AndyDursin wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2019 12:06 am
Nope he's wrong -- the isolated score track is on there.
That's a relief. It would have been odd to include a new appreciation of the score by Christopher Young, and eliminate the ability to listen to it sans dialogue and sound effects.
I always find isolated scores the best way to demonstrate why I love film music so much, and how they contribute to a film's overall quality. Yeah, you can play the soundtrack CD and you might get a wan, "Oh, that's nice" response, but show a scene where there's nothing BUT music?
I don't typically "watch" isolated score tracks but this is an interesting one to check out to see how Goldsmith scored the movie. It's a supremely effective score (especially for its time) even if it's something of a one-trick pony (as I always say, I much prefer listening to the scores for II and III, being more "musical" and interesting).
A few other tidbits as I polish up my review:
I think the big takeaway from this set is that DAMIEN OMEN II could've been a great movie if Mike Hodges hadn't been fired. The script for the movie is fairly tight but there's a perfunctory quality to the visuals and direction that was due to Don Taylor being brought in to "just get the job done." Hodges was apparently set on making a much subtler film that would've amplified the horror elements when the film got to them, and left you shocked -- he also had a much more compelling visual style, as evidenced by Damien's intro in back of the burning leaves (a shot he directed). I guess Hodges was taking too long and Bernhard wanted to keep the budget low and the film on schedule but it's regrettable. The film misses a distinctive directorial POV and even looks like a TV movie at times (I thought I was watching THE LOVE BOAT when Damien shows up after his graduation ceremony with a couple of girls draped all over him lol)...it certainly lacks atmosphere and the visual power of the first film. All the interviewees lament Hodges' dismissal and acknowledge the film is still good -- but should've been better.
The commentary Shout recorded for these is really infuriating. Several times Bosco starts to say something interesting but then never explains it. Like on THE FINAL CONFLICT he says "this isnt the way I remember the movie starting" but then never says why. Then he notes the infant cries at the end of the film are different between the 5.1 and 2.0 tracks, but never explains why that it is, or where the elements came from. For the rest of it, he goes on at great length about the Biblical theological components to a degree that is hard to take for a few minutes at a time -- not to mention is impossible to follow! (and sounds like it was recorded in a tin can)
I ordered this the other day from Amazon though I have a no arrival until April 22 on it. I decided that now was the time to just plug the holes on my shelf with my last quarantine order items (this, the Criterion Show Boat and a pre-order of Criterion's "Great Escape").
I would expect you will see it far sooner than that
Every order I've made from Amazon that was tagged as coming April 20th or thereabouts has already gotten here. Seems to be about a 7-10 day spread, not several weeks, especially if you have something else ordered. They are throwing together multiple orders in one delivery.
My "Show Boat" order by contrast already listed arrival as Tuesday so it's a bit schizo what they're doing.
I spent the other night rearranging my basement/work area shelves where I put all my videos and I decided that for the duration of this quarantine, I wanted every title to be in view with no "double stacking a row". So that's why I calculated how much space I had left to add something new. Once the crisis is over I can rearrange the shelves to create more space but this way I'll be able to more easily put a brake on things for now.
Just got my ship notice for both "Omen" and "Show Boat" in one package, arrival Wednesday.
That will be it as far as new Blu-Ray purchases go until Criterion "Great Escape" comes out (I may have some AmEx credits that I'd use to get an inexpensive title for free).
My boxed set came the other day but after going through the first film, I discovered that there is some flaw that keeps the menu screen functions from working smoothly. Consequently, while I can watch the film, navigating the extras is almost impossible.
The way Shout authors their discs, they once in a while generate weird glitches like that on certain players. I've seen that happen on my Oppo, yet they are fine on my Sony.
You can try just ejecting the disc and trying again. That "clears" it on my Oppo most of the time. Also clearing the player's internal memory.
So, what's the consensus on this OMEN boxed set. Other than the supplementary materials, are the transfers on all the films worth the price of the set?
AndyDursin wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2019 10:32 am
The commentary Shout recorded for these is really infuriating. Several times Bosco starts to say something interesting but then never explains it. Like on THE FINAL CONFLICT he says "this isnt the way I remember the movie starting" but then never says why. Then he notes the infant cries at the end of the film are different between the 5.1 and 2.0 tracks, but never explains why that it is, or where the elements came from. For the rest of it, he goes on at great length about the Biblical theological components to a degree that is hard to take for a few minutes at a time -- not to mention is impossible to follow! (and sounds like it was recorded in a tin can)
I listened to the Bosco commentary for "The Omen" after I saw the movie a few nights ago and while it was imperfect, I appreciated the fact that I was hearing him talk about the theological matters in a way that sounded respectful for the most part. Frankly, any skittishness I felt about watching the film during Holy Week in between the Biblical films I went through was dissipated because I heard a commentary that was willing to address them although not being a Christian or an Evangelical, he doesn't I think grasp why many from my background felt a resonance with this film that I think lacks with "The Exorcist" because "The Exorcist" is rooted entirely in Catholicism and Catholic themes. OTOH, in the 1970s, Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth" was a big best-seller in Evangelical circles and unfortunately many Evangelicals during a time of heightened Cold War troubles began taking seriously the notion that we were in "The Last Days" to an almost ridiculous level. David Seltzer clearly read Lindsey as part of his crash introduction to the subject since the whole conceit of the "European Common Market" as a stand-in for a modern "Holy Roman Empire" that the film makes is straight out of Lindsey. It took the end of the Cold War (which made people realize Ezekiel is NOT referring to Russia when he mentions "Gog" and "Magog") and the quieting down in the Middle East after the first Gulf War to finally make Lindsey's claptrap go out of favor, but then the "Left Behind" series of novels appeared to breathe some new life into it by giving it a few new twists.
