The Reel Rejects - THE CROW (1994) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

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Starting point is 00:01:27 a personal finance app that I've been using since way before we partnered with them. More on them soon. Anything else that you want to say to the people before we begin The Crow, Aaron? I hear this is a Gothic classic that's well loved and that it's based on a comic book, which is dope.

Starting point is 00:01:42 I know nothing about it other than that, and I'm excited. I love those facts. Oh my gosh. Let's watch The Crow. Guys, if you are listening to us on Apple or Spotify, Alex Proyas. Okay, I was wondering who directed this. If you're listening to us in Apple or Spotify, please give us a five-star rating.

Starting point is 00:02:04 We love you. Sorry, my phone was blown up. I want to make sure nobody died. Great, nobody did. Wow. This was a phenomenal film. I am upset that I didn't have multiple friends throughout my life saying, you haven't seen the crow?

Starting point is 00:02:25 Have you heard about the crow? Have you watched The Crow? People know that the Dark Night is one of my prime time top movies. And I'm like, why has no one told me? Maybe they have, because you know my memory is bad. But I'm telling you, they should yell in my face. You should watch The Crow. This movie was phenomenal from the direction to the acting.

Starting point is 00:02:46 I mean, and just the shots and the lighting, the gaffing, the sound design, the soundtrack. To me, Chef's. kiss. I love it so stinking much. Like, give him the juice, Aaron. What'd you think? Tara's right, you guys. Oh, my God. Not the fact that she's

Starting point is 00:03:08 right. I wholeheartedly agree with her because this movie, I don't know why it took me so long to watch this movie. And the fact that it wasn't spoiled for me over the X amount of years, I think this movie's older than I am, but the fact that this is not only one of the best

Starting point is 00:03:24 movies I've seen, it's one of the best comic book movies I've seen. The story is simple, yet it is effective from the way that it's lit. The music, the performances, all things she had said. But I think the thing that really makes it stick for me is that it's heart. You know, I'm someone who's attracted to character over extensive or crazy plots. Though I do like them, but I think you need both to really craft a powerful story. And I think the fact that this movie was rooted in this character's mission, but was very, I don't know, they just did this thing where it was this experience where it was able to give you that feeling of atmosphere while also being just consumed with the fact that we are wholly behind this person and his mission.

Starting point is 00:04:21 Yeah. And I really liked everything about it. it from start to finish. And I know that it's set at the credit. So, Russ and Priests, Brendan Lee, and I think it said

Starting point is 00:04:31 Eliza as well. And I'm very impressed with them to their ability to be able to finish this film because I think from accounts we kind of learned that he actually passed while making this film.

Starting point is 00:04:43 I would love to learn like the actual details of what happened. But yeah, just even so, I think that, you know, this movie for me

Starting point is 00:04:52 in watching Brandon Lee and really did what the Dark Knight did for Keith Ledger in his career. Not the fact that they both passed and this is like their final films or one of their final films. But the fact that he really inhabited this role and just the nuance in his performance from his ability to express that rage and have like elements of like crazy, but also like you felt his pain, his sorrow, but you also felt his heart and his empathy over the

Starting point is 00:05:23 course of the this under two-hour movie he had so many notes to the way he was able to play this guy and just oozing with with charisma and just they made it so cool they're able to find a way to make a comic comic book movie feel so lived in both with its character designs but also the way that the world is set up and yeah even its supporting characters like the little girl kind of as para kept saying she was great in the movie ernie hudson was really good in the movie all of the villains in the role that they got to play were really great. And even that finale was really cool because I was like, okay, how are we going to find a way after he's already achieved his vendetta to really progress the plot? And they found a way by putting another

Starting point is 00:06:11 person that Eric Draven really loved and cared about in danger. And then this is his redemption. The other ones were about revenge. And this is about avenging. And being able to be a hero more than just a thing for vengeance. So yeah, I got a lot more to say, but Tara, what do you got? Well, I just, I just looked up. He was accidentally shot in the abdomen on set, which I'm just, again, it's crazy that this happened in 1994. It is so sad. I think he is brilliant in this. I was watching him going like, Heath Ledger must have like kind of, and they're totally, they're two totally different characters. Heathleger takes a totally different place. and Brandon Lee does it in a completely different way,

