FanEdit Reviews - Post Your Reviews Here — Page 2

Fear and Loathing In Fantasy Mission Force (Fantasy Mission Force) - matrixgrindhouse

Man, what a rush!
For fans of old school Hong Kong this is pell mell action.
The image is not the best, 640 X 480p. Appear VHS derived.
Worse, the audio is dubbed. Actually, that makes it much funnier.
What’s missing? Why, subtitles of course. In this case, they ought to be incoherent and have nothing to do with screen activity whatsoever.
Ostensibly a mission against Axis powers, agent Jackie Chan and a horde of extras tangle with soldiers, smugglers, kidnappers, Scottish Highlanders, an inept officer corps, masked cavalry, ninjas, Amazon warriors, and, wait for it, Snake Plissken!!
“Fantasy Mission Force” was ever an insane experience.
One gathers Mr grindhouse has cut and warped this as if he were under intoxicants and hallucinogenics.
Hence, the “Fear and Loathing” prefix.
Edit is neither worse nor better than the original, though the plot condensation is stunning!

The Frighteners Recut (The Frighteners) - Neglify

Frighteners is one of those Horror films I watch every couple of years. Peter Jackson’s career was ascending rapidly at this stage, having nailed a hit with Heavenly Creatures and bracing for the challenge of Lord Of The Rings.
As a genre film, Frighteners remains the uneasy mix. Part Mystery, part Thriller, all Horror, yet undermined by moronic comedy. Silliness, stupidity. Several cringe sequences make the Stooges look like Woody Allen. Any improvement on that score is well applauded.

Video - As expected, excellent work here. I never missed a single trim, though deep in the film I realized I had not winced yet. The moments I had hated were gone. The colors were fine, albeit subdued, but that is Jackson’s palette.

Audio - Highly dynamic 5.1 mix. Dialogue was clean and focused. No subs. I never needed subtitles, but checked after the fact.

Neglify’s version is now my preferred Frighteners, displacing the original. My main problem with Jackson’s version was always the humor. Silly rather than clever, dull witted rather than razor sharp. Jackson’s jokes are sophomoric at best. (Feebles remains a brilliant exception.) Neglify excised the stupidity. The trims might be light, but they are effective. Stellar job.

Star Wars: Ultramachete (Phantom Menace & Attack Of The Clones) - Razil

Straight off, the faneditor refers to this as “Clone Wars III & IV.”
The choices made are peculiar. The film begins with the pod race on Tatooine.
Next to the battle of Naboo, followed by ten years after …
Afterward, a mild editing of The Attack Of The Clones.
In case you were wondering, this is NOT a three-in-one of the prequels.
Filesize = 8 GB. Video = 1920 X 1080p AVC. Audio = 5.1, 550 kbps AAC. No subs.
Despite the specs, the aspect struck me as curiously flattened.

Note the black bands on top and bottom.
Once excised, the true ratio is closer to 1920 X 620p. Very, very widescreen. Stretched.
Clearly, he was having trouble. I remember Razil sought help at FE, but do not recall if veteran editors offered advice or not.
Sadly, his thread there has since been purged. (The one at OT abides. See below).
Razil had PM’d me back in the day, unfortunately as I was losing interest in yet another SW edit. So I never watched at the time.
Apologies, Mr Razil.
Recently, I checked his PM from 6 years ago. Lo! the file links are still active.
So, belatedly, I downed and watched.

Razil’s epic opening explanation. (Wall of text alert!)
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/New-project-Star-Wars-ultramachete-bit-of-help-needed/id/16070

The Descent: Extended Cut - Mikedrew87

Wail, baby, wail! Wilderness survivalist vacationers rappel into unexplored depths.
Deep, deep inside the cavernous depths, they learn real survival skills.
Neil Marshall’s best film (though Dog Soldiers is a close second) and a great horror ride.

Video - 1280 X 720p AVC. A great looking film. Dense blacks, a lot of moving shadows, and dim lighting. Plenty of ways this edit could go wrong. Excellent rendering beginning to end. Most of the missing scenes went by unnoticed.

Audio - 192 Kbps, 2 Channel AAC. Really? Stereo? The original audio is a superb sound mix of echoes and ambiant noises, perfectly in keeping with a cave interior. This is missed here. Also, no subs. Yes, I know I am in a minority in commenting about subtitles. A fair amount of dialogue is difficult to understand. Whispering, shouting, characters talking over each other. I may know this flick by heart, but others may not.

