I AM LEGEND trailer... oh, and BLADE RUNNER

[thehefner]

Seen at the showing of BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT* earlier tonight:

New I AM LEGEND trailer.

Maybe I'm just blinded by the use of the heartbreakingly beautiful soundtrack for THE FOUNTAIN (I must listen to that CD at least twice a week ever since it came out) in the trailer, but damn if that film isn't starting to look good. It looks like they're being fully faithful to at least the spirit of Richard Matheson's novel, which may well be the greatest vampire story ever written (if it weren't more like the first ever zombie apocalypse story).

But will they have the guts to do the ending justice? That's the real question. THE LAST MAN ON EARTH didn't quite do it, nor did THE OMEGA MAN, but this time around, they're actually calling it I AM LEGEND, a title that makes absolutely no sense without the actual ending. It's not an easy ending to pull off, not a "Hollywood" one, but one that gives me chills each time I read it. I'll sometimes just go to the last couple pages and read them out loud, just to feel the power of that book, and those last words.

EDIT: This just in: Not only is the ending already unfaithful, but the studio has just last week ordered a reshoot of the ending.

Well fuck me up the goat ass. Thank you, Hollywood.

Folks, if ever I wanted you to read a book before you saw the movie, now is the time. If you have any possible interest in I AM LEGEND, I beseech you, check out Richard Matheson's book first.



As for BLADE RUNNER itself... what an absolutely mesmerizing experience at the Uptown, the biggest non-IMAX screen in DC. I'm hard-pressed to actually describe why it's such a moving and entrancing experience. It's something about the work as a whole.

It's easy to decry the whole thing as hollow, overrated pretentious bullshit, as CHUD.com's resident joyless bastard Devin Faraci does, but even with those legitimate complaints in mind, I still agree with CHUD.com's Jeremy Smith in thinking that--even if the "Final Cut" isn't your preferred version--BLADE RUNNER is an elusive masterpiece.

Comments

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

I've been tempted to read I Am Legend for a while now. Is it worth reading before I go see the movie?

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Very much so, please do! :)

Few others I know will, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Just know that most editions include I AM LEGEND and other stories, so when it suddenly ends halfway through the book, it tends to confuse and frustrate people who go on for several more pages before realizing that the actual story is over.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

I'm always up for a good novel, no matter the genre. And as for that - to be honest, I love endings that drive me nuts. The more stories I get for my buck, the happier I'll be. Thanks for the warning, though. [heads over to Amazon]

I still plan to make you read The Golden Compass, however. Just a reminder. :p

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, then in that case, I'll be very interested for your reaction!

Heh, yeah, you and my ex-girlfriend. I will, rest assured. If even my Mom is utterly squeeing with geek joy over the trailer, I really need to get in on the joke before the whole affair is browncoated for me.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

And knowing me, you'll get dramatics. Just because I love endings like that doesn't mean I don't hate them too. There will probably be lots of jumping up and down and less Indoor Voice.

Yes, you really do. If only so that you don't use "Compassed" the same way you use "browncoated." :p

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I hear that too. Endings are a big thing for me; few things are more infuriating and heartbreaking to me than a wonderful book with a shit ending. It's like a broken promise at best, a betrayal at worst. They say it's the journey, not the destination, and while I agree, is it so wrong to want a wonderful destination after a wonderful journey?

But in either case, I can't begin to guess, then, how you'll react to the end of I AM LEGEND. I look forward to your reaction, whatever it might be.

And I promsie, if only because "Compassed" isn't nearly as evocative. ;p

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

I certainly hear you on that.

And maybe not. But - and you had better not use this against me later - if I had to choose, if I had to, I'd give up Whedon for Pullman. His Dark Materials was my defining childhood series, the thing that made me want to write and, specifically, explore the fantasy/philosophical genre.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Aaaaand now the news has hit that not only is the ending unfaithful, the studio just last week ordered reshoots. Bloody sweet merciful fuck.

