|
Wow, I think both of those covers are pretty great.
|
Is the single disc version the same as the first disc in the two-disc version? Does that make sense?
|
THX-1138
Does anyone know the answer to that question?
Is the Singke DVD going to be the same version found on the 2 DVD set? |
Of the film itself? Yes, it'll be the same version. The 2-disc set just has more extras.
|
Here's a review of the Director's Cut from Harry Knowles' site:
George Lucas, where did our love go? STAR WARS was probably the single most important experience of my youth, the movie that got me interested in filmmaking. From this single flick I developed a voracious appetite for cinema from all over the world, no matter what the genre, as long as it was good, interesting, unique or special in some way. Not even the diminished returns of the numerous sequels have quashed my determination to receive a joy of some kind from each and every entry in the series, as I’ve always been able to find at least a spark or a moment of inspiration tucked away in the heart of all of them. When the time came for me to go back and examine your previous works, such as AMERICAN GRAFFITTI and THX-1138 it was rewarding to discover that you were in fact a legitimate director who was capable of working with actors on material that was both intriguing and challenging. Like another American original, George Romero, you not only wrote and directed your films, you even served as your own editor, which added yet another dimension of personal signature on the work, another level of authorship that marked the rugged individuality of your early films which were trendsetters in their own, special way. THX-1138 (1970) has been a special favorite for me. In the midst of all the usual dystopian paranoia and sci-fi trappings you were able to shoehorn a level of self-aware and pitch black humor that raised the film far above the standard, humorless and straight-laced dunderheaded science fiction of the time. Sure, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) may have graced the screens two years earlier and changed the shape of speculative films to come for all time, but THX-1138 brought the future to us in a palpable way that Kubrick’s attempt to drag us kicking-and-screaming into his future could not. The layering of sound and image was richly experimental in both tone and it’s attempt to tell a fairly linear story in as non-linear a way as possible while still maintaining coherency. The committed performances of all the performers and the truly striking choices as concerns camera composition makes even the most potentially mundane moment feel special and “futuristic” even as two people sit on the floor of a bare room and embrace (as David Cronenberg’s STEREO and CRIMES OF THE FUTURE shorts also do). The melding of sound and image grabs normalcy by the scruff of the neck and projects it head-first into the visionary future of a defamiliarized here and now. But you had to go and f**k it all up, didn’t you? Seriously, pal; I don’t know who you’re hanging out with these days and how far they’ve allowed you to jam your head up your own ass, but you took the jewel of your empire and treated it like toilet paper after a particularly rough night of Taco Bell indulgence. I’m referring of course to the Director’s Cut of THX-1138 I saw digitally projected last night for what I hope will be the only time I will ever have to suffer the indignity of watching a classic film gang-raped by underage hooligans in public. It’s all over, George. I’ve been rooting for you ever since I heard you were restoring the damn thing. I remember hearing the first rumblings about changes being made and CGI effects being added to open things up a bit, but mentally I stood by your side and said to myself that you’re a smart guy and that since this was your first feature and (to me, arguably) your best film, the choices you made would be tasteful and augment what was already there. And when the first frame grabs of the changes were leaked, I balked at a few of the decisions reached, while other images raised an eyebrow and made me think that some improvements might actually be made. So it was with that (relatively) open mind that I excitedly attended the screening last night. As the screening began, and the first images of THX-1138 unfolded with a sharpness of image and clarity of soundtrack that I’ve never heard before, I was elated as I noticed little details in the frame that I’d never seen before and also picked-up on some dialogue that had always been just a little bit to muddy for me to decipher. You really had me going there, George; even the first epic CGI shots of a grotesquely overpopulated future world, which were intrusive to someone who knows the film as well as I, were forgiven and shrugged off as an unnecessary but not horrifying addition. I felt good about myself and my ability to adjust my expectations, to trust in you as an artist who still had some integrity and not just some desiccated old-man running an empire on autopilot; not some King Lear, victim to the whims of his own infirmities and the connivings of his underlings. But then, suddenly, when LUH (Maggie