Starting point is 00:06:56 but I still look at it. Maybe it's the makeup of just being like, there are, I guarantee you, there are so many filmmakers and actors that took inspiration from Brandon Lee and from this film. And I think it's amazing. I think no one should ever be,

Starting point is 00:07:12 there shouldn't even be an instance where it's possible for someone to be shot on film. And it's crazy to me that that happened a few years ago with Alec Baldwin, and that whole thing, how it went down. That's so incredibly sad to me. I did not know that story at all. And I think also at the same time,

Starting point is 00:07:32 it's bittersweet, but wow, what a way to go out. Like, buddy, the fact that this was your last film, you have made a statement for cinema for your life. Like, RIP, what would have been? super crappy if this film sucked and you died on set. I mean, that's a terrible, dark, comedic type of way to look at it, but it's the truth. And this film was phenomenal, 10 out of 10, and that really sucks. I mean, I would watch this and go, I'm going to now watch every Brandon Lee film,

Starting point is 00:08:09 anything that he's ever done. I believed him 110%. I, again, with the little girl, I want to know where she went. I'm going to look up trivia here in a second. but I agree like I also really loved how they were able to add in some of those comic book type of shots into this along with like the steam and the way that stuff is lit in that car like zooming down the bridge and it falls into the falls into the lake and it blows up it's so epic and the fact that you would think oh that can exist in a comic book right we can get great explosions and these these cool performances and him hanging upside down. in gasoline and and you see a lighter match and it all goes to fire and it's like no we got to experience that on screen they found a way to shoot that like when he does his crow symbol with the fire and the gasoline i mean what the explosions in this the special effects everything

Starting point is 00:09:08 about it made me just go wow great job from them setting up different shots and the the way they would do close-ups also I really loved it was like it was really close like we really got in the juice right in the face of those actors and especially those close-up shots of the crow that we were able to cut to just reminding us of that theme and bringing us into the environment it's as if the environment was a whole other character that we were just living in with them they did such a good job of making us feel like we were there and there wasn't ever one moment where I didn't believe one word that came out of any actor's mouths and that is always a big pet peeve for me and this movie was phenomenal um i don't know if you have other thoughts i want to look up the trivia here

Starting point is 00:09:59 because a lot went down on this i think it's so sad that you know brandon lee this is one of his his last um films uh and it says let's see does it say what film he like what scene it was that he got shot on it it hasn't i i was trying to look that up but i didn't want to take too long if you guys want to leave that in the comments if you find an article the article i found just said and i it was shot in the abdomen on set it didn't give us any details um i'm sure if i took a little a bit longer but if you want to leave that in the comments let us know um i would be interested to see when that happened and how long they had to work with another actor we might get to that with another actor possibly in those um in the stunt scenes with like the long hair there's there seemed like

Starting point is 00:10:50 maybe there's some but i couldn't tell at all where where he was and where he wasn't so i'm surprised how much they got through with him um i i just would have never known i would have never known before you get to that yeah yeah i just wanted to say i said it during the reaction itself but seeing this movie and other movies i've watched in the course of my life how much this movie inspired those movies like we kind of said early on but the the Batman was heavily influenced by this movie which I was none the wiser to but seeing the rain seeing the shadows the got this the gothic aesthetic the music all just oozed that stuff like the dark night stuff like even

Starting point is 00:11:35 another movie um law-biting citizen I feel took influences from this movie and it's wild that this movie had experienced such tragedy, but still made able, it was able to maintain a higher level of quality in the face of that. Just a testament to the direction and the script and their ability to build atmosphere over the course of the movie. And I wonder how much of that was due to the framework of the comic that it was based on. I've never read the comic. and I knew right before this that it was based on a comic but now I'm curious to like

Starting point is 00:12:12 is this like a whole series this is more of a graphic novel and you guys can share some light on that in the comments below and let us know more interesting Crowfax I know we're gonna read a few here in a moment but yeah if you have any personal experience or testaments to this movie

Starting point is 00:12:27 like please we would love to hear about it this is a movie neither of us really grew up with but I know it has a huge following and I know a lot of you guys probably really love this movie so yeah let us know your experiences And I have to imagine, this movie came out in, what, 1994, that so many people were dressed up as the crow after this came out.

