Wednesday, November 15, 2017

FTM 416 - BLADE RUNNER 2049

Patrick, JB, and Jan B. get back to baseline and finally catch up on one of the year's most ambitious sequels.



Download this episode here. (46.4 MB)

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Also discussed this episode: Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Wonderstruck (2017), The Beguiled (2017), I Love You Daddy (2017)

33 comments:

  1. Jan-cast! Awesome, can't wait to listen. Really happy you've done a podcast on this movie. It's probably my favorite of the year so far, so I'm exciting to hear your thoughts (even if you guys "tear it a new one")

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  2. Jan hits it right on the head. Regarding predatory behavior, it's definitely about power, regardless of the industry. It's a much bigger problem than just within entertainment.

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  3. SPOILER FREE OPINION : I concur with your opinion

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  4. Great podcast as usual. It's always refreshing to hear that decency is the prevailing want of most of the modern world these days. It's also encouraging to hear individuals that you respect, such as yourselves, discuss these topics and shed light on them. I know its a podcast about film but film is a powerful tool/outlet for change, as we all know, so anytime you want to talk about these topics on the podcast, I think the majority of the listners/fans of F This Movie will embrace it happily with open arms!

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  5. Hearing Jan talk about Blade Runner reminds me of hearing Erica(sp?) talk about Hoop Dreams and fills me with such film joy it's infectious. You folks made my morning. #JBhatesthedutch

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    1. On Jared Leto's blindness...I wonder if the way Tyrell is dispatched in BR had a hand in creating that aspect of the character from the jump, or if it was just a stupid Jared Leto choice.

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    2. That's an interesting connection! Clearly themes of eyes, and of doubling/mirroring, are part of the rhetoric of both films, so I definitely think you're on to something. I also thought his pale, blank eyes were both a callback to the "eye shine" of replicants from the original movie, as well as an intentional contrast to the black, blank eyes of the Joi advert that speaks to K at the end. And yeah, to me Leto's choices seem just... off. I wish I connected more with his characterization of someone who should be dynamic and compelling but to me seemed almost loony.

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  6. Slight quibble: Sean Young was, in fact, brought in for the Young Rachel sequence. She did a motion-capture thingy, and recorded dialogue.

    But at the risk of sounding dismissive: this might be one of my favorite podcasts you've ever done. You three flow so effortlessly across topics that it makes me swoon with movie love. Thank you for continuing to be the best place in the world for people like me.

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  7. I wonder if there are so many shitty men out there, or if it is just a few ruining it for everyone - well I tend to the first and I feel ashamed. All of these stories always let me reflect on my own personal behaviour and insecurity towards women and I often discuss these with my female friends and they assure me that I don't need to worry... yet I feel guilty sometimes because I did ask a girl out like three times (and always getting a no, so I did not respect that), or giving a massage unasked. I wasn't always as reflective as I am now. Also I can barely imagine what some women must go through in their life and nearly all have experienced. I alone know three who got raped, either in their youth, as a child or in adulthood, not even talking about molested, daily sexism or the cases in my circle of friends I don't know about. It's insane...

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    1. the #metoo campaign and the allegations reported in the media have also made me reflect a lot on my past behavior. I'm 30 now but even as recently as 3 years ago I was shitty and awful to the women in my life by downplaying their concerns or just not listening to them. I've also engaged in predatory behavior in my early 20s that disgusts me to reflect upon. I'm ashamed and I wish I could take things back, and I just hope that I'm more disgusted by my past actions then the women who had to put up with me.

      I like to think I'm a better man today but I'm sure I still have a lot to learn. That's why these campaigns and surfacing allegations are so important. Our society needs a shock to its system so that the next generation will live in a world where toxic masculinity isn't considered normal or expected.

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  8. You guys are killing me with the french accent. But you’re very funny about it, so it’s fine. Though i keep wanting to shout in my phone how to say these words properly.

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  9. On another subject, how happy are you guys that the Dark Universe has been put on ice?

