FanEdit Reviews - Post Your Reviews Here — Page 13

Skyfallen - Last Survivor

Bombastic Bond outing marred by over reliance on explosions over logic and structure.
Movie also contains one of the weaker villains, a sad recurrence.
Last Survivor tackles this film with his usual surgical precision, with mostly excellent results.

Video - 720 X 480 MPG2. Brilliant, spotless work. I rewatched the theatrical version three days beforehand to better appreciate the work here. By and large, cuts were well chosen and few viewers will miss them. Side mirrors, straight razor, dragon, ice. Only when I rewatched the edit two days later, this time with audio commentary running, did I catch tiny imperfections pointed out by LS.

Audio - 2-channel AC3 192K. No subs. Robust sound, well synced to video. Changes in musical score played by unnoticed, though song alterations did not. LS explained his reasons for replacing Adele’s opener with the lesser known Within Temptation, voicing a rather 80’s sounding tune. It still struck me as a mistake. Most 007 openers are voiced by performer who reflect the zeitgeist of OUR age. Adele is certainly that. Now, WT’s closing version of “Skyfall” sounds just fine and actually provides a cheeky bookend.

Be sure to give this a second view, with Last Survivor’s running commentary. His comments are primarily Skyfall related, though not exclusively as he discusses other Bond vehicles, thoughts on CGI, scores, composers, as well as personal recollections.

Narrative - Ain’t wasting time here - Silva. In trying to create a “weirdly” memorable adversary, the creators wound up with a laughable personality. Silva already had an efficient, invisible, and highly profitable business running. So, he decides to imperil all of that? The long intro, yak-yak-yak, sexual innuendo, rat chat, sheer folly.

Last Survivor trimmed, shaved, swung an axe. Silva the ridiculous becomes Silva the sketch. Not really an improvement. Could be Silva is unsalvageable. He pales next to Le Chiffre, stumbles next to Scaramanga, falls by Largo, all villains who bested Bond. Blofeld remains on a level all his own. Silva comes across as a crybaby with mommy issues and a bad haircut.

Enjoyment - I like this edit, I like the theatrical version. Neither are my first choice for Bond, or Craig’s Bond.

Event Horizon Slashed Killer Horizon - Mollo

Grim overhaul of muddled SciFi / Horror. Mollo pulls this out of tech and into blackness, heightening the horror.

The avi image is a little soft and is undoubtedly superior on the (for me, unavailable) DVD version.

Video - 640p, MPEG-4. Well done throughout. Numerous alterations are unnoticed. The additional scenes were worked in nicely.

Audio - 2-channel, MP3 128kbps. Man, this is where the edit really shines. An outstanding soundscape Mollo has crafted. Do not overlook the extras! The “Evil Sounds” bonus is a clinic on layering audio channels. Aspiring editors would be well advised to study this.

Narrative - Coherence gets lost in this. Of course the film was always a jumble. Dr. Weir seems even odder from the get-go and his usefulness onboard is negligible. An asteroid (from Deep Impact) sweeps past in the beginning for no real reason, though it is in the alternative ending bonus. At the end, Capt Miller sends Lt. Starck to the command deck for intel, and she … it is not explained. This turns into a flat out horror film with many stray threads and unanswered questions. That is not a problem, a lot of mysteries have no solutions, but there seem to be an awful lot in this edit. The pacing also feels rushed, very much so past the midway point.

Enjoyment - Appreciate would be a better word. I recognize and admire much of what Mollo did here. It does feel like a horror film, which was his intention, though not a particularly intelligent one. He removed much of the stupid factor, which is commendable, yet many of the characters are reduced to sketches. I never cared about them, so I never cared what happened to them. Tough luck, kids.

On one hand, the outro music, the last taste one gets from any film, was incongruous, intrusive and irritating.
On the other hand, the bonus features, redeemed quite a bit for me. Seeing how much Mollo had done, just with one brief scene, had me recognize and applaud the work he did with this. Adding those bonus features in a folder along with the feature .avi is genuinely considerate.

Good edit, worth viewing. Based on other reviews, tracking down the DVD is recommended.

Cineonaut said:

Vultural said:

Star Wars: The Epic Picture - T-Bone

Where did you find a copy of this? (Star Wars: The Epic Picture by T-Bone) I’ve been looking all over but can’t find any sources.

I no longer have a copy of this one.
I’m sure I got this at FE, where I was once more active.
Info is not working for me at present, but that is the first place to check, followed by Fan Edit Central.
If nothing else, join FE (if you haven’t already) and request there.
Mind you, youngling, get your post count up. No one will help you with one post, that smacks of a bot or tourist.
Participate, let other members know you. Boost your count to 10.
Good luck out there/

Friday the 13th Part V: Jason’s Legacy - LastSurvivor

Overview - Botched relaunch of the Friday 13th franchise, **New Beginning" was widely scorned by Jason fanboys. Root failure stems from atrocious writing, though inept, formulaic direction did not help, nor did primarily grade D acting which rarely rose above high school level. Last Survivor remedies those deficiencies by slight rearranging of the plot and extensive trimming.

Video - As would be expected of this editor, quality work here. Picture remains solid throughout. Blacks are stable, and this is a dark film. In rearranging, there is always the risk of shifts in light, especially outdoor lighting, yet there is none of that. One peculiar “error” occurs at 47.36 when the Paramount logo flashes. I take this is left in as a grindhouse joke but it is distracting.

Audio - Solid two channel audio, which is probably more than needed, when mono would have been fine. Dialogue always clear, as is every footstep, and every noisy mode of death.

Narrative - With wholesale editing, there is the risk of losing coherence. Logic does suffer slightly. It is hard to keep up with characters, who even in the original, were little more than the next meal. The whole edit has an outta control roller coaster ride feel to it, though I found that a good thing.

Enjoyment - Never my favorite Friday 13th episode, LS’s edit is a major improvement. His streamlined plot tries to vault plot nonsense with mostly good results (Though one might still wonder about the nonsensical camp for what? Horny teenage delinquents? Funded by our tax dollars?). Some will be disappointed by less kills, but Debisue Voorhees and her spectacular picnic spread remains. So say we all.

AvP Redux (Alien Vs Predator Requiem) - truetypesounds

Filesize = 3 GB, Video = 1920 X 1080p, Audio = 251 kbps, “5.1 AAC”.

I view this as a cautionary training film. Not for the faneditor, who has done an interesting job here, but for Predator recruits.
Trimmed to 35”, and viewed mostly from the predator’s point of view, this an exercise in how everything that can go wrong in a cleanup mission will go wrong.
Our protagonist is pretty soon over its head. Does it summon backup? No.
Are aliens multipling quicker than it can dispose of them? Ha.
I can picture Predator drill instructors ordering trainees to view this and learn.
At 35” AvP Redux is pretty fragmented, mostly mayhem. Brightness remains absurdly dark.
5.1 AAC was not accurate. Audacity indicated only 2-Channel stereo, other channels flatlined.

Predator (Prey) - Maniac

Filesize = 6.8 GB, Video = 1920 X 1080p, Audio = 1536 kbps, 5.1 DTS.

This is pared down to 65 minutes, losing NOTHING that would be essential.
Picture wise, a very dark film; the blacks are gorgeous and solid.
Dialogue is English, rather than Comanche. No subs.
Naru is given pretty much the same time as the alien hunter.
The savage violence, straight up the food chain, abides, as do some of the lulls and pauses.
During one of the ceremonies, the noise and revelry has been replaced with ambiant music.
The narrative is coherent despite losing about a half hour.
As always, Maniac’s video editing is flawless, the sound mix outstanding.