f13.net

Thought we used to have a DVD forum?  Not sure if this is the right forum.

Anyway, the greatest science fiction film of the 20th century is coming out in all versions apparently in the fall - Blade Runner.  Speaking for myself, it has been hard to get the original version on release that included the narrative by Ford - which I really enjoyed - will now be available in this set along with all the alternate endings, EU release, and a new director's cut of sorts.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B000K15VSA/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_top/103-6231099-7950219?ie=UTF8&n=130&s=dvd#customerReviews

For myself, the defining moment in this film was the climactic dialogue between Rutger Haur and Ford - just before he died.  There are even CD sound tracks now that include some of the classic dialogue - in just before the instrumental pieces.

I hate sounding like a predictable geek - but I truely consider this to be one of the best films I have ever seen.

It is a great film, but I hate the endless double and triple dipping DVD repackaging that punishes fans by asking them to buy the same thing multiple times.

I too preferred it with the narration.  It's one of the few times I've preferred an original over a director's cut.

The narration never bothered me, only the "happy" ending.  It just seemed wrong.

That 5 disc set looks absolutely fantastic though.  5 versions of the movie?  Oh, go on then!

I'm totally getting the briefcase version.

Bluray or HD-DVD?

This is going on the list.  I do have the nine-disc Alien set, so this is small potatoes.

Neither. I haven't upgraded yet and refuse to until the format war is truly over and you literally cannot buy the other product.

I'm going to guess dating was a nightmare.

*watches that one fly over his head* Huh?

It isn't funny if I explain that I was imagining you dating multiple women until one of them became the obvious winner.

Ahhh...it's more like second guessed whether or not I made the right choice most of my life with various women. Which does tie into the discussion actually since I refuse to do that with tech.

I'm skipping the format altogether. I can either get it digitally or it isn't worth owning.

Also, yes.

Put me in the "better with narration" camp.

I don't know what it is about me, but no matter whether it's the middle of the day or night, whether I'm sober or not, when movies are just quiet with almost no sound (save ambient) sounds for lengthy periods of time -- I run a serious risk of dozing off.

Editor's cut Blade Runner is one of those films, so are parts of Taxi Driver.

But I'll be all over this (in SD) when it comes out.

I still have my laser disc version.

Wake me when they finally port this over to HD.

I apologize for the total derail, but since we're talking about stuff that's finally out on DVD....

Monster Squad. My buddy got a copy early through this brother, though I was not around to watch it.

The thing is, it's essentially a noir film, and while narration is usually a sign of scriptwriter/director laziness in a movie, for noir it works.  So yeah, I'm also in the "pro-narration" camp.  I do agree, though, that the happy ending sucked.

I got it and watched it. It doesn't hold up as well as I hoped but is still fun to watch.

The best would be narration + director's cut ending, for sure.

I have mixed feelings about the narration. I think my only issue with it is it explains to much in some ways and is kind of distracting. But I always enjoyed the narration at the very end "I don't know why he saved me..."

Going to broaden this topic a bit - while a geek myself I am not that in tune with some developments in this area:

How influential was this film on subsequent Sci Fi depictions of the future in novels, computer games and film?

My impressions is outside the novel Neuromancer this film almost single handidly launched the cyber punk era with games like shadowrun epitomizing the influence.  Agree - disagree?

This film captures two other major elements for me:

1.  Philip Dick.  Minority Report, Running man, Total Recall - there are SO many films based on his work - and of course - Blade Runner.

2.  Ridley Scott.  Who also directed Aliens and Gladiator - this director is now etched in my mind as my favorite.

I'm not so presumptuous as to say you're wrong for liking him best, but he is damned hit & miss.  Gladiator, for instance, is one of his movies I'd include on the "miss" list, right next to Kingdom of Heaven and Black Hawk Down.

I think he's an exceptional technical director, and the good movies he's made will stand the test of time; Alien and Blade Runner.  I just don't think he's consistent enough to be put in the pantheon of the truly greats.

