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The Adjustment Bureau

post #1 of 88
5/13/10 at 7:59am
Thread Starter 
Trailer has been released for this film (based loosely on a Philip K Dick short story), starring Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, and is the directorial debut of screenwriter George Nolfi (Bourne Ultimatum, Ocean's Twelve). Check it out here:

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/05/12/...stment-bureau/
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post #2 of 88
5/13/10 at 8:45am
I wish someone could truly adapt Philip Dick's science fiction for the screen. Blade Runner was probably the best attempt so far. Most versions have suffered from some fatal flaw - miscasting, poor writing etc.

IMHO the only film that brought across Dick's particular brand of unreality was A Scanner Darkly. Keanu Reeves was perfect for the stoned confusion of the main character(s).

I'd like to see someone tackle Ubik, or 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
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post #3 of 88
2/11/11 at 4:37am
This movie is about to come out, looks like a good combo of sci-fi and romance. Its with Matt Damon, and i like what i see of him in the trailers, i think he is good in this role.

I am gonna check this one out for sure. Here is the clip they showed as a commercial during the Superbowl:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEu4kshEA8
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post #4 of 88
2/11/11 at 5:10am
Im want to see this one looks great.
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post #5 of 88
2/11/11 at 7:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Franin View Post

Im want to see this one looks great.

I want to see it too, I saw the trailer in the theater a couple of weeks ago and was intrigued. I think Emily Blunt is about the best young actress out there; Damon is always solid, too. The supporting cast promises to be equally impressive. Terrance Stamp is always good and Lauren Hodges impressed me in her role on the late, lamented, Rubicon, as has John Slattery on Mad Men. I just hope Hollywood doesn't butcher Dick's work as it has done so often in the past. When he is given the benefit of a good adaptation, as he was in Blade Runner, Dick's stories translate to the screen very well.
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post #6 of 88
2/14/11 at 2:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post

I want to see it too, I saw the trailer in the theater a couple of weeks ago and was intrigued. I think Emily Blunt is about the best young actress out there; Damon is always solid, too. The supporting cast promises to be equally impressive. Terrance Stamp is always good and Lauren Hodges impressed me in her role on the late, lamented, Rubicon, as has John Slattery on Mad Men. I just hope Hollywood doesn't butcher Dick's work as it has done so often in the past. When he is given the benefit of a good adaptation, as he was in Blade Runner, Dick's stories translate to the screen very well.

let us know what you think gwsat
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post #7 of 88
2/14/11 at 10:22am
The trailer made me think Dark City mashed into City Of Angels, but who knows. Agree, Tarrance Stamp is usually great.
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post #8 of 88
2/14/11 at 10:30am
This is a must-see for me. I don't know, it's just this story...I want to see it.

(I think it will be hard for Matt Damon to get past his Jason Bourne image, maybe it's better after all, for the sake of his career if he stops at ultimatum - just a thought).
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post #9 of 88
2/14/11 at 10:51am
Saw the trailer and only remember a bunch of scenes where various characters are running in earnest. Pretty generic looking, which is usually not a term to associate with PKD.
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post #10 of 88
2/14/11 at 2:58pm
Surely, there are few modern wiriters as prolific and influential as PKD:

2012 The Man in the High Castle (TV series) (novel) (announced)
2012 Total Recall (short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale") (pre-production)
2011 The Adjustment Bureau (short story "Adjustment Team")
2010 Radio Free Albemuth (novel "Radio Free Albemuth")
2007 Screamers: The Hunting (video) (short story "Second Variety")
2006 Next (novel "The Golden Man")
2003 A Scanner Darkly (novel "A Scanner Darkly")
2003 Paycheck (short story)
2002 Minority Report (short story "The Minority Report")
2002 Impostor (short story "The Impostor")
1997 Total Recall 2070 (TV movie) (short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale")
1994 Screamers (short story "Second Variety")
1992 Drug-Taking and the Arts (documentary) (novel "A Scanner Darkly")
1990 Confessions d'un Barjo(novel "Confessions of a Crap Artist")
1987 Total Recall (short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale")
1982 Blade Runner (short story "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")
1962 Out of This World (TV series)
– Imposter (1962) (short story "The Impostor")

Edit: I was unaware until I looked that Total Recall was being remade, with Colin Farrell as Quaid. Doubt if he can fill Arnie's .... anything.
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post #11 of 88
2/15/11 at 7:57am
I'd say Stephen King tops the list in providing written material for movie/TV adaptions.
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post #12 of 88
2/15/11 at 9:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeblow View Post

I'd say Stephen King tops the list in providing written material for movie/TV adaptions.

William Shakespeare has had far more of his work adapted for film than Steven King or most other writers. According to IMDb, Shakespeare has received a writer's credit in 831 titles. Another writer may have received more writing credits than Shakespeare but I am at a loss as to who it might be. For example, according to IMDB, King has been given a writing credit in 123 titles and Charles Dickens has been credited 299 times.
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post #13 of 88
2/15/11 at 11:44am
I have read the plot of this movie at Wiki.
I have read the plot of the PDK story it is supposed to be based on.

