Films You Switched Off Before The End

[El Unicornio, mang]

It's called the European cut, but it was released in Europe a couple of years after the theatrical version. They cut those extra scenes out because LA test audiences didn't like them.

The UK versions I saw (on telly and video) didn't have those scenes, I never saw them until they broadcast the directors cut on TV a few years ago.

[lazarou]

You might be reading too much into it. Remember it's Luc Besson film and is therefore all style and no substance. Enjoy the style, ignore the substance.

It's actually got some substance to it. There's a feature on one of the DVD releases where they discuss Mathilda being based on a relationship Besson had with an underage girl who he later married when she was old enough. As far as I recall, it was the lady in question who brings it up herself during an interview, as she had something to do with the production.

Ah, here we are...

Besson's second wife was actress Maïwenn Le Besco, who was 15 when they began dating in 1991. They were married in late 1992 when Le Besco was pregnant with their daughter Shanna, who was born on 3 January 1993. Le Besco later claimed that their relationship inspired Besson's film Léon (1994).

That article kind of skips over the part where they met when she was 12.

[checkoutgirl]

Where Does It Hurt? (1972)

I had just watched Being There (1979) and was on the hunt for more Peter Sellers stuff when I saw the full film of this just sitting on Youtube. I ripped it and sat down to watch. It's not the worst film ever but it's a bit broad and was not worth more than 20 minutes of my time. I was mistakenly labouring under the delusion that Peter Seller = Quality. Not so.

[Hank Venture]

Where Does It Hurt? (1972)

I had just watched Being There (1979) and was on the hunt for more Peter Sellers stuff when I saw the full film of this just sitting on Youtube. I ripped it and sat down to watch. It's not the worst film ever but it's a bit broad and was not worth more than 20 minutes of my time. I was mistakenly labouring under the delusion that Peter Seller = Quality. Not so.

When are you going to watch Leon Director's Cut you filthy liar?

[Johnny Textface]

Zombeavers! Horror comedy with the promise of some t'n'a. Shite.

[popcorn]

Tried watching V for Vendetta when it was first out on DVD, turned it off after 20 minutes. Recently read the comic and tried the movie again; lasted about 20 minutes again.

It's so utterly shit. Why isn't it widely damned as obvious dreck? How did it get any traction at all? V's exaggerated pantomime hand movements, mask and voice over give him all the menace and bombast of a Power Ranger. It's all so deeply naff.

The other thing, of course, is that 4chan and Anonymous have ruined it all anyway. V is a far more intriguing mystery in the comic, but here he's a crass nerd fantasy, the "gentleman and scholar" with the bombs and kung fu. When the gamergaters plot to harass a woman out of her home they think they're V blowing up fascism. It's grim.

[checkoutgirl]

When are you going to watch Leon Director's Cut you filthy liar?

I'll watch it tonight if it means that much to you. With full report natch.

[checkoutgirl]

Tried watching V for Vendetta when it was first out on DVD, turned it off after 20 minutes. Recently read the comic and tried the movie again; lasted about 20 minutes again.

I remember watching that one and thinking "That wasn't very good". But then I read the reviews and found out I was wrong, it's actually a very good film.

[Egyptian Feast]

I like when it goes all Benny Hill. If the whole film had been like that, it would've been great.

[QDRPHNC]

Tried watching V for Vendetta when it was first out on DVD, turned it off after 20 minutes. Recently read the comic and tried the movie again; lasted about 20 minutes again.

At the time it was the least awful Moore adaptation. Watchmen now arguably holds that slot.

I think we just needed something to hang on to, you know?

Edit: Although Peter Mannion was as enjoyable as ever.

[checkoutgirl]

When are you going to watch Leon Director's Cut you filthy liar?

Just for you I watched the Directors Cut of Leon (1994) last night. It's exactly as I remember it, one of Besson's best films. Very stylish, nice photography, good music, good action, decent script, great acting with a stand out performance by Portman. She really is frighteningly precocious at times and absolutely nails every scene she's in. It's essentially a father daughter relationship with strong inter generational sexual overtones.

Some of the scenes are pretty amazing but they all make sense within the context of the story and are justifiable. She does a little slutty "Like a virgin" dance but she follows it up with a couple of non slutty dances. This is justified as they are bonding and Leon does a John Wayne impression. There's a bit early on where Portman is smoulderingly staring into Jean Reno's eyes and when he tells her his name she says "Cute name" and he splutters into his milk, it's a bit odd and inappropriate. She also tries to kiss him in a restaurant (he refuses) and tries to seduce him into sexy sex (he refuses). She then settles for sharing a bed and he relents. It's quite sweet really.

By the end they definitely love each other but it's not Eros, well, it sort of is on her part but she's a disturbed 12 year old who was abused by her family and whose whole family were brutally murdered including her 4 year old brother (whose chalk outline she stumbles across). She's not in her right mind and is a confused kid. He's an eccentric loner who can't read and is being ripped off by an unsrcupulous gangster, definitely not the full shilling but he consistently resists her inappropriate advances.

I suppose you could characterise the whole thing as a paedophile fantasy but I think that would be a very cynical view to take. I think it's worthwhile to remember that this is at least 15 years before we found that Jimmy Savile tried to have sex with all children and you could get away with this type of stuff, not that there aren't justifiable explanations for most of it. It's still a decent comic book, hyper reality film that happens to have challenging overtones but that doesn't make it a bad film. Far from it.

[phantom_power]

I certainly don't think we are meant to condone some Leon's behaviour towards her. I think we are meant to understand and even sympathise but while still knowing it is wrong and inappropriate. It is pretty nuanced really for an action film.

