Be Excellent To Each Other

Or not. The "uncut" version is horrible, not that the theatrical release was any good either. The version you saw in the cinema was the film as it was intended to be seen, everything else was tacked on afterwards to sell it to the adult market. Sure, there are extra swears in the "uncut" version but they happen off camera, it's just added audio. Any extra violence is just badly added CGI. And, if I remember correctly, the "uncut" version removes the best scene in the movie and replaces it with something pointless.

If you really want to watch that horrid piece of shit movie, then stick with the theatrical version.

For me, the Die Hard franchise ended after part two.

Also, Cube is awesome. I saw part two once and thought it was gash. Someone told me that Cube Zero is pretty decent and leads quite nicely into Cube. Anyone else seen it?

This is my copy of Cube, signed by the lovely Nicole de Boer.

I was wondering about this when the 'cutting' debate happened, a few days ago.

In general. While people complain that the cinematic version is horribly bowdlerised and an attack on the artform, could it be that it's generally the 'real' version, and the 'uncut/more gore' versions are simply pointlessly expanded film equivalents of bonus tracks, for the kind of person who actively seeks out that kind of branding?

For as much grief as 12A receives from geeks, something like The Dark Knight (whatever one thinks of its artistic merit) is sufficiently gritty for most people's tastes.

The only folk that care about ratings are underaged kids

I can't remember the last time I checked a rating on anything, let alone allowed it to sway any sort of decision. Probably as Wullie says, when I was about 12.

It depends, and certainly there is a cynical market for the 'UNSEEN EXTREME EDITION' releases that there wasn't a few years ago.

I can't comment on Die Hard 4 because I've never seen it, however Die Hard 3 and Die Hard 2 were subjected to some pretty harsh cuts to bring them in at Cert 15 (and even then Die Hard 2 got an 18 on video), in stark contrast to the original Die Hard which went out at 18 and was uncut.

If I'm watching a gritty action movie where Bruce Willis is getting on with serious motherfucker killing, I don't want bits of video and audio having been sliced out, or scenes cropped/panned to remove stuff, to get it a particular certificate, it just annoys me. (I imported my Die Hard 3 DVD from the States.)

True Lies is another one that springs to mind, James Cameron himself was properly pissed off with the cuts he had to make to that to get it a 15 on DVD, and that was after it'd already been cut to get a 15 at the cinema. (That's another one I imported from the States.)

It's not a question of 'juvenile shock factor' or anything else, it's a question of wanting to see the film how the director intended it to be seen. (A good example of this is the director's cut of The Abyss, which adds no violence or swearing or anything else of that nature, but does add an awful lot more story and characterisation and makes the whole film a damn sight better.)

It's kind of gritty enough for the genre it occupies, but it's obvious where it pulls its punches.

However, you're never going to make a film like Martyrs, or Taxi Driver, or Silence of the Lambs, or True Romance, or Pulp Fiction, or Scarface, or Nil By Mouth, or Robocop etc etc etc etc and do them properly at a Cert 12A or even a 15.

Some films are adult by nature, and that's what Cert 18 is for. What pisses me off is when an adult film gets sliced and sliced to bring it in at a lower certificate for purely commercial gain.

True Lies actually did get an uncut release in the UK, although it was very brief and was recalled pretty quickly. If you want it, CeX have it for £2. You need to look for the release that has the barcode 5035822010048, has a red Widescreen banner on the top of the sleeve art, also make sure the disc has the old style BBFC rating logo.

Oof. I pre-ordered Cabin in the Woods on BluRay for £17.50; I've just had an email from Amazon saying I'm getting a £7.50 refund because they're now selling it for £10.

I think Amazon always do that i.e. put the pre-order up at a predicted price and then promise to only charge you whatever the actual price ends up being. Although I'd have expected them not to charge you at all until it was ready to ship rather than charge then refund.

They dropped the price after dispatch, because they posted it on Saturday. Still hasn't fucking arrived though.

It's more "oof, £10 on release day/day two." That's bad, for a BluRay - particularly one that was so well thought of.

Die Hard with a Vengeance is awesome!

It is but I just don't think it's a good Die Hard movie. Should be set at Christmas, for one thing.

Die Hard was rewritten from another script to become a Die Hard film.

As were 2 and 4 IIRC.

And 1 was supposed to be a sequel to Commando.

Only in its second incarnation; the first version would have starred Frank Sinatra!

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/die-har ... ard-movies

The bit about Die Hard 3's script being drafted as a Lethal Weapon story at one point makes a lot of sense.

