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Last post Author Topic: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt  (Read 63166 times)

zridling

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What made Total Recall so special was how, for a Hollywood blockbuster, the film was so very smart and at the same time so gratuitous and graphic in all the most offensive ways—F-bombs and body counts earned the film, as the legend goes, an initial X rating. But that's only one reason to love Total Recall, which went on to inspire a TV series, the film Minority Report and a possible remake planned for 2011.

http://scifiwire.com...ns-we-still-love.php

total_recall_skeleton.jpg

The link is complete with film clips and tons of links. I love it. The movie is so bad I can't help but watch it. But then, I'll watch almost any sci-fi movie twice. However, since I can't find DC Cab (1983) on any cable channel, I ordered the cheap DVD. It's not sci-fi, it's just 80s goofy, and I can't get enough.

mitzevo

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2010, 11:42 PM »
Indeed! I actually watched it (again) a few months ago and enjoyed it :huh:
The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.

lanux128

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2010, 01:43 AM »
A chiseled titan playing an everyman? C'mon! Arnold Schwarzenegger was certainly miscast in Total Recall. Nevertheless, the depthlessness of his performance hardly matters once he starts flailing and freaking out in the Rekall machine.
-website

a cool movie in my book. though, what does he mean by "depthlessness"?

Renegade

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2010, 02:23 AM »
+1 for Zane. It was a brilliant movie. Definitely one of the few that will be worth watching for a VERY long time afterward.

Mind you, I find most of Arnie's movies are fantastic.

Running Man -- Loved it.

The Last Action Hero -- Brilliant. Hollywood critics hated it because it spit the truth in their faces and they were insulted. Probably the most under rated movie that I can think of. The poor reception was responded to with "True Lies" in which Arnie tears the critics a new hole. :)

There are strong themes that run through those films.

I'd say the first truly great film in that "genre" or style was Blade Runner (my sister's favorite movie, and one of mine as well).

Yeah... I'm a die hard Arnie fan!

(Him and Jackie Chan are my 2 favorites.)

Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

tomos

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2010, 03:44 AM »
A chiseled titan playing an everyman? C'mon! Arnold Schwarzenegger was certainly miscast in Total Recall. Nevertheless, the depthlessness of his performance hardly matters once he starts flailing and freaking out in the Rekall machine.
-website

a cool movie in my book. though, what does he mean by "depthlessness"?

Shallowness (although havent seen it before)
Tom

Paul Keith

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2010, 08:01 AM »
...or it could just be depth...less...ness  :P

Some of this article writers can go overboard with the terminology but it's true in this case.

Arnie's performance wasn't shallow but it can be one sided in the sense that True Lies/Last Action Hero/Predator can be considered as him performing with depth while Conan/Running Man/The 6th Day/Kindergarten Cop and Batman and Robin can be considered as some of Arnie's depthless performance where he gets away with Keanu Reeves acting but replace tortured soul with muscle or bulk.

Arnie plays an interesting depthless character in Total Recall though. Unlike his other movies where it's hit or miss and it's easier to say it's just Arnie's muscles making up for his lack of acting chops, this movie holds both Arnie with depth and Arnie without one which is why it still worked. Plus the depthless Arnie is less action hero and more in the realms of Keanu Reeves' Matrix performance except it's still not tortured lost soul but impatient, semi-horny, semi-looking for his destined lover, semi-unsatisfied successful blue collar construction worker, semi-amnesiac, semi-mid life crisis depth.

I won't spoil the movie for those who haven't watched but let's just say there's two Arnie and when they meet, that's when Arnie's depth shows but in a unique manner because often times when people judge depth, they're focusing on one actor but this time what adds depth to Arnie's performance is the way depthless Arnie interacts with campy Arnie and the two merge as a product of one despite being separated thus resulting in one of the few rare depthful performance in movies where a character comes face to face and interacts with his twin/clone/etc.

Renegade

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2010, 08:05 AM »
Hahahahaa~! Nice post Paul! (Very entertaining! I like the style!)

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Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

zridling

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2010, 08:53 AM »
Be honest, could any of us have resisted Sharon Stone, no matter how evil she was?

Innuendo

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2010, 09:21 AM »
Be honest, could any of us have resisted Sharon Stone, no matter how evil she was?

