Penguin

Don't rush it. You gotta take the months one VF at a time. April - VF-1D with option parts May - VF-1A Cavaliers June - VF-171EX

I can't think of a single adaptation of PKD's stories that did retain the same tone as the original stories. Given his highly introspective style, I'm not sure how filmable they could be in their original state. His ideas were always engaging, often gripping, but character and narrative sometimes suffered.

Honestly, I have no idea. I've seen casting sheets that repeat character names that were unique to the movie, and interviews that talk in length about more inspiration from the original story (but then again, everyone goes on about their "faithfulness" to PKD's ideas in their adaptations). My gut feel is we'll mostly get a remangling of the Total Recall story, set on Earth rather than Mars. Since it has espionage elements in it, there will be a political angle of some sort. IIRC, the mutants were supposed to be caused by inadequate shielding in the original Martian colonies, so if it's entirely on Earth there would need to be some other explanation. It's awesome that you put those bits in. So tell us, if you don't mind me asking, do you specifically look for opportunities to inject a little Macrossness, or just add them in when something appropriate grabs you? Or a little of both?

The Phillip K. Dick story that inspired Total Recall, titled We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, is more about the reliability of memory, how memory defines our perception, and perception as reality. Mars figures as a plot point, but isn't central. You could have replaced Mars with Kansas in that story and the end result would have been more or less the same. So, this new film is a remake of Total Recall in that it too claims inspiration from PKD's story, but it truth it's not taking a heck of a lot from the previous film. From what I've seen so far, it's more reuse of a known brand than a close or faithful remake.

Gorgeous work!

I agree. Even the "New 52" look kept the belt.

You and me both!

Ooooh... it's all dark and edgy. Nobody does that these days. Reminds me of the "golden age" Superman sigil. Then again, how many ways are there to put an 'S' inside a lop-sided pentagon?

Has anyone else read through the whole corporate timeline at WeylandIndustries.com? There's some neat stuff in there. Dunno what you guys will read into it, but it looks to me like Aliens is in Ridley's canon. 2039: Discovery of Acheron LV-426 Weyland astronomers discover multiple moons and a ringed planet just outside the Zeta 2 Reticula System, which are possibly able to support life. Weyland expects to travel there within the century. 2056: Power Loader Patented Weyland Industries earns patent number 15,725,924 for Method and Apparatus for a mechanised exo-skeleton used for lifting and moving heavy objects such as crates and vehicle weaponry. 2057: Lifeboat Patented Weyland Industries earns patent number 15,999,127 for Method and Apparatus for an ejectable luxury pod able to sustain one human life for up to 50 years. 2063: Transplanetary Peacekeeping As Weyland Industries expands their terraforming activities and colonial endeavors, the company is approached by the US government to begin work on the formation of a colonial peacekeeping force trained or populated by marines in the event of future conflict.

You aren't the only one. I think the original has some memorable moments that would have stuck in people's minds, but Arnie definitely added to its longevity. On the other hand, I thought the way the original abruptly dropped the CEO of Rekall in the middle of the action was a well-timed twist, even if it ended up largely ignored for the rest of the film. Really, as far as Dick's original short story goes, the central idea is all it has to contribute (as intriguing as that idea may be). From a narrative perspective, it might have made a decent episode of the original Twilight Zone or Outer Limits, but there's nowhere near enough substance to support a full-length movie. Trying a faithful adaptation of that story would make for a pretty dull film. I'm kinda interested in this remake. A new perspective on Dick's original idea is welcome to me, even if it borrows from Verhoeven as well to frame it as another action film. If they find an interesting way to weave the idea into the film, making it more part of the narrative than it was in the original, the result could be quite good. Interviews have touted that this is the case, but the overall track record for adapting Dick's ideas into movies hasn't been a good one. So, I'm not going to expect a good film, but I am willing to give it a chance.

Seeing as the makers of Clonus brought a lawsuit against DreamWorks for The Island, I'd say that would be fair comparison.

