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FanEdit Reviews - Post Your Reviews Here — Page 11

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Waves (The Shallows) - Maniac

Filesize = 5.6 GB, Video = 1920 X 1080p AVC, Audio = 1536 kbps, 5.1 DTS. No subs.

What a beast! I’m talking the edit, though ole Mark, cruising the shallows, is pretty bad ass.
Maniac has distilled this to survival. Phone calls, road trip, companions, all gone.
Nor are they missed, to be honest. Jonathan Livingston abides, though both it and the surfer remain uneasy squatters. Bon-bon and savory appetizer if you will.
The audio is immersive. Forceful at times, yet never overpowering. Dialogue is brief and spare. While I often comment on subtitles, they are unnecessary with this edit.
Running less than an hour, this is top quality drive-in adventure. And thank you for not going the overused grindhouse path. This ain’t that kinda exploitation film.
Every aspect of editing in this is first rate. Audio, video, cuts.
Terrific fun in the sun film!

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Times Adder - TM2YC

Brilliant surprise on this consecution.
Faithful, reverent and surprisingly amusing edit of the “Back n Forth” special.
This is lighter toned than the original, and, dare I suggest, sunnier.
Meaner edges have been buffed down.
For all the trims, the story holds together nicely.
Bit jarring to hear music from “The Creature From The Black Lagoon” opening.
This is a straight faced rework, and one cannot escape the irony of it being funnier than the original.
Quicker, too.

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Daughter Of Darkness (1990) - Dr. Sapirstein

Filesize = 870 MB, Video = 960 X 720p AVC, Audio = 128 kbps AAC, 2-Channel stereo. No subs.

After mom dies, Katherine flies off the sunny Romania, in search of her long lost father.
Bucharest Customs are a breeze and lands a genial cabbie, who will subsequently reappear every time she needs a taxi.
Members of the club scene are willing to help, plus she meets a glassblower who knew her father.

The plot is little more than Hallmark meets vampires.
Acting ranges from amateurish to hamhock time.
And Bucharest? Please! I recognized Vajdahunyad Castle, as well as the statue. This is Budapest!
Sapirstein has done a superb color restoration, and the audio is improved.
That said, this is a poor film (another woofer from Stuart Gordon), talky and dumb.
Sapirstein is a better editor than the source, and I wish he would tackle projects worthy of his/her skills.

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Robots Vs Kung Fu (Matrix) - matrixgrindhouse

I did not care for this on initial viewing.
Luckily, Robots Vs Kung Fu is brief, so I rewatched. This time, yowzer!
Solid work here. Editing is deliberately, royally screwed up, in a good way, in a bad way.
Some Johnny Mnemonic scenes work better than others. All made the film funnier.
Narrative wise, the film hangs together as an alternative version.
Audio reminds me of a fourteen year old with a Casio keyboard. Moreover, some of the Hong Kong cuts distract no end. A half recognized tune caused me to go, “wait, wait, that’s from – that’s from --”

On the plus side, and this is major, there is an outstanding commentary track! Focused, always pertinent to onscreen activity, informative, interesting. This is one of the best commentaries I have listened to, including a lot of so-called professional ones. Top marks here.

For what this set out to do, make a crappy, enjoyable grind version of The Matrix, this succeeded brilliantly.
Looking forward to chapter 2 – no matter how many decades it takes.

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Alien3: Third Cut - 15MaF

Filesize = 6.8 GB, Video = 1920 X 808p h265, Audio = 640 kbps, 5.1 AC3. No subs.

This is a terrific edit of a film I had previously regarded as flawed and unmendable.
The narrative now flows and makes good sense. Real story telling here.
Video editing is rock solid, no complaints, I like what 15MaF has done.
Audio is another matter. The 5.1 sound is pretty loud, often boomy. The soundscape overwhelms the dialogue most of the time. Conversations are muffled, murky or flat out indecipherable.
This undercuts the story. No subtitles hurts this particular edit.
Alien3 was always drama driven, not the adrenaline overload like its predecessors, and is miles superior to what followed.
I recommend this improved version to anyone still longing for a good experience.
Nice bonuses include cover art and a detailed change list.

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Halloween 6 Hybrid Cut (Halloween 6 Theatrical and Producer’s Cut) BobbyDigital.

