As part of my new years resolution I plan on reviving my blog. In the past I've always considered my blog as myself talking to myself not considering that other ppl also read my thoughts. Now that I see the blogging nation down to almost non-existence this consideration is probably more true than ever.
I just watched the movie Deception on dvd. I love DVD's, it may not be the most compact media, but there's something about collecting them. Like collecting books, which I also do. It's not the same as collecting e-books on an anonymous file in ones computer. It's nice to hold a book, turning the pages. Holding an old book sometime brings me back to when I last time read it. Example, my summer in Hawaii was Pearl Harbour, Eaters of the Dead, and the Beach. Opening, watching, tagging and stacking a DVD is a process I quite enjoy. I like to scour used DVD bins, and sales bins for those lost treasures at reasonable prices. And even thou my collection is in excess of 500 movies and TV series I watch them quite frequently. There's other aspects of DVD's that are Superior to the Theatre presentation.
The theatre presentation is the preferred method to experience a movie. The larger than life presentation, the sound, the crowd reaction, snacks, and of course the company. I can pretty much chart my life to my many theatre experiences. I remember watching Star Wars for the first time and how it pretty much influenced an entire planet. I remember my best friends birthday when everyone outvoted me and we watched Caddy Shack instead of Empire Strikes Back. If you name a significant movie I'll most likely have a storey or two. And it's not just the movies. I remember 2 dollar cheap nights at Eagle Ridge Theatre or (whats the theatre across from Coquitlam Centre in the Save-On parking lot?) was the place to be in High School. My friends calling me up at random times asking what was playing at my theatre my parents used to own. How I used to get a kick calling the movie-line cheap theatre's at Lougheed mall or the Theatre's in New West because my gf was the voice telling one the movies and times. One thing I don't like are the movie previews they show the movie. If you've ever watched a movie with me you may have noticed me close my eyes or stare at my popcorn or something as they played. I don't like watching them. I hate how they generally show all the good parts of the movie. The last thing I want to see before I watch a movie is the trailer. It ruins the movie for me. I hate how in a matter of thirty seconds I've figured out the entire plot, the visual style of the movie along with a highlight package, and on a few occasions they show you the final twist. For most of my life I've never seen any of them, even the ones of my favourite movies and I resigned myself knowing those trailers are lost to history and sometimes I wondered what they showed. It was worth it to me.
With the advent of the DVD I was delighted to see that they included the many trailers of the movie, even ones shown from other parts of the world. Among the other special features sometimes they'd have commentary from the actors and directors. Scenes, that ended up on the cutting room floor and sometimes alternate scenes or endings. I love it. A lot of times what ends up on the cutting room floors are truly excellent scenes. A person took the time to write it, to light it, to act it, to film it, to sound it, and to edit it. And at the end of the day nobody will ever see it. And a lot of times the commentary would say things like "It didn't move the storey forward" or "because of time considerations or pace" etc. So back storey's/extra info or saving 10 seconds in a 120 min movie doomed this scene? And these same ppl usually mention how they loved the scene and how it hurt to cut it. WTF? I think these ppl just enjoy torturing themselves and telling ppl about how they struggled with this and that. Today's movie selection had an alternate ending.
Deception. Solid movie. I'm a huge Ewen McGregger fan. It was a thriller with a solid storey line and excellent execution. Something struck me with the ending as I was watching the closing scene. *SPOILER ALERT!* It didn't make sense on a couple of levels. Such a well thought out movie and the ending didn't make sense. He didn't keep the money, after all he went through and the fact he let his identity die with Hugh Jackman...and he didn't keep the money? Why did he do that if he didn't intend to keep the money? Now he has no identity and no money. Second Michelle Williams magically finds him in a random square in Spain. It made me scramble back to my brain if Williams subltly mentioned something about a specific square in Spain or something...no. They just found each other. As it turns out the DVD included an alternate ending. And it was way better! It was simpler and it made sense, it book ended the beginning of the movie, it showed the evolution of the main character...and it made sense! And he kept the money! And of course the director's commentary of the final scene was all about how tortured he is that this wasn't the ending used in the final cut. What a dick. Just shut up. This is why 99 times out of a 100 the directors cut is preferable imo. They had time to realize they made a lot of bad choices and have the out of proclaiming that the director's cut represents their real vision, yeah right.
Rhoel
posted by R @ 8:12 PM
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