A movie tidbit for Brick

[Warhawk]

I know we disagree on the "director's cuts" and "extended editions" that I love and you hate.

This is another reason why I like them:

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news08/080611i.php

A few days back, "The Incredible Hulk" director Louis Leterrier admitted that the initial rough cut of the film (the assembly), the one that he and Edward Norton had their apparent dispute over, ran at about three hours.

Of course the final film is much shorter than that, a breezy 106 minutes, which has resulted in some mixed early reviews and complaints of it being truncated. Letterier has also previously stated that he does not intended to do an alternate or 'extended' cut of the film either.

Now in an interview with Collider, he reveals that he intends for the eventual Blu-ray and DVD release film to contain all that cut footage - a total of 70 minutes of footage not included in the final theatrical cut including two scenes shown in the trailers that definitely didn't make the final version of the film.

One of those scenes includes the Captain America cameo says Judao. Whilst the serum is mentioned frequently throughout the film, the crew shot a whole quite dark sequence where Bruce Banner travels to the Arctic Circle and meets up with Captain America.

I hate hatchet job movies. I really hate them cutting scenes out of a movie that were in a trailer. I don't mind a 3-hour film. Let me see the whole darn thing. Not saying this one will be good or bad. I just want to see it all.

Here is some more from the movie review at the same website:

It may be more of a crowd-pleaser, but that certainly doesn't make the new 'Hulk' a roaring success. At 106 minutes its quite short and sharp, yet there's some awkward lulls in the pacing and very notable gaps in the logic and story. On several occasions some almost savage editorial cuts throw you out of the film's flow, yet each of the three big action scenes with the creature are dragged out several minutes longer than is needed - and in doing so it lessens their impact.

There's a definite feeling of a much longer and more substantial movie in here which has been truncated, and talk of Edward Norton's unhappiness with the final product is understandable if many of the deeper character scenes have been left on the editing room floor.

 

[Bricklayer]

Hatchet job movies = polished movies. Ones that have been edited. You are arguing for nothing more than the ungainly rough draft.

A pox on egomanical directors,

P.S. The fact that you prefer the Aliens extended version still astounds me -- that one so blatantly destroyed the tension/fear/mystery aspect of the movie it was almost unwatchable.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

There's usually a happy medium - some stuff gets cut to achieve a desired running time or because it requires work in post which means it won't make a release date, but a lot of stuff gets cut because its just crap or isn't essential to the story. Just because they shot it doesn't make it worth seeing. If the "Directors Cuts" actually are Director approved (many are not), add to the story and have the post work done to make them fit in perfectly with the rest of the movie then I do think they are worth seeing. If its just reassembling every piece of junk footage into the original story board sequences for the sake of being completionist or adding a few bucks to the DVD price, I prefer its left out.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

BTW - what is the deal with this Hulk movie, I assume it completely ignores the last Hulk film?

 

[Warhawk]

BTW - what is the deal with this Hulk movie, I assume it completely ignores the last Hulk film?

Correct - it is a series "reboot".

And I agree on the sentiment about stuff important to the film vs. junk.

Brick and I just disagree on what is important. I like the additional character development, backstory, action scenes, etc, that is often cut. BTW - I also think that many films I have watched were too long to begin with and wish more had been cut, but that is another topic. I just usually agree with the director over the studio on what makes a good film, I guess. The director's cuts and extended versions are usually better, IMHO, than the original film. Maybe it is just because I buy films I like and the material thrown out is often more of the same anyways?

 

[D-Mass]

Good topic...

There are VERY few (if any) movies that are over 2 hours long that NEED to be over 2 hours long. I'll take a well-edited 2 hour movie any day.

 

[coolhandluke]

Well edited theatrical cut >> Director's Cut >>> Poorly edited theatrical cut

A good editor is essential for producing a good film. Most directors are notorious for wanting to keep a lot of stuff in based more on how much effort was spent in making that part of the film rather than how well it fits in with the rest of the film. That being said, I'd rather see the whole enchilada rather than suffer through a cut made by an inept editor.

 

[Warhawk]

Hatchet job movies = polished movies. Ones that have been edited. You are arguing for nothing more than the ungainly rough draft.

A pox on egomanical directors,

P.S. The fact that you prefer the Aliens extended version still astounds me -- that one so blatantly destroyed the tension/fear/mystery aspect of the movie it was almost unwatchable.

Hatchet job movies = hatchet job haircuts. You have to trim appropriately, not indiscriminately.

What don't you like about the Aliens extended cut? The family backstory telling about the way the aliens were found? The machine gun turrets?

For instance, one thing I liked in the T2 extended version is the scenes in the foundry at the end showing the new terminator starting to "glitch" when he touched things. That sets up the scene later where his foot was "wrong" - but in the original movie you didn't know why his foot looked "wrong". Stuff like that. The little bits and pieces and details that normally get dropped that add to the movie.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

It seems odd that they do a "reboot" before the last attempt at making a Hulk franchise even got off the ground, and so close to that failed attempt as well. Its also a little interesting that they went with a VFX shop more known for animal characters than human ones for the lead CG work (from what I can tell looking at the IMDB listings). I don't have much hope for this one.

I'd say my experience with Director's cuts is mixed at best, and I know of at least one case where the director prefers the theatrical cut to the "Director's" which was used as a marketing tag. There's also American History X where the supposed "Director's vision" just sounds like a steaming pile of turd compared to the "Norton version" that we all got.

 

[GoGoGadget]

Who wins in a "director's cut" vs. "theatrical cut" battle depends entirely on the film that was made, and also largely on why something was cut.

For example, I'm a big fan of cuts that include scenes/shots that may have been removed to appease censors or get a different rating. I like the extended cut of Natural Born Killers, which adds probably less than five minutes of footage to the film, but is truer to the final edit that was presented to the MPAA. I also like the director's cut of Touch of Evil, which restores many of the elements that Orson Welles fought for, but that he was unable to keep in an era in which the studios were hands on in determining the final cut of a film to the point that artistic vision was often sacrificed (something that really doesn't happen that much today, despite how many directors may ***** and moan about it).

However, scenes and shots that were cut for being too slow, too long, too convoluted, too boring, whatever, were usually cut for a reason. I'm a movie nerd, I like to see that stuff, but appreciate it more in a "deleted scenes" setting than when it's injected back into the film.

 

[D-Mass]

Hatchet job movies = hatchet job haircuts. You have to trim appropriately, not indiscriminately.

I'm bald...means nothing to me...

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

It seems odd that they do a "reboot" before the last attempt at making a Hulk franchise even got off the ground, and so close to that failed attempt as well. Its also a little interesting that they went with a VFX shop more known for animal characters than human ones for the lead CG work (from what I can tell looking at the IMDB listings). I don't have much hope for this one.

Well, to be fair, the last one stunk.

Apropos of nothing, if my girlfriend were suddenly and inexplicably morphed from Jennifer Connelly to Liv Tyler, I'd be a little upset...

 

[Warhawk]

Well, to be fair, the last one stunk.

Apropos of nothing, if my girlfriend were suddenly and inexplicably morphed from Jennifer Connelly to Liv Tyler, I'd be a little upset...

True on both accounts.

Brick, I will note that I am curious to see what composes the >1 hour of movie that they will put back in for the "new" Incredible Hulk DVD (or have as deleted scenes, whatever). Frankly, this may be one instance where you could be right and the additional material could actually hurt the movie for pacing and length. Normally I like the extended versions, but if all they add is a bunch of chit-chat, that could be problematic.