glypo

A teen comedy in an American high school - how many times have we seen that? This film may not have a ground breaking premise but it delivers something fresh for an otherwise tired genre. Emma Stone does a terrific job as lead, the story is fun, Olive's (Stone) parents are great and there is a lot to the comedy. There is also some quite interesting dialogue. I was in need of light entertainment with an upbeat ending and this delivered.

Side note: the film was shot entirely on location in Ojai, CA. It looks like a beautiful town. Also, it is filmed on Panavision Genesis. I am not the biggest fan of Genesis but for this type of film it works fine and the results they achieved were great.

First let's talk about the Blu-Ray release. The video quality is superb here, I didn't think it would make the difference that it has. Unlike a lot of films from the 90's this isn't spoilt by the higher resolution, CGI effects really ruin many older films released on Blu-Ray as the new higher resolution uncovers their flaws. Blade Runner is an old film (1982) as such relied heavily on models and matte paintings - consequently its age actually helps as it now looks better than ever in 1080p (video bit-rate varies from 16-24Mbps VC-1, typically around 18Mbps).

I have to watch Blade Runner at least once every 3-4 months. Ridley Scott made a very dark film, and though some aspects feel dated now (CRT monitors, printed photographs etc) the film feels as genuine as ever with an ability to pull one into the Blade Runner future. The story is fantastic and the themes are as relevant as ever.

Blade Runner is rightly classed as one of the best sci-fi films of all time.