Comments on This Weekend at the Movies

Blade Runner: Possibly the best movie, ever. In whichever version.

Interesting.

I'll second SDA in SEA's claim.

I loved Elizabeth starring Cate Blanchett when it hit theaters nearly ten years ago; the acting, directing, writing, costumes --all flawless and beautiful. Even so, I wasn't that thrilled about seeing Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Not until the HORRIBLE reviews started pouring in, that is!

The AP reviewer actually invoked the hallowed Showgirls name, and suddenly I pictured Blanchett in full Elizabeth drag asking people if they liked her nails!!

Needless to say, that firmly moved Elizabeth: The Golden Age from the Maybe to the MUST SEE column in my book.

Though I'm really more about excited about the next film in the trilogy:

E 3: We Are Not Amused

*OR*

E 3: Rise of the Machines

Anyone seen Golden Age? Does it live up to the notorious, delicious, campy hype?

Blade Runner: but the important thing is are they showing a 35mm print, or a cooler 70mm blow-up?

Elizabeth: the previews make it pretty clear that this is a must-NOT-see, with historical accuracy along the lines of the ghastly "A Knight's Tale".

Ridley Scott rules. I'm going to see Blade Runner today. YAY!!!

@5: 35mm. Anyway, blowing up a 35mm film to a 70mm print would be mostly pointless; what makes 70mm films cool (and Cinerama is screening a bunch of them over the next 6 months) is that the cameras actually recorded more data and therefore detail at the time of filming. If you've ever seen a 16mm film blown up to 35mm--lots of indies do this to save money--you'll see a romantic lack of detail, not increased resolution. That said, this restoration includes footage that was rescanned in minute detail and then touched up, so it will look more precise than previous versions.

If the actors who played Ian Curtis and his wife don't get some kind of award recognizing their outstanding efforts in the film, the movie industry is even more elitist than I thought. They did an excellant job and the movie was great as well.

I'm in New York City right now, and I will tell you point blank that this city has NOTHING on Seattle's film culture. A few of the museums are playing a cool movie or two, but every other cinema in town is playing wide release films, 9/10 of which are big budget American movies. The Seattle movie scene kicks ass!!!