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    1. Not saying it needed to happen, but I was intrigued to see Condon do his Bride thang.

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  10. It's not just Hollywood. Rich & powerful men have been taking advantage of women for hundreds of years. From Genghis Khan and his 500 wives to insert any dictators name to Jim Bakker to Bill Clinton. Social media makes it easier for people to come forward and that's a good start.

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  11. Everything about this society obsessed with power at the expense of others sickens me. As others have said, a dialogue is the place to start and I appreciate those with a platform (you all) are doing so. I didn't come to this site because it has people like me, but I have been overjoyed to discover that it does as time as gone on.

    As for Blade Runner 2049. Great podcast. It was nice to have Jan, the Blade Runner guru involved. Oh and JB...he is ok too.

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  12. Thank you Jan... reading hundreds of articles and listening to hundreds of hours of talk about #MeToo, Weinstein, etc., you're the first to mention anything remotely related to redemption. The public disparaging of this Hollywood figures is very, very important, but understanding why they are doing these things, fixing the behavior, and ultimately forgiving them in due time is even more important.

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  13. All I'm saying is if there was a weekly podcast of Jan and JB I would listen to it religiously.

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  14. I've listened now to the whole thing. At first I wanted to disagree about Blade Runner 2049 being somewhat sexist and explain that with the world the movie is presenting... and than I got reminded that Robin Wright plays a female in position of power - so it is not necessarily a sexist future - so why present it that way? Or is she only in a position of power BECAUSE she is has a strong masculine, power-hungry vibe in this? And are women generally, like the replicants reflect, still or even more seeking for the approval by men (e.g. beeing the best even if they can not have children etc.). But that is me making excuses, nothing what the movie really is saying.
    Great podcast. Thank you!

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  15. Long time listener first time commenter.
    Firstly I personally think this film is probably the best film to come out this year. Yes it's the sequel to one of the all time greatest cinematic MASTERPIECES. Yes it's adult sci-fi. Yes it's new auteur on the block Dennis Villeneuve's latest. But thank the movie gods it's not the money hungry,35 years too late ego cash in blockbuster that could have been (just think of that OTHER Scott mongrel sci-fi franchise flogger that came out this year,YIKES).
    No this was THE worthy successor and in its own right a masterpiece on MANY levels (one level being art production,Jan I'm sorry but you are most definitely wrong about all those CGI landscapes,they were REAL models. I noticed it in Vegas but to my absolute surprise learned all landscape shots were models! Do some research first before discussing guys.) Truly cinematic sci-fi that movie lovers should have flocked to see IN THE CINEMA,but didn't. SO SAD.
    But regarding the so called sexism in the movie, no one picked up on that K is living in a woman's world. He is either controlled, manipulated (whether by accident and on purpose), fascinated by or out right fighting against (and barely winning) female characters. Most of the characters in the film that are pro-active are female. Lastly look back on Villleneuves films (especially Enemy and Arrival). Every single one deals with the battle (or mutual understanding) of the sexes. It is a theme he constantly investigates. VIVRE DUNE!!!!!!!!

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    1. Sicario and Arrival also centeres around themes regarding gender roles. Sicario to the extreme with its themes about rape.