Narrative - Generally, I couldn’t care less about extended cuts. Footage was trimmed for a reason, either it was repetitive, or useless padding, or it dragged the pace. The inclusion of ten brief scenes gives more shades to a few characters. Otherwise, the narrative itself is untouched.

Enjoyment - I’ve watched the DVD dozens of times. Moreover, growing up, I went caving hundreds of times and The Descent is one of the best cave films out there.
It does have two strikes against it, however.
One, the cast is all female. insecure males dislike females: be they wives, coworkers, exes, doesn’t matter. These guys, for one reason or another, just have an animosity. If you are one, then don’t bother with this. γνῶθι σεαυτόν
Second, this movie is a real nail biter. Tension tightens throughout for at least two thirds of the story. The reveal of the dwellers comes late. Impatient souls will be happier with a trailer.
For everyone else, this is a terrific thriller /slash/ horror flick.

Raiders (Raiders Of The Lost Ark) - Steven Soderbergh

Yes, that Steven Soderbergh. He has done several of these since his temporary retirement from directing. He has also remained aloof from the fanedit community or is incognito.

The adventure classic gets a sonic overhaul. All audio - dialogue, music soundtrack, sound effects - wiped. In essence, Raiders is a Silent. This is so viewers can concentrate on the visual design without being distracted. The editor does tack on a very distracting film score, however.

Image is glorious black n white. High contrast, razor sharp. Interiors bear a deep black, Noir look. No story editing or narrative rearranging, though. As has been noted before, Raiders plays well in black n white.

For audio, Mr. Soderbergh selected music tracks from Trent Reznor scores “The Social Network" and “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” At times, cues match the tone or tempo of the video narrative - other times the music is jarringly amiss. One gets the feeling he fired up his favorite tracks without considering how appropriate they would be.
Mr. Soderbergh likely has access to state of the art audio editing equipment, or computer software. He could have easily tinkered with his musical cues so they matched the screen narrative. Again, he did not seek feedback from the fanediting community.

Still available on Mr. Soderberg’s site - extension765 - in decent quality as of 2020 05.

I am digging this thread - a great idea 😃

Will there be a similar thread to this for the ‘Star Wars Fan Edits’ section too?

Dune: The Alternative Edition Redux (Dune) - spicediver

"A film that’s been admired, hated and puzzled-over in fairly equal amounts … "

How about, all the above?
Stunning set design and ridiculous costumes. What are the Sardaukar, firefighters?
Gorgeous Brian Eno theme - then Toto.
Exposition that advances the plot, dialogue that booms bombastic.
Top tier actors driven by madman Lynch to ham it up.
I loved Dune - I hated Dune.

Spicediver did an outstanding job in focusing the narrative thrust of the movie.
I appreciate how he organized the structure into four books.
Video editing was fine. When deleted footage was used, it was noticeable. Sharp to grainy. Yet the result was in keeping with his intended edit.
Audio, once or twice I caught some dialogue that did not match mouths. More often than not, there was a crop or he inserted audio when character backs were turned. Again, this was meant to enhance pacing or narrative, so I don’t want to nitpick.
I really enjoyed this edit, which eclipses my other copies, including the mini-series.

Trailer = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK5eoV93oyg

Star Wars: Fall Of The Jedi (Neon Noir) (Star Wars Prequels) - ONLYYODAFORGIVES

The three Star Wars prequels are combined into a single viewing experience. Running time is under two hours, many stories have been jettisoned. The heaviest trims are from Phantom Menace, weakest of that trilogy.
Music has also been dramatically altered. So much so, I would argue this ought to be considered a Silent film. What dialogue there is, is quite sparse and conversations are often murky.

Filesize = 1 GB. Video = 1910 x 816p AVC, Audio = 125 kbps AAC. 2 Channel stereo. No subs.

Straight up, this is a fairly inspired edit, radical in it’s approach. If you go into this thinking, “This is going to be like an extended music video,” you will not be disappointed.
The video editing is alright, though there are too many fades in a franchise that noticeably uses wipes. Many of the transitions could have been more seamless.
The audio remains problematic. The score is fabulous. Synth, ambiant, techno, dark beat, Industrial, glockenspiel.
Forget the dialogue, though. It is muddy or garbled.

