Posted by Placenta Jones at dpsnet.detpub.k12.mi.us on October 28, 1999 at 10:37:53:
OK, this is just an opinion, but...I kinda hope that any Dogma DVD or special edition DOESN'T have the cut stuff edited back into the flick.
Here's why:
I love The Blues Brothers. One of my favorite movies of all time. Hysterically surreal and funny plus it has the two greatest car chases of all times. So, loving the movie like I do, I purchased The Blues Brothers EXPANDED edition DVD. It has almost 25 minutes of extra stuff edited back into the movie. I took it home, watched it, and...it really, really sucks. Out of the 25 minutes of extras, the only good moment is an extra minute of John Lee Hooker singing. That's it. The rest of it...well, sometimes it's obvious why stuff is cut from a movie.
There's some awful jokes, like 3 extra minutes of Elwood parking his car, and a 3 minute scene where they explain where Elwood got the glue. The scenes do nothing for the movie except ruin its pacing. Also, in one of the extra scenes in the bginning of the movie, you see Elwood's eyes. What the fuck?! One of the greatest moments in the movie is when Belushi whips off his glasses to seduce Carrie Fisher. It's a powerful effect because you realize...wait a minute...I watched this entire movie and I'm only seeing the eyes of the leads NOW? It's fantastic. The cool "extras" runin this.
The big problem is the DVD doesn't come with the original cut of the movie. So, now, I'm stuck with a bastardized version of one of my favorite flicks and I'm not even sure if the original is on DVD yet. I have the same far if they ever put the Star Wars flicks on DVD. I didn't really like the Special Editions, so will I be able to get the original versions on DVD? Knowing Lucas and his obsession with technology...I'm guessing not and that blows.
I'm sure that all of the cut stuff from Dogma is good (I've seen the cut stuff from the other flicks and had some good laughs), but think about what happens if you don't like the deleted footage. You'll be stuck with a Special Edition Dogma that is nowhere as good as the film you saw in the theatre.
So, Kevin and whoever is listening, I say put the cut stuff in a "Deleted Scenes" section or find a way that allows you to cut and paste chapters so you can assemble your own version (I think laserdisc was able to do this.). But please, don't add the cut stuff permenantly. It's a dangerous gamble that has forever tainted Blues Brothers and The Empire Strikes Back, two of the greatest films of all time. I never thought it could happen, but...sigh...it did.
The newly hitched Placenta