# Blade Runner.



## Explorer (Mar 27, 2011)

For the past month, I've been reading, watching and preparing.

I read stories from Moebius and Bilal. 

I watched the movie "Heavy Metal," paying special attention to the Harry Canyon segment.

I listened to "Albedo 0.39" and "Opera sauvage."

Today, as the culimnation of all this preparation, I decided to give myself a treat. 

I loaded up the DVD player, and watched one of the most amazing movies of all time.

Towards the end of the film, Gaff shouts across the rooftops, "It's a shame she won't live! But then again, who does?!"

The most brutal line which never made it into any of edits, at least that I'm aware, was the alternative to that line. 

"You've done a man's job, sir! But are you sure you *are* a man?!"

Brutal, and sad, cutting right to the core of this film.

I've watched this film during each of its edits and theatrical releases. I don't watch it often, because it makes me despair about how stupid we are as a species, but it is always worthwhile. 

----

This movie was made before computer effects. I believe that it was probably the last huge in-camera effects movie ever made. Everything in the landscape had weight. Everything in that world fit. There were only about 50 effects shots, but they were so real that they don't feel like effects.

----

What's worse? Gaff being explicit? Or Gaff just making the origami unicorn, revealing that he knows of Deckard's dreams and memories?

----

Now the question I'm confronted with is, do I order a pizza and watch it again into the night?

Regardless, I think I'll be reflecting on the emotional weight of this film, and trying to do some compositions from that....


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## -42- (Mar 27, 2011)

Amazon.com: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (9780345404473): Philip K. Dick: Books

In case you haven't already.


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## Xaios (Mar 27, 2011)

You know, I finally watched this movie a few months ago. I've loved sci-fi since I was a child. I was practically raised on the stuff.

Having said that, I simply did not like this movie.

First, credit where credit is due. The look of the film is phenomenal. It absolutely nails the whole "retrofitted future" aesthetic. The atmosphere it creates is wonderfully oppressive. And considering what they had to work with for special effects at the time, what they achieved was stunning.

Unfortunately it doesn't do anything with it. Maybe I've been spoiled by newer science fiction that has asked harder, deeper questions along those philosophical lines, but at the end of the movie, all I could think of was "that was it?" The concept of asking ourselves "what makes us human" is a noble pursuit, but I believe it's been done better, and more concisely at that.

Everyone has a movie that, despite everyone saying how amazing and how classic it is, just doesn't do anything for them. For me, Blade Runner is that movie.


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## Explorer (Mar 27, 2011)

That's fair. There's no accounting for tastes.

However, it's worth noting that this film started the dystopian vision which resulted in cyberpunk, and also led to steampunk. All those future movies with grimy streets come back to the visual style and aesthetics of this film. 

In addition, it was just one of many movies based on the works of P.K. Dick, all of which question the nature of reality, and of what makes us human. 

Given the nature of this film, and its influence on its descendants, it would be interesting to know if the films you feel are better were inspired by this film. Most dark future films I know of either follow this one's footsteps, or that of the apocalyptic "Mad Max." 

(Hmm. Now that I think of it, two of my favorite animes, "Cowboy Bebop" and "Trigun," fit into one or the other of those genres. Interesting.)

----

@-42-: K.W. Jeter, published one of the first cyberpunk books, entitled "Dr. Adder." It was published at the same time as the other quintessentially cyberpunk book, "Neuromancer, by William Gibson, in 1984, two years after this film was released.

The reason I mention Jeter is that he wrote three books which were sequels,set in a world containing both the events of the film and of "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" If you've only read DADoES?, I suggest you look up "The Edge of Human" (1995), "Replicant Night" (1996) and "Eye and Talon" (2000). 

----

As far as other full-length works from PKD, my fovorites have to be the VALIS trilogy... but that's moving away from the topic...

Incidentally, I've opted for pizza and to watch all the cuts, at least until I fall asleep in a few hours....


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## 8Fingers (Mar 27, 2011)

One of my favorites ever.
Still love it.
What does it have which these days movies don't have?
The PERFECT mood.
Its mood fits perfectly the story,its mood/vibe put us inside of the story.
These days we have zombies at the sun,dumb vampires falling in love for ugly dumb teenagers,50 ets invasion movies with the same story etc.
MOODS are wrong.
Terror movies with vampires IN LOVE(so it's romance and not terror) 
Strong zombies running in the sun (so it's comedy and not horror) 
Indiana Van Helsing Jones (  )
Adventures movies with a guy who kills more than a hundred to protect a skinny "queen of bones" chick (I don't know how to call it) 
Movies which effects are the story itself (so there's no story) 







Blade Runner has the perfect mood for that story and effects are part of it and not the story itself


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## Justin Bailey (Mar 27, 2011)

greatest film of all time, my very personal favorite


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## Bobo (Mar 27, 2011)

Awesome movie. It was more unusual than I expected when I first saw it, which made it even better for me.

"You've done a man's job, sir! But are you sure you *are* a man?!"

That is a better line.


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## Explorer (Mar 27, 2011)

I did fall asleep about halfway through the International cut, and woke up slumped over with posture like a boiled shrimp. I hadn't fallen over, though, and I was like that for a few hours. *laugh*

I have a few things to take care of today, and I have to work tomorrow, but I'll try to get through the rest tonight without wrecking my sleep schedule too badly. 

I think I'll see if anyone is up for the full "Lord of the Rings" extended cut marathon in the next month.... *laugh*

----

In the first scene of the movie and in the deleted scenes, I like how much Holden (the guy whom Leon shoots during the Voigt-Kampff test) looks and acts like Deckard, down to little mannerisms. It's almost as if they're from the same mold, with just minor differences. I'm sure that's just a coincidence, though....


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## Explorer (Mar 28, 2011)

Okay, so I'm still immersed in my one-film marathon, and it's getting really late. However, there's a few points I hadn't known about.

There was a scene in the original film script where, after Batty crushes the head of Tyrell, it is revealed that the interior is loaded with machinery (or whatever one might find to be a different system in replicants). At that point, Batty again enters the elevator and continues upwards, where he finds a coffin bed wherein the real Tyrell has apprently died years before.

While listening to the commentary on the Final Cut, I was interested to hear Ridley Scott talk about how he imagined this film taking place in the same universe as his previous film, "Alien." "You know, the crew of the Nostromo would arrive and one of them might even have a drink in a bar down the street from where Deckard would eat noodles."

If Tyrell were revealed as having made his own replicant copy, that would make him similar to the head of the Weyland Corporation from the world of Alien. It's feels like when I fount out that the mutants with precognition from Total Recall were ancestors of the precogs in Minority Report. 

