Huckleberries Online

M&M: ‘Blade Runner’ Screening

Posted by DFO

Dec. 3, 2009 8:15 a.m. • 7 comments

OK, so I didn’t get to see the “director’s cut” of “Blade Runner” tonight. Instead, I got to see the “final cut,” as several knowledgeable film fans pointed out at the Magic Lantern screening. One of those was Marvin Smith, the Eastern Washington University professor who presented the movie and led the post-screening discussion. Smith and I were two of maybe 90 fans who showed by to see one of the best sci-fi films ever made. Again on the big screen. The event was the final chapter of this fall’s SpIFF-sponsored Professor’s Series, a program that screens classic films and pairs them with audiences discussions. Some of the past films include “Jules and Jim,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Shane” (which I presented)/Dan Webster, Movies & More. More here.

Question: Which sci-fi movie is your favorite?

Seven comments on this post so far. Add yours!

BillH on December 03 at 9:07 a.m.
Blade Runner, by at least a length. Alien next. After that there’s a big pack, but a clear step down in my opinion, fill in as you wish.
Fixer on December 03 at 9:55 a.m.
Gotta go with Blade Runner, as well. I’m a sucker for the Matrix trilogy as well, but it’s not in the same league.

If only they could make movies that do William Gibson’s books justice…
Sisyphus on December 03 at 10:07 a.m.
My favorite genre. Therefore too many to be comprehensive. I recently saw the last Star Trek which was very good for that franchise. But I go back to the first, Le Voyage dans la Lune, and still find that fascinating from a historical perspective. There’s Frankenstein, Metropolis and King Kong. I love and own some 50s classics like Forbidden Planet. I find Ray Harryhausen’s stop gap animations really cool still.

The sixties were a wasteland. Then came 2001 and finally Star Wars, setting new standards for the genre. Something Lucas has yet to duplicate. I definitely like Ridley Scott’s dramatic infusions into the genre. He should never stop using Phillip K. Dick as an inspiration. I also saw the Japanese anime Akira for the first time recently. I had no idea anime could be so good.

Dune was one of my favorite books but the translations to screen never worked for me until the Sci Fi channel series came out. Even better was the Children of Dune series. I love love love Terry Gilliam movies like Brazil and Twelve Monkeys. Or real scary ones like Event Horizon. Donny Darko qualifies. I liked V for Vendetta. And Stormship Troopers.

So I can’t pick a favorite. I’m off to Netflix.
Sisyphus on December 03 at 10:12 a.m.
“If only they could make movies that do William Gibson’s books justice…”—agreed. Oddly enough, spouse of Sisyphus has become a big fan of his. She likes a good mind bender.
spokelooneh on December 03 at 12:29 p.m.
2001, a Space Odyssey, hands down #1.

Silent Running.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Running

Soylent Green.

The Omega Man
OrangeTV on December 03 at 2:36 p.m.
“Barbarella”, a campy, lightly psychedelic 1968 cult hit starring a foxy young Jane Fonda who roves around the galaxy scantily clad in a fur-lined spaceship, crashes on a planet full of evil robotic children whose destroy her fishnet tights with their chomping metal teeth, hooks up with a blind angel, is seduced by an evil lesbian ice queen and manages to burn out and break a torture device called an Orgasmatron. Needless to say, it’s a must-see flick.
Sisyphus on December 03 at 2:53 p.m.
I KNEW you’d post that one Orange cause you are the king of kitsch and the captain of camp. And I mean that in the best possible way. You need to open a shop. I think your perceptions are marketable.

I thought ‘orgasmatron’ was unique to Woody’ Allen’s Sleeper till I saw it. Unfortunately it had been over-hyped so my expectations for the movie were not realized. I put it in the same category as Logan’s Run and Zardoz.

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About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.