Pulp Empire
Hot
Updated
User reviews
65 reviews
Overall rating
9.1
Audio/Video Quality
9.5(65)
Audio Editing
8.9(65)
Visual Editing
9.4(65)
Narrative
8.8(65)
Enjoyment
9.1(65)
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I'm a big fan of njvc's Where The Wild Things Are, as well as a fan of TESB, so expectations were high for this. And truthfully for the first ten minutes or so I had concerns. I wasn't sure about putting the Dagobah scene first, and although I enjoyed Kill Bill-style Yoda, hearing Frank Oz's grunts and sighs were disconcerting and made me concerned that the whole edit might be a great concept but done a little half assed. And then the first few minutes of Hoth were "relatively" unchanged and felt not as Tarantino-y as I was hoping, which reinforced my concern.
But from the moment Vader is introduced Pulp Empire kicks into high gear. The Hoth battle is totally and utterly awesome. The split screens, slo-mo, music, pacing. It works like gangbusters. And really from that moment on this edit worked for me with hardly any complaints.
Initially the Bowie montage was a bit WTF! But in hindsight it was just what was needed: the music was starting to get a little samey and a totally different style of track couldn't have been timed better.
Then the real WTF moment: the cave scene. I was just thinking at the start of that scene how amazing TMBTM's version was in War of the Stars Part 2, and how the one thing missing from Pulp Empire, by comparison, was something new and truly unique. The cave scene certainly ticks those two boxes. Honestly, I don't really 'get it', I assume that was Anakin (I don't watch the show), but it was a cool fusion of music and image and fit the tone.
I've been working on a rescored TPM for a couple of years now so I appreciate the enormous headache and heartache involved from an audio perspective in a project like this. I was expecting lots of bleed but apart from two or three scenes (and one moment in the otherwise spell-blinding climax) njvc does an exceptional job of hiding the old music.
The Joni Mitchell Bespin flyby is wonderful - and of course Lando fits perfectly at home in a Tarantino Star Wars movie.
While using the blu-ray as source fortunately Morrison's Fett voice was not used (which is my least favourite of the many terrible changes Lucas has made) - and for that I am enormously grateful.
The last few minutes are really special. The black and white is a great choice, the montage including young Anakin and Padme is unexpected and superb. I had started to get concerned towards the end that all the musical choices would be too light and would stop the edit going to more epic, emotional places. Fortunately I was completely wrong, and the last two songs are perfect. Old Man in particular is IMO the highlight of the whole edit - it works stylistically and emotionally, and I'm delighted njvc didn't just do "TESB with Tarantino flair", but created something original. The ending is greatness.
No doubt everyone will download this. But for the two people at the back unsure if they should: do! You won't regret it.
But from the moment Vader is introduced Pulp Empire kicks into high gear. The Hoth battle is totally and utterly awesome. The split screens, slo-mo, music, pacing. It works like gangbusters. And really from that moment on this edit worked for me with hardly any complaints.
Initially the Bowie montage was a bit WTF! But in hindsight it was just what was needed: the music was starting to get a little samey and a totally different style of track couldn't have been timed better.
Then the real WTF moment: the cave scene. I was just thinking at the start of that scene how amazing TMBTM's version was in War of the Stars Part 2, and how the one thing missing from Pulp Empire, by comparison, was something new and truly unique. The cave scene certainly ticks those two boxes. Honestly, I don't really 'get it', I assume that was Anakin (I don't watch the show), but it was a cool fusion of music and image and fit the tone.
I've been working on a rescored TPM for a couple of years now so I appreciate the enormous headache and heartache involved from an audio perspective in a project like this. I was expecting lots of bleed but apart from two or three scenes (and one moment in the otherwise spell-blinding climax) njvc does an exceptional job of hiding the old music.
The Joni Mitchell Bespin flyby is wonderful - and of course Lando fits perfectly at home in a Tarantino Star Wars movie.
While using the blu-ray as source fortunately Morrison's Fett voice was not used (which is my least favourite of the many terrible changes Lucas has made) - and for that I am enormously grateful.