I also have to chuckle sadly at the idea of the ad blimp broadcasting, 'The chance to begin in the Offworld Colonies!," and the reality of what happened to all those terraformer families in Aliens. 

David Webb Peoples, who was one of the two screenwriters who worked on the BR script, has said that he thought of the film Soldier as a "sidequel" to BR. 

And, even though there's absolutely no reason to infer this, Outland is in the same universe as BR. No evidence, just a completely unjustified assertion. *laugh*

There's no way I'm gonna finish watching all three commentary tracks tonight, but this was completely worthwhile to me....


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## signalgrey (Mar 28, 2011)

PKD was the man. you should read The Man in High Tower. that would be a fucking epic HBO limited series.


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## jymellis (Mar 28, 2011)

love that shit!


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## Chiba666 (Mar 28, 2011)

Great film, but then I am a cyber punk junkie


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## Origin (Mar 28, 2011)

Love love love this movie. The atmosphere sucks me in and doesn't goddamn let me go. The plot is fantastically frantic and despondent at once. It also got me even more psyched for the upcoming Deus Ex prequel, strange as that sounds.  I dunno, I like the way those cities look and act and feel, it's great.

Also, Harrison.


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## lobee (Mar 28, 2011)

signalgrey said:


> PKD was the man. you should read The Man in High Tower. that would be a fucking epic HBO limited series.


Just searched to find more about the book and found this: Ridley Scott Producing BBC Adaptation of Philip K. Dicks The Man in the High Castle | /Film


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## eaeolian (Mar 28, 2011)

I loved this movie when I first saw it in the original cut in the theaters. I loved it even more when I saw the theater re-release in 70mm. This is either one of the best SF or Film Noir pieces ever made - or, quite possibly, both at the same time.

I still love the fact that much of the on-screen chemistry between Sean Young and Ford is because they absolutely despised each other.


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## Blake1970 (Mar 28, 2011)

This movie grows on me more and more every time I watch it. I recently watched a documentary on William S. Burroughs called: A Man Within. Apparently it was a science fiction novella first published in 1979 or something like that by William himself. Anyways great movie and it has a fantastic soundtrack as well!


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## vampiregenocide (Mar 29, 2011)

Xaios said:


> You know, I finally watched this movie a few months ago. I've loved sci-fi since I was a child. I was practically raised on the stuff.
> 
> Having said that, I simply did not like this movie.
> 
> ...


 
I must admit, I felt the same. Being the massive sci-fi fan I am, I really expected to like it, but by the end I felt very underwhelmed by it. Beautiful looking film, it just didn't flow well to me. It was one of those films where you feel like you're just watching it, not being engaged by it.


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## Freestyler8 (Apr 2, 2011)

I watched this a couple of weeks ago for the first time. I saw the Final Cut I believe (whichever version is on the standard 2 disc Blu-Ray).

I can't decided what I thought of it. Visually it was very good, and the mood and atmosphere were fantastic, but my god was it strange. Especially the scenes at J.F Sebastians house.

However, I just wasn't as completely blown away as I was expecting to be. Maybe the fact that I was expecting to be made sure I wouldn't be? I think I need to see it again.

Spoliers:
I didn't make the connection between the little origami characters that Gaff implying that Decker was a Replicant, but I picked up so many things throughout the film that made this seem almost obvious to me. Its as if the hint made by the unicorn was too little too late - by the time the implication was made, I had already realised that that was what was being suggested. I suppose this is something that came about due to different cuts. Or maybe it's just me.

<3 Pris


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## 13point9 (Apr 2, 2011)

I'm rewriting the music for the opening shot over LA for uni

Needless to say I was pretty please when I found out that was the clip we were using, I have some hard work to do though...


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## sakeido (Apr 4, 2011)

Blade Runner is pretty overhyped IMO. Very good movie - awesome look to it. I think its just a really good genre flick, for both sci fi and film noir.. I don't think its one of the best movies of all time, or that it has much to say about the human condition. I don't think there is any deeper meaning to it, either. Dark City and the Matrix are better for that kind of thing. 

I've seen a couple different cuts of it.. in the one Gaff said "You've done a man's job" and that was it, but he said it with such weird emphasis I was like.... "he knows he's a replicant!" 

Final Cut mostly just tightens up the film, fixes some discontinuity stuff like the extra replicant you never find out about. Adds back in the classic line "I want more life, FUCKER"


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## DavyH (Apr 4, 2011)

All the talk about Deckard and Rachel and not a word about any of the (other?) replicants? Faaaaack.

Rutger Hauer and his cronies made that film what it was. The completely inappropriate and uncontrolled emotional states of the escapee replicants were frightening.

Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now (Redux). Maybe they're both overhyped, but on any given day one or the other is my favourite film.


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## Explorer (Apr 4, 2011)

sakeido said:


> Blade Runner is pretty overhyped IMO. Very good movie - awesome look to it. I think its just a really good genre flick, for both sci fi and film noir.. I don't think its one of the best movies of all time, or that it has much to say about the human condition. I don't think there is any deeper meaning to it, either. Dark City and the Matrix are better for that kind of thing.



Both the movies you mention, "The Matrix" and "Dark City," are direct descendants of "Blade Runner" in terms of visual style, dystopian vision, cyberpunk/steampunk aesthetics, and the questioning of what ultimately constitutes reality.

----

I'm a huge fan of pulp detective stories, and the first appearance of the genre was (not surprisingly) in a pulp magazine, the one entitled "Black Mask." One of the stories, whose name escapes me at the moment, created a *huge* amount of instant cliches, and set the tone for all noir voice-overs (including the original "Blade Runner"). 

That first story was most definitely *not* as good as "The Maltese Falcon," in the same way that Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue" was not as good many modern mystery stories, or that Poe's invention of science fiction (yes, he invented both mysteries and science fiction) are amazing by today's standards. The point is, though, that he was the pioneer. 

I also enjoyed the film "Serpico," which might seem boring by today's standards. "It was so predictable! The good cop wins, just like all those other movies!" However, there were no other movies or stories like it when it was made. It was the one which everyone copied. In addition, it was not only first, but was biographical. 

All these works, and "Blade Runner" as well, are remarkable because they reveal what H.G. Wells called "The Shape of Things to Come." 

----

I just strikes me that it would be silly to say, "You know, even though they were first, the Wright brothers didn't make a very good airplane. I don't think that first airplane got overhyped. I'd go with a F-22 Raptor instead." *laugh* There wouldn't be a Raptor without their having had vision and then building something entirely new out of bamboo and canvas....