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    2. Thanks for commenting, SoSaid! I 100% agree that movie lovers -- and even movie likers -- should do everything they can to see BR49 on the biggest screen they can find. It's gorgeous. Maybe I overstated my opinion of the CGI "landscapes", or was misinterpreted -- I know Villeneuve went to great effort to build practical sets; I remember also seeing some cool video on Deakins' use of ring lights to get the look he wanted (#research). While DV's use of CGI was limited, it wasn't nonexistent (he's stated as such) and I think the way it was used was intentionally front and center -- most clearly, in the substitution of the giant CGI Joi in BR49 for BR's floating billboard Geisha (which was a practical effect, with the image projected onto a screen texturized to look like many small screens.) It's that feel -- where instead of BR's buzzing neon, BR49's world is lit and littered with holograms -- for which the relationship of Joi to K serves (in my mind) as a sort of metaphor. You're right, DV did use real models -- and even the phrase "real models" is layered with meaning when we're talking about either BR or BR49.
      I will differ on the idea that K lives in "a woman's world." As a former, current, and future woman myself, I can report that any world where I'd constantly encounter sexualized female holograms (some both gigantic and naked) would not remotely feel like a woman's world. Maybe you mean to point out that K is surrounded by women; by my count, 7 of the film's top 10 characters are women. Yet consider: of those 7, Wallace/his company created 5 (Joi, Luv, Freya, Mariette, Rachel.) Four work for Wallace (Luv, Stelline, Rachel, and even Joi, who they use to find K.) Three are murdered by Wallace or his agent (Joi, Rachel, Madam) and at least one other would be if she were found (Freya - and you could argue that, if Wallace found out who Stelline was, he would immediately dissect her.) Luv is physically and intellectually powerful, but slavishly devoted to Wallace; her choices are all in support of his goals. Madam has a position of power and makes her own choices -- but she clearly feels that she needs to de-feminize herself to wield that power, and the consequence of having her own goals is a knife in the womb. Any time any of the women are "proactive", they pay a price or are serving Wallace. Two literally live in a box (Joi and Stelline) and Freya's "box" is to live in hiding for having different goals than Wallace. I'd even argue that Madam, Mariette, and Luv all live in the metaphoric "box" of their assigned roles. It's not really women K is fighting, or is manipulated by, if those women are acting (whether by accident or on purpose) on behalf of Wallace. Yes, Madam is K's boss, but he does defy her -- in fact, K defying her power is what starts him on the road to his own humanity. The sheer number of female characters, and the various ways their power is denied, corrupted, manipulated, and punished only reinforce the film's theme that women in this world are a commodity.
      I completely agree that Villeneuve has made terrific movies with interesting, powerful, nuanced female characters - including BR49. On the Cloud Atlas podcast, Patrick and I talk about how much I LOVE Amy Adams' character from Arrival!

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    3. I'm also unsure that BR2049 needs to be a strongly feminist movie, so do we have to search for it in it to defend the movie? In my opinion it makes a huge mistake with showing Ford at the last person in this... it's not about him anymore. Either this movie is about K and how he still finds a way to rebell, well knowing that Wallace did not design him to do that. Or it's about Stelline because she is something that should not exist - so show her or him in the end. In both cases, it's not about feminism but something "bigger", a general idea of life. Yet, you can criticize the movie for either showing us a still male dominated world, but not really addressing that, or simply being a tonedeaf when it comes to the point of representation of women.
      Look at Mad Max Fury Road for example: That is a movie with feminist themes and getting it right imo.

      And sorry for my mistakes, I'm not native.

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  16. Thanks for another great podcast.
    I think that 2017 is a much better year compared to 2016. Its been one of the best years in ages.
    Get Out, Icarus, Baby Driver, Dunkirk, IT and Darkland has already set a high bar for the coming award season. aAnd i'm looking forward to The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Three Billboards, Call Me by Your Name and Good Time.

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  17. Do agree with JB that K's fate wasn't definitely stated

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    1. I thought it was implied by the background music (which was based on the same music from Roy Batty's final scene) that K did die.

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  18. Whenever Partrick or JB says, “I miss Doug” on the podcast, my heart does a werid thing.

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  19. Loved this episode! Thank you so much for posting. More Jan please.

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  20. Unpopular opinion: Are we really at a point now where we have to look for misogny in every movie ?

    I do agree with Patrick that there are too many films out with a man as the lead character telling its story from a predominantly male point of view but that just comes from a general lack of diversity among people who get to make movies. If that's really gonna change it has to come from the people who make those descisions.

    BUT

    No filmmaker should feel forced to tell a story in a particular way because of the current state of the movie industry and because there is a certain point of view missing in mpst movies.

    Every filmmaker should get to tell the story he wants to tell exactly the way he wants to tell it.

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  21. Oh I forgot: Great Episode. Thanks a lot !

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