I 'll still fall asleep halfway thru.

How many versions are out there now?
Lets see:
The original theatrical release.
Countless cable TV recuts.
The directors cut that played in Westwood for two weeks and was never seen again.
The other directors cut that made it to dvd.

And now the other other directors cut. Now called THE FINAL CUT.
Coming in September you'll now be able to own the true directors cut of Blade Runner.
(until they decide to recut it... again.)

If you know of any other versions let me know.

I can think of only one other contemporary Sci-Fi film that has more official recuts. Any guesses as to what that film could be?

emascu-bat

What???
No giant codpiece? No nipples?
The new batsuit. A "no nonsense" approach to the outfit for todays revenge motivated killier.

Full Metal Yakuza

To wind down from the rage I felt from watching this years Oscars I decided to watch FULL METAL YAKUZA.
One of the lesser known Takashi Miike films, Full Metal Yakuza tells a story of Kensuke, a janitor/cleaning man for yakuza gang. His boss, Tousa is about to go to prison for a few years. Kensuke and Tousa die in assassination shortly after imprisoning. Still. their life isn't about to end since crazy scientist builds a modern day version of Frankenstein's monster and Robocop - using robotics and parts of human bodies. The head of Kensuke is attached to the body.

Full Metal Yakuza has clear influences from Paul Verhoeven's Robocop in its idea, plot and individual scenes. Most surprising, though, was to notice that its humor is close to Troma Teams movies - Miike succees to exceed every lines of bad taste, in a way that even Lloyd Kaufman cannot compete. Robogangster has different "features", like enormous penis wobbling around and between his legs. And that hilarious, sideways-moving defence "dance" that has to be seen. This kind of movie wouldn't be anything without huge blood spurts and dismemberings. After the "light" comical approach there's a disturbing scene that includes necrophilism, that won't (hopefully) make you laugh. This film is so all over the place that it was a nice change of pace from all the self sucking that is the Academy Awards.

I suggest you see this film and get a taste of what non-western direct to video ,v-cinema has to offer.

Pete's Dragon

Why wasn't the Disney film PETE'S DRAGON a hit?





Oh thats why.
It contains unusually high levels of suck.

All This And World War II

ALL THIS AND WORLD WAR II
combines a pastiche of World War II-themed film segments (both period films and post-war action films) with the backdrop of the music of the Beatles (NOT the original songs, but cover versions by various artists). I think Paul pointed out (maybe in ANTHOLOGY) that he was proud that the enduring thing about the Beatles was that the majority of their songs were about LOVE.
So it probably wasn't the best concept to team the music of the world's best known "love songs" pop group with war footage. However, with that said, there are a few surreal moments in the film, such as marching Nazi's & Hitler rallies set to "Magical Mystery Tour". Perhaps a little subtle humor? "Roll up for the mystery tour" - war - get it? Neville Chamberlain is shown at the precise time that the lyrics "living is easy with eyes close" is sung from "Strawberry Fields Forever". Hitler is shown during "Fool on the Hill" and Mussolini during "Nowhere Man". Both the Nazi blitzkrieg invasions and Dunkirk are shown during "Long & Winding Road" (telling how long the war will be). It is bizarre to see the bombing of London with "Golden Slumbers" playing and downright bizarre to see Japanese troops marching to "Come Together".

The film seems to try and present a chronological portrayal of important events of World War II as "Help" is played over scenes of Rommel in North Africa; a segment from Casablanca where Bogie says, "I bet they're asleep all over America…" (talking about initial American isolationism?); TORA TORA TORA clips mixed with "Sun King" and "I Am the Walrus"; the WACS are mobilizing and shipping out during "She's Leaving Home"; the apathy of those at home to the Japanese "relocation" in America is played to "Let It Be"; there are cartoons showing mobilization of the U.S. to "Getting Better". "Get Back" is the soundtrack to the Nazi's marching 'backwards' (the tide of the war is changing) and even shows Hitler 'dancing'. Another effective image is that of the crew of a ship listening to Keith Moon's version of "When I'm 64" over the loud speakers. The 'theme' continues as the D-Day invasion has a backing of "A Day in the Life"; "You Never Give Me Your Money" and its line "one sweet dream" represents the Allied victory; finally, the can almost guess what will happen during "The End"…that's right, the atomic bomb.

As the credits roll, a reggae version of "Give Peace A Chance" plays over the credits -this is the one song that is not on the soundtrack. This is possibly a 'clue' to an inside message of the film. Showing the atrocities and meaningless destruction of war while subliminally applying the "love" message of the Beatles and ending with "Give Peace A Chance". That is probably also why the film got slammed mercilessly - people just couldn't see beyond the seemingly blatant "bad taste" of mixing World War II with the Beatles to see that the film is indeed a message of peace.