Halloween 6 was always a film that just never quite worked in either of its officially released versions. The Theatrical cut was an incomprehensible mess and the Producer’s cut was a boring slog. So here comes BobbyDigital with his Hybrid cut that seeks to take the 2 versions of the film and mix them together to create a cut that feels more complete. He succeeds quite well in improving the movie by putting in most of Donald Pleasance’s scenes, and mostly keeping to the pacing of the Theatrical cut with the best improvements from the Producer’s cut, namely actually decent editing, and some nice shots that give the impression of characters being watched. In fact, for the first half of the movie I was quite enjoying it, but after Tommy Doyle and Kara Strode meet up the flaws of the original film become too great that even with the improvements this cut makes the film still isn’t good. Most of the characters are still too underdeveloped to care about, and the film alternates from being too slow, to being too fast and half-baked with the transition to the final act. Using the final act of the Theatrical edition is also a great choice, as the Producer’s cut ending is just too weird and has no tension. It’s a shame because this edit really helps to show the potential that this film had to be really good. The quality was quite good throughout. The video was crisp and looked really good, and I didn’t notice any edits. The cutting between the 2 versions is fantastic, and while the movie itself still isn’t great, this edit does make it a lot better and I’d say this is the definitive edition of the movie. The edit itself gets a 9/10 And while the movie itself still isn’t good, the edit has bumped the film up to be part of my yearly Halloween movie marathon. If you’re going to check out Halloween 6 it should be this edition.

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 (Edited)

The Man With The Golden Gun (LESS IS MOORE Edition) - MusicEd

Filesize = 12.4 GB, Video = 1920 X 1080p AVC, Audio = 384 kbps AAC 2-Channel stereo. No subs.

An acceptable Moore outing gets a trim, and now hews closer to a Connery Bond.
Biggest cut, J.W. Pepper, who was unendurable in **Live And Let Die”” and completely pointless for the second Moore vehicle. Of course, the car chase is likewise in the disposal, which is also great if you, like me, find chases overlong padding.
Using the Alice Cooper band’s “The Man With The Golden Gun” makes common sense, though Lulu’s version echoes Bassey’s brassy rendition. AC was more relevant at the time, Lulu more British.
Editing, video and audio is excellent. Video especially so.
The audio is murky in places, primarily Maud Adams around the 1:05 point.
Filesize is pretty big, beyond the range of most DVD-R. I doubt enthusiasts of fanedits will devote limited drive space to saving these larger edits.
This edit makes a solid case for Moore as 007. Subsequent forays would grow sillier and bloated, in keeping with the zeitgeist of the 70’s.
MusicEd’s overhaul is superb. Bond fans should see this, I wish Roger Moore had seen it.

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Blade 3 Behead The King (Blade Trinity) - CBB

Filesize = 5.4 GB, Video = 720 X 480p AVC, Audio = 316 kbps 5.1 AAC. Subs = yes.

As most know, the original had problems which killed the franchise.
Boon strips away most of the stupidity, the incompetent dialogue, crowd service.
The result is a propulsive, action driven comic. Not much thinking goes on.
Like the original, the edit is “too white”, the villain hammy, and in Boon’s version, the ending is weird.
While I enjoyed this, I have major, major reservations.
I believe this was originally a DVD. What is currently available is an mp4, omitting bonus material.
The sound mix envelopes and the dialogue clear. There are subtitles, yet they are indifferently timed. Sometimes preceding comments, other times tarrying behind, and other times missing.
Worse by far, there is a hiccup, a glitch, that occurs every four seconds, throughout the entire edit.
This is a glaring error and would never have been approved in 2006.
Consequently, I urge those who want to view this work to track down the original DVD and bypass the mp4.
I must confess it was nice to see closing credits with Fanedited com. Bygone times.

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King Kong (Vintage Edition) - GEKKO

The most padded version of the hairy thunderer gets a makeover. The film is given the black n white treatment, as well as much needed pruning.

Video - 720 X 480p AVC. This was the mp4 file. Editing is excellent, though the picture is not always solid. Again, this was an SD file and one expects lower quality. Many of the dinosaur scenes still look like garbage. When Ann Driscoll is running head to head with the 'saur it is fake looking. Increasing grain may have smoothed this.

Audio - 82 kbps (variable) AAC, 2 Channel. No subs. Dialogue is discernible.

Despite losing a third of the running time, the narrative holds together. Pacing still feels sluggish, however

Yes, I know Gekko cut over an hour. It is still too damn long to be enjoyable. And while the editor aimed to focus on the 3 Ds, only Ann Driscoll merits the time. Jack Black is the definition of hammy here, and Adrian Brody sleepwalks his performance. I appreciate that GEKKO wanted to emulate the 30’s version, but this does not resemble that. At best, this is watchable, more so if you are a fan of the 2005 Jackson movie.