So yes. Please please read the book. And I, in turn, shall read THE GOLDEN COMPASS. Even though, wow, you just keep raising the stakes, dontcha?

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

Definately. If they're fucking that up I may just read the book and skip the movie. But wait, reshoots? Isn't it coming out next month? Isn't it a movie that requires extensive special effects? Oh dear.

Fine, no more on Pullman 'till you're done with the first book at least. I know well the dangers of overhype.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I'll just wait to hear what my trusted geek critics make of the film before I decide if I really want to spend ten bucks to sit through a movie that might just end up angering up the blood.

Because yes, reshoots for a film coming out next month with huge special effects. Always a good sign.

And yes, well, we are in fandom, after all. Hyperbole is perhaps the single greatest threat we have ever faced

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

I'll pick it up tomorrow at Borders between either Class and Job A or Job A and (hopefully cancelled tomorrow, it would be so nice to have a free afternoon) Job B. It appears to be the one item in the entirety of Amazon.com that is not offered at a discount. I did buy a new Alessandro Baricco book, though, a new hardcover for all of one cent. I'm waiting on the catch. Maybe it's in the original Italian or something, although I somehow suspect that would cost more.

Of course, that raises a question: what would you constitute as being "in fandom?" Because while I love any number of series' with fandoms large and small, I don't really read fanfic or anything. I'm not trying to be tetchy - I'm just curious as to how you classify the term.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I'm not entirely certain, frankly. I think I just meant that we were in or around the deep fan culture. Like, we personally don't write slashfic between Yoda and Galactus, nor own icons of Harry Potter taking a dump on Mal Reynolds' face, but we're friendly with people who probably do.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

I suppose that definition works for me, in terms of general concept.

Done now. More recs plz. ♥ ♥

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I...

You read I AM LEGEND?

Already?

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

That would be what was implied with the "Done now," yes. I of course plan to go back and read it again soon in order to more closely examine the psychological dynamic so well integrated into the story, but the formation of the literature and the twisting dark and deliciously ironic ending were enough to satiate me for now. It was really quite fantastic, all in all. I'm now exceedingly peeved that they're fucking up the end of the movie, although I'm kind of glad they're making the dog his dog from the start, even though to me the dog was the most moving part. I don't think it would have worked visually nearly as well.

And don't make that face at me. I told you I was a geek for literature.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Haha, no, I'm not as "What the fuck?!" as Crichton there, but it was the best icon I could find on the spur of the moment. That's awesome! I wish I could read that quickly. And I do think rereading it is a good idea, honestly, so wow, I'm very pleased!

Yeah, I think he needs to have the dog from the start so he can have someone to talk to (in film terms, I mean; consider "Wilson" from CAST AWAY).

More recs? Wow, uh... I'll have to think about that! I'm off to Baltimore for the day, but I'll totally get back to you.

Shit, we should just get together some night away. This LJ IM is for the birds, don'tcha know?

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

I read according to the book in question and my mood, really. Yesterday I picked up the book between Class and Job A, as there is a Borders between them, and while I did have to stay late there and then race my car to get to Job B on time (let me tell you, eating while driving takes more skill than you'd think when lunch is from Noodles & Co.), and then come home and pass out briefly before my sister got home from Amherst, and then have dinner and then go to Home Depot with some friends to pick out paint samples for my room in a house I'm hopefully moving into within the next two weeks...but the book just kinda stayed within my personal bubble and got picked up whenever I had two minutes. So even though I got home at 11 and crashed by 12 after some net and some reading and some pie I was just kind of in the zone. I can finish books four times as long in less than a day if left mostly to my own devices, especially when there's limited internet to distract me.

Oh, Wilson. The mere fact that a movie could make so many people cry over a volleyball is enough to mark it a triumph in the emotional/psychological respect.

I'll check out The Talisman at some point. I like King, although I haven't read much of his stuff; I started with Dreamcatcher and it took me a bit to get through. I've borrowed The Shining from a friend (see?) because I feel like I really should have read it by now. But it lives in my backpack, you see, and my backpack is often much further away from me than other books. Truth is I probably shouldn't have asked for recs (I have sooo many books piling up to read) but Matheson was just so fantastic that I figured I should check anyway.

