| 30 Sep 2007 |
The 25th Anniversary
Blade Runner Final Cut showed
in NY at the Film Festival last night. Reviews: Cinema
Blend's
reviewer never saw BR before, so offers that perspective. |
| 29 Sep 2007 |
The 25th Anniversary
Blade Runner Final Cut is showing
in NY at the Film Festival tonight. Let me know
if you were there and what it was like. |
| 28 Sep 2007 |
Kurt Loder writes
(for MTV)
a brief history of, and looks forward to the Blade Runner Final
Cut. If you want a quick catchup of it all, I can say this
guy knows what he's talking about. (Perhaps he reads BRmovie.com?)
But I have to say, I do love my Vangelis BR soundtrack album. |
| 28 Sep 2007 |
D-Cinema has
a press release from Technicolor Digital Cinema which is about
their sponsorship of the New York Film Festival and their significant
role in the restoration of the Blade Runner film. Also at Business
Wire. |
| 27 Sep 2007 |
Variety looks
at Alan Ladd Jr. and production company - the Ladd Co. who
"paved the way for indies" and mentions about their promotion
of BR,
"The film was also one of the first
to be marketed according to the "Star Wars" model,
now standard in the industry, targeting specific audiences
- such as sci-fi, fantasy geeks - from early on."
Update 28th: Alan Ladd Jr. gets a star on the Hollywood Walk
of fame. See AP
Report. |
| 27 Sep 2007 |
The
LA Times looks at "Blade
Runner: Take 3" with comments from RS, etc.
By now, if you've been paying attention, you won't find anything
new here, but you might still like to read it. And if you haven't
been paying attention, this will help you catch up. |
| 27 Sep 2007 |
John Alvin is
the famous artist who has designed some of the most awesome
of movie posters. TheForce.net tells us that ArtInsights Animation
and Film Art Gallery in Reston Virginia is one of three in
the world to get to show art used in the making of the official
poster for the 30th Anniversary Star
Wars Celebration. What you want to know though is, "In
addition, a new limited edition has just been released in conjunction
with the special edition dvd of Blade Runner that will also
be in the show."
|
| 27 Sep 2007 |
I mentioned that
I was looking forward to seeing the new "Bionic Woman" (in
similar fashion to Battlestar Galactica, it is 21st Century,
darker TV with at least some BR fans behind the production).
Well, I watched it last night and was not disappointed. Not
perfect of course, but they got right on with it, introducing
the bionification, main characters, even within the first
episode getting to her first fight with her nemesis - two hot,
bionic women slugging it out on rooftops in the pouring rain...
Ah yes. Based on just the one episode, I would recommend most
BR fans give it a try! Other views: LA
Times, Globe
and Mail, Washington
Post, meevee. |
| 27 Sep 2007 |
Wired interviews
Sir Ridley Scott extensively about Blade Runner. On an extended
version, Wired kindly
provides the FULL interview transcript AND audio. And because
Wired really likes to get beyond the obvious, they ALSO have
a wonderfully extensive Before
and After BR influences section. art, architecture, films,
TV, games, robotics, fashion, culture, etc. DO look at this! |
| 26 Sep 2007 |
Big advertising
screens in cities and alongside motorways are no longer
just fiction, but you ain't seen nothin' yet ... Reuters reports
on adverts the size of three football pitches that people can
see from the air when coming in to land at airports. It is
just a matter of time for them to become moving images. This
isn't a maybe - the first big picture will be on the ground
at Dubai next month. |
| 25 Sep 2007 |
So what were
you doing 20 years ago? Well, maybe you were looking forward
to seeing the first episode of Star Trek The Next Generation?
I am shocked it is two decades ago! Entertainment
Weekly has
an article with memories of a number of the people involved.
I found it interesting that Robert H. Justman (first series
producer) said to Gene Roddenberry in October 1986 after
they saw Aliens, "Jesus Christ, Gene,
that was a great picture! But have you ever seen Blade
Runner?'" And [Gene said]
"What's that?" He didn't know what Blade Runner was!
I said, "You'd better take a look at that." Only
mere weeks later, Gene said he wanted to do the new Star Trek.
Now, of course, I'm not saying Blade Runner was responsible
in any way for ST:TNG getting made, but... |
| 24 Sep 2007 |
"If
Harrison Ford were to star in a sequel to 1982's 'Blade Runner',
the film's producers wouldn't need to use computer-generated
images to create a futuristic backdrop. They could film in
any number of Chinese cities." Bloomberg looks
at Stephen Green's concept of "China Years" - i.e. the comparative
rate of economic development in China - the cities developing
approximately four times faster than in the US or the UK.
