Movie Reviews

Woke up this morning to see my name and quotes in the new Adrien Brody / Forest Whitaker helmed The Experiment trailer!

The Complete Metropolis has come to theaters over eighty years after the film was first seen on the big screen.  The classic silent film by director Fritz Lang is still a marvel in terms of story and special effects.   Films like Star Wars and Blade Runner were grealy influnced by Lang's film which is one of the first science fiction films ever created by the evil machine-man (wonderfully played by Brigitte Helm) that wore just pasties as her top.

Metropolis was first premiered in January 1927 where it was met with some success but was generally considered to be way too long for audiences.  The film was edited down and, because of this, most audiences thought that the film had become disjointed.

Saving cut footage wasn't practiced during these days.  Nearly all studios and filmmakers would simply toss out the footage that was unused from a film, since saving film stock would take up way too much room.  This becomes a bit contentious especially in relation to films over the years that were taken from directors and reedited by film studios.  Films like Orson Welles adaptation of The Magnificent Ambersons and the 1933 King Kong have had footage ripped from the film to never be seen again.

Metropolis would see its original 153 minute version cut down to 114 minutes for the US release.  In attempts to try and make the film more accessable to audiences and cut down its running time even further, editors would bring the film down to 94 minutes.  Even a version by Giorgio Moroder in 1984 would bring a modern soundtrack, with a soundtrack featuring Pat Benetar, Adam Ant, and Freddie Mercury, would bring the running time down to a slim 80 minute running time.

The 1990s would be a renaissaince for the film industry.  Pan & scan VHS tapes (a way of adjusting widescreen films to the proportions of a then standard television, often losing up to 45% of a film frame) would move to widescreen versions being available.  Directors and film studios would revist films with Director's Cuts which added in additional footage not seen in the theaters.  As VHS moved to a DVD format we would see this more often with addition deleted scenes, commentaries, and film trailers. 

Seeing a film the way it was envisioned has become more important to moviegoers but in the case of older film the footage is usually lost forever.  This was thought to be the case for Metropolis until 2008 when a copy of the original uncut film was found in Argentina.  The film itself was very degraded and, once it was authenticated to be the original version of the film, Metropolis would need a long restoration period to see if the footage could be made to be watchable.

The result is The Complete Metropolis, distributed by Kino International, and running with 25 minutes of additional footage unseen since the film's premiere.  It is the most complete Metropolis will ever be.  There are points in the film where the film was so degraded that it could not be restored.  As the film is silent there are intertitles shown that tell you what is going on.  To get around the problem of this footage being lost forever there are additional intertitles telling the audiences what was actually happening during these lost moments.

The film itself has been wonderfully restored and looks amazing for a motion picture shot in 1920's.  The "restored" lost footage does look horrible when coupled with the actual film.  The footage is very grainy, many lines running down through the frame, and does look out of place from the rest of the film.  It does succeed in making Metropolis' narrative alot more full in a way that it never has before.

Most of the lost footage seems to have been good editing.  Many scenes are simply extended with what the audience sees as frames cut for time.  The only major character who had many full scenes deleted from the film was 'The Thin Man' played by Fritz Rasp.  The Thin Man had a major role in the original film as a henchman only to see his part nearly cut out of the film.  It's these scenes that help bring the narrative closer together and truly make the lost footage exciting.

It is a truly rare opprotunity in the industry to see a film like Metropolis nearly fully restored.  The fact that a classic of this proportion is now nearly complete is a cause for celebration and to see it on the big screen is truly a treat for fans of the cinema.  Though its run at The Film Forum in New York is coming to an end, those who would like to see the film will have a chance when The Complete Metropolis comes to the Ritz at the Bourse in Philadelphia starting in July.

RY-NOTE: I'm not a Twilight fan. I tried reading the first book only to throw up in my mouth a little bit. I watched the first film which was completely underwhelming. There are still way too many fans of the series out there which is why it is great to have new reviewer Robyn, a Twilight fan herself, take a quick look at the new flick.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Review by Robyn Schoenhaus

First off the script for New Moon was much better written then Twilight's, but without good acting you don't have a good movie!

Kristin Stewart is so monotone. She can't act at all and the movie is based off of her. She doesn't bring the character of Bella Swan to life, she has no emotion.

Robert Pattinson is okay but mostly because he doesn't really talk he just sits there to look pretty! I do have to give Taylor Lautner some props as he did a good job as a leading man. He probably acted best out of anyone in the movie. Putting on all that muscle to keep that part he really deserved it.

But what was with the wolves? They were so fake looking. You would think with all the special effects they have these days they could have done a better job. I almost think it would have been better if they used real wolves! Its like they tried too hard on the wolves that they just looked fake and horrible!

I do have to say I am very glad though they cut Nikki Reid's part down a lot from the last movie, which Rosalie didn't really even talk in the first book. She is no Rosalie! In the books she is described as the most beautiful women you have ever seen that it is hard to look at her. Nikki isn't ugly but she doesn't look good as a blond that's for sure. That role is so small in the first three books that they could have just used some tall blond bombshell of a model because she doesn't really need to act just look good!

I do however have to give them props on their casting of the wolf pack and the Volturi. Dakota Fanning was amazing as Jane but that was a given she is just an amazing actress. The wolves were hot and playful just like they are supposed to be. All in all the script was good because it kept to the books and the books themselves were good. The acting in New Moon was horrible and therefore it brings what should have been a good movie down to just an okay movie.