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## Edika (Apr 4, 2011)

8Fingers said:


> One of my favorites ever.
> Still love it.
> What does it have which these days movies don't have?
> The PERFECT mood.
> ...



Couldn't have said it better myself! Without wanting to sound like an old person, most modern sci-fi movies are about the effects and if you are lucky you get some hints of meaningful story. The whole atmosphere, the music by Vangelis Papathanasiou, even the not so flashy effct play a big role in the vibe of this movie.


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## sakeido (Apr 5, 2011)

Explorer said:


> Both the movies you mention, "The Matrix" and "Dark City," are direct descendants of "Blade Runner" in terms of visual style, dystopian vision, cyberpunk/steampunk aesthetics, and the questioning of what ultimately constitutes reality.
> 
> ----
> 
> I just strikes me that it would be silly to say, "You know, even though they were first, the Wright brothers didn't make a very good airplane. I don't think that first airplane got overhyped. I'd go with a F-22 Raptor instead." *laugh* There wouldn't be a Raptor without their having had vision and then building something entirely new out of bamboo and canvas....



my point is that Dark City and Matrix both handle the philosophical aspects of their scripts a hell of a lot better than Blade Runner does. Yes it came first, and it has been one hell of an influential movie.. but is there a law somewhere that says you can't surpass your inspirations? And then the comparison to the Wright Brothers....


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## Edika (Apr 5, 2011)

sakeido said:


> my point is that Dark City and Matrix both handle the philosophical aspects of their scripts a hell of a lot better than Blade Runner does. Yes it came first, and it has been one hell of an influential movie.. but is there a law somewhere that says you can't surpass your inspirations? And then the comparison to the Wright Brothers....



It is true that story lines become more complex in order to intrigue the viewer more. I saw Rosemary's baby a few years ago, that is considered a classic "horror" film. I was not impressed at all and found it very predictable. Afterwards I thought a bit harder why it seemed predictable, other movies achieved the same result better in my point of view.

I will agree that you can surpass your inspirations. However I must be one of the few people that thought Matrix was kind of a bubble. If they stopped at the first movie I would agree with you. The approach and the aesthetics were outstanding. Unfortunately the second movie was mainly pointless barrage of explosions while the ending of the third movie tried to give the illusion that there was more going on while there actually weren't.


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## sakeido (Apr 5, 2011)

Edika said:


> It is true that story lines become more complex in order to intrigue the viewer more. I saw Rosemary's baby a few years ago, that is considered a classic "horror" film. I was not impressed at all and found it very predictable. Afterwards I thought a bit harder why it seemed predictable, other movies achieved the same result better in my point of view.
> 
> I will agree that you can surpass your inspirations. However I must be one of the few people that thought Matrix was kind of a bubble. If they stopped at the first movie I would agree with you. The approach and the aesthetics were outstanding. Unfortunately the second movie was mainly pointless barrage of explosions while the ending of the third movie tried to give the illusion that there was more going on while there actually weren't.



Sequels can't spoil the original movie.. I just watched the Matrix again the other day. 12 years on that movie still kicks a ton of ass. The 2nd Matrix movie wasn't bad.. cool action set pieces and there was still some good philosophical stuff going on. Moved on from pretty basic Descartes (first movie, which hinted at what they would tackle in the second) to lofty ideas about fate, which were handled pretty well in the second flick. The third movie.. I can't remember shit about it, except that Neo turned into Jesus at the very end. The third one was indeed really, really bad.

The reason I'm not giving Blade Runner a free pass is that a lot of its contemporaries or even movies from the 60s and 70s were more cerebral. I guess you could say it was the first real coupling of a top shelf sci-fi ascetic with ideas bigger than just "man vs alien" but that on its own isn't enough for me to put it on a special shelf above all the other, better movies that came afterwards. Like Dark City. God Damn that movie is so good - its a better noir than Blade Runner, a better sci fi movie, and more watchable all around.


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## MFB (Apr 6, 2011)

While I'll agree with you on that whole "newer movies doing the concept better" I think it's unfair to say the original inspiration for it is worse BECAUSE it's just that. I mean, I think if the pioneer of something maintains it's status as both "pioneer" and "best in ______ genre/theme" then we would REALLY need to re-think how we're doing things.


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## ShadyDavey (Apr 14, 2011)

> Like Dark City. God Damn that movie is so good - its a better noir than Blade Runner, a better sci fi movie, and more watchable all around.



I absolutely adore Dark City without reservation but for me the appeal of Blade Runner is that every single element works beautifully - the music is stunning, the visuals are still gorgeous, the script (whilst a little over-simplified in places) is sympathetically written and I think that in many ways the choice to address loftier topics without over-complicating or clouding the issue in a way that could have been it's downfall was a wise one.

As MFB points out - It was indeed the inspiration for a slew of movies, books, anime and manga not to mention a host of musicians and even today I think that it's impact is amongst the most profound of any movie I could mention. 

It's not entirely without fault, but it's still brilliant.


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## MrGignac (May 17, 2011)

has anyone read the Valis trilogy by phillip K Dick? Ive heard its crazy, dick writes himself into the book and how our reality is broadcasted to us from a distant galaxy. I think phillip K dick was 30 years ahead of his time. But i mean the series is HUGE and wondered if anyone had good things to say bout it.


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## Explorer (May 17, 2011)

VALIS is, without limitation, my favorite book from PKD. The fact that it is autobiographical is even stranger. The rest of the trilogy is okay, but that one book is the one which really made me learn about the Christian faith... which, regrettably, made me discover the factual errors and inconsistencies, and eventually to conclude it was wrong.

Not looking for a big discussion on this. If you're curious or want to talk about it, I'm available through PM. 

----

For those who keep arguing the point that an F22 is superior to the original Wright Brothers plane, I'll just note that the F22 will never surpass the Wright construction in having been first, and in laying down the basic principles. It may use those principles in a vastly better way, but it wasn't the trailblazer in that particular way. 

As amazing as Plato's Allegory of the Cave is, I don't think it qualifies as being as novel as some of you might think, even if you rename it Dark City. (Haven't read it? I heartily suggest it!) Of course, Dark City surpasses Plato's Cave because they added... aliens! 

*laugh*


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## MrGignac (May 18, 2011)

yea sorry to jump off topic, but ive wanted to crack valis open for a while. I guess you can break most of those type of movies into the plato's cave allegory. Dark city was a book? ill have to check that out as well.


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## sunbasket (May 19, 2011)

I just watched this last night!

Perhaps the "simplification" of the Blade Runner script was a factor in its immense popularity...