Have fun in Baltimore! And that'd be cool, but my life tends to get kinda crazy (plus, Thanksgiving will be even moreso - relatives, sister, college friends all in town) so I'm not sure when. Still, I'd like to be able to talk to you for longer than some fifteen-minute incriment every two weeks when I'm technically at work, so yeah, definately.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yow.

Oh God, DREAMCATCHER? I haven't read it, but speaking as a Stephen King fan, that's on my to-avoid list. Especially after the "My Year of Flops" article on the film version:

http://www.avclub.com/content/blog/my_year_of_flops_case_file_82

If Lawrence "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK/BODY HEAT" Kasdan and William "THE PRINCESS BRIDE/MARATHON MAN" Goldman can't work the story into anything better than a hilarious train wreck of a movie, I fear for the novel.

But I do like THE SHINING a great deal, even though he explains too much.

And it's just as well your pile is so huge; there aren't too many recs that immediately come to mind. But TALISMAN is absolutely there. As, I imagine, will Roger Zelany's THE CHRONICLES OF AMBER, once I get a bit further into the series. I promised my ex-girlfriend I'd read them, as they're her very favorite books of all time, and so far they really are excellent fantasy.

Well, we'll figure it out. And in the meantime, we'll always have Big Planet.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

Yeeeeah, the sad thing is, I only picked it up for the title with the (apparently false) assumption that it had, y'know, something to do with dreams. As opposed to aliens AND THOSE FUCKING SHIT-WEASELS, MY GOD. Anyway.

Yeah, I'm like three or four chapters in and I'm kind of like "I get that he drinks, I get how to use the furnace, I get that the kid is clairvoyant or whatever, show me the creepy-ass twins, already."

I keep being told to read The Chronicles of Amber. I haven't yet, maybe because I could never get into Wheel of Time and for whatever reason I associate the two.

We will. I don't suppose you're in there today? I should have a few hours off in the afternoon, I could head over and bug you.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if I hadn't picked up Amber at the insistence of my then-girlfriend, I would have felt the same. All those fantasy books kinda smoosh together. But from what I can tell, two books in, this is very different from any fantasy I've read. He's like the anti-Tolkien, in some ways: morally ambigious characters, which whole battles than start and finish in the space of two paragraphs. I love it.

I shall indeed be in, but will be super-busy until about 5:30-onward. Tuesday, we get the new shipment, and I gotta focus on checking that in. But if you're free around 6ish, I'd be happy to see you. I'm also in tomorrow from 2:00-8:00, but Wednesdays are usually bugfuck busy, so I might be occasionally distracted.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

Oh, Tolkien. I confess I could never get through those books. I mean, I loved the movies, but they show up at Rivendell in Fellowship and spend twenty friggin' pages talking about tapestries and I'm kinda just like...yeah, fuck that shit, thank you. I LOVE morally ambigious characters. W00t.

Well, sadly I think in theory I'm supposed to go clean the Mothership (new house) this evening, although that may or may not be happening. I'll try and show up this afternoon, and then if my later schedule falls through there we go, and if not, at least I'll have said hi.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I love Tolkien in theory more than practice. That said, THE HOBBIT is great fun to read.

Yeah, along with TALISMAN, the Amber books (staring with NINE PRINCES IN AMBER) are my high recommendations for you!

Well, do as you must, and I hope to see you whenever I, y'know, see you. Be warned: I may be a zombie by that point. But a friendly one.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

I forgot to reply to this one since I was probably halfway to Georgetown by then, but a Back to the Future pun? In an I AM LEGEND icon? The mind boggles.


...or whatever that's a picture of. It looks like Will Smith and zombies, but...hmm.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Dunno if you'll get this, but just in case, I was wondering if you, mayhaps, might have a copy of THE GOLDEN COMPASS that I could borrow, as it's checked out everywhere. Also, this would provide an excellent excuse for us to hang at some reasonable point in the insane near future.