Are we SURE this film is based on the PDK story?????

Doesn't seem to have much in common....
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post #14 of 88
2/15/11 at 2:17pm
The term is "loosely based". What that means is that they keep the fresh original concept at the center of the PKD short story, and graft it into their own different plot, with a different setting and different characters.

In this case, the core concept was that the Earth is divided into "sectors", and time can be stopped in each and adjustments made to the reality flow. This is similar -very similar- to the central plot device in Dark City(1998) for which PKD received no writing credit. But note that the original PKD short story was first published in 1954, and subsequently in eight other volumes. Any one of the three WGA script writers for that film may have read the short story. The PKD story also bears an uncanny resemblance to certain works by a 1940's SF writer - specificly the H. Beam Piper "Paratime" stories.

Hollywood rewrites frequently produce nothing recognizable. As for example when Issac Asimov's children's short story collection about robots became a Will Smith SF action/thriller film still entitled I, Robot. They kept the character name Dr. Susan Calvin, the "Three Laws of Robotics", and the book title, and changed everything else.
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post #15 of 88
2/15/11 at 2:25pm
^It is a shame the screenwriting scavengers are allowed to practice in Hollywood.
Where's the IMAGINATION?
Either give a fairly accurate representation of a book, story, etc. or come up with something ORIGINAL.

Blah Humbug.
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post #16 of 88
2/15/11 at 2:43pm
Not a very ORIGINAL complaint, oink.
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post #17 of 88
2/16/11 at 12:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary McCoy View Post

Not a very ORIGINAL complaint, oink.

Well....at least I'm consistent.
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post #18 of 88
2/16/11 at 7:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by oink View Post

Well....at least I'm consistent.

In the immortal words of Sydney Greenstreet's Kasper Gutman to Boggie's Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, "By Gad, sir, you are a character. There's never any telling what you'll say or do next, except that it's bound to be something astonishing." By the way, that's a compliment.
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post #19 of 88
2/16/11 at 8:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post
William Shakespeare has had far more of his work adapted for film than Steven King or most other writers. According to IMDb, Shakespeare has received a writer's credit in 831 titles. Another writer may have received more writing credits than Shakespeare but I am at a loss as to who it might be. For example, according to IMDB, King has been given a writing credit in 123 titles and Charles Dickens has been credited 299 times.
Shakespeare I understand, but never would've guessed Dickens has had that many productions made. Good trivia to know.
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post #20 of 88
2/16/11 at 8:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post

In the immortal words of Sydney Greenstreet's Kasper Gutman to Boggie's Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, "By Gad, sir, you are a character. There's never any telling what you'll say or do next, except that it's bound to be something astonishing." By the way, that's a compliment.

Thank you, old friend.

TMF reference inspires me to put the BD back in my Upcoming Attractions pile for another viewing...
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post #21 of 88
2/16/11 at 11:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeblow View Post

Shakespeare I understand, but never would've guessed Dickens has had that many productions made. Good trivia to know.

That sort of thing is why this is my favorite AVS Forum. Many posters here love films and know a lot about them. I seem to learn something new here every day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oink View Post

Thank you, old friend.

TMF reference inspires me to put the BD back in my Upcoming Attractions pile for another viewing...

I recently got a fresh Maltese Falcon fix when I watched the BD. Boggie and John Huston did good work together. Last week I watched The Treasure of the Sierra Madre BD and was blown away again. Those are two great films!

There's an interesting sidelight to those films. In The Maltese Falcon, John Huston's father, the great actor, Walter Huston, played the bit part of the ship's captain who had the falcon. John cast Walter again in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre in the featured role of the old prospector, Howard. Walter Huston won his one and only Oscar for that performance. John also cast himself in a bit part as an American tourist who Fred C. Dobbs panhandled on three separate occasions without ever recognizing him.

What any of the foregoing has to do with The Adjustment Bureau escapes me, so forgive me for my meandering.
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post #22 of 88
2/16/11 at 12:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by oink View Post

^It is a shame the screenwriting scavengers are allowed to practice in Hollywood.
Where's the IMAGINATION?
Either give a fairly accurate representation of a book, story, etc. or come up with something ORIGINAL.

Blah Humbug.

After discovering this visual aid online, I realize I may have overreacted a bit.
http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_1...venn-diagrams/
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post #23 of 88
2/16/11 at 12:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post

I recently got a fresh Maltese Falcon fix when I watched the BD. Boggie and John Huston did good work together. Last week I watched The Treasure of the Sierra Madre BD and was blown away again. Those are two great films!

