#or if the other ricks put him in a simulation (a la simple rick) as some sort of punishment? or maybe trying to see if his story checked ou

[dirty-bear-rick-sanchez]

@5hrignold agreed!

does anyone think about the fact that rick never actually said "no" when morty asked him if he was bait for rick prime?

i doubt hes bait now but instead of just saying "no morty. youre not." he evades a clear response and instead specifically says "for you to be bait, it would mean he cares about something. he truly does not give a shit"

this is...interesting. theres sort of an implication there that rick KNOWS for sure rick prime doesnt care about anyone or anything. including his original family

i feel like, originally prime smith family WAS bait. or maybe as close to bait as they could be. rick has done some really terrible things with no remorse and when he finally joined the prime smiths, he was at his lowest point. i think rick reached a point where he was fully willing to kill this family to get back at prime

but prime didnt care. prime would never care. "he's the real deal."

so rick just...stayed there. and yea, morty is not bait NOW, so he technically didn't lie to the kid

[movieswithkevin27]

Blade Runner 2049

A little under a year ago, I declared Denis Villeneuve to be my favorite modern director in my review of Arrival. Now, with Blade Runner 2049, Villeneuve confirms my assertion and furthers my belief that Roger Deakins is the best modern cinematographer. Put the two together and poetic, thoughtful, and visual magic happens. Blade Runner 2049 is the perfect embodiment of this with the two combining to bring forth a film that stands as one of the best of 2017 to date. Gorgeous, thoughtful, and brilliantly unraveling at a methodical-but-not-slow pace, Blade Runner 2049 is a film that makes me want to revisit the original, after having absolutely loathed it three years ago (I saw the Final Cut so do not even bring up the different cuts). Now, as my own journey through cinema alters, I am in a position to enjoy and bask in the glory that is Blade Runner with 2049, Villeneuve, and Deakins, being the gateway. Blending Tarkovsky influences, Tarkovsky religion, and the story of Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049 is a thought-provoking work that goes well beyond the essential question of; are replicants equal and deserve to live or are they sub-human?

That said, the philosophy and ideas certainly take a backseat to the work of Roger Deakins. Watching Blade Runner 2049 is akin to being able to watch a painter work on his masterpiece, marrying warm oranges with cold blues, hues of pink, and shades of green, all in the name of creating a smorgasbord of beauty that stands as a testament to both the skill of Deakins in shooting a film and his ability to use color to tell a story. In terms of just the visuals themselves, however, the gorgeous reliance on silhouettes as Agent K (Ryan Gosling) walks out of white, billowing smoke and as Agent K walks through the orange wasteland that is Las Vegas, demonstrate some of this beauty. As do shots of Gosling walks through the cold blues and greens of Los Angeles, the dark ships flying through the orange air of Vegas, the white light of a ship with orange taillights against the dark black sky, the shot of a dog staring into the distance as its master is gone, a fire burning bright orange in the dark of the night, a blind man walking out of the shadows into the orangeish hue of temple, a car pulling into a snowy and green-walled parking garage with its red brakes beaming off the ground, and a glowing pink hologram with blue hair bending over to talk to Agent K and bringing with her the pink radiance surrounding her and blending it with the dark blue aura about him. This is a film with no shot out of place, no moment that is not striking, and more than anything else, this is a testament to Deakins. Turning colors into a visual mosaic of mastery and the simple beauty of the colors themselves, Blade Runner 2049 - before the year is even over - is the most visually stunning work of 2017. There can is no debate. Few films paint such a brilliant picture that words seem to fall short of truly expressing.

