Radio Free Albemuth (2010)

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Absolutely Fantastic

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This movie is like the love child of Scientology and the Left Behind novels. PKD was slowly losing his mind when he wrote this story and analogizes his experience of VALIS sending bizarre messages into his brain via a pink beam. The story is weak and uncompelling unlike his brilliant works of the past. The movies is about other dimensional beings trying to start a revolution by sending messages into the mind of a record producer so that he could put vague lyrics into one song of one band's album. Yeah, real Rebel Alliance stuff here. Why didn't VALIS just send the signal into everyone's mind and start a war? Who knows? The film sure didn't cover that subject. Anyway, the movie itself is poorly directed but the bad story just kills it.

I'm a huge fan of the works Philip K. Dick, his books and short story collections line my shelves while the DVDs, etc. based on his works, barely make a dent. I'm generally not a fan of the adaptations that take a core PKD concept and turn it into a poorly executed version of The Fugitive. Personally, "A Scanner Darkly" is by far my favorite, with the top five rounded out by Radio Free Albemuth, Blade Runner, Screamers, and the Total Recall 2070 television series (not a true adaption, but close enough.)I enjoyed RFM enough to watch it twice, and would recommend it to anyone who skews toward A Scanner Darkly as far PKD adaptations, and would compare it tone to 1984 or THX-1138. It definitely feels like a product of the 70's. The highlight of RFM would have to be Shea Whigham's portrayal of "Phil" which comes of as a bizarre mix of a typical neo-noir dick and Jack Kerouac. RFM is not without its issues. It occasionally falls into "tell don't show" mode, and there's missed opportunity to give us a few scenes depicting the antagonists carrying out their nefarious schemes instead of being told about them, possibly a result of the script following the novel a little too close. But all in all, if you're a fan of PKD, or science fiction with a slower pace and little to no explosions, Radio Free Albemuth is well worth your time.

A PKD story that rather disturbingly and solidly finds its place in our own time. This movie, though low budget and stiffly acted, is a provocative, cerebral movie that dares the viewer to do what the mass media, big budget Hollywood flicks don't want the viewer to do - TO THINK.Though YMMV, I highly recommend this film though it may not be for everybody. Not spiritual/religious? That's fine - you can easily ignore the religio-Gnostic slant of this work and approach it as an thought exercise.If this movie doesn't make you think, if you can't draw a parallel to PKD's story and the events unfolding in our world today, if it doesn't make you question some long held, ingrained views in at least some capacity - then it may be a waste of your time.But if can take something away from it, if it makes you think, if it makes you question, if it perhaps changes your point of view - well, you will probably be able to chalk it up as the best spent 111 cinematic minutes of your life.

From Philip K. Dick, the mind behind the Terminator, Blade Runner, & Total Recall, (just to name a few) comes one of his most abstract and best reviewed novels, Radio Free Albemuth. Since being released in the early 80's, Science Fiction fans and literary scholars alike have analyzed it over and over again. They seem to think there is a deeper meaning, but to me the meaning of the story is simply that every single person can make a difference and change the world, if they are inspired to do so. Radio Free Albemuth is Philip K. Dick's biography, only in an alternate universe. Dick is a Science Fiction writer and the narrator of the film, who tells the story of his friend Nicholas Brady (Jonathan Scarfe). Brady is an ordinary guy who one day starts receiving visions of the future. Most people think Brody is crazy, especially his wife, until all of his predictions start to come true. Brady moves his family to L.A., where he becomes a record executive and that's where the story really takes off. The world these people live in is a police state, cause by the hysteria brought on by terrorism and The Cold War. Brady comes to realize that he is the key to changing the world for the better. All he has to do is find out how to do it and who or what is instructing him to do so. The alternate Phillip K. Dick, played admirable by Shea Whigham, is a witness to the events and makes it his mission to chronicle the work of his friend. Like most writers, Dick was known for being more than a little eccentric and many have questioned where this story came from, and weather or not Dick believe he was experiencing the same types of messages that Brady was. As for the film, it is just so well done, and I've always love stories that take place in alternate realities. The story is as much political as it is scientific, and when you throw in the inspirational message that anyone can change the world for the better, you've got one hell of a story. From beginning to end, the cast is terrific, especially the mysterious Sylvia, played by Alanis Morrisette of all people. I knew she was in Dogma, but I had no idea just how good and actress she could be, isn't it ironic? Radio Free Albemuth has everything I look for in a movie and then some, and it is written by one of the best there ever was, I can't possibly recommend it enough.