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Miami Vice: Score - RangerKris

Filesize = 5.47 GB, Video = 512 X 384p AVC, Audio = 317 AAC, 2-Channel stereo. No subs.

Combination of the two-part “Golden Triangle” episodes.
After meandering around with counterfeiters, crooked cops and hookers, and abandoning those, the plot left turns into “newly arrived” Lieutenant Castillo’s backstory.
His old nemesis has emigrated from Asia and is now in Miami, setting up operations for heroin smuggling and human trafficking.
Castillo squares off his team against one with more muscle, financially, politically, socially.
The audio is fine in this. The video seems curiously washed out, notable for a series famed for its saturated hues. Grain is also evident.
This series could really benefit from a complete restoration. This is not it.
What this is, is a fine adaptation of two television episodes. The look, style, image ratio, etc, is TV.
While I enjoyed watching, and can appreciate the work involved in this edit, I doubt I will rewatch.

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Return Of Don Hardy (Criss Cross + The Underneath) - Steven Soderbergh

This time out, Mr Soderbergh mixes 1949’s “Criss Cross” with his own remake, “The Underneath” (1995). A damaged male, longing for a corrupted ex, allows himself to get sucked into a caper. The classic Noir benefits from a powerhouse cast and superb pacing. The remake, though a bit sluggish, delves more into characters.

Video - 1920 X 1080 AVC. Burt Lancaster on one side, Peter Gallagher on the other. Both prints are sharp. The 1995 film is letterboxed, so takes up more of the screen. The 1949 version is more “active” so the eye gets drawn there.

Audio - 256 kbps AAC. Stereo? Both VLC and Spek Bitrate indicated stereo, but the experience through headphones seemed mono for most of the edit. Not a big deal.
As with a few of his other works, the editor has wiped the original audio and replaced with music cues, in this case, songs. In previous reviews, I have grumbled about this editor, his tendency to select music that has no bearing with screen proceedings. Here, the music pairs nicely. If I have an issue, he lets some songs play on too long. Example: during a “love scene” Sam Phillips croons in the background. The scene ends, she’s still piping. Please, fade the track. You have no problem rearranging video elements, do the same for audio.

The narrative holds together well. Sans dialogue, this is a fine example of “show don’t tell.” The basic story is easy to follow, and the editor has cut so that each film informs the other. Impressive work, this.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Would I rewatch? Probably not. This is not as good as the original, “Criss Cross,” but I found it better his own “The Underneath” remake. I also appreciate that he is editing one of his own works, something else I have mentioned. This edit is an arresting concept and I would recommend it.
Soderbergh does not provide a commentary, but his extension765 (still online 2022) offers insight in “Evolution Of An Approach”.

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Transformers: The Movie - Ultimate Prime Edition - orderlyroddypiper

Disclaimer: The way I choose to review movies and edits is that I show brutal honesty. What I mean is that while I will most certainly praise a film for its positive points? I will not hold back when an issue presents itself. With fan-edits I try to temper this as much as possible considering these aren’t made by professional teams and studios but I also don’t try to completely shy away because I just don’t feel comfortable in hiding my true feelings on something. If you are the editor and happen to be reading this? Just know this. I am in no way trying to discredit your efforts. In fact, I greatly appreciate the amount of time and patience that has gone into this and I think there is still something to be said about how fun it is to view these alternate versions of films and shows to see just how it could’ve been done a little differently and the idea that someone who has chosen this as their hobby winds up discouraged because of negativity saddens me.

That being said, I also feel if you put out a product regardless of if it’s something you pay money for or an edit you download for free that honesty in reviews is of the utmost importance because it is through that honesty that editors can learn how to potentially improve their craft and at the very least, it adds to the discussion. My opinions are just my opinions and you are free to do with them what you please and if you are a viewer who happens to like an edit I criticize? That’s great and I hope you do keep loving it and that more people give it a try. Sometimes edits can just not be for someone.

While Star Wars is certainly a franchise I’m basically a fanatic for? My true first love is for a certain series involving warring robots that can change shape and disguise themselves as vehicles and everyday objects. Now to be clear, I’m not a child of the 80s, my first exposure to the Transformers came in the 2000s with Armada and more specifically the PS2 game but over the years I’ve become more than aware of the impact the original G1 series has had on people, especially the 1986 animated film which over the years has become a cult-classic for its amazing soundtrack, great animation and action and what it did for the lore of the series.

