Travelers season 3 (2018)

That was good.

There's so little science fiction on the glowing square nowadays, you treasure anything you can get. Oh there's plenty of "sci-fi", but precious little science fiction.

I appreciate the economy of story-telling, I appreciate the short-hand. I appreciate not being entirely dumbed down to. Of course its still there, to bring along the larger audience, but I appreciate that they try to take it up a level.

I like how we finally get a glimpse of the future, and its just an irrelevant footnote. I like how they keep pushing the borders of the metaphysics (multiple timelines).

As annoyed as I am by some characters (McClaren's wife) I appreciate how even that little bit of backstory becomes a plot hook.

Travelers is a name now, even if they never make another show. It's almost up there with X-Files, or Lost, or Buffy. It's staked out a bit of territory, and it owns it. And I'm glad I was there to see it.

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon (2015)

That filled in a lot of gaps in knowledge I really didn't need, but its still interesting.

Seventies (2015), Eighties (2016), Nineties (2017)

2018.12.04
The seventies series was quite good, same so far for the eighties. It's interesting to go back and get a different perspective, and find gaps in your knowledge (and fill them).

2018.12.11
The eighties felt really brief, which makes sense since that's my decade. Still good.

Sleepy Hollow seasons 1 - 4 (2013-2017)

I forgot to put this one to rest and it deserves a decent burial, at least.

Looking for things to watch, this filled a curious niche, like somewhere between Buffy and X-Files. Nowhere near as good, of course, but sort of the economy version, and they made it with a bit of heart, and sometimes a little bit of smarts that keeps your attention. Some of the attention to detail is surprising in a show that seems like shallow fun entertainment, and there are so many callbacks near and distant that it gives the show a deeper lore than you might expect.

So, cheap shallow fun, everything usually turns out ok, so something nice to watch an episode of at the end of the day as you work your way towards sleep. And then, as with most such products, you notice its just not that good anymore, and then you realize you haven't watched it in a week.

And now its been months. A brief look at its current status, cancelled, no surprise for a show wandering away from the core that made it fun, and there's an avalanche of spoiler there's no escaping from, and makes me not even want to try the show again.

I might as well read synopsis to see where this burning airplane finally landed.

!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepy_Hollow_(season_1)

Taken (2008)

When it came out I avoided it, as it seemed too formulaic and boring.

Then it became it an internet meme, but still formulaic and boring.

Then it became old, and forgotten, and nostalgic.

So now I watch it, but it's formulaic and boring. Only the nostalgia factor remains.

Freaky Friday (2003)

Didn't know what to expect, but I knew it was a Disney product, so I knew the parameters.

Surprisingly pleasant, even despite that.

I've heard of Lindsay Lohan, and that she is/was some troubled celebrity, so I guess that's interesting. Reading the wikis, I realize now what I really should have watched was Mean Girls.

Wind River (2017)

Worth watching.

Has a strong western feel, with hints of Silence of the Lambs, Fargo, Shoot to Kill, No Country for Old Men, etc.

Reign of Fire (2002)

Looking for stuff to watch on HBO Now before cancelling (end of promotion pricing); find Reign of Fire, don't think I watched it, got some name actors, why not give it a try.

There's a lot to nitpick here, like a magical helicopter that never needs refueling, but in a dragon movie, you're willing to just let that go. It's basically a zombie movie, and the difference is there's a lead zombie you can kill to win the war.

Plot doesn't matter, but writing and acting does. Good actors, OK writing in some spots but mostly just OK.

Production is overall good, but they made everyone look too pretty. We're supposed to be on the knife edge of hunger here, but everyone looks like they've been feasting on craft services. They could have at least made people look a little more gaunt and harrowed with makeup, but no.

When did CGI get good? Because 2002 dragons from a medium range look pretty decent, but up close do not pass.

I feel bad for the good actors here, who had very little good writing to work with, but sold it fairly well anyway.

I think I've watched this before, but its so forgettable I don't recall. Part of the reason I am writing this blog is to remind future self you have been here before, please don't bother coming this way again.

Shape of Water (2017)

This movie got academy awards because of all the Hollywood self references.

Inverse story of The Little Mermaid is fine, I can suspend disbelief for the dude in the rubber fish suit, but you lose me at evil 50s dad. Our culture has been making fun of 50s dad for 50 years now - when is it enough? Does anyone around even remember 50s dads anymore, with their coonskin capped children watching TV, while the wife goes on about jello molds and he has to escape to his shark finned behemoth of a car to feel safe? I had a 70s dad, so I'm OK, but were those of you stuck with 50s dad still so traumatized by it that you're still making movies about him half a century later?

Solo (2018)

Just like Rogue One, you don't just forget this movie after you watched it, you forget it while you watch it.

The characters in the third hour don't feel like the characters in the second hour, who don't feel like the characters in the first hour, and I don't mean to imply there's character growth, it just feels like they were written by different people, making it hard to relate to anyone.

I've been a fan of the adventures of young Han Solo ever since the Brian Daley trilogy. When I saw Firefly I thought this was the closest we're ever going to get to seeing those adventures on a screen. Sorry Solo, but Firefly is a better adventures of young Han than you (and the Daley books might be better still).

Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life & Times of Katrina Gilbert (2014)

Watched some time around Sep. 2018.

Uh... depressing? inspiring? moving?

(E) All of the above.