At any rate, "The Omen" succeeds for me because it takes this conceit that for an Evangelical represents a not fantastic notion of how the Final Age of mankind will unfold, and places it in a realistic atmosphere and shows people reacting with terror and confusion as they try to grasp the magnitude of it all. I'll be interested in hearing how the commentaries continue on the other two films since I remember being unimpressed by the original commentaries on them (I remember how Harvey Bernhard kept getting Robert Foxworth's name wrong, calling him "Farnsworth" the whole while, while Graham Baker should never have been allowed to do his commentary solo).
I like both THE EXORCIST and THE OMEN...having grown up Roman Catholic THE EXORCIST hits home and disturbs me on the level of a priest struggling with his faith. There are some chilling moments in it and I do find the movie effective and compelling. I have an easier time watching THE EXORCIST than I do THE OMEN which completely freaks me out. The combination of Goldsmith's scoring with the themes of the film and the way it is shot make it extremely difficult for me to watch even though the third film ends with Damien being defeated. All three of THE OMEN films freak me out and make me uncomfortable...lol...
What surprised me the most about THE OMEN the last time I saw it is how small of a function Lee Remick even has in that film. She's basically taken out of commission before it's even half over. I also found her whole demise and such to be really hard to believe, like they would ever be so stupid to hire caregivers like Billie Whitelaw for their son in the first place lol
I definitely think THE EXORCIST is on a much higher plain of quality in terms of script, dramatic development, thematic resonance, performance and execution. I am Catholic but on a sheer filmmaking level I find it far superior to something very slick but also very formulaic like The Omen. And Peck is only there to cash a check.
Jerry's scores are what I like about the Omen movies the most. The supplements on II that Shout assembled are interesting because it really is unfortunate Hodges was fired. Whatever that movie could have been went down the drain when he left...leaving a serviceable film behind that should've been a lot better. And probably would have been if Harvey Bernhard wasn't such a hack.
I don't think Peck was there just to cash a check since this was his first notable film in several years and in general he'd been doing less work (but the success of "The Omen" did jump-start his career and led to in rapid order "MacArthur" and "Boys From Brazil"). While Remick is unfortunately disposed of in callous fashion, she and Peck have a genuine chemistry in the film's opening minutes of "normalcy" that makes the slow destruction of this family unit have a real impact. One of the problems I had with "The Exorcist" is that it didn't seem like there was enough of an establishing "normalcy" before Regan becomes possessed. Donner's restraint that gradually turns things up to a new level is what really sells the film for me.
I've just finished going through Omen II. In terms of continuing the storyline despite having to start from scratch with a new cast (I remain frustrated that not even Bosco's new commentary sheds any light as to why Leo McKern is uncredited in both films!) I think it still works, but I do see more clearly this time how the film ends up being just a series of set pieces and that there's no real tension/suspense in the air other than the twist ending involving Lee Grant (though the fact she's Holden's second wife should have been a tip-off). Had the film set things up for an effective part 3, the film would have come off better, but since Part 3 is a total hideous mess in terms of having a story that throws all forms of continuity out the window I keep thinking that the "real" final chapter of the whole Omen saga ending in a more traditional telling of the Book of Revelation has never been written. I will still force myself to watch Final Conflict but I have no intention of watching the 2006 remake (fool me once when I tried to watch "Superman Returns", fool me twice if I sit through that one, shame on me!)
Jerry's score is reason enough for me to watch THE FINAL CONFLICT. That and the couple of set-pieces that function well (the hunt sequence in particular). Plus it's stylishly shot and more accomplished on that end than DAMIEN, which to me looks like a TV movie in widescreen. Admittedly the fun stops there because the story is pretty distasteful and the overall direction of it strange, not to mention Neill just isn't very good in it either. At least they gave Jerry a gorgeous finale to go out on, as poorly choreographed as it is.
Bosco's commentaries are really aggravating. He has this tendency, like I mentioned in my review, of never explaining things. Like the weird difference in the 5.1 and 2.0 tracks on THE FINAL CONFLICT where he discusses how one mix is different than the other in terms of the audio at the end -- but he never clearly articulates the difference or why that is. Why bring it up if you aren't going to talk about it? Meanwhile the theological explanations were enough to make my head spin.
It would have been odd to include a new appreciation of the score by Christopher Young, and eliminate the ability to listen to it sans dialogue and sound effects. 
