BLADE RUNNER

Those who love the sci-fi noir Blade Runner are probably more film fans than sci fi geeks (luckily, I'm both). Either way, Ridley Scott's movie is pure cinema, an arthouse fantasy filled with astounding visuals, slow motion drama and one of Rutger Hauer's most impressive (and loony) performances. As a cinematic vision of the dystopian future it is unmatched.

To many Blade Runner is a masterpiece, to others a frustratingly ambitious failure. Needless to say I fall in with the first camp.

For those who care, the film has generated more than a few heated discussions about whether Dekkard (Harrison Ford's character) was a human or an android (called a replicant in the film). The version of the film that was released in theaters in 1982 makes it impossible to know but suggests he's human. The director's version, released on DVD with reinserted scenes made things more ambiguous, but hinted that he was a replicant (something I always suspected).

The biggest difference between the two versions of the film, however, was the studio-inserted voice-over that both director Ridley Scott and star Ford hated. Rumor has it that Ford was so angry that he was required to provide narration that he delivered it with as little emotion as possible, hoping it would be dropped. Strangely, in my opinion, the narration kind of works (though is poorly written), giving Blade Runner even more of a retro-noir feel. Unfortunately, the studio-mandated "happy" ending is a colossal and insulting blunder. It's a true testament to Scott's vision as a director (and the really strong script) that even with these changes the film is both compelling and revolutionary.

The strangest fumble in this big budget, amazingly shot film is one particularly bad stunt sequence where in Dekkard kills a renegade android played by Joanna Cassidy. As her character falls through a series of plate glass windows it's clear that a stuntman in drag is executing the stunt. He's built like a truck and sporting a wig that doesn't even come close to approximating Cassidy's hair. It's a laughably bad moment, temporarily pulling the viewer out of the film's carefully constructed world. Supposedly, a remastered DVD is going to be released with the stunt sequence reshot. Remarkably, Joanna Cassidy has returned to help make it happen. I'm not only excited to see the disc, I'll undoubtedly buy it..

Below, through the magic of YouTube, is a British documentary called ON THE EDGE OF BLADE RUNNER that is a really good chronicle of the process and struggles to get Ridley Scott's film made. Never shown in the US, the doc includes a scene that was left on the cutting room floor (which was probably a good idea). More importantly, Scott reveals at the very end of the doc whether Dekkard was or wasn't a replicant. Watch it and find out!

PART ONE



PART TWO



PART THREE



PART FOUR



PART FIVE



PART SIX

LOW RENT BATMAN & SLACKER ROBIN

This fan film is a true classic; the perfect mix of amateur technique, wooden acting, and unintentional (and intentional) humor. AN inspired waste of 6 minutes!

Favorite moments: Robin's karate chop. "Oh no!" The Riddler's accent. The expert fight choreography. Batman providing his own fight sound effects (Doosh!). The wind blowing across the mics. The final Bat dance. Holding hands!

JON STEWART VS THE WORLD (of idiots)

• JOHN MCCAIN
• JOHN BOLTON Pt1, Pt2
• NANCY GRACE (a hard-on for resonable doubt)
• TUCKER CARLSON
• BILL BENNETT
  
  

TASTY!

1. Cobra is the Citizen Kane of Bidgette Nelson movies.

2. Headline + Columnist's picture = Heebie Jeebies

3. Children’s TV rock bands or bad acid trip?

4. Another upstanding citizen employed by Fox News.

5. Sexy Silver Shiny Middle-Aged Men

6. A practical guide to power-napping

7. 100 of the best april fools pranks...

#7: Alabama Changes the Value of PiThe April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. Before long the article had made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly made its way around the world, forwarded by people in their email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by a physicist named Mark Boslough.