Starting point is 00:12:43 I was watching and I'm like, man, I can't wait until my locks get longer so I can be the fucking crow. Exactly. That would be dope as hell. So, I mean, this movie is just, it's a cult classic. It's epic. I'm just, I'm going to be a person who's wandering around going, have you seen the crow? Yeah. Because if you haven't, you have to.

Starting point is 00:13:01 I would love to show the people this. Yes, it's a cinematic, like, it's just freaking epic. Oh my gosh, and now I have a new holiday to celebrate Devil's Night before Halloween. Now, I just got to get into this that the script, the originally Fun Boy, who was played by Michael Massey, who shot the gun, was not supposed to fire a gun at Brandon Lee's character, which ultimately led to his death. It was changed last minute by the director, Alex. And it says here that even 12 years after that Michael Massey claimed to still have nightmares of the incident, which I'm sure that he did. I mean, you killed, you know, a co-star, an actor with you and you obviously didn't mean to. I don't know how you get over that.

Starting point is 00:13:54 That's just, that's insane to me. I also, he also apparently, he stopped acting for a year because he. he was so traumatized by that incident. His next film was a small role in seven from 1995. Up until his death, in 2016, he had never watched the film. Wow. And I probably wouldn't want to either, because I'm sure he can spot maybe when it happened. It's still, I haven't gotten or seen any of that yet, but that did a number on that guy.

Starting point is 00:14:30 And then he did seven and he died in 20. 2016 and he had never seen this film. I just think it's tragic because it's a great film, but I understand why. Here's more of a fun one. We'll lighten it up a little bit. So in the commentary, Alex said that Brandon Lee was unhappy

Starting point is 00:14:50 with the way his face paint looked when the makeup department applied it to him. So they agreed that it would look best if Lee applied his own makeup every night before going to bed so that when he woke up, his face paint would look naturally worn out. Wow. That is brilliant.

Starting point is 00:15:07 I love that. He must have went through a hundred pillowcases. That is, that's such a fun fact that he did it himself. And what a great idea because it would look worn in and kind of messy. And it never looked like newly applied, which I loved. In all of it, I was stinking that throughout this. The continuity with the makeup was great. And that's because he was in control.

Starting point is 00:15:31 And if you slept on it every night, it never looked like, oh, his lips look really, really black and extra applied. That looks real fresh. And he's been through a lot. Never looked like that. So that, I think, was a really happy accident, I guess. And let's see. Reject Nation, I just want to take a quick second to thank today's sponsor because as a business owner, I am surprisingly not the greatest at handling and tracking finances. It just doesn't come naturally to me.

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Starting point is 00:17:27 slash rejects. That's rocketmoney.com slash rejects. It's a great way to support the channel and a great way to support your bank account. Heck, you would even just help us out if you wanted to just click the link and poke around. Generous thing that you could do for us and for you. It's a win-win. Oh, and I found one more. Let me see this real quick. So Paramount Pictures initially developed and financed this film, but after Brandon Lee's tragic death, which caused the production to shut down as an incomplete film, they wrote the project off. Entertainment Media Investment Corporation was created for the sole purpose of buying the film and completing it using groundbreaking CGI special effects and body doubles for these scenes.

