Philip K. Dick

12 movies, 9 books in this series

Now Playing Podcast dives into the cinematic legacy of Philip K. Dick, the sci-fi author whose stories about identity, memory, authority, and fragile realities have fueled decades of films. From gritty dystopias and pre-crime thrillers to android hunters and amnesiac action heroes, Dick’s work keeps asking the same question: how do you know what’s real?

Dick has brought in some of Hollywood's greatest artists. What makes his work so fertile for film? Our hosts break down every major Philip K. Dick film to see which ones capture his slippery, unsettling worldview and which just borrow the premise and run.

Movie Reviews

Paycheck

Given a choice, which movie of his do you think Affleck w...

Reviewed Feb 11, 2011
Michael Jennings is a genius who's hired – and paid handsomely – by high-tech firms to work on highly sensitive projects, after which his short-term memory is erased so he's incapable of breaching security. But at the end of a three-year job, he's told he isn't getting a paycheck and instead receives a mysterious envelope. In it are clues he must piece together to find out why he wasn't paid – and why he's now in hot water. Genres: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller

Next

We guess Cage didn't see this one coming.

Reviewed Feb 25, 2011
Las Vegas showroom magician Cris Johnson has a secret which torments him: he can see a few minutes into the future. Sick of the examinations he underwent as a child and the interest of the government and medical establishment in his power, he lies low under an assumed name in Vegas, performing cheap tricks and living off small-time gambling "winnings." But when a terrorist group threatens to detonate a nuclear device in Los Angeles, government agent Callie Ferris must use all her wiles to capture Cris and convince him to help her stop the cataclysm. Genres: Action, Science Fiction, Thriller

Book Reviews

Adjustment Team by Philip K. Dick

Are our lives predetermined down to the smallest details?

Reviewed Mar 4, 2011
Posing the question of who truly controls our destiny, Adjustment Team is a remarkable short story by the prolific science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. Ed Fletcher is a real estate salesman with a steady routine. When he leaves late for work one day, his entire life is thrust off-kilter. Arriving at his office, Ed realises the entire world has been transformed into a horrifying black-and-white nightmare. Rushing to get help, Ed begins to question the philosophy of life and, on the brink of a psychotic breakdown, he realises that he might not be in charge of his own fate. First published in 1954, Adjustment Team was adapted into the science fiction romantic thrillerThe Adjustment Bureau in 2011. Genres: Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Sci-Fi, Short stories

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Everyone knows the movie, now learn about the story!

Reviewed Jan 7, 2011
It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there, lurked several rogue androids. Deckard's assignment--find them and then..."retire" them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn't want to be found! Genres: Androids, Bounty hunters, open_syllabus_project, Rick Deckard (Fictitious character), Twenty-first century