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‘Blade Runner’ at 40

esquire.com

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Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#101

Post by duxup »

globular-toast wrote: post #60
duxup wrote: post #19

I hated that movie the first to I saw it. I was bored with it. Now I love it. I really enjoy how much time they spend establishing the atmosphere and characters. It all feels very real and has depth. I loath the speedy sci fi that tries to touch on atmosphere and then hurries along with their paper characters and so on. So much sci fi I encounter now feels little more than a long trailer with no idea how to end.

It is possible, of course, that you saw an inferior cut of the film. It's notorious for having been recut several times over the years. The Final Cut is the one to watch.

Yeah I have no clue what I saw first. But the directors cut is the one I enjoy.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#102

Post by jmyeet »

mrandish wrote: post #42
jmyeet wrote: post #9

I am one of the 11 people on Earth that hates coffee. "Hate" isn't strong enough. Even "despises" I'm not sure goes far enough. It tastes disgusting to me. I can't even stand the smell. This has led me at times to wonder if I'm crazy or if everyone else is. I do notice a ton of people consume a ton of sugar in their coffee so it seems like many don't really like coffee. They like sugar. But I digresss. I have the sam…

I first saw BR in a theater the month it originally came out. It's hard to appreciate from today's perspective just how revolutionary it was. The film itself, especially the original cut, is flawed due to the studio making last minute edits which the director, cast and writers were against. Yet, it is still the one science fiction film that has been more visually influential than any other. It changed everything that…

The article mentions the earlier influence of Alien to this genre, at least in the sense of this future dystopia. But even if we accept the premise that BR was groundbreaking, groundbreaking != good.

Larry Niven, for example, was a pioneering sci-fi author over many books but most of these books aren't great. Ringworld, for example, was one of the earlier works to talk about megastructures and the efficiency of living area per unit mass. The structure itself doesn't make sense (ie it would be torn apart by centrifugal force) but it's an important idea.

Neuromancer gets mentioned a lot in this particular genre. It too was groundbreaking but it's actually not that great of a book. Still, the groundbreaking aspect feeds into nostalgia, particularly if you read it when it came out. I feel like a lot of the BR hype falls into this same bucket. That's really all I'm saying.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#104

Post by Krasnol »

bowsamic wrote: post #72

No one has captured cyberpunk so perfectly since. It is the ultimate visual and auditory expression of it. The sequel is also excellent

The sequel gave me more of a post-cyberpunk vibe and I feel like it was intended.

They killed Capitalist-Tokyo-Dystopia and replaced it with Soviet Russia.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#105

Post by CyanBird »

nico wrote: post #91
aresant wrote: post #23

The visual language Bladerunner invented has virtually defined SciFi for the past 40 years. If you enjoy it's worth digging into the work Syd Mead - the film's concept artist - created: https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/5642443624/in/... https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/5642443252/in/... https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/5641873923/in/... https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_…

There is also the failed attempt of Jodorowsky to make a Dune movie: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodorowsky's_Dune https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel)#Early_stalled_a... The documentary is pretty fascinating. Jodorowsky managed to put together a stellar team, among them H.R. Giger, Dalí and the script writer who would later write Alien.

Yeah, it is thanks to these two movies that modern scifi and its visual development side of things exists basically

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#106

Post by jmyeet »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #81
jmyeet wrote: post #9

I am one of the 11 people on Earth that hates coffee. "Hate" isn't strong enough. Even "despises" I'm not sure goes far enough. It tastes disgusting to me. I can't even stand the smell. This has led me at times to wonder if I'm crazy or if everyone else is. I do notice a ton of people consume a ton of sugar in their coffee so it seems like many don't really like coffee. They like sugar. But I digresss. I have the sam…

Tyrell is of Scandinavian origin, Eldon Tyrell was played by Joe Turkel, the name in Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep was the Rosen corporation. I figure it was more fear of Germanic people than Japanese.

The Philip K. Dick book dates from the 60s so it doesn't really fit into the 80s Japanese xenophobia zeitgeist.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#107

Post by sorokod »

ghaff wrote: post #83
jmyeet wrote: post #9

I am one of the 11 people on Earth that hates coffee. "Hate" isn't strong enough. Even "despises" I'm not sure goes far enough. It tastes disgusting to me. I can't even stand the smell. This has led me at times to wonder if I'm crazy or if everyone else is. I do notice a ton of people consume a ton of sugar in their coffee so it seems like many don't really like coffee. They like sugar. But I digresss. I have the sam…

FWIW, Blade Runner (like some other films e.g. Apocalypse Now) weren't considered as anything special at the time but were more appreciated as the years went on with or without director's cuts. That said, I really liked both at the time.

I watched apocalypse now soon after it's release and was completely blown away by it. There is a soundtrack album to which I listen occasionally.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#108

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

jerrysievert wrote: post #58
AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Calling it the "greatest of all time" seems like a total exaggeration I was thinking this at first but I've struggled with a suggestion of a better, and critically more impactful/influential, movie in the genere.

brazil delicatessen both very deep and dark in similar genres: dystopian future.

But not as hypnotic.

Brazil is an amazing movie, but Gilliam is always distractingly manic.

Blade Runner is graceful. The pacing, the characterisation, the imagery, and especially the music make it almost as much of a ballet/opera as a movie.

It's not just science fiction, it's Wagnerian.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#109

Post by mhh__ »

tus666 wrote: post #66

Star Wars was better.

What is star wars actually about though.

There's probably no blade runner without star wars but it's just childish/shallow if you don't buy into George Lucas.

The originals are good movies but only empire is truly great and even then it's just a good flick. It asks almost no questions of the audience.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#110

Post by cowmix »

jmyeet wrote: post #9

I am one of the 11 people on Earth that hates coffee. "Hate" isn't strong enough. Even "despises" I'm not sure goes far enough. It tastes disgusting to me. I can't even stand the smell. This has led me at times to wonder if I'm crazy or if everyone else is. I do notice a ton of people consume a ton of sugar in their coffee so it seems like many don't really like coffee. They like sugar. But I digresss. I have the sam…

The only reason I give people like you a pass on hating on Blade Runner is I, personally, can't stand The Matrix -- which has made me a pariah with my peer group for over 20 years now.
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