Heaven's Gate
The $1 weekly video is a fine thing.
I am currently putting myself through Heaven's Gate (the original, long long version). An infamous film that wrecked careers, wrecked a studio, and nobody saw. For years I've told myself I should see it. Now it's finally happening.
It reminds me of watching Matrix 2. Incredibly impressive in many ways, and horridly put together.
It had a huge budget, a pretentious director (Michael Cimino) and every shot of the film is beautiful. Amazing photography and sets and locations. Every shot looks delicious and expensive.
But it is sooooo long. Every scene is twice as long as you'd want it to be. And in most scenes very little, or nothing at all of any consequence to the plot happens. I have watched 1 and a half hours so far, and I am finding it difficult to remember one significant or memorable exchange of dialogue.
And even worse, there are scenes where you can't hear what the leads are saying! The director obviously wanted a realistic feel. So if the leads are talking near a busy road, you hear the background traffic rather than the lead voices. There are scenes that I have carefully replayed, but still can't make out what they're going on about! This is not a way to win over your audience Michael!
But I am determined to keep watching. The bad guys' plot is to kill 125 poor immigrant peasants, and so far they have a lot of catching up to do.