Wonder Woman (2017)

Podcasters I trusted told me this was worth watching. They were wrong. It wasn't bad, I didn't hate it, or even dislike it. I was entertained enough to keep watching; I was unoffended enough not to shut it off. But I gained nothing by seeing it.

It (2017)

This showed up in the new bin on HBO streaming, so why not. I'm not usually into mainstream or horror, but I heard it was a reinvention, or at least reinvigoration, of the genre.

It was not.

Garden State (2004)

I've been hearing about this movie on and off for years, had some vague notion to see it if it was ever convenient. Tonight, it was.

It was OK. It was kind of pleasant and easy to watch, but I am not left with much to take away. Maybe that will come later, but at least its checked off my list.

I was expecting a little more NJ for something titled Garden State. The rampant drug use, random mixed poverty and wealth, and luscious greens were all spot on though.

Alien: Covenant (2017)

TL;DR = whoever is running the Alien franchise hates science and reason and needs to be curb stomped.

I remember how much Prometheus sucked (how did that movie even make money) so I was on guard for the sequel. Avoiding spoilers, preliminary reports indicated more of the same suck. So I'm only watching this because its on HBO and costs me nothing extra, and I was tired of looking for something else to watch.

It sucks. A little less at first, but then it gets sucked into a black hole of suck. I keep getting tricked that this might be a sci-fi movie, and might try to do something remotely smart, but its always a horror movie, and it just needs to keep setting up the next scare, no matter the cost.

Once I realize this, I can kind of let go. But the sci-fi trappings still have a hook in me. In the Alien universe, human ships always seem to have a synthetic on board. On a ship the size and importance of a colony ship with 2000+ people, why only have one? Why not have 100? And why keep only one active at a time, when you could have several online at once, so if there is an emergency they can be all over it (and they could keep an eye on each other for "Three Laws of Robotics" violations). And if more help is needed they can uncrate more of themselves as needed without ever waking up a colonist.

A new planet is found (because of a distress signal) that is just as viable if not more so than the potential colony site they are headed for. Why wouldn't they want to check it out? And yet they make the captain seem crazy for just wanting to check it out.

Speaking of the crew, these people seem like random civilians who were shoehorned into the executive positions. There is nothing professional or disciplined about them. Who in their right mind would entrust these people to run a fast food franchise location, let alone a big colony ship that must have cost a fortune to build?

So they get to the planet, to check it out. So far, I'm OK with this. Then they immediately send down a lander with half the command staff. What!? Why not orbit for a while, and collect data? And only after you have all that info (take a month at least, what's the hurry), send down drones to collect more data, and then send down a team of synths to collect even more data. And only then start risking humans. And then, not the top leadership (such as it is).

And even if you do send down humans, why trust the magically Earth-like environment? Why not wear suits until you have completed the biological survey, at the least? I'm glad to see they make a nod at least to a bio assay, but very late into the game, and seemingly as an afterthought.

And then the orbital crew starts making increasingly dumb risks to try and save the field crew, who should rightly be expendable in comparison to the ship. There are night managers at convenience stores who wouldn't make this many bad decisions this quickly. At this point I shut off the TV.

I know, its horror, not sci-fi. I hope I don't get bored enough to start it up again. I did like the interaction between old and new model synthetics, so that bit of acting might be worth it.

Future me, if you are reading this, don't come back this way. You have been warned.

Handmaid's Tale season 2 (2018)

2018.05.18
About halfway through the season - when did this show turn into torture porn? Did they do some testing and find that people really just want to watch our hero suffer and stare into space a lot? And because there's only so much of that you can do, we need to introduce B and C level characters who suffer even crueler fates?

2018.07
I don't know who the hero of this story is but the villain is June. Everyone she touches is made worse by the interaction. June routinely gets people to risk their lives at the wrong time and get stomped on for it. But June is a survivor, and often gets away with it with little more than an inconvenience.

Season two should have been an episode or two, and then on to the revolution. It felt really stretched. And yet this is Hulu's cash cow so of course it will be watered down some more and pushed out again.

Lost In Space season 1 (2018)

2018.05.18
Saw episode one last night. It's not good, but its good enough. Those of us who want to watch sci-fi learn to lower the bar or go without. It might get better, but first impressions are usually mostly correct.

2018.07
I vaguely remember quitting on episode 2 or 3 as it got exponentially dumber.

Westworld season 2 (2018)

2018.04.24
Resubscribe to HBO just to watch Westworld.

After the mysterious season one ender, there's a surprising amount of actual new information, but still no visit to the real world. More like the real world comes to us, in the form of soldiers and some salvage mission.

Now more than ever, you don't know who's human and who's a repli^H^H^H^H^H rob^H^H^H host. But now we've seen the hosts brain, and its a plasticy metally structure the size of an orange inside the skull - you'd think this would be trivial to scan for, even at a distance. These soldiers should have equipment that lets them easily do this, but the plot seems to require they don't.

The conversation between the man in black / park owner and the park operator / Anthony Hopkins as a kid felt really cool and pivotal to the story, and utterly undercut by the weird voice affect they decided to shoehorn in. It almost worked, but it was so overproduced I couldn't make out the words.

That was a very nice episode one, looking forward to next Sunday.

