[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement:
Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor
of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users'
privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your
privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket
to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we
also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.
Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your
contribution is not tax-deductible.)
PayPal Acct: 
Feedback: 
Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):
[ Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message ]
Date Posted: 11:21:03 06/28/04 Mon
Author: wwolfe
Author Host/IP: 161.149.63.110
Subject: All the President's Men.
In reply to:
Pouncer
's message, "Favorite Sci-Fi Movie?" on 13:46:48 06/24/04 Thu
Thank you, try the veal.
I'd have to go with "Close Encounters," too - but *only* the original version, *not* the re-edited re-release. Why, why, why do director's damage their movies by doing this? Showing us the inside of the spaceship was SUCH a stupid idea. And cutting the great scene where that wonderful character actor Roberts Blossom stood up and dramatically announced, "I saw me a Bigfoot once" deprives the movie of one of its defining moments.
I'd choose this movie because I interpret Richard Dreyfuss's quest as the best expression of the artistic temperament ever done on screen. That might not be the standard take on the movie, but that's how I've always seen it. In addition, I like its hopeful message and the way it seems to make the prospect of letting your imagination run free seem like the most thrilling thing in the world.
On a slightly lower artistic plain, I have great fondness for "Night of the Comet" (one of the great movies about L.A., besides being a fun sci-fi flick). And, despite some dopey aspects and a really dull performance by Yvette Mimieux, I've always liked the George Pal version of "The Time Machine." Among the many dystopian stories the genre has produced, the 1970s version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" scared the crap out of me. (The orignal is good, too, but I prefer the re-make.)
Far and away the most overrated sci-fi movie, and one of the most overrated movies of any kind, is "2001." Which makes sense, given that Stanley Kubrick is the most overrated person in movie history. (If Angharad were here, she'd agree with me - trust me.)
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Replies:
[> [>
Re: Close Encounters -- Kuzibah, 22:55:22 06/28/04 Mon (68.80.18.137)
I don't think the re-edit was actually a "Director's Cut" per se, but more of a "Greedy Studio" cut, as my DVD is the original ending, and has the bigfoot scene (I actually just re-watched it the other week, along with Blade Runner, when I heard the news of Douglass Trumball's passing.) On the other hand, I read an interview with Spielberg when the E.T. DVD came out, and he says that he finds his direction of Close Encounters very amatuerish, and he would film it quite differently today. I, of course, completely disagree, and think it's a great example of the "Show, Don't Tell" (film being a viusual medium, after all) and "Less is More" schools that Spielberg got away from, to his detriment, in films like Hook, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, A.I., and others, where he tended to be heavy-handed and over-explain things. He kind of got back to letting the story unfold more naturally in "Catch Me If You Can," but then again, he didn't have on his "SERIOUS DIRECTOR" baseball cap for that, and was able to allow himself to step back and not micro-manage every second. But I digress.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [>
That's good news about the DVD. -- wwolfe, 11:39:38 06/29/04 Tue (161.149.63.100)
I've actually put off buying that DVD, even though it's one of my very favorite movies, specifically because I didn't want to ever see that ending again. Now I'll be happy to add it to my collection.
One of my pet peeves is when an artist I respect gives an interview in which he badmouths his older, beloved work. John Lennon spent most of the last ten years of his public life doing that to his work with the Beatles; it never changed my opinion of the Beatles, but it lowered my opinion of Lennon.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [> [>
Well... -- Grim ,_,_), 15:34:49 06/29/04 Tue (66.95.229.84)
I think I remember the inside of the ship is in the deleted scenes.
Wait till Lucas releases the DVDs of Star Wars later this year. They're supposed to be the Really Special Editions. He's apparently changed them again since they were last seen in theaters when they were changed from the originals.
I'm very happy to have the original three in their original form on VHS, thankyouverymuch.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [> [> [>
Oh yes. -- Pouncer, 10:24:32 06/30/04 Wed (156.80.140.157)
I'm so happy I have my box set of the Star Wars trilogy on VHS (in widescreen!), so I can see the films I remember from my childhood.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [> [> [> [>
Seeing those movies in widescreen makes a surprising difference. -- Mo, 11:12:41 06/30/04 Wed (169.152.251.99)
For the longest time, my only copy of Empire Strikes Back was the one I had taped off of HBO in the mid-80s. They sure did cut off a lot of things happening at the fringes of the screen.
For example, there's a really funny moment when Leia kisses Luke as a way of making Han jealous, and Threepio is standing in the back, and he walks forward to get a better look.
It doesn't sound like much, but it really is quite funny to watch. And if it's not widescreen? There is no Threepio in that scene.
It's kind of like how in Jaws, if it's not widescreen, Richard Dreyfuss essentially makes a cameo appearance, due to being cut out of the frame in half the scenes he's in.
[ Edit | View ]
[> [> [> [> [> [> [>
The worst is "American Graffiti." -- wwolfe, 11:20:27 06/30/04 Wed (161.149.63.100)
Ninety percent of that movie is spent looking at the driver and passenger sitting in the front seat of a car as it cruises the main drag. When they cut the widescreen's left and right sides to show the movie on TV, all that remains is a shot of the rear view mirror, while two disembodied voices speak from off-screen.
[ Edit | View ]
Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
