Total Recall (2012)

Total Recall


"What is real?"

THE PLOT

Factory worker Douglas Quaid finds himself looking for a little more out of life after having the same dream about a beautiful woman(Jessica Biel) he decides to go to Rekall a place that allows people to live out their fantasies. Quaid's friend and co worker Harry(Bokeem Woodbine) does his best to talk him out of going, but he goes to Rekall anyway and the lines between what's real and what's not begin to blur when Quaid finds himself involved in something bigger then he could've ever imagined.


MY THOUGHTS:

When I first heard rumors of talks of one of my favorite movies Total Recall was being remade back in 2009, I was very disappointed to say the less, because I couldn't understand why Hollywood was wanted too remake this movie, because too me and fans of Paul Verhoevon 1990 sci fi action flick starring Arnold Schwarzengger thought there was nothing that they could do that would make it better, because like countless other remakes of original movies, the original movie already got it right.

After countless and worthless debates I've had about why I liked the original Total Recall movie and my opinion on that would never change just because Len Wiseman (Underworld Movies) directed and stars Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale wasn't going to change my mind either.

I finally got tired of having this debate about which was better and sat down and watched the new Total Recall and I tired my hardest to give this movie a chance but right from the opening I knew this movie was not going to prove me wrong like others felt it would.

My biggest problem with this version of Total Recall is that it doesn't create a world of its own that feels just as much like a character in the original did, I mean we're given some backstory about the future that this is supposed to be but there really is no depth too it nor to the story or the characters themselves


CAST

Colin Farrell-Douglas Quaid/Carl Hauser


Most people felt like what was going to make this movie better then the original is the fact that there was going to be a real actor and not a bodybuilder in the role, I'm sorry but Arnold was more believable 20 years ago in this role then Farrell who felt like he was just going threw the motions and never felt he was in any real danger because I knew he was going to get out of his situation no matter how tough they tried to make it seem for him.


Jessica Biel- Melina


When I see Jessica Biel, the first thing I think of is she's exotic....what? that's Jessica Biel there's nothing about her that's exotic, btw dying her hair dark doesn't count either. the character is supposed to be exotic and complete opposite to Quaid's wife, instead she could've easily been his wife because there really wasn't anything special about Biel's Melina. could've been the fact that there really didn't seem to have been any chemistry between Biel and Farrell that caused this I don't know but she was very bland in this movie and I'm a Jessica Biel fan so it hurts to have to look at her in a negative light. Maybe someone who has more of that exotic sultry type could've played this part some one like I don't know....





Kate Beckinsale-Lori


I have mixed feelings with Kate Beckinsale's role one the one hand she to me gives the best performance in the movie as the wife/ killer agent trying to kill Quaid/Hauser by any means. she seems to be the only one who actually knows what her role is and she kicks major ass and looks damn good at doing it, on the other hand I didn't like the fact that they decided to make her character a composite of Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside characters from the original, because that whole situation was better played then this time around.


Bokeem Woodbine- Harry


I didn't have to much of a problem with him other then they could've made his Harry into the Michael Ironside character that is hunting Quaid and Melina threw out the movie and had something of a relationship with Lori but maybe that would've been to much I suppose.

Bryan Cranston- Cohaagen


Its always good to see Bryan "Walter White" Cranston in anything lately because of how good he is on Breaking Bad, but with that said to me it felt like Cranston kinda mailed this role in because he was either still filming some of Breaking Bad or working on Argo I don't know but in this he really didn't seem like an evil dictator and things go his way or else and we know he can do that check him out on Breaking Bad when he goes Heisenberg on somebody.

All in all this movie shouldn't have been made because the original movie got some much of the themes and social commentary right but i guess now days its not good to make movies that hit to close to home otherwise its considered controversial somehow.

Even though this movie has some of the same plot elements of the original movie they could've called this movie something else but instead they wanted to cash in on the success of the original and thought that by having some I Robot storm trooper type foot soldiers and more "Modern Technology" was gonna make it better In my opinion you we're wrong.

