Ever see ‘Dead Man’ with Depp? Directed by the one and only Jim Jarmusch. Great stuff. Iggy Pop, Gary Farmer, other notables have roles in it. Trippy, wonderful art.

Speaking of which, even the background noise in the movie is great. Like the japanese advertisement sounding from loudspeakers on the blimp. For some reason that’s stuck with me since the first time I saw the movie. That and the “Walk! Walk! Walk! Don’t Walk! Don’t Walk. Don’t Walk…”

I’ve read DADoES a couple of times. I think we talked before about how the two are really different stories…well, actually, how RS just took one thread out of the story and didn’t even TRY to cover the same ground covered by PKD. There’s just too much going on, even for such a short book.

One of the best, if not the best movie to watch when you’re sick and crashed out on the couch, especially if you’ve seen it a bazillion times before.

1. Certainly BLADE RUNNER deserves its growing reputation. But I can add two films that perhaps (arguably) surpass BR in that category of “underappreciated” in their time but whose reputations have grown immeasuably over time – one is called CITIZEN KANE and the other is called IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

That’s pretty heady company and it’s no slight to BR that I’d rank it slightly behind those. As its stature grows (and tastes evolve), it may surpass these films.

2. Hopkins has always been problematic because he’s at least as much a “modern” poet as a “Victorian.” But as Hopkins himself observed, “Glory be to God for Dappled Things.”

Finally, a couple of nominations for that “unappreciated in its time but now seen as great work getting greater” :

1. Choose your Nick Drake album – any of the three are worthy “5 Leaves Left,” “Bryter Layter,” “Pink Moon.”

2. Films – I’ll offer two: DUCK SOUP ( a film that failed in its time and now seems the most prescient satire of government ever made) and BARRY LYNDON, Kubrick’s brilliant indictment of imperialism, both 18th century and modern….

Rocky and Bullwinkle

In the Company of Men
Natural Born Killers
The Royal Tennenbaums
The Red Violin
Clockwatchers

For example, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry in the Jeeves and Wooster television adaptations? The thought of anyone screwing around with the single funniest author in the history of the universe gave me the screaming creeps, but I sucked it up and watched one. Then another. And another… you get the picture. Incredible.

I’d still hate to see Blandings Castle brought to the screen, though – it could never be as idyllic as I imagine, and who on earth could do justice to Lord Emsworth?

Blade Runner stands as one of the best, if not the best, science fiction films of all time. Another film that came out around the same time and was thoroughly unappreciated was John Carpenter’s “The Thing”. I have heard that, shortly after its release, it even made a list something like “25 most hated films of all time”.

I think you had films like Star Wars, Empire, and ET come out and suddenly you were damned if you did and damned if you didn’t. Films that made heavy use of special effects were automatically regarded as disposable entertainment. The best story, acting, or direction in the world wouldn’t have garnered an Academy nomination at that time if the film was FX heavy.

At the same time, films that made heavy use of special effects also had to give the viewer the same satisfying roller coaster ride or risk being panned as dull. Film goers just weren’t ready (and some still aren’t) to treat special effects as being just part of the backdrop, like wardrobe and makeup.

Darrell: Yeah, 10 points from Slytherin for not seeing this movie. I’m disappointed in you. Very, very disappointed…..

Most unappreciated band: Hootie and the Blowfish
Most unappreciated movie: Tie between Attack of the Killer Tomatos and The Blob
Most unappreciated painter: Miro
Most unappreciated actor: Keanu Reeves