Blade Runner I

[Docfeelgood]

The real point here is perhaps not which is the better film out of Blade Runner and Total Recall, but the fact that Philip K Dick, whose writings were behind both, was a ****ing genius.



Read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, by PK Dick. The ultimate in onion-layers of unreality being peeled away.

" Who goes there? "

[Al B. Sure!]

Interestingly enough both Total Recall and The Sixth Day were mentioned in the book Sci-Phi (aka Philosopher at the End of the Universe) because they brought up the philosophical question "is it our memories that make us who we are?". Minority Report was in there too as an example of the Free Will or Determinism paradox. Blade Runner was included as to what is the meaning of death.

See, Total Recall was deep as ****

[BlackCat]

See, Total Recall was deep as ****

Al, you are an idiot One thing is that the idea behind a film is pure genious, another is if the adaption is it.

[Dinner]

They played it on the Sci-Fi Channel last night.

[dannubis]

See, Total Recall was deep as ****

Total recall was about body count and a stupid story twist at the end of the story. At least in the sixth sense this was done properly.

[MattBowron]

The real point here is perhaps not which is the better film out of Blade Runner and Total Recall, but the fact that Philip K Dick, whose writings were behind both, was a ****ing genius.



Read The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, by PK Dick. The ultimate in onion-layers of unreality being peeled away.

Total Recall was based off a Phillip K Dick Story "We can remember it for you wholesale". Blade Runner of course based off Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" (which I'm sure you're aware of, but others may not be). Dick was constantly questioning truth, reality, what makes us human. Is it our memories for instance that makes us who we are. Blade Runner addresses this in a way with the photographs, or false memories. The idea of was Deckard's unicorn dream manufactured brings about the whole question as to whether he was human or not. We can remember it for you wholesale was all about manufactured memories. How can we tell truth from falseness or artificiality. This is brought up in many other of Dick's books, like Ubik, Time out of Joint, The Man in the High Tower, A Scanner Darkly, VALIS. The ideas of machines becoming more human, and humans becoming more like machines. In the original Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and in We Can Build You, which I think is actually DADOES's prequel, people can program or dial in emotions they want to feel, pre-programming them as if they were robots. It's this that was the precursors to the Cyberpunk movement, which influenced William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Neal Stephenson. Sorry for the rant, but I thought this was an important point to make.

[Cort Haus]

Have you read his early, pre-SciFi stuff, Matt?

I can't remember the title, but the one about the bloke and his typrewriter company was an amazing little read. So simple, understated and on-the-surface dull a story, but yet it had a calm beauty to it. An amazing writer.

[rah]

I'm a fan of his writings. BR was on over the weekend in HD, so I watched it again. A good movie but still way way overrated.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

The problem with Dick is that there came a point where his stories stopped being fiction and started being a cry for help. "A scanner darkly" is sanity in its death throes.

[MattBowron]

Phillip K Dick documentary on Youtube if anyone's interested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afam25BJMeU

[EPW]

The Theatrical release had flaws, the final version is perfect. (almost)

[Dinner]

Alright... Who are the twelve *****es who didn't answer that it was art. I have an Italian mobster with a baseball bat who would like to meet them.

[Elok]

Yo. It just didn't do anything for me, really. Maybe because I saw it only a couple of years ago and half the movie I kept thinking, "Why the hell did anyone ever think shoulder pads looked good on women? That poor girl looks like a deformed linebacker." I'll refrain from going into detail about what I disliked about BR, though, to avoid the usual "omg Elok is a terrible stupid philistine with no taste in movies/music/art." It was bad enough with Citizen Kane and Layla. Also Wall-E and Avatar, but those were just because I hate preachiness with a burning passion.

Also, dude, it's an open poll.

[rah]

I also voted meh. I liked the movie but don't think it deserved quite the reverence that many seem to assign it.

[-Jrabbit]

I saw Blade Runner on a double-bill with Road Warrior (Mad Max 2) and loved them both. It wasn't until I saw BR again, years later, that I realized how violent it is. Apparently Road Warrior desensitized me to it. Still, that was a great day at the movies.