It's interesting to me

[6745a86ec9c59fox]

At a glance, Eric Stanton's comics seem straight up fetish material and unlike more general pulp fiction (the genre that taps into all sorts of exploitation) I don't think that was ever going to become real mainstream, neither will it ever loose its importance for the niche it caters to.

Even a Tarantino remake of Faster Pussycat, would most likely not become a real mainstream hit. I don't think there's a window he missed although sexploitation (of any kind) is definitely harder to sell in times of #metoo and gender mainstreaming in general.

[6745a86ec9f03Kolya]

Well I watched Blade Runner 2049 and I feel that it relies too heavily on its one narrative twist. The original had me pondering what it must feel like to discover your identity is made up, while delivering a nailbiting crime story. And the identity twist was just the icing on the cake. This one has me mostly thinking that Ana de Armas is a real cutie pie.
Maybe it's because I only watched it once. But I fear it's Ryan Gosling, who foregoes acting as if he had an onscreen presence, that could carry a picture. This becomes painfully obvious when he is contrasted with real actors, which happens quite a lot in this film. Besides De Armas who fills a bland role with real emotional warmth, there is Sylvia Hoeks (evil's delightfully manicured right hand), Carla Juri (memory weaver) and of course the original Blade Runner. Each of them is infinitely more interesting than the protagonist.

[6745a86eca26fMarvin]

I think his robotic acting compliments the character, a different Nexus model than what we're used to from Roy Batty and the others, quite well, though I can understand completely where you're coming from. Drive is really where his stoic loner performance shines, so I wouldn't call him "not a real actor" but I agree that his set is limited to that role.

[6745a86eca440fox]

I also liked him in The Place Beyond the Pines. But I also agree that it didn't work very well for the Blade Runner role. I think it's not entirely his fault though. He underplayed an slightly undedeveloped character in a movie that prides itself of feeling understated. They overdid that a bit. While I like the non-flashy attitude and acknowledge that some of the set pieces were actually pretty great, the movie would have profited from a few more "fun scenes" and flashiness (like the final fight, which felt a bit like chamber play).

The original had that laconic low-key noir tone with dreamy atmospheric bits but at the same time it all felt very vibrant and alive. In contrast, the sequel often felt just depressive and hopeless to me, like they had sucked all air out of the world and most of its inhabitants. Cyberpunk without any punk energy.

I think I'll have to watch it again sometime but I am not feeling very eager to.

PS: Yes to Ana de Armas!

[6745a86eca593Kolya]

An interesting read if you ever wondered what a Blade Runner is.
Digging Into the Odd History of Blade Runner’s Title


Spoiler: It's someone who procures scalpels for illegal medical operations.

[6745a86eca6edfox]

Polygon.com: "A new RoboCop is in the works with Neill Blomkamp"


I don't think that's going to end well. Again.

BBC: "PayPal told customer her death breached its rules"

Maybe they should make this sequel about the adventures of RoboCop's penfriend PayPal, a pedantic and tough as nails AI not falling in love with a woman.

[6745a86eca80eKolya]

And then this happened:

Netflix Bans Employees from Looking at Each Other for More Than Five Seconds

‘Seven Seconds’ Not Returning for Season 2 at Netflix

[6745a86eca8ddfox]

Insane in the brain.

[6745a86ecaa4avoodoo47]

as always, crap needs to get really, really bad before people will go "alright, enough of this, and never again", so it's a good thing in a way, as things are one step closer to that point.

people need a catastrophe to actually learn. for a while, anyway.

[6745a86ecabddicemann]

That's just crazy.

As for Robocop. They just can't match the 80s movie + the sequel was alright though mixed. How movies are done now is so different to how movies were done then that I'm HIGHLY skeptical that they could do it justice. I don't mind them trying though. I never expected the Judge Dredd reboot to be good and look at how awesome that turned out. So meh who knows.

[6745a86ecacb3voodoo47]

the world has never been sane to begin with.

[6745a86ecb006fox]

I never expected the Judge Dredd reboot to be good and look at how awesome that turned out.

 Yeah, that was a surprisingly good one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbCfqGsXu3M

Thing is, that I don't really like Neill Blomkamp's movies so far.

[6745a86ecb132Kolya]

Oh yeah, the Judge Dredd film was good. Very brutal, laconic and serious. And very focused.

At least half of its quality was things they didn't do: Cool and quotable one-liners. Spreading the action over the whole city to inflate the damage. Showing Urban's face to humanise him.

[6745a86ecb376JDoran]

That 2012 Judge Dredd film was fantastic, and I say that as someone who doesn't read 2001 A.D. (is it still called that?) and who's never followed Dredd in any form, other than playing a (really quite bad, IIRC) game based on him on the Gamecube or original XBox, and watching the Sylvester Stallone film, which was utterly awful.

The modern Robocop film was OK, but neither great nor memorable, and was *immensely* inferior to the original film in every way. The original is iconic, and does everything so well; the action, the dark humour, the characters, the story, the atmosphere. I mean, in the original, Detroid felt like it was really going to Hell, and the villains were replusive, the desperation and soul-crushing pressure of the over-worked police force was very apparent, Robocop had real presence and pathos, etc. In the orignal, Detroid (or wherever it was set) felt like a normal city, with the threat of crime ever present, but getting by OK. The characters, even the new Robocp, were forgettable (I can't even remember who the villains were in the film), the humour and atmosphere was all gone, and it lacked even a fraction of the imagination or impact of the original film.