The last few minutes are really special. The black and white is a great choice, the montage including young Anakin and Padme is unexpected and superb. I had started to get concerned towards the end that all the musical choices would be too light and would stop the edit going to more epic, emotional places. Fortunately I was completely wrong, and the last two songs are perfect. Old Man in particular is IMO the highlight of the whole edit - it works stylistically and emotionally, and I'm delighted njvc didn't just do "TESB with Tarantino flair", but created something original. The ending is greatness.
No doubt everyone will download this. But for the two people at the back unsure if they should: do! You won't regret it.
Y
(Updated: May 13, 2013)
Overall rating
8.6
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
8.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
8.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Side note: I've watched this fanedit as a previewer but I think the "final cut" is about the same.
This is a very good fanedit. Strong concept, well done and with a passion.
I will not repeat too much of what the other reviewers said. I wanted to focus my comment on the audio side of this edit.
The audio aspect of it is its stronguest point (great choice of songs, great timming, fits the project perfectly) and possily its lowest too (some original music bleeds occasionally, but I know too well how it is difficult to remove Williams music from this movie!, volume levels could be adjusted here and there etc.). That's why it's difficult to rate the audio here. It's not perfect, it maybe could have been (a bit) better in places, but it simply cannot be perfect as the goal here was to remove all Williams music (something I did not even dare to try in both of my War of the Stars edits). There is enough heavy work done here on the audio side of things (lots of sounds reconstructions) to fully enjoy the edit without being too much of a nitpicker. Very good job.
To me the narration flows well. I understand some people saying that there are nice scenes that are missing. But my guess is that some of them are missing because the music could not be removed. There are some fanedits where your main goal dictates your cuts and you have to play around it. That can be frustrating for the faneditor, but it's also, ironicaly, what is fun!
The "Tarantinish" mood is fully exploited and the enjoyment was exactly what I hoped it would be.
(I wonder what the people who understand what Yoda is saying now will think of the edit, haha).
Thanks for this edit.
It's one to keep and to share with people to show what fanedit can create.
This is a very good fanedit. Strong concept, well done and with a passion.
I will not repeat too much of what the other reviewers said. I wanted to focus my comment on the audio side of this edit.
The audio aspect of it is its stronguest point (great choice of songs, great timming, fits the project perfectly) and possily its lowest too (some original music bleeds occasionally, but I know too well how it is difficult to remove Williams music from this movie!, volume levels could be adjusted here and there etc.). That's why it's difficult to rate the audio here. It's not perfect, it maybe could have been (a bit) better in places, but it simply cannot be perfect as the goal here was to remove all Williams music (something I did not even dare to try in both of my War of the Stars edits). There is enough heavy work done here on the audio side of things (lots of sounds reconstructions) to fully enjoy the edit without being too much of a nitpicker. Very good job.
To me the narration flows well. I understand some people saying that there are nice scenes that are missing. But my guess is that some of them are missing because the music could not be removed. There are some fanedits where your main goal dictates your cuts and you have to play around it. That can be frustrating for the faneditor, but it's also, ironicaly, what is fun!
The "Tarantinish" mood is fully exploited and the enjoyment was exactly what I hoped it would be.
(I wonder what the people who understand what Yoda is saying now will think of the edit, haha).
Thanks for this edit.
It's one to keep and to share with people to show what fanedit can create.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
T
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I loved this edit. Picture quality was gorgeous and the edit had some very creative effects. Empire Strikes Back has always been a huge favorite of mine, and I don't feel it crapped on it in any way. It was just a different spin & a very fun watch. I'm NOT a Tarantino fan per se, but had no problem seeing all of the obvious similarities, and thought they were very well done. Most fun I've had since watching a fanedit since Jaws: The Sharksploitation Edit. Great stuff.
User Review
Format Watched
DVD
J
(Updated: May 10, 2013)
Overall rating
7.5
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
7.0
Visual Editing
8.0
Narrative
6.0
Enjoyment
7.0
I've been a fan of Star Wars since I was but a boy, and a fan of Tarantino since I was but a teenager. So, naturally, when I saw this I was instantly excited.
The quality of the MKV I watched was really, really nice. I didn't notice any blocking or anything of that sort. The audio was good, too. There were a few times that I had trouble hearing dialogue over the music, but that could have been the set up I was watching on. More on the audio later.
