter is all you can use

I 'love' the film-even as I can point out its vast stupidities. Such waste of potential

I could deconstruct your thesis-but i dont live here-and if 'elitists' bother you-youre in the wrong forum for the most part

And your using Sir Ridley Scott as an example, you tread on dangerous ground-he has made a couple clunkers- a couple of ok/good and quite a few excellent, of which are the larger portion of his filmography

sniggeringly.....love the word-im putting on my business cards

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Aw, c'mon...

1. You're wasting at least as much bandwidth on your opinions and replies to responses to same as I am.
2. Not getting my panties in a bunch, just offering a point of view that differs from yours but is at least as equally valid, calling bullsh*t when warranted, and defending a widely misunderstood film that apparently needs it.
3. I like my town, so I think I'll stay.
4. Sentence? Honor? ???
5. B-movie? Only in that the subject matter is usually the stuff of low-budget horror and sci-fi films...nice to see money being spent on it for a change. I do not consider LIFEFORCE to be a "B" movie, and I don't recall it playing the lower half of a double-bill with a bigger-budget prestige picture on its first run. It's certainly not "B" in terms of quality IMO, nor are many low-budget horror and sci-fi films.
6. Stiff Railsback...well, I acknowledged that he was miscast, didn't I? He doesn't really fit, but that doesn't mean he's not a talented actor.
7. I didn't just use HELTER SKELTER, I also mentioned that he studied under the great Lee Strasberg and that he did highly-regarded work with Elia Kazan and Richard Rush (which would be THE VISITORS and THE STUNT MAN)
8. I'm glad you 'love' it; I just LOVE it, without the quotes.
9. Vast stupidities -- I'd say there are a few story holes, but it's certainly no more vastly stupid than many classic horror and sci-fi films. Perhaps they're all guilty pleasures for you, I dunno.
10. Deconstruct away -- doesn't matter where you live, this is the WWW.
11. Well, you didn't deny you're an elitist. That's ok, we're probably all elitists from one point of view or another. I just resent the insinuation that certain horror & sci-fi elements don't deserve big budgets. Since you insist on using the term, guess what? The film that made Ridley, ALIEN, is a big-budget "B" movie all the way. Try watching IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE or QUEEN OF BLOOD sometime, and you might notice some startling similarities.
12. I didn't bring up Sir Ridley Scott as an example, you did. All I did was point out that he's not infallible, and has made some horrible films.

 

[Mark_TS]

LIFEFORCE just cant seem to get a break; There is a 'new' NTSC issue of it out from R3 Korea-(I only just discovered it) July 2010-(the R1 MGM disc is from 1998-and was the perfect candidate for an anamorphic transfer from the start)

I felt certain that at this late date "Who could possibly release a non anamorphic disc of this in this day and age?"-well, mid 2010-only 10 months ago?) the specs listed its aspect ratio as 2:20 instead of the usual 2:35-and since there were 70mm print made of it-i thought "AHA-this could imply they used the 70mm print and created a 16x9 transfer!"

So I took a chance and bought the disc on ebay for $12-it arrived- and even after the vendors assurance that it was "16x9" -I dont think he understood-it arrived as 2:20 letterbox-though the aspect ratio looked the same as the MGM disc; :-(; The only consolation is that it seems to be a slightly cleaner new transfer-the VOB files list as "created June 2010"-and it has an elaborate new cover in an O ring outer box; It is the 116 min version; DD 5.1; And Korea has a history of often making anamorphic transfers of discs that are unavailable elsewhere (ie: I have LADYHAWKE from Fox exclusive to Korea only) It is not a boot; It is from KINO!

So this has to be a constant seller as a DVD-I cant understand why an "epic" film like this doesnt at this late date have an elaborate 16x9 2-disc DVD/BR special edition-both versions and extras-there is a 30 min docu of THE MAKING OF LIFEFORCE that could also be added...maybe in an alternate universe

 

[TheBat]

netflix streaming is showing the HD version. it looks beautiful. MGMHD played the movie last august.


Jacob