2018.05.18
About four or five episodes in. I've been wondering if the real world was going to be exotic or mundane, they went with mundane. I'm a little disappointed, I guess I wanted to see a clean and antiseptic utopia, to contrast the dirty and chaotic theme parks. Or maybe aliens. Well, there's still always time for it to turn out that the human race died long ago, and newer model A.I.s are playing with the old.

Just how real world is the theme park? It seems huge, and yet there's never any air traffic. Now that the park is in a state of emergency, why not send in the air cavalry to take back the park? Why isn't there a backup command center in case the inner one falls? Why isn't there a kill switch that would shut down every bot in the park. I'm still extending credit on suspension of disbelief, but I feel like I'm not going to get my money back.

2018.08
I guess I never wrote anything about the ending of season two? I guess it left that little of an impression on me. I'm not sure if this show is just flailing about, struggling to stretch the narrative to deal with unexpected success, or if they're actually going somewhere with this. I feel like its the second Matrix movie, where they are obviously starting to go off the rails, but we're hoping they can still save it.

Travelers season 1-2 (2016-2017)

2018.04.12
Three episodes in, it starts out promising.

Reminds me of Sense8 (diverse personalities and roles, becoming a team), Source Code (sending people into the past to change it or learn from it), Dollhouse (downloading new personalities), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (sending personnel, equipment, and messages into the past to accomplish objectives). It also has a Vancouver kind of early seasons X-Files vibe, which may or may not be intentional.

Let's see where this goes.

2018.04.16
Spoilers, always on, but now especially. I just got to the episode where stuff is really starting to happen. It's been all setup, and now the various travelers are coming together to do something. And we learn a fair bit about what went wrong in their past, and why its so important to stop it.

I really like the engineer, except for the few moments where she needs to carry the idiot ball to create some tension. It's possibly the most important moment in human history, and she dismisses the help so she can stay behind and turn the switch herself. She's so adamant about doing things by the numbers, but she's willing to throw it all away to save a handful of lives who will probably be erased in a few minutes anyway?

Still, as frustratingly poorly written as that was, it was worth it to see one soldier after another get "possessed" until finally the boss bad guy seems to get what's going on, turns the gun on himself, only to be out of bullets, get possessed, and turn the key himself in a moment of triumph. You can almost see the slow mad scramble in the future as they line up people to go back and soak up the bullets and get the job done.

I was starting to get bored of this show as it veered into a procedural, and then it squarely brings it back into sci-fi. The fact that the team, after mission success, doesn't get erased is nice extra moment of awesome, but then you realize its a TV show, we've invested a lot into these actors and characters, and we can't just toss them away. I hope what comes next can live up to this.

2018.04.18
And another nice subversion, as you think a character is going one way, goes another way, and as it turns out the organization is not so dumb and had a contingency plan. Interesting that everyone present gets to vote on the fate of the traitor.

Its also an economical bit of storytelling that the person sent back to be a prisoner for life finds being a prisoner here more satisfying than being free in the future.

2018.04.22
Now that's a season ender. I like how things are getting more and more sci-fi. Of course the director is an AI, makes nothing but sense. Can't wait for season 2.

2018.05.08
Almost done with season two, and I feel a growing sadness that it will end soon. All the things I like about this show just keep on growing. I love how this show looks like it was made on TV show budget, but keeps out sci-fi'ing shows and movies with many times its budget. I like how much of the show is quiet and thoughtful, and doesn't fall into stupid writing and plot holes.
I search for travelers season three renew, and it looks like shooting started in March, so hopefully it will be less than a year from now before there's more.

2018.05.15
Finished season two. Good ending, it makes sense. I was just thinking earlier today that if any travelers were discovered they would seem like a terrorist cell. It only makes sense that their global pattern of activity would generate signals that even current intelligence could detect.
Traveler 001, and his shrink, don't make nearly as much sense, cool reveal aside. And what device is traveler 14 building? A way to re-download himself, like Marcy, but better this time? Or am I missing something like traveler 001 used it to transfer himself into his shrink? I think I missed something there.
You have to wonder how they could possibly reset things for season three, but this show has demonstrated many times how to smooth over temporal incursions. But even if they do, they won't be able to reset their loved ones. I'm really looking forward to season three, but its going to be later this year at soonest.

2018.05.18
I've been using the metric "am I still thinking about it" more and more on everything, and I'm still thinking about this show. There's so much that hasn't been revealed yet, I'm just running scenarios on what the future is like, where the story can go, etc.

Black Mirror season 4 (2017)

Just caught up with the last episode of Season 4, because completionism. Black Mirror looks like good modern cyberpunk tv, but it is the opposite. Black Mirror is written by people who don't understand sci-fi, barely understand cyberpunk, and rarely understand even good story-telling. It's Twilight Zone For Dummies.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

2018.03.30
Waited until Blu-ray on Redbox, avoided all spoilers (other than knowing Mark Hamill was in it, and that he was in a bad mood throughout).

It was OK overall, good in some parts.

There's a few too many characters. Having this be mostly about the two Jedi lead characters is fine, but there's so many other guys I have trouble keeping them straight. Who's supposed to be the Han Solo in this retelling of the original trilogy?

I like that we finally get to meet the Supreme Leader, and just as we start getting to know him, he gets whisked off stage. Nice move.

I don't like this escalation of everything with each go around. The Star Destroyers keep getting bigger. The Jedi become masters way too quickly and with seemingly little effort. Plucky mechanics turn into heroes of the revolution in mere seconds of screen time.

