June 25 is the fortieth anniversary of the initial release of
Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER. Given that it is forty years old
there will likely be SPOILERS! BLADE RUNNER is notorious for the
number of versions of it. I will be discussing the first one I saw
(the U.S. theatrical version). There is also an international
theatrical version, a U.S. television version, the "Director's
Cut", and the "Final Cut".

The film has been connected with Warner Brothers, which is
interesting because Warner Brothers does not have a real history of
major science fiction movies (THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, THEM!
and SOYLENT GREEN are probably the best known).

Due to an actors' strike during pre-production, Ridley Scott and
his art department had a long time to develop the look of this film
and they worked wonders--the art direction is exquisite. Scott and
his cinematographer Jordan Cronenworth go overboard in trying to
capture the film noir texture of this world. (Everything except
the final scenes take place at night, which allows for very
dramatic lighting effects, but makes one wonder exactly how much
time has passed and whether the earth has stopped rotating.)

Scott also gives us a truly multi-ethnic, polyglot future with many
different cultures blending into each other. But he also seems to
revel in unpleasant images--viewer be warned.

Rutger Hauer's make-up resembles a well-known illustration from
Olaf Stapledon's ODD JOHN. (The film THIS ISLAND EARTH borrowed
the same makeup look for its aliens.)

Deckard seems to find that every clue leads him to the next
location, which just coincidentally leads to the clue after that,
much as in MOONRAKER.

One thing which always bothered me was the twisting of Deckard's
neck, which as shown would break his neck. Perhaps this is the
basis of the belief that Deckard is a replicant.

Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4)

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blade_runner>

--
Mark R. Leeper

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Any relation to the Mark R. Leeper USENET poster?

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On Monday, June 13, 2022 at 10:31:16 AM UTC-4, John Doe wrote:

Any relation to the Mark R. Leeper USENET poster?

I don't know where you're reading this, but Mark posted it, and I'm reading it on Usenet, a.k.a. Google Groups these days.

So yes, he is related to Mark R. Leeper USENET poster, as "self". :-)

--
Evelyn C. Leeper

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Evelyn Leeper <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com> wrote:

John Doe wrote:

Any relation to the Mark R. Leeper USENET poster?

I don't know where you're reading this,

USENET. That's where it was posted, through Google Groups.

I was making fun of the fact the poster refers to itself in the third
person.

but Mark posted it,

Apparently.

and I'm reading it on Usenet, a.k.a. Google Groups these days.

Google Groups could be the most used individual platform for USENET
posters, but most of us don't think of Google Groups as USENET. It's more
like AOL.

Can't say I never will, but using Google Groups for USENET is
self-defeating. Besides porn, the benefit of USENET is mostly uncensored expression, Google doesn't allow that.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On Monday, June 13, 2022 at 5:59:15 AM UTC-7, Mark Leeper wrote:

June 25 is the fortieth anniversary of the initial release of
Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER. Given that it is forty years old
there will likely be SPOILERS! BLADE RUNNER is notorious for the
number of versions of it. I will be discussing the first one I saw
(the U.S. theatrical version). There is also an international
theatrical version, a U.S. television version, the "Director's
Cut", and the "Final Cut".

The film has been connected with Warner Brothers, which is
interesting because Warner Brothers does not have a real history of
major science fiction movies (THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, THEM!
and SOYLENT GREEN are probably the best known).

Due to an actors' strike during pre-production, Ridley Scott and
his art department had a long time to develop the look of this film
and they worked wonders--the art direction is exquisite. Scott and
his cinematographer Jordan Cronenworth go overboard in trying to
capture the film noir texture of this world. (Everything except
the final scenes take place at night, which allows for very
dramatic lighting effects, but makes one wonder exactly how much
time has passed and whether the earth has stopped rotating.)

Scott also gives us a truly multi-ethnic, polyglot future with many
different cultures blending into each other. But he also seems to
revel in unpleasant images--viewer be warned.

Rutger Hauer's make-up resembles a well-known illustration from
Olaf Stapledon's ODD JOHN. (The film THIS ISLAND EARTH borrowed
the same makeup look for its aliens.)

Deckard seems to find that every clue leads him to the next
location, which just coincidentally leads to the clue after that,
much as in MOONRAKER.

One thing which always bothered me was the twisting of Deckard's
neck, which as shown would break his neck. Perhaps this is the
basis of the belief that Deckard is a replicant.

Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4)

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blade_runner>

--
Mark R. Leeper

According to this, the author Dick hated the screenplay:

https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/philip-k-dick-author-facts

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On Tuesday, June 14, 2022 at 12:50:53 PM UTC-4, John Doe wrote:

I was making fun of the fact the poster refers to itself in the third
person.

but Mark posted it,

Oops, that was my fault. The article fluctuated between an article by him (where it should have been first person) and a joint article (in which third person was necessary to clarify who was saying it). I did the final edit on it, and missed that.

--
Evelyn C. Leeper

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)