BRmovie.com: Blade Runner News Archive

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Please note that most links are not revised. Although correct when originally written, the nature of news means that I cannot guarantee that any particular link will still be valid today.

18 Jun 2008	So, how is Pixar's movie Wall-E in any way like Blade Runner (apart from people having moved Off-World). Well, according to Wired, "In a round-table interview at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California, earlier this week, director Andrew Stanton revealed his desire to create a science fiction movie in the spirit of Stanley Kubrick's 2001, Ridley Scott's neo-noir Blade Runner and space-western Outland." The retro-future look. Incidentally, of the several films listed on the page, you should definitely have seen all of them. If you haven't, you know what to rent this weekend!
18 Jun 2008	Here is another event review, but this time much more news and more detailed - by a fan. Darth Mojo was at the Paul's Brain Trust event (Paul Prischman helped put together your BR 5-Disc DVD set). This event was held at Warner's backlot and included a showing of the film plus panel discussion afterwards including the likes of Scott and Fancher. Nice to see the two of them still don't completely agree on the Deck-a-Rep issue! Strangest comment - not only was there the influence of old Batman and Superman comics, but also Little Orphan Annie. Yeah ... scary stuff! Read the article.
18 Jun 2008	A little while ago I mentioned there would be a concert at the Royal Festival Hall (London) with the Heritage Orchestra playing Vangelis' music from Blade Runner (mixed by Massive Attack). This is London has a review of the concert - sounds like it was pretty good. Also read abbatozappa, Guardian, Londonist.
17 Jun 2008	FWIW, here are the American Film Institute's Top 10 films in 10 genres. Blade Runner is listed at number 6 in the Science Fiction category.
16 Jun 2008	Well, this cannot be a surprise - at the fourth annual DVD Critics Awards, Blade Runner was awarded Best Director's Cut winner AND Best of Show winner (Best of Show - Best Overall Home Video Release of 2007).
16 Jun 2008	Sci Fi Channel's Visions for Tomorrow site has the results of a poll asking us to pick the Top Things You Must Read, Watch And Do To Save The World. It would appear that seeing how badly it can go wrong is the incentive we need to make sure we don't let that happen! Top film - Blade Runner.
14 Jun 2008	Wired blog talks to Benny Boeldt about his music inspired by (and sounding like) video game music. Listen to "Poison Diamonds" for those ever popular Roy Batty samples.
11 Jun 2008	Following half-off discounts on many Blu-Ray DVDs by Amazon, Blade Runner hits 4th place on their Movies/TV chart. This is combined with general price drops in Blu-Ray players. I guess we are no longer in the "Early Adopter" phase!
11 Jun 2008	How do you feel about our future? Pessimistic? Or do you have faith that things can only get better? According to the 2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, the majority of those surveyed in several Western countries think their kids' lives will be worse than theirs. Peter Schwartz argues in the LA Times that this is a view that can be changed. Or will we really end up in the BR dystopia?
10 Jun 2008	Wired blog finds Atomic Tarantula, a T-Shirt seller with subtle SF themed shirts. Look for Tyrell Corp.
08 Jun 2008	I include this NY Times article as it is an interesting subject - intimate relations between Human and artificial human. However, I suspect the author is much more philosopher than scientist and certainly looking in on this world from outside. Still has plenty to initiate discussion (or fierce debate!).
08 Jun 2008	Just caught wind that on 17 June, London's Southbank will have a Blade Runner Vangelis music concert performance by the Heritage Orchestra with a mix done by Massive Attack. Sounds awesome if you can get there. The BFI IMAX will also have two showings of the Blade Runner film.
08 Jun 2008	It takes a kind of "Back to the Future" mindset to look at the future of our cityscapes as seen in films made in the past. To some extent drawing on elements that were evident even when the films were made (esp. those using real locations), we now have the viewpoint of being in the future from the past perspective, while in our present and yet looking at a still-to-come future concept. Okay, never mind that, check out the NY Times article.
07 Jun 2008	Anyone else watching (or has watched in the past) Charlie Jade? A Canadian/South African collaboration set initially in and around Cape Town (where I lived for a while so it brings back memories for me). Except, not just Cape Town in our universe as it is a parallel universe show. We are in the Betaverse. The Alphaverse where the lead character (detective) comes from is way more technologically advanced, BladeRunneresque even (euphemistically a deliberate "homage"), with big Corps having exploited and depleted the planet's resources, they want to plunder the aternate universes worlds now. The Gammaverse is the exact opposite and has looked after their resources, so their world is still beautiful. Some people travel back and forth, make allies/enemies etc. and Charlie is caught up in it all trying to make sense of it. Apparently there are 20 episodes and it looks like one of those series where you need to watch several in order to really get into it.
06 Jun 2008	You may have thought the jumpsuit was dead and buried, but like cinema, fashion is always dredging up the past and reinventing it. The Star comments on this with picture of the "Blade Runner" style silver, one-shouldered jumpsuit. Yeah, still a real pain to go to the loo though (not that I have personal experience of dealing with that...)
05 Jun 2008	If you like the concept in BR of combining Film Noir with Science Fiction, then you may be interested in Yesterday Was a Lie, which is currently wowing people at film festivals all over (and winning lots of awards as well). It certainly looks intriguing.
