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‘Blade Runner’ at 40

esquire.com

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Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#121

Post by freeflight »

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.

> I figure it was more fear of Germanic people than Japanese.

Probably a combination of both to represent the Axis, in the book even the Soviets are also still around and the Cold War actually went hot, which is what lead to thermonuclear WWIII that left Earth increasingly inhabitable.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#122

Post by kennywinker »

divs1210 wrote: post #111
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 disagree. Blade Runner seems to age like wine, and becomes more poignant with each re-watch. It has a good pace, amazing visuals, asks tough questions, has some really good action sequences, etc. Of course, everyone is looking for different things in movies and the experience is highly subjective. Blade Runner will always be one of my favorites - right there with Contact, They Live, Jurassic Park, and other top-not…

Starship Troopers, don't forget Starship Troopers.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#123

Post by robertbarbe »

JeanMarcS wrote: post #49
Agentlien wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the other way around. I loved the atmosphere and the slow pace when I first saw it. But ever since I read the book I can't enjoy it the same way. I feel it just doesn't do it justice.

I'm another way around: I read the book then watch the movie not long after. I slept. And everytime I try to watch it I get bored quick. I think I would have much more apreciate it, the atmosphere et all, if I hadn't read the book before. And I realy regret it because I know it's a good movie.

The book has a level emotional depth of that is not matched in the film. The first dialogue between Deckhart and his wife (yes he is married in the book) is really clever and meta. I was extremely disappointed by the film (I first saw it 2 years ago) and it feels very dated and has that 80s men-women cringe-portrayal. I agree, read the book it is awesome!

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#125

Post by asiachick »

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_…

also inspiration from Metropolis

https://www.google.com/search?q=metropolis&tbm=isch

and also Things to Come

https://www.google.com/search?q=Things+to+Come&tbm=isch

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#126

Post by j-james »

JeanMarcS wrote: post #49
Agentlien wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the other way around. I loved the atmosphere and the slow pace when I first saw it. But ever since I read the book I can't enjoy it the same way. I feel it just doesn't do it justice.

I'm another way around: I read the book then watch the movie not long after. I slept. And everytime I try to watch it I get bored quick. I think I would have much more apreciate it, the atmosphere et all, if I hadn't read the book before. And I realy regret it because I know it's a good movie.

I'm a fourth way around: I read the book before watching the movie, and greatly enjoyed both in different ways.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#127

Post by rastignack »

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.

Don’t forget moebius

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#128

Post by munch117 »

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 BR that I watched was more that an atmospheric sci-fi flic. It was an epic parable of the human condition. In the beginning it juxtaposes humans and replicants, but what you're supposed to realise along the way is that the life of a replicant is just an accelerated version of a human life: However long or short a lease on life you have been given, the common factor is that it is limited, and what matters is not what species you are, but how you approach life. Deckard, who is a coward unable to live the life that he has, has a life lesson to learn from the replicant who "does not go gently into that good night".

Of course, if Deckard is a replicant, then that interpretation goes out the window, and BR is just another forgettable sci-fi plot twist movie. And since Ridley Scott seems to think so, the movie is now ruined for me -- I have never watched the sequel, because it is just too painful to watch the original movie that I loved be destroyed.

I saw a movie that wasn't just a new visual style for 80's cyberpunk, it was so much more.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#129

Post by kennywinker »

jmyeet wrote: post #117
kennywinker wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a product of its time too. I'd put it in the 80s Cyberpunk bucket where the noir surroundings and mega corporations are a product of xenophobia, basically. This is a super interesting critique of basically everything cyberpunk, that I've only recently come across. I still don't totally buy the xenophobia angle, because to me it just came across as a projection of hyper-corporate/capitalist. Like it's an extrap…

To be clear, you shouldn't discount the movie because it's intertwined anti-Japense sentiment of the time. It's simply more context. You cannot separate art from the time when it was created. It's why you see a lot of countercultural themes in 1960s movies, for example.

Listen, if I've managed to get this far without discounting the movie despite the blatant and jarring non-consensual sex scene presented as a love scene, I'm not about to let some mild xenophobia stop me.

Some of my favorite pieces of art are deeply flawed. What's important is understanding what ideas they contain, so you don't just uncritically and subconsciously believe those ideas. The xenophobia in cyberpunk idea is jarring to me because I wasn't really aware of it, and if it is there, it means I have some unexamined biases that hid it from me.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#130

Post by dekhn »

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.

Same for me- I also found it boring the first time. Or rather, I found it amazing, but the final battle comes a bit too late. After rewatching I kind of learned where the lulls are, and tend to break it up around those.
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