My brain cannot parse and process this statement at all. Her being evil added to the attractiveness not lessened it.

y0himba

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2010, 09:48 AM »
<3 cheesy movies like this :)

Paul Keith

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2010, 12:43 PM »
Be honest, could any of us have resisted Sharon Stone, no matter how evil she was?

Well in fairness to Verhoeven, he did at least try to minimize the Catherine Tramell in her.

Personally, the Wii Tennis she was playing would have probably been a much harder thing to resist for me.

She could be like "Douglas, I know you like this world but can you really live with a world where they didn't program this technology into the system? Come on Douglas, you know you want it. Imagine what games you can play on this if you combined it with Rekall." ~and I would have caved in right then and there.

40hz

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2010, 08:29 AM »
I always admired Stone's acting ability. She's one of the few that can portray a female role where her character invariably displays depth, intelligence, and sensuality.

She's also an interesting individual to catch in a real interview. I won't dispute Ms. Stone's physical charms. She is a beautiful woman. Even to my poor eyesight. But what I find even more attractive is the intelligence and sense of humor that sits behind it all. She strikes me as the sort of person I'd really like to get to know. (She's a 'bookworm' too!)

Arni Schwartzenegger is separate trip all by himself. The man with that improbable name, accent, and physique is probably the living embodiment of what used to be called the American Dream and the proof of concept for the notion of the Self-made Man. Horatio Alger would have felt vindicated.

This thread provoked me to haul out the DVD and watch it last night.

STONE.jpg

+1 with Zaine, Renegade, lanux128 and y0himba. It's a great flick! Raises some thought provoking questions while still remaining fun all the way through. Perfect movie to watch (and discuss) with friends over a pizza on a Saturday night.

--------
P.S. Sharon Stone is a looker. But Rachel Ticotin as Melina wasn't too hard on the eyes either. (Good actress too!)

melina.jpg
« Last Edit: June 13, 2010, 08:39 AM by 40hz »

Renegade

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2010, 09:50 AM »
On the topic of hot movies babes, and sticking in the retro theme, how about a Cherry 2000 (pic)? Great flick! Not sure if anyone will know it though. 1987 movie with Melanie Griffith in it.
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Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

Innuendo

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #13 on: June 13, 2010, 11:31 AM »
On the topic of hot movies babes, and sticking in the retro theme, how about a Cherry 2000 (pic)? Great flick! Not sure if anyone will know it though. 1987 movie with Melanie Griffith in it.

I remember it well. It didn't get much play & was fairly predictable, but still a fun movie, nonetheless. Back in the days when we all thought Melanie was a major hottie & blisfully unaware how mentally unhinged she is.  ;D

sajman99

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #14 on: June 13, 2010, 01:55 PM »
On the topic of hot movies babes, and sticking in the retro theme, how about a Cherry 2000 (pic)? Great flick! Not sure if anyone will know it though. 1987 movie with Melanie Griffith in it.

I remember it well. It didn't get much play & was fairly predictable, but still a fun movie, nonetheless. Back in the days when we all thought Melanie was a major hottie & blisfully unaware how mentally unhinged she is.  ;D

I think perhaps she may have had some work done on her lips. Do you think? ;)

40hz

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #15 on: June 13, 2010, 02:09 PM »
Cherry 2000! Good grief! The ultimate riff on the old joke about the guy who went out to buy a "patch kit" for his inflatable friend. Such a dumb movie concept that it actually worked.  Bunch of good one-liners in it too, if memory serves.   

Innuendo

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #16 on: June 13, 2010, 03:00 PM »
Cherry 2000! Good grief! The ultimate riff on the old joke about the guy who went out to buy a "patch kit" for his inflatable friend. Such a dumb movie concept that it actually worked.  Bunch of good one-liners in it too, if memory serves.

Look for a Hollywood remake starring Ashton Kutcher called "Dude! Where's my sex doll?".

superboyac

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #17 on: June 13, 2010, 06:22 PM »
You make me wish like I had three hands...

