February 23, 2005

Scanner Darkly Trailer

Well... I must be the LAST website on the internet to post this... but the trailer for Scanner Darkly is now online. You can go see it here.

Ok, I know this will make me look bad... but when has that ever stopped me? I don't like it. I thought it was trying way to hard and ends up just looks forced and melodramatic. Not to mention the plot (as reveled in the trailer) sounds like a Matrix rip off. I'm not impressed... and I didn't even think the look was that interesting. Oh well... to each their own.


Posted by John Campea at February 23, 2005 10:36 AM


Comments

The name alone tells me all I need or want to know. Yup, definitely trying to hard to be hip with its flashy shots and its indie flick name. Lame.

Posted by: Lilly at February 23, 2005 10:55 AM

I will see this mainly because of Richard Linklater who is behind the project, he has done a few good stuff so far.

Posted by: Simone at February 23, 2005 11:08 AM

Keanu seems to be sticking with what has worked for him in the past with all these Matrix-y movies. BTW what you meant to say was "it was trying way too hard."

Vic

Posted by: Screen Rant at February 23, 2005 11:16 AM

poor, poor keanu reeves.

no matter what he does, everyone wants to l;able it as "like the matrix" and "it is just like neo!"

what a load of crap.

two movies have technology in them?!?! WWHHOOAAH!!! stop the presses!!!!! hey everyone!! they are ripping of the matrix here!!!

indie rip off?

shut up.

this is one of the most original looking peices of art to come downt he pipe in a while. indie rip off? INDIE RIP OFF?!?!?! i don;t wnat to be offensive, but could you please mail me some of whatever the hell you are smoking? you see, they don't sell crack that nice on PEI.

matrixy movies?!? sticking withthem?!? what could be more different then people fighting robots ina virual world then a guyw ith cancer fighting demons and tryign to buy his way into heavan? "but miles, both of the characters wore black" OH MY GOD!! a dark brooding character wore black?!?! SILENCE!!

a movie about a drug that gives a cop- multiple personalities? yeah, sounds EXACTLY LIKe THE MATRIX.

seriously, people need to get off keanu's back, he is making some damn cool movies that are breaking the mold.

or hey, maybe you wnat to see denzel washington solve some more mysterys? or frickin' samuel jackson to do anything eople will pay him to do? or maybe we can watch ben stiller int he same damn role he has played 50 damn times?

man oh man, i like kenau reeves.

take that everyone.

Posted by: miles at February 23, 2005 11:34 AM

I agree with everyone else Miles I'm afraid. I think Keanu is sticking with similar roles, sure the movies are groundbreaking and new, but the role isn't. I think that's the point others are making.

As for the movie, I must admit to having a slightly "let down" feeling seeing the trailer after having been waiting for this one.

I'll still go see it, and maybe the trailer doesn't do it justice, it certainly doesn't do it any favours in my eyes.

I actually had thought that the animation would be much smoother, and less fluid than it is. However, we shall see.

Posted by: Richard at February 23, 2005 11:46 AM

"the plot... sounds like a Matrix rip off."

... well... maybe that's because this movie it's based in a Dick's book and Matrix is very Dickish... the look it's one step beyond Waking Life (rotoscopy)... and I like it...

Posted by: maegraukar at February 23, 2005 12:09 PM

it just seems so in vogue for people to hate reeves right now, eveyrone is jumping on the bandwagon.

and i love him, he is one of the few actors nowadays making movies i actually want to see.

Posted by: miles at February 23, 2005 12:23 PM

I like Reeves too, but this trailer does nothing for me. The animation makes it look like an Xbox videogame. I can't imagine watching this movie for 2 hours.


How many Dick stories are left anyway? Hasn't he been dead for a long time?

Posted by: ThS at February 23, 2005 02:35 PM

I can understand that the animation doesn't appeal to you but A Scanner Darkly was around looooong before The Matrix so it's definitely not a rip off. If anything, The Wachowski's drew inspiration from Dick's works.

It just bothers me when any movie that has some hint of technology is automatically a Matrix rip off when the reality most of the time is that The Matrix is the one ripping off. It just so happened to do it in an original way.

Posted by: logster at February 23, 2005 05:03 PM

Miles, I don't want to sound offensive, but I never mentioned the words indie and rip off in the same sentence. So, if you would like some of what we smoke up here in the GTA, please pony up the cash and we'll be glad to smuggle it down to you. Oh, and don't forget to include enough to cover GST, PST and the Canada Post rape-you-at-the-till costs. :-)

Posted by: Lilly at February 23, 2005 11:48 PM

I found the trailer mildly interesting. The animation is all right, but I agree I thought it would run more smoothly. It's not entirely agreeable on the eyes. Melodramatic? Heh, yes - it gives that vibe.

As far as Reeves sticking to the same roles...well, people let's face it - the man doesn't have a wide range of acting skills. He's tried various roles and the ones that work the best are the darker action roles. Who wants to see him in another romantic comedy or sappy love story? Not me! He's found a genre he's good in, so there's no reason why he shouldn't keep taking the roles. It's work, he's an actor, this is his job.

