A Scanner Darkly..

[roosta]

i had heard nothing about this..
Richard Linklaters new film...looks amazing...

trailer, mo'fuckaz (http://pdl.warnerbros.com/wip/us/med/scanner_darkly/scanner_darkly_a_tlr2_qt_700.mov)

[YoungRemy]

its in the same animation style of waking life...

looks good...

[Nuzzolese]

t'was a book by the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep aka Bladerunner. (lb)

[abcdefz]

-- I didn't even search for a Scanner Darkly thread. I'm sorry, roosta & co. :o

[abcdefz]

...soooooo.... anybody else seeing A Scanner Darkly this weekend?

I see it tomorrow, and then probably The War Tapes on Sunday.

[YoungRemy]

Alex Jones is in this one too... he was the ranting lunatic in Waking Life, Austin based conspiracy theorist...

Philip K. Dick, Nuzz...

[Nuzzolese]

I just love when Keanu has to comprehend something mind-blowing.

The matrix is real?
The two sides of my brain are competing?
I'm communicating with someone living 2 years in the future?
We can travel through time?

He's really the best at being dumbfounded and having to process heavy concepts.

[abcdefz]

"It's beautiful. Seductive, even."

[Dr Deaf]

i heard about this ages ago and have been looking forward to seeing it. my local alt. weekly tore it a new asshole and only gave it 2 stars.

i'm a little concerned about 2 hrs of rotoscope animation tho. not sure if it'll get annoying after awhile. all i've watched with it so far, are charles schwab 'ask chuck' commericials.

[YoungRemy]

i heard about this ages ago and have been looking forward to seeing it. my local alt. weekly tore it a new asshole and only gave it 2 stars.

i'm a little concerned about 2 hrs of rotoscope animation tho. not sure if it'll get annoying after awhile. all i've watched with it so far, are charles schwab 'ask chuck' commericials.

that was done by the same artist who worked on Scanner Darkly and Waking Life, Bob Sabiston...

[Gareth]

yeh i'm seeing this on july 24
i posted the posters for it a while ago but no one replied and i felt stink

[ET]

I saw the teaser for this back with the Sin City one. You could probably post the exact formula to rid the world of cancer and no one would reply unless you mentioned poo, boobs, or another board member.

Been hearing bad things but I'm going to try to see it anyway.

[YoungRemy]

You could probably post the exact formula to rid the world of cancer and no one would reply unless you mentioned poo, boobs, or another board member.


spoken like a true genius...

[QueenAdrock]

I just love when Keanu has to comprehend something mind-blowing.

The matrix is real?
The two sides of my brain are competing?
I'm communicating with someone living 2 years in the future?
We can travel through time?

He's really the best at being dumbfounded and having to process heavy concepts.

Someone told me once that Keanu says "WHOA!" in every movie he's ever made. I'd believe it.

[Mr Films]

I saw it back in March at SXSW because Austin rocks the house.

I remember thinking that if it weren't animated, it'd be pretty shitty.

Then again, I don't really like Richard Linklater's "people sit around and talk for two hours about nothing in particular" appraoch to filmmaking.

[jackrock]

Kind of how it was done, cool (http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2006/07/06/movies/20060707_SCANNER_AUDIOSS.html?ei=5088&en=9cfec30c4699b028&ex=1309924800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1152514209-ZgJM46sy0/G3tmt5TdVIzg)

[DustSucker]

There's a cool band called A Scanner Darkly (http://www.imaginesteam.net/asd/asd.html), their music is completely inspired by Phillip K Dick, though they've been inactive for some time and their myspace is off..

[Funkyfreshgrape]

i think it looks like a weird movie!

[abcdefz]

Two stars is probably about right.

This is being touted as the most faithful of the PKD adaptations, and if that's so, I can see why the suits would try to gussy up the storyline. There are nuggets of a couple of good ideas in here that get mired in, ironically, "keeping it real." If Linklater (or someone else) had more freely adapted this thing to give it some drive, it might've been a really good movie.

It's probably Keanu's best performance since River's Edge, though -- he does seem to physically and spiritually wear down as the movie progresses.

The rotoscoping works really well for the most part. It does have a really nice, floaty-dreamy sort of quality.

I'm glad I saw it but I doubt that there's any reason to ever see it again. It's kind of trite paranoia, but could've been made more entertaining. It does light up from time to time -- there are scenes that really work, but then they're followed by stretches that just lag or lay there.

C.

[jackrock]

a-z: I heard the scenes outdoor looked especially cool. agree?

[abcdefz]

The outdoor scenes were interesting because so much of the stuff looked pretty much dead-on "real." So we have these kind of floaty characters interacting with a more recognizable, grounded environment. I thought that looked very cool.

I'm definitely glad I saw it in a theater. There were all kinds of little details that would've escaped me on my TV set.

[Mr Films]

I worked at Austin Studios during the period right after they finished shooting.

I would routinely run projection for various people as they watched rough footage before animation begun.

The funny thing was how sloppy the movie was made because they always knew they'd be animating over it all.

I'd ask things like "Was that the microphone in the shot?" or "Who's that dude with the headphones in the back?"

They'd be all "Eh, we'll take it out in post."

also, to give you an idea of the time this shit takes. These conversations took place in August 2004.

[jackrock]

also, to give you an idea of the time this shit takes. These conversations took place in August 2004.
My link says it took workers 500 hours to complete 1 minute of film time.

[Mr Films]

My link says it took workers 500 hours to complete 1 minute of film time.

I actually have another funny Scanner Darkly story.

