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Has Fox Castrated Or Cured Vin's BABYLON AD??
Merrick here...
This should've been posted yesterday, but I got distracted when I learned my kitchen sink had been leaking & water had oozed under the floorboards of my place. The wood floor in my hovel was oozing water every time I stepped on it...liquid blobbed up between the seams like blood from a wound that just had a salty scab picked off of it.
Half my house is now shrink wrapped and condomized...looks like Elliot's home at the end of E.T. There are these big fans...the size of small refrigerators...which are pushing air through the entire house in an effort to dry it out, creating strange vacuums and pressure changes through the structure of my place (is this the world's biggest blow job?)
So, sorry this one's late.
Twitch has an interesting article about shenanigans swirling around Vin Diesel's forthcoming Sci Fi thriller BABYLON AD. In short, there's been talk for some time that two distinct versions of the film would exist: a longer European cut, and a more ADD friendly American cut. This differential isn't altogether uncommon, but it usually isn't too extreme. You know, maybe five, ten, or fifteen minutes difference in running time...if that.
Such is not the case with BABYLON AD - and Twitch has the numbers. One cut of the film is said to clock in at 2hrs and 40 minutes (160 minutes). This is the director's intended iteration of the project, which was supposed to be released in mainland Europe. The second version of the film will run 90 minutes when released in many other parts of the world. This is courtesy of the film's global distributor, Fox.
Now, for all I know, the film is legitimately long or boring or top-heavy - losing 70 minutes might only help the thing. Still, that's a lot of story to lose...a lot of character moments that'll go unseen...a lot of atmosphere that won't be experienced. It's inconceivable abolishing so much time won't affect the end product adversely. If this were being done by any company but Fox, I'd be a little less concerned (but still worried). However, they haven't shown stellar awareness or common sense of late (see our review of their DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL remake HERE), so...
You can find Twitch's article...
HERE!!!
HERE!!!
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Seriously?
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I'm kinda wanting to see what the movie looks like.
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I wish they had trimmed 70 minutes out of xXx.
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Don't fuck with pussy! Uhm...you know what I mean!
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You're not seriously suggesting you'd entrust Warner Bros? The company that brought you Exorcist: The Beginning and The Invasion? Surely Fox is far more reliable than the "occasionally we screw up and a good film mnakes it out" Warner Bros!?
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You're realize you're talking about Vin Diesel, right?
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Cats fear these gigantic fans, which makes the whole experience quite funny.
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not paying full price to see half a movie in the theater
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Apr 09, 2008 9:48:52 AM CDT
I will not be seeing this or The Dark Knight.
by batman begins sucks ass
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Thats what she said.
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There's been reports all over the Net that Diesel and director Kassowitz or whatever went at it hammer and tongs over this one. Troubled production frequently = shitty movie. But not always.
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If it somehow gets really good reviews, then I'll see it in theatres. If it doesn't, I'll wait and see if the inevitable director's cut dvd gets good reviews, and then rent that. Otherwise, I just won't see it. It's a Vin Diesel movie... I don't hate him, but I'm not exactly dying to see it.
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A diva leading man, an asshole director and the lousiest studio around. How surprising...
Can't wait to see the longer cut though. Looks interesting. -
...this way both the studio/marketing folks and the director are happy...and the longer artistic (or whatever) version will exist for those who want to see it. Worked great for Lord of the Rings...
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Man I love FOX! They are totally perfect when it comes to editing movies. Like remember how awesome PG-13 Die Hard was last year? Didn't have to hear any of those poopie words like fuck. And that scene where you can totally tell that whatever MAC guy and Bruce are talking about is no where near what my gentle ears are hearing! I hope FOX makes a game out of with this movie, like movie stars out with Disel having a beard, next scene NO BEARD! THEN THEN! BEARD AGAIN! Like Maximus disappearing dog in Gladiator!
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Cutting out a full half of the movie, you're really just getting two completely different films. You'd just have to judge them completely separate from each other. It's an interesting prospect.
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He hasn't done a decent movie since Pitch Black (if you count that, I don't count Point Break in Cars). This doesn't bode well.
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Like, a whole lot. Fox is sly like a fox. Vin is alright. I don't really care. But man, they cut half the movie. Crazy. Die Hard....geeze, what's wrong with them? $$$? $$$$$? Hmmmm...but this one doesn't look very promising $$$$$$.....want to play a funny joke on your younger friends? Force them to watch 2001 with the door locked. They will go insane. It's funny. 70 minutes? Really?