I actually wrote a paper in college in my Detective Fiction as Social Criticism class about the narration/non-narration in Bladerunner arguing that the absence of the narration made it more "hand-boiled" and a better film.

He didn't say he was one of the greats. He said he was his favorite director, and he's also in my top 5, I'll take Ridley Scott over his brother or a hack like Paul "I ruined the Bourne movies with my 'artistic' shakycam" Greengrass any day. Like him I enjoyed the hell out of Gladiator. You obviously didn't but that's your opinion.

The only thing he is wrong about is that Ridley Scott directed Alien not Aliens.

Gladiator was the popcorn movie version of Braveheart. As such, it was aweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesome. But it's no SPARTA.

Gladiator sucked all kinds of cock.

(http://www.theboxset.com/images/reviewcaptures/892cap012.jpg)

Gladiator's good, it just doesn't hold up for repeated viewings.   I find myself fast-forwarding through all the shlocky/ horrible plot and sexual-tension scenes.  I just want to watch Maximus kill shit. Those parts are awesome.

Gladiator was decent, though it would have been better if they'd just made the entire movie more big ass battle scenes like the initial five minutes.

Gladiator has a fucking fantastic soundtrack.

I will admit, I pop it into my dvd player and only watch the opening battle, the "Battle of Carthage" and sometimes the fight scene with the retired gladiator and the lions. The battle of Carthage is to me, probably the best fight scene I've ever scene, all the way through his speech and his entry back into the pens with all the other gladiators chanting his name.


It is probably one of my favorite soundtracks ever. I have a real weakness for that kind of bombastic semi-operatic music.

Update

IT'S ON. (http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Five-Disc-Complete-Collectors/dp/B000UBMZ4S/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1197950868&sr=8-5)  It's out.  Tomorrow, 2-day shipping.  HD-DVD with maybe some Ridley love.  Briefcase here. (http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Runner-Five-Disc-Ultimate-Collectors/dp/B000R5N1MC/ref=pd_bbs_8?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1197950868&sr=8-8)


I need Sake, some Wasabi nuts, rain and the world is mine.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000R6PKP2/ref=pd_cp_d_3?pf_rd_p=316286001&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000R5N1MC&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1M5TJQ4FA13QKJN3A49A

Or blu-ray. For those owning of the ps3.

Hey thanks for posting this, I missed the first post and now this is #1 on my wish list! (Or #1 on my after-christmas-presents-for-myself list).

Wasn't Running Man based on a Stephen King novel? Or did you just mean that Running Man was influenced by it? Either way, awesome flick. Blade Runner is just one of those movies I can watch over and over again-any version. I think that's the only movie I ever saw where the hero shoots the bad guy in the back and later gets his ass saved by his girlfriend after getting the crap kicked out of him.

Ridley Scott also made Legend. My favorite favorite version of Satan.

(http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff26/stuabrtow/legend2.jpg)

I'm getting it on Standard Def despite having a PS3. I refuse to buy any next gen DVDs until this format war is over one way or the other.

It isn't even a war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD at this point. HD-DVD is largely being funded by Microsoft -- and even they don't give a shit about it. They're just trying to roadblock the entire disc medium in general.


Either way though, Blade Runner in HD is hardly anything to get excited about.

I got my 5 free bluray movies from my PS3 purchase. I didn't notice a huge picture quality difference but I did notice that sounds were much, much clearer since they were uncompressed. I will mention I noticed some difference in picture quality but it wasn't as big as say, the jump from VHS to DVD.

Eh, I'm gonna have to ask the same thing I asked BigGulp: DLP or Projection?

Otherwise, there's a very noticeable difference. With new movies at least. Almost detrimental at times in fact! -- I mean, it's not exactly pleasing to view the pores on Brandon Routh's face.

On the flipside, it's pretty cool to make out the faces of each actor in the background and foreground in a wide pan shot.

DLP. I did notice some differences, don't get me wrong. For instance things had more "texture". I never saw the first Pirates of the Caribbean in the theaters and I definitely noticed that their clothes were leather this time around, things like that. I just didn't notice as big of a difference as I was expecting.

