Last night I saw the new cut of Blade Runner. Wow. Seriously. This was the shit. The print was amazingly crisp, the sound perfect and the new things integrated seamlessly. Subtle things so well done you can easily miss them - which is how it should be, in my mind.

I’m not a fan of the big Lucas redos. The huge new elements that never quite match up and change major things. I’ve never really seen that work too well.

This works well.

Oddly, I have seen Blade Runner in a theatre before - but the Director’s Cut. I saw it in Boston in a little theatre out near Harvard. They were a playhouse but once a week they’d hang a decent sized screen and set up some speaker stacks and do a dirt cheap double feature. While I was there they did Crow/Blade Runner which worked as a double.

This cut works better. Walking out you don’t feel this is a 25 year old movie, except in the little things. It feels current, new and exciting. Hell of an achievement.

One thing though: I know that most of the “normal” people have gone off-world at this point, when they movie takes place. Most people who are left are either too rich to care, too poor to go or unable to pass the health tests. Even so there are a lot of midgets in this film.

I don’t think I ever noticed how many midgets there were in the movie before this.

Anyway: limited engagement (2 weeks I think) at the Ziegfeld in NY and the Landmark in LA. That’s it for where it’s showing right now. If you are in a position to see it, you should.

Yes, Blade Runner: the Final Cut will be for sale in both a two disc (Final Cut and documentary only) edition and the big whopping Five disc set with every cut of the movie ever (including a rough cut) and extras and stuff and things. Sure. But getting to see this in a theatre is extra special.

A final note about last night: I managed to miss Blerg, I think. I think I saw her and her man but I wasn’t 100% sure it was them and I blanked on any name but “Blerg” and really you don’t go up to strangers and say “BLERG?!” and expect good results. Just sayin’. I’m kinda with the dumbs, and was last night as well.