Members from OT and FE previewed and offered suggestions aplenty back in 2015.
Me included. In fact, I mentioned two video glitches, and they are still there.
In the end, the editor walked away from both forums. His edit has been available on YT in decent quality ever since.
No mistake, this is a bold, enjoyable version.
Could be better, but what’s there is damned good.

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Intro-sequence-to-neon-noir-fan-edit-of-the-prequel-trilogy/id/17852

Crouching Dragon: The Tiger Lily Cut (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) - ssj

When the original Crouching Tiger was released in 2000, thousands of hardcore Asia film fanboys plunged into a tailspin tizzy.
“This is going to ruin Hong Kong and Japanese exploitation!”
Apologists for the film and peddlers of imports did their best to mollify those nervous Nellies.
And yet … mainstream Westerners, exposed to “artistic” Asian action cinema, began sniffing the landscape.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon made a sh!tload of money, and, as doomsayers predicted, future Asian fare became easier for world digestion. Wackiness went on the fade.

Thankfully, ssj mangled this talky bi-polar film back to the crazy roots of Shaw Brothers!
By jettisoning mounds of talky exposition and utterly subverting the subtitles.
Plot now revolves around a stolen Iron Chef blade, and the bickering and backstabbing that go on behind the scenes. And, of course, battles to regain the mighty kitchen cleaver.
Should I mention additional, juicy double entendre dialogue?

Great antidote to the borefest that the original was. Energy level diminishes in the final act, and jokes start to fall flat. The story tumbles into a confused mess, but what the hey, this is still brilliant for what is it.

Star Wars: The Epic Picture - T-Bone

Initially a mixed bag for me, now strikes me as overstuffed.
The Imperial Empire invades Earth in the late 1930’s or 1940’s!
Scenes of walkers superimposed against WWII troops and tanks, amid cityscape rubble.
Brilliant!
Creative premise of what an Empire invasion would resemble.

Then, the edit leaps off the rails and dives into lunacy.
Clips from other films (“Bridge Over The River Kwai”, “Force 10 From Navarone,” and “Rasputin, The Mad Monk”) are inserted, seemingly at random.
Different tones, different looks. No narrative coherence whatsoever.
The black out segues between scenes grew noticeable after a bit.
And three hours? Really?
Eventually, I found myself impatient for the edit to end.

This is clearly one of the oddest creations ever to be approved by the FE judges.
Not blueyoda “odd,” either. WWII vs Star Wars would make an inspired edit.
Unfortunately, this editor did not deliver his concept successfully.
Fine pledge, poor turn, little prestige.
For all that, worth studying.

Natural Born Killers: Tarantino Cut - thecuddlyninja

Furious edit of Stone’s N B Killers slices away all lulls, dream sequences, and moralizing. This is a blistering grinder of Tarantino’s original script that hurtles ahead like the running of the bulls in Pamplona. thecuddlyninja’s version does not resemble a Stone film, nor one of Tarantino’s knockoffs. Instead, this reminds one of full bore Takashi Miike. I mean that as high praise.

Video - 1920 X 1080p AVC. Outstanding mix of color and black n white, distortion, inappropriate zooms, hard cuts, etc … Many visual tricks and changes keep this film popping. Even what could have been mistakes work well and look amazing - in this down and dirty, drive-in thrasher.

Audio - 192 kbps, 2 Channel stereo AAC. Very good sound, though suffers occasionally where original score was wiped. Dialogue generally clear. No subs.

Cuddly learned a lot from his first draft of this. FE members aired complaints about his song selection, which aped Tarantino scores. Every time I heard a familiar cue, I cross checked it in my memory. Reservoir Dogs - Kill Bill - Pulp Fiction - Death Proof - Pulp Fiction again … Distracting and yanked me out of cuddly’s edit, especially when I got stuck trying to recall which QT film the cue was from. I watched several of his workprints, and by V2, Cuddly had reworked the music to excellent effect.

Narrative - With so much footage sheared, coherence suffers. When Mickey is in Drug Zone we figure out he needs anti-snake medicine. How and when he was bitten? How did that Botango riot start? Throughout, I knew what was occurring, but I think 5 minutes of bits added here and there would clarify confusion caused by cutting. (alliteration alert!)

Enjoyment - Absolutely. Pedal down, all the way. Cuddly, using Tarantino’s script, has given NBK a Swisha House “chopped and screwed” treatment. Delicious. In many ways this is an authentic companion to the original. I could envision this being included in the DVD box as the “storyboard print.”

