Total Recall (2012)
There is absolutely no reason for this movie to exist. It's a worse movie in every way with blatantly blasé homages that aren't remotely clever. It's humourless, PG-13 bloodless violence, cg rendered, non characters performing actions with general apathy reserved for brushing teeth. The actors are capable of so much more, but the script gives them nothing to work with.
Almost nothing works properly in this movie, right down to the world the characters inhabit. It just doesn't make any sense. Full of missed opportunities and of the ones that are exploited results in backfires. The film is way too long. Many of the classic scenes from the original are mangled and stretched out like jerky in ever increasingly misguided attempts to try to one up the original. The only thing in this movie that does work is Kate Beckinsale's character who is a fusion of two characters from the original and part of it is because I like her very much.
Do yourself a favor and just head down to the nearest video rental or online and just watch the original Total Recall instead. Arnold is fucking awesome and is a far better movie.
SkyFall
I found it immensely enjoyable. The action is great, well shot, plenty of tension. The homages to the previous Bond films are generally well used and some of them are straight up clever. The villain has to be seen to be enjoyed. The themes running through it are strong and in many ways not your usual Bond films, but make no mistake, it is Bond. It's deeper, more character driven Bond, no space lasers or villains trying to corner the water market, great Bond girl, the camera work is gorgeous with some slight over use of colour filters at times. Most of the dialogue is witty and well written, although is marred by the odd face palm moment usually driven by product placement or forced by computer hacking magic.
The stunt work is phenomenal and the stunt people definitely didn't risk their lives in vain.
I managed to avoid the internet in regards to information about this film and if the internet told you this is a bad film, you were told lies. A lot of the criticism is of the same kind that Dark Knight Rises got, but for these two films this is definitely one of those situations where if you hated the film, you never understood it in the first place or you never watched it. I would understand if you were apathetic towards it, but to hate it is absurd and unwarranted.
For those who haven't seen any Bond films or even the Craig Bonds, don't worry, it is pretty much a standalone movie, but if you have seen the other Bonds especially the ones with Judy Dench in it, you will get a lot more out of it. That said, still feel free to skip Die another Day and Quantum of Solace, both retched movies that make most of the Roger Moore movies look like Oscar Gold.
Go watch this.
For Perfect Dark fans this is most likely a coincidence There is an elevator scene where the architecture is extremely reminiscent of the Datadyne elevators that run through the above gound levels of the building.
Topic: Rate the last movie you've seen (Read 1545644 times)