Starting point is 00:18:10 The film would return to Paramount's hands in 2020 after they bought a minority stake in Miramax. So, wow, I mean, those, the groundbreaking CGI that they came up with, you know, in the 90s, I don't know where and when that happened or where I just, I, I couldn't tell you where he is missing. No, yeah, I was, as we got to the third act, it was like, but it's, I don't know. Yeah, I was like, maybe like during, I noticed they were showing him like a little less in the finale, like they were like having like far away shots, but he was still in the finale. Like this, when we saw him talking to the cop after the battle was over and we saw him in the

Starting point is 00:18:49 cemetery. So I'm like, okay, maybe he filmed all of these scenes beforehand. But, yeah, as far as, like, what was lacking in his appearance? I thought that was, yeah, not very apparent, which was kudos to them. Yeah. This is another fun thing. Darius Wolsky achieved the look of the film by filming with a Sapia filter, then in printing, adding lots of blue to eliminate the brown.

Starting point is 00:19:17 So that meant that production designer Alex McDowell and art director's John Marshall and Simon Merton had to leave out any instance. of the color blue because it would be overly saturated. Wow. So they had to be so strict and certain that the smoke machines had to be removed because the smoke produced elements of blue in it. Blue was only used in flashbacks. So you could tell, like they've thought this through from,

Starting point is 00:19:38 because if they didn't think that through at the top of exactly how they wanted it to look, you would have been screwed with the after effect. And I find that like awesome. I just find that very, very cool. production was so troubled that one of the neighboring productions in the studios began taking bets on mishaps until a fire destroyed several of their sets as well.

Starting point is 00:20:03 No. Oh, wow, yikes. Yeah, like, there's a lot. Let me see if I can get to some spoilers for you. I'll just do a couple more because this movie is just, wow. It was ranked 37th in IGN's Top 100 comic book heroes. which I think is great.

Starting point is 00:20:21 Let's see. Give me a second. 25 more. Give me some spoilers, baby. Let me hear. Okay. This movie's also really good, well-paced as well. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:37 It's like a breeze to go through it. I think just when you have a moment of like, okay, he's kind of been gone for a while. I felt that during that scene where they were all at the table and like, okay, we went to see the girl and her mom. We saw the cop in the hospital. No, we saw him talking to his boss and lose his job. I'm like, okay, where's, where's Brandon Lee? Where's, where's Eric? And then, sure enough, he comes back.

Starting point is 00:20:57 Something I will say, I wish we would have got to find out what will happen with his bandmates. That's the one, my one question was. Because I'm like, okay, they kept focusing on the photo and he was part of a band, but we just never got to really address that. But, hey, it's a very small, like, nitpick kind of thing. But the story and the focus of it in and of itself was fantastic. Yeah. Totally.

Starting point is 00:21:19 So, okay, so the writer, you can see him as the first guy to fall down in the boardroom. He's the first guy to get killed. That's actually the writer of the film in this film. So that's funny. He got a little cameo. That was the only spoiler in here, which is weird. But I'll say one more. Paramount was leaning towards permanently shelving this due to Brandon Lee's death.

Starting point is 00:21:40 But then the executive said it would be an NC17 film now, and we don't do NC17s. So they sold it to Miramax. Miramax just rated it R, and it was a substantial hit in 1994. I'm sure Paramount went up, right? And also, I would be fighting for Brandon Lee to go, no, we're not going to not put this out. This man died doing this film. This is a work of art for him and everyone else involved. This has to be finished.

Starting point is 00:22:10 Like, I would be, if I was the executive, I would say, I don't do not care. We need to finish this film. This is in honor of all the work they put in, and what a phenomenal film. And I'm glad that Miramax had the smarts to say, we'll take it, we'll make it, we'll release it. And of course, it was a hit. It deserves to be. I love this film and everything about it. And I said that the Graham Reeves guy, he also did the music here, and he did it for Child's Play.

Starting point is 00:22:34 So you guys know that me and Roxy were covering all the Chucky movies. So join us on that journey, if you haven't already. But I loved the music in this. and also the underground, like, you could hear the metal music, which is, like, from bands in the 90s that was also played. I just, everything about this movie, I, and, you know, you guys have seen us, we can find things wrong with stuff. We'll tell you what's on our mind.

