4 Hour Director's Cut?
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headhoncho — 19 years ago(April 30, 2006 09:21 AM)
Birth of a Nation may be the first full length feature film, but it isn't very good at all. It presents some of the worst prejudice I've ever seen, and glamourizes the KKK. The story is all over the place, and is very shoddily designed.
Yes, it was a great achievement in Cinema and bravo to D.W. Griffith for pulling off the huge battle scenes and just managing to actually go through with his plans on making this 180 minute epic. But if we're talking about the effect running time has on story, I think we should only be mentioning movies that actually do have a very good story.
And I'm not just some silent film hater. Metropolis and Battleship Potemkin are up there as two of my favorite films. Fritz Lang is my all time favorite director. -
darkbhudda — 19 years ago(April 05, 2007 08:47 PM)
Ignore this guy. Birth of a Nation is a good film. Yes it has prejudice, but there's far worse in modern films. The story is not "all over the place", but deals primarily with two families, so cuts between them. Just like they do today, but unlike today it doesn't insult the audience by putting text on the screen pointing out the exact date, time and location.
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fleebix — 19 years ago(May 20, 2006 05:38 PM)
I heard that original 12 commandments by DeMille was around 24 hours.
http://www.atlividar.com
http://myspace.com/atlividar -
fleebix — 19 years ago(May 21, 2006 08:11 AM)
Yeah DeMille put some extra 2 in there sorry
http://myspace.com/atlividar
ThisIsPG17 -
Yorick_Brown — 18 years ago(September 05, 2007 06:27 PM)
You know perfectly well that we can list at least two to three 2 hr. long movies for every 3 hr. long movie you can throw at us.
"Paradise and hell both can be earthly. We carry them with us wherever we go."
-1492 (1992) -
ilon — 11 years ago(October 16, 2014 08:25 AM)
May be true, but I think that there's an unconscious feeling that the longer the movie, the better it must be. I can't think of any considered to be bad 3 hour movie. There must be some, I'm sure, but I think I would've remembered that kind of overlong boring experience.
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markvoyager — 19 years ago(August 20, 2006 05:06 AM)
It may have felt cut up, but that's because Thornton was making a 4hr film that was chopped down. If he had set out to make a 2hr film in the first place, it would have been all there. Trust me, I've read the book as i am sure you have, there was no need for this to conceivably ever have been 4 hours. The version we got is pretty much all there.
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markvoyager — 19 years ago(August 21, 2006 01:06 AM)
Honest question - did you think the relationship in the book worked? I didn't as there was no internal monologue so from his POV this didn't matter as much but from hers you never really knew what she was thinking or feeling. It felt hollow.
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Bladerunneru0095 — 19 years ago(March 06, 2007 03:53 AM)
I would say that to people who like things all bundled up and see cinema as a diversion then the film, as it is, is fine. For those of us who view cinema as something more than simply a way to spend an hour and a half who consider films (the good ones) to be useful and exciting examinations of the human condition we don't mind about the length. What we want is for the filmmaker to use as much time as is needed to tell the story well. That could be an hour, or it could be ten. The only time a film feels too long is when it IS too long, or when the story it is telling is flawed i.e., boring, or stupid or not worth telling in the first place.
The love story between Damon and Cruz is WAY too short. There isn't enough time to tell their story. They have chemistry and there are moments of real intimacy and romance, but there isn't enough time devoted to them falling in love. Also, I would have enjoyed more screen time alloted to the friendship between Damon and Thomas. They both did such an excellent job, particularly Thomas who truly tapped into the Texas personality, or rather the west Texas, country, small town personality. Considering the fact that he basically grew up in Hollywood, it was a truly amazing thing and a damn fine performance.
Here's hoping they'll release the film as Billy Bob intended and if that version happens to include a bit more with a scantily clad Cruz, well you won't catch me complainin'.
"nothing is left of me, each time I see her" - Catullus -
Yorick_Brown — 18 years ago(September 05, 2007 06:33 PM)
A film should be long or short enough to tell it's story properly but it also needs to consider the audience's time and patience and the studios revenue.
Yes folks. Moviemaking is a business and not a charity and people do have to make money. Go knock yourself out and try to change the world and whatever but it's really not fair for studios to bank on a potential moneymaker and for a paying audience to waste endless hours or feel cheapened by watching a too short film.
"Paradise and hell both can be earthly. We carry them with us wherever we go."
-1492 (1992)