Just saw it last night and it's quite good. Never read the books. Mentioning Twilight in any relation does the film a disservice. It's "the next Twilight" only in that it's the latest movie series adapted from a successful series of novels aimed at young adults. To be fair, I've never seen Twilight. A friend whose opinion I trust was dragged to Twilight by one of her friends, and proclaimed it irredeemable drivel. Thus, I never bothered. The Hunger Games does NOT fall into that category. Similarly, it has a slight relation to Battle Royale only in that both stories involve adolescents forced to kill each other. The tone, atmosphere, and theme of the stories are otherwise completely different. By the available evidence, claims that The Hunger Games was derivative or a copy of Battle Royale are unfounded. Even if Collins is lying and did know of Battle Royale when writing her series, the end result stands as an independent entity. It's no more a copy than, I dunno, a movie about a heist is a copy of every other movie about a heist. Neither is it "emo Battle Royale". That implies some sort of angsty, melodramatic movie, and it's not. I hate that crap (even when I was an angsty teenager), and this really isn't it. Frankly, Battle Royale is for more angsty and melodramatic than The Hunger Games. "Shuya!!!" "Nobu!!!!" *boom* <sob> <rage> The Good The story is well-paced. With an over 2 hour running time, it never felt sluggish or padded with filler. The highest points are the performances. Jennifer Lawrence, Stanley Tucci, Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz, and Donald Sutherland all are in solid form. Wes Bentley's character could have used a little more development, but no one seems to be phoning it in or just there for the paycheck. They did a good job of contrasting the perspective on the Hunger Games themselves: a highly-anticipated and opulent gala for the Capitol, and a horror show for the rest of the nation. For those who rate such things, I found the violence brutal enough. No, they didn't dive into showers of gore or graphically depict the killings, but neither did they shy from driving home what these burdgeoning sociopaths were doing. Watching one of the tributes hack away at another... frankly, if you can't connect with the fact that he's butchering another person without seeing the actual gore, you're too desensitized to approach it rationally anyway. As for the romance part, yes there is a slowly building emotional connection involved, but it's not some cloying, saccharine teen love affair that the movie revolved around. It's a plot point, and it services and advances the story in a solid fashion. The Bad The door of the theatre had a notice about the film causing motion sickness. I thought that meant an excess of fast-cut action during the fight scenes, but no. For about the first half hour of the film, the cinematography and editing are frustrating and downright annoying. Almost every shot is an unnecessary close-up or an unbelievably shaky hand-held, or both at the same time. I started thinking "I know Jennifer Lawrence has arms and legs. I saw them in X-Men: First Class. Where are they now?" The editing is nothing but rapid, 10-second bites, even during calm conversations. I have no idea what the cinematographer and editor were trying to achieve, but they failed miserably. It was seriously making me angry, and I might have walked out had it continued. Thankfully, after that first half hour, someone got slapped upside the head or took their Ritalin or something, because the camera finally pulls out and we get to linger on scenes for more than a couple of eye blinks. The fast cuts and close-ups still pop up now and again, but not nearly so often. Really, by that point, they were being used in a regular fashion, but I was just over-sensitized to them. Aside from that, there are only some minor complaints. Some of the characters are thinly drawn. The film alludes to the idea that the other districts are nigh-starving, but it could have shown us a bit more to bring that plight home. It also could have done a bit more to show how the Capitol enforces its will on the other districts, because they frankly didn't seem menacing enough to force the rest of the nation to submit to their perverse games year after year. All in all, I enjoyed the film. As others have noted, it's good not great, but still solid entertainment. Who in their right mind compares Logan's Run to The Island? We're talking about the Michael Bay The Island, right? One is a story about a society where everyone is killed at age 30, the other a story about illegally raising human clones for organ harvesting and other unsavoury uses. Is it because they're both chase movies? If so, then that's kinda ridiculous.