The visual aspect of this edit was nearly perfect. Not a single rogue frame to be found. I'd have to say my favorite sequence was the duel with Darth Vader at the end. It was incredibly well done and worked well with the music you selected. The splitscreen were also great to watch. They worked quite well at compressing time! I did have a few minor peeves, first being that the slow motion effects weren't always that smooth. I understand that you can only slow down 24fps so much (which is to say not a lot) before it starts looking kinda derpy, but I feel that it was overdone a few times throughout. The second was that during a number of the fades between shots was that the scene that was being faded out or into would change shot midfade. I found it to be a mite distracting, and it's something that I try not to do while editing.
The music selections were pretty good, however, there were a few instances where I felt they didn't quite fit. For example, when Han is getting frozen, the music used was from the scene in Kill Bill Vol. 2 where the Bride is digging herself out from the ground. It's a rather upbeat and almost heroic piece, and it doesn't quite fit with the action on screen. There were also a few times when the music faded out to nothing, not quite suddenly, but it didn't particularly sound right, either. That said, I really enjoyed hearing the Pai Mei dialogue dubbed over Yoda. The lipsync on that was spot on. Very clever, very well done.
The narrative, I felt, wasn't quite cohesive. There's one instance when Luke is rescued by Han that we see him recovering in the bacta tank, but we don't get that scene afterwards where Han and Leia ask him how he's doing. It's an important character moment that helps to build Han and Leia's relationship. My main concern for this edit is that it was a lot more style over substance. The addition of a sixth chapter felt wholly unnecessary - that bit could have very easily been woven in with Chapter Five. And while I enjoyed the character title cards that introduced Luke, Han, and Leia (Darth Vader's was great, by the way!) I was half expecting a second credits sequence. In a Tarantino-esque edit, character should be numbers one, two, and three. While his ecclectic music selections are certainly memorable, they play to the characters, not just because they sound cool (although Rule of Cool is always a consideration).
If you plan on revisiting this (which I do hope you do - revision is always a good thing) try to give the story a bit more time to breathe. A few times it felt like things were rushed along to try and keep the length short. Don't worry about how long or short it is. Remember, a great film will always feel too short, and an awful film will always feel too long. I do hope you don't feel as though I'm poo-pooing your edit. It was a marvelous technical achievement, it really was. I look forward to seeing what else you produce in the future!
(and, for what it's worth, this has inspired me to do a similar type edit for Return of the Jedi)
The quality of the MKV I watched was really, really nice. I didn't notice any blocking or anything of that sort. The audio was good, too. There were a few times that I had trouble hearing dialogue over the music, but that could have been the set up I was watching on. More on the audio later.
The visual aspect of this edit was nearly perfect. Not a single rogue frame to be found. I'd have to say my favorite sequence was the duel with Darth Vader at the end. It was incredibly well done and worked well with the music you selected. The splitscreen were also great to watch. They worked quite well at compressing time! I did have a few minor peeves, first being that the slow motion effects weren't always that smooth. I understand that you can only slow down 24fps so much (which is to say not a lot) before it starts looking kinda derpy, but I feel that it was overdone a few times throughout. The second was that during a number of the fades between shots was that the scene that was being faded out or into would change shot midfade. I found it to be a mite distracting, and it's something that I try not to do while editing.
The music selections were pretty good, however, there were a few instances where I felt they didn't quite fit. For example, when Han is getting frozen, the music used was from the scene in Kill Bill Vol. 2 where the Bride is digging herself out from the ground. It's a rather upbeat and almost heroic piece, and it doesn't quite fit with the action on screen. There were also a few times when the music faded out to nothing, not quite suddenly, but it didn't particularly sound right, either. That said, I really enjoyed hearing the Pai Mei dialogue dubbed over Yoda. The lipsync on that was spot on. Very clever, very well done.
The narrative, I felt, wasn't quite cohesive. There's one instance when Luke is rescued by Han that we see him recovering in the bacta tank, but we don't get that scene afterwards where Han and Leia ask him how he's doing. It's an important character moment that helps to build Han and Leia's relationship. My main concern for this edit is that it was a lot more style over substance. The addition of a sixth chapter felt wholly unnecessary - that bit could have very easily been woven in with Chapter Five. And while I enjoyed the character title cards that introduced Luke, Han, and Leia (Darth Vader's was great, by the way!) I was half expecting a second credits sequence. In a Tarantino-esque edit, character should be numbers one, two, and three. While his ecclectic music selections are certainly memorable, they play to the characters, not just because they sound cool (although Rule of Cool is always a consideration).