Also, during my stint at the studios, I had to run an errand to Detour's offices (Linklater's production co). I walked in and no one was there but there were rows and rows of macs with a shot of Keanu that they were working on.

At the time, there was a rowdy lightning storm taking place outside and I finally found the receptionist and all the animators outside staring at it in awe. I jokingly said "Hey, shouldn't you guys be worried about the feature film currently sitting on all the computers."

Someone, without looking away from the sky, said "Don't worry, they're surged protected."

A few weeks later, it was announced the film wasn't going to make it's estimated March 2005 release.

The two things probably aren't related, but I laughed thinking they were.

[Nuzzolese]

You could probably post the exact formula to rid the world of cancer and no one would reply unless you mentioned poo, boobs, or another board member.


I'm sorry, I'm confused about why you posted this? Are you annoyed that you mentioned this ages ago and no one replied to your posts about it? Why would they if they hadn't seen the trailers back then?

[jackrock]

Watch the first 24 minutes (http://media.filmforce.ign.com/media/670/670907/vids_1.html) I haven't/won't watch it (<3 dial-up) but i hear it's kinda NWS, I guess?

[abcdefz]

I worked at Austin Studios during the period right after they finished shooting.

I would routinely run projection for various people as they watched rough footage before animation begun.

The funny thing was how sloppy the movie was made because they always knew they'd be animating over it all.

I'd ask things like "Was that the microphone in the shot?" or "Who's that dude with the headphones in the back?"

They'd be all "Eh, we'll take it out in post."

also, to give you an idea of the time this shit takes. These conversations took place in August 2004.



Yeah -- I read about that stuff. How they didn't have to worry so much about hair length, lighting conditions, etc.

[skra75]

yes, this looks to be a good one. i like the premise and the style/. the story looks good, and the animation reminds me of those cuts in the beginning of the GTA games when the game is loading up.

although, that being said I saw 'waking life' and i have to say i got pretty annoyed by the existential hippie talk and by the end i was like 'shit, i just paid good money to listen to a bunch of stoners sit around and talk bullshit'

[hitmonlee]

t'was a book by the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep aka Bladerunner. (lb)

awesome i didn't know that (y)

i love keanu reeves. say what you want about him, i don't care. LOVE.

haven't seen waking life, but am looking forward to this :)

[DustSucker]

Watch the first 24 minutes (http://media.filmforce.ign.com/media/670/670907/vids_1.html) I haven't/won't watch it (<3 dial-up) but i hear it's kinda NWS, I guess?
A lot of talking and stuff, not a whole lot of action.. I'm planning on seeing the movie anyway though (:

[tracky]

saw it last night. recommend (y)

[The Notorious LOL]

this was without a doubt probably one of the shittiest movies I have ever seen. I dont know if it would be number one, but definetly amongst the top 10.

[tracky]

i thought it was good. i like the way they skitz out over little things like the carbies falling apart. storyline wise, I didn't completely get it but i'll watch it again sometime.

[Gareth]

i thought it was middle of the road
but then again i had high expectations
yea it was very faithful to the book and that might've been why i was a bit meh about it
hopefully neil gaiman's coraline turns out nicely

[tracky]

that always changes a perception of a movie, I went in with no expectations. The only expectations I had were that someone mentioned it here, so I thought I'd check it out. looking back on it, I can see why people would say they didn't like it, especially if they went in with really high expectations or have read the book maybe (which I havn't done either). I enjoyed it, and I liked the animation style for the most part.

[Nuzzolese]

I just thought it was okay. But I'm a little confused about what he was trying to say with the ending. This might be considered a spoiler:


At the end, when he listed those names after the paragraph typed out on screen, was he saying that the addicts paid too dearly a price for their addiction, by dying or being brain damaged? Was he saying their addiction was not their own fault and there's a big conspiracy going on with the drug companies and rehab facilities where people in charge are perpetuating the addiction of this drug in order to control society? That sounds like a very drug induced paranoid fear. And people who become addicted to a drug, they are victims to the drug and don't deserve what happens to them?

[tracky]

Maybe. Like I said, I didn't completely grasp the whole story/concept but I might watch it again. Probably not, though. I dunno I don't really feel compelled to give it a second viewing anymore.

[wrongwayandugg]

i gotta see this shit on the pronto.

[abcdefz]

I just thought it was okay. But I'm a little confused about what he was trying to say with the ending. This might be considered a spoiler:


At the end, when he listed those names after the paragraph typed out on screen, was he saying that the addicts paid too dearly a price for their addiction, by dying or being brain damaged? Was he saying their addiction was not their own fault and there's a big conspiracy going on with the drug companies and rehab facilities where people in charge are perpetuating the addiction of this drug in order to control society? That sounds like a very drug induced paranoid fear. And people who become addicted to a drug, they are victims to the drug and don't deserve what happens to them?



I think he was just kind of sentimentalizing addiction, like addicts are warriors in some way. You may be right, that he thinks addicts aren't responsible, but the whole rest of the movie has such a bleak view on addiction (and, I guess if you consider Keanu's character -- he DID choose to take drugs as part of a a battle)...

I don't know. He'd have to be an idiot to have written what he did without considering responsibility as an issue, since it seems part of the subtext.

[jackrock]

It was okay.

[Nuzzolese]

There were a bunch of nerds in the theater in funny clothes. Some guy in Frankenstein shoes, a ruffly shirt, and white gloves...another guy in suspenders and some kind of bowler hat doing a little hopping jig down the aisle. The rest of the lobby was packed with tiny denim miniskirted tanned legs and popped pastel collars in line for John Tucker Must Die. I kept oscillating between feelings of superiority and self consciousness.