I have never been able to make it through Kane without falling asleep and I tried several times. Doesn't mean that it sucks but just not my cup of tea. I've talked to film students who say it's very helpful to them in that sense but for greatest movie, not on my list either.
Looking forward to your Ben Hur review, been wondering about the blu-ray.
Heh, Citizens Kane? Good movie but sadly, like Hobbs, there's not many people today that would watch and enjoy these black and white classics. Is that a crime? I don't think so. What is? Charging an arm and a leg for them.
I have had to watch Citizen Kane in all but only a few of my film classes. Yeah, it's not for everybody but if you were interested in making movies yourself you would understand that this is basically a bible on how to tell visual narratives. They really broke ground on lighting, cinematography, and as the reviewer stated the make-up is still state of the art even on it's high def blu-ray transfer (they had to age Well's and many of the cast it was way ahead of its time). It is really cool that they included the film RKO 281 as a bonus. It's an entire movie with Liev Schrieber and John Malkovich about all the real life controversy surrounding Kane. With all the additional extras it sounds worth it. A lot of people say that it isn't there cup of tea and I totally get that, but before people start commenting about it being a snooze fest (in general Hobbs not talking about you as I'm sure there are bound to be a ton of comments about how stupid and boring it is) it isn't any more of snooze fest than 2001 a space oddysey and we know how influential that was on future genre filmmakers.
Also Hobbs, was the Bobba Fett animated short the only thing really new on the star wars boxed set? That's kind of cool but not worth buying the whole set. What are the deleted scenes?
CK IS the best movie of all time but you have to lookat it from a point of view of photography, looks, camera shots, stage, etc... . It was the first to bring the kind of images we see today in movies, TV, even theatre. It's impact is so grand in all that we watch today and the story telling itself is just amazing.
I'm still waiting for my delivery of BR star wars and, as much as I want to see all the special bonuses and documentaries, just to learn that the picture is amazing and the sound is the best out there, that makes it worth while for me.
Obviously the changes are not what is best in my view but, what can we do.
Shac, if you want a good list of most if not all of the known deleted scenes from the Star Wars saga then go to Wikipedia and punch in Star Wars Special Edition and scroll down to the deleted scenes where you'll see a large list, some of which I put in myself some time ago! I watched a handful of these scenes on youtube so check them out!
I remember watching Citizen Kane for the first time expecting it to be a scholarly example of good film making. Instead of paying attention to brilliant technical details, I was ENGROSSED in the story. Top notch story telling, period.
Shac, I won't even put Kane in the snooze fest category. If you read the synopis of the movie it sounds interesting story wise. The first part of it didn't keep me interested enough to stay awake. Where 2001, yes boring at times, kept you interested until it took the acid trip towards the end. I recognize both movies importance to cinema as a whole so I wouldn't bash either one.
The deleted scenes for the prequels are actually kind of lame, except part 3 had a few interesting ones with Anakin killing another Jedi...I more remember the original trilogy scenes, an early Cantina scene where Han has a girlfriend sitting with him before Ben and Luke get to the table. What's kind of cool about it is that if you want to see Han shoot first, it ends with that scene. There was a scene of Luke working on the farm and notices the Star Destroyer battle with the blockade runner, just flashes in the sky, he runs to tell his friends but by that time the battle was over and they think Luke is a loser. There is also a shot of Luke talking to Biggs about the Empire taxing star systems more or something like that and how he, biggs, is running away to join the rebellion. Empire has the Wampa scenes, all those shots that were taken out of the snow creaters attacking the base. One shot looked okay, but the rest looked lame and I understand now why they pulled it. Also, an extended scene of Han and Leia in the hallway. There was more then Han just walking away, it was actually Leia who walked away after their talk. For Jedi, there was an alternate opening scene with Luke finishing up his new lightsaber in a cave close to Jabba palace and putting it in R2, kind of cool because CPO was standing outside the cave you could see the Falcon and Lukes X-Wing in the background. Then the famous sandstorm scene, I've heard about it for years and I kind of liked it. After they escape from Jabba, they are walking through a sandstorm on their way to their ships instead of just flying away from the planet. I remember reading it was the last time the Falcon was constructed to full scale in the trilogy for that shot.
I just touched the surface wit the scenes, there are more but I think I highlighted the best ones and I have to get back to work here in a sec, lol.
Jedibanner, regarding what can we do to correct at least some of the changes or mistakes that Lucas was foolish enough to make on the original trilogy. The editing software now exist like Sony Vegas where one can download dvds and blurays onto a computer and edit in or out whatever one likes or dislikes. There's also excellent FX software like Adobe After Effects which can allow you to add FX to a movie. Case in point...STAR WARS REVISTED by Adywan! I believe you can still download not only that movie but other movie edits on fanedit.org so check it out if interested. I know I'll be making my own versions of all 6 Star Wars movies and I read from others who are doing the same so...have at it!
keithdaniel, what about the score? I've heard about that software that pretty much lets you do your own thing but what about the music? I would think that gets butchered in the process.
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Rob, you should have had a star wars picture in the header, more people would have checked in.
Well, I have the star wars blu-ray and for my mania friends who know how much I was against buying it for the listed price...please be aware it was a gift from my wife and she had a 50 dollar gift card from best buy last xmas that she hadn't used yet so I can live with what she ended up spending on it.
My impressions of the blu-ray without commenting on the dumb changes Lucas made. The movies have never looked or sounded better, talking about old trilogy haven't seen the prequels yet. The boxes around the special effects are gone and wow is all I can see to how clear and colorful everything looks. My guess is that the prequels look just as good considering the movies are not that old.
Now for the extras which I was the first thing I went to once I opened the set. First of all, no holiday special but there is the Bobba Fett cartoon from that special easter egg. To find the nine-minute cartoon, go to the Original Trilogy bonus disk, go to the Pursued by the Imperial Fleet section, click on The Collection and then check out the Boba Fett Prototype Costume where you'll find the cartoon in First Look.
For the extras themselves, big dissappointment. I like the deleted scenes, I really did but where the heck is the rest? Oh yeah, they are on the other DVD's he released a few years ago. I read somewhere that Lucas didn't want to put all the material on one disc thus take something away from the people who bought the sets a few years ago. For a man who loves to double and triple dip I found that odd. Also, unless I missed it they really needed to have a play all section for the deleted scenes. Then we get to the documentaries, which are all the old ones from the 70's on. I liked that these were on there but where is Empire of Dreams? Oh yeah, that's on the other DVD's he released a few years ago. What about something new? Except for a 30 min interview about Empire there isn't anything except spoofs. There is an hour and half of spoofs of star wars over the last 30 years. Some of it was funny but I wish they would have had a way to break it down by chapters so you can skip the ones you don't think are funny.
Overall, for 3 disc of extras they could have probably fit it all on 1 or 2 blu-ray thus it was a marketing ploy to boost the price...which really doesn't surprise me. This really could have been the ultimate star wars set but alas they left a lot off this set so they can probably release that ultimate edition somewhere down the line.
If Lucas would have included the original trilogy without the mistakes he did to them I would have said the discs were worth it but unless you really want the deleted scenes I would recommend buying the movies only and save the money. The extras are not worth it and In a few days, if not already, all those deleted scenes will be avail on utube. If you can stand the changes get the movies only just for the blu-ray quality.