Perhaps one of the greatest displays of the film's brilliant visuals comes in how it uses the colors within its palette and also its locales/sets. As an agent for the Los Angeles Police Department, Agent K is tasked with hunting down replicants. He himself was synthetically made, but is a model who cannot rebel and made after the blackout, thus, is tasked with killing replicants who may still wish to rebel. While fully obedient, he is nonetheless an outsider. At home, he finds his front door has been vandalized to say "Die Skinner". Prostitutes are wary of him due to his status as a Blade Runner. The only one who accepts him is Joi (Ana de Armas), who is girlfriend and also a hologram made as a companion for him. As he walks the streets of Los Angeles, it is constantly raining or snowing with cold blues, greens, and purples, abounding through the streets. At work, the walls are flat white and his own demeanor his cold and repressed. Joi brings him joy, but limited given the fact that she is not real and they cannot touch. His existence is one that sees him kill replicants, who he feels a connection to, but he does as he is told. For Agent K, his life is one of coldness and repression. As such, his environment embodies exactly this. Cold and unwelcoming, the cold colors found in Los Angeles define Agent K as a man who lives on the outside. This is not his home, nor is he welcome in Los Angeles. He is a man in a foreign land with no fire to warm his chilly exterior.

By direct contrast, Agent K finally finds his people and his cause in Las Vegas. As a post-apocalyptic and radioactive city, Las Vegas is covered in a thick haze that is turned a burnt orange due to the orange, burned out sky above. Left behind as Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is whisked away by Luv (Sylvia Hoeks), Agent K finds himself surrounded by replicants. Taken to the underground compound, surrounded by those like himself, and a warm orange fire, Agent K has finally found where he is meant to be. The warmth on the screen stands as a direct juxtaposition to the cold of Los Angeles, with this warmth communicating the feelings igniting within him. Able to finally cry and express himself like any other person, Agent K finally comes to view himself as worth it and worth fighting for, after having given up so many years prior and accepting his lot in life as a man tasked with those who looked, acted, and behaved like himself. He has seen the light and understands now the warmth of human touch with him no longer being able to go back to his old way of life.

It is in these visuals and actions that the film's thematic parallel to Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker comes to the forefront. A shot earlier in the film of a car pulling into a garage with a cold blue wall behind it and the snow on the ground certainly brings up memories of the men walking through the "Zone" in Stalker, if only through the colors in the shot. Later, the shot of a silhouetted Agent K carefully walking through from his ship to the destroyed city of Las Vegas solidifies this connection to that scene of the men walking through this radioactive wasteland now known as "the Zone". Similarly, Las Vegas is radioactive and avoided by all who know of the destruction that occurred there so many years ago. Using these visuals to provide the backdrop, Blade Runner 2049 is ultimately a film about self-fulfillment and a journey into the self for Agent K. Seeking out what he is, who he is, and what he deserves, his girlfriend Joi tries to tell him he is real and deserves reality. Agent K, however, is unsure. Visiting who he thinks is his father and falling in with those who similarly believe themselves to be deserving of equal treatment, Agent K finds his place in the world. He does not receive fulfillment or what he sought out initially - similarly to the men in Stalker - but he does find purpose and meaning through feeling emotions and connection. Through this, he is able to assuage his deep unhappiness - in Stalker, only the deeply unhappy can actually enter "the Zone" - with this feeling of true, real love for the first time. No longer is his girlfriend a hologram (or figment of his imagination as in Tarkovsky's Solaris) that causes him to lose touch with the world around him and supplement real emotion with simulation of those feelings. Now, he is able to pursue the real thing in the only way that he knows how: giving others a chance to hope or dream of a better world for those that are synthetically produced.

As with Tarkovsky, a lot of this film is steeped in religious symbolism, which lends itself to a largely religious interpretation of many of the films events and characters. Namely, these are centered on Dr. Ana Stelline (Carla Juri). The daughter of Rick Deckard and the only being to be born from a replicant female, Ana works as a dreammaker for the synthetic humans, implanting memories into the mind and leaves traces of herself within them. Agent K was one such recipient of one of her memories. Symbolic of how Jesus lives within the soul of believers and leaves traces of himself, Ana is also emblematic of Christ in how she is exalted as a savior of the replicants. Proof of a higher being, her birth is referred to as a "miracle" by Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista) and she is championed as the one who will lead the replicants to their rightful place at the throne. Embodying hope and seen as a gift of such a feeling by whatever being allowed her to be born, Ana is kept in an all-white room (holy connotation of white) to protect her from those who wish her harm. Seen as the embodiment and proof of something the humans would rather deny and claim as false, the humans believe they must kill Ana to stifle out any claims against their throne and root out hope among the replicants. If she is dead, she can no longer be the messiah or prophet (like Moses) sent to lead the replicants out of bondage. She is of divine origin and, for those wishing to stay in power, this is dangerous.

