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‘Blade Runner’ at 40

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Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#91
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.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#92
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…

And Neuromancer! although the movie is 1982 and the book is 1984 - I put these two together as the founding fathers of cyberpunk entertainment, albeit the FATHER of Cyberpunk is PK Dick...

BR created the visual dystopian cyberpunk world of the future without focusing on internet/online things...

Neuromancer changed and set the tone for the internet to come.

The thing is, that at 47, MANY MANY MANY of my contemporaries and peer grew up in the 80s with these concepts for which they said "wouldn't it be cool if...." Its the nerds of the 80s that have all worked to make the cyberpunk-esque current systems we have, and the evil corps as described in both have come to pass.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#93
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it still holds up. Very few films are as bold and original today. Everything is CGI focus group contrived garbage now. What good recent scifi comes close? Dune? Bladerunner 2049?

Bladerunner 2049. :-)

Yes that one. Thanks!

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#95
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.

There are three things that are important to the movie.

   - Pacing so you don't get bored. 
   - Thematic depth
   - Atmosphere
A lot of pretentious people like to ignore pacing as if their brains are made up of pure IQ and anything related excitement is beneath them. Make no mistake, we are all human and we all get bored. Pacing is important and it takes a lot of effort (and intelligence) for a director to maintain that level of momentum for a movie.

Let's face it, Blade runner really screwed up with pacing. Ultra slow pacing is understandably sort of required for the atmosphere but while it scores very very very highly in the other areas; there is absolute truth to the statement when someone says that movie is in general quite slow and boring. If your brain is too big to comprehend why Blade runner even has the possibility of being boring then I'm likely too stupid to be communicating with you, you should go read other comments of higher intelligence.

The MCU scores highly in pacing and probably is the greatest paced franchise of all time, with 10 years of momentum and a payoff unlike anything ever seen before in cinema. But because of pretension, in general a certain crowd looks at the entire franchise with disdain; even though it's actually much harder and challenging to create good pacing then many of the more serious thematically deep movies I've seen out there.

Inception would be movie that on average has the best high balance on all three pillars. Good pacing, thematically deep, well established professional/corporate atmosphere. Though I would say in terms of theme and atmosphere, while quite high, it's not quite high enough to get past certain pretentious attitudes. I would even argue that sometimes if the pacing is too good, the movie becomes too popular and thus "not good" to the elite crowd.

At the same time, sometimes if the pacing is too good, the themes and atmosphere get copied by dozens of other movies. The audience sees too much of it and becomes more sophisticated. Now the stuff that use to be high concept to the general audience becomes quite boring. Directors and movies producers are always playing catch up to increase sophistication and bring you stuff you've never seen before.

@duxup, I think this is what's happening to you. Bladerunner is so boring that it wasn't copied too much. But the other sci-fi stuff get copied to hell and now the cookie cutter sameness doesn't do it for you anymore. So you turn to the thing that's most different.

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#96

I would disagree and posit that 2001 is the GOAT. Most scifi is heavily influenced by it. The artistry is unsurpassed. The scope and depth of the story is mind blowing. I was at lunch talking with coworkers about scifi movies. None of them even heard about 2001. It was quite shocking to me. I was the oldest at the table, but I'm not that old.

2001 is a very different type of film though. Blade runner is a film I could get my marvel-loving friends to watch, they would not watch 25 of chimp on chimp action

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Brazil is everything. I've never seen Delicatessen but if it's like these other films, I'll check it out. Anything I need to know (culturally, or whatever) to fully appreciate it?

It's a different style of movie, not really science fiction. I really like it though, really strong atmosphere. The city of lost children as well has a unique atmosphere

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#98
post #2

Oh crap; they cancelled Raised by Wolves: https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/raised-by-wolves-ca... Unbelievable! (Ridley Scott was involved with it.)

it wasn’t particularly good, I really really wanted to like it and persevered through the whole thing… and it’s just a mess

It was better than all other recent sci-fi shows, I mean it was a serious conversation about religion, I felt like Im treated like an adult for a change. Foundation failed to be both serious and entertaining / engaging

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#99

Mind-blowing art-direction/set-decorating/costumes when it came out. I have to make an excuse to get up though when Harrison Ford tries to play a nerdy fan in the Zhora character's dressing room. So bad.

Isn't that the express purpose of the scene?

Re: ‘Blade Runner’ at 40

#100
post #57
post #33

I've pretty much owned every copy of the first movie. I still hear Roy's haunting message as a razor blade going through my skull.

“I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.” For me probably the best monologue in movie history.

I'd get rid of the C-beams bit. Feels too much like scifibabble
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