Tag Archives: Unknown

Podcast

MOV041: “More Human than Human”

Do androids dream of electric sheep? Can an identity be stolen completely in just a couple of days? Can you really solve a mystery by jumping back to the last 8 minutes of someone’s life? All this and news on this week’s COL Movies.

[display_podcast]

News:

The Past: Blade Runner (1982)

[asa]B000UBMSB8[/asa]

Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Howard, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos

Trivia:

  • While the film is loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”, the title comes from a book by Alan Nourse called “The Bladerunner”. William S. Burroughs wrote a screenplay based on the Nourse book and a novella entitled “Blade Runner: A Movie.”Ridley Scott bought the rights to the title but not the screenplay or the book. The Burroughs composition defines a blade runner as “a person who sells illegal surgical instruments”
  • Although Philip K. Dick saw only the opening 20 minutes of footage prior to his death on March 2, 1982, he was extremely impressed, and has been quoted by Paul Sammon as saying, “It was my own interior world. They caught it perfectly.” However neither Ridley Scott nor screenwriter David Webb Peoples actually read Dick’s novel.
  • Exasperated crews often referred to the film as “Blood Runner”.
  • Titles considered for the film include ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’, ‘Android’, ‘Mechanismo’, ‘Dangerous Days’, and finally ‘Blade Runner’. After the film had changed its name from ‘Dangerous Days’ to ‘Blade Runner’, Ridley Scott decided he didn’t like the new name, and tried to call the film ‘Gotham City’, but Bob Kane (comic book creator of Batman) wouldn’t sell the rights to the name, so it returned to being called ‘Blade Runner’.
  • Originally, the novel (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) was set in 1992, although later editions brought the date forward to 2021. The film makers initially identified the date as 2020, but settled on 2019 because 2020 sounded too much like the common term for perfect vision, 20:20.
  • Ridley Scott cast Rutger Hauer in the role of Roy Batty without actually meeting the actor. He had watched his performances in Turkish Delight (1973), Keetje Tippel (1975) and Soldier of Orange (1977) and was so impressed, he cast him immediately. However, for their first meeting, Hauer decided to play a joke on Scott and he turned up wearing huge green sunglasses, pink satin pants and a white sweater with an image of a fox on the front. According to production executive Katherine Haber, when Scott saw Hauer, he literally turned white.
  • Ridley Scott actually turned down directorial duties on the project as he was about to begin work on another science fiction adaptation, Dune

Talking Points:

  • All the different versions, deleted scenes not withstanding do you feel the studio was right in insisting Ridley Scott put Harrison Ford’s voice over into the movie?
  • Theatrical Release
  • International Release
  • Directors Cut
  • Final Cut
  • Work-print
  • Was this the Inception of its day? (controversy wise, not popularity wise) Is Deckard a replicant or no? Even the cast doesn’t agree…. Scott says yes, Ford and Hauer say no.

What We’ve Learned:

  • In 8 years, Los Angeles will somehow merge into Detroit
  • In 8 years we will have flying cars
  • The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long
  • Nothing is worse than having an itch that you can never scratch
  • “It’s time to die!”
  • It sucks to only have 4 years to live.
  • Adama is good at Origami

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: A sci-fi classic. Must have for any geek.
Ray: A very cerebral sci-fi flick, I don’t think anyone has nailed sci-fi / noir quite as well as this movie. still holding up after almost 30 years!
Steve: Always an amazing movie. However…this particular cut leaves some WTF moments. All depends on which version you cherish.

The Present: Unknown

Director: Juame Collet-Serra

Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aiden Quinn

Trivia:

  • Principal photography took place in early 2010 in Berlin, Germany, and in the Studio Babelsberg film studios.
  • The bridge the taxi plunges from is the Oberbaumbrücke.
  • The Friedrichstraße was blocked for several nights for the shooting of a car chase.
  • Some of the shooting was done in the Hotel Adlon. Other locations include the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin Central Station, Berlin Friedrichstraße station, Pariser Platz, Museum Island, the Oranienburger Straße in Berlin, and the Leipzig/Halle Airport.
  • According to Andrew Rona, the budget was $40 million. Dark Castle Entertainment contributed $30 million and German public film funds supported the production with €4,65 million (more than $6 million).
  • The film has received mixed to positive reviews, scoring 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 5.8/10, with the general consensus being “Liam Neeson elevates the proceedings considerably, but Unknown is ultimately too derivative — and implausible — to take advantage of its intriguing premise”.
  • Considerable praise has been placed on Neeson in the lead role and the unique premise of the film, and has comparisons with Neeson’s 2008 film Taken.
    * Richard Roeper gave the film a B+, reflecting “At times, Unknown stretches plausibility to the near breaking point, but it’s so well paced and the performances are so strong and most of the questions are ultimately answered. This is a very solid thriller.”

Talking Points:

  • So.. we figured this one out a long time ago.. but there was still a twist.

