What are you watching?

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

Wolfpack - I did not like the latest VSA release at all. It's bland, obvious and feels like it was made for TV. It just seems like something you'd see on the nightly news these days.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

I remember hating this film as a kid. About a decade ago I figured I give it revisit, expecting to find a brilliant gem that could only be appreciated with more mature eyes. Nope, it was absolute slog to get through.

I saw it in the theatre with my parents and younger brother and sister. I remember hating it, have never watched it since.

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

It has Fred Ward in it, therefore SHORT CUTS is great.

Also, I may have rewatched REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS last night.

Poor Fred Ward. Hollywood tried to give him three franchise characters and they all flopped: Lyle Swan, Remo Williams and Sgt. Hoke Moseley.

[Barry M Super Fiend Find all posts View Profile Close Barry M]

Not even Henry Miller.

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

Till Death - Pretty exciting thriller with Megan Fox as a woman trying to figure out how to escape a secluded, wintry lake house - after being handcuffed to her dead husband. It does get absurd, but in the best sense of the word and the only thing that took me out of the movie a few times was the gorgeous Fox's unwillingness to fully commit to the role; she's a bit unconvincing at times and I suspect she didn't want to look too ugly on camera.

The American Scream - I love seeing obscure gems like this unearthed. I had never heard of this horror/comedy from 1988 and it's a wonderfully stupid, insane, inexplicable piece of outsider art. You never know where it's going or what weird decision the filmmakers are going to make next. It doesn't quite stick the landing, but I wasn't bored at all and I've never seen anything like it. Recommended for people who appreciate something different.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Justice League. The original Whedon cut. I saw the Snyder cut first and suffered through that a bit. I had heard that the Whedon cut was even worse so I figured I'd steer well clear. Today, though, it was there and I was bored. These things happen.

Surprised I found it kind of fascinating. These two should be studied together in film schools. The bones are the same but everything else is different. Given the angle I'm coming from I'm fascinated even by the difference in color grading. Stunned that at the Hollywood level that there is that much latitude in the editing room. I don't entirely understand how but that's why this is great.

We're just missing one cut. The Snyder theatrical cut because there's no way he could have released his cut to theatres. I'm now super curious as to what that would have looked like.

Of the two we have though I massively prefer the Whedon cut. I don't really understand why it has such a terrible reputation. For the first hour I thought it was a very solid, cohesive, superhero flick. It falls apart a couple of times. Supermans rebirth is handled with a much lighter touch. Too light. That has to hurt to be earnt. Here it's too easy. It was too easy in the Snyder cut as well but this one turns it up to 11. The climax has a similar issue. The final battle should be desperate. It very quickly turns into our crew having an adventure and celebrating working together to beat up Steppenwolf- who gets turned from the Big Bad to a laughing stock with alarming speed. Other than that I thought it was a good bit of fun.

The Snyder cut is Superhero porn. More self indulgent than Apocalypse Now. The first hour of that version is unwatchable even if it sort of gets better as it goes.

If I had the energy and enthusiasm that I had in my younger days I'd probably have these two on loop. If you're interested in how movies work I think there's a lot to be learnt here. Now though I'm old and tired. I'd be surprised if I ever see either cut again.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

Justice League. The original Whedon cut. I saw the Snyder cut first and suffered through that a bit. I had heard that the Whedon cut was even worse so I figured I'd steer well clear. Today, though, it was there and I was bored. These things happen.

Surprised I found it kind of fascinating. These two should be studied together in film schools. The bones are the same but everything else is different. Given the angle I'm coming from I'm fascinated even by the difference in color grading. Stunned that at the Hollywood level that there is that much latitude in the editing room. I don't entirely understand how but that's why this is great.

We're just missing one cut. The Snyder theatrical cut because there's no way he could have released his cut to theatres. I'm now super curious as to what that would have looked like.

Of the two we have though I massively prefer the Whedon cut. I don't really understand why it has such a terrible reputation. For the first hour I thought it was a very solid, cohesive, superhero flick. It falls apart a couple of times. Supermans rebirth is handled with a much lighter touch. Too light. That has to hurt to be earnt. Here it's too easy. It was too easy in the Snyder cut as well but this one turns it up to 11. The climax has a similar issue. The final battle should be desperate. It very quickly turns into our crew having an adventure and celebrating working together to beat up Steppenwolf- who gets turned from the Big Bad to a laughing stock with alarming speed. Other than that I thought it was a good bit of fun.

The Snyder cut is Superhero porn. More self indulgent than Apocalypse Now. The first hour of that version is unwatchable even if it sort of gets better as it goes.

If I had the energy and enthusiasm that I had in my younger days I'd probably have these two on loop. If you're interested in how movies work I think there's a lot to be learnt here. Now though I'm old and tired. I'd be surprised if I ever see either cut again.

There are rumours that Snyder was fired for refusing to turn in a shorter cut than what was finally released as The Snyder Cut.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

There are rumours that Snyder was fired for refusing to turn in a shorter cut than what was finally released as The Snyder Cut.

