What is the fascination with Blade Runner?

I have no major problem with 5E; but yeah, it's a cartoon. BR is fine art. They both are what they are and should be taken on their own terms. To expect one to be the other is totally unreasonable.

And before anyone gets snarky, yes cartoons can be a valid, moving, thought-provoking art form. But you know what I mean.
 
Solo, 'Bande Dessinee', i.e. comic books; with the emphasis on 'book', they're mostly hardbacks. Think Tintin or Asterix and then imagine a million other titles you've never heard of. Larry posted a page by the artist Enki Bilal, look into him, he's great.

Cayman, yup!
 
Nwerke said:
Solo, 'Bande Dessinee', i.e. comic books; with the emphasis on 'book', they're mostly hardbacks. Think Tintin or Asterix and then imagine a million other titles you've never heard of. Larry posted a page by the artist Enki Bilal, look into him, he's great.

Cayman, yup!
Click to expand...


Ahhh gotcha. Asterix I know and loved as a kid. Tintin I've heard of, but never read.
 
I didn't bring up 5E in the first place.

What I should have said is that a lot of movies try to borrow many facets from Blade runner.

You are bound to ruffle some people's feathers with threads like this. They tend to be a pointless pissing match in the end.


Maybe if you walked through the Bradbury building or Union Station, you would understand the beauty in the details...
 
Nwerke said:
Solo, 'Bande Dessinee', i.e. comic books; with the emphasis on 'book', they're mostly hardbacks. Think Tintin or Asterix and then imagine a million other titles you've never heard of. Larry posted a page by the artist Enki Bilal, look into him, he's great.
Click to expand...

If they released a collection of Bilal's telephone doodles, I'd buy it. I love everything that guy has ever done.
 
From my perspective, Blade Runner is not an "old" film; but then neither is Star Wars or the original War of the Worlds! I'm an old guy. But I think Blade Runner is not accessible to younger audiences because the plot flows without everything being explained for the "less thoughtful", shall we say, in the audience! You have to actually take your brain along to the theater. Also we didn't have cell phones to glance at every 15 seconds and lose the thread of the plot. Fortunately, the plots don't really count in many contemporary films, so the texting doesn't get in the way of them. It seems to me that going to a movie today is more like an excuse to hang out than to actually see a movie. Just my "old" opinion.
 
I'll never forget going to see the Ultimate Edition in theaters with 14 people, all but 2 of which fell asleep. That speaks volumes to me... I was probably the youngest at 35 at the time I'm guessing. The oldest of the crowd was perhaps 50. So we weren't young, under-appreciative kids.
 
Re: What is the facination with Blade Runner?

cayman shen said:
It's a poet's movie in many ways. You either understand the deeply resonating beauty suggested by the few brief words of a haiku, or you don't.

"The world of dew
is the world of dew--
and yet, and yet."

Issa (as translated by Hass)

That's Blade Runner.
Click to expand...


Well said Cayman! You either get it or you don't. This film had a profound effect on me when I was a kid and still does today.
 
wuher da brewer said:
I'll never forget going to see the Ultimate Edition in theaters with 14 people, all but 2 of which fell asleep. That speaks volumes to me... I was probably the youngest at 35 at the time I'm guessing. The oldest of the crowd was perhaps 50. So we weren't young, under-appreciative kids.
Click to expand...


I don't think age has much to do with it. The same people would have likely fallen asleep during a screening of Citizen Kane, yet it is still considered on of the greatest films ever made.

As with good music, food or most anything else, the finer things which have something real, possibly even life changing to offer, will never be palatable or even understood by the majority. That's fine with me, I prefer it that way.:lol
 
Re: What is the facination with Blade Runner?

cayman shen said:
It's a poet's movie in many ways. You either understand the deeply resonating beauty suggested by the few brief words of a haiku, or you don't.

"The world of dew
is the world of dew--
and yet, and yet."

Issa (as translated by Hass)

That's Blade Runner.
Click to expand...

See, now you're on to something.
I was just thinking that Lord Byron and his poetic lot would have loved this film. All that dark brooding. But how could they not, Blade Runner is at it heart the story of Frankenstein. (All this really started in 1816 around a lake in Geneva.)

Ps: can I quote you in "why are the streets wet " thread?
 