I just realized that 2013 will be Patlabor's 25th anniversary. In that vein, anything anyone would like to see get a re-release in celebration? Or something altogether new? Personally, I'd like to see a re-release of Yamato's unit 2, and of Bandai's original model kits. I have a recurring desire to build a diorama of Alphonse taking on the Type X-0 as at the climax of the first movie.

Comparison between Alien and Prometheus might not be vald. " Looks like it's been dead a long time. Fossilized. Looks like it's growing out of the chair." - Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Alien Then again, maybe Dallas was just wrong.

Yeah. It's cool. They're keeping it all really close to the chest. We have no idea what those beasties are, or if they'll tie into the origin of the Alien. It's safe to say, at this point, Prometheus is something I'm looking more forward to than Avengers or Dark Knight Rises.

Yeah, I don't get that either. Every report I've read reports how the millions and millions spent on marketing ballooned the already massive budget. All I recall are a few generic-looking trailers that didn't really describe the film and the changing title (to drop the "of Mars"). Where did all this cash go?

Absolutely Gigerish (Gigeresque?). So far our evidence amonts to one relief image on a wall in one scene, with no context about where it appears in the film. I would fit that into the category of a clue or a hint. There's also a possible clue in a scene that has a character seemingly grabbing at the front of a space helmet with smoke rising from it (maybe acid?). So far, I think all we got are clues. By "see an actual Giger critter" I meant a chestbursting space jockey, or a facehugger, or some other "living" creature.

I don't think that John Carter losing money has much to do with critics. It's gotten fairly average if not especially positive reviews. I think Disney banked too much on what is kinda a fringe property, outside the main blockbuster season. John Carter has virtually no name recognition outside sci-fi readers... and even among the newer of them knowledge is scarce. On top of that, cross-genre pics have a hard time finding an audience (e.g. Cowboys vs. Aliens). Most people who I talked to had no idea what it was about, even after seeing a trailer, and what they saw in the trailer often didn't grab them enough to find out. Plus, there weren't enough explosions in the trailers to attract the teen male set that flocks to pointless FX summer films. So, timing fail, marketing fail... doesn't look good. Too bad. You could get some cool sci-fi/fantasy romps outta that series.

As far as Scott and Lindelof have said, it is a stand-alone film. In Lindelof's words, Alien is not the sequel to Prometheus. Their emphasis has been that by the end you will know how the events of Alien were started, but a sequel to Prometheus would follow a completely different path. Whether that means we see an actual Giger critter, some sort of prototype version of it, or just get some clues and the general idea, we don't know.

Well said. I mean, supply and demand is a two-way street, and collectors are just as complicit in enabling those who make a buck that way. If the collecting community decided "screw it, it's just a toy", and refused to pay inflated prices, then anyone who buys a bunch and tries to resell them would be stuck with back inventory and make no money. They'd learn a lesson and stop (unless they enjoy losing money or having 10 copies of a toy). But, people just gotta have their stuff, so as long as someone pays their prices, they're telling the resellers what they do is smart and profitable, and implicitly giving them permission to continue.

Interesting ideas. I'm gonna wrap this in spoilers, in case someone doesn't even want to see idle speculation in case we guess right.

There are events in the first book that the movie doesn't cover, so a sequel could deal with those. The following spoiler reveals events in the movie, and only a small one about the first book.

I tend to rely on Amazon.com mostly. The local stores here that carry anime don't have as great a selection as they used to. For import blu-rays (primarily Macross, Studio Ghibli, and Gundam UC), hmv.co.jp is my go-to.

Heh... when I read them, it helped to keep in mind that they were first published in 1917. Some of the concepts are a little dated. That being said, once you accept the central conceit of Mars having life in the first place, the rest of the story holds up surprisingly well. The whole "9th ray" idea isn't any more outlandish than half the wild things Star Trek has postulated... it's just wrapped in less technobabble.

Non sequitur, but "Troll Hunter" is good too.