Ana's existence is particularly dangerous to Wallace (Jared Leto). The blind creator of the new line of replicants, Wallace wishes to capture Ana to figure out how she was born so that he may do the same in his creations. In essence, he wishes to bottle her divinity, cut her up, and use her for his own benefit. While stopping short of painting Wallace as a Satanic figure - he never tempts Ana (though he does tempt Deckard to become a Judas) nor is he shown as being divine in any measure, rather he screams of wishing to become divine and powerful - Blade Runner nonetheless shows him to be a false prophet. Blind like many false prophets or oracles in literature, Wallace creates life through artificial means as it is the only way he knows how. He, however, wishes to create life naturally, which is a power given only to God himself. Through Ana, he wishes to learn how God is able to create in such a way. His will to destroy her and suppress hope among the replicants is certainly there, but more than anything, he wishes to harness her power and make himself the supreme being over Earth. He wishes to choose who lives, who dies, and who is born. The power he craves is at the tip of his finger, but eludes him as he lacks that divine ability to create out of thin air that is left to God alone. His attempts will fall short for this reason, yet through his own hubris, greed, and pride, he will continue to strive for this goal to become a god. Wallace is a man who believes himself to be equal to God and, in any potential sequel, it is this belief that will see him destroyed.

Aside from the film's possible interpretations and the excellent camera work from Deakins, Denis Villeneuve is also able to pace the film in a way that allows the film to move methodically, but never slowly. It never rushes through any detail, nor does it drag. Rather, the film hits just the right beat and unravels in a way that builds tension and anticipation, but let's the moment breathe. As a result, it is a film that may move slower than conventional blockbusters - especially due to Blade Runner's limited reliance on cuts compared to modern blockbusters, which also impacts the pace of the film considerably - but never bores or allows the viewer to take their eyes of the screen. Instead, it is almost hypnotic in how it progresses, keeping us engaged through this smart and expertly timed pacing that makes the film one that may be long and tough to unpack, but incredibly easy to watch and re-watchable.

Furthermore, the film's excellent acting takes center stage throughout with a commanding performance from Ryan Gosling at the very heart of this film. Reserved as in Drive, charismatic as in La La Land, damaged as in Half Nelson, and entirely reliant on body language, facial expressions, and vocal inflections in his performance, Blade Runner 2049 finds Gosling at his very best and utilizing a variety of characters and emotions he has proven himself to be incredibly adept at capturing. Agent K is a role he was born to play, blending his natural charisma with his often emotionally distant demeanor. It gives the character this great mysterious edge that sells the audience on the fact that there is a piece missing to this man, which makes his journey to find himself and the path he takes entirely believable and engrossing. Alongside him, Harrison Ford delivers one of the best performances in recent time returning to his role as Rick Deckard, Ana de Armas impresses as the hologram who loves Agent K like no other, and Sylvia Hoeks is strong as the calculating and cruel left-hand of brutality belonging to Wallace. However, aside from Gosling, the film demonstrates that, once again, Jared Leto is excellent actor. Suicide Squad may have soured many on his talent, but Leto answers the call in this role, capturing Wallace's price and the degree to which he is self-absorbed. As the villain, Leto sells this brilliantly, giving the film a very menacing and ominous kick to it that lingers even when Wallace is nowhere to be seen. It is a performance with great presence and one that hovers like a shadow above the characters and the film itself.

While taking a far-too-sentimental turn at the very end, Blade Runner 2049 is nonetheless a brilliant follow-up to Ridley Scott's 1982 original. Thrilling, powerful, thought-provoking, terrifically directed, fantastically directed, and a master-class in both cinematography and production design, Blade Runner 2049 will more than likely stand amongst the best films of 2017.