Film
Blade Runner: Final Cut finally coming to Toronto
After an interminable couple of months of reading exuberant reviews all over the internet of Ridley Scott's final final final (final) cut of his science fiction classic, Blade Runner, the flick is finally coming to Toronto.
Initially opening only in New York and Los Angeles, Toronto film fans were holding out hope that we'd get a release sooner or later - after all, Scott premiered his final final final (final) cut of Alien here a couple of years ago, during the Toronto International Film Festival.
Meagre hopes of a Toronto screening were dashed once again a few weeks ago, when a United States-wide selective rollout of the film was announced - and Canada missed the bill once again. Now, however, we can confirm that BR: Final Cut will start an exclusive 2-week engagement this Friday, on the digital screen at the Regent Theatre (Mt. Pleasant and Davisville).
Oh sure, the movie is coming out on Blu Ray in six weeks anyway, but the opportunity to see one of the great visual masterpieces of the cinema on an actual cinema screen, digitally projected no less, is too tantalizing to ignore.
Scott's restoration project has included digital fixes and cleanups to some of the more... er... "dated" visual effects from the 1982 print. More importantly, however, to anyone who has followed Blade Runner's torturous journey to the screen, is the director's imprimateur saying that this is, without compromise, his final vision of a film that once pretty much appeared in the dictionary next to the entry for "studio tampering."
Which means: Deckard is a replicant. (Deal with it.)
A particularly engaging interview with Scott, whose American Gangster is now cleaning up at the box office, can be found at the Wired web site. The Regent screenings start this Friday, November 9th - keep an eye on the listings for exact times. The theatre is at 551 Mt. Pleasant Road.
(Ed.: Thanks to everyone who caught my goof on the Regent location. :)
Discussion
25 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
I've watched this movie way too many times. I own the soundtrack and have listened to it way too many times.
By the way, if I'm not mistaken, The Regent is on Mount Pleasant, not Bayview (at Davisville).
------------------
Worse than Mahler and Bruckner with their symphonies.
I liked the ending of the faux-director's cut, though. It was ambiguous. He may or may not have been a replicant.
A true director's cut would nuke the stupid movie name and go with the awesome book name instead.
The good news for the real completists (like me) is that every single variation on the film will be available in the forthcoming DVD set - the theatrical cut, the '92 director's cut, and this final final final (final) final final cut.
The only thing that will be missing is the 2012 Final Final Final Final Final This Time I Mean It Final Final (Final!) Final Final Final Cut.
http://www.debbieohi.com/nutshell/2007/11/07/blade-runner-the-final-cut/
7:00, 9:30 & 4:00pm Matinees on weekends
? Word!
Blade Runner was made for the big screen! I've never had the opportunity to see it as such until now. You really don't know how sweet the eyecandy is until you experience it in a theatre as good as the Regent. Boy, they turned it up nice and loud. I heard everything on that enhanced soundtrack, which for my money is solely the reason this Final Cut is noteworthy and (as the title promises) the definitive version.
What a change from the usual movie going experience. $10, no previews, no ads, no one talking and no cellphones going off.
bliss.
The digital version looked and sounded awesome. I saw things I couldn't recall ever seeing on a TV before. I don't know how much of it was just the size of the screen or the clarity of the projection. And I am not talking about things that might have been added back into the film in the editing booth.
Can't wait to see how this translates to the small screen, but I am certain that, at least in this case, size will matter.
(OK, for Blade Runner and Pirates 3. :)