There's an interesting sidelight to those films. In The Maltese Falcon, John Huston's father, the great actor, Walter Huston, played the bit part of the ship's captain who had the falcon. John cast Walter again in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre in the featured role of the old prospector, Howard. Walter Huston won his one and only Oscar for that performance. John also cast himself in a bit part as an American tourist who Fred C. Dobbs panhandled on three separate occasions without ever recognizing him.

I haven't quite got to my Sierra Madre BD yet...
But it is one of my all-time favorite movies.
If all movies were this good.

TMF and TotSM will be watched and enjoyed and marveled at long after we turn to dust....
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post #24 of 88
2/16/11 at 12:45pm
For what it's worth, my coworker saw this movie at an advance screening and said she liked it. I don't know what to think about that because I assume our tastes in movies are dissimilar.
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post #25 of 88
2/16/11 at 1:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DragonLoaf View Post

For what it's worth, my coworker saw this movie at an advance screening and said she liked it. I don't know what to think about that because I assume our tastes in movies are dissimilar.

The primary reason I am interested in The Adjustment Bureau is its outstanding cast, particularly the wonderful Emily Blunt. If the writers did a good job of preserving Philip K Dick's story, it would be a bonus but I think the film has a chance even without that.
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post #26 of 88
2/17/11 at 6:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwsat View Post

The primary reason I am interested in The Adjustment Bureau is its outstanding cast, particularly the wonderful Emily Blunt. If the writers did a good job of preserving Philip K Dick's story, it would be a bonus but I think the film has a chance even without that.

Dont know much about the story but going by the trailer its looks like a movie I will definitely enjoy. I agree also having a good cast behind it helps too.
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post #27 of 88
3/22/11 at 4:13pm
OK, I caught the last show Monday night, there were but five people in the theater including me. This movie like many was originally filmed in 35mm, then it was processed as a 4K Digital Intermediate, and therefore I went to my favorite theater with the Sony CineAlta 4K digital projector, and viewed a bit-perfect digital distribution print. It was one of the smaller CIW theaters and the AR was 1.85:1, with a well-photographed, mostly daylit image.

My overall impression is: Not half bad. I give it an A-. We are not talking about anything deep or any spectacular special effects, but a well done, understandable linear plot, enough action in the form of chase scenes, and enough originality that you seldom know what to expect. Not to mention the comely Emily Blunt.
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
Spoiler  
Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

This IS NOT a hard SF story, it's a fantasy with a vaguely religious theme. A readiness to accept the concepts of Destiny/Fate/Karma would help you buy into the basic plot device. The plot vaguely resembles some parts of Dark City without being derivative of that film.

Matt Damon plays a generic young politician - and I do mean really generic, none of his political positions are ever discussed, and you can't even identify him as a Republican or Democrat - he wears a striped Red/Blue tie. Yet he is convincing in this role as he is in almost all.

Emily Blount plays the ballarina who captivates him at first sight. She again turns in an excellant, convincing performance, as she did in The Wolfman.

The always slightly menacing Terence Stamp leads the mysterious human-appearing-but-not-human members of the "Adjustment Bureau". They have powers that are never completely enumerated, but we are given to understand that they need extensive training, long experience, and there is some form of technology built into their hats. They work in a heirarchy and ultimately report to someone who may be the Supreme Being - although perhaps he is more analogous to the "Architect" of the Matrix films.

The central plot device is whether the two principle characters will or will not spend their lives together - and whether or not the men of the Adjustment Bureau will succeed in keeping them apart. But this is not maudlin or sentimental, it is genuinely suspensefull and intriguing.

It is also a movie that you can take your non-SF-appreciating spouse or SO to, and both enjoy. The most spectacular special effect is a paper book that displays a constantly changing version of "The Plan". Had they simply used digital pads instead of magical printed books, there literally would not be any visual effects.

Reccomended for theatrical viewing. OK to wait for the disk version. Probably not an Oscar contender, and probably not a Keeper - at least, I'm not buying this one.


Reccomended.
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post #28 of 88
6/23/11 at 7:46pm
Well, I finally caught it tonight on a rental.

For SF movies based on PKD (loosely), this one has very little action which is not the main reason why I did not care for it. It's the tone of the movie that I do not believe in due to my upbringing. Life is full of choices.

However, living in the tri-state area for over 40 years, I knew some of these streets and buildings by heart, so the sense of realism yields additional positive impacts, such as Dover and Water streets.

I was just hoping for more for a PKD movie.
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post #29 of 88
6/24/11 at 6:10am
Finally get a chance to watch this tonight so Im looking forward to it. I dont mind Matt Damon movies I have enjoyed most of them.
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post #30 of 88
6/24/11 at 7:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Franin View Post

Finally get a chance to watch this tonight so Im looking forward to it. I dont mind Matt Damon movies I have enjoyed most of them.

I thought Damon was great in The Adjustment Bureau. The chemistry he had with Emily Blunt was magical, so believable I wondered if they really might have something going on on the side.
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