Derelict (Alien / Prometheus) - Job Willins

Soon after Prometheus was released, essays appeared noting the similarities with Alien.
Not that the latter film was a reboot or remake, but that there were structural and narrative echoes.
The Derelict fan-edit aligns the parallel stories into one viewing experience. Black n white, by the way.

There was substantial cutting, and both narratives suffer. Each is barely more than a glorified pitch.
No character development and the first half drags.
Nevertheless, I liked this quite a bit as it was a clinic on detailing the mirrored elements of both films: strong females, corporate agendas, soulless androids.
Similar interior designs - harsh exteriors.
By the end, I wondered how much of the similarity was deliberate, how much was subconscious.

Raiding The Lost Ark - Jamie Benning

Labor of love by Jamie Benning and must see for Indiana Jones fans. Imaginative blending of Raiders real-time footage with interviews from numerous sources, as well as pop up comments and screen comparisons. Storyboards, outtakes, as well as home movies used. The documentary is dense with information and may necessitate multiple viewings. The edit itself is incredibly well executed, it feels seamless.

Currently available on Vimeo (as of 2020 06) in several resolutions and I would urge the viewer to seek the highest level possible. Image quality is all over the scale, depending on source materials. Outtakes are often fuzzy, production or home movies are passable. Editing is skillful throughout, and there is strict adherence to chronological sequence.

No subs, though there are fact pop ups during the entire doc. Preference given to voiceovers. Quality varies, though everyone is comprehensible. Possible exception being Harrison Ford, especially the later interviews. His voice does not always seem properly miked or he mumbles. Not a major issue.

Generous wealth of details, untold stories, missing scenes to thrill all fans. Two lost details come to mind:

1. Early on, after Dr. René Belloq gets the gold fertility statue, the Hovitos take it away from him.
2. When Indy and Sallah consult the imam, he warns them not to touch the actual ark, nor to open their eyes if it is opened.

Truly a wonderful companion to your DVD.

Trailer

Doctor Who: ‘Fortress of the Daleks’ and ‘Invasion of the Daleks’ - TM2YC

TM2YC selected two of the weakest Doctor Who entries, the stand alone movies with Peter Cushing, and reedited each into three episodes, in keeping with the BBC series.
Futhermore, he decolored both, so they resembled the late 60’s (Hartnell and Troughton eras).

Terrific work all around. Not only in cutting, but in the decision to switch to black n white.
Not hard, sharp contrast black n white, either, but a scale similar to the late 60s, were well thought out.

Narrative - Fast moving episodes, much better than the original series which tended to drag several times.
This is an edit that could almost fit in the canon proper.

Enjoyment - To quote Danger Mouse’s sidekick, Penfold, “Crikey!”
Plenty here to enjoy, to appreciate, to brag about.
The extras, talk about goodies! Not only bonus material, but BBC voiceovers.
The main downside is Peter Cushing as the doctor.
His was not a portrayal I enjoyed. Don’t know whether this was his interpretation or straight from the script, but his addled, confused manner was more onset Alzheimer’s than brilliance. There was no way to excise him or add starch to his manner.
Cushing did not hurt my opinion of the edit, however. Indeed, TM2YC did quite a bit to maximize the action, and heighten the Daleks, and minimize Cushing’s fey doctor.
He is not Hartnell (let alone Pertwee), but these two stories can now stand in the same room as classic BBC Doctors.

Violent Mistress (Revenge) - Maniac

After watching the original, I wrote Maniac the next day.
“Dude, check out this “Revenge” film from France. It’s straight up your alley.”
“Ha ha, V, already editing it.”
Film of the girlfriend at the hunting party, who does not want to be Miss Pass-Around, who then endures all sort of … well … you’ve already watched the original five times.
Filesize = 3.7 GB. Video = 1920 X 1080p AVC. Audio = 128 kbps, 2 Channel stereo AAC. Subtitles, yes. Hard coded, small sized.
At sixty-two minutes, Maniac has cut this pretty hard. Not to fear, what he excised were incidents and character establishing most would fast-forward through during repeat views.
The narrative holds nicely. The flourishes abide. The cliff jump, mushrooms, beer can BBQ, and blood.
Buckets and buckets of blood.
Bookending Mancini’s “Lujon” is very imaginative, setting a light tone of misdirection.

Note: Maniac has over 100 fanedits to his credit. Few romances, I’m afraid.
He is also a member of the OT community.
While his participation on the board is minimal, he does check his PMs (if his edits interest you).