Brainstorm
Added 3/17/2010
Though the styles of clothing and the sizes of computers have drastically changed, this is still a great movie. Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood are good in this story of modern inventions that are taken over by the government for war uses. Realistic idea well played. This is Natalie Wood's last movie.
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Brainstorm DVD Review
Added 3/7/2010
Fairly entertaining film, but I probably won't watch it again for a long time. Good picture and sound.
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Brainstorm (Remastered Edition)
Added 3/2/2010
Brilliant researchers Lillian Reynolds and Michael Brace have developed a system of recording and playing back actual experiences of people. Once the capability of tapping into "higher brain functions" is added in, and you can literally jump into someone else's head and play back recordings of what he or she was thinking, feeling, seeing, etc., at the time of the recording, the applications for the project quickly spiral out of control. While Michael Brace uses the system to become close again to Karen Brace, his estranged wife who also works on the project, others start abusing it for intense sexual experiences and other logical but morally questionable purposes. The government tries to kick Michael and Lillian off the project once the vast military potential of the technology is discovered. It soon becomes obvious that the government is interested in more than just missile guidance systems. The lab starts producing mind torture recordings and other psychosis inducing material. When one of the researchers dies and tapes the experience of death, Michael is convinced that he must playback this tape to honor the memory of the researcher and to become enlightened. When another researcher dies during playback the tape is locked away and Michael has to fight against his former colleagues and the government lackeys that now run his lab in order to play back and confront the scariest thing any of us will ever face, death itself. Despite changing styles in special effects, this is a timeless and beautiful story that transcends the genre and, with Walken, Wood and Fletcher, becomes more than just a story about shiny gold tapes that record brain waves. It's more about immovable objects and irresistible forces and what happens when they collide. Watch it as an experience rather than as a scientific treatise and you will surely have a great ride.
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Saw this in the Theater
Added 1/20/2010
Yup...saw it that long ago and it was great. Great concept, great acting...a little dated but, cool movie!
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The technicals of the BRAINSTORM remaster and the Showscan process...
Added 1/14/2010
It was Douglas Trumbull's hope to use his Showscan process in the original presentations of BRAINSTORM, but sadly, it was too expensive a prospect for exhibitors (you've probably seen Showscan if you've been to Vegas - most notably at the Luxor). Showscan would utilize a 70mm process at a whopping 64 frames-per-second to make the virtual-recording sequences become staggeringly lifelike compared to the scenes of story exposition. MGM opted to let Trumbill use standard 70mm for prints in some theaters. The final result was a 70mm print with 35mm blowup material - special sequences shot in 70mm - the rest in standard academy ratio 35mm (but all at the standard 24 frames-per-second).
This new remastered version of BRAINSTORM is true to the wide gauge image as projected in 70mm theaters, where they were generally shown with a 2.21 or 2.35 to 1 screen ratio. The DVD doesn't employ alternating ratios for 16:9 TVs (like MGM did with the DVD/Blu-Ray release of THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! or Warner's did with their Blu-Ray of THE DARK KNIGHT). The effect Trumbull wanted is achieved: the story portions are meant to be technically underwhelming (they also unintentionally achieve this narratively) when compared to the 70mm brain-scanned sequences. BRAINSTORM wasn't designed for 16:9 TVs, and neither was this DVD - which works quite nicely on screen's 72 inches and beyond. It also helps if the projection screen is able to matte unused portions during the presentation - which some theater screens (even some home-theater varieties) are capable of doing (but most exhibitors don't bother to engage). 70mm prints utilized the 6-track magnetic Dolby System (which is properly translated to 5.1 discrete for home viewing). Wide-release prints of the film generally were Dolby matrixed stereo (Pro-Logic) and shown in multiplex dens usually at a compromised, 2-to-1 ratio (a pathetic truth for most films shown in suburban cineplexes at the time).
Those who own smaller flat panels (50 inches or less) may be unimpressed with this DVD version of BRAINSTORM - but it's true to the director's intentions, so purists should be quite satisfied.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Brainstorm
Added 3/17/2010
Though the styles of clothing and the sizes of computers have drastically changed, this is still a great movie. Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood are good in this story of modern inventions that are taken over by the government for war uses. Realistic idea well played. This is Natalie Wood's last movie.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Brainstorm DVD Review
Added 3/7/2010
Fairly entertaining film, but I probably won't watch it again for a long time. Good picture and sound.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Brainstorm (Remastered Edition)
Added 3/2/2010
Brilliant researchers Lillian Reynolds and Michael Brace have developed a system of recording and playing back actual experiences of people. Once the capability of tapping into "higher brain functions" is added in, and you can literally jump into someone else's head and play back recordings of what he or she was thinking, feeling, seeing, etc., at the time of the recording, the applications for the project quickly spiral out of control. While Michael Brace uses the system to become close again to Karen Brace, his estranged wife who also works on the project, others start abusing it for intense sexual experiences and other logical but morally questionable purposes. The government tries to kick Michael and Lillian off the project once the vast military potential of the technology is discovered. It soon becomes obvious that the government is interested in more than just missile guidance systems. The lab starts producing mind torture recordings and other psychosis inducing material. When one of the researchers dies and tapes the experience of death, Michael is convinced that he must playback this tape to honor the memory of the researcher and to become enlightened. When another researcher dies during playback the tape is locked away and Michael has to fight against his former colleagues and the government lackeys that now run his lab in order to play back and confront the scariest thing any of us will ever face, death itself. Despite changing styles in special effects, this is a timeless and beautiful story that transcends the genre and, with Walken, Wood and Fletcher, becomes more than just a story about shiny gold tapes that record brain waves. It's more about immovable objects and irresistible forces and what happens when they collide. Watch it as an experience rather than as a scientific treatise and you will surely have a great ride.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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