Your posts made me realize that although I'd read the original Harry Harrison story, had the movie detailed to me many times, and seen countless pop culture references, I'd never actually watched it. So I remedied that today. Interesting film, and pretty intelligent for its time. (spoilers for a 44 year old movie to follow): Yeah, I had a little laugh at the way the greenhouse effect was conveyed by a green haze in the outdoor scenes, but I hadn't realized that that term was that old. Also, it seems that being "furniture" was a semi-voluntary career choice, there were plenty of women in the street scenes who seemed independent (albeit desperately poor). Sadly, it's a reality even in today's world, just ask any Eastern European trophy wife. I'm not sure how they intended the suicide center scene to be viewed, but to me, it was beautiful. I expected some sort of bait and switch like in the film version of Cloud Atlas, but it seems like the people choosing death were given a dignified and peaceful ending, which to my mind beats the hell out of puking your guts our screaming in a cancer ward somewhere. Also, it was the inspiration for The Simpsons' "Die Pod", where Grandpa Simpson chooses to listen to Glenn Miller while watching cops beat up hippies. To each their own. Anyway, @GingerCoffee thanks for reminding me of that film when I had a chance to see it, it was well worth my time. ETA: There's a straight line between this and Paolo Bacigalupi's work, IMHO.
In movie related news... There seems to be major spoilers floating around regarding "The Last Jedi", so proceed with caution. Cut yourself off from anything Star Wars until the movie's release if you must. There's apparently gonna be an Indiana Jones 5 movie, but this time Shia Labeouf won't be in it. That is all.
Thanks for the heads-up! I took great caution not to be spoiled by The Force Awakens - I didn't even see a trailer. (Turns out I didn't miss all that much. Though my confidence in the franchise was quickly recovered when I was completely blown away by Rogue One. Having said that, I am still hesitant about how this one will pan out)
Meh! Amazing stunts no doubt, but it was all this 'Bayness' that ruined the film for me. Half an hour in I was wondering what was going on - I was actually enjoying a MB film. It appealed to my love of futuristic settings and there were some nice ideas... almost Logan's Run-ish. But then Bay got the car crash cold turkey and it all went to shit.
Something struck me towards the end of this film, and that is I get far too bogged down with plot when writing. I mean just take a look at this film; Replicant humans have revolted, escape their colony and six of them make it to LA 2019. The police department have a special branch, Blade Runners, whose job it is to 'retire' these replicants... and that's pretty much it. If I wanted to write this, there's no way on this earth I would think I had anything but the kernel of an idea.
This is the premise, my friend, which is essentially the kernel of an idea. If you wanted to map out the plot, it'd be more detailed. I haven't seen Blade Runner in quite a long time, so I couldn't begin to regurgitate it here, but it would be a lot more complex than the premise makes it seem.
Well, yes, I get that. I just mean that this premise would, in fact, be enough to start writing. The intricacies (wow! can't believe I spelt that correct first time) would come during the writing process. The point I was trying to make is that I would never have thought such a simple outline would be enough to start out with. And really, in essence, it is the plot. I mean what else is there? The replicants have a life span of four years, the MC falls in love with one of the replicants, and there's hints (although I've never been able to spot them) that the MC himself is a replicant.
I know there are about half a dozen different cuts of this film, but the first "Director's Cut" that came out (the one that removed the voiceover and Spoiler: Hint spoiler had the recurring dream about the unicorn ) makes it pretty clear that he's a replicant, and where he got his memories.
This is the one I own (without the voiceover). I remember the bit in your spoiler, but never connected it to him being a rep. I'm a bit slow on things like this.
That's got everything you need and then some to go from outline to completed project. Investigation scenes that go from clues to conclusion. Bad dudes that need to be put down.. each of them gets a setup and scene. And the love interest, which leads to an entirely different series of scenes. And because it's a cop/noir/investigation story every scene naturally flows in order. Bing bang boom... that's all you need.
Watched the 2012 remake of Total Recall tonight. I watched it when it was originally released on dvd, but enjoyed it much more this time round. For special effects that are now approaching six years old, they hold up remarkably well!
Anyone interested in Victoria and Abdul with Judi Dench? Looks fun and it includes some nice history and politics that piques my academic interest too.
Funny story. Well, not that funny but I'll tell it anyway. When I saw the trailer for this I wondered what was going on. Judi Dench in a new film? How the hell do they do that when she's dead?? So puzzled by this was I, I looked her up on wiki. Of course she's still alive. And then it occurred to me. There was such a fuss made over her character M dying in one of the Bond films a few years ago, that somewhere in my head I'd decided it was Judy Dench that had died.
Wow, this movie went from looking like just a funny idea to potentially something special. Might even see it in the theater... and rewatch The Room soon. Maybe tonight.
This made me realize I'd never seen The Room, just read about it. I'm four minutes and fifty-five seconds in, and I already need a break. I'm pretty sure this is a sitcom made by a serial killer.
Continuing with my current my sci-fi binge, I watched Westworld tonight. It's the first time I've seen it and despite its cult status I found it rather disappointing. Badly acted, poorly-executed premise, and full of plot illogicalities.
Keep hearing good things about the newest It. Might just go see it myself, even though the first "movie" bored me to sleep.
I've run out of sci-fi films. Anyone got any suggestions? I think you can safely assume I've seen all the 'obvious' ones.
Have you seen Primer? I guess it's debatable whether it's proper sf, but it was the first thing to come to mind
I tried to watch it a few years ago but I wasn't enjoying it so gave up. It felt a bit needy, like it was trying too hard to be hip, in the way that God-awful show Workaholics is. Hardware looks like it may be interesting, so I'll give that a go tonight.
