It's funny. For the first 1/2, me and the fiancee were REALLY into it and a few of the "coincidences" were VERY powerful. But IMHO, by the end it just went too overboard and the later coincidences just had us going "C'mon!". And it really tried to catch the vibe of Magnolia too, we thought. The acting was superb though. Interesting what a real director's cut as opposed to just a studio manufactured Extended cut might be.
hmm... i'm tired of all the "director's cuts" out there now that are worse than the theatrical cuts. 40 year old virgin and land of the dead come to mind. i think i may just take this opportunity to grab the current disc at a good price. unless i hear different i'm going to assume all "director's cuts" are cash grabs.
OT-Speaking of Magnolia, Amazon has it for about $13 right now. Not sure why it's being slashed like that. Punch Drunk Love 2-disc Superbit is also cheap-about $11.
Or then again...maybe the producers weren't tyring to copy anything. Similarities to the structure of other films doesn't always indicate a conscious effort to imitate.
You know, btw, ...there is an **Official Crash Discussion Thread** in the movies section.
Well, this set will be a given now that it has won BP.
I wonder if it will come in any special packaging?
A nice idea might be to have it come with a hammer and a blunt spike so you can drive the point into your head at times when watching the movie simply isn't an option.
Only in R1 land, I picked up Lord of War as it was released today and it's definitely 2.35 anamorphic here in England I still think that must be an error on Lionsgate's part surely they are not one of those "No Black Bars" brigade? or is it deliberate? If it really was the production co decision then would it not be a worldwide edict? As a side issue here in England so far to the best of my knowledge most digital channels (except for a few dedicated SKY satellite film only channels) all show 2.35 films at 1.78. The reason when I asked? Because most people want to see all of their widescreen TV being used and think a widescreen TV gets rid of black bars! Just when I thought we were winning the OAR war!!!
I know the best picture win will surely be the hook for marketing this thing, but I hope the packaging says the following: "An all new cut of the film that won the 2006 Oscar™ for 'Best Achievement in Editing'".
A new "Director's Cut" of a newly minted Academy Award Best Picture sheds an extremely awkward and unpleasant light on the art and business of filmmaking.
The message is that the editor or director either wasn't bright enough to get it right the first time or that someone -- this is not a studio production -- interfered enough...
that the film should NOT be the Best Picture of 2005.
This may be explained by the fact that Haggis is Canadian, and somehow was able to get across the border. These people seem to think that they can simply cross into our country and take work away from perfectly good American filmmakers.
An American would have gotten it right the first time.
Screenwriter William Goldman is right once again.
"Nobody knows anything."
From the packaging, it seems to be promoted as having something to do with Academy Awards, which is at best, confusinig, as this film was never even nominated for anything.
Lion's Gate comes off looking a bit Greedy and manipulative with this release, but that may simply be the state of filmmaking in 2006.
A pity.
Next...
Crash, the silent version in black and white with tinted and toned sequences.
A best, a sad epilogue to what might have been an intesting story. At worst, probably false advertising.
Well that was quick. If Lions Gate/Haggis/whoever is supervising this wanted to do a reedit of the film at least they should have given us the original as well by seemless branching or another disc or something.