What are you watching now? - (This is my brain on TV!)

[jaime marzol]

third man:
other welles fans have cited the same dislike for the projector effect. also some posted about being turned off by the bashing. i think the only welles product so far that i have not liked is around the world with OW, and my other least watched welles product is the american documentary, WHAT WENT WRONG."

[Store Hadji]

Oh, that horrible A&E Biography episode...the title of that really sums up the approach on that one.

I was sort of bored by the Around the World series, though I hardly disliked it. I think the Dominici Affair episode is the best...most interesting subject matter.

[Tashman]

If "Shadowing the Third Man" was a British production, I think the inflection in favor of Reed and Greene is understandable, since British Cinema doesn't have a great many "classics" to exhume in the first place. That's not to say that Greene and Reed weren't the authors of the film; they were. But playing down the Hollywood transplants, especially the one people want to credit for directing anything good he ever acted in, seems forgivable. I did sit down to watch the docu on TCM when it aired, however, and turned it off for the same reasons everyone has cited.

Hadji: That's good to learn that Welles liked Krazy Kat. And forgive us for assuming that any Gilliam fan's reading has been supplemented by lots of Depp and Del Toro reciting. It's fishing around in the right Voltairian pond, anyway, to fan one's innate bitterness.

[catbuglah]

That's good to learn that Welles liked Krazy Kat

That's a cool strip. They even had a coyote named Don Kiyoti and his sidekick pig Sancho Pansy in there. Hearst actually kept the strip running for years even though it was losing money, because he enjoyed it.

[Tashman]

Right on, cat.

[catbuglah]

That's what I'm talkin' about Tashman/Ignatz - Devil Dinosaur's all right, too.

[Store Hadji]

I drew that. I want to draw a Devil Dinosaur/Moonboy poster for a friend, and first I must learn Jack Kirby's style well enough to do a proper pastiche. When I am done, I will sign it "Elmyr."

[catbuglah]

Drawing looks good. Kirby's cool. That's a lot of mind-blowing concepts for one guy. He could sue George Lucas. (Orion=Luke Skywalker - Darkseid=Darth Vader)

[Store Hadji]

I'm watching the recent DVD rerelease of David Lynch's DUNE, which includes the theatrical cut, the extended TV version, a further compilation of deleted scenes not used in either version (including the long-lost suicide of Thufir Hawat) and a number of documentaries. No commentaries...I have yet to see Lynch record one for any of his films.

Both film versions are anamorphic widescreen and look gorgeous. Peviously, the TV version was pan-and-scan and the additional footage had different colour, contrast and sharpness from the original - it looked terrible when spliced together. Now it's all been regraded and looks fantastic.

The theatrical cut still has its problems - basically from too much story condensed into too short a running time. The TV version still starts out with "A Alan Smithee Film" (you know you're in trouble when you encounter a grammatical error in the first three seconds,) still includes that wretched prologue about the Butlerian Jihad with the crappy chalk drawings, and still suffers from that "Dune Muzak" which plays through the whole film without any real reference to anything. Still, it includes complete versions of most scenes (some shot in one long take) and additional important scenes which didn't make the theatrical cut.

The extra deleted scenes are only workprint-quality...scratchy and without any post-production. However, they contain other sequences essential to the story.

I've wanted for 15 years to re-edit the two versions and do one proper reconstruction (since the TV version sucks in many ways - especially the horrible narration - and Lynch did have his name removed from it.)

Now that I have some editting software, I plan to finally assemble that version - which will also included some of the work-print scenes. It will still be a "Mom's Kitchen Frankenstein" in some respects, but I know the story will play much better than in either of the release versions.

I've just been reading the books again, so I was in the mood...

[Store Hadji]

I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Really good, I thought. The series is getting better as it goes...and more emotional and bleak.

Author J K Rowling originally wanted Gilliam to direct the first film, and Warner Brothers refused. I've thought that all the films looked Gilliamesque, however - magnificent production and lots of wide-angle lenses.

I actually bothered to watch the credits and discovered Roger Pratt was DP on this last one. Pratt was the cinematographer on The Crimson Permanent Assurance, Brazil, The Fisher King and Twelve Monkeys. I'd think after all that, he could impart the "Gilliam look" if Warner Brothers wanted. Pratt has an impressive list of credits.

[Store Hadji]

I'm watching Peter Jackson's King Kong. I like it overall and love parts of it.

The opening NY sequence is very good - lots of enjoyable eccentrics. The sequence on the boat is superb. That's one fantastic collection of characters played to perfection by a great cast. I was truly shocked by the mood change when they get to Skull Island - certainly wasn't expecting it and it was greatly effective.

After that things go wrong for me. The movie turns into one overly long, overly loud, overly violent and totally unbelievable action sequence after another. All those great characters that were built up over 45 minutes are forgotten about - they get whacked right and left and simply thrown away. The film could really use some character development in this act. Even those who do survive are never heard from again.

I was hoping that Jackson would include what Cooper never did - an act showing how the hells they got the ape aboard the boat and back to New York. That would have been another sequence which could have wrapped things up with the characters. Instead it cuts to the Broadway show and the end as did the original.

I guess I wound up caring a lot more about the characters than the action sequences.

There's no commentary on the DVD. So maybe Jackson will release a 4 hour extended edition. I'd certainly buy it, especially in hopes of seeing some more with the characters...