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## Xaios (May 19, 2011)

Explorer said:


> For those who keep arguing the point that an F22 is superior to the original Wright Brothers plane, I'll just note that the F22 will never surpass the Wright construction in having been first, and in laying down the basic principles. It may use those principles in a vastly better way, but it wasn't the trailblazer in that particular way.
> 
> As amazing as Plato's Allegory of the Cave is, I don't think it qualifies as being as novel as some of you might think, even if you rename it Dark City. (Haven't read it? I heartily suggest it!) Of course, Dark City surpasses Plato's Cave because they added... aliens!
> 
> *laugh*



While I agree that there's inherent historical merit to being the "first" to do something, I think that can only carry something so far. Yes, the Wright Brothers were the first to successfully build an airplane that actually flew, but their work has been far, far surpassed in that time. Similarly, while Plato was one of the first to offer a discourse on mankind's fear of change in "The Cave," that concept has really been beaten to death in the more than 2000 years since, and while the concept may have been revolutionary at the time, they've been beaten into our collective consciousness to the point were they're downright prosaic now.


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## Ancestor (May 22, 2011)

blade runner is more than sci fi though. it's a comment on the impermanent nature of life. it doesn't matter if we live 4 years or 74 years, when it's over it's over.

i don't really think the fx part of the movie makes a difference. as long as they weren't so crappy that they brought down the story, which they didn't, so cool. 

and that's just on the surface. you could take so much more away from it. it's a deep movie. it took me 3 times trying to watch this before i could make it through and understand what it was about. i fell asleep in it, too! ha! just that kind of movie.

but once i got it, wow!


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## Explorer (Jun 8, 2014)

Necrobump!

I have had an interesting few weeks.

I read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". 

I watched Soldier, Alien and Aliens.

I watched the documentary features, except for the "alternate/deleted scenes" feature.

I watched the Workprint, then the US, European and Director's cuts. 

I then watched the alternate/deleted scenes cut.

And then the Final Cut. 

----

What made this time around even stranger to me were the background stories of our times.

Scientists have been revising their estimates, and it looks like not only are we in the middle of a major extinction event (yup, like the donosaurs dying out, to where we're left with the chicken *laugh*), but the species die-offs are happening at a greater pace than previously imagined. Even worse, humans are the cause. In the book, it was the owls. In the real-world's case, it's bees and frogs who are first getting hit. 

The film makers made the assumption, based on how things were going at the time of writing/filming, that two or three corporations would control most of the wealth and governments, and the Chinese would have risen to a position of world power and influence.

Patenting of pre-existing gene sequences (out in the natural public domain of evolved organisms) has proceeded apace. There are services to cull genetic defects so you don't get implanted with an embryo with hereditary diseases. Entire organisms are protected by patent. You can even buy genetically modified pets like those glittering gold seahorses from Vietnam and the glow-in-the-dark fish. 

----

I have an idea for our next film marathon (although I was the only one who watched all this; the only shared bits were the Rinal Cut and the Alternate/Deleted Scenes cut, which is like a weird alternate reality cut of the film). 

Anyone else watched Blade Runner recently?


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## JEngelking (Jun 8, 2014)

I was in a Film and Lit course this last semester and we had to read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", in addition to watching Blade Runner. I'd have to say I liked the book a bit more, but Blade Runner certainly was a very good film. I'll have to get around to watching a couple more times to make sure I picked up on all the small nuances.


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## asher (Jun 8, 2014)

JEngelking said:


> I was in a Film and Lit course this last semester and we had to read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", in addition to watching Blade Runner. I'd have to say I liked the book a bit more, but Blade Runner certainly was a very good film. I'll have to get around to watching a couple more times to make sure I picked up on all the small nuances.



Watched it with a ladyfriend a couple months ago again. The Director's Cut, not the Final. I've seen it two or three times now, and read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. I think they're very complementary. The film can definitely benefit from multiple viewings to catch everything.

Also, Rutger Hauer is such a badass. His tears in the rain soliloquy? Basically improv'd!


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## wankerness (Jun 8, 2014)

asher said:


> Watched it with a ladyfriend a couple months ago again. The Director's Cut, not the Final. I've seen it two or three times now, and read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. I think they're very complementary. The film can definitely benefit from multiple viewings to catch everything.
> 
> Also, Rutger Hauer is such a badass. His tears in the rain soliloquy? Basically *improved.*



He meant improvised, for anyone who didn't know this!

I heard the original script had like 2 pages worth of dialogue and he was like "this will be stupid." He's a pretty awesome guy. I met someone in Seattle that helped him run a poetry website. 

Blade Runner is something that disappointed me on initial watch and I bought into the criticism (Roger Ebert being one of the major voices who said this) that "it looks pretty, but is really empty." Then I watched it several more times over the years and realized that no one who says that has really managed to engage with the movie. I now find it one of the most emotional sci-fi movies out there. The style is intentionally flat, but basically all the characters are just barely holding it together in their attempt to hold onto what they define as their humanity. It's really poignant stuff, especially Rachel and Batty. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen about grappling with mortality. It's a great movie and anyone that isn't impressed on first watch should give it some repeat viewings if they were even slightly interested by it. The last 15 minutes in particular is just stunning, Batty's last little monologue and Gaff's last lines are some of the most powerful in sci-fi. The score is also one of the most beautiful ever recorded. It's almost entirely 80s synth tones, but somehow it seems to exist out of time. It's just so completely crystalline and at one with the visuals and somehow doesn't sound dated at all. 

To respond to the OP, which I see is 3 years old now, this is most definitely not the last big in-camera effects movie, nothing was primarily CGI for more than 10 years afterwards! Jurassic Park was the real tipping point where a lot of CGI was used and even that was well over half practical effects. Stuff like The Abyss and T2 was several years after blade runner and barely had any CGI in it besides. There are plenty of big effects movies without a single CGI effect in them for years after Blade Runner, one of the really impressive ones I can think of off the top of my head is Bram Stoker's Dracula from 92.


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## Vhyle (Jun 9, 2014)

Blade Runner is absolutely one of my favorite films of all time. The outstanding adaptation of the dystopian atmosphere is dead-on, and sets the mood of the film perfectly. And as this thread has said before, the special effects were perfectly executed and way ahead of their time. More often than not, it's easy to forget there were even special effects used.

Another one of my favorite things is Vangelis' soundtrack. I own the soundtrack as well, and it is in regular rotation quite often. It's chilling, haunting and beautiful in many aspects. The ambient music can accompany many moods and situations. I've listened to it hundreds of times and it will never get old.