McOmie) tells THX (Robert Duvall) she thinks everyone is watching them as they engage in illegal drug evasion and sexuality, you really do cut to a series of faces that appear to be watching them (re-edited from a much more subtly evocative moment from the original version). And now SEN (Donald Pleasance) is watching them have sex on his viewscreen as well?!? Could you please connect the dots for us any more? Someone asleep in the balcony might have missed that. Worst of all, defying the wonderfully paranoid logic of the original version just to make a plot point more clear for today’s “dumber” audience, when THX turns in SEN for his crimes, the act is now not the furtive scribbling of the illegality on a card in an empty hallway – an illicit act filled ripe with paranoia, as it was in the original version. Nope, now we get a CGI added viewscreen above the box THX is writing his card on so we can clearly see what he’s writing and the fact that he’s turning SEN in to the authorities. What was implied, very clearly, in the original is now punched into our heads with no subtlety whatsoever. Worst of all, it defies all logic for THX to turn in SEN if he knows that it’s not an anonymous process (as in the original, ala the boxes outside the firehouses in FAHRENHEIT 451); who in their right mind would issue a report on anyone if they knew they were being recorded while doing it?!? There’s more; oh, so much more, so I’ll just jump to the other worst offenders. Like why, in god’s name, did a more elaborate scaffolding set-up (complete with extra people on it) for THX to drive through need to be added to the already exciting tunnel scene? Was it for the ha-ha moment where a worker jumps to safety just before it collapsed beneath him? Jeezus, did Greedo REALLY shoot first?!? And worst of all, the f**k-it-all-I-just-give-up moment of all film history for me (really, this was the moment that enraged me the most) was creating CGI versions of the shell-dwellers, which were originally played by little people, who briefly attack THX just before he escapes. They look awful, everyone in the audience (rightfully) laughed at it (not with it) and it’s the most jaw-droppingly embarrassing moment I’ve experienced in a movie theatre in a long time. And let’s face it, this summer has given all of us ample opportunity to feel embarrassed sitting in a theatre. Ladies and gentlemen, we have been rooked, and let nobody tell you otherwise. The next time someone moans about how audiences have gotten stupider and that’s why it’s harder to see good, intelligent cinema at the local Cineplex anymore, you just point them right at this Director’s Cut of one of the smartest sci-fi films of it’s era and tell them (in your best Norma Desmond voice) that it’s the producers who got stupid, not the audiences. (As a footnote, a super-special “f**k-you!” is in order for the MPAA, who saw fit to retrofit the film with an R-rating. What the hell is wrong with you idiots? No obscene language, brief frontal nudity from a hologram and some people in the far-off distance. It’s a sci-fi flick about people trying to escape the drugged-out stupor of their addicted society and you don’t want high school age kids to see this? Please just die, Jack Valenti, and soon. You are a further pox upon the movie-going public. Do everyone a favor and take a dip in the tar bath with the rest of the moronic ghouls you work with; consider it recycling, and the best thing you can do for the people of the United States.) -Scooter McCrae [/B] |
^^^ Geez, why doesn't he just tell us how he really feels?
|
Great now, I think maybe I should just skip it. That review makes some strong points about these redone movies.
|
All you need to know about that review is it came from AICN, written by an underground, take that to mean failed, sci-fi filmmaker. Typically awful, AICN review. All material from AICN, especially reviews, should be ignored. There's a reason they're the most mocked website on the net. The funniest thing about the review was Moriarty started it off by saying "from one sci-filmmaker to another." :lol: Scooter McCrae has made one sci-fi film called Shatter Dead that was absolutely awful. He isn't even fit to critique Lucas work, much less be mentioned in the same breath. Lucas worst film is a thousand times better McCrae's.
That review makes some strong points about these redone movies. "But you had to go and f**k it all up, didn’t you? Seriously, pal;" Sounds like a review Rivero would write concerning Lucas. :D I'll be willing to listen to any halfway intelligent adult who can write a reasoned, sound, review, even if it's negative. If anything, fans should be happy there's even a THX-1138 DVD at all, much less a 2-discer. Lucas will probably take a bath on this DVD by losing money. If it sells a 25,000 copies, I'd be shocked. |
Judging from the review, it seems to be more about the hate for Lucas than the actual movie. Hell, THX-1138 isn't even mentioned until halfway through the first paragraph. Of course, if "greedo shoots first" has to be incorporated into a review for a film other than Star Wars, I think the credibility is diminished greatly.