For me though? The movie honestly is kind of overrated. I could understand the positivity more when say, we only had the Bay films in terms of Transformers movies to compare it to which made it the best by default but now after the release of Bumblebee and when comparing it to other stories told in this series? I feel under re-evaluation more of the movie’s issues show through. The new characters are not particularly strong and season 3 of the cartoon doesn’t do a whole lot to alleviate those issues, when you really think about it this is still blatantly a toy commercial with how all these elements of lore like the Matrix and Unicron come right out of nowhere with the movie pretending all of these were established facts in the first place without any hint of these being a reveal for the audience and then there’s, of course, the first portion of the movie having established characters of the first two seasons being ruthlessly murdered and it all culminating in the death of Optimus Prime. Now I’m of two minds of that last part, on the one hand, because of my lack of connection to G1 (For reference, my Optimus death that traumatized me was ROTF’s.) and growing up with shows like Dragon Ball Z, these don’t really affect me that much with me more being surprised and kind of impressed with the guts on display here, especially since with the exception of the Bay films and Cliffjumper since Prime, the series doesn’t really tend to kill named characters and Prime dying at this point I was aware was just a thing that happened that it didn’t really affect me.

On the other hand though? It is just odd how all these established characters die and yet no one, even in the quiet moments when you could feasibly expect characters to start taking a moment to grieve ever thinks back to just how much they lost with the closest being to when Arcee is looking down mournfully at Wheeljack’s body and Optimus’ whole death scene. Over the years we’d come to learn about the truckload of cut content and later adaptations and revisits would even attempt to rectify certain issues like IDW’s comic adaptation which in the trade included a scene where the combiner teams are battling one another to show what they were doing among other slight revisions. This brings us to the Ultimate Prime Edition, a cut by orderlyroddypiper that attempts through the use of footage from the show, other sources and various other ambitious edits to make a version of the film which not only is more epic but also has Optimus survive the whole way through. The idea is incredibly ambitious and it’s the kind of ambition I respect and hope to see more with edits of this movie, especially since we’re seeing a few people actually going as far as to animate some of the cut scenes that were storyboarded.

But ambition is one thing, what ultimately matters is the execution and if the edit works with all the changes made and… I’m so sorry to say that this is a case where the edit’s ambition was just too great for both the skills of the editor and what the movie provides to the point where even ideas that at first sound great end up falling to pieces, leaving an experience that not only doesn’t really improve upon the movie but despite its admirable ideas I feel it’s actively worse. Now normally for reviews I’d go act by act to break down what works and what doesn’t but honestly considering the movie is largely unchanged here aside from the added and changed scenes? I’m going to instead focus on certain portions of the movie where changes occur. So from the beginning to just after the battle between Blaster and Soundwave’s cassettes, we get a change seemingly inspired by the IDW adaptation by including a battle between the combiners and Omega Supreme which on paper is really cool and helps this to feel like a grand epic battle with everything from the cartoon but in execution does a lot of harm to the pacing and was more awkward to witness. It comes just after Blaster says “We’re all gonna look like burnt out toaster ovens.” and is a hard cut from the battle scene we see straight to a close-up of Motormaster’s face as he tells the Stunticons to unite while this rap beat plays. The transition doesn’t work because it doesn’t shift gracefully to the Stunticons, it just happens and what’s strange especially is that in the original movie, the transition was a fade to black which could’ve been utilized here to potentially make things work more smoothly. Then there’s the music which does not fit remotely with how the film is scored in any capacity. I get that when it comes to this you really can’t win given Transformers is an incredibly old series and you have to just accept that regardless of what you pick it’s not gonna exactly match up with the movie’s music but I feel the conclusion to just use a genre of music that isn’t even represented in the soundtrack, doesn’t match the 80s vibe or even the dire tone of the fight in Autobot City at all is much more distracting than anything. Speaking of distracting, the footage really doesn’t do a good job of matching up with the movie since while aesthetically it kind of matches? The problem is that the movie really took advantage of the higher budget and increased time to make characters look far more detailed and the animation much more dynamic for the time. The original cartoon… doesn’t really have animation that can match that and that’s not me trying to be cruel. The thing about melding animation from a TV show with animation from a movie is that you really have to consider wide the gap in quality is before using it since both are made on very different schedules which greatly affect the overall quality.

