TheRetroCritic

Review available on the new website .

Before Blade Runner enjoyed a revival with a Director's Cut released 10 years after its original release in 1982, it was nowhere near the masterpiece it is now recognised to be. The film underperformed at the box-office, its more optimistic take not resonating with audiences. Indeed, this is the only version of the film with a happy ending of sorts as Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) and replicant love interest Rachael (Sean Young) leave Los Angeles together after fellow Blade Runner Gaff (Edward James Olmos) spares her life. The infamous voice-over unconvincingly explains to us that Gaff just assumed she would only live for 4 years but luckily Tyrell told Deckard otherwise off-camera. Most people, including Ridley Scott and Harrison Ford, would agree that this voice-over, which pops up pretty randomly and abruptly, sometimes stating the blindingly obvious, was a mistake. Its content, delivery and placement just don't work. It constantly interrupts Vangelis' beautiful sco

Set 30 years after the events of Ridley Scott's cult classic sci-fi noir  Blade Runner , Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 aims to expand the world established by the original while also continuing the story of replicant hunter Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford). Our lead this time is K (Ryan Gosling), an advanced, more obedient type of replicant who also works as a Blade Runner, hunting down older models who are hiding all over Los Angeles. After taking down one of them, a farmer played by a criminally underused Dave Bautista, K finds the remains of another replicant buried nearby and an investigation is opened. This new development piques the interest of the mysterious Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), the creator of all new replicants. The investigation leads us back to Rick Deckard, who turns out to be the key to this whole mess. Meanwhile, K's relationship with hologram girlfriend Joi (Ana de Armas) goes weird places and a prostitute is tasked by someone to place a trac

Some thoughts on the upcoming Blade Runner 2049 .

I talk a bit about Alien: Covenant . 

I n this 73rd episode of  The Big Rewind , we review   Alien: Covenant ,   talk about  Ghost In The Shell and play Ridley's Believe It Or Not . CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes ,  Stitcher ,  Soundcloud  and  Player FM  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

Ridley Scott's long-awaited return to the science-fiction genre was met with both praise and cynicism as Alien prequel (of sorts) Prometheus delivered in the stylistic department but failed to convince those more demanding fans of the franchise who perhaps expected something slightly different. Alien: Covenant is very much a direct sequel to Prometheus with Michael Fassbender returning as dodgy robot David and the story picking up some time after he and Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) departed for the Engineers' planet in the alien ship. Initially, however, we focus on new ship The Covenant and its crew who are travelling with thousands of human colonists and embryos in order to start a new life in a specific planet. Following a destructive accident in space which kills its Captain (an odd James Franco cameo), new robot Walter (also Fassbender) wakes up the crew and the new Captain decides to follow a radio transmission down to a nearby unknown world despite the fact it is

Visuals look 10/10. We'll see if the film delivers.

In this special episode of The Big Rewind , I put together a compilation of some of my favourite conversations from the show thusfar. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes ,  Stitcher ,  Soundcloud  and  Player FM  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

Review now available on the new website . 

Not really a fan of Ridley Scott's recent non-sci-fi works, I nevertheless give the odd interesting-looking one a go. Matchstick Men , American Gangster all had fun elements to them. Now, with The Counselor , you've got a star-studded cast and talented novelist Cormac McCarthy, responsible for No Country For Old Men , writing the script. Sounded promising. Yet, from the very first scene, it's pretty clear that this is one of those Ridley Scott projects that tries very hard, maybe a little too hard to be arty and "modern" in its approach, like A Good Year . While not as insufferable as the latter, The Counselor still has its overly pretentious scenes, most of which could be cut without it the film losing anything. This being McCarthy's first time writing a feature film of that type, it was always going to be a bit wordier than it should be but all those awkward conversations which characters have constantly in this movie just drag its pace down to a sta

Jonesy, the overdramatic cat from Ridley Scott's  Alien , takes on the movies!

Famously a flop upon its initial 1982 release, Ridley Scott's  Blade Runner was based on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? and, although it was rather different from the book in many ways, it captured the look, feel and spirit of the writer's dystopian future. The Director's Cut , released 10 years later, removed the voice-over, shortened the ending and hinted at the main character's true nature. Although some did miss the extra touch of noir the voice-over provided, it's frankly not necessary looking back plus Ford's monotonous read takes away from the stunning visuals. As for the twist ending, I'm not saying it makes perfect sense and far surpasses the original's optimistic take but it certainly makes more of an impact dramatically. Neither ending truly "gets" Philip K. Dick's point but for the film specifically, The Director's Cut feels more appropriate. Visually, this movie looks amazing: the city