blade runner | the m0vie blog

Todd Philips & “Unrated” Editions: Directors Above All?

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Darren

Todd Phillips, the director of Due Date and The Hangover, has come out blasting Warner Brothers for releasing extended “unrated” cuts of his movie without his input or consent. He makes a strong case, and threatens to take it to the DGA:

Warner Bros., they’ll make your movie; your movie does well, and they want to create an unrated version, which is entirely against DGA rules because it’s not your cut. And they can’t call it the ‘Director’s Cut’ — they’ll call it ‘Unrated’ or some ridiculous term. Really all it is, is about seven minutes of footage that you cut out of the movie for a reason.

I’ve stuck for directors’ visions in the past – I mourned the passing of Del Toro’s Mountains of Madness or hoped that someday Frank Darabont’s Fahrenheit 451 might (against all odds) make to screen. Studio interference on films like Brazil, for instance, is almost unforgivable – and I was delighted to see justice was eventually done to Blade Runner. However, I can’t find myself entirely agreeing with what Phillips says here.

Let me tell you a spiel...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blade runner, DGA, director's guild of america, directors, directors cut, DVD, extended cut, extended edition, films, Hangover, Motion Picture Association of America film rating system, Movies, Richard Lester, Todd Phillips, unrated edition, variety, Warner Bros | 2 Comments »

Only Ourselves to Blame: The Sad Truth about the Mountains of Madness…

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Darren

The internet seems to be in mourning. There’s none of the angry fist-waving fury that we saw over the announcement of the planned sequels and prequels to Blade Runner, just a solemn sense of reflection. After it seemed that good news was on the way, word came down the wire that Guillermo Del Toro’s planned adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s Mountains of Madness would not be happening. Apparently Universal Studios have decided that instead of spending $150m on a genuinely respected classic horror story, they’d rather blow $175m on another shot at Doom. The two decisions probably aren’t directly related (in that I doubt it was an “either or” situation), but it’s fairly damning. However, I honestly don’t think we should blame the studio for any of this. And, that, my friends, is the sad madness-inspiring truth of it all: we have only ourselves to blame.

Del Toro's dream project met an icy reception...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: At the Mountains of Madness, blade runner, danny mcbride, edgar wright, films, forgetting sarah marshall, guillermo del toro, H. P. Lovecraft, Mountain of Madness, Movies, United States, universal studios | 8 Comments »

Can a Sequel Spoil the Original Film More Than a Remake?

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Darren

So, the rights to Blade Runner have been sold. However, us on-line film nerds are being told to breathe easy, because the rights that were sold explicitly do not include the option to remake or “reimagine” or “reboot” the classic Ridley Scott film. However, is that really that much of a comfort? Surely a terrible sequel can tarnish an original film just as much as a terrible remake?

Concept art from Blade Runner by Syd Mead

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Alcon Entertainment, batman, blade runner, christian bale, Darth Vader, gus van sant, ridley scott, starsky & hutch | 5 Comments »

Non-Review Review: The Adjustment Bureau

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Darren

This film was seen as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.

One of the joys of a film festival like the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival is that you get to see films that take you by surprise. Sometimes they are small foreign dramas which will never get a major release here, and thus haven’t been discussed to death on-line or in-print, but occasionally it’s a movie premiere of a big upcoming release which will impress. The Adjustment Bureau is hitting screens around the world next Friday, but film fanatics in Dublin were treated to a sneak peek (the movie’s second public screening and the first in Europe). As a movie that I honestly wasn’t expecting too much of, based on the trailers in front of every major release since last August that seemingly couldn’t decide on the genre of the film, what did I make of it?

A bathroom break...

I loved it.

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Adjustment Bureau, blade runner, David Norris, dublin, Emily Blunt, films, George Nolfi, jameson dublin international film festival, matt damon, Movies, non-review review, Philip K. Dick, premieres, review, Terence Stamp, total recall | 17 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Blade Runner

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Darren

We’re currently blogging as part of the “For the Love of Film Noir” blogathon (hosted by Ferdy on Films and The Self-Styled Siren) to raise money to help restore the 1950’s film noir The Sound of Fury (aka Try and Get Me). It’s a good cause which’ll help preserve our rich cinematic heritage for the ages, and you can donate by clicking here. Over the course of the event, running from 14th through 21st February, I’m taking a look at the more modern films that have been inspired or shaped by noir. Today’s theme is “cyber noir” – the unlikely combination of sci-fi and film noir to make an oh-so-tasty film.

Blade Runner is arguably more of a film noir than a science-fiction film. Sure, it features robots and flying cars, but the atmosphere is set by a constant downpour in the streets, while characters wandering around in trenchcoats and questions of identity and moral ambiguity hang heavily in the air. Though the funky Vangelis soundtrack may lead you to believe otherwise, Blade Runner is perhaps one of the most faithful films in the neo-noir film movement. The flying cars are just on top of that.

