tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post4708235640089903218..comments2024-03-29T04:19:43.461-05:00Comments on F This Movie!: Sh!#ting on the Classics: Dances with WolvesPatrick Bromleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00771837625286775607noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-31086738210205450952012-03-27T22:42:06.866-05:002012-03-27T22:42:06.866-05:00^^^ Please re-attach the pieces of your exploded h...^^^ Please re-attach the pieces of your exploded head back together. We need you back next week hosting the podcast and writing reviews for "The Raid: Redemption" (wink, wink). And sorry for liking a Kevin Costner movie a lot of people love to dump on. Write/talk about "Waterworld" or "The Postman" though, and I'll join your army of angry pitch-fork waving mad men (and women too).J.M. Vargashttp://www.dvdverdict.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-49882361172880966592012-03-27T19:53:51.852-05:002012-03-27T19:53:51.852-05:00I disagree with so much of this post that my head ...I disagree with so much of this post that my head is exploding. The "it's just a movie" defense is complete bullshit. THE END.Patrick Bromleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00771837625286775607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4217427319662074458.post-90885855356520268662012-03-27T16:14:28.875-05:002012-03-27T16:14:28.875-05:00Maybe the fact I've sat in movie theaters and,...Maybe the fact I've sat in movie theaters and, in one sitting (with a couple of breaks), watched Kobayashi's "The Human Condition" (574 minutes) and Syberberg's "Hitler: A Film from Germany" (442 min.) has built my defenses. I just don't find the DC of "Dances with Wolves" long or interminable, at all. And even though it's not a great movie (and won Oscar gold that was clearly owed to Scorsese and "Goodfellas") every time I've seen it I come across liking not only what it says but how it says it purely as a movie. <br /><br />Lt. Dunbar being the only sensitive heroic figure surrounded by savages (both white and indian) is par for the course when you're watching a Hollywood star vehicle. If this were a history lesson and meant to be educational I'd be upset, but it's just a fucking movie about a guy finding his true self in the middle of a frontier in which there was no black or white but grey all-around. Patrick had a problem in the "Braveheart" podcast with all the aerial/hero shots of William Wallace riding around Scotland looking all cool and heroic. Duh, actor/director/star Mel Gibson (like Costner with "DWW") is brething life to a lead that is meant to be the center of audience sympathy that happens to be played by the same guy who is also asking that the camera be pointed at him. It's par for the course with Hollywood epics directed by actors, and at least this one looks/sounds good even when it's just a parade of beauty shots. John Barry's score is excellent and the cinematography (by Dean Semler) goes a long way to make the extra padding of the additional hour pleasant to look at. <br /><br />Oh "DWW," unlike JB I just can't stay mad at you. You look and sound so 'purty.' :-)<br /><br />I do have an issue with movie studios/diva directors (which Costner definitely is) releasing only an extended director's cut of a movie and preventing the theatrical version (specially of the theatrical cut is the one that won Academy Award recognition) from being as readily available for streaming/home video. "DWW" won an Oscar for editing (I know... "Goodfellas"... Thelma Schoonmaker... highway robbery, etc.) but we can never experience that wonderful editing the movie won for because only the four-hour DC is available. Ditto for "Amadeus" only the DC is out on DVD and Blu-ray but not the theatrical one with better pacing/feel than the slightly-padded Milos Forman prefered version. The theatrical cut of "Amadeus" is available for streaming on Amazon Prime (Netflix too?) so maybe "Dances with Wolves" on streaming servies does offer the shorter option. It makes sense since people sitting in front of a computer for four hours is a tougher sell than asking them to sit for three (a pretty tall request either way).J.M. Vargashttp://www.dvdverdict.comnoreply@blogger.com