And in the case of 80s cartoons like Transformers where the animation was often produced quickly and cheaply? This is where you’re especially gonna run into problems considering the animation of these shows aesthetically don’t line up with the movies and often were very inconsistent and that problem gets compounded when multiple sources are used. This version of the movie uses the original cartoon, sped up Scramble City footage with replaced sounds (Including one instance of a rock hitting Bruticus’ head that’s way too loud.), slowed down footage from the cartoon and it all culminates in a mess of a fight. There is no sense of consistency, no clear idea of where everyone is in relation to one another and the quality varies way too much between footage (The Scramble City footage in particular looks like it was recorded off a VHS with some overblown contrast in some instances) and in the case of the original cartoon footage, the original background music is even still present which I know to a degree is a nitpick considering the audio track produced for the cartoon was a mono track and likely none of the master materials for the audio has survived but it’s still incredibly distracting. The thing about the IDW trade and why it was able to have a scene like that in the first place is because it’s original art created for it that has to capture a moment in time and in that moment in time, everyone’s battling all at once and thus it fits with the pace of the movie. In the actual movie, to make a change like this work gracefully you’d need a great deal of patience and skill to really work to tie all these elements together in a way that sticks with the movie because the cartoon used every trick in the book make things easier to animate from keeping fights down to usually one-on-one bouts and making most of the fights grapple matches. Not only that but the edit makes the odd choice to give us a fight between Devastator and Omega Supreme and while I can give props considering I get the thinking was that this is a robotic city similar to Autobot City and had an orange sky which matches up with the later scenes? Not only is the color completely different but considering Omega Supreme showed up in the mountainous regions to help Defensor and Superion earlier and due to the limitations of the footage? Omega just teleports basically to where the Constructicons are to get bodied. If this scene wasn’t included then maybe I could’ve tweaked my analysis to think “Well at least it admirably tries to include a scenario from the IDW comic.” and look past the limitations aside from the technical hiccups while still saying the scene shouldn’t be here for pacing reasons? This really crippled it. It’s a choice that feels like it was made for the sake of being cool and not for the sake of the story or pacing.

And unfortunately this really sets the standard for edits like this since we then get how the edit chooses to have Prime live. Now idea-wise? It works. Megatron grabs the pistol he used to kill him in the original film, Prime notices the move and then opens fire. That being said, there are a few problems here with the first being the general oddities with the edits. For the most part the footage is pretty clear and definitely using one of the recent releases of the film but then on occasion it changes over to what looks like badly upscaled footage of the film, particularly when Megatron gets knocked off the platform where outlines are suddenly blurry and look a lot like watercolor and every time it happens it distracts me quite a bit. Next there’s the matter of it using cartoon footage to have Optimus shown firing at Megatron which is quick but in this time, the music completely changes, the environment around Prime doesn’t look right and he’s two-handing his rifle. The animation quality is also different and the music just snaps back to the film’s score which is jarring and then there’s the hard cut from the Decepticons rushing towards Megatron to them surrounding him which leads to the score jumping to a later point with no graceful transition and the same happens when Starscream shows up. Now to a degree, I get what the point was for the previous edit since it was editing around Optimus struggling to stand and collapsing but honestly considering the damage he suffered to his side? I feel with some creative editing it could’ve been better to have Optimus still doing that like he’s just now taking a moment to deal with his injuries but the Starscream one confuses me considering the scene isn’t like this in the regular movie with there being nothing to edit around.

I’m really not gonna focus on how this messes with Hot Rod’s character arc considering the editor addressed this but I’m at the very least gonna contest that this is a worthy tradeoff given the general execution, especially of the later scene where after an admittedly nice transition, we get to Optimus’ speech about the fallen and this is honestly a commendable but still very sloppy job. It tries to stitch together lines from mainly season 1 and a few other points to make this a heartwarming remembrance speech but the lines don’t really work. I can’t fault the general quality too much considering the age of the cartoon but there’s something about “They will live forever as long as freedom exists.” that just sounds too silly. I get the general vibe that it’s about them living forever in their memories but honestly with how it’s done? It sounds like Prime accidentally implied they are not dead and will forever live on as long as there’s freedom, he realized in the moment how silly that sounded and so he quickly added “We shall remember you.” so that he doesn’t look stupid. I would go over specifically every edit but honestly they keep up this general theme.