Starting point is 00:23:01 And to me, nope, I just think it was great. It was really, really good. Yeah, I think that another thing that we did really effective was the way that they were able to display Eric and what's her name? Sherry Shannon Sherry. It's Sherry his girlfriend, yeah. Yeah, the way they were able to display their love with

Starting point is 00:23:22 so little dialogue and so little like time or we didn't need a ton of history. You just need the essence of their experience. So really got you on board with what his mission was. And I think a movie that's able to get you on board with its characters without having a ton of exposition or having a ton of

Starting point is 00:23:41 of dialogue or history between them is French chef's kiss. I agree. John Wick does a great job of that. It's the exact same thing. No words. They tell that story and you are like, let's go seek some vengeance.

Starting point is 00:23:53 Exactly. They do a great job of that. I absolutely agree with that. Bravo, you guys. We love this. I'll say one last thing before we, do you have any last words before we get out of here? 10 out of 10 for me.

Starting point is 00:24:08 10 out of 10 for me too. 9.5 or 10. I wish we got to see the band stuff. But I wish this makes me sad that I, one, never got to see the movie earlier. And two, that we lost him so early because he was phenomenal in this movie. And I would have loved to see where his career would have went on. Agreed. Because, yeah, this man was a superstar in the making.

Starting point is 00:24:29 And the fact that he was, Bruce Lee's son is also crazy. Yeah. Wild. Yeah, truly insane. But, yeah, this was great. And also, if you guys liked watching this and if you're curious to see us watch the remake when that comes out this year, let us know if you got something you want to see us do because we don't have the years of growing up with this movie. So we'll give you an honest, wholehearted opinion about how this movie compares to that one or even just how that movie is on its own. Right.

Starting point is 00:25:00 We would love to watch it. Make sure, obviously, you guys got to like, leave your comments in here. Tell us all the thoughts, maybe stuff I missed in the trivia. we love that and we love that your support and please share this I mean what a great film like share this reaction with your friends please and also if you don't already follow me on instagram I'm just at Tara Erickson you can Google me but I am going to hopefully be a fundraising for a film it's called Real Kill Joy it's got like blood and zombies in it and this is like kind of we're vibing with this so go and follow me over there see if you can follow the seed and spark campaign I would love it to

Starting point is 00:25:37 support we haven't started fundraising yet but you guys are filmies film nerds and so are we and uh i would love it if you'd help me complete this this journey once we get to it you'll find all that stuff on my insta um and also obviously follow this guy we're we're all over the place we're on twitter on insta we're on the tubes we try to look at those comments we love you guys we're on the tic talks too we're on the tic talks too that's right we're everywhere we try to be there for you leaving uh videos and comments and all the love don't forget to spread hugs love and laughter We love you guys so much, and we will see you on the next one. David Gandy.

Starting point is 00:26:14 If there's anyone who's going to get resurrected by a crow. It's definitely you, man. You're just too good of a guy. And when there's someone who's that good of a guy, that means they got a lot of boiling rage. That's just suppressed within them. Like, I think you're so good of a guy that perhaps you probably would die by an unfortunate event. That would not be a natural causes.

Starting point is 00:26:38 Yeah, it would be really tragic. I'd imagine you're probably helping people at your church. Yeah. And then people at your church stab you one at a time. They all take turns. That's what happens at churches. It's like a little Caesar death for you. It's going to be violent.

Starting point is 00:26:51 And then bam, that's what's going to happen. You're going to get resurrected, my friend, and you are going to annihilate. And then you're also, we know you, you're a musician. You're going to be jamming out at the top of the cathedral. You're going to be shredding on top of the organ pikes, dude. Some Christian music. Some thunder and lightning in the background. And, like Christ, you've been resurrected.

Starting point is 00:27:12 Bam, dude, you are the Eric Raven of our channel. You are the crow of our channel. And no one, I could hope for no one better to, like, avenge us someday. You know, maybe to cross over to another shout out. If Eric Horstman killed us, then David Gandy could come and avenge our lost souls. Let's hope these both come out. And then we get the crow versus Jesus. So it would be pretty sick.

Starting point is 00:27:36 Makes sense.

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The Reel Rejects - THE CROW (1994) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

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