Ultimately, the film is almost like a '70s version of the Beatles own MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR movie - both movies leave you wondering, "What the hell is the meaning?" Ironically, I think the worst thing that happened to this film was its release by 20th Century Fox. Had it been an 'independent film', it probably would have been considered a surrealistic, dark comedy "art film".

Yep more 5,000 fingers of Dr. T

As you can see here in this clip from the finished film there is a rather crude cut in the song after the second floor verse. There was a third floor dungeon at one point.




Please click the below link to hear the original recording session master with the third floor dungeon verse intact.


Third floor dungeon-cut verse

And if you are unsure of how damn cool and crazy this film is...
Here is a little number I'm sure you'll enjoy.

He's a genius and a madman.

Reflections of Evil is a 2002 cult film by independent filmmaker Damon Packard that depicts the descent into madness and death of an obese, homeless watch salesman played by Packard. Using unconventional editing, Packard splices scenes together with nostalgic commercials and B-movies of the 1970s while also blending together several tangential narratives. The film also makes several oblique references to 9/11 and conspiracy theories including the notion of chemtrails. In an interview, Packard claimed, "I barely scratched the surface of this area" Reflections of Evil conveys heavy motifs of anger, fear, alientation, and madness.

A surreal end sequence that was filmed illegally at Universal Studios in Hollywood (including the ET Adventure) earned Packard a lifetime ban from the theme park. One only wonders if Spielberg himself has seen the film. Rumor has it that Spielberg and Lucas have tried to sue Packard.

The film was distributed by Packard himself, who literally stuffed mailboxes with his film and handed out copies around Los Angeles, California , although Packard admits that the result was less than spectacular. He has jokingkly claimed that his next film will be titled, "No Response: The Movie". I recieved my copy after Packard blanketed the parking of my old work with DVD's on everyones winshield. Mana from Hell! This film is the best I have seen. It is infectious. I cant truly describe the impact of this film. You have to see it. If you were born between 1964 and 1974 this movie will affect you. If you were born after that I suspect you will hate it.
Packard made 62,000 DVD copies of the film available for free, as well as sending thousands of them them to celebrities whose reactions were hilariously recorded on his website www.reflectionsofevil.com. His Reflections spoof of a young Steven Spielberg, a director he claimed to admire, was matched by his later assault on George Lucas in The Untitled Star Wars Mokumentary (2003), in which he intercut actual footage of Lucas with staged shots of disgruntled Lucas employees. A cult hero to underground film devotees, Packard remains obscure to the public at large while continuing to turn out his odd pastiches that some regard as genius.

Packard is a resident of Eaglerock Californina and has claimed that copies of the film can be found, from time to time, at the Bank Of America ATM on Colorado Blvd. I unfortunally gave my copy away and have to actually purchase another. PURCHASE! Thats how good this film is. When have you known me to buy ANY entertainment?

Genesis of the retard genre

At what point did the average actor think that playing a person with disabilities was a sure fire hit and a career booster? 1968. That's when it all started. Cliff Robertson won the Academy Award for CHARLY. You know damn well it is said in every pitch meeting for the new "retard" movie "It'll be th next CHARLY. It'll bring tears to there eyes."
Tears of Laughter and/or Hatred.

After his Ocscar winning performance in CHARLY Robertson was one of the darlings of Hollywood. Until... he discovered that the studio was perpetrating a tax fraud on the government. Instead of remaining silent, he told everything and was blackballed by the community. Where once there were agents knocking on his door, now there were none and he did not work for quite some time. True to his Calvinist upbringing he maintained the truth at all costs, and after several years of turmoil he got his footing back.


Charly (also spelled ChaЯly) is a 1968 film which tells the story of a mentally retarded bakery worker, who becomes a subject of an experiment to increase his mental capacity. After he reaches genius level, he realizes that the treatment is temporary, and that he will soon revert to his previous mental ability. It stars Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney and Dick Van Patten.

The movie was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from the novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. In turn, the novel was based on a short story of the same title, by the same author. The movie was directed by Ralph Nelson.

Cliff Robertson won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his work in this movie.

Robertson had appeared in many television versions of screenplays that had gone on to be made into movies starring other actors (most notably Days of Wine and Roses, which had starred Jack Lemmon). When he starred in the The Two Worlds of Charly Gordon, a 1961 television adaptation of Flowers for Algernon, he bought the movie rights so that he would be certain to star in the film version as well.



There are thousands upon thousands of people who are differently abled, all can emote far better than any actor. just ask their caregivers.

Does anyone out there speak Russian?

Didn't he get kicked off of back to the future?

I have trouble telling these two apart.