Trakt for iOS
Works on iPhone and iPad.
Looks amazing. The dialogue delivery is mellow and together with the atmosphere it puts you in a slight a trance, which can make you miss things. I think this is why some get bored.
I dont don't see why people can't see a messsage in the movie. The replicants are basically a class of slaves, and the escaped ones wants to stop more being made to cease an existance they see as empty and cruel. Is it cruel to give human feelings to a replicant? They're just a company robot after all. The human design has consequences, but who cares? It's the basic morality twist of who is right and who is wrong. Then how does the blade runner character fit into all of this. I watched the final cut. I liked the ending. You're even left like the characters at the end questioning what's important in life.
So it's a commentary on technology and human society. In the end you can draw simularities on human exploitation and class systems, especially concerning corporations and business which is probably why big billboards appear throughout the movie. In the end its a sad movie. It's a slow movie but luckily its very escapist in atmosphere when viewing. If you come into this movie expecting a robot action movie you'll be disappointed.
So, this is it - THE UNDISPUTED SCI-FI CLASSIC!
Well, that's really up to what you as the viewer prefer. Do you like scares and a creepy atmosphere? Go for Alien or Predator. Do you like high flying action and exhilarating chases? Then maybe Star Wars is better suited for you. Blade Runner is not a horror movie, nor is it particularly exciting (even if action was the genre Harrison Ford mostly worked in during the 80s). This is a creepy, dark and gritty science fiction tale set in a post-apocalyptic world not farm from Tim Burton's Gotham City. It has a slow, dreamy tone and its script focuses on long moments of contemplative silence. The incredible visual style still holds up today, and it's made even more iconic by Vangelis' electronic score.
The movie has real depth but the story isn't hard to follow. It's more of an manifest really, a bit like another great slow sci-fi, Arrival. And because this i not a thriller or an action movie, it requires a specific mindset to really be enjoyed. And even if you haven't got that mindset you can't but marvel at Ford's minimalist, flat but utterly brilliant performance. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Ford's greatest performance yet.
But its not a flawless movie, mind you. The story never really sets of properly and we barely even see the replicants Ford is chasing. A shame really, cause Rutger Hauer's replicant baddie is probably one of the greatest in all of cinema history. His acting can be compared with Arnie's, only creepier. Some of the quieter moments feel out of place in the story and barely bring anything else than more length to the story. The second act of the movie is the slowest, and weakest. After a promising start, impressively setting up the world and the story, the movie almost totally freezes before entering the memorably surreal third act.
All of the above being said, Blade Runner is a remarkably memorable and original piece of cinema. It's gritty, violent and disturbing. It's surreal, slow and contemplative. Its few actions scenes are stylish, its performances are top notch. It's a type of moving art that they just don't make anymore.
This movie, as I was expecting from director Wes Anderson, is visually stunning. The artistic choices worked really great for me. The stop-motion is absolutely flawless, one of the best I've ever seen. The dedication to such a labor-intensive craft, that will look like CGI to many people, is admirable. Huge props to the animators!
The story, on the other hand, didn't excite me as I had hoped. While the premise was very interesting, I felt that the story could have take a better direction, narratively speaking. Some side plots felt useless and should have been skipped, while others could've been expanded a little bit more. The other dogs in the pack could have used some more lines, especially considering the A class actors that voiced them.
I really liked the idea of making the dogs speak English while the humans spoke undubbed Japanese. It really forced the viewer to sympathize more with the dogs, making the human world distant and cold (specially for people, like me, who are not adept to japanese culture).
I definitely did not like the deus ex machina at the end. The situation should have been resolved more elegantly.
In the end, it's a movie that could have been perfect, but the unremarkable(to me) development of the story keeps from being a truly masterpiece. Thankfully, Anderson's stylistic choices were spot on, appealing and just quirky enough. The jokes all work really well ( the recurring "rumor" gag was really funny ). The film flow quite well, with just the right runtime.
8/10
P.S.: go watch the "making of" of the sushi scene. Truly a gargantuan work for one of the best looking food scene in animation history.
The Good:
The Bad:
Verdict: It is a promising star for Marvel's cosmic heroine.
All the best movies are the ones about me.
Because even though I was roughly the same age as the lad in the film during the mid 90s, I was not the by-product of a single parent household, I was not bullied by an older sibling, I did not experiment with the darkness in the ways this boy did . I was just a child questioning his sexuality from the comfort of his upper-middle class upbringing.
My point is that I and the boy in this film had absolutely nothing in common except everything. Because watching this film I remembered trying too hard to be liked, struggling to exist beyond my parents' expectations and trying to carve out my own identity from a block of insecurities. So, this film was about me in the same way it's about every adolescent who outgrew his sheltered home life.
Jonah Hill does a remarkable job directing (aided immensely by a solid cast, excellent locations, and a soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross that, like the rest of the film, reeks of the 90s without stinking of it), and his subtle story telling takes what was a good film and makes it a great one.
Oh Pupa, such a weird little thing. I doubt there was a show that pissed off more people this season (following into Aku no Hana's footsteps)! The key factor to the problem is the episode runtime - just four minutes (with about two of those being taken up by the OP and ED). With this little time Studio DEEN deceided it would be a good idea to adapt a vore-themed story about a brother and a sister that was originally told in a three volume manga. Helmed by a not unexpirienced director (Tomomi Mochizuki) it leaves many questions about their true intentions. The art is not pretty, the episodes rather disconnected, the voice acting not very good and even the SFX sound rather low quality. Then there is also it's content; with cannibalism being a core theme airing them anyways but censoring the shit out of them with shadow/light-overlays... what is the point? They should have released these as OVAs but with a longer runtime or something like that. Nothing is resolved and the last episode is a flashback to when they were little kids and being all cute... It was never a good story anyways but certainly more coherent than this. Maybe they just wanted to take the piss out of some of the more energic fans obssession over little sisters or something (which 1x06 Encroach seems to hint at). If you want to watch it I'd suggest waiting for an uncensored release, it only takes you half an hour anyways.
For those looking for anything deep behind sibling relationships I'd suggest to take a look at this behind the scenes to see that Sayaka Mogi didn't have much in mind when thinking this thing up: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/tv/imagine/flv20140213_archive.html
