The first cut is the deepest, article about is new director cuts like Amadeus (1 Viewer)

[Jefferson Morris]

With James Cameron, the extended cut is ALWAYS a superior film

I disagree.

Aliens is tighter and more effective without the additional material, IMO. The scenes with the colony in the beginning only serve to dissipate some of the suspense when the commando team first lands. Also, do we really need to hear about Ripley's dead daughter to understand that her maternal instincts are kicking in, re: Newt? It's just too on-the-nose.

As for The Abyss, I'll concede that the story makes a bit more sense when we get the whole alien/tidal wave subplot. Trouble is...it's silly. Re-hashed humanity-on-trial-for-its-sins stuff that didn't work very well on Star Trek either.

Plus, are we to believe that these supposedly benevolent, highly advanced aliens would actually have destroyed humanity, just because they "can't stand to see us hurting each other"? Isn't that the moral equivalent of euthanizing someone just because you decide they're unhappy?

One could argue that the aliens just wanted to scare us and never actually intended to go through with it, but if that's true, the importance of Bud's sacrifice is undercut (and the aliens were lying when they indicated that his single example had caused them to spare humanity).

Truthfully, I think the ideal version of The Abysswould be one that somehow excised the entire alien subplot altogether, and simply made it a story of nuclear brinksmanship, underwater survival, and personal sacrifice. Most of the best scenes from the film (with the exception of the memorable pseudopod sequence) could be retained, with a certain amount of re-working.

I don't mind the longer version of Terminator 2, although I don't think the additional material makes too much of a difference in that case.

With regards to the director's cuts of other films, only Ridley Scott seems to do it better the second time around (Blade Runner, Legend), IMO. Every other director's/extended/special/superduper cut of a classic I've seen has weakened it in my mind, usually through the inclusion of material that simply isn't necessary.* Brevity is the soul of wit, as they say.

--Jefferson Morris

* P.S. There is one signicant exception - the 1998 version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind is the ideal one, I think, in that it retains the best additional material from the 1980 special edition, keeps the good stuff from the original that had been cut out of the special edition, and deletes the anticlimactic mothership interior.

 

[Patrick McCart]

You'd think this would be corrected on home video, right? But after two releases of getting it wrong Warner insists "we don't do unrated cuts on home video". Two weeks ago they announce the special edition of the unrated cut of "True Romance". Warren Lieberfarb is so full of shit it's coming out of his ears!

Not really. WB is just distributing True Romance: SE. It's a Morgan Creek property, so that's why it's like that.

Also, WHV had NOTHING to do with the obscuring in Eyes Wide Shut. The producers of the film are responsible.



As for Amadeus, the original DVD is great. It's from a high-def master and it's great even for a 1997 disc. Being a DVD-10 isn't terrible...it still offers more room on the disc than a DVD-9. I hope the SE is a DVD-14 like Zhivago, so the film can breathe a little.

 

[JonZ]

Nathan,
The extra footage on Nixon is of terrible video quality. I dont seen to remember the changes in Aspect Ratio.
The Dir Cut was delayed a year so why a new transfer wasnt made, I have no clue, but its unforgivable. I first saw the extras on the LD ans was overjoyed when I heard about the Dir Cut DVD. What a shame.

The scenes are worth seeing though.

 

[Joshua Moran]

You know as long as they don't put in a walkie talkie in Mozart's hand instead of a conductor stick then I'm ok.

 

[Brian W.]

I've heard that Nixon: director's cut has some horrible video, and that the aspect ratio CHANGES throughout the course of the movie. Is this true? Can anyone else comment on this?

Yes, some of the reinstated scenes are in a slightly wider aspect ratio, though you don't really notice it that much when you're watching it. What you do notice is the difference in video quality -- the picture suddenly undergoes a drastic loss of sharpness and is swarming with a slight haze of video noise and bleeding colors. I believe the restored scenes were simply dubbed in from an inferior tape source, rather than going back to a good print. This cut may only exist on video -- I don't know if there is an actual print anywhere. And the disc is not 16x9 enhanced. I can't believe Buena Vista would release something like this, but it did.

But it's still worth buying if you like the film, especially for the new scene with Hopkins' lines, "The belts are comin' off and people are gonna be goin' to the woodshed. Anybody that screws with us, his f**kin' head comes off. Ya got that?"

 

[Dick]

Nathan: My opinion is that the original DVD release of AMADEUS is too soft. It is one of the rare instances where the laser disc (Pioneer's Special Edition) was actually sharper than the DVD. Warner Bros released several DVD's that were too soft in the early days (THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, still not remastered, and the original DIRTY HARRY, among others). I am praying this new AMADEUS will be sharp and gorgeous, as I suspect it will.

 

[Bryant Frazer]

Also, WHV had NOTHING to do with the obscuring in Eyes Wide Shut. The producers of the film are responsible.

The producers of the film are responsible for that particular decision. But it was only made because Warner refused to release the unedited version of the film either in theaters or on video in the U.S. The alternative would have been to start taking snippets out of the picture -- which, as offensive as the current state of affairs is, would have been worse.

-bf-

 

[Will_B]

Someone mentioned La Femme Nikita. I think you meant The Big Blue.

 

[Eric_R_C]

Actually, Oscar said
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Don't forget about Gilliam's Brazil or Besson's La Grande Blue or Nikita
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Shouldn't Blue have been Azul in this case?
Speaking of The Big Blue... I know there are two endings, but i'm not sure which one I saw (many, many years ago.) Which ending is on the DVD (which I would love to get someday.) Which is generally preferred? I recall the difference was whether he surfaces next to what's-her-name, or follows the dolphin back to the surface far away. I just remember the girl crying. (I know who she is, just can't remember her name right now )

 

[Mitty]

are we seeing a purer form of movie - or just being exploited?

Depending on the film, a little from column A, a little from column B.
It's pretty hard to believe that The Exorcist new version wasn't a complete fraud after having watched Fear of God: The Making of the Exorcist and seeing Blatty and Friedkin bicker about some of the deleted material (particularly the ending) and then a couple of years later hearing Friedkin completely contradict his previous statements.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Will / Eric
I re read my post and it should be Leon and not La Femme Nikita actually.

 

[Jean-Michel]

Regarding "Eyes Wide Shut," it's pretty clear from everything I've read that Kubrick knew changes would have to be made but that he didn't live long enough to oversee them himself.

But the fact is that "Eyes Wide Shut," even with the orgy scene intact, shouldn't be considered the final director's cut since Kubrick was notorious for making last-minute changes (snipping a scene out of "2001" after the premiere, eliminating the epilogue from "The Shining" AFTER its opening weekend, etc.). I think it's safe to assume he would've made more changes to "Eyes Wide Shut" as well had he had the chance.

 

[Patrick McCart]

"My opinion is that the original DVD release of AMADEUS is too soft. It is one of the rare instances where the laser disc (Pioneer's Special Edition) was actually sharper than the DVD. Warner Bros released several DVD's that were too soft in the early days (THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, still not remastered, and the original DIRTY HARRY, among others). I am praying this new AMADEUS will be sharp and gorgeous, as I suspect it will."

WB has made a high-def transfer of the Amadeus: DC version. Plus, the film will probably be on a DVD-14 like Doctor Zhivago. Since Amadeus required no extensive digital cleanup like Zhivago, the transfer should look perfect or near it.

You know as long as they don't put in a walkie talkie in Mozart's hand instead of a conductor stick then I'm ok.

This is a tired cliche.