Meet me at the movies
We get together with friends once a month to go out to the movies. Once there, we just pick one of the previews that we want to see next month and do it again. It’s simply a matter of scheduling, picking a free evening, but we seem to be finding ourselves at cheapskate night at The Movies in Imperial.
Cheapskate night is a great deal with all seats for $5. That means there’s more money for a giant container of popcorn and Raisinets. I’ve seen people carrying sacks of popcorn and gallon cups of soda. It necessitates buying extra seats on which to park the treats. No kidding. There’s even one screen that has a workout movie and exercise equipment so that you can work off all those calories after you’ve seen the feature you came for in the first place.
In July we saw “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.” There were some great scenes. OK, it is gross, but I enjoy it when the bad guys get gobbled up by hungry dinosaurs. Or they run and hide under a car only to have the entire vehicle upended by stampeding animals. Then they are uncovered, out in the open and easy prey. In the end, the raptors or the hybrid T-Rex hunts them down, and, oh, pass the popcorn.
The Jurassic movies have been an industry with a string of sequels. There is another coming. Fallen Kingdom ends as a free-range raptor looks out on what appears to be an Arizona suburb, and it seems to be licking its chops as it views the potential. We’re not talking about coyotes scooping up Chihuahuas here, either. So “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” ends with the introduction to the sequel, “Jurassic Estates: Fast Food.” The problem is the creators have run out of ideas. Caged dinosaurs escape from transport ships. King Kong-like public displays of monsters end with the creatures breaking loose and eating half the audience. Or the good guys trying to save the dinosaurs act as if they are the ASPCA of prehistoric creatures. Writers get soft and run out of ideas when they spend too much of their time in La Jolla.
So I’ve heard a lot about Blade Runner 2049. We got it through Netflix. I’m a big fan of the original Blade Runner with Harrison Ford. That movie came out in 1982, and the future era in which the film is set is, are you ready, 2019? Oh, how time flies. Netflix is convenient, and the catalog of “we’ll mail it to you” movies is extensive, more so than the streaming service.
The two Blade Runner movies share a basic theme. An LA Police Department hero hunts replicants or androids who will harm humans. Large parts of earth have been nuked. The population has moved off-world. LA is populated largely by Asians. Snow is normal as is lots of rain. Skyscrapers feature giant electronic signs often of women selling sex or a product the population must have. The sets are stunning, and I think the idea of LA snowfalls is wonderful.
When I was in Shanghai in June, I toured the riverfront at night from a tourist boat and marveled at the Pudong district’s giant skyscrapers with electronic signs that announce corporate names and advertise brands. What came first? The architectural concept of skyscrapers as electronic billboards or the original Blade Runner? The futuristic Pudong skyscrapers are somewhat recent being built in the 1990s, but giant electronic signs aren’t.
Two guys we like are in both Blade Runners. Harrison Ford stars in the 1982 film and co-stars in Blade Runner 2049. Edward James Olmos has a cameo in the newer version. The music complements the scenes, and a sense of unresolved tension permeates the newer Blade Runner. Ryan Gosling, the updated LAPD cop, appears to be a deer caught in the headlights. The story always seems just out of reach. The movie deservingly received the Academy Award for cinematography. As one Netflix reviewer stated, “the movie was very cool, but not much happened.”
More popcorn, please.