| Author | Message | ||
     Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.72 |
An interesting movie is on its way: Matt Damon plays a man running for the Senate when he meets the woman of his dreams. Just as everything seems to be going according to plan, he is kidnapped by four men, who then inform him they are the Adjustment Bureau. Apparently, his and everybody else's lives are mapped out, and his meeting the woman was only meant to occur once. Decisions, decisions. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Based on the ingenious short story 'Adjustment Team' (1954) by Philip K. Dick. | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.179.212.89 |
Well, I saw the trailer and it didn't exactly thrill me... it even looked dumb to me... | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.72 |
Tom - be ye not deceived, as trailers either promise too much, reveal too little or confound us into indifference. Steve - I didn't know that, pal. Philip K. Dick, now you're taking. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
With the exception of 'Blade Runner' film adaptations of Dick tend to mutilate his original stories removing much of the philosophical depth in favour of popular thrills. As a fan, and having loved that particular story, I don't hold out much hope for this one but you never know... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Blade Runner was also unrecognisable from the book...and much better, too. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.72 |
Than the book? I haven't read the original story on which The Impostor is based, but the film had a great opening ten minutes, then plummeted swiftly into bargain basement special effects, and from there, even more swiftly into the blatantly obvious. For my money, the worst of the bunch. Though as much as it's budget seemed to limit it, 'Screamers' was actually a pleasant surprise. Haven't seen the recent sequel though. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
But where 'Blade Runner' got Philip K. Dick right was in putting atmosphere and philosophical depth above cheap thrills. There is actually very little action in the film but the world Ridley Scott creates haunts the mind every bit as much as the original novel - both are masterpieces. 'Screamers' was a great little sci-fi B-movie that didn't even attempt to grapple with the wider issues of the story and was all the better for it. Films like 'Total Recall' and 'Minority Report' that attempt to pay lip service to Dick's themes while offering up popcorn entertainment end up falling between two stools imo. Has anyone seen 'A Scanner Darkly'? I hear it's a good Dick adaptation. Also 'Moon' last year was the best Dickian sci-fi movie I have seen. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.72 |
Scanner Darkly I tried to watch, but I'm not into the live-animation thing. It was fantastic what little I saw, and my friends, Philip K Dick fans (I can't bear to write Dick fans), said it was their favourite after Blade Runner. Minority Report is exceptional in parts, but had that usual Speilberg thing of inserting moments of comical action, and was also let down by the ending. Don't even get me started on Total Recall. F**king pants, to quote a friend at the time Cronenberg was originally going to do Total Recall...ah, what could have been so beautiful... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
I have an admission to make: I'm not a fan of PKD's novels - they lack passion. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? left me cold; Ubik I lost interest in about half way through, when it started trying to be clever at the expense of plot. I loved A Scanner Darkly, though, but that felt like it had been written by someone else. I do really like PKD's short fiction, though. That curious lack of passion (and his rather forgettable prose) don't detract at the shorter length.  | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 188.147.238.199 |
I love Philip K Dick, but I have to agree with Zed on this one, his novels do seem to lack passion. Or at least a recognisable form of one. It's as if the brilliance of his ideas smother the human element.Ridiculous that I would say 'the human element', but that's how it feels. BUT, I love his plots, even if many of them resemble the one before, and I adore his prescient foresight, even if it was more accidental, or the result of huge amounts of speed...and I also appreciate the depth to which his ideas and stories went...there's a lot of serious issues at stake in his work...BUT, again, as Zed mentions, his prose wasn't, for me personally, all that memorable... Though I thought UBIK was brilliant. For me, the little that I've read, it was his best. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
PKD does have a cool detached prose style which I actually like and think works well with his subject matter but I understand how this might not appeal to some readers. Characterisation does tend to come second to ideas in the sci-fi genre. Perhaps that's why I'm getting such a kick out of Heinlein's writing - he has it all imo. | ||
| Tom_alaerts (Tom_alaerts) Username: Tom_alaerts Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.78.35.185 |
I believe I read the short story "Adjustment Team" a long time ago, in a big PKD collection, and I quite like it then. It did work as a short weird yarn. But to me the concept seems too simple, too shallow to serve as the backbone for a full length movie. OK, more hollywood movies are based on simple ideas, but then I don't watch many of them anymore. Regarding his novels, I believe I read 2 of them a long time ago and I do agree with Zed: they lack passion. I remember that they didn't really urge me to keep on reading. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
'Adjustment Team' was a half hour episode of the original 'Twilight Zone' just waiting to be made but as a movie is bound to fall flat on its face. In my opinion PKD was the greatest science fiction writer the world has ever seen but Robert Heinlein was the greatest writer of science fiction while J.G. Ballard was the greatest writer to come out of science fiction. Does any of that make any sense?  |