zrath

Well, I don't know about all y'all, but I had a smashing weekend! Simply smashing!

It was kicked off by coyoteseven and I attending a LUGOLA (Lego User Group Of Los Angeles) meeting on
Saturday Morning (well, we tried for morning, but got there a little past noon).

( Dark rituals of secret societies exposed! With photos! )


And then, on Sunday, the Sibling and I went to see "Blade Runner: The Final Cut" at the Landmark.

The Landmark is a brand new theater housed in the Westside Pavilion expansion, which also contains a Barnes & Noble.
It's a rather swanky cinema with wide leather seats, stadium seating, assigned seating, high quality concessions, ushers,
announcers, and the kind of service you just don't get anymore at multiplexes. It's like The Bridge, but REALLY nice.
Tickets are $11 for evenings and weekends. Matinees are $9 on weekdays only. This is actually not too bad.
My usual theater is the Culver City Stadium 12 and charges $8.50 for matinees. They do matinees on weekends though.
But the Landmark is a heck of a lot closer to us!
The Arclight in Hollywood is also very nice, but a lot more expensive and parking is a major pain in the ass.
The Landmark has a ton of parking, since it's in a mall.
Also, the seats are wide. How wide? I can seat down and lower both armrests and be comfortable!
This has never happened at the Culver City Stadium 12 OR The Bridge Cinema! I always need to keep one armrest up!
So yeah, I think I have a new favorite theater. :)

Oh yeah, the movie!
There are new DVDs of "Blade Runner" on the way (December 18th), and a new cut of the film ("The Final Cut").
So the studio decided to do some limited screenings of the new cut on the big screen.
I've seen the film tons of times, in three different flavors: theatrical, home video, and Director's Cut.
I had no clue as to what was new with this Final Cut, so it was to be a complete surprise.
I doubted that Ridley Scott would put the narration back in (though I kinda like it), and he didn't.
The "happy ending" (stock footage of driving to the Overlook Hotel is happy?!?! :D ) was also nowhere to be seen.
So in that respect, the Final Cut is a lot like the Director's Cut. The Unicorn Dream Sequence is in there, but shorter.
Some of the scenes are longer, with extra music and dialogue. Also, Warren (no LJ) attended the Blade Runner panel at
San Diego Comic Con this year and told me that the running-through-glass scene with Zhora was reshot for the Final Cut.
In the original film, a body double did the crashing, but said body double didn't really look like Joanna Cassidy.
So they got Joanna to come back and they reshot the scene with her. And holy crap, it looks almost completely the same!
After 25 years, the film holds up rather well. It's really unique, and beautiful.
The film was projected with a Sony AltaX4 digital projection system, which the announcer claimed had resolution
"4 times higher than the highest resolution HD TV you can get at Best Buy". And holy crap, was the picture ever crisp!
If it's playing near you, you oughta check it out. It's a treat.


Goofy Moments In Home Viewing: Part 4012
Saturday Night, I was watching "Lord Of The Rings: Return of The King" Extended Edition with the Sibling. (4 hours!)
At the scene when the giant eagles show up, my brother quipped "Ouais! Voila les Américains!"
("Awright! Here come the Americans!") I laughed and replied:
"Yea! It's the 235th Tactical Squadron out of Edwards Air Force Base! Nazgul at 12 o'clock! All units break and attack!"

You had to be there...