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## Xaios (Jun 9, 2014)

Explorer said:


> I watched Soldier, Alien and Aliens.



Soldier? As in the Kurt Russell movie? As in, "your men... are obsolete"?


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## synrgy (Jun 9, 2014)

I'm also in the camp that this film just doesn't speak to.

I _want _to like it. I really do. I've tried _repeated_ viewings, even though I didn't like it the first time. I mean, I love the aesthetic, and much of the early-80's-synth-heavy score, but that's about the end of it, for me. Intellectually, I know it's well acted, and well directed. Still, the dialog and general pacing of the film just doesn't hold my attention; It puts me to sleep.

A weird analogy came to mind as I was reading through this thread. Blade Runner, for me, is kind of like The Beatles:

I understand that virtually nothing I _do_ like in Sci-Fi (or rock music) would have ever existed without the influence of Blade Runner (or The Beatles). Despite knowing this, accepting it, acknowledging it, it doesn't make the movie (or their music) any more palatable, to me. In other words, it doesn't matter to me that there would be no Nirvana without The Beatles; I still don't want to listen to "I Want To Hold Your Hand".

So, I respect the movie as an achievement not only in the sci fi genre, but in film making generally, but despite all it has going for it, I'm still unable to enjoy it.

Of Scott's early scifi work, I much prefer Alien.


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## asher (Jun 9, 2014)

synrgy said:


> I'm also in the camp that this film just doesn't speak to.
> 
> I _want _to like it. I really do. I've tried _repeated_ viewings, even though I didn't like it the first time. I mean, I love the aesthetic, and much of the early-80's-synth-heavy score, but that's about the end of it, for me. Intellectually, I know it's well acted, and well directed. Still, the dialog and general pacing of the film just doesn't hold my attention; It puts me to sleep.
> 
> ...



That's cool. Different themes and moods hit different people.

Have you tried reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?


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## synrgy (Jun 9, 2014)

No, but it's on my current short-list. I know it's the foundation of approximately half the sci-fi films of my generation's lifetime.


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## asher (Jun 9, 2014)

synrgy said:


> No, but it's on my current short-list. I know it's the foundation of approximately half the sci-fi films of my generation's lifetime.





I find the tone to be different enough that, despite Dick praising the movie's adaptation (unusual for him) they end up feeling quite different to me, and both good, so you may connect with it better.


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## akinari (Jun 9, 2014)

Probably watched the final cut like 50 times... but never any other versions. Is this sacrilege?


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## Edika (Jun 9, 2014)

I actually read "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" recently and was completely underwhelmed. Maybe I was expecting it to have a more close relation with Blade Runner. Aside from certain basic contents the story was completely different.
Now the problem is that I read this book and another of PKD (Ubik) translated in Greek and I have a feeling that the editions were horrible or I don't like the way he writes. Most probably it's the first and I'll to try to read them in English and see.
Do Androids dream of electric sheep? seemed that it presented a lot of interested topics rather abruptly and them glossed over them.


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## wankerness (Jun 9, 2014)

akinari said:


> Probably watched the final cut like 50 times... but never any other versions. Is this sacrilege?



No. The director's cut is like the first draft of the final cut and there's no point in watching it at all with the existence of the final cut, unless you really want to see the stuntwoman's face in the shooting scene.

I actually LIKE the theatrical cut but I'm in a tiny minority. The first time I saw it was the director's cut and I didn't really like it, but it was on TV, and I was like "oh I better get the uncensored version" and the director's cut dvds were all censored so I just went straight for the unrated VHS. It was what got me into the movie, whether that was just cause it was what I happened to watch second or whether I actually preferred it to the director's cut I don't know. I liked how the narration gave it more of a film noir feel, even though everyone involved in the making says the narration was intentionally bad cause it was forced in by the studio and they thought if they did a bad enough job they'd change their mind (they didn't). The ending is stupid, but I think there are some good things in the narration and it gives the film a different pacing, cause a lot of the shots that get held for a long time feel like they're cut around the narration, while in the other versions with just the music it just gives it a really spacy, slow feel. I think if you like the movie a lot you should watch it just for curiosity's sake. You probably won't like it, but unlike the director's cut the differences are substantial enough to be well-worth watching. There are also a few slightly interesting expositional details in the narration that are never mentioned in the movie otherwise (ex, what language everyone speaks, etc).


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## Explorer (Jun 10, 2014)

Xaios said:


> Soldier? As in the Kurt Russell movie? As in, "your men... are obsolete"?



Yup, that Soldier.

David Peoples worked on the screenplays of both Blade Runner and Soldier, and said he considered Soldier to be a "sidequel" to Blade Runner. Soldier contains many references to PKD stories, as well as to the battles ("Tannhauser Gate" being among the battles fought by Todd 3465) mentioned in Blade Runner. 

And that's also why I watched Alien and Aliens, as they also are considered to occur in the same universe. The "purge" sequence is the same for the spinner and the mothership. People involved in production always pictured the Nostromo crew grabbing a beer at a bar near where Deckard killed Zora. 

And here's a little biographical bit of Weyland's in the Prometheus bonus materials. 







You could lose some time reading up on these connections. Nerdy, I know, but I do find it interesting....


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## Explorer (Jun 10, 2014)

One more bit...

I don't think I can come up with an obvious connection, but I always hoped there would be a connection between the BR/Alien/Soldier stuff and the Paycheck/Total Recall/Minority report stuff. The latter has the mutants showing up in TR, and machines being built to use the same technology, and the triplets in Minority Report being descendants of the Total Recall mutants. 

And then there are three films which don't have clear connections, but I consider to be in the same BR universe: 2001, Outland and Silent Running.

----

One last question which pops into my mind every so often: If everyone knows what a Blade Runner does, then why would they want to go to the Outer Words where those killer replicants are everywhere? *laugh*


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## vansinn (Jun 10, 2014)

Absolutely a one-of-a-time classic. Good thing a sequel was never made; some works are just too good, and should be left stand-alone.
Also fully agree on reading the book on Electric Sheep - and while at it, also read Caves of Steel; well, anything Asimov..  

IMHO only the original first edition is the real one (which I never found on DVD or HD); I especially dislike the later directors cut, which lost all/most of Deckards 'internal chatter'´, i.e. his thoughts, which are vital to fully understanding the concept, only to be replaced by a few extra shots at the end.
The soundtrack is also very worth listening to, especially late on a rainy evening.


