Mike O

Someone hit my car while it was in park in a parking space in a parking lot because of turning the wrong way. I’ve been on the phone with this person a couple of times, and filed a claim with my insurance company. Unfortunately, she needs to file a claim with her’s, and she hasn’t yet. I really don’t want to be difficult or stay on her, but I really need her to do this. My car needs some (thankfully minor) body work as a result, and her insurance company should be paying it.

SilverWook said:

It’s George Lucas’ first movie, of course there’s a market. Put From the creator of Star Wars on the cover and it will sell. They release far more obscure stuff through the archive because they don’t print more than needed.

How many people really want to watch this uncut without a guy and two robots riffing on it? 😉

It’s the typical non answer probably because George has the clout to keep the original buried. If TCM can’t show it, then Warner Bros. can’t release it either.

Which is why I thought that even the alleged presence of the 1971 cut on AIV and Vudu seemed so weird to me; why even pretend it still exists? Like I said, any interested parties here could hit them up on Twitter to ask. Couldn’t hurt.

Speaking of weird, Silverwook, my iPhone shows you having a different avatar than my PC. Strange.

Yeah, it’s probably down to Lucas as usual 😦. I wish there was some way to squeeze like there was with Star Wars, but I just think that the interest level is too low.

The Grindhouse Edition really does look as terrible as advertised 😉.

SilverWook said:

Harmy said:

So, I finally watched this movie yesterday, thanks to the grindhouse version and it was very interesting - I’m definitely still interested in doing a Despecialized version - the print is in fairly good condition but it would be great, if someone with a good knowledge of this movie could take poita’s scan and identify all the shots that would be needed to replace altered one’s, so that those can be cleaned first.

The changes are far more extensive than anything done to the Special Editions. I don’t envy you the work you’d have to put in on this one.

I’d buy that for a dollar 😉.

Harmy said:

So, I finally watched this movie yesterday, thanks to the grindhouse version and it was very interesting - I’m definitely still interested in doing a Despecialized version - the print is in fairly good condition but it would be great, if someone with a good knowledge of this movie could take poita’s scan and identify all the shots that would be needed to replace altered one’s, so that those can be cleaned first.

It arguably needs it as much as Star Wars. Anyone have the old LD to compare against the 35mm print?

I hit up Warner Archive on Twitter. They didn’t comment on the issue of the so-called theatrical cuts on Vudu and AIV, but said they have “no plans to release the original on disc at this time.” Maybe if more people blew up their Twitter with requests, they’d know there’s a market? I doubt it, but hey.

According to Osbourne on my VHS tape’s intro, it was the “TCM debut.” He must’ve meant of the director’s cut. I’ve notified Amazon and Vudu that what they list as the theatrical version isn’t, and today I let WB know too. I don’t for one minute expect any answer, but hey. A DVD-R (or preferably Blu-ray MOD) release would be ideal, but I’d bet that pigs will fly before that happens. I hit up WB Archive on Twitter too, for the hell of it.

The Vudu version of the “theatrical cut” was the Special Edition too. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten so excited. Ah, well. Damn shame about the TCM airings always being the director’s cut, they ought to be fucking ashamed. That goes against their whole mission statement. With the Disney buyout and all the public interest, there is a possibility of Star Wars eventually having its theatrical cut restored in HD, the chances for THX 1138 are essentially non-existent, especially given the current state of the physical media market.

nickyd47 said:

Mike O said:

rodneyfaile said:

Where is 4K77 ?!

Behind 4K THX 1138.

I want a 4K version of THX but it’ll probably be the 2004 Director’s Cut.
Maybe I should trash pick for a 35MM print of it

That’s what I’m saying; someone should try to salvage THX 1138 while it’s still possible.

They stuff they padded it out with from the appendices was fine. The stuff they just added in to pad out the time? That was much more problematic. No question, it could’ve easily been one movie that was 3-4 hours. Easily.

Wazzles said:

Mike O said:

J0E said:

Mike O said:

Possessed said:

Personally my friends and I didn’t like the first Hobbit movie, so I’m honestly amazed the sequels got made.

I am like the lone apologist for those films.

I picked up the Extended Cut DVD’s the other day from Walmart and I just got through the first one last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I haven’t gotten through the entire trilogy yet, but if the next two movies are as good as the first, I’ll put them on par with the LOTR Trilogy.

They aren’t as good as LOTr, I freely admit that. They have lots of problems, and there are huge chunks of them that you could cut out. But the accusation that they’re as bad as the Star Wars prequels is frankly just insane. The casting alone puts them head and shoulders above.

They have some of the same issues, being prequels and all, but their major faults are being terrible adaptations of the book.

I think part of them are terrific adaptations of the book; the first hour or so of the first movie is almost word-for-word. The stuff they added in that’s actually in Tolkien is pretty good; the Dol Goldur stuff, etc. The material they just added to pad things out like the inter-species romance, not so much.

rodneyfaile said:

Where is 4K77 ?!

Behind 4K THX 1138.

I checked with Amazon Instant Video, sadly, in spite of what they list, the so-called 1971 version is in fact the 2004 cut. I knew it was too good to be true 😦.

Apparently I just will never see it.

towne32 said:

SilverWook said:

Isn’t the work in progress Grindhouse version still floating around?

Yes, it’s on myspleen. 720p and has Laserdisc frames replacing the missing ones.

Yeah, but with no more invites, you can’t get onto that 😉.