The edit is also loaded with technical problems from audio jumps to quality dips in both the audio and footage, multiple times where the intended edit creates continuity and consistency issues and with the addition of footage from the season 3 episodes involving the hate plague, a subplot that ends up created which distracts entirely from the main story. It all culminates in a final product that makes me more appreciate what the original film was trying to do and understand now that the worst take on this story is not the Deviations comic. Overall, this gets a 4/10 from me. A great effort and idea but marred by very poor execution and overambition.

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Black Lotus: The Movie v1.13 (Blade Runner: Black Lotus) - Wakeupkeo

Filesize = 17.2 GB, Video = 1920 X 1080p AVC, Audio = 637 kbps, 5.1 AAC. Subs = yes.

A smart concept, set 17 years before “Blade Runner 2047”.
Unfortunately, the team that created this either did not know how to work within that world, or hedged their bets by layering other film cues.
A knowledgeable buff will recognize elements from “The Matrix”, “Total Recall”, “Blade”, “Ghost In The Shell” and a slew of Japanese action swordplay.
Exciting, but veering from the Blade Runner world is hardly faithful.
OK, the edit.
This looks amazing! Even dark scenes, and this series is replete with them, are sharp and detailed.
While I glanced at the cut list, there was nothing to see. Editing is smooth and crisp throughout.
Audio is a dynamic 5.1, but good voice actors (not always a given).
Bonus applause for providing competent subtitles.
The “look” of key locations: Los Angeles streets, the Tyrell Building, the Bradbury Building, all exceed expectations.

Over an hour has been trimmed, and the narrative remains coherent and intelligent.
Most of the fight scenes are too damn long, however. In my opinion.
They are exhausting and repetitive. After awhile, I fast forward through those.
Personal taste, I would have preferred to see those trimmed hard, and bring run time down to 2 hours.
No matter. This is a spectacular edit. Blade Runner audience, forego the series, see this!
And sit through those credits!

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Monster Zero (Kaijû Daisensô) - Red Menace

Filesize = 14.7 GB, Video = 1920 X 818p AVC, Audio = 192 kbps AAC, 2-Channel stereo. No Subs.

Newly discovered Planet X reaches out to Earth, asking for assistance.
Monster Zero is destroying their world. Visiting astronauts identity the monster as Ghidorah!
Planet X wants Godzilla and Rodan to defeat Ghidorah and offers a cure for disease in exchange.
Earth leaders, a gullible lot, hand over the beasts, blind to what Planet X is actually after.
Beautifully restored by Red Menace, as part of numerous Godzilla restorations.
Video is clean, sharp, well colored.
Audio is the English dub (I would have preferred Japanese) where you can hear Nick Adams.
Far from the best Godzilla film, though not the worst, this is easily one of the best looking versions of this middling outing. Gojira fans, get this and lament the folly of men.

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The Curse (The VVitch) - Maniac

Filesize = 5.4 GB, Video = 1920 X 1080p AVC, Audio = 1536 kbps, 5.1 DTS. No subs.

Maniac really pares this down to essentials.
With the run time of a B-movie, the story itself now packs more mystery than the original.
This is a blighted family, cursed, literally, by the father’s overweening pride.
Outside the settlement, their survival chances soon sour.
Thomasin is less victim in this, and more ambiguous.
One wonders if she had made a fateful decision earlier, say in the village that banished them.
Cutting and editing is smooth, and this condensed version is coherent, at least the narrative.
This features an enveloping 5.1 score, at times overwhelming.
Dialogue is still old New-English (without the dropped r’s) and often muffled.
Worth watching, though I was never especially keen on the original.

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Terminator Extended Edition - Rhythm Rice

Filesize = 1.2 GB, Video = 720 X 418p AVC, Audio = 128 kbps AAC, 2-Channel stereo. No subs.

Deleted scenes are reinserted, making for a longer experience.
Not necessarily better, however.
The excised scenes are of lower quality, visually and sometimes audibly.
Moreover, they do not, to my way of thinking, add much to the characters.
Sarah, in fact, seems a little more dippy.
Her exchanges with Reese reveal almost no chemistry between the leads.
Reese’s observations, though, are haunting.
The knowledge that all this will be gone, swept away within a generation is chilling.
Likewise, his acknowledgement that he is a man out of place in this time, that he does not belong, is a painful truth and should have been left in.
I enjoyed watching this, can appreciate the professional work done, but I doubt I will ever rewatch.