From the screenshots I've seen (at DavisDVD), the DC really seems to be Lucas' attempt to turn a cheap and limited film into the motion picture he intended since day one. I've only seen a few parts of the original cut, but it really had potential... but was weighted down by obvious lack of finances. This DVD will be making its way to my collection in September. |
Originally posted by Terrell All you need to know about that review is it came from AICN, written by an underground, take that to mean failed, sci-fi filmmaker. Typically awful, AICN review. All material from AICN, especially reviews, should be ignored. There's a reason they're the most mocked website on the net. The funniest thing about the review was Moriarty started it off by saying "from one sci-filmmaker to another." :lol: Scooter McCrae has made one sci-fi film called Shatter Dead that was absolutely awful. He isn't even fit to critique Lucas work, much less be mentioned in the same breath. Lucas worst film is a thousand times better McCrae's. It's a poorly written review that sounds like it was done by a 15 year old AICN talkbacker. I stopped taking it seriously when I read this line: "But you had to go and f**k it all up, didn’t you? Seriously, pal;" Sounds like a review Rivero would write concerning Lucas. :D I'll be willing to listen to any halfway intelligent adult who can write a reasoned, sound, review, even if it's negative. If anything, fans should be happy there's even a THX-1138 DVD at all, much less a 2-discer. Lucas will probably take a bath on this DVD by losing money. If it sells a 25,000 copies, I'd be shocked. Lucas brown noser. He's got his head so far up Geroge's "you know what" that flies are starting to fly around his head. |
Originally posted by PatrickMcCart Judging from the review, it seems to be more about the hate for Lucas than the actual movie. |
Originally posted by PatrickMcCart Judging from the review, it seems to be more about the hate for Lucas than the actual movie. I see him talking about his former respect for Lucas and love of all of his films (as an intro to the piece, to set it up). And then I see him talking about *specific* problems with the changes in the film... and how they hurt the story. He goes into pretty good detail about why the changes were (in his opinion) a bad idea. I don't understand why the word "hate" is always thrown around in these discussions. This reviewer doesn't hate these films. He doesn't hate Lucas. On the contrary -- he LOVES these films, and he LOVES Lucas. Read that first paragraph again. He's putting his thoughts into the proper context, to prevent it from becoming another "Luca$ sux and hes a CGI rapist" post. What is upsetting and confusing to him is how the man he repects is taking the films that he loves, making wholesale changes to them decades later (both on the story level and with CGI effects). And then keeping the original versions out of circulation. |
Well, Bill Hunt (thedigitalbits) has put up his review/thoughts about the new extended (CGI) cut of THX 1138. It is as follows:
Okay, I'm back. I've had time to catch a few winks and think more about that THX 1138 screening last night. I'll tell you, I've always really liked this film. I would go so far as to say that I think it's director George Lucas' most interesting work. THX is something of a cautionary on society, but it also addresses the personal loss of identity and control of the individual in a modern, technological civilization. What is a single human being worth in the industrial, consumer world? Are we just cogs in an economic machine? Expendable employees if overhead gets too high? Consumers meant to define our lives and our personal happiness by the products we buy? These are interesting questions that are far more relevant now than they were back in 1971 when Lucas first asked them. Anyone who works for a large corporation knows the same pressures Robert Duvall's THX feels in this film: "Work hard. Increase production. Prevent accidents." Anyone who lives in the Western world is bombarded daily with a similar consumer message: "Buy more. Buy more now. Buy more and be happy." Are we not, almost every hour of every day, pummeled with advertisements telling us how to keep our hair from falling out longer, have harder dicks and softer, younger looking skin? It's almost scary how much TV ads these days sound like moments from THX 1138: "Ask your doctor about purple pill. If you have certain medical conditions, purple pill may be the answer..." As many of you know, Lucas has restored and extended THX 1138 in a new director's cut, in the same way that his Star Wars films have been enhanced with new CGI footage. The interesting thing here is, the new footage I think actually serves THX 1138 better than it does the Star Wars films. Instead of just adding an eye-candy menagerie of strange creatures and alien vistas, the footage here mostly expands the sense of scale. For example, we now see the vastness of the factory floor at the beginning of THX, many more levels of hallways packed with ever more workers, and more vehicles moving around the underground complex. The film certainly works without this new footage, but I don't think it's really hurt by it either. THX 1138 still retains its full share of foreboding and claustrophobia. To be fair, it's been a long time since Matt, Adam and I have seen the original film, so it's hard to make a truly critical comparison. I still feel the same way about the original cut of THX as I do about the original cuts of the Star Wars films - Lucas has a responsibility to preserve them for film history. George recently made a rather ironic comment about Columbia TriStar having colorized episodes of The Three Stooges on DVD: "I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that the films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them." Hello pot? This is kettle. You're black. I'm glad Lucas appreciates the need to preserve our film heritage, because this is the very same thing I've been saying for years about the need to preserve the original versions of the Star Wars films... and now THX 1138. That issue aside, Matt, Adam and I all enjoyed this new version of THX 1138, and found it a genuinely satisfying and thought-provoking experience. I was glad to have the chance to see it on the big screen, and I'm very much looking forward to the 2-disc DVD release on 9/14. In fact, I'm probably looking forward to that more than the Star Wars Trilogy DVDs. THX is old school Lucas, the way Close Encounters is old school Spielberg. I really hope, when he's done with Episode III and all, that Lucas goes back to his creative roots. I hope he's got a few more films like THX left in him. 'Cause if he does... you can bet I'll stand in line to see them. |
One hell of a lot more mature than that childish rant posted on AICN. Then again, everything on AICN comes off as if it was written by a 15 year old crybaby.
|
And you gotta love the LOVE that GL gets from the talkbacks the worst thing in the net by far, not even fark goes so low.
Anyways, I'm so looking forward to see this baby, on the big screen at the Arclight. :-D |
| All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:10 AM. |
Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.