(I say 'the cities' because, as the article points out,
this measure is necessarily regional.) |
| 23 Sep 2007 |
The
New York Times has an article on the reimagined "Bionic
Woman" television series, with comments by David Eick on
the philosophy of the show. He was responsible for the new
Battlestar Galactica so I hope this 21st Century version
of the Cyborg TV show will deliver what BR fans might hope! |
| 21 Sep 2007 |
Russian
C-News tells us, "Production of androids able
to carry out various services up to mining operations will
be launched in Russia in 2008." Android
Robotics was founded in 2004. Its first production androids
are small scale and are mainly being used in education, but
they have big plans for the future. |
| 20 Sep 2007 |
The
Hollywood Reporter delves into the restoration and remastering
of the
Blade Runner Final Cut. It lists
and talks to many of those dedicated people who did all the
hard work of cleaning, resolution, colour, effects, matte depth,
audio, etc. Also comments on the refilming of Joanna Cassidy
to match her face onto the stuntperson crashing through the
plate glass windows, (we had high hopes of this being fixed!) |
| 15 Sep 2007 |
If you know your
Blade Runner background, you are probably familiar
with Sir Run Run Shaw - one of the investors in the film and
a major figure in Hong Kong and beyond. In a few weeks time
(4th October), he turns 100!! Not quite so sprightly, but still
Chairman of Shaw Brothers, he appeared on TV this week to
present the annual Shaw Prize to four distinguished scientists. Forbes asks
who will run his multi-billion media empire after him. |
| 14 Sep 2007 |
Readers of this
site will be no stranger to the films made of PKD's works,
or his visions of the future. In a sense, his legacy will keep
feeding Hollywood for years to come. But how about a different
view of that legacy - that of his family. "Philip
K. Dick's children work to ensure the influential author's cinematic
legacy" -
an article on calendarlive looks
at how the family are now keeping careful watch over the PKD
legacy. |
| 14 Sep 2007 |
If you're
a fan of TV series Numb3rs (produced
by Tony and Ridley Scott), or indeed a fan of Tony's directing,
you may be interested to know that the first episode of the
new season, (28th September in the USA), will be directed by
Tony Scott. |
| 14 Sep 2007 |
Entertainment
Weekly has a stark interview with Sean Young. "'I'm
not Julia Roberts,' she says, certain of her thwarted destiny.
'And I could have been.'"
|
| 12 Sep 2007 |
Like John (see
below), Karen Brooks at couriermail is
also asking the difficult questions. The future has started.
What is humanity and how does the application of technology
affect the answer? |
| 05 Sep 2007 |
John Whitehead
writes a commentary at The
Rutherford Institute titled, "Blade
Runner: What Does It Mean to Be Human?" In the
light of recent reports that scientists are much closer than
we think to actually creating artificial life from scratch
(as opposed to cloning for example), the central questions
of Blade Runner are ever more relevant and pressing. |
| 04 Sep 2007 |
Cinematical also
wades into the tide against Scott's recent "SF is dead" comment
as does film.com.
At this point I really have to assume he said it partly just
for the publicity; (he was an ad-man after all). Having seen
the three main stories - the SF comment, the moan about people
watching movies on tiny screens and the actual showing of the
Blade Runner Final Cut - paraded in news sources around the
world ad infinitum, I'm done talking about Ridley in Venice.
(I wade through all this stuff so you don't have to! Get your
essential BR news here at BRmovie.com). |
| 02 Sep 2007 |
New "Blade
Runner" cut is how it should have been - Reuters reports
on the showing of Blade Runner Final Cut at the Venice Film
Festival. Includes Ridley Scott comments from the press conference. |
| 31 Aug 2007 |
Paul Howlett
at The
Guardian also finds Sir Ridley Scott's recent sweeping
generalisation about SF films as going too far. We know there
aren't enough really good SF films in the past quarter century,
but that doesn't mean there are none. |
| 30 Aug 2007 |
Speaking at the
Venice Film Festival where the Blade Runner Ultimate Edition
is being shown, Sir Ridley Scott has said that Sci-fi films
are as dead as Westerns. According to The
Times, "Scott
believes that the genre is so tired and unoriginal that it
may be dead." "Sir Ridley said that science fiction
films were going the way the Western once had. “There’s
nothing original. We’ve seen it all before. Been there.
