What ‘Blade Runner’ got right — and wrong — about life in 2019

[JEDI]

https://wtop.com/entertainment/2018...019-heres-what-the-movie-got-right-and-wrong/

Ridley Scott’s beloved sci-fi movie, loosely based on a Philip K. Dick novel, tried to predict what life would be like on Earth in 2019. It presented a dystopian, industrial version of Los Angeles with dreary weather, humanlike robots and people living in outer space colonies.


Replicants- nope
Flying cars- Nope
Weather is miserable- Not there yet but Global Warming...

Companies like Pan Am and RCA would still be around- Sort of.
RIP Pan Am and Atari but Coca-Cola, Cuisinart, Budweiser and Tsingtao are still here.

We’d talk to our computers- Alexa says yep
go into phone booths to make video calls- video calls yep but not in phone booths.
smoke like chimneys at our workplaces- nope. indoor smoking is banned almost everywhere

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Instead of humanlike robots we've got robotlike humans. Close enough.

 

[zinfamous]

They got the constant fires in the LA skyline and horizon part right.

 

[Charmonium]

We're working on replicants. Some scientist in China used Crispr/CAS9 to modify the genetic code of embryos that will be brought to term. And we're created new DNA libraries that work much like CGAT DNA but have completely different bases.

All we really need are artificial uteruses (uteri?) to grow the new creations in.

Also, everybody pretty much works in tech now, whether directly or indirectly. Even if you're a lawyer, you'd better know your way around LexisNexis. And it won't be long before most of that work is done by AIs.

Pretty soon the only real jobs left are going to be technicians (programmers, robotics engineers, etc) and maybe the occasional country physician. Oh, and plumbers. We'll always need plumbers.

 

[snoopy7548]

They forgot about sex robots. Pris was a pleasure model. Replicant, not robot, but still... close enough.

 

[Muse]

I've been meaning to rewatch that, no special reason, forgot it was set in 2019. I have the Director's Cut, said to be one the the best director's cuts to watch. Haven't seen that movie since 2006.

 

[Muse]

Pretty soon the only real jobs left are going to be technicians (programmers, robotics engineers, etc) and maybe the occasional country physician. Oh, and plumbers. We'll always need plumbers.

Awe, have some imagination. We'll need morticians, cops, farmers, doctors, teachers and film directors. And there will always be The Rolling Stones. Oh, and someone to clean up the mess.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I watched the directors cut this year and realized this movie is boring AF. I know it was a masterpiece when it came out due to the visuals, but I don't think it holds up unless you were a huge fan of it at the time.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Can we really blame the movie for missing anything, or the PKD book?

 

[nakedfrog]

I watched the directors cut this year and realized this movie is boring AF. I know it was a masterpiece when it came out due to the visuals, but I don't think it holds up unless you were a huge fan of it at the time.

It never really did much for me either.
I did finally read the book a couple years ago, that I enjoyed. They're not kidding when they say the movie is loosely based on it.

 

[snoopy7548]

It's in my top 5 but you really have to be in the right mood to watch it, and wide awake.

 

[sportage]

I remember seeing in news papers from the 60's artist versions of life in 2000.
Flying cars, moving tread-walks between futuristic homes and businesses, and everything was sparkling clean.
Never was there one empty pop can or Wendy's hamburger wrapper to be seen.
And everyone was clean cut, thin, trimmed, smiling, and dressed as if they all worked in the banking field.
I don't know for sure, but I'd guess those artist eventually committed suicide.
They just couldn't take it, how things really turned out in the end.

A more approbate artist rendering would been scenes of stage coaches, covered wagons, cowboys toting guns, LOTS OF GUNS, and toothless city folk that couldn't spell their own name, correctly....
And a fat albatross as their president.

 

[zinfamous]

I've been meaning to rewatch that, no special reason, forgot it was set in 2019. I have the Director's Cut, said to be one the the best director's cuts to watch. Haven't seen that movie since 2006.