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## wankerness (Jun 10, 2014)

vansinn said:


> Absolutely a one-of-a-time classic. Good thing a sequel was never made; some works are just too good, and should be left stand-alone.
> Also fully agree on reading the book on Electric Sheep - and while at it, also read Caves of Steel; well, anything Asimov..
> 
> IMHO only the original first edition is the real one (which I never found on DVD or HD); I especially dislike the later directors cut, which lost all/most of Deckards 'internal chatter'´, i.e. his thoughts, which are vital to fully understanding the concept, only to be replaced by a few extra shots at the end.
> The soundtrack is also very worth listening to, especially late on a rainy evening.



The "domestic cut" on the dvd/bluray sets (you have to actually buy the multiple disc versions to get it) is, as far as I know, the original first edition. There's also an "international version" which is what the VHS I had was, with a few seconds of violence put back in that the censors made them take out (I think mainly just Priss and Tyrell's death scenes). All the narration is still in there in both versions.

This is the set I have, I very highly recommend it, it's got everything you could ever want to know about the movie with zillions of hours of bonus features as well as all 5 versions of the movie.

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Blade-Runner-Blu-ray/545/#Review


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## asher (Jun 10, 2014)

Explorer said:


> And that's also why I watched Alien and Aliens, as they also are considered to occur in the same universe. The "purge" sequence is the same for the spinner and the mothership. People involved in production always pictured the Nostromo crew grabbing a beer at a bar near where Deckard killed Zora.





I have never heard this. I'm not terribly fond of the idea, either: the connections all feel much too superficial. It's dark ,it's gritty, megacorps, life sucks, home vs. colony struggles... but none of the themes are the same. None of the moods are the same. They really don't touch on the same sort of issues or concepts at all, and the more I spend time with fictional worlds the more I think these things are important to the "soul" of said world. Below this, I also have trouble imagining the huge variance in culture we see between Blade Runner and Alien(s), even on-ship, and that for being THAT huge, there is no carryover of mega-corps. Though that's also much easier to explain as them being separate IPs later linked, so I guess that's a side issue.

on that screenshot: I suspect it's mostly homage.

On your last point: I'm a little fuzzy, but either Blade Runners only operate on Earth where the actual legislation against replicants exist, thus by going off-world they escape jurisdiction, or legislation exists everywhere but the colonies are much too far removed or much easier to hide in that, even if Blade Runners do follow them there, they have a much higher chance of surviving.


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## Xaios (Jun 10, 2014)

Explorer said:


> Yup, that Soldier.
> 
> David Peoples worked on the screenplays of both Blade Runner and Soldier, and said he considered Soldier to be a "sidequel" to Blade Runner. Soldier contains many references to PKD stories, as well as to the battles ("Tannhauser Gate" being among the battles fought by Todd 3465) mentioned in Blade Runner.



Hunh, I had no idea there was a connection there. The only thing that goes through my mind watching Soldier is "this is GLORIOUSLY corny!"


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## twizza (Jun 17, 2014)

I want more life, ....er


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## darren (Jun 17, 2014)

EVERYTHING about this film is perfect. The atmosphere, the casting, the script, the visual effects, the soundtrack&#8230; Definitely in my top 3 favourite movies of all time.


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## skeels (Jun 17, 2014)

I may have said this before but the Philip K. Dick book that Bladerunner is taken from is amazing. It's called Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I highly recommend it to any Bladerunner fan.

Also Rutger Hauer's death scene has to rank among the top cinematic deaths ever.


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## karjim (Jun 17, 2014)

Mobius and O'banon..best team US/France ever...Even more than Einstein/french maths
I hate when you talk about french SY Fy 70's...They were the best with some US and UK dudes...
Blade Runner is the 20 th century Sy Fy moovie...that s' it . Better than your english 21 odyssey Kubrick legend<.I'm sorrry


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jun 20, 2014)

Get your ass to Mars!


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## Mr. Big Noodles (Jun 20, 2014)

Explorer said:


> I don't think I can come up with an obvious connection, but I always hoped there would be a connection between the BR/Alien/Soldier stuff and the Paycheck/Total Recall/Minority report stuff.



I recently watched a TV miniseries that I got in a 4-pack, titled Total Recall 2070: Machine Dreams. (One of my hobbies is B movies.) It attempts to tie together the Bladerunner and Total Recall universes, but maaaan it's bad. I wish that a competent team with some money would do this.


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## Explorer (Jun 21, 2014)

Giraud/Moebius was absolutely amazing. You couldn't open an issue of Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal magazine without seeing him, and he did design work on so many films that I'm sure those who grew up after they were made aren't aware that the style was actually the work of one man. 

Oh, that's right, another connection! I remember seeing Moebius' designs on both Alien and Blade Runner (especially JF Sebastian's costume). Azrach, The Incal, the Hermetic Garage... such great work....

Given his influence, it's a shame that he's not better known. Quite a few elements and characters in Besson's The Fifth Element would fit right into his works.


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## flexkill (Jun 21, 2014)

Blade runner is not only the best Sci fi movie ever made, but nothing else is even close. Not even Star Wars....AND I LOVE Star Wars.

Blade Runner is the "God Father"(movie) of SciFi.


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## wankerness (Jun 21, 2014)

flexkill said:


> Blade runner is not only the best Sci fi movie ever made, but nothing else is even close. Not even Star Wars....AND I LOVE Star Wars.
> 
> Blade Runner is the "God Father"(movie) of SciFi.



Well, that's certainly reductionist. It's a great movie but "nothing else even comes close"? What about 2001? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Solaris? Stalker? Alien? Contact? Her? La Jetee? Silent Running? Invasion of the Body Snatchers '78? Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Ghost in the Shell? 12 Monkeys? Akira? There are tons of great sci-fi movies out there and while an argument can be made Blade Runner is the best it's not like the rest of sci-fi consists of things like Star Wars and Independence Day.


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## flexkill (Jun 21, 2014)

wankerness said:


> Well, that's certainly reductionist. It's a great movie but "nothing else even comes close"? What about 2001? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Solaris? Stalker? Alien? Contact? Her? La Jetee? Silent Running? Invasion of the Body Snatchers '78? Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Ghost in the Shell? 12 Monkeys? Akira? There are tons of great sci-fi movies out there and while an argument can be made Blade Runner is the best it's not like the rest of sci-fi consists of things like Star Wars and Independence Day.



Not even close.

12 Monkeys, Contact????  Not even on the list.

2001 is up there, but not close to Blade Runner.

And please don't compare SW to Independence day.


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## flint757 (Jun 21, 2014)

I hated everything about Contact. Movie was way overrated IMO.


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## asher (Jun 21, 2014)

Not enough Brazil.


