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THE BOLD AND THE "BEAUTIFUL"
- Great review [of A Beautiful Mind]. Totally lacking in the usual bullshit I've read lately. I like the fact that you are unafraid to swim against the middlebrow tide that is threatening to swamp moviedom. God spare us from any more "feel-good Oscar-worthy" films between now and next summer. It's actually got my longing for the start of the summer blockbuster season! Enjoyable, informative site. I will come back often.
Jan
- Regarding your review of A Beautiful Mind: I think you're taking your job a little too seriously!
Wayne
How do you take your job? Maybe I can learn from your example. -Walter
"WOLF" OUT
[Walter Chaw's] review of Brotherhood of the Wolf SPOILS THE ENDING IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH, YOU DICK! You are completely unqualified to write about film. Leave it to the pros. Don't bother answering this, as I'll delete your response without reading it.
Anonymous
How unflinching of you. -Bill
"SKY"'S THE LIMIT
Regarding your review of Vanilla Sky: You are fucking retarded. I don't know if you've ever been laid because you can't even properly spell "cum" and you're probably some fat fucking Internet geek who thinks that Cruise and Cruz are ugly because you hate to feel the same in yourself.
Zachary
Thanks for the kind thoughts, Zachary, and for how to spell "cum." A quick check in the dictionary, however, shows that "cum" is only used in the latinate as in "magna cum laude," and that "cum" is used to refer to semen or the act of ejaculating only in pornographic video titles. Therefore, maybe you're suggesting that I haven't been laid because--how did you put it?--"You hate to feel the same in yourself."
If you'd ever like to talk about the movie, I'm interested to hear what you have to say. Until then, all I can do is shrug and wish you well in your anger management group. -Walter
Walter, I'd like to apologize for making absolutely stupid comments towards you, someone I don't even know. The reason I think I seemed upset by your review [italics ours] was because I had just seen the movie and felt it was very much relevant to a film I had seen earlier in the year, Mulholland Drive, although Vanilla Sky isn't quite up there. I thought your Mulholland review was great and thought it would be the same for Sky and was disappointed. Either way, sorry for the remarks.
Zachary
ALWAYS GREAT TO HEAR...
Hello, Walter. A friend told me about your favorable Hybrid review, so I looked it up for myself. It's quite an eloquent, well written couple of paragraphs and one of the most insightful reviews I've had yet. I'm glad you had the chance to see it.
Thanks, Monteith McCollum,
Director, Hybrid
BAD "HOBBIT"
Hello, I read with great interest [Film Freak Central's] DVD review of The Hobbit. I just purchased and watched the Warner Home Video (ISBN 0-7907-6259-5) release of this disc. On my copy, the mono audio is definitely missing many of the sound effects present on my VHS copy of the film. Most notable and easy to identify are the following scenes: Chapter 14 - Bilbo's sword doesn't make it's magical/electrical noise as it strikes down the spiders; Chapters 18 & 20 - The roar of Smaug's fire breath is not heard (only music is heard); Chapter 21 - The screech of the eagles is not heard as they fly in (again, only music is heard); and Chapter 22 - Only music and voices are heard as the armies fight. Do I have a defective disc?
David
Though Walter reviewed The Hobbit, I will address this question for you. One of the hazards of home video is that different versions of a film complete with different soundmixes somehow wind up replacing that with which we're familiar. The original Star Wars varied not just in terms of audio quality but contained different sound effects altogether depending on whether you screened it in 70mm, 35mm Dolby Stereo, 35mm mono, or on VHS or LaserDisc. Alas, your copy of The Hobbit is not defective, but the victim of imprecision. It sounds as though they were missing some audio stems when it came time to transfer the film to DVD, or used an earlier/later mix altogether. I would suggest raising the issue at Home Theater Forum to see if anyone there has concrete answers. You might even find a Warner rep kicking around there. -Bill
THE SPIEL
In the end credits of Lawrence of Arabia it says something like, "With special thanks to Steven Speilberg." In your review you mention that Steven Speilberg is probably the film's biggest fan--did he have any connection with the film? He would have been about 16 years old at the time, but I believe he had already won a couple of awards for directing 5-minute schoolboy shorts, so it is not implausible that he had some sort of hand in it.
June
Actually, the reason Spielberg's name is in the credits of extant copies Lawrence of Arabia is because the film's end titles were appended for its 1989 restoration, in which Spielberg had a vested interest. -Bill
O "BROTHER," WHERE ART THOU CUT FOOTAGE
Were the shots that were edited out of the American theatrical version of Brother reinstated for the U.S. DVD release? Here is the Ain't It Cool News article if you don't know what I am talking about.
Anonymous
Alas, the domestic release of Brother on DVD from Columbia Tri-Star Home Video is indeed the edited, R-rated version. -Bill
EGO BOOST OF THE MONTH
Mr. Chaw,
It's now 3am and I just saw the movie Urbania. I then did a search on the 'net and came across your review. To quote Keanu Reeves in countless movies, "Whoa." I was very impressed by your ability to dissect this movie. With what seems like a razor-sharp intellect, you analysed and articulated everything about the film that left me conflicted and confused about how I felt. Until now, the only current reviewer I've found particularly enlightening and edifying is Anthony Lane of the New Yorker. I am also a fan of Robin Wood's critical analysis of horror movies. I then read your Vanilla Sky review and disagreed with most of it, but still came away excited about your writing.
I used to write movie reviews in college but haven't for the last four years. Recently, I started thinking about doing it again. Then today I read your review and I was both humbled and inspired. Thanks for your illuminating review. It displayed humanity, intellect, wit, compassion and a thorough understanding of the mechanics of filmaking. Sadly, at 3am I am at a loss for words to describe the many qualities I think your review exhibited. I simply must sleep now, but you can bet that tomorrow I will be devouring the rest of your reviews. Keep up the good work.
Seti
CORRECTION: In the previous edition of Reader Mail, I stated that a Director's Cut of Ever After was never released to the consumer market. This is a half-truth: a trio of expletives were edited out of the PG-13 film to earn it a softer rating on VHS. The swear words were left intact for DVD.
You can send e-mail to a specific Film Freak Central critic from any of the review pages. Please address general correspondence to bill@filmfreakcentral.net
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