[checkoutgirl]

I certainly don't think we are meant to condone some Leon's behaviour towards her. I think we are meant to understand and even sympathise but while still knowing it is wrong and inappropriate. It is pretty nuanced really for an action film.

It's swings and roundabouts again, on the plus side he saves her life more than once, he rescues her, he protects her and gives her a place to stay. He consistently refuses her sexual advances and tries to bequeth his fortune to her and sacrifices his life to kill the man who killed her family. On the down side he seems to slightly beguiled by her, he almost guns her while she's asleep (but changes his mind) and he trains her to be an assassin which helps to bring her into harms way. A mixed bag but ultimately he loves her and offers up his life to avenge her and that's a pretty high price to pay.

By the end I was completely on Leon's side despite him being a cold blooded killer. I think that's a big reason the film works for me, despite him killing half the drug dealers in town and being a remorseless murder machine, by the end I'm still on Leon's side.

[Custard]

Love Leon, me. Just flat-out engrossing from start to finish, with a solid story and cast

People say Gary Old-man (love you, On Cinema) hams it up too much, but I don't think so. He's one of the finest, most genuinely nasty, vile, and cunty villains in film, I'd say. Throughout the film, you cannot wait for him to get it

It also has one of the grimmest murder scenes of any film, with Old-man blowing away Mathilda's family, young kids an all

Not seen the director's cut. Might hunt it down!

[popcorn]

I turned Leon off too, though it was so long ago now I can't remember its problems in detail. I remember finding it rather cheesy. Possibly even Eurotrashy. Does that sound like Leon? Eurotrashy?

[popcorn]

Turned off Blue is the Warmest Colour. Its characters are terminally dull and the sex scenes are comically pornographic. I really can't believe it won so many plaudits; it's such transparent wank fodder dressed up as arthouse cinema. Though I suppose that's a tried and tested routine.

[newbridge]

I suppose you could characterise the whole thing as a paedophile fantasy but I think that would be a very cynical view to take. I think it's worthwhile to remember that this is at least 15 years before we found that Jimmy Savile tried to have sex with all children and you could get away with this type of stuff, not that there aren't justifiable explanations for most of it. It's still a decent comic book, hyper reality film that happens to have challenging overtones but that doesn't make it a bad film. Far from it.

Did you miss the post above where it was revealed the director/writer married and impregnated a child?

To be fair, I remember thinking it was a decent movie though.

[Tiny Poster]

Isn't the school thatMathilda flees from/returns to for emotionally disturbed young women?

[chand]

Ha, I was struggling to think of films I've turned off before the end.
This was one.
The Fourth Kind. I think I just got bored, couldn't see it going anywhere, but mostly, my gf fell asleep, so I knocked it off.

I watched the whole thing the other night, you didn't miss anything. I was hoping that if I sat through 80 minutes of try-hard "NO SERIOUSLY GUYS THIS IS A REAL STORY HONEST" garbage I'd at least get rewarded with some cool aliens at the end where all the weird shit that happens finally ties together, but instead the film just sort of...stops. Like, it pretty much just ends by going "Hey, you get the idea, weird shit happens when aliens or whatever are around", and instead of a dramatic final scene there's about 3 minutes of text explaining what happened to the characters after the film ran out of stuff worth showing.

[garbed_attic]

Well, in this version they're trying to convince us that she's 18 which makes zero sense considering a) her physique and b) her immaturity. And everyone just goes along with that. It's a creepy way of trying to make her blatant sexualizing OK since she's actually 18 you see so it's actually quite legal you're the weird one for thinking it's noncey.

The perfect description of 95% of Japanese visual novels, sadly.

Even genuinely good ones like Umineko manage to include some creepy stuff.

I've never seen Leon but my friend Tim likes it and then watched the director's cut and was pretty freaked out by it so there must be some pretty significant differences.

EDIT: According to Wikipedia Newbridge is wrong and Besson and his ex-wife met when she was 15, not 12... personally I feel than some middle-aged bloke having sex with a 15-year-old is wrong but since the age of consent in France is 15 it's perfectly morally ok and non-exploitative and generally hunky-dorey as Blue Is The Warmest Colour mentioned above also attests to![nb]Yeah okay this is me grumbling about the fact that having a relationship with someone who was turning 17 when I was just a few years older makes me a child molester while Luc Besson is morally in the clear for having a relationship with someone approx. 2 years younger than that when he was in his mid-30s... but France is France and America is America.

I wish the age of consent was standardized at 16 or 18 though.[/nb]

[newbridge]

The perfect description of 95% of Japanese visual novels, sadly.

Even genuinely good ones like Umineko manage to include some creepy stuff.

I've never seen Leon but my friend Tim likes it and then watched the director's cut and was pretty freaked out by it so there must be some pretty significant differences.

EDIT: According to Wikipedia Newbridge is wrong and Besson and his ex-wife met when she was 15, not 12... personally I feel than some middle-aged bloke having sex with a 15-year-old is wrong but since the age of consent in France is 15 it's perfectly morally ok and non-exploitative and generally hunky-dorey as Blue Is The Warmest Colour mentioned above also attests to![nb]Yeah okay this is me grumbling about the fact that having a relationship with someone who was turning 17 when I was just a few years older makes me a child molester while Luc Besson is morally in the clear for having a relationship with someone approx. 2 years younger than that when he was in his mid-30s... but France is France and America is America.

I wish the age of consent was standardized at 16 or 18 though.[/nb]

Hey, don't give me the credit! As per lazarou, they began dating when she was 15 but met when she was 12. The precise timeline is a great mystery that may never be solved.

[garbed_attic]

haha sorry!

Well, it's creepy either which way, really!

But as Polanski would say, "Forget it Jake, it's France."