(really, I should just get your e-mail addy if we're gonna try to contact one another. Mine is curseyourichards at gee male dot com.)

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

Well, let's all thank various spiritual entities for comment notifications, shall we? Of course I do; I was actually planning to bring that on Tuesday but that whole scatterbrained thing kicked in.

I'm morpheanrequiem at yah hoo dot com.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Sent!

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Oh! One recommendation. Just one thing that came to mind that I want you to read.

THE TALISMAN by Stephen King and Peter Straub.

[civilbloodshed.livejournal.com]

...Tears in the rain Hef, tears in the rain. :\ *awaits December desperately*

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, fuck Devin's review, I will always adore that moment in film, and Hauer's delivery.

I used to wonder how and when the hell the villain and hero switched places. Watching it this time... I don't think they ever actually did. When I stopped to actually think about it, I couldn't think of much any reason to sympathize with Deckard over Roy for most of the film. Shit, was it just me, or did Deckard's rough-romance scene with Rachel edge kiiiinda close to bullying, or even rape? (if I recall correctly, this scene was in the previous cuts)

[lonebear.livejournal.com]

it feels like they added a line for Rachel in. The last line of that specific sequence. I need to get my LD player running to tell though.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the Voice-Over cut, only the previous Director's Cut, so I can't do a comprehensive comparison.

The one difference I mainly noticed, and the only thing I actively missed, was that Roy clearly said "I want more life, father," rather than the wonderfully ambigious "father/fucker" of the Director's Cut.

[civilbloodshed.livejournal.com]

I remember taking an English class in high school all about science fiction (which was awesome, but since it was the first year it was offered it could have used some work), and we watched bits an pieces of Blade Runner. Anyway, we had to write a paper about androids in human society, and Roy was kind of a big deal because most of the class decided that while he may have been more metal than Deckard, he totally represented an essential human drive that Deckard had given up on. Man, I love dystopian societies.

That scene toed the edge. Deckard was desperate and Rachel's own confusion added to his frustration. And um, fuck I haven seen it in a while, but didn't he grab on to her too tight until she told him that he was hurting her? And then he let go? I don't think Deckard wanted to hurt her, he just wasn't in any state deal.

[lairdofdarkness.livejournal.com]

Cant get the link to play at work (apple trailers seem to do that here!) Will try at home.
I cant stand Will Smith (as I have posted about many many times!) but the first trailer looked pretty good. I havent read the book but I did plan to after the movie.
I may just move it up in my list of things to do.
AND
The Fountain will be with me on DVD rental today or tomorrow. So excited to see this, especially after reading the Graphic Novel.

Completely off topic here but after you saying yesterday that you hadnt seen SPACED, I may be getting the collecters adition pretty soon (apparently there is something called christmas over here!) and that means that I will have series 1 and 2 on dvd sitting about cluttering up my house.
Now if only you had a multi region player???
You have gotta see it.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Aye, please do read the book. I certainly hope the film won't color people's perceptions of the book either way.

Just the other day, I told a customer that the new LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN book was out, and he went, "Ugh, the movie was terrible, why would I want to read that?"

... this is why it's ever so important for folks to read the originals at some point, lest shitty movies ruin them forever.

THE FOUNTAIN... I ain't gonna say you'll like it. Many people outright hate it, thinking it's utter bullshit crap. Others think it's very pretty, but ultimately hollow and superficial, and more than a bit pretentious. And for others, it's one of the meaningful, beautiful films ever seen.

It's been likened to 2001, and I think the comparison is apt. Both are very wide open to interpretation, and while 2001 is considered a classic now (which THE FOUNTAIN may not), Kubrick's film was recieved to mixed and negative reception in its day.

So, yeah. No promises, but I do hope you'll like it. It sure as hell ain't for everyone. At Venice film festival, it received standing boos from half the audience for ten minutes. But the standing ovation from the other half lasted longer.