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Miami Vice: 03 Redemption - RangerKris

Filesize = 5.14 GB, Video = 512 X 384p AVC, Audio = 317 kbps AAC, 2-Channel stereo. No subs.

Mix of two early episodes (“Evan” and “Definitely Miami”), both Crockett focused.
The editing is smooth throughout, gliding the stories back and forth.
Stylishly, the stories are very different, one mostly dark, the other bright.
“Evan”, from S01, has a more subdued color palette than “Definitely Miami”, which is more saturated, and probably how most remember this series.
Music terrific in this one, although the dialogue is muffled half the time.
Filesize strikes me as too large for the video and audio.
At 77 minutes, the length of time is spot on.
RangerKris changed into Ranger613 after this, then dropped out of the hobby.
Too bad, he was improving each time out.

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Three Fveking Bears (Rambo, et al) - Vilgefortz

Filesize = 7.6 GB, Video = 1920 X 1080p AVC, Audio = 192 kbps AC-3, 2-Channel stereo. No subs.

“Why are you pushing me?”
Rambo’s initial story, totally reworked, via flashbacks and voiceovers.
The flashbacks work to propel the narrative pace of this irreverent actioner.
Contemplative lulls are fewer here. Prudish Americans ought to brace for steamy nudity, as well.
The voiceover work is funny as hell. Rambo sounds like he is sippin’ syrup throughout, just about to nod off into permanent dreamland.
Here and there, the image is battered, though not overly so.
Dialogue is fairly clear – I gripe about this frequently. I listened through headphones.
Too bad Neglify is no longer reviewing. This is one he should have enjoyed.

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This Rambo edit looks awesome. Is there anyway I can see it? Cheers.

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Ripley (Alien3 & Resurrection) - Job Willins

Editor Job Willins previous edit - Derelict - was an arresting and entertaining comparison of two of the stronger entries in the Alien canon. If anything, Derelict shows how much the Prometheus lot echoed / borrowed / swiped from the original Alien movie. This second edit mixes two of the most misunderstood, if not roundly disliked Alien films, Alien³ and Resurrection. Skepticism notwithstanding, I dropped in to have a look.

Video - 1280 X 720p MPEG-4. As with Derelict, Ripley is also rendered black n white. Too dark, especially in the first third, to my liking. Brightness could be boosted a bit, and yes I understand filmmakers use smoke and shadows to mask budgetary limitations. I strained to make out foreground details. A curious thing I noticed was two (2) video streams. After demuxing, the smaller stream revealed itself to be a series of ten still frames. Time markers for the editor perhaps? Or perhaps an abandoned menu design? I had never seen that before.

Editing itself was uniformly fine. Now and then, an inspired cut from one film to another. Most struck me as random.

Audio - 2 Channel AAC, 251 Kb variable. No subs. Despite being a pair of actioners, the dynamic range is not especially sweeping. Dialogue understandable throughout.

Narrative - Ripley suffers in comparison with Derelict. Ripley is two films from two different periods of the timeline. The edited story bounces about like a pinball. There seems no reason for this. The editor simply could have assembled his film chronologically, rather than this random method. Both storylines are weak on plot. Characters are poorly drawn, and even Ripley is barely more than a cipher. This is especially true for the Resurrection half.

Part of the problem lies with the original films themselves. Garbage in, garbage out, as the saying goes. Job Willins is trying to forge a superior viewing experience from poor stories.

Enjoyment - Less than ecstatic, I’m afraid. I disliked both films when I first screened them theatrically. They failed to improve after seeing on VHS and later DVD. The stories are simply weak, the characters unmemorable. This edit did nothing to improve my opinion.

The closing credits ought to have mirrored the opening credits, by the way. The closing credits, rolling to oblivion, are too busy and an unfortunate choice.

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Alien Elements (AvP) - ThrowgnCpr

I must confess I have a fondness for AvP, and rewatch it frequently.
Early on, some odd business relocates AvP from the Pole to the pyramids.
It feels shoehorned in and is awkward.
Once our modern (future) team is inside “the pyramid,” the tempo charges ahead.
No idea who characters are, other than they act as quick meals for the xenomorth.
Despite sharp editing throughout, the story is a bit of a jumble sale.
Interesting ideas, but fairly incoherent. I wanted to like this.
Part of me wonders if this was a learning experience for the editor, as he certainly went on to craft on a higher level.
Worthwhile short, nevertheless. Especially for fledgling editors, seeing the baby steps of editors who are now leaders.