This was supposed to be the middle episode of the trilogy, so where's my classic downer ending?

Worth watching, but like the previous movie, Rogue One, I am left with nothing after its over.

2018.04.03
Reading the tvtropes. As usual it helps me find what I missed, and the downer ending I was expecting was actually mostly there. I want some closure as to the question of how you can use an FTL ship as a missile during a pivotal scene, and yet this massively powerful weapon is never used or mentioned again. Why didn't every Rebel ship that was about to be destroyed just not turn around and hurl itself at an enemy ship? They should have never introduced this, the sacrifice added nothing to the story, it only detracts.

Catch up with skipped podcasts. On Ken And Robin Talk About Stuff, I'm glad to hear Ken bring up right away how Laura Dern has the power to use an FTL missile, but no one else ever has. They both seem to think it would be too sad to kill off Leia in this movie because Carrie Fisher died, but I still think its an opportunity lost for closure on the character. And I agree that Star Wars is now in the awful predicament of having to solve the problem with CGI only. It would have also obviated the need for Leia telekinetically floating in space back to an airlock. Interesting as that might have been, I think its yet another power escalation that wasn't needed (when did Leia ever go through Jedi training, and has that ever been a Jedi power).

Listened to Still Untitled, as usual, mostly positive, not a lot of criticism. They briefly mention the FTL missile but quickly move on from it. Lots of inside the industry insights, increasing my appreciation for what a massive human undertaking movies like this are.

Random thoughts: I really like the caretakers (as I've learned they're called) who were taking care of the Jedi island. I also really liked the glance down to the water that reveals an X-Wing under the water, which is such a nice callback to Empire Strikes Back, and gives its presence under the water that much more meaning (it wouldn't be underwater if Luke didn't want it to be there).

2018.04.06
Still reading TV Tropes. It seems to conclude that the X-Wing under the water was foreshadowing that Luke will retrieve it and use it to go to where he's needed, as he did in Empire. And that this should help convince you he's really there when he shows up in the Rebel base. I didn't see it that way at all - didn't it take R2D2 some time to fix it up even after it was pulled from the water? I saw the X-Wing underwater as a sort of finality, that even though he could bring it up from the water, he didn't have the means to repair it anyway. Which doesn't undercut his trick at the end, because he may have just hitched a ride on the Falcon off-screen.

2018.04.18
I lost interest in the tvtropes page, and only got through 6 minutes of the Red Letter review. Going through old podcasts that I skipped I get to Hello Internet Star Wars The Last Jedi Christmas Special. This is the final word on reviewing this movie. They thought of everything I did, and a few more things to be mad about I just glazed over.
They've got it all nailed down:
* it fades from memory very quickly; no post-movie excitment
* its like fan-fic, they're just making up stuff now
* embarrassing humor, our universe leaking into Star Wars universe
* overly referring to the old movies (blue/green milk)
* timeline issues (how long is Rey on Skywalker island)
* seeing Yoda was cool but unnecessary
* Yoda calling lightning breaks our force ghost understanding
* corporate cliche: freedom to fail
* Rey's pointless training
* sudden introduction of fuel as a plot point
* slow chase makes no sense (speed, gun range)
* sudden introduction of hyperspace tracking, Leia's tracking ring
* you can come and go from the slow speed chase
* Monaco
* etc. (got tired of writing these - and I've only listed points from the first half of the show!)
There's no need to watch the movie again, or read or see anything about it; just listen to this podcast episode.

Good Place seasons 1-2 (2016-2018)

2018.03.09
Such a cute show, I can't help but like it.

They explained away the lack of cursing so well I didn't even realize it was network television for a while.

Looking forward to next season.

The Crown season 2 (2017)

2018.03.05
Watching season two; it's at least as good as the first.

Love the flashbacks, its great to see old characters again. Wouldn't flash forwards have been cool...

2018.03.2x
Finish Season 2. Overall OK, but at the end it goes back to cover old ground and seems to fizzle out in a confusing down note.

Listening to The Recappery Podcast, they talk about that a lot, and how the whole big problem at the end there wasn't even really so large in real life, so it makes you wonder what the show is even going for.

I am sad to hear that the show is not only doing a time skip, but changing out the entire cast. You can understand why, but it seems sad.

The Crown season 1 (2016)

That was a lot better then I thought it would be.

Looking forward to Season 2.

Altered Carbon (2018)

2018.02.12
Saw the first episode. It feels like cheap and disposable sci-fi TV, yet it keeps dodging the bullet that you think will let you finally dismiss it. It feels like there's something more here, just wanting to surface. Try again later.

Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

Watched half of it last night. Reserving judgment until finish.

Next night. How did this even get made? Parts of it are so well made, and parts of it are not even rough-draft worthy. You can see someone spent money on this, and some good actors were found, and there was some real effort here. But the writing is barely a draft, and yet someone decided to go ahead with this.

It's baffling. I suspect the truth will come out some day, years or decades from now. It will probably involve favors owed, blackmail held, legal obligations discharged, and/or some such nonsense, that will explain how this beautiful trainwreck ever even happened.

Empire of Scents (2014)

At first this seemed like it would be an exploration of the olfactory arts and sciences, something you don't get a lot of so very interesting. The first person they interviewed talked about their loss of smell, good start. Then there's hunting for truffles, a sommelier, perfumers, ambergris hunters, lots of interesting stuff. And then the perfumer starts getting creepy about what body parts he wants to recreate in bottled form. And then you realize you are spending an awfully long time with the truffle hunting people who also start getting creepier and creepier with their admissions. And then its just over.

