phil dick adaptations cant go below a certain level of crappiness

AlexM

AlexM

Scout
ok, paycheck notwithstanding, just about every adaptation of a dick story was pretty solid.
i'll even go as far to say 'Screamers' was okay. Probably because it was written by Zombie god Dan O'Bannon of Return of the Living Dead fame.Plus Peter Weller and the Junkie chick from Nightmare on Elm street 3.
Blade Runner was a far flung adaptation. Ridley scott even considers it his movie, inspiredby 'electric sheep', but not a direct adapt.
And scanner Darkly, im sorry but that movie was off the hook. Linklater respects Dick, and the whole rotoscoping thing was gorgeous. i didnt see 'Next' which was "The Golden man", one of dicks last works, but i heard it was par w/ minority report, which, for a spielberg/cruise vehicle, was totally decent.
There was a french film made of 'Confessions of A felgercarb Artist'
and 'Total recall'..the only one i didn't like.
my vote for the next Dick adaptation, either 'flow my tears the policeman said' or 'dr. futurity' i hope i dont get crucified for this.
 
A Scanner Darkly was pretty crappy, IMO -- I think that it's possible to respect an author too much. Blade Runner was excellent, but as you said, that's hardly a direct adaptation.

I liked Total Recall, but Next was awful. Paycheck was worse. I can't speak for Screamers -- haven't seen it -- but considering that IMDb users gave it a 5.9 out of 10, and RottenTomatoes.com gives it 28%, I can't imagine it's one of the all-time greats. And I think Minority Report is up there with Blade Runner in terms of quality, and is probably the best true adaptation of Dick's work.

So overall, I'd have to say that the track record for Dick adaptations is spotty at best.
 
Cats Cradle? thats a Vonnegut thing.
And scanner darkly bad? C'mon! it was like verbatim for the book, save the merging of two characters into one, and Linklater still managed to make it something original though it was an adaptation.
As for screamers, I was speaking with a bias. I mean I'm a Dan o'Bannon fan and a Peter Weller fan, but for a blockbuster video shelf warmer its totally decent in comparison to its lo-budge SF kin.
 
AlexM said:
Cats Cradle? thats a Vonnegut thing.
And scanner darkly bad? C'mon! it was like verbatim for the book, save the merging of two characters into one, and Linklater still managed to make it something original though it was an adaptation.
As for screamers, I was speaking with a bias. I mean I'm a Dan o'Bannon fan and a Peter Weller fan, but for a blockbuster video shelf warmer its totally decent in comparison to its lo-budge SF kin.
Click to expand...
Sometimes, it's not a good thing to say that a movie was verbatim for the book. A Scanner Darkly was a murky, chaotic mess, filled with unlikeable characters and a meandering plot line -- things that would be forgivable in a book, but that grate on your nerves when you've spent eight-fifty on a movie ticket.

And the "level of crappiness" argument kind of goes out the window when you throw a stinker like Paycheck into the mix.
 
well, i mean that paycheck was the certain level of crappiness. when thats your bottom line, anything looks good compared to it. like a good-looking woman with an unattractive friend that makes her looks much hotter by comparison.
wow. Im sorry, that was really crude. But you get my drift no?
 
oooh, bugger. I'd just woken up from a catnap when I wrote that :)

At least I didn't accidentally post the content of my dreams instead. That would have been too far out.
 
AlexM said:
well, i mean that paycheck was the certain level of crappiness. when thats your bottom line, anything looks good compared to it. like a good-looking woman with an unattractive friend that makes her looks much hotter by comparison.
wow. Im sorry, that was really crude. But you get my drift no?
Click to expand...
Well, yeah, I see your point. And honestly, I may have been a bit harsh on Paycheck -- actually, I seem to recall walking out of the movie theater after that film and really enjoying it at the time. So maybe the critic savaging (and my own poor recollection) didn't do it justice.

And I think you're spot-on about the good-looking woman comment... although, in this analogy, it's more like drop-dead gorgeous supermodels (Blade Runner) hanging out with fairly attractive, somewhat easy on the eye girls (Paycheck)
 
Did we forget one? I believe "Impostor" was also PKD. Another box office flop (but so was Serenity), that I thoroughly enjoy time and again.
As a side note, I loved & love "Screamers" still and from the first time I saw it. I special ordered it on VHS. DVD now.
These both go hand in hand with my love of "Dark Endings" & Alien, beings or contraptions.
Two of my favorite Outer Limits (new one), are the separated two-parter(s)...
Quality of Mercy and,
Light Brigade (watch this one first)
Both top notch (my opinion) stand alone or together episodes.
 
yeah i just watched Imposter like last month. gary Sinise Vince D'Onofrio, Tony Shaloub, madeleine Sotwe. A decent film. It has a twist a thte end that would make M. Night Shamylan yawn, but is what fun to watch. i had totally forgotten about it.

Incidentally, david mack, the very talented writer/artist of the awesome comic book Kabuki will be adapting to graphic novel a Dick story called Electric Ant. ive never read it, has anyone? if you aren't familiar with david mack, just google image some of his Kabuki art, you'll be impressed. i think this will be a good graphic novel. i should try to find some info about the Dick story.

I wanted to add there is a french adaptation of Phil Dicks Confessions of a felgercarb Artist
anyone seen it?
 
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