3 was originally going to be a Lethal Weapon movie.

I heard that 3 was supposed to be a Lethal Weapon movie at some point, not sure how accurate that is.

It's not entirely relevant here, but did anyone else hear that rumour that Die Hard 3 was originally intended to be a Lethal Weapon film?

No, I've never heard that, but Brucie only did 4 in a deal to get the name "Tears of the Sun" for another film he wanted to do. By the way, does anyone think 3 feels more like it should have been a Lethal Weapon?

Yes I am aware of that 'rare and accidental' uncut UK release

However, I imported the uncut R1 DVD back in about 1999, still got it on the shelf now

I went through a phase of importing DVDs from the States as their R rated releases had a habit of getting cut for a Cert 15 over here, or even a Cert 18 in some cases.

Off the top of my head the likes of The Matrix, Die Hard With a Vengeance, True Lies, Payback and quite a few others. Plus it was often possible to get stuff months ahead of its UK DVD release, so I also ordered DVDs from the States on that basis.

Had a softmodded Samsung DVD player that would play discs from anywhere in the world.

The famous 709? I got a shout out in the R1 mod FAQ for that: #faq4-3">http://www.uni-electronics.narod.ru/709faq.htm#faq4-3

The very one

By pure coincidence we already had an AIWA midi-system that you could use the remote of to softmod the 709.

The 709 died years ago and was superseded by chipped XBoxes anyway, but the AIWA midi-system still works perfectly, (and still gets used), and we've still got the remote

I never did work out why an AIWA remote would softmod a Samsung DVD player....

And y'know, I think that may have been the FAQ I originally referred to......

Reel.com I used to get a package every week with about a dozen discs in at one point

I got the Akira R1 DVD in summer 2001. Very expensive. But I was happy.

I have a mental chipped Sony that I got from under the counter at Richer Sounds.

I imported a Matrix R1 from Canada that had been pressed in Cwmbran, the town where I live (a mate who worked there confirmed it). 8,000 mile round trip and it was half the price of the UK one.

I also had a 709. Stolen in a burglary, sadly

Why couldn't you buy like it everyone else?

Because Liverpool.

I've just discovered there is an extended cut of Con Air I've not seen.

As if Looper didn't already have enough praise, I didn't like it.

why do you need to buy special DVD players? They all have a button pushy sequence that makes them region free.

Not back in the day, they didn't.

How far behind the mainland are you buggers in IOM?

I'm sure you well remember that in the early days of DVD not all players could be softmodded, for some it was a chipping job and IIRC there were some Sonys and suchlike that couldn't be done at all.

And this was when PC DVD-ROM drives still mainly adhered to regional coding as well, although there were ways around it.

I genuinely didn't know anything about unlocking DVD players until ... oooh, 3 years ago?

That they did - I got one about six months after they got popular and that did. The only one I've ever known that didn't have a magic button sequence was my brothers (ha!).

Expensive DVD players from proper known brands generally don't have magic button sequences.

When are we talking about? My Samsung 709 purchase was in '98 or early '99 and at the time, as I recall, softmod region hacking was almost unheard of. It changed not long after that, with all the no-name Taiwanese models that soon appeared being hackable, and eventually even a number of big brand ones.

Christ knows - it was certainly a cheap Asian box, though (although it was still £200 or so).

Indeed, this is why I particularly sought out a 709, it was one of the few players at the time that had a softmod.

Your other options were either none at all (the bigger the brand the more likely it was unhackable), or a hardware modification.

The audio on CUBE is really fucked - it keeps going wildly out of sync, then snapping back. Unless that's the ps3 hack to make dts master audio work, I should check it on the proper player. Annoying either way.

Whoo!

Finally saw The Rum Diary tonight. A decent adaption. I enjoyed it.

Am halfway through The Hunger Games.

Bit bloody brilliant, isn't it?

I am a 29 year old woman who should be out having fun on a Saturday night. Instead I've stayed in and watched the bluray of Despicable Me. And it was brilliant

There is no lovelier film in the whole world than Stardust. My heart is glowing and everything

Agree. Strongly.

I wanted Rule The World for our first dance song, but my BFF said she wanted it and even though she wasn't engaged at the time I let it go. And now she's getting married next year and not using it. Bah!

I had Rule the World for my first dance. It was ace!

I hope you're all actually talking about Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears, because the vision I've had of Ange in a wedding dress dancing to that is one I'd quite like to keep.