Three points... 1) The Two Jakes is not Chinatown. 2) The Two Jakes dovetails well with Chinatown, with due consideration for the cultural changes over the intervening years and due consideration for the life progression of Jake Gittes. 3) The Two Jakes is a dark movie, written with great care...and it is a very, very good movie.
Phase IV Saul Bass' only feature length film as director. Criterion could license the alternate ending version and present both as seamlessly branching for the film. A commentary and documentary focusing on the post-production tug of war with Fox, the recut, Bass' intention, interviews with Mayo Simon, a presentation of the original script as a an interactive feature, one of the shorts out there on Bass' career as a title designer, etc. and this would be a great presentation for a minor cult classic that deserved far better than it got. Oh, and the theatrical trailer which had some footage cut from the original film.
I've watched carefully several times. Read the screenplay a few times too. As much as I've wanted to like it, it just doesn't work, imo. The plot is somewhat confusing and Nicholson isn't an attentive enough director to clarify some of the confusion. Everything is given equal weight. And the acting ranges from stilted (Perry Lopez) to annoying (Madeline Stowe). I commend Nicholson for stepping in to rescue a sinking project, but it needed a better director. A more ruthless director. That said, the production design is evocative, and the ending is poignant.
I would suggest Fricke's Samsara (subtitle: Holy CRAP That's Gorgeous / Eww Gross, Let Me Outta Here), but I'm not sure Criterion could improve upon its' flawed messaging by making the images incrementally even crisper. Slip Baraka and Chronos into the box, and you've sure got a challenger to Reggio's -Quatsi trilogy.
Yes!The curent version looks great but it's unforgivable they did not include at least the original ending.
With you on this....I really wanted to like this too and just couldn't get into it. Rare that I don't like a Jack movie but I don't know, maybe I was expecting too much of a sequel. Interesting someone here said it wasn't supposed to be...I thought it was but I guess I was mistaken. Was like the Rogue One movie...I guess I thought it was going to be something other than it was, and I didn't initially enjoy it. But when I watched it a second time at home when the DVD came out I loved it. Sometimes it's really our fault for having inaccurate expectations; in that case it's good to try and watch again down the line. I should try to do that with Two Jakes.
I don't see that one. It's even on UHD-BD at this point. It's not going to Criterion lane. Hollywoodland has only been released in the U.K. on Wee-jun Bee locked disc. Universal doesn't seem to think much of it. It, they might hand over to Criterion...???
The current discs are crap. All the film grain removed, DNR'd to death. This is one that would benefit greatly from Criterion treatment.
Lionsgate isn't gonna hand this film over to Criterion. What you say is true but studios seldom hand over titles that they can easily exploit. This one is one of the least likely Criterion titles ever.
Some others while glancing at my old dvd copies: Blue Velvet (!) The Dead Zone - always loved the wintry feel that permeates this movie. Miller’s Crossing The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance She Wore A Yellow Ribbon Sunset Boulevard Man Of The West Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid
Totally with you on this one, if ever a film needed updating in glorious color and sound, it`s `Stop Making Sense`.
The Ghost and the Darkness -This one doesn't even have a US Blu-ray release, you have to get the German one Star Trek - The Motion Picture (Director's Cut) -This one also does not even have a Blu-ray release Goodfellas Robocop Gladiator The French Connection The Fifth Element Predator Top Gun -All of these have a really poor transfer Mission Impossible Last Action Hero With Last Action Hero, the audio just sounded bad to me and it isn't even lossless, it has a 448kbps AC3 5.1 track?!? The same is probably true for a lot of other Blu-ray releases from Mill Creek. I also found the Blu-ray of Goldeneye doesn't really look all that great. Does anyone know why this one just doesn't look that good or am I just imagining things again? All of the other Bond Blu-rays have looked good to me except that one specifically. Speaking of Bond, what happened with Spectre? You watch the Blu-ray of Skyfall and it looks amazing but then Spectre and it's like the colors are just not as vibrant and dynamic. I thought I read somewhere that Skyfall was shot with an Arri Alexa and Spectre was shot on film, am I just seeing the differences between those two formats? Uggh where is Vidiot when you need him.
The Searchers Haven’t looked much at my WB copy but I’m sure there’s hordes of people clambering for a mono DTS-HD MA soundtrack!
Arrow did this a while back but there's an issue with the transfer. As for Two Jakes, I think this is an Olive Films release at best.