A lot of really great movies that I love were 'boring' the first time I saw them. 'BR', '2001' and 'Apocalypse now' especially. And my absolute favourites, the 'Good the bad and the ugly' too. Even Aliens (theatrical). I like to think that as I've grown older I may have matured, and taken the time to really enjoy them more, but there must have been something I really liked the first time that made me go back and rewatch them in the first place. On the other hand I really like 'the Road warrior', first as an action movie, and later on a deeper, more human level. (come to think of it I felt about the same about T2 after the first viewing as many feel about Avatar today, too mushy/feely, and too obvious in it's moral. But , like Aliens and the Abyss I feel they are barely worth the watch in their original released versions. ) Not really sure which version of BR I love the most, but I feel the voice-over is unneccessary.
 
Re: What is the facination with Blade Runner?

Jannix Quinn said:
It was made in a time before they invented lighting on sets.
Click to expand...

Speaking just for myself, I much prefer the lighting in Blade Runner than a lot of stuff today. Movies these days are ridiculously over-lit. Film might be a visual medium but there's still room the use of imagination and realism.

I get so tired of seeing scenes of people in places that are supposed to be dark yet you can see everything. It's distractingly fake in my opinion. Having some real darkness in the visuals of a film lend it credibility I think. I'm so sick of the scenes where a guy walks into a dark room, cave or whatever, lights a little wooden match and the whole room lights up.

It's even getting worse with most CGI driven movies where the people that spend the money on the CG want to see their money on the screen so realistic lighting just goes out the window.
 
Re: What is the facination with Blade Runner?

dualedge said:
Speaking just for myself, I much prefer the lighting in Blade Runner than a lot of stuff today. Movies these days are ridiculously over-lit. Film might be a visual medium but there's still room the use of imagination and realism.

I get so tired of seeing scenes of people in places that are supposed to be dark yet you can see everything. It's distractingly fake in my opinion. Having some real darkness in the visuals of a film lend it credibility I think. I'm so sick of the scenes where a guy walks into a dark room, cave or whatever, lights a little wooden match and the whole room lights up.

It's even getting worse with most CGI driven movies where the people that spend the money on the CG want to see their money on the screen so realistic lighting just goes out the window.
Click to expand...

Actually, I'd bet that much of the over-lit quality comes from the decline in practical sets and props and reliance on CGI and green-screening. When the base image is so damn bright in the first place (as I guess it has to be if you're gonna use green screen), maybe they can't tone down the lighting sufficiently to make it look natural.
 
Re: What is the facination with Blade Runner?

blip said:
See, now you're on to something.
I was just thinking that Lord Byron and his poetic lot would have loved this film. All that dark brooding. But how could they not, Blade Runner is at it heart the story of Frankenstein. (All this really started in 1816 around a lake in Geneva.)

Ps: can I quote you in "why are the streets wet " thread?
Click to expand...

Quote away, yeah! I too saw the Frankenstein parallels, and was moved by them as I am by Frankenstein from the point he's reunited with his monster and hears the creatures justified plea that his creator has a duty toward his happiness. Damn I love that book. And the monster's final speech to Walton. My Lord. Breaks my heart right in two.
 
Re: What is the facination with Blade Runner?

apollo said:
:lol Sorry Bro but Man somebody is sure showing their ignorance! :lol
Click to expand...

I think it uses some of the most inventive lighting ever put onscreen, and was never too dark for me to see clearly (unlike, say, AVP:R)
 
micdavis said:
Then start your own thread. This is about BR.
Click to expand...

I would, but I was saying that in a very lighthearted manner. I know what the fascination is with both properties. I just don't share it. I liked Blade Runner I haven't seen it since I was very young, but I remember liking it. It was awesome to my 11 or 12 year old head.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

andychristofi
Finished my Blade Runner Blaster
Replies
8
Views
283
pawelski1982
pawelski1982
userd1402
REAL studio-scale Blade Runner Spinner car.
2
Replies
27
Views
3,011
flimzy
flimzy
Doppelganger01
The Logan's Run Sandman Gun: My 49 Year Obsession with This Iconic Movie Prop
Replies
6
Views
893
IFA
IFA
R
Need help with Blade Runner 1982 Fan club kit please.
Replies
2
Views
762
repy
R
Macgyiver
Blade Runner 2049 - Sapper Morton´s Second Medical Bag - Sling Version (Not seen on final cut)
Replies
0
Views
335
Macgyiver
Macgyiver
Back
Top