I would agree, though they seem to be getting better. We'll see how Radio Free Albemuth turns out when it's released next year.

A Scanner Darkly: Excellent, but would be better without the video processing.
Paycheck: Awful (duh, what can you expect from Ben Affleck)
Minority Report: Blah. Cool effects, but movie is spoiled by Tom Cruise overacting.
Screamers: Good, but mostly thanks to Peter Weller (he's always good)
Total Recall: Good despite being unfaithful to the short story
Imposter: Haven't seen it.
Next: Haven't seen it. Looks awful. Nicholas Cage = instant fail.

A Scanner Darkly was the closest to the source material (almost line for line) although i didn't interpret the ending the same way they made it in the movie. When I read the ending I got the sense that he wasn't completely fried out of his mind and had been playing the people who put him in it.

I agree with your opinions on the other ones. However, when they are awful they are awful b/c they really deviate from the source material in such a way you loose the paranoia associated with them.

Now if anyone can ever do Ubik...

any version without harrison's narration is crap, IMO. the first version was the best. possibly my favorite movie of all time, and definitely the first 'R' rated movie i ever saw (i was 14). all the 'new' scenes were crap, and a unicorn?! pffft.

Actually, almost all the rest of us loved it. It was also highly critically acclaimed as well. Some call it the best scifi movie of all time.

Absolutely.

Could not disagree more. The voiceover and narrative dumbed down the story to a point that made it little more than a stereotypical product of the Hollywood sci-fi sausage factory. You want your movies to provoke some thought, or you want them to be Big Mac's?

I'd prefer to watch a movie with a little more meat on the bones than say "Armageddon".

you are welcome to your opinion. comparing armageddon with blade runner is irresponsible.

Sure you didn't mean to type "unfair" rather than "irresponsible"?

:D

i chose my words very carefully. armageddon is a stupid movie, and i mean literally stupid: conceptually, cinemagraphically, dialogue, directing, acting, music score, completely idiotic. to compare armageddon with blade runner in any sense is simply, well, irresponsible.

You might try carefully considering a different adjective.

also, if i said that it was "unfair", that would be implying that there was some sort of comparison. which there isn't. in any way. at all. period.

nope. it is irresponsible, as it may give others a false sense of what the movie is like. you should choose your comparisons more carefully. ;)

Go back and re-read my original post. We (you and I...) are comparing two versions of the same movie. My assertion is that one (your preferred version) is dumbed down for the masses, i.e. the same type of movie-going folks that prefer mass produced formulaic swill such as Armageddon. They wouldn't understand the movie if it wasnt written to that level, probably one of the reasons it didn't do so well - no mass appeal.


Now trying to compare a 944 to a 911, THAT would be irresponsible and unfair....there is no comparison to a 911. You should know that...

:D:D:D

wow... bringing a 911 into the argument. i guess i am lost.

i am sorry you feel it was dumbed down. perhaps you should re-read my first comment. especially where i state that it is my OPINION. you are still welcome to yours.

Question re: Harrison's narration: I assume the words he speaks are in the book. If so, why is it dumbing down the movie to include them? I saw the original in the theatre, and I didn't feel like it was a negative.

It's been awhile since I've seen the movie, and I've got a Director's Cut on VHS I picked up a few years ago from half.com that I haven't watched yet... don't know where it is... last time I looked for it, it wasn't with the rest of my stuff. My son may have borrowed it.

I agree that it's one of the best sci-fi flicks ever made.

i've read the book and the movie is much interpreted. the narration does not come straight from the book. i happen to like movies that are narrated, as long as the narration is good, which, in my opinion, it is in bladerunner.