Rhapsodies

This weekI decided to go for some comfort viewing with one of my favorite subgeneras of science fiction, cyberpunk. Regrettably due to the rules of my dipping into Scarecrow’s collection, most of the examples of the genre on film (english language anyway) I’ve seen… as well as many of the mediocre ones. So this week I found myself watching what was left.

I confess that this description was a little unfair since the first film on my list, Strange Days was actually pretty good. It’s December 31^st 1999 and the millennium is upon us and the city of Las Angeles is a burning pit of civil unrest.  Ex-cop and black marketer Lenny Nero, (Ralph Finnes),is spending it hustling, d buying and selling memories. That is to say complete immersion recordings of first person memories. Apparently they’re illegal.. Nero is a pathetic human being barely making ends meet an only respected by his two remaining friends, bodyguard and limousine driver Lornette “Mace” Mason (Angela Bassett)  and private investigator Max Peltier (Tom Sizemore).When he finds a recording of a murder left in his car he finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy… Or is he?

I enjoyed this movie, My only problem with it was the problem I had with Inception. Where the near future setting is virtually identical to the present except for one piece of magical technology that should be reveioutionalry with tons of different applications but instead in little more than illegal contraband…. But Angela Basset kicked ass, literally and figuratively, so all is good.

The next film in my list Cherry 2000 takes place in what appears to be a post apocalyptic future. Most of the world are anarchic wastelands, everything is being recycled, and sexual encounters require complex contracts… because of the last one sex droids are popular.  When a young business man  breaks his vintage Cherry 2000 he has to go out into the wasteland with the help of a beautiful tracker to find another one. Will he survive long enough to get a replacement? Or will he discover the love of a real girl?

I don’t think I’m exaggerating much when I say this is one of the worst films I’ve seen in a long while. There were a few times where they might have been trying to be satirical, for example the villains  being caricature of california yuppies, but just couldn’t pull it off. That’s probably the best thing I can say about it.