The Amazon version is the theatrical cut.

ray_afraid said:

suspiciouscoffee said:

Would The Last Starfighter count as a Star Wars knockoff?

Nah.
Also, Message From Space is awesome.

Is that the one with the starfish monsters?

Mud- Matthew McConaughey vehicle continues his career resurrection. Hugely atmospheric slice of Southern Gothic with good performances, but a little slow-moving.

Magic Mike- Matthew McConaughey and Channing Tatum, both in roles tailor-made for them. Soderberg blends his usual intelligent social commentary with a thoroughly familiar, almost cliched storyline to surprising effect. Tatum proves very amicable, and McConaughey has a great time as the sleazebag strip club owner who sells sex and fantasy with a colossal ego. Not exactly subject matter in which I had a vested interest, but interesting.

Killer Joe- Another Matthew McConaughey vehicle, this one from fallen 70s aeuter William Friedkin. At age 78, Friedkin remains ever the provocateur, and the movie pushes the envelope and is anarchic and unruly in the best ways. Sadly, it feels more like a freak show-I watch the black comedy car accident with perverse interest, but the black humor in the more vulgar moments feels very ill-judged, and the characters are kind of repugnant. It’s the kind of thing you with with interest but not necessarily involvement, at least it was for me. Great performances though, McConaughey’s charisma is twisted into something darker and more malevolent. Shot digitally, Caleb Deschanel is a superb DOP, and the film is stunning looking, but doesn’t quite have the atmosphere of Mud, even if it’s more lurid. Maybe the baking heat is just an easier thing to convey on grainy celluloid than on crisp digital. I still think the grainy 16mm of Hooper’s original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the closest I’ve ever come to smelling a movie. Speaking of which…

The Devil’s Rejects- Rob Zombie’s sadistic throwback to the 70s horror movies he loves has it down stylistically. None of the trendy and shiny cinematography, annoying digital FX, and rapid-fire editing of newer remakes, it’s shot on grainy Super 16 with a 70s southern rock soundtrack. The whole movie is cast with exploitation icons and feels wonderfully ragged and dirty. Sadly, Zombie doesn’t appear to have absorbed any of the underlying social context of the movies he loves, so his homage feels empty, just a parade of stylized sadism with no center. You could argue there’s a subtext of becoming monstrous fighting monsters, but it’s awful thin. The cast are all having a sleazy great time though, a terrifying Sid Haig, a gleefully profane Bill Mosley, and a hilariously redneck William Forsythe as an Elvis-loving sheriff. “I’m sure your knowledge of bullshit is limitless!”

Anyone know anything about the Amazon/Vudu versions? The idea the original version coming out under our noses sounds way too good to be true.

Is the version on Amazon Instant Video the original cut?

Damn. I really would like to see the original cut in widescreen and all. Maybe when this project finishes 😉.

EDIT: Why are there two versions of the film on Vudu? They’re both listed as having the same run-time of the director’s cut. Weird.

EDIT 2: Amazon Instant video does the same thing.

However I can, because living in my parents’ house means I’m rapidly running out of space.

Wazzles said:

Mike O said:

My VHS of the first-ever TCM airing has the green opening text, the red WB logo, etc. Looks like it was the DC even back then. Shame on TCM, showing something like that goes against their entire manifesto. Short of this project ever finishing, looks like I’ll never see the theatrical cut. And thus never see this movie. What a fucking shame.

You can pick up a VHS copy pretty cheap on eBay.

Yeah, but panned-and-scanned, right?

Yeah, but they have kept their name off the movies for the most part, at least so far.

J0E said:

Mike O said:

Possessed said:

Personally my friends and I didn’t like the first Hobbit movie, so I’m honestly amazed the sequels got made.

I am like the lone apologist for those films.

I picked up the Extended Cut DVD’s the other day from Walmart and I just got through the first one last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I haven’t gotten through the entire trilogy yet, but if the next two movies are as good as the first, I’ll put them on par with the LOTR Trilogy.

They aren’t as good as LOTR, I freely admit that. They have lots of problems, and there are huge chunks of them that you could cut out. But the accusation that they’re as bad as the Star Wars prequels is frankly just insane. The casting alone puts them head and shoulders above.

SilverWook said:

Mike O said:

My VHS of the first-ever TCM airing has the green opening text, the red WB logo, etc. Looks like it was the DC even back then. Shame on TCM, showing something like that goes against their entire manifesto. Short of this project ever finishing, looks like I’ll never see the theatrical cut. And thus never see this movie. What a fucking shame.

Did you look past that point just to be sure? The lizard shot isn’t that far in.

I was going by the movie-censorship.com list of changes. I’ll check the lizard, but it did have the color-change on the monitors, so I’m pretty sure.

The question is, how many can the general public take before they get bored with it?

paja said:

Is it just me or is Gollum from LOTR and The Hobbit the most realistic CG character?

Have seen Serkins in the new Planet of the Apes movies?

It wouldn’t even be possible, but I’d like a grimy Boba Fett heist movie in the mold of Stark’s Parker novels.

My VHS of the first-ever TCM airing has the green opening text, the red WB logo, etc. Looks like it was the DC even back then. Shame on TCM, showing something like that goes against their entire manifesto. Short of this project ever finishing, looks like I’ll never see the theatrical cut. And thus never see this movie. What a fucking shame.

SilverWook said:

Liam Neeson beats people up is it’s own genre now. 😉

And a somewhat fun genre sometimes 😉. Hats off to the man for reinventing himself as an action hero in his 60s. Never thought anyone would ever do that.