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## flexkill (Jun 21, 2014)

asher said:


> Not enough Brazil.



Good movie too...but not close


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## flexkill (Jun 21, 2014)

flint757 said:


> I hated everything about Contact. Movie was way overrated IMO.



Why yes, I agree. That movie is a big pile of steaming shit.


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## wankerness (Jun 21, 2014)

flexkill said:


> Not even close.
> 
> 12 Monkeys, Contact????  Not even on the list.
> 
> ...



I'm not comparing them, I'm saying the two main kinds of sci-fi people think of tend to be spaceship stuff like star wars/star trek or alien invasion stuff like independence day or district 9 or whatever.


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## asher (Jun 21, 2014)

flexkill said:


> Good movie too...but not close


 
Agree to disagree I suppose.


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## Explorer (Jun 22, 2014)

wankerness said:


> Well, that's certainly reductionist. It's a great movie but "nothing else even comes close"? What about 2001? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Solaris? Stalker? Alien? Contact? Her? La Jetee? Silent Running? Invasion of the Body Snatchers '78? Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Ghost in the Shell? 12 Monkeys? Akira? There are tons of great sci-fi movies out there and while an argument can be made Blade Runner is the best it's not like the rest of sci-fi consists of things like Star Wars and Independence Day.



I own 12 of the movies you listed. 

I actually think of Silent Running as possibly being part of the BR universse, as well as the amazing Moon.

I've had the soundtracks of Moon and the Clooney Solaris in rotation for a month now.


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## wankerness (Jun 22, 2014)

Yeah, Moon's a great sci-fi movie too. I really like Source Code as well even though it's not as good. I look forward to more from that director (David Bowie's son!). 

I own a lot of sci-fi movies and not all of them are good!

The 10th Victim
12 Monkeys
2001
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
A.I.
Akira
Alien 1-4, Prometheus
Altered States
Avatar
Back to the Future 1-3
Battle Royale
The Black Hole
Blade Runner
Brazil
Children of Men
Chronicle
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind
Cloverfield
Contact
Dark City
The Day the Earth Stood Still 51
District 9
Dredd
Dune
Earth Girls are Easy
Escape from New York
ET
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Existenz
The Fly '86
Forbidden Planet
Galaxy Quest
Hellboy 1/2
The Host
Hunger Games
Inception
The Incredible Melting Man
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 56/78
Iron Man
La Jetee
Jurassic Park 1-3
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Logan's Run
Looper
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Mars Attacks
The Matrix 1-3
Minority Report
Moon
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
Night of the Creeps
The Omega Man
Pacific Rim
Paprika
Paul
Planet of the Apes 1-5, Rise of...
Repo Man
The Road Warrior
Robocop 1-3
Safety Not Guaranteed
Seconds
Serenity
Silent Running
Sleeper
Source Code
Soylent Green
Spaceballs
Starcrash
Starship Troopers
Star Trek 1-10, Into Darkness
Star Wars 1-6
Sunshine
Super 8
Superman 1/2
Terminator 1-4
They Live
The Thing 82/11
Total Recall
Videodrome
War of the Worlds 53/05
Watchmen
World's End
X-Men 1-3, First Class


And then a TON of silly stuff like every single Godzilla and Gamera movie, and old 50s-80s ones like Earth Vs the Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Tarantula, Them, It Came from Beneath the Sea, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Monolith Monsters, The Deadly Mantis, First Men in the Moon, The Giant Claw, At the Earth's Core, Land that Time Forgot, One Million Years BC, Invasion of the Bee Girls, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Planet of the Dinosaurs, Barbarella, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Morons from Outer Space, Alien from LA, Mac and Me, Flight of the Navigator, Weird Science, etc etc etc.

Blade Runner is definitely the single best Blu-Ray/DVD that I own, that has got to be about the most comprehensive set ever made as far as cuts/special features go and it's also incredible-looking/sounding.


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## Explorer (Jun 22, 2014)

One movie which surprises me by its absence from your list is "The Thirteenth Floor." I highly recommend you watch it without reading anything about it, not even the box.


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## wankerness (Jun 22, 2014)

Explorer said:


> One movie which surprises me by its absence from your list is "The Thirteenth Floor." I highly recommend you watch it without reading anything about it, not even the box.



Never even heard of it, I'll check it out. I see it has Vincent D'Onofrio, another pretty good movie I forgot to mention that I think I have a copy of somewhere is "The Cell," which I think qualifies as Sci-Fi cause of the whole central concept of the technology that allows them to go into his brain. 

Timecrimes is on my list to watch too.


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## flexkill (Jun 22, 2014)

Explorer said:


> One movie which surprises me by its absence from your list is "The Thirteenth Floor." I highly recommend you watch it without reading anything about it, not even the box.



Good movie.


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## Duosphere (Jun 22, 2014)

darren said:


> EVERYTHING about this film is perfect. The atmosphere, the casting, the script, the visual effects, the soundtrack&#8230; Definitely in my top 3 favourite movies of all time.



100% agreed.
I have to add that its atmosphere is the best thing cause it sets the perfect mood for what happens there, no remake would be able to do that cause it'd need the same crew and the same crew having the same "feeling" at that time which is impossible.If you're able to get into its atmosphere without paying attention to effects etc, you'll have a cool trip for sure 
Everything alive wants to stay alive no matter what cause life is the most precious thing even though human history was/is carved on blood baths in the name of Gods and/or money


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## Xaios (Jun 23, 2014)

wankerness said:


> another pretty good movie I forgot to mention that I think I have a copy of somewhere is "The Cell," which I think qualifies as Sci-Fi cause of the whole central concept of the technology that allows them to go into his brain.



I'm going to come right out and say that I subscribe to the Nostalgia Critic's interpretation of that movie, namely that it's a series of random imagery thrown in by the director for the sake of having as much random imagery as possible so that the director can hop around in your subconscious yelling "Ask me what it means! Ask me what it means!"

Also, Vince Vaughn's mouth is open ALL the damn time.


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## flint757 (Jun 23, 2014)

Yeah, when I first saw that movie I wasn't sure what to think about it, still don't really. Very bizarre movie to say the least.


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## Explorer (Jun 23, 2014)

I enjoyed The Fall quite a bit, from the director of The Cell.

Even though it's actually based on artists like Damien Hirst, I'd recommend checking out the Brothers Quay if you enjoy imagery like that in The Cell....

So weird that you all keep mentioning movies I own, like The Cell, Timecrimes and the about-to-be-mentioned-in-the-next-post Perfume: The Story of a Murderer....


