The Directors Cut DVD Discussion Thread

[Lil' Bitch 0]

As you know already with the DVD market and the corporate strategy of making consumers "double dip", there are a lot of Director's Cut, Special Editions, Extended, Unrated (same thing IMO) editions already out / coming out that are meant to inprove by the film by reincorporating footage that was cut from the theatres. Most Unrated DVDs though don't have that much of an impact though as if you're lucky if you even have a full minute of new stuff added.

 

DC Movies already out off the top of my head (in bold are the officially labeled Director's Cuts):

 

1408

A Knight's Tale

Alexander: The Final Cut

Alien

Aliens

Alien 3

Alien Resurrection

Alien Vs. Predator

Almost Famous

Alone In The Dark

American Gangster

Any Given Sunday

Apocalypse Now Redux

Basic Instinct

Basic Instinct 2

Beowulf

Black Hawk Down

Blade: Trinity

Blade Runner

Clerks

Commando

Daredevil

Death Proof

Donnie Brasco

Donnie Darko

Elektra

Fantastic Four

Ghost Rider

Gladiator

Gone In 60 Seconds

Hallow Man

Halloween (2007)

Hellboy

Highlander II: Renegade Version

Highlander III: The Final Dimension

JFK

Jingle All The Way

King Arthur

Kingdom of Heaven

Knocked Up

Lethal Weapon 1 - 4

Live Free or Die Hard

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Miami Vice

Natural Born Killers

Not Another Teen Movie!

Payback: Straight Up

Pearl Harbor

Planet Terror

Robocop

SAW III

SAW IV

Scream

Sin City

Sling Blade

Spawn

Spider-Man 2

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Star Wars Trilogy

Superman II

Tears of The Sun

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

That Thing You Do!

The 40-Year Old Virgin

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Grudge

The Grudge 2

The Frighteners

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

The Natural

The Patriot

The Punisher

The Warriors

The Wedding Crashers

Troy

Tombstone

Windtalkers

Zodiac

 

Now, aside from Elektra, which was garbage to begin with anyway, all the movies I've listed, the DC highly improved the films by a mile fold. I liked the new stuff they added in Blade: Trinity, but they changed the ending, which I found lame.

 

Share your thoughts.

[Downhome 0]

One of my favorites is Léon (The Professional).

 

I wouldn't say that the "DC highly improved the films by a mile fold" for everything you have listed. For some of them, yeah, but not all of them.

 

Another really good one is Almost Famous.

[Anakin Flair 0]

The Daredevil directors cut was tons better than the normal release, if you don't mind loosing most of the Electra side-story.

[daileyxplanet 0]

Cathlolicism is more interesting than Greek ninjas.

[SuperJerk 0]

The Daredevil directors cut was tons better than the normal release, if you don't mind loosing most of the Electra side-story.

 

I cannot emphasize enough how much better the director's cut of "Daredevil" was.

[Guest Vitamin X]

The Director's Cut of The Butterfly Effect is miles better than the theatrical, mainly because the ending actually makes sense.

[DMann2003 0]

Just picked up the Kingdom of Heaven DC

 

Completely different film, there's a weight to this film and the story has time to breathe now.

[daileyxplanet 0]

Where are the spoilers I've been warned about?

[Yuna_Firerose 0]

How much better does the unrated/uncut version of 'American Psycho' compare to the theatrical? Given my new recent interest in Christian Bale, I'm hoping to pick that up sometime soon.

[Downhome 0]

It's pointless and does nothing at all to change the movie. The only difference is that the scene with the two prostitutes have a few extra camera shots:

 

Oooooo! Ooooo! Is this the UNRATED version!?! Ooooo! Gimme! Gimme that sweet UNCUT version! Woooooo! No. It isn't. Now sit down and listen. LISTEN! The previous Unrated and R-rated discs from Universal are out of print and Lion's Gate has reintroduced the flick, although, only in its R-rated form. But! But! But! Hold it! LISTEN! The differences between the two are negligible at best as there's a couple vaguely more raunchy shot choices during the overly touted menage-a-hookers scene. In fact, the Unrated version is more of a poor marketing ploy than anything else. Duh-duh-doesn't Batemen say "ASSHOLE" instead of ... No. He says "ass" in both versions. There's no extra gore. No nekkid midget twister. Nothing yours truly would crawl from the gutter to scale a soap box over. So rest ye fevered brainpans.

[Guest Askewniverse]

Alexander

Alien - Alien Resurrection

Alien Vs. Predator

 

Now, aside from Elektra, which was garbage to begin with anyway, all the movies I've listed, the DC highly improved the films by a mile fold.

You didn't think Alexander, Alien Resurrection and AVP were bad?

 

I'd say "improved by a mile fold" is a gross overstatement. The theatrical versions of AVP and Alien Resurrection sucked. The new footage didn't make a big difference.

[Epic Reine 0]

The Director's Cut of The Butterfly Effect is miles better than the theatrical, mainly because the ending actually makes sense.

 

I HATE the DC of The Butterfly Effect, I'm glad they cut the pointless scene where

the fortune teller tells him that he was never supposed to be born (way too cheesy) and the ending where he chokes himself with the umbillical cord also came off incredibly bush league.

I prefer the theatrical version.

[Ravenbomb 0]

Versus and Ichi the Killer, mostly because the quick-cuts away from the gore in the rated versions are really obvious and distracting

[Special K 0]

Jesus how long is the R-Rated Ichii the killer? 45 minutes?

 

The 'improvements' to the Star Wars trilogy largely sucked ass.

 

Blade Runner was greatly improved by the DC. Totally changes the tone of the movie, lets the amazing visuals and acting speak for itself.