[6745a86ecb496fox]

Guardian: "Beyond bionics: how the future of prosthetics is redefining humanity" [Video]

Once again, I am getting that "OMG, we really live in a cyberpunk world"-feeling.

[6745a86ecb5c5Kolya]

http://waifubartending.com/
A cyberpunk bartender action game...okaaay. With great reviews from reputable sources? Weren't Digital Revolver planning something like this?

[6745a86ecb6c8fox]

Also known as "VA-11 HALL-A". Saw it pop up before but the concept seems so outlandish yet boring that I never looked into it further. I guess, it's a case for some Let's Play-video now.

[6745a86ecb879icemann]

The Robocop remake was just like the Total Recall remake in that it's completely forgettable (no pun intended for Total Recall). Been a whole heap of meh remakes over the past 10 years. The Nightmare on Elm Street one was horrible.

I did love the trick that Chucky did, where they wrapped it as a remake with the trailers completely making it look like a remake, but if you actually watch it it's not a remake at all. More the next movie in that long series of movies. It sure starts out looking like a remake though. That moment when you realize it's not a remake but rather a sequel in disguise was killer . Them not revealing it until an hour into the movie made it a reveal right up there with the Shodan reveal in SS2, as you don't see it coming.

Other bad ones in the last 10 years that spring to mind:
* Conan
* Ghost Busters
* Spiderman 1 & 2 (The Andrew Garfield ones)
* Terminator Genisys - Though this is a sequel of sorts at the same time. Really bad one, though better than the prior 2 movies.

[6745a86ecb9acKolya]

Contemporary science fiction films given a faux vintage pulp cover:
http://www.w3sh.com/2012/06/27/poster-science-fiction-a-la-sauce-vintage/

[6745a86ecbb57fox]

Lovely, I'm a fan of Pulp art. If you are interested in this, I can recommend this book/collection "Men's Adventure Magazines: 25 Jahre TASCHEN".

[6745a86ecbca2fox]

Who Is America? (2018) | First Look | Sacha Baron Cohen SHOWTIME Series
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkXeMoBPSDk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k4pMTsa1Kw

Guardian: "Jason Spencer 'to resign' after appearance on Sacha Baron Cohen show"

[6745a86ecbe91icemann]

Things are really messed up in America.

I get the crazy logic behind a "good person" with a gun beats a "bad" person with a gun, but it's just stupid in reality. More guns in the hands of more people = increased gun violence. They just hold onto that belief about guns that they lose all sanity. Crazy....

And then if you factor kids into the equation where bullying is so rampant world over. If you give those bullying victims access to guns then it's going to lead to what's happening with the mass shootings. As a victim of bullying myself (high school days), I can easily see why those shooters do it. I'm not justifying their actions AT ALL but I get it. All you want is for that hell to end. But it's just not the right way, and if those people have access to them their going to use them.

Over here in Australia we had 1 mass shooting, and immediately banned all semi-automatic weapons and have not had 1 mass shooting ever since. Gun control works, regardless of what the NRA may say. Facts speak for themselves.

[6745a86ecc095fox]

I'm not really willing to discuss the subject in detail right now but my stance is this:

I am for relatively strict gun control, as it is/was practiced here in Germany - with some room for people interested in target practice for fun and some exceptions for people with good reasons to carry a gun for protection.

I do not think that guns in almost every household automatically leads to dramatic consequences. Looking, for example, at countries like Switzerland, where this is normal (but also with restrictions like non-automatic only, etc.) afaik, this doesn't lead to many shootings nontheless.

It has much more to do, with how dysfunctional society is or isn't, imo. People who want to kill as many people as possible (for whatever reason), will always find ways (easily). Surely, easy access to effective weapons does lead to more impulse-driven incidents though. Like they say, if people carry a weapon, they are much more likely to use it, even if a situation could be resolved with less violence.

In general, I am an advocate for the state's monopoly on using force and that means guns shouldn't be allowed for private persons, outside of sports and a few other legitimate reasons.

The extremes that NRA-supporters are going to in the USA is just madness in many cases, as exposed in those Clips above.

[6745a86ecc4f3Kolya]

I get the crazy logic behind a "good person" with a gun beats a "bad" person with a gun, but it's just stupid in reality.

There is this naive (religious) idea at its core of easily and cleanly separating good and bad, that permeates American culture. Looked at closely it must fall apart. And this is happening now and America has promptly fallen into an identity crisis. Everyone is desperately trying to uphold the absolute ideal of "good" although what that is changes every day now, depending on which victim group you ask. The hard working God and country loving good guy of yore is now a white old man who oppresses by his mere existence. Everyone can be an offender, so you better affirm your victim status. Moral ambiguity is still being rejected in America, by the new rules makers as well as by the old ones.
At least that's my outside view from across the pond. Despite all this America has a lot going for it. It's much closer to my heart than other countries with similar problems. And as soon as it leaves puberty behind, it will be a really strong and chill guy. Or girl.