Held my attention while watching, afterwards realized it was not worth watching at all.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Fanfic. That's how I got myself to watch this. Its not Blade Runner 2. There is no Blade Runner 2. There can be no Blade Runner 2. Having said that, it was worth watching, and I have no regrets, nor is any memory of Blade Runner sullied in any way.

First impression is that its not finished. There's 2.5 hours of content, of which at least an hour could be cut. I could tell that even as I was watching, but I still couldn't take my eyes off the screen the entire way through (with two intermissions).

I watched Sicario a few months ago, by the same director, and as I predicted this would be a pretty movie, with some weird background music choices, and some interesting camera angles. I don't think Sicario was as overly long as this one, so I wasn't expecting that part. Knowing in advance about the long run time is why I didn't want to go see this in the theater in the first place. Some movies can justify that kind of length but most do not. I'm not taking that risk, especially when I can have the Blue-Ray a few months later. I did have to avoid a lot of spoilers, but it wasn't that hard.

Not that there's much to spoil. From here on its all about nitpicking over the details, so I'll just summarize that this movie is worth watching once if you're any kind of sci-fi fan, but that's about it.

There are many points I need to go over, and I wouldn't bother unless I at least liked the movie. Blade Runner 2049 showed potential at being more, but its almost as if they are waiting for their own director's cut to get the final edit right.

I really liked that the protagonist is revealed to be a replicant right away. Side-stepping the endless conjecture about whether the protagonist is a replicant or not, we're just starting out with no mystery about it. I think that's more interesting, so I was a little tired when later on he has to wonder if he's a real boy. More about that later.

It makes nothing but sense that after 30 years they've got much more stable replicants, so much so that they can work openly in society and nobody really cares (just some teasing and racism... or whatever it should be called in this case...). So why are they still hunting the old models down? Especially if they are living the life of a hermit farmer way outside society? I know its for exposition, and to get the story started, but it makes for a rough start.

It seemed very sloppy that at first the Nexus 8 didn't run, and didn't try to fight, and only until well into the exposition does he suddenly decide to sneak attack his obvious bounty hunter. As if it just occurred to him now to use violence, and with little thought about the likelihood of success in the short or long term. And even if he does kill this particular blade runner, he becomes a fugitive on the run, and loses his hermit lifestyle. It would have been more powerful storywise for him to say I'm not coming with you, and making a more reasoned or impassioned plea that, of course, doesn't stop the blade running in progress, but does get Agent K, (or Joe, or whatever his name is) started down his existential search all that much sooner in the story.

I also really like that our pets have their own pets. It's a great new dimension in the story of what replicants and humans mean to each other to then throw artificial intelligences into the mix. But the movies spends way too much time on this in unproductive ways, especially once he buys her a holo-emitter. Well, not quite a holo-emitter, she still needs to hire a sex surrogate. Still, an interesting girlfriend for a replicant, and I guess we needed someone the protagonist cares about to get killed by the bad guys, to show just how bad they are.

Speaking of the bad guys demonstrating their credentials, there's not much worse than Wallace decanting a brand new life, just to kill it on its zeroth birthday right in front of his #1, who happens to be a replicant too, after an overly long and crazy speech. At this point you have quite a bit of empathy for the bosses' dragon, as you have no idea yet how crudely she will behave later while getting his crazy dirty work done. But as bad as she is, she's just doing her job, the boss is just gross.

I understand he's frustrated that he can't figure out how to make a replicant that can reproduce, but there's no need to make your test subjects suffer through the boot-up procedure, and then just kill them slowly. You could just terminate the failures while they're still in their birth sack (or whatever that artificial womb was). Still, it gets the job done showing the boss is crazy and driven. But why does he need replicants that reproduce? You already own the factory, why put yourself out of business. Is it just to prove that he was better than Tyrell and could create a synthetic human that can really do everything humans do, and still be subservient to humanity? Maybe I missed something but his motivation is unclear.

How does Wallace's assistant (I must have missed her name) walk in and out of the LAPD building at will, murdering the coroner and stealing evidence, and returning later to kill Madam? There should be cameras everywhere, especially at sensitive locations, and she just walks in and out killing people and taking stuff at will. It is also unrealistic that the world's top businessman would have to resort to anything so crude as violence to get what he wants, when good old fashioned corruption would do just fine, and with less mess. Cops found Rachel's bones? Wallace's lawyers swoop in and seize valuable corporate assets. Madam causing trouble? A word to the top officials of the state or city (surely he's got both on speed dial) and her investigation gets shut down.

The whole Joe sub plot of thinking he was the first human-replicant hybrid... well, depending on the parents would that make him all replicant, or half-human? Even though Deckard is substantially present in this movie, I don't think they ever settle the matter. Which is fine, that was kind the point I took away from the first movie. But poor Joe has to go through the ringer, wondering if his implanted memories were real time memories, only to find his memories belong to the real hybrid child. Interesting while its unfolding, but at the end you just feel bad for him, and bad for all the time the movie wasted on it.