If you plan on revisiting this (which I do hope you do - revision is always a good thing) try to give the story a bit more time to breathe. A few times it felt like things were rushed along to try and keep the length short. Don't worry about how long or short it is. Remember, a great film will always feel too short, and an awful film will always feel too long. I do hope you don't feel as though I'm poo-pooing your edit. It was a marvelous technical achievement, it really was. I look forward to seeing what else you produce in the future!
(and, for what it's worth, this has inspired me to do a similar type edit for Return of the Jedi)
User Review
Format Watched
Digital
Owner's reply
May 11, 2013
Thanks for the review! With regards to your inspiration for a Return of the Jedi idea, awesome! Although, you'll have to take it up with Neglify, he has already claimed copywrite to the prequel/sequel/reboot of this one ;)
A
Overall rating
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
So at the end of the day I'm a huge Star Wars fan and my friends would say I'm biased towards anything Tarantino does film wise so to say I was pumped for this edit would be an understatement.
Firstly I think most movie fans would agree Tarantino is a master of music selection and puts great thought into how a song will play with a scene... I'm currently writing a horror movie script and I'm using the same thought process going as far as writing two entire death scenes based primarily around the music so I was very intriqued on how the music would play out throughout Empire... I was very impressed with what music (both Tarantino and Non-Tarantino) that NJVC selected and it played out better than expected... The music played to each scene with perfection... I can't think of a single instant where it didn't play to the scene in question... I also found the Death Proof car driving audio whenever the Falcon was on screen was a nice touch...
I enjoy how the edit was put together with the title cards and jumping back and forth like a typical Tarantino movie... so much more as Dominic mentioned in his review was taken from Tarantino from the slow motion to the split screens... It was a hell of a fun ride to say the least...
I didn't have any real overall audio issues with the exception of the music levels in a few instances but not enough to take you away from the overall enjoyment... The odd orginal score being noticeable didn't take anything away from my viewing enjoyment...
The only thing I didn't much care for although I realiaze why it was there and for what purpose was the animated flashback scene... It just felt out of place IMO...
Overall thoughts
Everything from the music selections to the Yoda voice over worked extremely well... Minor issues with the audio... I dug the editing and how NJVC edited the final product together...
This edit embodies what a fun popcorn fanedit flick should be... leave your opinions at the door and just enjoy the ride cause it's super fun and NJVC should be proud of what he set out to AND accomplished with this edit!
I may or may not have geeked out a bit at the end credits when my name appeared in the special thanks section... lol
Check this out NOW and ENJOY!
Firstly I think most movie fans would agree Tarantino is a master of music selection and puts great thought into how a song will play with a scene... I'm currently writing a horror movie script and I'm using the same thought process going as far as writing two entire death scenes based primarily around the music so I was very intriqued on how the music would play out throughout Empire... I was very impressed with what music (both Tarantino and Non-Tarantino) that NJVC selected and it played out better than expected... The music played to each scene with perfection... I can't think of a single instant where it didn't play to the scene in question... I also found the Death Proof car driving audio whenever the Falcon was on screen was a nice touch...
I enjoy how the edit was put together with the title cards and jumping back and forth like a typical Tarantino movie... so much more as Dominic mentioned in his review was taken from Tarantino from the slow motion to the split screens... It was a hell of a fun ride to say the least...
I didn't have any real overall audio issues with the exception of the music levels in a few instances but not enough to take you away from the overall enjoyment... The odd orginal score being noticeable didn't take anything away from my viewing enjoyment...
The only thing I didn't much care for although I realiaze why it was there and for what purpose was the animated flashback scene... It just felt out of place IMO...
Overall thoughts
Everything from the music selections to the Yoda voice over worked extremely well... Minor issues with the audio... I dug the editing and how NJVC edited the final product together...
This edit embodies what a fun popcorn fanedit flick should be... leave your opinions at the door and just enjoy the ride cause it's super fun and NJVC should be proud of what he set out to AND accomplished with this edit!
I may or may not have geeked out a bit at the end credits when my name appeared in the special thanks section... lol
Check this out NOW and ENJOY!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
W