Hard to see how anyone could prefer the VoiceOver version. I can understand how the studio might have got cold feet over the film's ambiguity. As I recall the actors didn't really understand what was going on as they filmed it.

Not sure I've seen the extended Leon. Have to look it up. Truly a terrific film.

Apocalypse Now!, I'm probably in the minority in preferring the original. Willard smiling & laughing (when Sheen never so much as cracks a smile in the original) freaks me out, not to mention him arranging a sexy interlude for the crew in one version. Willard wouldn't do that.

The French colonial interlude—I get it; they were moving back into Vietnam's history along the river—seems to be included just because it was so damned much trouble to film. Finally, seeing Kurtz in the daylight...

No.

Kurtz. Cannot. Be. Fat!

Better he should be dead, or a legend, or anything but fat. I know Coppola needed Brando on the marquee for his investors' sake. I think he did a decent job of de-emphasizing tubby Kurtz, filming him at night, or inside in the dark. That single daylight scene reminds us how ridiculous Brando looked in the role.

The Shining ... truly a masterpiece, even if it disappoint many of the novel's fans on first blush. I'm always happy to hear of an extended version mainly because Kubrick exposed so much film it's great to learn less of it went to waste.

Great idea for an article, Simon!