Waste of time

As Good As It Gets

An Exercise In Nonsense

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Being the Linklater fan that I am I was quite shocked to see him do a Science Fiction film. While I love him he doesn't seem like the type of director that could pull off a film like this when I think of Phillip K. Dick or Science Fiction in general. But surprisingly Linklater makes one of the most mind bendingly masterful science fiction films that I have ever seen. A Scanner Darkly is a film that before you go in you have to get prepared to have your mind blown. That's all I can really say because my mind is spinning after watching this.The animation is truly magnificent as it seems almost real because technically it is. Linklater shot all of this in live action and had an animation team animate over the actors. That's insane! Surprisingly even though this takes place in the future (2013 to be exact) it's quite shocking how Linklater realistically portrayed what the world would look like in that span of time. It isn't a grimy post apocalypse look or an Orwellian utopia, if anything it looks like how the present is.As expected the performances are great with some funny lines that Linklater always has. Keanu plays a character I can only describe as Neo in the present day but instead of leading the war on machines he's leading the war on drugs. Robert Downey Jr. feels reminiscent of Hunter T. Thompson with his erratic behavior and insane characteristics. Woody Harrelson is great as usual playing a pretty believable stoner which only makes me wonder if this is Woody in real life. Winona Ryder is great in her even more mind bending role in this film. I won't give away what's so mind bending about it so I'll just say this, Winona Ryder is very pretty.If I had to compare the complexities of the story A Scanner Darkly is as complicated as Inherent Vice but even more so at points and I think that's what Linklater was going for. You are Bob in this film. You're slowly losing your mind as you go down this rabbit hole of drugs and madness. Linklater captures Phillip K. Dick's paranoid mind set that is shown in his other work vividly. I know Kaufman was involved with the project very early on but surprisingly I'd say that no one could have done a better job than Linklater on this project. I think this is possibly Linklater's most profound piece next to Boyhood.If you seek for a Science Fiction film that will truly get you thinking look no further than A Scanner Darkly. Linklater's most under appreciated film proves that he can stretch beyond the bounds of what we're used to seeing with him (which I still love). Come for the brain churning visuals, stay for the mind twisting story.

It's seven years in the future. The country is struggling with 20% of the population addicted to a new drug Substance D. In Anaheim, Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is an undercover agent who wears a scramble suit which changes his appearance like a chameleon. The drug war is supported by private corporation New Path. Bob is himself addicted and starting to lose his mind.This is an unique movie of an original style. The rotorscoping animation style is hypnotic. It's not for everybody. It can be maddening to watch as the madness of this world can infect the audience. It's a visually weird movie. It gets tiring to watch. It may be better as an animated short than a full-length feature. The talkative story can also wear out its welcome.

This is certainly very much like Waking Life, in the obvious, similar ways. But while both are sort of hard to get into in their own ways, the plot here is just way too complicated. Maybe rewatches are needed, but a plot still needs to engage even if we don't fully get it or understand it, we need to be engaged and interested enough to continue. I wasn't totally bored, but it was really hard. If anything, the animation style is what made me stay with it, and it does get better as it goes on, more interesting to the point that I can say I barely, mildly liked it. The performances are pretty fantastic, especially Winona Ryder, and Reeves is as unengaging as ever.

This film is based on a book by Philip K. Dick. Now I haven't read any of his books yet but from what I heard this is a solid adaptation. And this is a pretty darn good conspiracy film about a guy coping with his surroundings and a drug called Substance D. A drug that causes bizarre hallucination and makes them go all schizo and paranoid. It's basically a film that might be difficult to comprehend at first but you get use to it and it all makes clear to a degree. Keanu Reeves plays a guy named Bob Arctor who goes by other aliases. Now I don't think Keanu Reeves is a brilliant actor but he usually fits the roles he is given and in this case just perfectly. Keanu is really good at playing these confused and apathetic roles. Just about everyone is right for the roles they were given for this film. Robert Downey, Jr. is good at playing these pedantic and slightly weird characters and he nails it in this. Woody Harrelson is alright in this. But the guy that really nails it in this is Rory Cochrane, who is this jumpy, twitchy and overly paranoid character. And Rorly plays him flawlessly. Winona Ryder is also in this but felt that a bunch of other actresses could have played her role. When it comes down to it, it's the interactions between these characters that is the primary focus. And the conversations and the direction is clever and sometimes dumb(in a good way) but mostly amusing. This movie is shot with real actors but rendered into animation. Which adds to the weirdness of this film and bring out more of that trippy feel while it being cool and all. But wondered why they picked this subtle movie to do that in. Cause if they could have picked a story with explosions, car chases and other special effects and just used animation. It would have saved themselves a lot of budget and still could have gotten away with it in the audiences eyes. Although the animation rendering works in this film and doesn't seem like a gimmick. And even has couple of messages that can keep the audiences that watch this film thinking. And it's clever with it's execution, despite a twist when it hits I wondered how I could have missed that. Overall this is a good sci-fi conspiracy film that is well blended together. It's just a shame this film bombed at the box office.7.4/10