The long overdue _Blade Runner_ thread

pretty sure this hasn't been posted

I assume because no one's interested in poorly written plot summaries

latebloomer OTM. if your plot hole is a nonfunctional furnace in the back corner of the basement of a dilapidated structure that, 20 years later, has not been repaired and put into use, this thing is airtight.

i found that essay compelling as a piece of writing but completely obtuse... like yes, this is the point of Blade Runner, and if your people are telling you the point is how many different versions there are you're talking to the wrong people.

if you're writing for tor.com as a science fiction or fantasy writer, and friends have told you about blade runner, then yeah... you're going to get a hodgepodge of basic plot, nerdery over changes and revision, and gossip about the "controversial" plot bits and not the key issues

ideally there'd be some deeper analysis but over the years the plot dissolves in aesthetics and behavior and the meta details, which is arguably a problem with new additions to old series and remakes -- they're more about the cultural observation of the original, and not the plot

it's like reading 1984 and realizing that it's not all about big brother and dystopia, but at its heart it's about a man who is killing himself with fake gin and somehow pulls himself out of the greyness to make a choice

otm

ok nerds, wait for your next turgid fetish object

tbh my main takeaway from that tor.com thinkpiece is that you should not try to summarize the plot of blade runner after seeing it only once

whole lot of hostility to a first reaction piece

i missed the ridiculous bellows on the nu-voight kampff

ok nerds, wait for your next turgid fetish object

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, October 11, 2017 2:48 PM (eighteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

blade runner 2049 in theaters now

i don’t think the tor.com piece is off the mark or even wrong and i think it’s good to reframe it in those terms

it’s a useful perspective!

yes. i thought the piece was excellent fwiw, yes it's extremely basic but that's its point

2049 fairly blatantly frames it in those terms and it really cheapens it. (weirdly when TNG does it, it's fine)

I think this movie is designed

Shitty day intervened so I was unable to see if I would be the only one in the theatre. Do androids dream of Schrodinger's cat?

Ha I was in the middle of type that when I got a call and I guess it posted?

I meant to say: I think this movie is destined to be one that people remember when they talk about this era.

I think this movie is designed

In 2000, Harrison Ford gave his view on the director's cut of the film, where he said that although he thought it was "spectacular", it didn’t "move him at all". He gave a brief reason: "They haven't put anything in, so it's still an exercise in design."

he hates everything tho

well in terms of this and Han Solo, he has a point

I heard he would continually forget Ryan goslings name in press junkets

he’s also old and a well-known bullshitter who does a shtick

8pm showing on a Wednesday (which is 2-4-1 if you’ve got the right insurance/phone etc) at the biggest cinema in town was about half full.

Initial thoughts:

I enjoyed this from a first viewing more than any single complete viewing of the first film.

The plot, emotionally, felt totally satisfactory to me; the 'holes' outlined above are not even remotely issues (multi-zillionaire businessman destroying his own expensive product prototype when it fails his brief, vs underpaid service class 'Joe' not being able to afford a real one? I bet Steve Jobs used to wipe his arse with failed prototype iPhones.)

It looks amazing, obviously; contained all the shots and vistas that could make it feel like Blade Runner, and added a huge amount of new stuff to flesh it out.

I am not a massive fan of the first film; I love the idea of it and the aesthetic, but have never found any of the versions to be satisfactory. I've rewatched the final cut on bluray twice in the last couple of weeks and still stand by this. As such I think this is a more satisfying film experience. Is it a 'better' film? God, I wouldn't want to begin to try and argue that.

Didn't check the time once, and I was watching it alone, slightly ill, with no popcorn or posh ice cream to distract me. Pacing felt absolutely fine.

So much better a resurrection than Prometheus. I've avoided Alien: Covenant.

Is it woke enough in 2017? Again, I wouldn't try and begin to argue either way. It's not depicting the world we live in, though, obviously.

Callbacks to the previous film worked better than other recent things I've seen.

Not perfect, but really damn good. Better than I expected or hoped it would be years ago when it was announced. Probably as good as I hoped when I watched Sicario and realised who Villeneuve was.

No thoughts beyond initial from you again, thanks.

Cheers for that then.

quit being a prick, julio -- it's not as if you routinely organise your thoughts clearly or well when you write them down

lol i just remembered when a young sick mouthy accused the entire borad of being "insufferable cunts" for not taking the strict sokalist line

hahahaha

We're all a LOT older now.

Speak for yourself I am forever young and prickly

Sorry will just keep to 'you are wrong, sir' in future

yeah perhaps avoid trolling people like some forever 16-year-old brother

That wasn't trolling, was merely disagreeing with a post that was v, v wrong. Thanks for your concern.

new board desc

it was trolling -- you in yr pointless lol 4chan mode let's-destroy-other-ppl's-discussion-bcz-i'm-bored-at-work mode

People disagree on here all the time in various ways, the thread isn't locked, the thing is usually ignored and goes on.

I can see that my implied please stop posting on this is fucked but it was more of a way of expressing erm violent disagreement...but someone was going to come along and agree with it, the thread would have moved on.

So what is the actual problem?

Do you really 'violently' disagree? Or do we just have different opinions about a movie? Cos it doens't matter. It's a movie! Let's talk about it, not be horrible to each other.

is this a movie to get heated about?

digging back through the thread for points we (ok, I) hit:

fwiw Leto's androgynous look kind of makes him perfect to play an android.

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, August 19, 2016 9:31 AM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what makes him androgynous

is it the pretty eyes

― mh, Friday, August 19, 2016 9:34 AM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the first thing he did was cover up his actual eyes to get "in character" oh boy

also, I wrote this movie

Or they're hunting Deckard because he's the key to replicant longevity

or, completely unbelievable, there's a replicant child out there

― mh, Thursday, July 20, 2017 9:18 AM (two months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Violently is v much in scare quotes. It was just my way of expressing disagreement. I wasn't thinking anything else like destroying discussion. Xps

question : is this a film for a 14 year old who has not seen the original, or, is it too boring for a thrills-n-spills overloaded teen and for the dad only ?

there's a lot of nudity if that's a matter

Harrison Ford's crinkly old scrotum in 3d might be a bit much for some.

ah.
would not bother me him seeing such stuff (3d scrotum aside), but he would get his uncomfortable teenager face on.
like when he gets a naughty joke in family guy and tries to hide the fact that he gets it.

most of the nudity pertains to nubile holographic robogirlfriends

I don't think the nudity would be problematic; it's sexualised but not in any way sexy - like a last-gasp effort of capitalism to sell something when everything else has failed, so let's use a 100ft tall nude neon hologram girl.

You don't need to have seen the first. It is slow, but it's very cool to look at, and the action bits, when they happen, have more impact because of this. I winced in a way I never have with an Avengers movie.

its the slowness of it that i suspect will not appeal.

the couple of scenes where women get casually and graphically murdered for no reason I'm not sure I'd want a young teen watching