Movie Reviews 2.0

My Blade Runner 2049 review in a nutshell

120 lbs. of very good movie(s) packed into a sack with a 100 lb. limit that could have held an epic sequel.

Sean Young played Chani in David Lynch's Dune. In the sequel to the novel it was based on, the character she played in the original dies during childbirth, and her husband, Paul, is offered the chance to get a clone of her if he'll cooperate. Those offering this are masters of genetics, and unscrupulous manipulators, who use their constructs as slaves, often denied of free will.


P.S. Following up on that spoiler ...

In the Dune series, powerful forces were jockeying for control of Chani's (Sean Young's character's) children, and one of the super powers of the son was his mastery of genetic memory. The Tleilaxu, the ones who offered Paul a clone of Chani, could insert triggers into the minds of their gholas/clones. Originally so as to get Duncan Idaho's clone to murder Paul, but then later so as to cause the clone/ghola to regain their original memories. The point, I guess, being PKD and Herbert fished the same waters. Edit: Though of course PKD's DADOEL is different than Blade Runner. But the larger themes are there. Still, it would perhaps be more on point to say this sequel, and Frank Herbert, fished the same waters. As I implied, there's more than one movie lurking with Blade Runner 2049. It could have been expanded into a Netflix series, imo, especially as it didn't really end. Huh, maybe down the road?
 
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Really loved BR 2049. More so than the original (which is visually stunning but really rather boring) by quite a wide margin in fact. That said, I wouldn't mind a director's cut version that simply cut down on the length of some of the scenes. Didn't mind the slow pace in most scenes, but every now and then I wished the film just got on with it already.
 
That's a cool idea about that quote, Babel :)

However it has actually more to do with this:

But here’s an interesting fact: turns out Edward James Olmos – who played the character of Gaff, the only one who spoke Cityspeak – was the man chiefly responsible for its creation. Relying on his diverse ethnic background and some in-depth research, he managed to come up with all the lines his character spoke in the course of that opening scene where it makes it debut.

He was born in East Los Angeles, California to a Southern Baptist Mexican immigrant with 1/4 Hungarian Jewish ancestry (the family name was originally Olmosh) and a Mexican-American Catholic mother.

https://storiesbywilliams.com/2011/08/15/cityspeak-blade-runner/
 
Hmm. It's out early in the UK it seems,we have to wait until 3rd of next month... And I probably won't be able to make it during the first weekend. I'm waiting to see Thor more than Justice League, about on par with Episode 8 I'd say.
 
For me it reinforces the opinion that when movies don’t take themselves too seriously, they excel. And Ragnarok is literally the best example of taking the piss out of itself I’ve seen.
Because ultimately, the Thor story and characters are so ridiculous to begin with, that they just end up being flat when done too seriously, like in the first two movies. Ragnarok really embraces the fun factor. Plus seeing him kick Hulk’s ass (a little anyway) left everyone in the cinema gasping.
 
Planet Hulk isn't a Hulk Solo affair, though. Stark is in it, Reed Richards is in it, Dr Strange is in it, and Professor X is in it as well. Besides, The Incredible Hulk from 2008 was already a Marvel Studios release. Universal only handled distribution in the United States and only in the United States.
 
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Planet Hulk isn't a Hulk Solo affair, though. Stark is in it, Reed Richards is in it, Dr Strange is in it, and Professor X is in it as well. Besides, The Incredible Hulk from 2008 was already a Marvel Studios release. Universal only handled distribution in the United States and only in the United States.

They have distribution rights & right of first refusal. So that's enough of a reason. Kevin Feige & Mark Ruffalo have already confirmed that Hulk can not appear in movies where he is the titular character. So that's why they're spreading his character arc across 3 movies.

Tommy McClain
 
Planet Hulk isn't a Hulk Solo affair, though. Stark is in it, Reed Richards is in it, Dr Strange is in it, and Professor X is in it as well. Besides, The Incredible Hulk from 2008 was already a Marvel Studios release. Universal only handled distribution in the United States and only in the United States.

2 out of those 4 guys belong to Fox. Hulk is Uni. Sad state of affair really. But honestly I have started to believe that it’s almost better like this. If Marvel had the right for everyone and tried to put them all in one film, it would be probably be a bit messy. Perhaps the next Avengers won’t suffer from having so many characters.
 
Finally went to see Blade Runner 2049 at the cinema and it was all I hoped to be and more. Definitely won't be something for the masses but neither was the original. I took in every minute of those 3 hours with delight though. Brilliant picture.
 
I didn't really mind the fact that the movie was 3 hours long. I do think the director could have spent those 3 hours a bit more wisely, though. We got 15 minutes of K walking through the ruins of what I think was supposed to be Vegas (the fact that the big payoff of that scene was spoiled by the trailer didn't help) with nothing happening whatsoever. Reminded me of the many family guy gags which exclusively rely on their drawn out nature. At the same time we got a grand total of 5 minutes with Jared Leto's character. So yeah, I wouldn't have minded if the director cut a couple of scenes here and there and added the minutes elsewhere.
 
Saw Thor. I enjoyed it. Not amazing. I liked that it had more of the fantasy elements of Thor, and also some stuff that looked straight out of the 1970s and 80s. Overall, a lot the humour worked. Chris Hemsworth is pretty good at comedy. The cast was overall great. Probably the best version of Loki so far, and Tessa Thompson was good as Valkyrie. I would have liked a little more Cate Blanchett, but you couldn't really make the movie any longer than it was. Solid entertainment, and massively better than the two previous Thor movies which were pretty bad. I liked that a lot of the cast from Hunt for the Wilderpeople had roles in the movie.
 
Disney's gonna milk Star Wars in perpetuity, or at least as long as the goose keeps laying eggs anyway.

So, no. Not surprised at all actually. :)
 
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