Blade Runner



Conyers falchion said:
Blade Runner is of course brilliant, but lots of science-fiction predictions were miles off present day reality. We’ve a feeble human presence in outer space, haven’t had a manned mission to Mars, no ray guns, no personal robots, no hoverboards, no flying cars, no space elevators or transatlantic tunnels and not many monorails.

I think that what none of the great sci-fi writers like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick foresaw was the rise of the internet, and that much effort and brain-power has gone into that, because it makes lots of money. But the way the internet has gone, with the relentless nastiness and stupidity of social media, has been depressing. Also none of the authors above predicted the resurgence of fundamentalist religious conflict. They were too intelligent and humane for that.
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Mostly they weren't trying to predict the future with a great degree of accuracy
 
Conyers falchion said:
Blade Runner is of course brilliant, but lots of science-fiction predictions were miles off present day reality. We’ve a feeble human presence in outer space, haven’t had a manned mission to Mars, no ray guns, no personal robots, no hoverboards, no flying cars, no space elevators or transatlantic tunnels and not many monorails.

I think that what none of the great sci-fi writers like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick foresaw was the rise of the internet, and that much effort and brain-power has gone into that, because it makes lots of money. But the way the internet has gone, with the relentless nastiness and stupidity of social media, has been depressing. Also none of the authors above predicted the resurgence of fundamentalist religious conflict. They were too intelligent and humane for that.
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I don't think that PK Dick was ever aiming to accurately forsee the future, rather he was using sci-fi to explore his own philosophical & existential quandaries.
As regards to Clarke, it's funny, I read Childhood's End a couple of years ago and the thing I struggled most to believe in the plot was the immediate extinction of religious and socio-economic distinctions once the aliens land. A book like that written now would probably take the opposite line.
 
cauldbairn said:
I don't think that PK Dick was ever aiming to accurately forsee the future, rather he was using sci-fi to explore his own philosophical & existential quandaries.
As regards to Clarke, it's funny, I read Childhood's End a couple of years ago and the thing I struggled most to believe in the plot was the immediate extinction of religious and socio-economic distinctions once the aliens land. A book like that written now would probably take the opposite line.
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Point taken about PKD, I’ve always found his writing to be much less linear and more introspective than the others I mentioned. I would also say that Asimov’s and Clarke’s characterisation was pretty weak, but all of them have given me loads of pleasure and food for thought in different ways for many years. Asimov also wrote loads of essays on science, physics and astronomy in particular, and they are masterly.
 
cauldbairn said:
I don't think that PK Dick was ever aiming to accurately forsee the future, rather he was using sci-fi to explore his own philosophical & existential quandaries.
As regards to Clarke, it's funny, I read Childhood's End a couple of years ago and the thing I struggled most to believe in the plot was the immediate extinction of religious and socio-economic distinctions once the aliens land. A book like that written now would probably take the opposite line.
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Agreed. It's philosophical in nature from first to last as it raises so many long standing themes and "problems of philosophy", one of my favourite films.
 
The Exile said:
They didn't set it far enough ahead is what went wrong. Although we're not far from it. Maybe 2050.

The documentary on making it is better than the film itself.
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The documentary is masterful in its own right. I didn't truly appreciate the film until I'd watched that.

Fred Basset said:
Bladerunner is amazing, mate. Love it as science fiction. Love it as film noir.

Have tried, with all my might I may add, to watch the latest one but I don't like it. I want to like it, I want to love watching this film. I started off watching it convincing myself 'this is great, it's really good.' Then a voice kicked in saying you could count the blades of grass on your lawn. I need to try watching it one more time, mate.
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The new one is gash. Leto's character sums it up, totally cliché and pointless.
 
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Somehow missed this until just a few weeks ago . Picked up a remastered 4k version.

For its age, the visuals are stunning It must have been breathtaking at the time

Got the sequel ready to watch too
 
Fred Basset said:
Bladerunner is amazing, mate. Love it as science fiction. Love it as film noir.

Have tried, with all my might I may add, to watch the latest one but I don't like it. I want to like it, I want to love watching this film. I started off watching it convincing myself 'this is great, it's really good.' Then a voice kicked in saying you could count the blades of grass on your lawn. I need to try watching it one more time, mate.
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Sometimes you're not in the right mindset to truly appreciate a film.
I adored the original and obsessed about the sequel when I found out who was behind it - Villeneuve, Deakins, Fancher.
Upon first viewing I thought it self-indulgent, overly-long and gave it 7/10.
Just two weeks ago I decided to give it another go. What do you know - 10/10.
I've watched it twice more since. I may even like it more than the original now.
 
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