So thirty years ago Rachel died in childbirth; that's a fine way to whisk an inconvenient character off screen. But who are all these other replicants that showed up at the time to hide the child, so Deckard can go into hiding elsewhere, and why does he go along with it so readily? Maybe it made sense in the moment, but it just seems so arbitrary. For as much as he cared about Rachel, risking his life to leave with her, you'd think he'd at least follow up.

It takes Joe to finally deliver Deckard to his long lost daughter. Why? To blow her cover, so Wallace can get hold of the security footage and find that the fugitive blade runners have been visiting her, which can only mean that she must be... Oh never mind. If there are no security cameras in LAPD, why would there be any at Seline Institute? Apparently Seline is the only person in there, since anyone can come and go at will, or just lie on the front steps while bleeding, and nobody will pick up a phone, and no passing security drones will note it.

Every last bit of movie metaphor says Joe dies at the end. This doesn't make much sense. Joe killed Wallace's security and freed Deckard, and sustained his injuries before taking him to Seline. What's the rush? How about taking a few minutes to apply a little first aid before going on the trip, or even during the trip as it is a self driving car. Wallace will send more goons after you eventually, but for the moment you're free and can go anywhere.

That's if Joe even needs medical attention. His shirt was bloody, but he didn't seem to be bleeding at the moment. It's not like he was leaving a bloody trail as they casually walked up to the institute. The replicants of thirty years ago were fairly tough, taking lots of hits and still fighting, and the replicants of 2049 are probably even tougher. I would think you'd make your bounty hunting replicants even tougher. Joe seemed calm and collected, not like someone who would probably be staggering from a terminal abdominal injury.

I think the more interesting thing is Joe lying down because he's got nothing left. His job and career is over, he's probably a fugitive for life. His A.I. girlfriend got crushed under heel (what - no backups?). His brief notion of being the golden child has been dashed, and though he shares a memory, he's not even related. I think when Deckard comes back out he'll find him lying there contemplating his new life. Maybe Joe is sufficiently injured that he may pass out, but Deckard can probably drag him to the spinner, and take him to that group of friendly replicants so they can patch him up. Which leaves Joe alive, but still with an existential crisis. Perhaps he can join what seems to be a coming revolution.

Anyway, worth watching once, maybe when it is on Netflix I'll see it again.

2018.02.07
I really liked the new and improved Voight Kampf test. Less wheezing steampunk equipment, more rapid-fire questions, seems to do a good job of assessing base line temperament of the replicants that live and work amongst humans, which is something essential to their acceptance on Earth.

I like how later in the story when he's a bit stressed out he fails his test, but not so spectacularly that they need to take drastic action. He's allowed some time off to get his head straight - another fascinating development in how replicants are tolerated in society. There's strong indication here that replicants can be rehabilitated and re-enter polite society, just like humans. But wait... why are they still killing (or arresting and 'taking apart') Nexus 8's? Why not bring 8's in, give them the new test, and if they're cool just let them go home. Maybe with some monitoring, but basically free. Is it something about new replicants, that they can benefit from self or external therapy, but the Nexus 8's can't? The old medic, living on the farm for 30 years, hardly seems like a drooling psychopath. Heck, even Roy Batty underwent remorse and empathy in his final hours. Destroying the last of the old models seems vindictive, even for this dystopia.

Speaking of testing replicants minds, what the heck was going on when Joe visited Seline, and they sat down at a machine and he showed her a memory of his. How does this fit into any technology at all we've seen so far. Does it only work on memories that are in the ROM of the replicants? Otherwise, could he have played back any memory? Can human memories be read? I don't think so, or otherwise Wallace wouldn't have bothered trying to interrogate Deckard, he would have just put him in a reader.

I'm not looking for things just to complain about, there's a lot to like in this movie that made it worth watching, but I have a problem with the lead actor's expression half the time. It's not quite a shit-eating-grin, its more a shit-eating-smirk. I don't think its supposed to be there, and maybe the actor doesn't even know he's doing it, but the director sure as heck is responsible. It was sometimes quite distracting, as if the character knows something he's not saying, or is about to do something he knows you won't see coming, but nothing ever comes of it.

2018.02.08
I would like to move on to the next phase already of reading the internet's take on this, so I can get back to reading a book, but my subconscious is still working on this movie, turning it over and over and finding more to bite into.

I have a mix of respect and disappointment that this movie felt it had to reference a great many things from the first movie, because it feels like we're just ticking off checkboxes. Hearing quiet bits of the first movie's soundtrack was not welcome at all and even jarring, especially since this director seems to like blaring brass soundtracks. Visiting Gaff at the old age home was painful to watch. Like most true humans in the first movie, they are broken and weak, which is why replicants are being pushed out front towards the danger in the first place. And yet he lives another 30 years? And he's even mildly coherent and still making origami? It doesn't help that it feels like padding to increase the already overly long runtime.

I like how there are whole groups of people who's only existence is scavenging the garbage, like the Dickensian orphanage full of kids who scavenge circuit boards. Wait... wouldn't a machine be better at this? That's probably not the point, its just that there's too many humans and not enough of a decent economy. But... Deckard is living in an abandoned resort, with more luxuries than he could ever use (like holo theatres, and thousands of bottles of whisky). Why aren't the kids scavenging that part of the city, instead of the one that looks like a junkyard that's been picked over for decades. Even if the orphan's masters care about what it does to their lifespan, I'm sure they would have no problem sending in kids for brief missions.

