Last night, the hubs decided that he wanted to watch some classic movies, so since we are who we are, our version of a classic movie translated into watching Blade Runner,* a first time viewing for both of us.
Our verdict of the movie itself was kind of a toss up. Even though I enjoyed the atmospheric, neo-noir-ness of the movie, and of course, I loved that Los Angeles kind of reminded me of Fifth Element meets Serenity, we weren’t really fans of the ending.
That’s OK. Whatever fault we found in the ending, the movie more than made up for it with a warbly, Kenny G-like soundtrack that we were way too immature not to mock, and a random cameo of a galloping unicorn.
(That feeling of “what?” that you’re experiencing now…yeah, us too.)
Anyway…
I think the best part of the movie watching experience was seeing all the far out future-y things that 2019 will supposedly have for us and yelling at the TV every now and again:
Hey, where is my spaceship?
I want a synthetic owl!
How come I don’t have a robot servant that will ultimately malfunction and try to kill me yet??
Blade Runner is just the last movie in a line of science fiction movies** that we’ve either watched or re-watched recently that’s made us ask that question. I mean, come on, Back to The Future II?! I’ve wanted a hoverboard since rumors spread in my fifth grade class that Mattel was secretly developing the toy. So, tick-tock. 2015 is just around the corner. It’s about time you deliver.
(I would prefer my hoverboard in silver, but won’t complain if I get it in pink.)
So, how about you? Have you watched a movie recently that’s made you feel gypped about the future world that we’re supposedly living in? What techno gizmo do you want people to start inventing already??
*You were probably surprised it wasn’t Die Hard, but no need to call the Fringe division on us–we gorged on action movies last week for the hubs’s birthday. ^_^
**At least Dune has the decency to be set 30,000 years into the future, and Star Wars is set “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”
Liza Kane 
I remember watching that TV show ‘Beyond 2000’ way back when I was a kid, and then it was actually beyond 2000 and none of the things had happened! Sadness.
ugh, all those lovely predictions, so optimistic of our progress, only to let us down!
Random: I was actually one of the weirdos that wanted *something* to happen when Y2K actually went down…alas, not even a glitch!
I haven’t seen that one either. I’m super excited that they are starting to work on cars that drive themselves (seriously, I can’t wait to program my car to drive somewhere and spend the whole trip reading =)
Oh yes! I love that idea! I remember that Arnold movie, Sixth Day–they all had cars that drove themselves!! Yay innovation! ^_^
Blade Runner is one of my fave films. I’m old enough to have seen it when it first came out, back in the day, it blew your mind away, it was like nothing you’d seen before.
I think the themes and concept is still fabulous! Admittedly, if I didn’t know that it was supposed to be 2019 and the soundtrack was more timeless, I would have been as sucked in and impressed as any other scifi movie…except for that unicorn scene (which I don’t think was present in the original theatrical release)
It looks a bit dated now, I watched it a while back, and some of it, had “eighties” written on it, like Daryl Hannah’s hairdo and make up for example. You know, I don’t even remember the unicorn, it must not have been in the original one. Must go google that now 🙂
Ridley Scott added the unicorn scene in there for ambiguity–supposedly to have us wonder if Harrison Ford was in fact a replicant of Sean Young’s generation.
I think it’s still futuristic…the costuming seems dated but doesn’t seem any more outlandish than what was presented in Fifth Element or even The Hunger Games.
Oh yes! I remember now! I must watch the Fifth Element sometime, I saw it ages ago but hardly remember 🙂
Do you know what version of Blade Runner it was? The Director’s Cut and Final Cut have a different ending then the original.
It was the director’s cut…we didn’t like the ambiguous ending. I heard the original had an epilogue scene with Harrison Ford and Sean Young traveling over lush terrain.
We just couldn’t get over the silly unicorn thing 😉
Synthetic owl? I need to watch this movie. (You’re not the only person who’s missed out on some “classic” sci-fi.)
As for hoverboards: http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/gadgets-electronics/stories/back-to-the-future-hover-board-to-hit-stores (close, but not quite.)
In the Blade Runner future, animals are rare and expensive so they have synthetic animals that look like the real things! (much like human replicants!)
So they didn’t have an owl but they did have a bird…I just wanted an owl! 😉
(and boo Mattel! I want my board to hover! Back to the drawing board with you!)