Boxed Sets

Alright, so kind of playing of the start of our discussion the other day, I want to bring up this topic in full. I don't remember which boxed set it was exactly that we were talking about, think maybe it was the Aliens set, but the fact then came up that the individual blu-rays are finally coming out soon. It seems like many distributors tend to do that these days. For marketing purposes it makes sense from the standpoint of the distributor, but only if the boxed set has enough decent films within it that enough people will want to buy the whole set rather than actually wait for the individual films to come out. Usually most boxed sets will have a few scrappers in them that no one would usually buy individually, but because it comes in the set and the brunt of the whole set is a good series, people put up having to buy that one or those two not-so-good films in order to enjoy the greater good of the series. This brings me to the question for this section of the topic. Are there any boxed sets you guys can think of that you have already bought perhaps, but then later found out that the individual films were being released, and you wished you would have waited for the individual releases so as not to have to buy the crap films? Are there any boxed sets you guys are planning on buying in the future that you will buy knowing full well there are at least one or two bad films but it's worth it to get them if buying the whole boxed set? Are there any boxed sets you know you want overall but are definitely willing to wait until the individual films are released?

I will tell you right off that I will be buying the whole 6-episode boxed set for Star Wars on blu-ray when it comes out in September, even though the prequels are clearly not the best. I do this for a couple reasons. I feel like if I have 4-6 on blu-ray, it just wouldn't be right to not own 1-3 as well. This is the completionist coming out in me. The other reason is, even though 1-3 already looks pretty good on DVD and even more so if you have an upconverter, I think they will still look that much better on blu-ray. Obviously, 4-6 will benefit the most from enhancement, but 1-3 will still look that much more awesome as well. You have to admit, even though the story lines, acting, dialogue are not the best in the prequels, some of the visuals are completely awesome.

Quick Fact

Not really starting a topic with this one, but I recently finished another section in Rosenbaum's book and it was all about cinema during the W. Bush years. Did you guys know that W. tried to view the movie Osama to obtain information that would help him find and defeat Osama bin Laden?

Also, when Black Hawk Down came out, Saddam Hussein distributed the movie out to all his troops in hopes that by viewing it they could obtain information on better ways to kill American soldiers?

Freaky...

Director's Cuts

I picked up a copy of Jonathan Rosenbaum's Goodbye Cinema Hello Cinephilia: Film Culture in Transition the other day at Borders and it has been very interesting from the get-go to say the least. I have a feeling I will be bringing up many topics of discussion from this book. The first one I want to talk about is director's cuts. Rosenbaum brings up an interesting point in regards to how director's cuts are brought about both by the director of the film as well as the production companies. There are those director's cuts that are truly director's cuts. These versions of the films are truly and accurately what the director was trying to go for, but due to time constraints or editing wishes by the studios or production companies, the film was of course shortened or just changed around to make it more commercialized for audiences. These director's cuts are then of course released, most of the time after the theatrical version has been seen by audiences, and placed onto DVDs or Blu-Rays nowadays. On the other side though, we have the director's cuts that are either not even close to what the director was going for or are closer but not quite there. Rosenbaum brought this to light as you have a correct version (being of course the theatrical release) and then you have the more correct version (being the version most like what the director intended for). Sometimes of course the production company that owns the rights to the film will put out a "Director's Cut" without any consultation from the director, usually in hopes that it will of course boost their sales. They foresee that people get in their heads that simply because it says "Director's Cut", it is a more exact version of what the film should have been, when perhaps that version was not what the director intended at all. Rosenbaum brought up a few examples and the one that sticks out to me, the one being what popped into my own head as I started reading his section about director's cuts, was none other than Blade Runner. Blade Runner has six different so-called "Director's Cuts", come to find out none of what Ridley Scott really had intentions of fully portraying in the movie. He was consulted for all of them at one point or another throughout their releases and, according to Rosenbaum, claims that the sixth and final cut is closest to what he was going for (the more correct version). However, it brings up the point again that all of those so-called "Director's Cuts" are not really director's cuts. They are just other versions of the same film.

This now leads me into my question for discussion. What other movies have you guys seen or might you know of where there is a director's cut available, however, it's not a true director's cut? Also, what movies DO have true director's cuts?

Film Classes

So it's almost time for me to pick out my classes for summer and fall and I was able to find a film class to fulfill one of my general electives. I'm going to sign up for it once I can, and it will be for the summer. The class takes place at the Cinema Center downtown Fort Wayne on Thursday night from 7-10:20. The broader aspect of the class is about film and society; however they usually have a more narrow topic to go along with that, and this time around it's Hollywood Leading Men. This might not sound like such an intellectual class by just the title, but if you take into consideration what might be shown film-wise and how the discussions would fit into society and how society views leading men in Hollywood these days, it seems way more fascinating. I have only ever taken one other film class when I went to Purdue University several years ago now, and it was a German film class, which was completely awesome. The films in that class ranged from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligiari and Metropolis all the way up to more modern things such as Nowhere in Africa. It was even more interesting as I almost have a minor in German and know the language fairly well, would say I am semi-fluent. This got me thinking though of how many different possibilities for film classes there are. I would like to start a discussion to see if anyone would like to post as to other film classes they have taken and what they liked and/or didn't like about the class. Also, if anyone wants to brainstorm to come up with an interesting topic for a film class, by all means shoot it out there, and then we can discuss on possibilities of what that film class might entail in its curriculum, i.e. films to be watched, discussions to be had.