Still, the garbage and pollution is one checkbox that is appreciated. Kipple - the endless and seemingly self-reproducing garbage from the book - was a big part of the background of both the book and the first movie. So is the endless snow that's really just dust or fallout, and the non-stop street sweeping machines that can never really catch up to cleaning it up.

And then there's that one checkbox that I would have never expected them to follow up on and yet there it is: polyglot culture everywhere. You see and hear more languages than seems probable; there's even an old person yelling in Hungarian.

2018.02.11
OK, subconscious has gone quiet on this one, now I can catch up with the internet on this one.

2018.02.13
I was going to start with wikipedia to get the basics and realized I don't think I've ever read the page for the first movie. Completionism wins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner
This reminds me its been too long since I've seen this, though I think I could play most of the movie in my mind.
Didn't know/recall there were seven versions.
You know this movie is deep, you don't even need to be told why, but it is interesting to see all the references to all the scholarship that has grown up around this movie. I don't think I'll follow up on that; it leads to over-dissection.
Its sad that this has to end on the controversy over the multiple versions. Excessive executive meddling led to too many reactionary re-do's, which muddles the point of the movie by overly asking the question of whether the protagonist is a replicant or human, as if that was ever the point. I think some people get lost in trying to reach a conclusion on that point, missing the bigger point that the ambiguity is the answer: to have trouble telling who's a replicant and who's a human is the point. I think even the director lost sight of that when he decided to resolve the ambiguity; I lost a lot of respect for him when I learned that; its as if he doesn't even get the point of his own movie. Which is entirely possible, sometimes the art is greater than the sum of the artists who made it. More ambiguity; it's like a fractal.

I'm surprised that Roy's final words gets its very own wiki page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_in_rain_monologue
Which I shouldn't be, it deserves it. I'm impressed that Rutger Hauer turned the scripted nonsense into something so transcendent. This is one of the biggest points of the movie, that in his final moments Roy has a soul (whatever you think that means), which is far better conveyed by Hauer's choice of words, and his acting. Many artists creating a greater sum, indeed.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/BladeRunner
Always fun, but I guess I knew most of this already.

2018.02.15
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner_2049
That straightened out a few facts, but doesn't change anything.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/BladeRunner2049

The consensus is that K dies at the end. As a movie, as a story, and and as character, of course he should die at the end. But the movie forgot to take two things into account:
* there was no rush. K should have plenty of time to patch himself up before taking Deckard to Seline (Stelline, whatever).
* K is replicant tough. A combat medic put him through a wall and all he needed was a liquid bandaid. He should either survive his wounds, or slip into an unconscious state that Deckard, whenever he gets done with his reunion, should still be able to get him help for.
If the movie really wanted to nail down a heroic sacrifice, they didn't bother. Unless, of course, ending a Blade Runner movie with ambiguity is the point. It leaves the door open to a sequel, but from what I've read of the business results of this movie, its not likely.

I still don't understand why Wallace had Luv (now that I know her name I really don't like it) transport Deckard somewhere. I know, its so K could rescue him, but why not just torture him right there at Wallace HQ? Tvtropes says he needs to be taken off-world to be tortured? I guess its OK to routinely invade the police station, killing cops and stealing evidence whenever you want, but oh no, can't do torture on Earth.

Joi insisted on being moved, not copied, so she could be mortal? That sounds dumb, but emotionally honest. I guess I can go along with it.

2018.02.19
I was wondering why Las Vegas was abandoned, dirty bomb sounds good, but how does Deckard survive there for decades? Is this a nod toward him being a replicant? Or do you just have to go outside in a environmental suit? Either way, the population of an abandoned resource rich city should be greater than 1 (not counting replicant dog).

It's not elaborated on here or in the original - who are all these replicants fighting off-world? Each other? Proxy soldiers for human wars?

I still don't get what K did to fake Deckard's death. Altered some records? He could probably do so at LAPD, they apparently don't even have locks on the doors.

I love that Deckard has Gaff's old spinner.

There are a bunch of references to literature, movies, the bible. Even when I got it, it just feels like in-jokes the creator is taking liberties with at the expense of distracting the audience. The reference to A Scanner Darkly (assignment: track down yourself) was nice, though.

The Meta Twist is a good one, can't praise it highly enough. That was a great moment when the resistance leader has to let K's hopes down, and that other (all?) replicants have had that dream; they all wanted to be the one.

That took a while, but its tvtropes; every rabbit hole is full of more rabbit holes.

Now to watch the 3 short films. Starting at:
http://bladerunnermovie.com/

I watch the trailer. Its so horrifically spoilerific it only increases my resolve to never watch a trailer again until I've seen the movie first.

Wait, what.. is this a tumblr... its a tumblr site. What an odd choice for a product site. How am I supposed to find anything, use /archive? Its just noise. Looking for the short films... this interface is unusable.

Trying http://roadto2049.bladerunnermovie.com/
Scrolling down, moving through the timeline, this is an interesting perspective, at least. 2018... scrolling 2019... 2022 The Blackout, click play. Intro by the director. I don't want an intro anymore than I want a trailer.

So, The Blackout, just what it says on the tin, and nothing more. Reminds me a lot of the Animatrix.

2036: Nexus Dawn. Wallace is supposed to be a genius? He just killed his own seeing-eye-replicant. How is he supposed to get home now?