I dont buy it. On a few levels I can't see that having happened.

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

Don't Go in the House - This is a great psycho killer film, up there with classics like HENRY, DERANGED and TARGETS. The one thing I hadn't noticed on previous viewings is how much star Dan Grimaldi looks like Jimmy Fallon from certain angles. Definitely had me cracking up.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

I dont buy it. On a few levels I can't see that having happened.

He was initially told to go hog wild and make the movie he wanted to make, but WB got cold get after Suicide Squad underperformed right in the middle of the editing and FX process for Justice League, and they wanted to boost the opening weekend by shortening the movie to maximize turns. Snyder wouldn't;t give in and cited his contractual guarantees, so WB shitcanned him and brought in Whedon, who found that they basically would need to remake the movie to shorten it and have anything coherent, and to rub his stench on the final product. In the end, WB probably would have done far better by letting Snyder have his way but cut the film into two parts, but they had already axed the plans to do a Marvel-like multi-film cross-property storyline, which is why Suicide squad was half each of two different movies mashed together leaving massive plot holes and generally incoherent in the end.

If you read up on how insanely stupidly WB has handled DC properties in movies, TV and animation over the years since the 90s, none of that is hard to believe. There was even a Justice League movie that was to be directed by Wolfgang Petersen that was just a few days away from beginning filming in Australia that they pulled the plug on due to a writer's strike, which had already had costumes made, sets built and millions sunk into the project. The cast was already flown in and ready to roll.

[Barry M Super Fiend Find all posts View Profile Close Barry M]

Well, a writer's strike is a pretty good excuse.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

Well, a writer's strike is a pretty good excuse.

The script was finished, so it would only have effected possible rewrites. The article I read about it said everyone was totally happy with the script as it was, but the studio still pulled the plug, just on the off chance a rewrite would be needed.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Well, a writer's strike is a pretty good excuse.

If we're talking about the George Miller run at it I think there was a bit more to it than that. The script was finished. I believe its floating about as Justice League: Mortal.

Apart from the wirters strike though there were funding issues. the film was to be shot in Australia a) because of George and b) because Australia offered tax rebates for local productions. It's always a bit tenuous for these foriegn films but this was to be directed by an Aussie and star Megan Gale (local girl) as Wonderwoman and Armie Hammer (close enough) as Supes. Usually this cuts the mustard. I think even movies like the Matrix fit into that because of the involvement of Village Roadshow (don't quote me on that. I'm just assuming). The Powers That Be though decided at the 11th hour that it couldn't be classified as Australian and so a bunch of the funding fell out at the same time as the writers strike happened. No doubt there's a lot more to it but thems the broad strokes as I heard it.

Its hard to understand what happened at DC/Warners more recently. Snyder gives them a Superman movie that was too bleak, a critical bust and a box office loser. They give him more money to make Batman versus Superman and he delivers a film that's even bleaker, was received even worse by the critics (justifiably, by my count it's one of the half dozen worst movies ever made) and just barely made a profit despite featuring both the biggest character in the biz. So they fund him for another go! This time making him have producers on set to try to make him make it enjoyable. Why not just get a director off the bat who makes enjoyable movies if they were that concerned?

Can't get my head round it. As big an arsehole as Snyder is though I can't believe he thought it would be acceptable to deliver a 4 hour popcorn movie. Just reading up on it now. It seems warners were demanding a two hour cut (I noticed while watching it that Whedons version runs 1 hour, 59 minutes and 59 seconds) and that was a sticking point. I'm sure Snyder was looking at 2 hours 40 or 50. His cut of Justice League could easily be cut down to that and I'm sure that was the plan.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Just had a read of Justice League: Mortal. Not sure how that would have gone. No fucking around with this one. No origin stories, no getting the team together. Just opens with Martian Manhunter, Supes, Batwoman, Wonderwoman, Aquaman and the Flash already banded together as a superhero team that have all but rid the world of crime.

Batman doesn't trust the Supes though and so has built a database on their strengths and weaknesses in case one of them goes bad (shades of BvS). Batman gets hacked by a billionaire supervillian and the team comes under attack by a guy who now knows their pressure points.

It reminded me most of Kevin Smith's Superman script. Lightweight, comic book-ey. Very much built for the fans as there's no explaining here. Probably best for all that it didn't make the cut.

[James Reed Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close James Reed]

Monsters Crash the Pajama Party on YouTube. 31 minutes of intentionally bad acting all built around a live 'spook show'. A mad scientist sends a gorilla and a hunchback into the movie's audience (by having them walk directly at the camera) and pick out a girl planted in the audience. Actors who look like the movie characters appear from behind the movie screen and snatch the girl and walk back behind the screen as the movie resumes with a lookalike actress. The mad scientist resumes his evil experiments. The end! Apparently there would be a live show of some sort with magic tricks and whatnot.