ironymaiden: Animation of woman in movie theater surrounded by laughing people (movies)
[personal profile] ironymaiden
i watched Blade Runner many, many times on home video when i was inappropriately young. i'm the sort of person who is charmed when a newspaper gives politicians the Voight-Kampff test.* every time a walk sign makes an assistive noise, i internally chant "walk now walk now walk now".

the film led me to Phillip K. Dick's writing and a lifelong interest in a certain sort of fiction. it was my first introduction to climate change, to street noodles, to the idea of English-speaking white people as a minority culture, to flying cars, to mass extinction. i don't know if it blew my mind (because i wasn't formed enough) but it certainly made a lasting impression. i have lost count of the number of times i've seen it. my mental model of the film has the narration purely due to repetition, though i've seen the recuts most recently.

i was afraid of the new movie, but my woobies at Empire gave it five stars, and it was at the Bay, so on Monday i watched Blade Runner 2049.

it was good, really good. i don't want to say too much because i am so proud of the marketing avoiding spoilers, even though they would have attracted my attention.

bits of advice:

  • listen to the dialogue. there isn't much of it and a lot of it is significant.

  • there is violence against women. be prepared. i found some of it hard to take.

  • it's just as slow and arty as the first movie.


Wednesday was the SIFF members' meeting (AKA cheapest pass day) and a showing of I, Tonya. the Winter Olympics, and figure skating in particular, was something i followed avidly at the time (still do, but i don't watch as much television as i used to). it's interesting to have lived long enough to have movies made about events that i remember clearly. i have flashbulb memories of watching the 94 Olympics because i was in tour choir that year, so i was spending my February weekends doing run-outs to churches in the Mid-Atlantic and staying in host family homes watching on their television with other chorus kids.

the movie is good. it's a bit surreal at times, with occasional 4th wall breaks, and is darkly funny. what makes it all work is that the real story is so ridiculous. i do recommend seeing it, and then following up with the The Price of Gold, which includes the footage that is the source for much of the content of the film.

Margot Robbie disappears nicely into the role of Tonya. Sebastian Stan is nearly unrecognizable** as Jeff Gillooly. and Alison Janney is deliciously awful as Harding's mother. it was disconcerting for me, seeing these things i remember being recreated - the homemade costumes, Kerrigan screaming in pain, the restart at the Olympics.




*it's also a joke in the stage version of 21 Dog Years and my loud reaction embarrassed my seatmate to no end. in retrospect, that should have told me something i needed to know.

**Stan as Gillooly looks a lot like an ex. awk-ward.

Date: 2017-10-16 07:33 pm (UTC)
dorchadas: (JCDenton)
From: [personal profile] dorchadas
I'm amazed at the reviews. I haven't seen it yet, but I fully expected it to be garbage and I haven't seen a review yet from anyone less than "It was good." Most of them loved it.

it's just as slow and arty as the first movie.

Maybe I will have to block out time to see it.

Date: 2017-10-16 08:10 pm (UTC)
sistawendy: a brightly colored badge saying "FFED" (ffed)
From: [personal profile] sistawendy
every time a walk sign makes an assistive noise, i internally chant "walk now walk now walk now".

I'm not alone!

OK, I wasn't in a hurry to see 2049 before, but now I am.

Date: 2017-10-16 08:24 pm (UTC)
sistawendy: me in C18-inspired makeup looking amused (amused eighteenthcent)
From: [personal profile] sistawendy
Yes, I imagine so. I'll see if m'boy wants to go.

Date: 2017-10-25 01:55 pm (UTC)
batmarg: (Default)
From: [personal profile] batmarg
I'm so disappointed I didn't make it to what qualifies as my local cinema before they slid another movie in it's place. I'm glad to hear it was great though & it's giving me something to look forward to from the local rental place.

I saw it the original inappropriately young too. Oddly enough at school too. I was in the "gifted" program and we we discussing different societies and to encourage our creativity they had us come up w/ future societies and then one teacher had the idea to show us this movie. I think she forgot it wasn't all that kid-safe

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ironymaiden

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