They really never show the head? Since I saw it in the theater, I think I've only seen it on TNT, where I figured they had edited it out. Huh.

So I can see why Blade Runner is such a seminal sci-fi flick, at least in terms of design. Cause basically every sci-fi movie after 1982 looks like 2019 L.A., huh? The Fifth Element came most strongly to mind. As for the story itself, I felt rather McGuffined. I lost track of why anything was going on. And I thought the Is He or Isn't He issue would be a bigger deal, but it's never even addressed overtly. It's one of those movies that makes the audience do all the work in making the concept profound. I don't need answers, but can't you at least ask the questions? Perhaps I'm just not used to subtlety anymore. I did like it, mind you. Just wasn't what I expected.

In any case, I can appreciate White Zombie's "More Human Than Human" more now:

i am the nexus one
i want more life fucker i ain't done yeah

Then came Brazil. Which was fucking weird. And not just the dream sequences. It's a very different paranoid thriller. Here, too, I frequently lost track of what the hell was going on. It's weird how we're so critical of Hollywood blockbusters when they don't make sense but movies like this get a free pass. But I loved the look of everything (and the mini-Odessa steps sequence), and I thought the movie was going to end at like seven different places. I think it ends up being a lot richer and more meaningful than Blade Runner. I'm still mulling over what it all means. Especially cause all the terrorism and paperwork is far too relevant today.

So, good picks, Sean. Was your other one Princess Bride ? Cause I love that one without question.

I don't need answers, but can't you at least ask the questions?

"I've.... seen things.... you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near Tannhauser gate.

"All those.... moments.... will be lost in time.... Like tears in rain.

"Time.... to die."

Here, too, I frequently lost track of what the hell was going on.

Brazil requires repeat viewings, I think. I had a hard time following it the first time I saw it. I think I still get new things out of repeat viewings.

So, good picks, Sean. Was your other one Princess Bride ? Cause I love that one without question.

Princess Bride is up there. I forget what my list was at the time. I'd have to check the last thread.

The obligitory Blade Runner question: Which version did you watch? The original theatrical release, or the director's cut?

"I've.... seen things.... you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near Tannhauser gate.

"All those.... moments.... will be lost in time.... Like tears in rain.

"Time.... to die."

I'm totally missing the profundity of these lines. To me, the most interesting idea was what kind of identity you could claim if all your memories were implanted, and it only skimmed the surface of that. Does it make you less of a person? Does everything you've done since inception count enough to make you real?

(Though "Wake up. Time to die." is a sweet line.)

The obligitory Blade Runner question: Which version did you watch? The original theatrical release, or the director's cut?

Director's cut. That's all that's available on DVD, isn't it?

Director's cut.

No voice over, right?

I actually think it's better with the voice over.

Does it make you less of a person? Does everything you've done since inception count enough to make you real?

See, that's what Roy's little soliloquy says to me. It's kind of summing up those very questions.

I also rather prefer the notion that Deckard was human, as that means that Roy's last act was to save a human life, to see if that would finally make him real. It also sets up the essential existential exploration of the film - that Roy's artificial humanity is more alive than Deckard's rote existance.

ita, I was referring to proffering a hoax. Peter Jackson duped all of NZ with a brilliant documentary about Colin McKenzie, NZ's native son and the first film maker. McKenzie shot scenes of the first air flight--by Kiwi's long before the Wright brothers were even out of short pants. He made a classic, epic film called Salome that was nearly lost to the ages. He also captured some of the most effecting footage of WWI before being killed (on camera), trying to save a wounded soldier. The stuff of legend. In Forgotten Silver, Sam Neill and Leonard Maltin rhapsodize about McKenzie's genius. TVNZ played the doc over two nights and the country went wild for the heroic native son they never knew.

The reason they never knew him is that he never existed.

Once the truth was out, Jackson got death threats. It was pretty hairy for a bit, but obviously, all is now forgiven.

The concept and the film itself are pure gold.

I highly recommend it.

Serial:

Brazil, too, is about Jonathan Pryce's character's quest to find some kind of meanful life in the remote, inhuman mechanism wrought by humanity.

I actually think it's better with the voice over.

So does Deb. I'd like to see it with, sometime.

I also rather prefer the notion that Deckard was human, as that means that Roy's last act was to save a human life, to see if that would finally make him real.

See, any meaning Roy was supposed to have for me was overshadowed by the fact that he was acting batfuck crazy at the end.

See, any meaning Roy was supposed to have for me was overshadowed by the fact that he was acting batfuck crazy at the end.

I always interpreted that as an indictment that to be alive is to be batfuck crazy.