Ladyhawke

Ah, that hit the spot.

I'm so happy I saw this movie again, and I haven't seen it in years. The first time I saw it was in my english class in high school of all places. Why? I have no idea. And I never saw a fantasy movie like this before or even after, the story is simple but still has a lot of heart and adventuring, the soundtrack is all kinds of funky cool, the film is so unashamedly 80s and I wouldn't want it any other way. Our story follows a young thief Gaston played by Matthew Broderick, who escapes a prison before meeting a mysterious knight Naverre played by Rutger Hauer who requires his assistance to settle an old score. We slowly learn more about Naverre and the hawk who always accompanies him, which is revealed that a curse was placed upon the two of them. By day Naverre is a man, and by night he is a wolf while the hawk named Isabeau transforms into a beautiful woman by nightfall. I really like how it's not a straight up Beauty & The Beast story, that both these lovers are cursed and the tragedy ensues from the fact they can never truly see each other face to face. That is a brilliant idea that I haven't seen since! I fully can say this is a fantasy love story, yet another rare thing in this world and I do mean proper fantasy because it's based in medieval times. I greatly appreciate the romance it builds, they just don't talk about how much one loves the other, but you can see it in their actions and hear it in their voices and you want to see them have a happy resolution. The movie looks great with good portions being filmed in Italy and it looks excellent, with several real life castles being used, and very moody and atmospheric sets. All the actors are committed and give great performances, Matthew Broderick is a very fun and endearing thief with some great chemistry with our other main leads, Michelle Pfeifer though she has little on screen time as a human doesn't waste a second of it giving a lovely and sweet performance, and last but absolutely not least we have Rutger Hauer. I was very shocked and saddened to hear of his passing and it was truly wonderful to see him again, he outshines everyone with a performance that has mystery, tragedy, and a sense of humanity, his character has a lot to enjoy with a sense of humor, great brawn, and charm unparalleled. He almost seems like a D&D character come to the big screen and if I ever truly created a character I would base it on him. He has two scenes that really hit me, in one you can truly see and feel his heart be crushed in anguish, and in another he shows compassion and understanding. I know everyone points to Blade Runner for his acting talents and granted he is beyond spectacular in that movie, but I mean really if you watch him in any movie and you love him. It was great to see him in a hero role which he honestly got by pure luck and I'm happy he did. This was great fun to watch and I really enjoyed it so much more than the first time around. I know I would have just loved this movie when I was young, fantasy movies have always been my thing especially along with science fiction movies, and I've heard lots of stories about people who have been watching this movie since they were kids and still enjoy it. So you bet I give a huge recommendation for this movie, it hits that 80s fantasy adventure just right with brief but good comedy, swordfights, and even a very good love story. It may not be one of the greatest fantasy movies to some but I'll always appreciate and love it.

2nd Viewing: Blade Runner

Really it's more my 3rd viewing. I watched both the theatrical and final cut today so I could compare notes correctly.

And you know what? I may not fully get it, but this is a really damn good movie now that I saw it again! I highly enjoyed it, and wasn't just witness to the story and didn't feel much. I don't know the deeper meaning of the movie, probably never will, but it was a better experience this time. Cinematography and visuals are stunning and breathtaking, you can see the craftsmanship in everything, and I love the world it builds. Characters are interesting and memorable, especially Roy played to beyond perfection by Rutger Hauer, seriously the man needs an Oscar, he knows exactly what he needs to potray and how to do it. Decker is a great protagonist, and the story flows very nicely as he hunts these replicants down. I think it worked greatly in my favor to watch both versions, and I can safely say the final cut is vastly superior. What shocked me was the narraration was not that excessive in the theatrical cut, it cropped up...maybe 5 times in 2 hours of film, so it never felt overbearing. The final cut has so much better editing, framing, visual richness, and a more coherent story. I really enjoyed this movie, and no doubt will buy it soon. The immersion it sets, I think, is why it is so good. It sets up the technology, the characters, history of said characters, and a wonderful atmosphere. I can stare at those backgrounds for hours, they are so finely detailed and for paintings the depth is incredible. Blade Runner is a heavily visual film, no doubt, but the story it tells is interesting and engaging enough so that it can't just be considered eye candy. I will be seeing it more times in the future, and I fully agree with Harrison Ford and his views on the film, so the final cut is the version you should go for. But for curiosity's sake, if you want to, track down the theatrical cut. It's not often in life you can say the same movie can be viewed literally very differently. So I am very happy to have seen it again, we will touch on Blade Runner 2049 tomorrow, so until then my friends.

Blade Runner

I do not actually think it's fair to review a movie like Blade Runner on the first viewing. Yeah, it took me 22 years to finally see Blade Runner, a movie I've heard so much about and seen referenced countless times and only now have I seen the source material.

So Blade Runner is basically a sci-fi noir film following a detective on the hunt for human replicants for murder, and that's just the plot synopsis from what I saw. This is not a movie you can watch just once in your life, it's a difficult movie to fully describe. It's a quiet movie (I watched The Final Cut, so no voice over.) and you do have to pay attention to even slightly understand the plot. It's a visually rich film without a shadow of a doubt, and in retrospect Ghost In The Shell with Scarlett had much in visual style and art direction to be owed to Blade Runner. In fact almost every science fiction movie after 1982 owes some element to this movie. Now I know this movie is an adaptation of "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick, and I have read up on it briefly, but even then the movie is it's own entity. I don't know, it's just such a bizzare, mysterious, just strange movie and there's no way in hell anybody can form a true opinion on this film in one viewing, this is a movie that you have to watch multiple times so I may have to break a rule and next year I will rewatch Blade Runner and do an In Retrospect of it. There's just no movie with a look and story like this movie, so I feel really bad actually about writing this review, because I have no words to explain how I feel. I couldn't even really say it's a great or even good movie although I found little wrong with it, so it's just all depending on the person and how many times they are willing to watch it again. So that's why I absolutely have to watch this movie again and talk about it again, because it's just that kind of movie. I'm sorry I was all vague and not highly opinionated, but my mind was accepting what I was viewing and I was highly interested in the movie, it held my attention all the way through, but I just couldn't say anything very definitive besides rich visual appeal, so I have to say go watch this movie and please for the love of all things good in this world tell me what you thought of it, doesn't matter if you've seen it once or 50 times I would love to hear your opinions. All I know for sure is, I want that gun.