What We Learned:

  • Ask enough questions and the man who is lying will change his story
  • Germans are good at forgetting
  • Sentiment is always the first thing to go.
  • Don’t get your cyanide mixed up with your afternoon tea
  • There are obviously no patrol cars anywhere in Berlin

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: It’s a movie with a nice twist and resolution. Just wish it was better written.
Ray: Not Brilliant, Not Horrible, Once I got over the whole Total Recall thing and just relaxed.. it was entertaining. actors do a good job,… there is a twist at the end if you can stay entertained long enough to stay to the end.
Steve: I was a bad, bad movie reviewer. Life got in the way… I repent!

The Future: Source Code (4-1-2011)

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farminga

Trivia:

  • Topher Grace was considered for lead

Talking Points:

  • A dark version of groundhog day?

Summary:
An action thriller centered on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he’s part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: Interesting, feels like it might be a good movie, but feeling like it might go horribly wrong.
Ray: I think it looks entertaining, enough to go see.. which is why i put it on our list 😀
Steve: Very Groundhog’s Day meets Quantum Leap…but with a higher budget. Looks interesting and seems like something I’d enjoy.

Coming Attractions
The Past

[asa]B000066C6Z[/asa]

The Present

The Future

Download Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcast

MOV027: “I Hate L.A.”

A great producer dies. What the hell is Boylesque?, Avatar 2 Spoiler alert, Cloak and Dagger, Skyline, and Unknown.

[display_podcast]

News:

The Past:  Cloak and Dagger (1984)

[asa]B0003JAONG[/asa]

Director: Richard Franklin

Starring: Henry Thomas, Dabney Coleman, Christina Nigra, Michael Murphy

Trivia:

  • The video game market crashed in 1983 while this movie was being filmed, so although you see a ton of “Cloak and Dagger” video game cartridges for sale, all of them were fake as the 5200 version of this was never made
  • All the scenes of the game come from the arcade version which was released before the movie was filmed, all of the images displayed were streamed to the television when they were “played”
  • The elderly couple in the film, both had parts in the original psycho (1960) Richard Franklin directed the sequel Psycho II in 1983. The Couple were also married in real life for approximately 56 years until John McIntire’s death in 1991

Talking Points:

  • Was this the original “Giant Video Game Commercial” ?
  • Would a modern version (remake) of this movie work?
  • Did we really call game cartridges tapes?

What We’ve Learned:

  • Ingenuity and Contacts are better than bullets…… sometimes.
  • it’s perfectly ok for 9 year old little girls to ride the bus to the airport at midnight
  • Old women missing fingers are scary!!
  • Yep, we really did call them “tapes”.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Enjoyable movie.  Some might think it’s dated but for me, it didn’t.  I liked it.
Ray: This doesn’t stand the test of time very well…. if you were born after 1983, you MIGHT find this movie silly.
Steve: Absolutely dated, but the concept is cool.  When you’re a kid playing spy, who wouldn’t want to be a real spy?

The Present: Skyline

Director: The Brothers Strause

Starring: Eric Balfour, Donald Faison, Scottie Thompson, David Zayas

Trivia:

  • Film was completely financed by the directors.
  • Was almost entirely shot at Greg Strause’s condo
  • Shot entirely on new RED Cameras (4K Digital Cinema Camera 4k = 4096×3072 1080p = 1920×1080)
  • There are over 800 VFX shots in this movie…more than most major franchise movies
  • The Directors also happen to own the company that does all the visual FX for this flick (hydraulx)

Talking Points:

  • The Brothers Strause are being sued by Sony Pictures
  • Is it possible that this is just a modern B-Movie?
  • Another schizo movie?  What could have made it better?
  • Ending… W….T…..F…

What We Learned:

  • See those giant naval battleships burning? that probably means its NOT safe to go out into the water…
  • If you discover that you almost DIE every time you go outside.. maybe you shouldn’t go outside.
  • Adding giant vagina mouths to the aliens from ID4 doesn’t make them any better
  • It only takes a few seconds to fill up an enormous penthouse apartment with broken windows with gas fumes
  • An axe cant kill them, a gun cant kill them, hitting them with a car cant kill them, blowing them up with a nuke, cant kill them.. but beating them to death with your fists once you become one of them works like a charm!
  • If you get a tattoo by Kat Von D, make sure you get your money’s worth by constantly showing it in a movie you’re in.
  • Do not walk toward the light

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: They should have shortened this by an hour and just had it as the first part of the story.  Great visuals, but the story sucked.
Ray: Maybe visual effects guys…. should stick to visual effects. I wanted to see the train movie.
Steve: Yeah…overall epic fail.  Had some good ideas, just didn’t succeed in any them.

The Future: Unknown (2-18-2011)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Frank Langella, Aidan Quinn

Trivia:

  • based on the novel Out of My Head
  • Originally titled Unknown White Male.

Talking Points:

  • Originality?  (Seems like Total Recall in the present day)

Summary: A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is.

Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: This time his identity was Taken.
Ray: Looks like a interesting mystery action flick with a great cast! Qui Gon and Skeletor FTW !
Steve: Cast is very intriguing.  Might be worth it!

Coming Attractions:

The Past:
[asa]B00003CXI1[/asa]
[asa]B000W746GK[/asa]
[asa]B00005JMAH[/asa]
[asa]B000E6EK2Y[/asa]
[asa]B000W7F5SS[/asa]
[asa]B000ZECQ08[/asa]

The Present:

The Future:

Download Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download