Android (1982)

Kind of tying in with my recent post about Blade Runner is this 1982 Low Budget SF Film Android, that I've always had a soft spot for.
Directed by Aaron Lipstadt over a 4 week period on a $½m budget, Lipstadt used some sets left over from the Roger Corman produced Forbidden World. The film itself uses minimal settings but the ones that are seen are quite effective, also the handful of Visual FX shots in this film that were shot on a $20,000 FX budget, are quite nicely done and do the job required. I've seen people criticize FX in low budget movies like this but often they're working with what's at hand or what can be scrounged, and when you consider the main miniature of the 'Nostromo' in Alien cost tens of thousands of dollars then they don't do bad. Some of the set designs were done by James Cameron who'd just returned from directing Piranha 2, he'd had a bad time on that film and was broke so he needed the work.

Plot Summary:
In 2036, on space station ULC53 far from earth, Dr Daniels a scientist, and his human-like android are at work on the "perfect" female robot. Unknown to android Max, the scientist plans to replace him with the new model. But the arrival of three escaped convicts interrupts their work, complicating the doctor's experiments and the android's planned visit to the earth he's dreamed of but never seen.

There's for the most part only 5 characters in the movie, Max 404 played by writer Don Opper, Klaus Kinski as Dr. Daniel, and Brie Howard, Norbert Weiser and Crofton Hardester as the escaped convicts Maggie, Keller and Mendes. They all do a pretty good job especially Opper as the main character. The film has echoes of Blade Runner, Metropolis, although unlike Blade Runners 'Replicants' Max is actually an Android in the true sense of the word, it always bugs me when I see Roy Batty listed in polls of favorite robots or Androids. We learn of a rebellion on earth which has outlawed Androids and that groups of them are in hiding. For a Roger Corman produced movie it's a real cut above the Galaxy of Terror, Forbidden World type SF that he was making at the time, but he was happy for Aaron Lipstadt, who has gone onto direct primarily TV shows, go his own way with this film. Back in the day when this was shot it was seen more as a low budget Corman movie, these days it could be classed as an Independent movie and would probably receive a better reception by critics, saying that it did get some praise and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Low Budget film of that year.
It's a fun movie, and the Anchor Bay DVD has a commentary track by Aaron Lipstadt and Don Opper.

Blade Runner - The Final Cut (2007)

Watched my DVD of Blade Runner - The Final Cut yesterday, bought the 5 disc set of what will now hopefully be the last time this film gets a DVD release.
As a film the changes were minimal, I spotted the odd change of dialogue or the odd quick new shot but for the most part it was more of a re-master of the print, what I did notice and it can be seen in these grabs is the film now has more of a blue tint to the scenes which I'm not sure I'm 100% on, the Tyrell building has always been this rusty coloured brown, like a Mayan pyramid but now it's whole look has changed, same as the shots in the police headquarters, the colour palette which was there seems to have been washed away mainly in favour of the blue again. And in the street scene, bottom pic of the stills below, the road sign/chevrons have gone from yellow to more of a green tint.
The first close-up shot we see of the Tyrell building windows with the elevator cars seems to hold for a bit longer before pulling in to show the closer view of the windows.

Dialogue changes now explains that 2 Replicants were killed trying to break in to the Tyrell Corporation as opposed to 1 in previous versions, though what is strange is the same scene in the Work Print version on disc 5 also states 2 were killed, so it went from 2 down to 1 in all the versions we've seen up to now, and then back up to 2. It does explain that it was the writers strike in the early 80 that put pay to the Replicant called Mary, they couldn't write any lines for the actress hired so the left her out. One continuity that still remains is Deckard's bloody nose as he buys the bottle of booze after he's killed Zhora, the blood on his nose is from the fight with Leon that he's yet still to have in the alleyway. If you read Future Noir it explains that this whole sequence had a different editorial order originally, thus once changed it created some continuity errors.

Regarding the death of Zhora, when I first heard that they were using Joanna Cassidy for re-shoots of this scene to replace the dodgy wigged stunt woman in previous versions I feared it would stand out like a sore thumb, I'm pleased to say it's been so expertly done that I don't think the average viewer would even notice a change. The visual FX are still some of the most beautiful optical FX and miniature work to grace a Science Fiction movie, and are more memorable than many FX today.

The one shot that bugged me like many people even from the first viewing was the shot as the dove flies up into the sky after Roy's death, I'm pleased to say that the replacement shot is very sympathetic to the original Matte Paintings and FX and fits in very well.

Film and changes aside, what really is the highlight of the box set is the Dangerous Days documentary, with interviews with all the major cast and crew, like most film classics from this period, it wasn't an easy task bringing Ridley Scott's vision to the screen, budget and schedule problems etc... producers trying to replace the director, crews not getting along with the director who wasn't from their country, very much like Lucas with Star Wars and James Cameron with Aliens, yet through all this turmoil and invention of new techniques came a masterpiece. Now these days they throw $300 million at a film like Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and all we get is overblown boredom.

Joanna Cassidy: Blade Runner reshoots done?

I really hope this isn't true, what could be possibly so important that Ridley Scott needs to call her in for reshoots nearly 25 years on ?!? The only scene I could possibly think that could ever need replacing are those of the stuntwoman crashing through the glass when Zhora is shot by Deckard, and I'm sure doing some digital changes to the original are better than trying to do reshoots.

Blade Runner needs to be left, it was brilliant already even before they put out the half arsed Directors Cut in 1990 that Ridley Scott still wasn't happy with, now he's supposed to be working on a Blade Runner "Final Cut" due out later this year.

Anyway here's the story...

Joanna Cassidy, one of the original stars of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, posted a cryptic note on her official Web site: She said she has finished reshooting her scenes in the film.

"Joanna has just finished reshooting her scenes from the original Blade Runner," the site reported. "Joanna is wearing her original outfit (which she kept over from the first production). These new scenes will be part of the upcoming special Blade Runner DVD re-release. Check back for more details." It's not clear whether the new scenes will be incorporated into a new, final cut by director Scott, who has publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the 1992 director's cut of the movie. It's also unclear whether Scott is doing other reshoots. The film's 1982 theatrical cut was famously carved up by the studio and producers and released with a since-much-reviled voice-over. For the film's 25th anniversary this year, a special new DVD set of the movie is planned. Cassidy played Zhora, one of the movie's "replicants," or androids, who meets her demise at the hands of "Blade Runner" Harrison Ford.

Visual FX Milestones - Blade Runner

Movies such as The Fifth Element, Judge Dredd, I Robot, Minority Report, A.I.-Artificial Intelligence the Star Wars Prequels have all had a go at making futuristic/fantastic cities, in 2006 it's ironic that despite the huge advances in Visual Effects technology the city in Ridley Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner is still by far the superior vision of a science fiction city. I've seen Blade Runner's city inspire so many other Film Productions and Music Video's but non have ever matched it's perfection. Every shot of the city whether it be the opening shots of the Gas Towers or the approach to the Police Headquarters are so memorable. The city in Blade Runner becomes the films location, not just an excuse to show flashy effect after flashy effect for no reason. There are probably 10 times as many city shots in Attack of the Clones of Coruscant than there are of Los Angeles in Blade Runner but non of the Coruscant ones stick with you like L.A ones do.
Even today Blade Runner's combination of Miniatures, Matte Paintings and Optical FX hold up incredibly well 24 years after it was made. In an interview with both FX veterans and the newer generation of FX pro's that was printed in Cinefex Magazine most cited Blade Runner's city as one of the landmark achievements in Movie Visual Effects !