It depends. There are some 5 or 6 versions within the "Director's Cut Franchise" of Bladerunner. The overall best, IIRC, is the "Ultimate Cut," I think it's called. It's the default cut available on the BD edition or Bladerunner (which also includes all other versions).

 

[zinfamous]

It's in my top 5 but you really have to be in the right mood to watch it, and wide awake.

This is definitely true. But it's also true about all of my favorite movies, really. (I call them favorites, meaning: what I think to be the best--not necessarily the ones that I watch the most).

 

[destrekor]

All we really need are artificial uteruses (uteri?) to grow the new creations in.

Axlotl tanks

 

[Muse]

I watched the directors cut this year and realized this movie is boring AF. I know it was a masterpiece when it came out due to the visuals, but I don't think it holds up unless you were a huge fan of it at the time.

I seem to remember having a similar reaction last time I took in this movie. Just didn't hit me like it did when it came out. Did have it's moments. That tall dark haired beauty replicant, she really pulled it off!

 

[Muse]

It depends. There are some 5 or 6 versions within the "Director's Cut Franchise" of Bladerunner. The overall best, IIRC, is the "Ultimate Cut," I think it's called. It's the default cut available on the BD edition or Bladerunner (which also includes all other versions).

Mine just says Director's Cut, is dated 1991. Just checked the Berkeley Public Library, they have a version called "The Final Cut," dated 2010. So....??? Is that what you mean?

Edit: Wikipedia says "The best known are the Workprint, the U.S. Theatrical Cut, the International Cut, the Director's Cut[6] and the Final Cut. These five versions are included in both the 2007 five-disc Ultimate Collectors Edition and 2012 30th-Anniversary Collector's Edition releases. "

 

[destrekor]

I think I had watched the original in a director's cut format, pretty sure it's a Blu-ray I bought, might be a file. I remember being quite enthralled but it's a slow burn and quite heavy, so I can see it definitely not being everyone's cup of tea.

I somewhat recently watched Blade Runner 2049, but I did it in two takes and really ought to give it another go. I was less than fully alert, and fell asleep less than an hour into it. I finished it the next night I believe, could have been later that week. I rewatched some and then finished it, and quite enjoyed it. I remember not finding it to be stellar, but I never really formed a solid opinion of it, leaving that to whenever I got around to watching it again. And no, that hasn't happened yet.

I also did a stupid thing in not having watched the original again before I started 2049. I could have used the refresher, and better geeked me out for a follow-on.

I just came to a conclusion tonight: soon™ I shall watch the original and then watch 2049 the next night.

 

[zinfamous]

Mine just says Director's Cut, is dated 1991. Just checked the Berkeley Public Library, they have a version called "The Final Cut," dated 2010. So....??? Is that what you mean?

Edit: Wikipedia says "The best known are the Workprint, the U.S. Theatrical Cut, the International Cut, the Director's Cut[6] and the Final Cut. These five versions are included in both the 2007 five-disc Ultimate Collectors Edition and 2012 30th-Anniversary Collector's Edition releases. "

yeah, that's the one.

 

[TXHokie]

They darn well better have flying cars by 2049. Not sure I’ll be around then though to find out.

 

[Muse]

They darn well better have flying cars by 2049. Not sure I’ll be around then though to find out.

They won't... die assured.

 

[Muse]

yeah, that's the one.

I put a hold on the Final Cut at the library. I don't need to see them all, I figure. Saw the theatrical version, the 1991 Director's Cut.

 

[randay]

Sadly Idiocracy was way more accurate.

 

[Muse]

Sadly Idiocracy was way more accurate.

The devil beholds America and laughs his ass off.

 

[TXHokie]

They won't... die assured.

Why not? Maybe a fully autonomous electric drone type vehicles with Uber ride service model. We can all convert our garage to living space and put a landing pad on the rooftop instead.