A Scanner Darkly (2006)

The thing that made me bump this down from a 5 star is not knowing that there was context I needed to understand before viewing. This movie is based off of the book, which is based off of the book author's own fight with addiction in 1970s drug-culture. Cool concepts make for wonderful films. tldr; This film & the book are a parable of his own addictions set in the future.

I knew the movie would look great and it is like poetry in motion watching it. What we have here though is a great film version of a Philip K. Dick story that doesn't suck. That isn't to imply that Dick's stories aren't good, but that most if not all film versions of his stories always seem to come out too Hollywood-ized and not true to the original story. This one was taken right from his brain, and it is a somewhat disturbing and personal look into a particular period of his life. The acting is also superb in the movie, with each character getting the most out of their respective actors.

*Bill and Ted meets Cheech and Chong* Aside from Wooden Harrelson (Hunger Games was far better for him), the cast is stellar, and line by line the dialog is witty enough and tells the deeper story that deserves praise. But be prepared to revisit your old stoner days, because it drags on and on and on with it.