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## Duosphere (Jun 23, 2014)

Xaios said:


> I'm going to come right out and say that I subscribe to the Nostalgia Critic's interpretation of that movie, namely that it's a series of random imagery thrown in by the director for the sake of having as much random imagery as possible so that the director can hop around in your subconscious yelling "Ask me what it means! Ask me what it means!"
> 
> Also, Vince Vaughn's mouth is open ALL the damn time.



Indeed.
I was really excited about that movie.....................what a crap.
I really love weird dark movies that make our minds free to go wherever they want but meaningless random imagery with only the intent of looking cool = crap.
Talking about weird and dark, I love this one and Rachel is my princess 

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) - IMDb


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## wankerness (Jun 23, 2014)

Xaios said:


> I'm going to come right out and say that I subscribe to the Nostalgia Critic's interpretation of that movie, *namely that it's a series of random imagery thrown in by the director for the sake of having as much random imagery as possible so that the director can hop around in your subconscious yelling "Ask me what it means! Ask me what it means!"*
> 
> Also, Vince Vaughn's mouth is open ALL the damn time.



I'm not really sure what you're referring to, that movie seemed very straightforward in the plot department. It's got a lot of weirdo imagery but it's not like eraserhead or something where it's total symbolism and scenes happen which don't clearly have something to do with a plot, it's more just crazy costume and set design. (Disclaimer: I haven't seen it in about 10 years so I might be a bit foggy on it - they need to release it on bluray already!!) The visuals are definitely the primary reason to watch it, though, and they are enough reason to watch it in my book. His next movie, "The Fall," is even more an example of this. It's got a plot (a bedridden injured guy telling a fantasy story to a little girl to bribe her to get him drugs), but it's more secondary to the glorious visuals than "The Cell." It's one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen and several shots in it are just dizzying to think about how he pulled them off (it didn't use any CGI). 

I am just fine with movies that place visuals at the forefront without a major emphasis on plot, ex Baraka, Koyaanisqatsi, Paprika, etc, the same way I'm fine with movies that place plot or character way over visuals. Different styles, different goals, different grading scale from me.  Film's primarily a visual medium and I don't see why spectacular photography/visuals should be considered inferior to spectacular writing or acting or whatever. If something's truly unique visually (ex Black Sabbath, Kwaidan, Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, etc) instead of some gaudy tasteless CGI disaster (See: Transformers movies, or the aforementioned director's third movie, "Immortals") I think strong visuals can more than make up for a weak/nearly non-existent plot.


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## flint757 (Jun 23, 2014)

While I don't like Transformers, Michael bay Edition, the CGI in it was still damn impressive, especially the transformation sequences. They were really well done. Those movies were terrible simply because of the acting, casting and the near zero plot present, but it was still a visually stunning movie franchise. The only reason to watch a Transformer movie is for the visuals which kind of goes with your point, not against it like you're making it out to be.


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## wankerness (Jun 23, 2014)

I couldn't deal with their visuals since the editing was so choppy and disorienting, the color schemes were so hideous and there wasn't anything particularly. I've only seen the first two. The new one with the dinosaurs looked pretty funny, though.


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## Duosphere (Jun 23, 2014)

flint757 said:


> While I don't like Transformers, Michael bay Edition, the CGI in it was still damn impressive, especially the transformation sequences. They were really well done. Those movies were terrible simply because of the acting, casting and the near zero plot present, but it was still a visually stunning movie franchise. The only reason to watch a Transformer movie is for the visuals which kind of goes with your point, not against it like you're making it out to be.





I really would like to like those movies but to me they're pretty dumb but like you said, to me their CGI is beyond belief, some scenes have so manydetails, I already said that to a lot of friends, I always watch them thinking how I'd love to watch their crew creating that stuff, applying light, shadow, texture, moviment etc, it'd be awesome!


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## ilyti (Jun 27, 2014)

The book Blade Runner was based on is a thousand times better, and that's saying something. It may have been a revolutionary movie, but they missed the mark of what PK Dick was trying to say. And that's the worst to me. It was hyped up so much, when I finally watched it I was disappointed beyond belief.

EDIT : Yep I'm late to the party.


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## asher (Jun 27, 2014)

ilyti said:


> The book Blade Runner was based on is a thousand times better, and that's saying something. It may have been a revolutionary movie, but they missed the mark of what PK Dick was trying to say. And that's the worst to me. It was hyped up so much, when I finally watched it I was disappointed beyond belief.
> 
> EDIT : Yep I'm late to the party.



IDK. He was notoriously distrustful of Hollywood, and yet:



> Although Dick died shortly before the film's release, he was pleased with the rewritten script, and with a twenty-minute special effects test reel that was screened for him when he was invited to the studio. Despite his well known skepticism of Hollywood in principle, Dick enthused to Ridley Scott that the world created for the film looked exactly as he had imagined it. He said, "I saw a segment of Douglas Trumbull's special effects for Blade Runner on the KNBC-TV news. I recognized it immediately. It was my own interior world. They caught it perfectly." He also approved of the film's script, saying, "After I finished reading the screenplay, I got the novel out and looked through it. The two reinforce each other, so that someone who started with the novel would enjoy the movie and someone who started with the movie would enjoy the novel."



I think it really is a case of them supporting each other, so I could easily see someone preferring one to the other.


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## ilyti (Jun 27, 2014)

*head asplode*

I really don't understand that quote at all. Is it just propaganda to say "you WILL LIKE THIS no matter if you see it first or read my book first"?? If so, it's totally not true. :S


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## asher (Jun 27, 2014)

ilyti said:


> *head asplode*
> 
> I really don't understand that quote at all. Is it just propaganda to say "you WILL LIKE THIS no matter if you see it first or read my book first"?? If so, it's totally not true. :S



I think that one reinforces the themes of the other without (necessarily, YMMV) overwriting the other, and that they generally go in varied but complementary directions.


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## Explorer (Jun 28, 2014)

PKD liked what they were doing. 

Is the mind-blowing part that you feel him liking it was selling out? 

They're two different works which share aspects. In fact, the final cut of the movie gets further into Dick's eventual direction regarding what might be true, and what makes someone/something human, than the original DADOES story. If that's not a question you're interested in, then I suggest avoiding his works like Valis, which question reality as we think it exists in a major way. 

Yes, they abandoned Mercerism, exposition on the animals dying, got rid of the wife and wanting to buy a sheep for the roof, and so on. I'm a little surprised that you would expect all those elements, or elements of any novel, to make it into a script. Short stories are easier to adapt to the screen, due to time constraints. 

I'm not going to argue that one is better than the other, but the movie is definitely more popular and accessible than the book.


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