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thanks Fox, just thanks. you know, not all american movie goers are stupid, ADD retards who can't stand watching a movie for 2+ hours. Fox will release this multiple times on DVD in the US. First, the lame ass 90 min theater version. Then, months later, a new Special Extended Edition DVD release, with 30 mins of extra footage! Then, a year or so later, the DIRECTOR'S CUT DVD SPECIAL EDITION 3 Disc Set----THE WAY THE DIRECTOR WANTED YOU TO SEE IT!!!!!!! yay!
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Die Hard 4, AVP 1 & 2, Hitman. They're not satisfied until a movie is dumbed down and nuetered.
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they're cutting out each instance vin appears on screen.
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I've always been disappointed that the full version of The Avengers has never been released. That was the last big film I remember to have such a huge chunk cut out at the last minute. It wasn't a great movie, but it had moments I liked, and I'd like to see if the original version was any better.
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She's just too cool.
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of how long Eyes Wide Shut feels, which BTW could've and should've lost 70 min, at least, how many driving on the bridge shots did that movie really need.
But honestly, 70 minutes, off of 2 hours and forty, in a SciFi thriller, how top heavy could it have been. It's like bunch of people walking. Scene changes still walking, half of them are dead on the floor covered in blood. Role credits.
Fox cut of Ratotoui. Rat jumps in resturaunt, previously undseen food critique smiles. Role credsits. -
It's going to suck. Kassovitz is overrated, and big headed, he is just a kid into a candy store of the movie industry.
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I live in Europe :p
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Why are they always fucking up movies I want to see? I enjoyed HITMAN as a popcorn flick, but the script was really good and scenes that were actually filmed were removed. They even added in that terrible agent sword fight. The alternative to that is on the DVD. And they fucking cut 47 killing the dude at the start of the movie in the hospital. FUCK FOX.
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have all the attention span of your average Labrador Retriever.
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...when it comes out, so I can watch the longer version instead of some bastardized 90 minute cut. Vin Diesel is a pretty good actor and this sounds like it could be along the lines of Children of Men. I'd like to see the long version of this...hopefully it will be made available at some point in the U.S.
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I'm actually one of those (apparently rare) individuals who, *enjoys* watching different versions of a movie I like. So, this could, potentially, be good news for folks like me.
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I doubt the original cut was a masterpiece, but it could've been good if the didn't cut it to pieces and reshot the ending.
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...and show the ads? Money and product placement is all these whores care about anyway.
Seriously though, we're seeing more and more of this. Release a cinema cut, then a vanilla DVD and then a 'special edition' Get the same mugs to shell out three times for the same product. Yeah, Lucas, talking to you, monkeyboy! -
Babylon AD was the first cd i ever bought. Their biggest hit was a song called "so savage the heart." freaking sweet.
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I actually like the guy. He's not the greatest actor ever, but he's not horrible. The directors cut or whatever of The Chronicles of Riddick was much better than the theatrical cut.
That being said, how can you possibly chop 70 minutes out of a movie without absolutely killing the film? It doesn't seem possible. -
I give you Heaven's Gate
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Sing higher, Vin Darling.
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Until you make enough box office busting tentpoles. Vin is in the red in that respect. Clooney owes at least 3 tent poles for the amount of personal films he's done.
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Vin Diesel showed some promise in that film and I think that in the right role he could really shine.
And you can't go wrong with Hans Zimmer. -
Did they not learn from chopping up Once Upon a Time in America?
Did they not realize that the Pirates movies were super-long but still made a shit-ton of cash?
i can understand not wanting to release an action movie of this length (i assume it's an action movie), but 70min? I assume they're deleting an entire (formerly major) subplot that would somehow enrich the story but isn't necessary.
it'll be interesting to see if the remaining 90min sizzles from end to end or is just 2-3 major action setpieces stuck between (now-nonsensical) "plot".... -
are they thinking? 70 minutes - that's almost a film unto itself.
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It's called Cloverfield. Too bad they couldn't have cut 70 minutes from that movie.
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Vin Diesel as a badass Minbari ranger.
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A photo editing application, for example, that does not have much functionality until you surrender to the prodding and download the full not-free app.
Theatrical releases are marketing for the six-months-later DVD release, which is the real movie.