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Lone Wolf (Wolf Creek - Wolf Creek 2) - Maniac

Maniac combines Wolf Creek and Wolf Creek 2 into one blood drenched fantasy reel for Mick Taylor lovers. Mind you, a little of smiling Mick goes a long way.

Video - 1920 X 1080p AVC. Day scenes were vivid, nights equally so. I like how the two movies have been shuffled somewhat. The first half seems to have more cuts and editing, and moves quicker as a result. Much of the finale occurs in Mick’s “den,” a grisly bachelor pad, with more static camera work.

Audio - Dialogue (Mick’s nonsense, along with whimpering, pleading, groaning, etc …) is clean, though Mick’s Oz Outback accent can be a strain at times. No subs, although hardsubs given for German hikers. No unusual fadeouts, music cuts. New Isham music is effective.

Narrative - As noted, a little of this goes a long way. Most of the cuts are of the “meals” or victims, so must viewers will not develop much empathy for them. Not that you have much empathy with Mick, he’s still the spooky neighbor you try not to engage with.
To be blunt, the narrative is huntin’ - hurtin’ - killin’.

Enjoyment - Ohhhhhhhhhh, not so much. I liked both features, they seemed to breathe more. This edit is a remorseless grind. To be fair, Maniac retained the dread of both films, the trapped, doomed ambiance that worms into the viewer’s gut. Few of Maniac’s edits are happy rides. This nasty slice shredded humanity will surely please Maniac’s fans.

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Black Sabbath: Master Of Reality Documentary - 2022 - The Tapes Archive

Absorbing end-to-end “fan” documentary on the making of “Master Of Reality”.
Background, historical timetables, comments by group members, the whole Satanic thing.
No lulls, rarely dull, excellent use of images (group, commercials, news footage, film clips),
Only quibble I had was the creator-writer-producer also does all the narrating.
Other voices would vary the listening experience and, in my opinion, make this better.
Still, this labor of love production is absolutely first rate!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6GTf6rOepQ

After the show -
^

My first Sabbath concert was when they were supporting the newly released “Master Of Reality”.
The next morning, I was chatting on campus with a female friend who had also attended.
“Did you notice the singer in the jumpsuit?” she said. “He had an erection the whole show!”
“Guys don’t really stare at another man’s crotch,” I said. “Why would you do that?”
“Because,” she shrugged. Then she started staring down at my pants.
After a minute, I started getting aroused. “Hey, stop that! I have to go to class.”
“That is how we do it,” she smiled. “And as for why … because – we – can.”
Thousands of female eyes gazing at Ozzy that show, resistance was futile.
^

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Eyes Wide Shut The Eyepainter Edit

I have always loved most Kubrick films. A Clockwork Orange became one of my favorite movies as a kid when I snagged the video disc (the ones that look like records not big cds) from one of my parent’s video disc rental stores. 2001 changed my entire outlook on SF films when I was a kid. I was that nerd who ducked his head in the Star Wars crowd because I liked Kubrick more than Lucas.

That being said, I was immediately drawn to Eyes Wide Shut when it was released. I couldn’t fathom Top Gun Tom and his trophy wife in a Kubrick film.

I was surprised, neither were bad and seemed entirely in their element playing surreal characters.

When my friend, Eyepainter first announced that they were going to put their spin on this Kubrick classic, his last dance before the big one, I was curious?

The length of time that it took to finish the commentary track made me almost forget about the edit. The controversy surrounding the nudity in the art that I did for the edit kept me interested (the original uncensored art is a bonus included in the download).

I’m not going to give the edit away but I will say that Eyepainter accomplished what they set out to do with this edit. It’s top notch.

It seems a bit soft and a little grainy to me but that didn’t take me out of it.

Excellent work, as always, my friend! See you in Gotham City!

Forever in search of that one movie experience…

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Bladerunner: Tears In The Rain - ranger613

Excellent Noir rendition of Blade Runner.
Creative, using Roy’s, and other replicants, point of view to drive the narrative.
Storywise, everything made sense - which is not always a given with such rearranging.
Pacing was good, I never got bored or felt the need to take a break.

Video: Others have written about the high contrast black and white.
I did not have as many problems, though a softer, grainier look would have been more appropriate to true Noir.
No problems whatsoever with audio. Excellent cutting and editing all around.

Note: This edit was a large file, but well worth chasing down if you are on the fence, deciding about watching.
Tears In The Rain is an inventive spin on a favorite film I have watched dozens of times.