so they got ridley to cut it down, cutting out the whole sybilla child subplot.
big mistake.
one thing though, the number of directors cut ridley does, really shows how much the studios meddle with his movies. you'd have thought they'd have learned by now not to tamper, the man can consistently deliver. in fact, I can't think of another director who has done so many films that I like, maybe speilberg but ridley has a more gritty edge than speilberg.
1492 is out R2. has been for ages. in fact Play 247 have it for about £3 at the moment.
the duellists is a fabulous film to those who haven't seen it. it was very limited release when it first came out but ridley worked wonders with such a small budget and it's one of the few films from the napoleonic period which is one of my favourites anyway. harvey keitel is fantastic too.
I think GI Jane is okay. for me to like a film with demi moore in is really saying something, but I think it tackled the subject matter quite well until the last half hour when it got a bit too hollywood for me, probably signs of more hollywood tampering to be honest, but I thought the guy that played the master chief in that was good (struggling to remember if that was viggo mortensen off the top of my head)
from the sounds of it, 1492 I think is one of those films that again needs a directors cut, either by re-editing, or adding to it, or even a fan edit to turn it into a better film.
I love Blade Runner but I also think it becoming too much of a monster off its own reputation. loads of people talk about it and I know some of them ain't seen it at work, but its all hushed whispers. blade runners this, blade runners that. I think it is a seminal work, it clearly influenced other directors to a large degree, in fact, look at Ridleys films. can't knock the 5 disc set though. masterful piece of production work.
Alien re-defined space/space horror.
blade runner re-defined sci fi (star wars made it popular, blade runner made it serious)
gladitaor re-defined sword and sandal epics
kingdom of heaven DC re-defined that further (believe me, it will be reevaluated in time and seen for the gem it is), (still wish it was someone other than orlando bloom though)
The duellists is a good piece that a lot of directors should study to find out how to get the best out of things. and one thing I do love about all of ridleys discs, is when they include a commentary, there is so much value there. as a film buff, I love it, but it really makes me dream of someone handing me £10 million to make a film with.
is 1492 worth getting at all, or is it really that bad? I like Karyo and Depardieu anyway, but I know the columbus films in 92 were generally poorly recieved.