[Weekly Update] March 21, 2021

A lot of things had happened last week, from volcanic eruptions to earthquake. But one particular event hit me especially hard, simply because of my ethnicity. I don't think I have to be specific, and I don't think I'm ready to talk about it openly.

I have not been very vocal on my channel about this, as I think I made my stance very clear since the beginning of our channel's upload. Everyone probably knows my reaction. In private, thought, I have been trying my best to spread the message.

Most of my work for this month is done, and is only waiting for the right time to be published. Hopefully, I can join the rest of my brothers and sisters at a protest later.

#StopAsianHate.

ABOUT THE CHANNEL

• Works on our next video and our bonus video are both completed. For our next video, it'll be King Kong vs. Godzilla. For Bonus video, it'll be Justice League.
• I still have my April Fool's video waiting to be edited. Afterward, We'll have a video on Godzilla vs. Kong.
• Depending on when the GvK video is done, There may be a slight hiatus afterward, Maximum of three weeks.
• We'll be back at the 29th of April...
• Wait, it's April already!?
• Anyway, we'll be with a video on the 29th of April, either on Ghibli's first 3D feature (A movie I feel very strongly about); On Silenced, a movie about teachers abusing students (A movie I can personally relate to); Or Kung Fu Panda (A highly requested movie)
• As for May, I have a two parter planned: The Worst Movie From Japan, and the Worst Movie From Hong Kong. I don't know which movies I'll talk about yet. Let me know if you have any recommendations.

ABOUT MEDIA

• The whole world is talking about the Snyder Cut. With that in our mind, let's talk about director's cut and alternate versions.
• In some ways, film as a medium is closer to novel than painting or photography. It is a type of art that (generally believed to) have an author, but not a main copy. There is "The Mona Lisa", the one painting. Every other Mona Lisa is a copy. But there is no the one copy of Blade Runner. All copy of Blade Runner are equal. It's a content over form sort of art.
• This gives the author, or in this case, the director, a chance to update and fix their art. Novels do this all the time, with updates to fix minor potholes.
• From this perspective, it is perhaps not as crazy to see why George Lucas feel compel to update Star Wars multiple times. As the series progresses, Star Wars' tone and target audience changes. It started off as a space samurai movie,  a Kurosawa movie in space. But soon, because of merchandise or whatever, the trilogy ended as a kid's movie. And so, violence have to be toned down. Or at least so he believes.
• Batman v Superman, Blade Runner, and I Am Legend are similar. Except,The directors were fixing bad decisions made by the studio executives. In these cases, the alternate versions areal immensely better. Especially Blade Runner. Have you seen the original theatrical release? The phoned in narration at the end is just so... experimental.
• I happened to watch the assembly cut of Alien 3 before the original cut. This one, the director has no control over. It's the studio trying to fix their own problem. It helps a lot, too. Enough so that I find it more enjoyable than Aliens.
• Blasphemy, I know. But I wasn't impressed with the action focused direction of the second movie. I did not like the concept of the queen. I feel like the absolute horror of the Aliens got downplayed too much. Alien 3's depressing setting and tragic ending at least somewhat captures that cosmic horror feel.
• Similarly, I saw Daredevil's director's cut first. When everyone say they hated it, I have no idea what they are talking about. The tonal differences between the two is massive.
• I have a feeling someone in the studio thinks superhero is this stupid cheesy genre for nerds, which leads to the film being this stupid angsty dumpster fire. The director's cut at least has a consistent tone. It's generic, but it flows better and it's a rather easy watch.
• Of all the alternate cuts, I think the best one, or my favourite one, is Richard Donner's Superman II.Calling it an alternate cut is kinda underselling it. This is your original Snyder Cut, everyone. This is a completely different movie.
• Much of the strangeness of the second film is smoothed out, but still keeping the silliness, akin to the first film. honestly binging the two Superman movies feels better than ever. If, like me, you have fond memories of watching the OG Superman movie, give the Richard Donner Cut a chance. It is so underrated.

That's it for today! There are so many other alternate versions out there. I didn't even bring up Highlander. Do you have any alternate versions of movie you'd like to share?

In any case, I'll see you in a few days with a new video!