How BR has aged
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Back on topic(for me), and this is about the Star Wars movies.<BR><BR>Even though the original Star Wars trilogy looks kind of old, and you can roughly tell which years they were from, they will always look pretty good(some of what Lucas added in later helped, most of it hindered the movies). They will be timeless, like a good black and white movie.<BR><BR>The new trilogy will not hold up. The old models look so much classier than the cheesy CGI. These movies will always be a product of their time period and will be thought of as a joke in not much time.
For me, Blade Runner hasn't aged at all. And when I look at some of the films I watched from the early 80's onwards, BR and the Indiana Jones movies are then only ones I can still watch and not feel uneasy about it. It's not like that with Star Wars or any other films I used to watch. Especially not with Star Wars, I can't even think about the first three films without cringing, even though I (as everyone else, I presume?) I love them and think the new flicks are a pile of shit in comparison. <BR>Well, the new films are a pile of shit in comparison to the memories of old Star Wars. <BR><BR>Uh, getting a little offtopic here <IMG SRC="/forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif">
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You can tell the film was made in the 80's by some of the advertising and the effects. TDK? A lot bigger back then. Atari is a big giveaway.<BR><BR>Some of the matte paintings are also hints. When Deckard pulls up to the Bradbury, and the spinner flies toward the screen, the skyscrapers in the background look very 'Tron'.<BR><BR>Zhora's hair.<BR><BR>The Esper.<BR><BR>All technical examples, sure, but still examples.<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>
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They looked tron probably because syd mead also did design for tron as well...<BR>Racheal's lipstick color was also poular in the 40s which is what the movie was supposed to echo. I thought deckard's clothes were definately eighties though, and his puffy sectional furniture.<IMG SRC="/forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">
Actually Syd did do the ones he was talking about. He did several Matt paintings for BR including the "tron" looking skyscrapers that you see from Deckard's apartment. Read the Cinifex articles that were reprinted or even the starlog interview with him(can't remember the #). Many people did matts on this film including him.
BRs gritty feel, dirty streets and Asian influences keep it dateless.<BR>The Sci-Fi with sterile back drops, seem unrealistic (considering humanity and its unconsicous desire to make mess).<BR>I think you can identify with BR if you live in or have stayed in a large city. Especially if you have been to Hong Kong or any densley populated city. Its just that feeling of a place that never sleeps and is teeming with diverse life.
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I am The CHEESE!
I just wanted to add that I think the only visuals I didn't like in BR were some of the matte paintings. <BR><BR>For instance, those that were mentioned like the neon colored buildings far down the street from the Bradbury(when the spinner flys overhead), and also when Deckard finally pulls himself to the top of the Bradbury(right before Roy comes out onto the roof), there are these really unrealistic, snakey looking designs on the builings that are too reminescint of the designs in Alien, and look like nothing that would believably be seen on any type of building, unless for some odd reason you had all the wiring externalized. <BR><BR>Some of those matte paintings look fairly cheesy to me.
Well, at least it doesn't look so synthetic like new Star Wars.
Agreed. There is no substitute for acting on a real set with real people. The new Star Wars suffered from it looking too perfect, too slick with no imperfections and the actors seeming to walk through their parts because they were acting on a blue screen stage for most of it with no sensory input like rain and smoke and sound and other people.
All of your senses need to be engaged while acting otherwise it comes off as uninspired.
ridleynoir wrote:Then why have a movie version at all if the book had conveyed the idea already? are they like the paintings, sculpture and stained glass windows in church as a way to convey the ideas to illiterates? Maybe, But thankgod for movies like BR and the matrix that do go above and beyond to create something we enjoy watching for their own sakes. ironicly at one time books were considered corrupting influences that encouraged people to not do their work and long for escapist settings.
All good points...but:
-The term 'Matrix' has many meanings but its primary reference is a Biblical one. "The Matrix" means 'the womb'. Those of us who can read know this.
-In a way, the 'illiterates' comment is right on the mark. Those who have never read various books cannot answer the unanswered questions in the resulting films. Have you ever seen 7 days of the Condor? No, the film condensed it into 3! Films cannot be made from books and get everything. They are not allowed. Who played Tom Bombadil in Lord of the Rings? Why were Merry and Pippin so tall at the end of the film?? These questions do not make sense to the non-reader because they have no relevance to the film. Yet any reader of the books could answer! (No one!, They drank Entwine...but only in the book!)
-Credit where credit is due: After finding out what Jordan Croneweth's contribution was to the film and Ridley Scott's reaction to it, we learn that some people get more than they deserve. Like Cronenweth, Doug Trumbull, is often overlooked. Trumbull was the genius behind; 2001, Close Encounters, and BR effects. (I have been a fan of his for decades.)
Now I have the urge to cringe when I hear how wonderful Scott was for his lighting of BR.
As for the actual aging, the look holds up except for one thing. Lots of things hold up in the film. We can see the whole 'retro look' from almost 20 years ago now. Even hobbies are going 'old school' such as vinyl. There are audiophiles who insist that vinyl records sound better, even though modern records are digital recordings translated to analog platters! Likewise, I can see where, sometime in the future, people will prefer crt-looking screens because "analog looks better" even though the pictures will probably be HD on high-rate plasma screens. They will also spend big bucks on these 'retro' technologies.
What is the one thing that doesn't hold up/make sense??
***************************************************Spoiler Alert*********************************************
Reading further may ruin some or all of the film for you!
With all the unabashed, constant commercialism in BR there is not one mention of the holidays! No Hanuka, no thanksgiving. No holiday greetings. No CHRISTMAS??!
A commercial society would not let go of this important marketing day religion or not. Since we know that marketing for Christmas would start before Labor Day by 2019, this is a huge, gaping flaw!
...unless we accept the 'Holden Postulate'.
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