Today the Mutants are tipping our hat to prolific scifi author Philip K Dick (1928-1982) by highlighting some of the better film adaptations of his works:

Blade Runner (1982) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

From our review: “At nearly three hours, Blade Runner 2049 takes an awful long time to get to where it wants to go. It’s really an experience for people who like to soak in the eye candy of what is admittedly a striking universe.”

Total Recall (1990)

From our review: “Nothing is really exceptionally terrific in Total Recall; it’s merely a solid, well-done effort. Imaginative settings and technology, dashes of humor, a couple memorable lines (Johnnycab, the creepy yet quotable robotic driver), and as much Mars-based action as you can shake a well-oiled bicep at.”

Screamers (1995)

From our review: “For a small, low budget scifi film, Screamers impresses me with an intelligent plot and cool ideas, at least enough to have rewatched this a good half-dozen times since I first rented it.”

Minority Report (2003)

From our review: “Calling Minority Report any one genre will get you in trouble. It’s action, murder mystery, science fiction, and thriller all in one, but never completely becomes any single category. However, it holds all its parts together very nicely, provided you can handle some pretty grim content.”

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

From our review: “The result is an animated movie where you can feel the realism hiding just below the surface as the rotoscoping slips and slides off of real objects. It’s visually captivating but also kind of creepy. Seeing actors like Reeves, Ryder, and Downey Jr. rotoscoped is more distracting than immersing.”

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

From our review: “What’s weird is that as the film progresses, the bad guys — if you can call them that — grow less and less sinister and more like the poor coyote from the Road Runner cartoons.  It’s an interesting twist, but it really took a lot out of the suspense of the story to know that our hero is ‘winning’ from the get-go.”