2048: Nowhere to Run. Now that actually felt like part of the Blade Runner universe. And I spotted the Adam Savage cameo on my own, it was more obvious that I was led to believe.

podcast Still Untitled : Blade Runner 2049 SPOILERCAST!
I've been looking forward to finally listening to this for a while, and it was good for appreciating some of the finer points, but it was not very critical. I still want someone to explain why this movie had to be so long - not that its such a problem when you have the Blu-Ray at home. I'm disappointed that one of the hosts keeps flogging the point that Deckard is a replicant (as others have said, it invalidates the point of the first movie), and some good arguments were made, but I won't fall back to anything past the ambiguity position (I'm also disappointed that he keeps comparing Joi to a sex toy, when she's more of a waifu). And still no mention of earning K's death at the end. There was no hurry, they could have fixed him up before the trip to the daughter. Does Deckard even know how to fly the new LAPD spinner? Maybe its got facial recognition (eyeball serial number recognition) and he won't even be able to start it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bladerunner/
A mixed bag, as you might expect. Some finds:

https://www.provideocoalition.com/AOTC-Bladerunner-2049
Interview with the editor.
The opening line of the movie is K saying to Sapper "I hope you don’t mind me taking the liberty. I tried not to drag in any dirt". And they didn't, and I'm still surprised about it.
Great article on the artistry of editing in general, and in this movie in particular. And another reminder of what a large scale collaboration this is, and how fortunate it is when movies come out good at all.
There are some interesting cuts I would like to see (like Joi out with K, reacting embarrassed to a Joi advert). I know I've been sort of complaining that the movie is too long, but as long as one is making the time commitment, I'm curious what would the 4 hour edit looks like.

Off to YouTube, and see what Red Letter Media has to say (because ever since that Phantom Menace review I care what they say).
Half in the Bag Episode 133: Blade Runner 2049
I think I have to agree that Harrison Ford did a better job here than the first one, bringing humanity to the role. Something he didn't do in the first movie, where he was supposed to be human, and pretty much every character comes out as flat.

Doesn't add much, too bad Plinkett is not in the room for this one. Maybe I don't need to watch reviews he's not sitting in on.

If I really like a movie it usually ends up as my computer's desktop background for a few weeks. For a movie that is so consistently pleasing to the eye, there are surprisingly few still images that are useful. No dark cityscapes with spinners somewhere; I guess the movie does a good job of building this imagery up while you watch. I settle on the giant pink Joi advertisement pointing her finger at K.

I check out DeviantArt, ArtStation, Concept Art World, etc. I'm surprised there's not that much out there. I guess it didn't inspire that many artists.
There's a book "The Art and Soul of Blade Runner 2049", seemingly more movie photos than concept art. I do enjoy living in a time when I can watch a brief YouTube video of someone flipping through that entire book.

After all this over examination, I find I am only liking the movie more, especially with the increased knowledge of how much care was put into its making. I look forward to seeing it again sometime, whenever it hits one of the streaming services I'm subscribed to. But, I said the same exact thing about Mad Max 4, and I still haven't watched that again.

What still bothers me:
First, Las Vegas, fairly clean of pollution, is not picked clean by now by human scavengers, let alone robot scavengers that could have been sent in. Maybe K only got in because he's police? Nah, no one could cordon off a whole city, especially not this dysfunctional world.
Second, K's death at the end is earned in story, but not on the screen. There's no rush to taxi Deckard to Stelline; K had plenty of time to do at least some stabilizing healing, or even seek full medical care. Not quite third, why take Deckard there, in public, in full daylight? Why risk being spotted, or ending up on security footage where facial recognition could find you?

2018.03.05
Am I done with this? I don't think about it anymore. Listening to soundtrack, its not as harsh as I remember it.

2018.03.07
I find Off-World News [http://off-worldnews.blogspot.com/]; so many references to articles of interest.
The director hoped for more Oscars for the audio, regrets the length of the movie, Ridley Scott thought it was too long. I wonder if the 4 hour version will ever be released.
If you really like to dive deep into metaphor about souls, and eyes, and biblical references, etc. there's miles of this stuff for you.
There's even more production work than you think; it taking days to generate rain, or months to generate Rachel's brief scene, a year to film the sex scene.
The VFX supervisor says Blade Runner world never went digital, its tech is analog based. It might have something to do with the Blackout. Not sure what to make of it but it adds a layer of interest.
There's a VR game coming. Games based on movies rarely work, but the Blade Runner game from the late 90s was decent.
The current DVD release has no deleted scenes, no director commentary.
Villeneuve says he had to cut "a really magnificent aerial sequence when K and Joi fly to Las Vegas". I want that. But there doesn't seem to be much more content worth adding back in, not to the director.
A fan theory that in noir movies, someone has to hire the detective to set him on his path of discovery; the client was Ana Steline, seeding memories in hopes that some day a replicant would track it down and find her parents.
Ridley Scott has ideas for another Blade Runner, but considering he had to speak up years later on Deckard's humanity status, he should probably just quit while he's ahead. Blade Runner 2049 helped to take a bit of sting out of his comment, so thanks for that.
Some Adam Savage videos: recreating the binoculars that Deckard held in the movie (for all of 10 seconds), visiting the prop department for the movie, etc.

2018.03.30
I don't find myself thinking of this movie much at all anymore, but I will try to visit Off-World News from time to time.