Facing the facts...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: blade runner, California, Counties, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Film noir, films, For the Love of Film Noir, For the Love of Film Noir blogathon, For the Love of Film Noir: The Film Preservation Blogathon, hollywood, LA Noire, los angeles, Movies, non-review review, review, rick dekkard, ridley scott, roy batty, science fiction, United States, Vangelis | 17 Comments »

Too Much of a Good Thing: Why Inception Might Be Best Left as One of a Kind…

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Darren

Apparently Warner Brothers want a sequel to Inception. That’s a long way from the earlier rumour that Inception was a “gift” to Nolan, almost a sort of bribe in order to keep him on board for Batman 3 (or, as it shall henceforth be known, The Dark Knight Rises), and one that the studio was never really 100% certain about. While I’m delighted the movie turned out to be successful enough to warrant a sequel, I can’t help but hope that it is never produced or released.

This announcement knocked me for a loop...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: batman begins, blade runner, Christopher Nolan, dark knight, Inception, inception sequel, Matrix, sequels, terry gilliam, Warner Bros | 4 Comments »

Is a Film Ever “Done” These Days?

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Darren

I was reading last week about how George Lucas is planning yet another re-release of Star Wars in 2012. This time in glorious 3D. Glorious post-conversion 3D. Yes, that was sarcasm. It’s interesting that Lucas continues to push for editing and updating the saga, especially considering his earlier position on updating existing films (in this case arguing against converting black & white films to colour):

“I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that the films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them,” he said. He furthermore remarked: “In the future it will become easier for old negatives to become lost and be ‘replaced’ by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.”

And yet, he has repeatedly demonstrated over the past decade or so that he is devoted to rewriting his version of Star Wars, arguing that it is simply never complete – he’s moving it closer to complete with every update. In this era of directors’ cuts and special extended editions, is becoming commonplace to accept that the theatrical release of a film isn’t the “finished” or “completed” version.

The infamous "everyone rocks out" deleted scene...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: blade runner, directors cut, DVD, extended editions, film, george lucas, Kingdom of Heaven, Movie, revisionism, ridley scott, science fiction, special editions, star wars, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, THX 1138 | 1 Comment »

Non-Review Review: Tron

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Darren

Tron is a cult classic, and one which truly earns its strips. Unlike, say, Blade Runner, which is frequently identified as a “cult classic”, I don’t think it’s possible to make a strong argument that Tron is simply a masterpiece which underperformed upon its release. As much as modern movies are seriously indebted to Tron and the way it redefined what computers could offer a movie-making experience, it’s still a deeply flawed movie which will only really appeal to a very select bunch of filmgoers. Thankfully, I discovered, I am one of them.

Seeing red (and other primary colours)...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: animation, arts, blade runner, cgi, film, flynn, jeff bridges, Movie, non-review review, review, sarn, tr0n, tron, tron: legacy, Video game | 6 Comments »

Wet Blogathon: I Wish It Would Rain Down…

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Darren

This is part of the rather wonderful “Wet Blogathon” put together by Andrew over at Encore’s World of Film and Television, asking bloggers to pick their favourite scenes in the rain. It’s a great little idead and I was delighted to be invited to take part.

Though your hurt is gone, mine’s hanging on, inside
And I know, it’s eating me through every night and day
I’m just waiting on your sign –

‘Cos I know, I know, I never meant to cause you no pain
And I realize I let you down
But I know in my heart of hearts
I know I’m never gonna hold you again

Now I… Now I know, I wish it would rain down, down on me
Ohh I wish it would rain, rain down on me now
Ohh I wish it would rain down, down on me
Yes I wish it would rain down, rain down over me.

– Phil Collins, I Wish It Would Rain Down

Yes, I was quite fond of that in my young almost-emo teen-in-love days – you know the kind, when one little attraction meant the entire world. I’ve kinda gotten over it. Still, there is something inherently powerful about the imagery of rain – water pouring down from the skies. It can represent – as it does in that infamous scene from The Shawshank Redemption – a divine shower, washing the character clean of their sins, evoking imagery of baptism and rebirth. Or it can be heavenly tears – as in Se7en, for example – reflecting the tragedy of a broken world where all you can do is cry. The always wonderful Andrew over at Encore’s World of Film and Television invited me to contribute to a blogathon he’s hosting celebrating the most powerful rain imagery in film – and there’s quite a bit to choose from. There are a rake of moody and gothic applications of rain – a wide variety and more than a few outside choices to be made. However, I am going to betray my inherent sappiness by picking Chasing Amy, which offered an inherently straight-forward and almost cliché application of the heavy rain as a metaphor for turbulant emotion, but did it with such heart that even cynical old me could not resist.

The raining champion...

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Filed under: Movies | Tagged: baptism, blade runner, chasing amy, cinema, cinema paradiso, encore, encore's world of film and television, getting wet, love, Movies, rain, rebirth, redemption, romance, spider man, tears in the rain, unforgiven, upside down kiss, water | 19 Comments »

Waiting for Super Special Editions…

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Darren

I own DVDs. I own a lot of DVDs. However, I don’t have all the movies that I would like to have. Which seems odd, because I also own a lot of forgettable nonsense that was on special offer in some bargain basement somewhere – Kurt Russell’s Soldier, for example. So, how come I don’t own all those classic films I would love to get my grubby little hands all over? One reason: I know that there’s going to be a super-extra classy hyper deluxe edition coming at some point down the line. Am I the only person who does this?