03 Jun 2008	Eclipse Magazine interviews Ridley Scott. The first half is mostly about the miniseries for which he is Exec Producer: Andromeda Strain and related issues. Then the question: "You directed Blade Runner and Alien, which are seminal science fiction films. Why have you not done more science fiction films?" "RIDLEY SCOTT: I am going to do one. I waited for a book for 20 years and I have got the book. I am not going to tell you what the book is but that film is going to probably be written within the next month. That will definitely be what I do next after Nottingham, the Robin Hood film that I am doing now in England." Hmmm, what could that SF book be? Well I can answer that as it is no big secret that for years he has been chasing Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. A difficult estate split was resolved earlier this year to allow the film to go ahead, as mentioned in The Sunday Times in March: "The Universal Studios movie, which Sir Ridley Scott wants to direct, has become possible only because years of wrangling over the terms of Huxley's will have finally been settled, his granddaughter Tessa confirmed last week. 'There is now nothing stopping this film,' she said." The lead should be Leonardo DiCaprio as his father George, an old friend of the Huxley family, has long since been listed as producer.
01 Jun 2008	"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face." This is the George Orwell quote that John W. Whitehead uses to start his article on how much of Orwell's dystopian vision is now in effect. He also lists 10 films (most of which I own on DVD) that exemplify the best of the worst (including Blade Runner, Brazil, 1984).
31 May 2008	According to SFFMedia, "The French production company Celluloid Dreams has obtained the movie rights to Philip K. Dick's science fiction novel Ubik." Possibly my favourite PKD novel and hopefully this film will take the more thinking SF approach than Action vehicle. Not an easy book to film, but has great potential to be an excellent film - we can only hope.
28 May 2008	PAUL'S BRAIN TRUST LAUNCHES NEXUS 6 LEVEL FUNDRAISING EVENT: BURBANK, CA – Paul Prischman, unquestionably "one of the good ones" - dedicated husband, father, and friend; DVD producer; gifted artist; comic book lover; musician; and worshipper at the altar of all things film - was recently diagnosed with grade IV brain cancer. Paul's Brain Trust, an effort to fundraise for our friend Paul and his family during this difficult time, has put together our first major event: a screening of BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT, attended by several cast and crew, and followed by a Q&A with director Ridley Scott, at the Steven J. Ross Theater on the Warner Bros. lot, Saturday, June 14th at 2:00 pm I've put the full announcement on its own page. Please read it.
27 May 2008	"A team of more than 50 international academics have named Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey as the science fiction film with the most realistic vision of the future of mankind." (Albeit a past future!) The article expands on this, BR and Andromeda Strain and concludes, "The scientists polled as part of the Sky Movies study also voted 2001: A Space Odyssey as the film they most admired for its use of science and Blade Runner as the best science fiction film." Sounds familiar ... ah yes, BBC - August 2004, "Blade Runner tops scientist poll".
25 May 2008	All BR fans who have delved into the making of the film should certainly know who Gene Winfield is. Whether you do or don't, I recommend you read Custom car king, 81, still going full-bore.
24 May 2008	While Sonny Astani waits for approval to build his super-enormous LED billboard in Los angeles, The NY Times reports on the current hugest LED billboard going up in Times Square.
23 May 2008	In the last of the Flux Capacitor column at 411mania, Owain J. Brimfield dares to try to pick the best SF films ever. But as he puts Blade Runner at number 1, I guess they deserve a mention...
22 May 2008	So what do you think of those giant moving-image billboards on the skyscrapers in BR's L.A. 2019? Cool, but who would actually put such things up in the first place? The answer is Sonny Astani. The IHT tells us that Mr Astani was inspired by BR back in 1982 and still is. Now that he is a successful real estate developer, he wants to put LED billboards on the sides of his current 30-story residential tower projects in downtown Los Angeles. Syd Mead commented "that the city's once-haunted look is what inspired Scott to film there. The director was also taken with the eclectic downtown mix of newer structures and historic buildings, he said. That the movie could inspire innovation is not a surprise, Mead said, adding, 'I've called science fiction reality ahead of schedule.'"
21 May 2008	Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson are SF and gaming fans. They earned some money and despite having no actual experience in the movie or gaming businesses, they decided to start a company called Halcyon to make films and games. They acquired the Terminator franchise and are now making the next Terminator trilogy of films with Christian Bale signed up for all three. Wow! But nothing compared to the Guardian's news that they have "secured first option on filming the still largely untapped works of science fiction writer Philip K Dick". What? Hollywood is drooling over the many PKD stories still to be ... exploited. "Philip's daughters have never allowed anyone this kind of access before," said Kubicek. "We've forged a very trusting relationship with them and we truly share a similar sensibility. Until we closed the deal we didn't realise how coveted the library was in Hollywood." Incredible! They already have plans for films and games in the works. I presume these are only the rights for all the PKD stuff not already made into movies/games so don't expect them to be the ones to give us the new Blade Runner Game.
19 May 2008	The Wired Gadget Lab has found Gigapan - the billion pixel image maker that allows you to zoom in and around a picture rather like Deckard using an ESPER! This is Shooo Koool!
18 May 2008	In an interview of Harrison Ford for SFGate, mainly about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom ofthe Crystal Skull, a casual Blade Runner question is thrown in and elicits an interesting response: Q: "Blade Runner" has had an incredible second life. It's got a huge cult following, and the director, Ridley Scott, has continued to work on it - he put out a director's cut in 1992, and a more recent "final cut." A: I always thought it was an important film in my history. It was very important to me when it came out, even though it wasn't very successful at the time. I admired a great deal of it, the storytelling was a little vague in some areas, and I think in Ridley's version, the latest version, it's a bit more clear and focused. And I think it's a terrific movie. I'm just waiting for it to make money.
8 May 2008	With Mother's Day approaching for some of you, SFGate has a little levity for you.

If you see a Blade Runner article not listed, please send me the link so I can add it.

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