ghostrunner wrote:I'm kind of surprised that people think the first one is that good. It's okay in a sort of campy, Evil Dead kind of way and Verhoeven has his cult following. It's hard to top the 3 breasted woman, and the guy who lives inside the other guy's stomach, but outside of that and Sharon Stone looking amazing, the rest of it is mostly forgettable.
You are just wrong.
Ironically, one of my few complaints about it is that Sharon Stone at her peak pretty much stays clothed. On the other hand, we got Basic Instinct two years later.
Is it really possible to like Total Recall ironically? The movie oozes irony itself. Like, to appreciate that movie ironically you'd have to get all hifalutin and talk about how it infuses a 90s action-movie aesthetic with fundamental questions of the human condition, or something.
I just think it's awesome camp. Nothing wrong with camp!
You make a good point. I was being [expletive]. I just think it's not a very good movie. I don't begrudge campiness, I just find it hard to sit through for long periods.
Honestly, after Dark Knight and Inception and generally well-crafted action movies the past decade, plenty of 80s and 90s blockbusters are feeling more campy as we go on. I remember seeing Total Recall as a teen and thinking the SFX were nuts. Last time I half-watched it on cable, the open-air eye-bulging scene looked silly as hell. I still love schlocky action.
Now here's another fun new development for those of us into this sort of thing (spoilered for size):
I don't think that's necessarily a flaw, I'm a big fan of TDK and all but it's easy to see why somebody would find its self-seriousness pretty lame in light of the fact that we're still watching a dude with daddy issues dress up as a bat to fight a clown. I'm pretty good about taking things at face value, but...
This is why Die Hard is still the king of (Hollywood) action movies. Great sense of humor that never undermines the tension in the slightest, and increases our empathy with the protagonist. (Though, Die Hard admittedly has some problematic racial politics, but that's an entirely different can of worms I'm not gonna open.)
Third Man, I agree with you on Die Hard, but disagree on Total Recall. I've not watched it in over 10 years because of the campiness. I feel it detracts from the movie. And TDK has it's own problems, other than the premise. Nolan's novice role as an action director is showing (he openly admitted to taking it on as a primer for doing Inception) and dissection of the action scenes does not hold up. As a story, it's great. As an action movie, it's questionable. As a comic book, it's logical (as a comic book can get).
I'm turned off completely by all the reboots lately. I won't go see the new Spiderman, and not just because I watched the 25 minute version online and was unimpressed. Prometheus nearly falls in that same trap, and movies like Dark Shadows and 21 Jump Street are plain disrespectful to my childhood (I'm exaggerating, of course, but they don't meet my expectations of a reboot or even an homage).
Maclowery wrote:I was definitely a naysayer regarding the way-too-early remake of Total Recall. No Albert? No Mars? The [expletive]? The first trailer was alright for a sci-fi flick, I guess, but nothing special. I feel like this one was done much better. Poor Colin Farrell, his two women are Kate Beckinsdale and Jessica Biel.
Apparently the film's PG13, which is a lame third strike. But maybe it'll be put together well enough to be worth pirati- I mean, going to see in the theaters.
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Kate and Jessica, the top 2 on my list. The only thing that would make this better is if Stana Katic was in it, then it would be my top 3. I must see it.
Cole Burns wrote:I'm turned off completely by all the reboots lately.
I agree.
It's crazy to me how so many of the things from my childhood are being trotted out to my kid to make money. From GI Joe to The Muppets. Are good new ideas that scarce?
Watched "The Town" on cable. Very solid heist movie right up until the ending, which was way too Hollywood. Still liked it. Ben Affleck's career renaissance as a director still astonishes me.