 

I need to see the DC of Daredevil, since I didn't actually hatethe original. I wouldn't say I really liked it, but it was an average action movie.

 

Incredibly gory movies like Ichii the Killer and Brain Dead/Dead-Alive are usually the ones that benefit most greatly.

 

I've also heard the DC of Brazil improves an already pretty great movie.

 

The worst are comedies, usually. They often just add 5 seconds of nudity. Take '40-year-old Virgin.' Now, I thought the movie was hilarious, but the unrated version takes the already swollen 2-hour movie and adds about 10 minutes of unfunny scenes that were cut for good reason.

[Black Lushus 0]

the "X Rated" version of Robocop featured more gore...two scenes in particular:

 

-when Ed-209 malfunctions and kills the guy in the boardroom, the extra scene shows it shooting up the already fallen body some more.

 

-during the "Murphy gets shot up by Boddicker's gang" scene, they show more graphic shots of blood spurting out of the stump that was his hand and the overall "after" affect of getting shot up.

 

neither were important to the overall flow of the film, really...

 

one thing I'll say about American Pie's "unrated" version...it was funnier seeing Jim actually laying on top of the pie as opposed to standing with it.

[pochorenella 0]

The Daredevil directors cut was tons better than the normal release, if you don't mind loosing most of the Electra side-story.

 

I cannot emphasize enough how much better the director's cut of "Daredevil" was.

 

I agree. Although I did like the original Daredevil, I felt the DC was so much better. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.

 

Also like the DC of Almost Famous 'cause it has quite a few extra minutes on it, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it was an improvement because I really love the original movie.

 

T2: Judgment Day I only watch in DC mode after I first got it. Awesome movie made just a bit more awesomer. (is that even a word?)

 

X-Rated version of Robocop? Dude, I GOT to see it!

[Black Lushus 0]

poch, that Robocop is part of the Criterion Collection, just so you're looking in the right direction.

[2GOLD 0]

I love the Directors Cut of ALIENS.

I mean, before you don't know the people on the planet nor do you give a damn what happened to them really. Actually giving Newt's family some faces and voices makes you care somewhat about the annoying little girl. Not much, but a little bit.

 

The release version is still good but the DC actually improved on it with some of the questions that were left unanswered.

[Downhome 0]

poch, that Robocop is part of the Criterion Collection, just so you're looking in the right direction.

 

 

That extended version of Robocop is also in that solid, and cheap, Robocop trilogy set that was released, so no need to track down the Criterion release for that reason alone.

[pochorenella 0]

Thanks, Lushus and Downhome. I'm not too fond on Robo3, so it's unlikely that I'll track the box set, but I'll go with whatever way I find cheaper.

 

I love the Directors Cut of ALIENS.

I mean, before you don't know the people on the planet nor do you give a damn what happened to them really. Actually giving Newt's family some faces and voices makes you care somewhat about the annoying little girl. Not much, but a little bit.

 

The release version is still good but the DC actually improved on it with some of the questions that were left unanswered.

 

I forgot about this one. You're right, it's a great DC.

[NoCalMike 0]

Aliens

Alien 3

Leon: The Professional

The Abyss: Extended version

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Re: Robocop Trilogy

 

What's the difference with the Criterion Collection and the cheap version?

 

You didn't think Alexander, Alien Resurrection and AVP were bad?

 

I think I'm the only guy who actually liked Alexander, but then again I'll admit I've never seen the theatrical version.

[Guest Askewniverse]

Re: Robocop Trilogy

 

What's the difference with the Criterion Collection and the cheap version?

http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=1175

[Special K 0]

There's a DC of Leon? I'll have to see that.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

The Daredevil directors cut was tons better than the normal release, if you don't mind loosing most of the Electra side-story.

 

Don't mind? That's a big positive!

[NoCalMike 0]

There's a DC of Leon? I'll have to see that.

 

 

There is actually 2 now I think.

 

I have the International Uncut version, which has about 25 minutes of more movie, and it is shit that is actually vital to the movie and the director's vision.

 

Then there is the 10th anniversay Edition, or 15th, can't remember.

[Guest Askewniverse]

There are only two versions of Léon: The Professional - the U.S. theatrical version and the uncut international version.

 

The U.S. theatrical version is called The Professional, while the international version is simply titled Léon.

 

Currently, there are four different versions of the movie available on DVD in Region 1.

 

1. the U.S. theatrical version

2. uncut international version; single disc with very few extras

3. uncut international version; Superbit

4. uncut international version; 2-Disc Deluxe Edition

[Downhome 0]

As far as I'm concerned, if you haven't seen the uncut international version of Léon, then you haven't seen the movie period.

[2GOLD 0]

The Daredevil directors cut was tons better than the normal release, if you don't mind loosing most of the Electra side-story.

 

Don't mind? That's a big positive!

 

All I remember is while that horrible plot was going on, I turned to my girl and said, "you watch, Affleck and Garner are having sex."

And sure enough, they were. That's all I remember.

 

Is the bells scene in the church made a touch more realistic? Cause I remember I couldn't stop laughing when they were jumping from bell to bell. It looked so horrible.

[AndrewTS 0]

I never knew of dvdcompare.net. Thanks for the indirect link hookup.

 

I've only seen the theatrical blade runner, which was an old VHS tape. On that site, they noted:

4) "Final Cut". Should be the "definitive Director's Cut" by Scott, and will be released in 2007.

 

Maybe I could wait, but I worry it will be "Lucased." I'm not sure even the original director should tamper with a quality film 2 decades afterwards, especially when the original was unquestionably released during that director's best years. Sure, they have every right to, but the results typically aren't that great.

 

DCs of Blade Runner are available everywhere, though.