Who won the DVD-A vs. SACD war? Seven years on, vinyl sells more than both combined. I think it'll be the same with HD video formats - not enough consumers will give a shit, and both formats will linger on, going nowhere. Also, Microsoft and Apple won't see Google Entertainment coming and will become Napster sized also-rans in the Brave New World that runs on Google's Alpha 60 central computer.

Not to knock your TV or anything, but well... OK, I'm knocking your TV. DLP sucks.  :oh_i_see: For games too.


I see downloadable shit as a good compliment and convenience, but people will always love their hard copies.

Really? You'd take projection over DLP? Hmmm....my next TV might be a plasma just so I don't have to worry about the stupid bulbs anymore.

Hell no, I wouldn't take either. I just mentioned those two because they're the ones that won't bring out the color, contrast, or sharpness that HD quality provides. Usually when someone tells me that they don't see much difference in HD, I'll ask if they're viewing projection or dlp. It's like the only thing they're good for is size/price. Picture wise, they're not much of an improvement over old school TV's -- other than being able to accept different resolutions, and better angle viewing.

But anyways, I wouldn't buy anything except plasma or lcd.

Hmmmm.....I see.

I have an old tube TV that's something like 23".  Before I had that, I watched TV and videos in a 3"x4" window on my desktop while I surfed the web and/or did homework on the rest of the screen.

Needless to say, I think all y'all arguing about the merits of HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray are nuts.   :awesome_for_real:

So we picked up the Final Cut set tonight, and watched the first disk in the box (said final cut).

No narration, and those minute+ traveling scenes really screamed for somthing, it got hard to watch at a few points.

So which version do I need to watch? Theatrical, directors, one that didn't come in my box?

And what was the directors cut ending, should I be upset with what I saw?

I apologize in advance for not having seen blade runner hundreds of times and knowing the answers to these, but after watching the final cut I was left with an overwhelming sense of 'meh', I just don't get the hype.

From what I've heard of this set, it still doesn't compare to the Brazil Criterion set. Which is a shame. A damn shame.

There's some other minutiae  but the two most important factors of the Director's Cut versus the original movie are 1) No voiceover and 2) no happy ending.

The final cut takes the directors cut, reshoots a few scenes, corrects the number of replicants mentioned, and reworks things a bit here and there.     So more polish as it were. 

The other major difference is that the director's cut pretty much answers the "Who or what is Deckard?" question for you with the Unicorn dream and the origami. In fact, I'd say that in the theatrical cut it's assumed Deckard is human.

If you want the narration you want to watch the original theatrical cut. I may watch that simply because it has been so long I can't really remember if the narration is any good or is as bad as everyone says.

Pretty much.   I was watching an interview with Ridley Scott  and he mentioned that he and Ford still discuss this on occasion - Scott says that Deckard is a replicant, Ford says he's human.

I heard that in a documentary on the new set (or maybe a commentary during the movie) Scott says that if you watch the Director's Cut and don't get that Deckard is a replicant then you're stupid. Lol.

Hampton Fancher, the writer, also thinks Deckard is human and one of the drafts that he wrote (http://www.trussel.com/bladerun/br1980.htm) (before David Peoples amended it) before shooting pretty much implies that he's human as well.  It would seem that Scott is the only one who thinks differently and hammered his point home with the inclusion of a spurious dream sequence about unicorns. 

Fancher's take on the whole thing was that Deckard may well be human but he's more emotionless, more lacking in empathy, more of a machine than the replicants he's hunting.  But, pretty much like everyone else who worked on the film, he fell out with Scott who then got Peoples to do revisions on the script (http://www.scifi.sk/BladeRunner/script1981.txt) which included a reference to Deckard being a replicant at the end.

(EDITED to fix links and english)

Pretty cool interview with the director over at NPR.org.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17450340 (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17450340)

Scott talks about the origin of the title "Replicant", gives his feelings about the source material and how P.K. Dick felt about that.