Blade Runner: Pocket Guide - Softcover

Robinson, Jeremy Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861714467 ISBN 13: 9781861714466

Publisher: Crescent Moon Publishing, 2013

Synopsis

BLADE RUNNER: POCKET MOVIE GUIDE Revised and updated This book is a guide to the 1982 movie made from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick - Blade Runner. A thorough exploration of Blade Runner forms the core of the book, looking at the conception, production, themes, critical reception and influence of the 1982 Warner Brothers movie in every detail. Philip Kindred Dick (1928-1982) was a key figure in 20th century science fiction, famous for embracing drugs and the counter-culture in his work. Dick's fiction includes The Man In the High Castle, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, A Scanner Darkly, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Valis, The Divine Invasion, Martian Time-Slip, The Minority Report, and We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. Dick's themes included perception and reality, drugs, state control, global capitalism, surveillance, and paranoia. On its initial release, Blade Runner grossed $27 million in the United States, placing it no. 16 in that year’s box office chart (it was released on June 25, 1982, in 1,290 theatres in the U.S.A.). 1982 was the year, of course, of E.T. The films that came in way behind Steven Spielberg’s Universal fantasy were Tootsie at no. 2, An Officer and a Gentleman third, and Rocky 3 in fourth place. Other sci-fi and fantasy flicks in 1982 included Star Trek 2, Conan the Barbarian, Mad Max 2 and The Thing. Blade Runner is often trotted out as another big, important picture that flopped on its theatrical release. That isn’t quite true, but it certainly wasn’t a hit movie by any standards. The opening weekend was pretty good, but the movie seemed to fade away rapidly after that. Many reviewers and critics came out against Blade Runner on its first release, including Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael, Sheila Benson, and Janet Maslin. ‘Muddled’, ‘gruesome’, ‘pretentious’ and ‘overheated’ were some of the words used to describe it. Since then, Blade Runner has rightly achieved cult as well as classic status. Its influence on science fiction and sci-fi cinema has been enormous (this book looks at some of the movies inspired by Blade Runner, including Ghost In the Shell, Akira, Brazil and Batman). Fully illustrated. Pocket size. Bibliography, filmography and notes. ISBN 971861714466. www.crmoon.com

About this title

About the Author:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeremy Robinson has written many critical studies, including Steven Spielberg, Arthur Rimbaud, Jean-Luc Godard, and The Sacred Cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky, plus literary monographs on: Samuel Beckett; Thomas Hardy; André Gide; Robert Graves; and Lawrence Durrell. It's amazing for me to see my work treated with such passion and respect. There is nothing resembling it in the U.S. in relation to my work. Andrea Dworkin (on Andrea Dworkin) This model monograph - it is an exemplary job, and I'm very proud that he has accorded me a couple of mentions... The subject matter of his book is beautifully organised and dead on beam. Lawrence Durrell (on The Light Eternal: A Study of J.M.W. Turner) Jeremy Robinson's poetry is certainly jammed with ideas, and I find it very interesting for that reason. It's certainly a strong imprint of his personality. Colin Wilson Sex-Magic-Poetry-Cornwall is a very rich essay... It is a very good piece... vastly stimulating and insightful. Peter Redgrove

About this edition

• Publisher: Crescent Moon Publishing
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1861714467
• ISBN 13: 9781861714466
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 160