Brainstorm - Deluxe Edition.

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John Johnson · #1 Post by **John Johnson** » Fri Oct 17, 2008 9:02 am

Warner Home Video has provided us with artwork for a deluxe edition of Brainstorm which stars Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, and Louise Fletcher. The Douglass Trumbull directed film will be available to own from the 3rd February, and should retail at around $19.97. We don't have the disc specs for this one right now, but we'll bring you further details shortly.

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/brainstorm.html

JSWalsh · #2 Post by **JSWalsh** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:16 am

Natalie Wood was so beautiful that it sometimes distracted from the fact that she was a good actress. Not one of the greatest ever, but I was always entertained by her performances.

BRAINSTORM is a head-scratcher of a movie. The basic idea is interesting, but the climax simply doesn't make any sense. It's supposedly recording one's "spirit" as it goes to Heaven, but the machine is stuck on the person's HEAD. How can it be recording what the "soul" sees?

Having said that, it has a number of enjoyable moments. I think Walken and Wood are a great screen couple in what has become a boring cliche, The Divorcing Couple Who Really Love Each Other. There's a moment that's stayed with me which no one ever talks about--the very ending, when Walken looks to the sky, looking at the memorial, thinking--what? That there is hope for life after death? That humanity CAN reach beyond its limitations? Just a great moment in SF films.

Horner's score, the FX, the photography are all great, but the reason this movie survives for me is because it has (along with the one in the original DIABOLIQUE) the greatest heart-attack sequence ever. The scoring in that scene is PERFECT, and Louise Fletcher's acting is terrifying.

AndyDursin · #3 Post by **AndyDursin** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:03 am

I haven't seen this movie in years and was bored with it when I saw it years ago...but I'd be interested in seeing an HD version.

I didn't grow up in Natalie Wood's era but she's gorgeous and one of my favorite actresses from that generation

Eric W. · #4 Post by **Eric W.** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:55 am

AndyDursin wrote:I haven't seen this movie in years and was bored with it when I saw it years ago...but I'd be interested in seeing an HD version.

Same here.

John Johnson · #5 Post by **John Johnson** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:22 pm

I would love to have the complete score.

Paul MacLean · #6 Post by **Paul MacLean** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:52 pm

AndyDursin wrote:I haven't seen this movie in years and was bored with it when I saw it years ago...but I'd be interested in seeing an HD version.

I didn't grow up in Natalie Wood's era but she's gorgeous and one of my favorite actresses from that generation

Wood's death really cast a shadow over the production, and I think it affected its box office (and reviews). The ad campaign/movie poster left a bit to be desired as well (altho the UK and European poster was rather better).

I'd agree with JS that the film is a bit of a head scratcher. My interpretation is that the machine recorded Fletcher's thoughts when she was "in between", and that after a certain point, Walken's own "spirit" was drawn out of his body owing to exposure to Fletcher's thoughts.

I saw the film as a teenager in the theater and was completely blown away. The way the film shifted between mono 35mm 1.66:1 (in the "reality" scenes), and stereo 70mm (in the "virtual reality" scenes) was VERY arresting in the cinema. Home video releases of this film totally failed to capture this -- VHS editions merely squeezed the widescreen scenes, while the laserdisc and DVD transfers ruined the film by placing a black frame around the "reality" scenes. Tho I imagine the film is somewhat better in 16:9 however.

Horner's score remains one of his best. After an already great summer filled with scores like Return of the Jedi, Twilight Zone: The Movie and Horner's other magnum opus, Krull, the autumn of that year gave us Brainstorm and Goldsmiths' Under Fire.

Those were the days...

romanD · #7 Post by **romanD** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:31 am

that's great news. Havent seen it in a long time, but I loved the movie. I always hoped it would be shown somewhere in a theater to get that fullscreen-widescreen/mono-stereo sound experience. With some luck they try to redo this on the dvd... going from mono sound to blasting surround or something...

I never had probs with the "recording"... it records the emotions etc up till the end when someone is dead, so that's what is there... and as you can hardly visualize emotions that is a pretty good, though a bit kitschy idea...

Fletcher was very good in there, too bad she was wasted in bad horrormovies later, at least had some "comeback" as Vedik Wim in DS9... always loved her there...

Score is amazing, though Im sure the piano theme is some classical music rip... haha... isnt the CD quite complete? Dont remember much music in the movie...

Eric W. · #8 Post by **Eric W.** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 9:42 am

John Johnson wrote:I would love to have the complete score.

As would I!

John Johnson · #9 Post by **John Johnson** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 3:11 pm

I wonder where FSM would stand on releasing this score, bearing in mind their disliking of Horner in the past.

Paul MacLean · #10 Post by **Paul MacLean** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 4:03 pm

romanD wrote:Score is amazing, though Im sure the piano theme is some classical music rip... haha... isnt the CD quite complete? Dont remember much music in the movie...

I can't trace a source for the classical piano cue -- its more or less a general pastiche of that late 18th century style (as befits the context). I honestly think Horner is knocked unfairly for his "borrowing"; I also hear occasional "lifts" in scores by John Williams, Elmer Bernstein and even the great Jerry Goldsmith.

In any case, the Varese rerecording contains probably 90% of the score. Still I'd love to see a release of the actual soundtrack, just to have another performance of the score.

Would be nice if Varese did a "deluxe" edition of Brainstorm, fetauring both the soundtrack and the LSO rerecording.

John Johnson · #11 Post by **John Johnson** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:21 pm

Paul MacLean wrote:
romanD wrote:Score is amazing, though Im sure the piano theme is some classical music rip... haha... isnt the CD quite complete? Dont remember much music in the movie...
I can't trace a source for the classical piano cue -- its more or less a general pastiche of that late 18th century style (as befits the context). I honestly think Horner is knocked unfairly for his "borrowing"; I also hear occasional "lifts" in scores by John Williams, Elmer Bernstein and even the great Jerry Goldsmith.

In any case, the Varese rerecording contains probably 90% of the score. Still I'd love to see a release of the actual soundtrack, just to have another performance of the score.

Would be nice if Varese did a "deluxe" edition of Brainstorm, fetauring both the soundtrack and the LSO rerecording.

I think a Horner Varese club title is way overdue. Saying that, it's about time Intrada did something too.

Paul MacLean · #12 Post by **Paul MacLean** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:42 pm

I guess it would come down to who owns Brainstorm these days. Is it Turner? (It was an MGM/UA movie).

AndyDursin · #13 Post by **AndyDursin** » Sun Oct 19, 2008 11:58 pm

It's Turner so it'd be a Warner title these days.

Jedbu · #14 Post by **Jedbu** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:14 am

This played in Toledo in 70mm and the opening section where the camera turns as a POV shot was actually a little dizzying as was the part where you are speeding down a coast road and then you go flying off it-whoa!

It wasn't a horrible movie, but I could have done with a few hundred less inclusions of the line "You knocked my socks off!"

If they actually invented such a device, what a boon for the porn industry!

Paul MacLean · #15 Post by **Paul MacLean** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:02 am

Jedbu wrote:It wasn't a horrible movie, but I could have done with a few hundred less inclusions of the line "You knocked my socks off!"

Yes...that was one of the few instances of a single line of dialog stopping a film dead in tis tracks.

If they actually invented such a device, what a boon for the porn industry!

That was one of the things I did appreciate about the film -- it explored not just the possibilities, but also the abuses of such technology.