In the 70 minutes (70!) of extra "restored" director's-cut material on the DVD will be all the sex and violence or other mature-oriented content that the theatrical-version can't have because the under-18 crowd is what exhibitors chase. -
it will collapse in on itself with utter ineptitude. how you can have something like FF in your lineup and totally cock that fucker all to hell is a mystery but those tools over there managed to do a damn nice job of it. Oh well the more shit these fucking morons put out the quicker they'll all be fucking fired. Fuck'em.
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Who cares it would still be bad clocking in at 4mn, and make as much sense as of right now.
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The french sites are currently buzzing up about this news. Merrick got it WRONG ! The 2H40 running time was a JOKE told by Kassovitz to make fun of the theaters owners, FACT ! he said the movie would be 2H40 with only two showings a day to scare them a bit, as a JOKE ! The movie is actually, and this is TOLD BY KASSOVITZ HIMSELF WITNESSED LIVE 1H40 with the US cut only missing about 10 mn. AICN PLEASE CORRECT THIS NEWS ! CHECK YOUR SOURCES !
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A description of "Babylon AD" (from imdb.com): "Veteran-turned-mercenary Thoorop takes the high-risk job of escorting a woman from Russia to China. Little does he know that she is host to an organism that a cult wants to harvest in order to produce a genetically modified Messiah."
Not a bad dystopian science fiction premise, I think, but Kassovitz is going to have to pull it together after the wildly unfocused "Gothika." That movie was all visuals, no story. I hope "Babylon AD" is at least single-serving watchable. -
I said 'shell out', not 'sell out'. I was referring to the way he keeps releasing tweaked versions of Star Wars to idiots who will buy them. Of course the man doesn't have product placement in his movies - unlike his old mate Spielberg, whose 'Bore of the Worlds' was one long ad for Ford, Mazda, Motorola, Jeep, Nokia, Sony, Coca-Cola, Motorola, Omega etc, etc. No wonder Big Steve is so rich. He never has to buy anything with all those corporate freebies...
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Could they be splitting it into two movies maybe?
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... is fucking our eyeballs in 2009?Oh, and Mr. "frg10", I second your opinion about those fracking annyoing personal intros - they just suck.
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KASSOVITZ MADE IT CLEAR IT WAS A JOKE, THE ACTUAL RUNNING TIME OF THE FILM IS 1H45 WITH THE CREDITS INCLUDED THE US CUT ONLY MISSES ABOUT 10MNS AICN IS NOW SPREADING FAKE NEWS AND LIES ALL OVER THE WEB, THE STANDART IS GOING DOWN. IF HARRY BOTHERED TO CHECK, HE WOULD CALL KASSOVITZ WHO WOULD CONFIRM THIS NEWS IS WRONG.
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Seriously, no product placements in the Star Wars movies? All of them after Empire - and maybe the Yoda scenes from that one two - were ads for the action figures. People talk about '80s cartoons like Transformers and Guy Joe neing 30 minute commercials for the toys and a throwback to the early '60s when saturday morning cartoons starred cereal company mascots, but the Star Wars movies were totally about selling product. What did you think Ewoks were, Lucas's version of Hobbits? They were half Gremlin half teddy bears shoved in to replace the Wookies because they thought they'd sell better.
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Brilliant Comment!
Right on! -
Hadn't thought of that aspect.
You are, of course, spot-on. All those new aliens popping up with each installment - kerching! - more action figures for the sheep to collect!
Baa! -
That headline was a JOKE. I told it to French theater owners a JOKE. The length of the JOKE has always been 1h 45m but I trimmed 10m off the JOKE for US AUDIENCES. The 10m trimmed are little more than me saying "Bon appetite!" in a funny accent.
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how the fuck I keep giving Diesel a pass for the work he did in the Riddick movies. for some reason they resonated with me. I should probably get a lobotomy.
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I also enjoyed The Avengers, I've been dying to see an extended cut of the film since '98! http://tinyurl.com/2b3o3t
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We all have problems in our lives. I dunno about you, but I still make it to work. You couldn't take two seconds to write an article on the internet? You guys suck. I'm sick of hearing about your personal crap. Do your jobs. Jesus.
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Thanks again to regular reader Mary for updated information on this. The stated hundred and sixty minute run time came from statements made by star Michelle Yeoh a few months back. More recently Kassovitz has been quoted saying that his version of the film runs and hour and forty five minutes, for a total one hundred and five minute run time. Whether Yeoh had her details wrong or Kassovitz did some cutting of his own in the mean time is not clear but if this time is correct then the Fox version trims only fifteen minutes from the KAssovitz cut rather than seventy, which is still significant but not on the same scale.
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