Done it,” he
said. Asked to pick out examples, he said: “All of them.
Yes, all of them.”" Also reported at Metro.
Whether to court controversy, publicity or simply being out
of touch with "Real SF", I dismiss Scott's comments as being
far too simplistic. |
| 30 Aug 2007 |
Do you think
Nissan's Mixim all-electric concept car is BladeRunnerish?
See a picture at engadget. |
| 30 Aug 2007 |
If you want to
see Syd Mead talk about advanced concept art, then head to
the //ADAPT 2007 Conference in Montreal, Sep 24-28. See VFX
World or AWN. |
| 28 Aug 2007 |
The
Hollywood Reporter says, "The New York Film
Festival will present "The
Future Is Now: 'Blade Runner' at 25," a discussion with
filmmakers behind the sci-fi classic, along with dialogues
featuring fest directors Julian Schnabel, Todd Haynes, Wes
Anderson and Sidney Lumet.
" 'Blade Runner' at 25," held Sept. 29 in conjunction
with the North American premiere of Ridley Scott's new "definitive
cut" of the 1982 Harrison Ford film, will include a panel
of scholars (and, still to be confirmed, Scott and screenwriter
Hampton Fancher) discussing the impact of the film on our
culture."
|
| 27 Aug 2007 |
Want to help
in the research required to begin the process of creating an
A.I that can emulate the Human brain? tectonic tells us, "A
Canadian company, Intelligence Realm, last week launched a
distributed computing project on Linux called "Artificial
intelligence - Reverse engineering the brain". The company
has invited members of the public to volunteer and donate
computer time to help this project develop artificial intelligence
(AI)." Warning ... this will take years, so let's
get started! |
| 23 Aug 2007 |
According to
The Hollywood Reporter the Blade Runner
Ultimate Edition will
be shown at the Venice Film Festival (Aug 29 - Sep 8). |
| 21 Aug 2007 |
The Hugo Awards
has a new official website. Blade Runner won a Hugo in 1983. |
| 20 Aug 2007 |
The new Bioshock
game is almost out and is likely to be one of the games of
the year - but you already knew that, right? Anyway, what if
it became a movie? Check IGN for
some thoughts - especially the idea of Scott directing. This
idea is further emphasised at GameDaily by
Limore Shur, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of EyeballNYC,
who created the Bioshock TV Ads. He says, "We
also went for strong atmospherics and we think that we achieved
this painterly quality to the look, with Ridley Scott Blade
Runner lighting
added on." [They are very appealing ads. Check
out eyeballnyc if you haven't seen this.] |
| 19 Aug 2007 |
Coming
soon to a nursery near you: Morpheus and Ming. Can you
possibly guess what this story is about? Well, Robert Schnakenberg
has written a book called "Sci-Fi
Baby Names". So, why not call
your new child Tuvok or Amidala? (I would suggest steering
clear of Jabba.)
But you might like Hannibal - after Hannibal Chew in
BR? |
| 19 Aug 2007 |
Do you like images
of factories or oil refineries? Lots of people do and the internet
has helped them find each other. The
Japan Times talked to Tetsu Ishii, whose
hobby has turned into a photo book, "titled "Kojo
Moe (Factory Love)," which features his images of gargantuan
steel plants, towering oil refineries and chemical factories
billowing clouds of who knows what." When did
he truly acknowledge his feelings about the subject? As a teen, "I
was watching 'Blade Runner': It's set in a gloomy future Los
Angeles, and the lead character has a flying patrol car. I
was glued to the city's metallic landscape — I found
it so beautiful."
|
| 18 Aug 2007 |
Check out Strange
Attractor to find out about VastPark and Dotman. Virtual
Worlds are evolving beyond the experience of Second Life. Think
of an experience where you can go create your own room in the
virtual world where it is even okay to be on your own - "He
compared his vision with JF
Sebastian, the genetic designer in Blade Runner who created
companions for himself." [I left the link in as
it is actually a link to this site!] |
| 12 Jul 2007 |
There is some
heated discussion in the world of athletics at the moment about
the man they call "blade runner". Here is one article about
this issue. It is about Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who
runs on "blades". The question is about whether or not he should
be alllowed to compete against people with "normal" legs. |