Posted by: Meli at February 24, 2005 01:08 AM

lilly:

whoops.

*tee hee*

LOL!!!111111oneoneoneonewonwonwonwonwonwonw1111!!!

Posted by: miles at February 24, 2005 07:40 AM

Miles, it looks like you already have enough... er, stimulants at your disposal, so I'll just go ahead and cancel that little care package we discussed earlier, 'mmkay?

:-)

Meli, I want to agree with you about Keanu's limited range, but to be honest, I rather like his turn in As Good As It Gets as a nice guy who was mature and confident - even if he didn't get the girl in the end. I have to say, to a certain extent an actor is only as good as the script he's given and the cast he's throw into. Do you agree?

Posted by: Lilly at February 24, 2005 09:26 AM

Indie flick name? What's the basis upon which you decided that?

Personally, I'm pretty excited about what they could do with the "Waking Life" technology when it's not constatnly off-the-wall, as it was in that film. The scramble suit effect was done pretty well in the trailer footage.

I also agree with Meli that in these sort of films has Keanu found his niche (though I think it's more cyberpunk than "dark action films;" ASD was far from an action novel). However, I couldn't help but crack up at his delivery of "Two hemispheres of my brain... are competing?" It's great and all... just something about the way it sounds makes me crack up, like something he's said before which is nothing, for me, to gripe about. Just funny.

Posted by: evergreen at February 24, 2005 10:53 PM

Okay, A little history. "A Scanner Darkly" was originally published in 1977. So it is literally impossible for it to be, "a Matrix rip off", adapted for the screen or not. If anything The Matrix is a rip off of William Gibson's "Neuromancer" (1984) which introduced, "jacking into the matrix" and a cast of characters being ultimately manipulated by an artificially intelligent program. (Sound familiar?) It started all of the "cyberpunk" which the Wachowski's are so heavily influenced by. So who's ripping off who here?

Posted by: nunyobiz at February 24, 2005 10:57 PM

"Indie name"?

It's the name of novel it was based on, smart one.
Matrix ripoff? I think nunyobiz said it best.

Please put down the drugs and try NOT to judge a movie by a trailer. Because trailers are melodramatic by definition.

Posted by: Martin at February 25, 2005 11:26 PM

May this film revive Winona's career.

Posted by: Simone at February 27, 2005 09:00 AM

Keanu should go back to doing roles like Bill and Teds Excellent Adv. At least he wasn't stiff and monotone back then. I really believe that and no I'm not somking anything.

Posted by: Alfredo at February 27, 2005 01:47 PM

Re: Mr. Reeves sticking with similar roles...

I don't remember anyone telling Clint Eastwood or John Wayne they made too many Westerns.

Look, if that's the only role he can play convincingly...then so be it. I mean, at least he's got a job fer chrissakes.

Posted by: Roo at February 28, 2005 09:26 PM

You tell'em Miles! Keanu is the dude and people should really just get off that "he's stupid, he actually IS Ted from Bill & Ted, he's just does Matrix-y movies..." treadmill. ENOUGH! He'll be 41 this year and like, Depp, Pitt, Cruise, Bullock and a few others he's a survivor and he's done some really good movies. Can't we just give him that?

So what the trailer sucked. Don't most of them? Does that somehow inform us of what Keanu is like as a person or an actor? Or Woody Harrelson or Winona Ryder for that matter? Keaunu didn't edit the trailer!

Posted by: Crystal at March 1, 2005 06:48 PM

I'm looking forward to it.

I plan to read the book, before the movie comes out.

I love the "animation" thing and I can understand why they did it this way, given the nature of the story.

-ITamara

Posted by: ITamara at March 11, 2005 11:21 AM

I'm looking forward to it.

I plan to read the book, before the movie comes out.

I love the "animation" "duality" going on and I can understand why they did it this way, given the nature of the story.

-ITamara

Posted by: ITamara at March 11, 2005 11:22 AM

This movie is going to great not to mention psychedelic, the book is excellent and this will be too...

Posted by: ROY at June 9, 2005 03:55 AM

This movie is going to great not to mention psychedelic, the book is excellent and this will be too...

Posted by: ROY at June 9, 2005 03:56 AM

You Suck John. This trailer sounds nothing like the Matrix. In fact it looks even better. You cant dis a movie that pushes the envelope, especially with an all-star line-up and crazy graphics. Obviously you didnt grow up watching Bill N' Teds, you grew up yesterday thinking that Johnny Neumonic was his first flick.

Posted by: JRocKs at June 12, 2005 02:58 PM

I felt like crying when I saw this trailer. A Scanner Darkly is my favorite book, and it looks like Linklater butchered its adaptation. Not only does the rotoscoping look terrible (except the scramble suit, which was pretty cool), but the trailer extols the same dime store "philosophy" as Waking Life. I really wish they had picked up Charlie Kaufman's script and made it less conspicuously "taut." Ugh.

Posted by: Garrett at July 12, 2005 08:12 PM