The next time you watch a cinema 'adaptation' of one of Philip K Dick's stories, ask yourself this question - at any point in the film, is a character 'restrained' on a dodgy chair? If the answer is 'yes', you may wish to nip across the cinema corridor to the latest cavalcade of Disney/Pixar-animated animals (The fur is amazing) or, if you're at home, switch over to watch We're Worthless Wankers And Yet You Still Watch, on Channel 4. On film or DVD, chances are you're not watching a product worthy of its source material. |
Exhibit A - Paycheck. Might as well start at the bottom and work our way up. A film so dreadful I had to watch it twice, because my brain refused to believe what it was seeing the first time. It has a dodgy chair, as can be seen and clicked on below -. |
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Exhibit B - Minority Report. A slight improvement on the aforementioned Affleck jalopy, because the film works - as a comedy. Hard to say what's funnier - the police who can spot a murderer before the crime is committed but struggle to find his house, the Cruiser dropping his eyeballs down a flight of stairs or the jaw-dropping mime characters have to perform to get stuff up on the big Precrime monitor screen. Cruise's character isn't pinned down in a chair, but the film does have one, which could easily be used as an alternative restraining device were a mucky bath not available. See / click below - |
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Exhibit C - Total Recall. Still not seen this, so can't really judge. But it has a chair the producers of Blake's Seven probably turned down as 'a bit flimsy', so if my theory holds then the omens are not good... |
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Exhibit D - Impostor. Not a bad attempt, I would say. At least I didn't find myself wanting to stick cutlery into my thighs or put my feet through the television after watching it, which is more than can be said for the first two films mentioned above...and it doesn't have a dodgy chair. It has a dodgy gurney, but not a dodgy chair. And that's important. |
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Exhibits E & F - A Scanner Darkly and Blade Runner. The top two by a wide margin, and not a rum piece of furniture in sight (and yes, that does include Keanu Reeves). |
No idea about Screamers or Barjo. Next, of course, has at least one dodgy chair and - who knows? - probably a shoot-out in a dodgy chair factory. |