Josh

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #18 on: June 13, 2010, 06:42 PM »
Now this is the plan...Get your ass to Mars

f0dder

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #19 on: June 13, 2010, 07:32 PM »
On the topic of hot movies babes, and sticking in the retro theme, how about a Cherry 2000 (pic)? Great flick! Not sure if anyone will know it though. 1987 movie with Melanie Griffith in it.
Might be a B-movie, but I kinda like it :)
- carpe noctem

Josh

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #20 on: June 13, 2010, 07:40 PM »
MV5BMzQxODA1NDk4Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTY1MTYzMg@@._V1._SX351_SY500_.jpg

Three words...Howard the Duck
« Last Edit: June 13, 2010, 08:11 PM by Josh »

f0dder

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #21 on: June 13, 2010, 07:45 PM »
Three words...Howard the Duck
Saw it as a kiddo, found it again a few months ago, been meaning to revisit it... wonder if it'll spoil my (fond) memories of it.

PS: linking to external images don't work, at least not the way you tried doing it :)
- carpe noctem

zridling

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #22 on: June 14, 2010, 01:31 AM »
Cherry 2000 made me think of some others I can't pen down right now. As for cheesy sci-fi/doomsday movies I can't resist, here's a few:

Soylent Green (1973)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/

Coneheads (1993) -- highly underrated!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106598/

Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988) -- so, so bad it's good
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093171/

They Live (1988)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096256/

Galaxy Quest (1999)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177789/

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) -- not cheesy, but I liked it after the third time.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371724/

Ice Pirates (1984)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087451/

40hz

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #23 on: June 14, 2010, 01:41 AM »
If you're up for some really heavy retro sci-fi, check out a 1962 short 'film' by Chris Marker called La jetée.

I put the word film in quotes because the story is actually told via a series of still photographs with narrative voiceover. Very much like someone is showing a photo album or reading a private diary to you. It's all done in an eerie and somewhat sinister way that almost makes you feel like you're watching the slideshow that goes with the briefing on some secret government investigation - which makes it absolutely perfect for the subject matter of the film.

Black and white and only 28 minutes long. It packs a wallop that many films, with magnitudes higher production budgets (like 12 Monkees) seldom manage.

Director Chris Marker was a determined experimentalist who still sought to entertain, so it's no surprise that his most famous film, La Jetée, is both bizarre and compelling. Shot as a collage of still images, it tells the story of a man sent backward and forward in time in order to save a war-ravaged world. Packing all of the intensity of a full-length feature into 28 minutes, this densely layered narrative stands up to many repeat viewings. Every moment is fraught with anxiety, longing, and suspense as the unnamed protagonist moves through and across time, trying to avoid death at the hands of his contemporaries, the repeated loss of a past love, and the annihilation of his world in the future. Much more a human story than a science fiction film, it is essentially about the power of memory, and its snapshot format captures the feel of a strongly remembered moment. This film is definitely a masterpiece and is not to be missed by the serious cineaste. (The American film 12 Monkeys was adapted from La Jetée, though the original is no doubt the superior piece of cinema.) --James DiGiovanna

LaJetee.gif

It rarely runs on television/sat/cable, so you'll either have to order it from Amazon (as part of an overpriced Criterion Collection bundle which includes Marker's Sans Soleil), or watch it on YouTube.

Be forewarned that the YouTube uploads are pretty badly done and don't do this film justice. This is most likely because the original was shot on 16mm B&W in a film noir-ish style which makes it difficult to get a 'good quality' digital transfer unless you really know what you're doing.

Great cult flick. Check it out! :Thmbsup:
« Last Edit: June 14, 2010, 03:12 AM by 40hz »

40hz

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Re: 20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt
« Reply #24 on: June 14, 2010, 02:50 AM »
Cherry 2000[/b] made me think of some others I can't pen down right now. As for cheesy sci-fi/doomsday movies I can't resist, here's a few:

Hey! You left out:

Logan's Run

logansrun_l.jpg

(with the exquisite and classy Jenny Agutter as Jessica. Who'd have ever imagined a grubby mini-toga could look that good?)

zardoz-head.jpg20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt

and

Silent Running

An interesting sc-fi take on the perennially popular Space Ark concept. Natural heritage preservation habitats in earth orbit. A tale of hope, corporate greed, and public indifference. May turn out to be prophetic in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

and

Zardoz!

agutter.jpg

The post apocalyptic world meets the flower children with a hefty splash of 70s-style misogyny thrown in for good measure. (Hey, this was 1974! Back then, most guys were all for women being 'liberated' - just so long as they didn't get too liberated... )

Such a bad film it's great!

zardoz.jpg20 years later, the movie "Total Recall" still kicks butt  Sean Connery is still trying to live that role down. ;D

« Last Edit: June 14, 2010, 03:17 AM by 40hz »