Change Your Image
LionClaw
Reviews
THX 1138 (1971)
Lucas has finally lost it...
If any further proof was needed that George Lucas has completely lost all perspective, then the recent DVD release of the self-aggrandizingly titled "THX 1138 - The George Lucas Director's Cut" is it. Lucas really baffles me. When you open the disc sleeve, there's an introduction by the man himself, and he speaks lovingly of the excitement of making a new kind of movie for American Zoetrope's first release. He also goes into the state of the movie studio system at the time, and criticizes the shift to a "corporate consumerist mentality." And then he turns around and does it himself! Gadzooks, the man is living in his own little world! "The George Lucas Director's Cut"?!? As if there had somehow once been another director?!?!? WTF?*
As for the remastered movie itself, I sincerely advise that if you have never seen this movie but are considering it, then PLEASE see the original version. The world it portrays is one where individuality is sacrificed for the greater good, but the only progress that seems to be made is in further enslaving humans. The way the movie was first shot conveys a sense of a large, looming population, but doesn't really show it. There was a sense of unspoken claustrophobia that permeated the film. Lucas's new CGI additions and other digital manipulations work sometimes, but more often than not they fail utterly, and you can sense your own eyes rolling back in your head**. It was the same when I saw the remastered versions of the Star Wars trilogy. Well, maybe worse, because I have a lot more respect for "THX 1138". The original. I wish George did, too.
There's a lot I can spoil (if you could really even call it that, 'cause this whole production spoils the original), but the one change that literally had me saying out loud, "Lucas, you have lost your ******* mind," was this: When THX is near the end of his escape, he runs into some "shell dwellers," which had previously been represented by dwarfs. Lucas has replaced them entirely with CGI creatures that look like hairy Golems (you know, from Lord of the Rings). This, among with some other digital alterations in the film, slightly hints at the possibility that this isn't even Earth at all! Ugh, it made me sick. Oh, and the new car scenes? Ridiculous!
Overall, I am very disappointed with this release. I have not yet watched the bonus material or listened the the commentaries (and believe me, I will - if only to maybe understand why this once great director has gone batty). I just pray that we don't one day see the release of "American Graffitti: The George Lucas Extra Special 'You Were There' Visionary Director's Cut."
My grades: THX-1138 A.
THX-1183: I'm George Lucas Dammit Director's Cut B-
*And, of course, I'm now imagining Dave Chappelle saying, "I'm George Lucas, b****!"
**This is a reference to one of Lucas's digital "improvements," where he actually makes Duvall's eyes roll back in his head where they did not before.
The Dead Don't Die (1975)
Someone please remake this movie!
I remembered seeing this movie when it first aired (on NBC, I think), and I seemed to remember it being above average for a TV movie. So I found a copy of it for under $5 and watched it again, nearly 30 years later. Wow, what a difference time and experience make. The premise is an interesting one, and the film relies more on subtlety than shock value. But, man is it slow. I found myself losing interest in it a couple of times. This is a movie that screams to be remade.