If your someone who don't like nor have seen the older movies this is for you but when I think of Total Recall, I'll think "Get your ass to mars" Arnold, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, the three breasted woman and countless other classic elements from that movie while the 2012 update will be like a bad dream that I can't wait to forget.

MY Rating 6/10

Django Unchained (2012)

Django Unchained


"Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Vengeance"


THE PLOT:
Django (Jamie Foxx) is a slave that is giving his freedom by former dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz( Christoph Waltz) who turns Django into a bounty hunter and the two men track down Calvin Candie(Leonardo DiCaprio), who bought Django's wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington)

MY THOUGHTS

Quentin Tarantino does it again with Django Unchained arguably one of 2012's best if not best movie of the year, even with its too most sensitive subject matter of Slavery,Tarantino does a excellent job of telling a love story that crosses genres (Western,Action,Drama, Comedy, Spaghetti Western, Blaxploitation). effortlessly.

Django Unchained is an adventure that doesn't miss a beat not once even though clocking in at 2hr 45min. and its worth every minute, as the audience goes along on the journey with Django and Dr. King Schultz in slave nation AKA The South trying to find Broomhilda.

Tarantino might have said to his audience in 2009's Inglourious Basterds that "I believe this might just be my masterpiece" but Django Unchained is his masterpiece by far. top notch performances from the stars and the way down the list, which is rare in most movies.

THE CAST

Jamie Foxx- Django

Jamie Foxx turns in his second best performance of his career as Django, by showing that he can be a great actor when giving the chance to do so, he also uses his own horse Cheetah in the movie, hopefully he will do more movies that challenge him like this instead of what he mostly did after Ray and Collateral.

Christoph Waltz- Dr. King Schultz


Waltz is brilliant in Inglourious Basterds but his performance here trumps that movie with his little subtle ways, the man was born to be a part of Tarantino's stock actors who seems to don't even try when it comes to acting. He should get high reward for this performance.


Leonardo DiCaprio- Calvin Candie

  

Of everyone in this movie I was looking most forward to seeing him play a slave owner in a Tarantino movie, which he does perfectly, yes I hated Calvin Candie, but liked Leonardo DiCaprio's performance because he showed that he could go from this.

TO

TO


In the blink of an eye without missing a beat, I just want to say I don't know what else he has to do at this point after turning in some award worthy performances but he more then deserves to be nominated and win an oscar for this movie.

Kerry Washington- Broomhilda

Kerry Washington used to just be one of my favorite black actresses but after seeing how she is on ABC's Scandal and what she did in this movie she's shot up to my number 1 actress, I don't think any other black actress would've been able to handle what she was put thru and willing to let them put her thru for this movie.

Samuel L. Jackson- Stephen


He himself said in a interview that he will be the most hated man in the movie, some might think how so when its about slavery well since his Stephen is the Uncle Tom of the movie, yes he could be the most hated man but Samuel L. Jackson is good at getting that hate

Walton Goggins- Billy Crash


Anybody who's a fan of The Shield or Justified knows how good of an actor he is, and it was good to see him in a movie big movie like this, and after seeing him in this, I can say that I see him being this generations Warren Oates( if you don't know the name look him up and you'll see what I mean"

Don Johnson- Spencer "Big Daddy" Bennett


Don Johnson yes Miami Vice guy is in this movie and does a great job in his small but important part, Tarantino has always been good at breathing new life into once great actors careers (John Travolta, David Carradine) we shall see if the same is done for Don

Franco Nero-The Original Django


It was a cool thing to have him in the movie as a homage to the Django movies he did in the past and to have him actually interact with Jamie's Django was a nice added too.

All in All Django Unchained is a really good movie that I think would relate to everyone today. Does it have a sensitive subject matter? yes when dealing with Slavery of course its not nice but it happened just like a lot of other nasty things happened thru out the course of history.

Is there alot of use of the N word by white characters? yes, once again its 1858 during slavery time I wouldn't expect the word not to be tossed around as much as it was in the movie, if it hadn't been I think that would've been worse then what most people who think it was used to much thought.

So I highly Recommend this movie because you should be left with after seeing the movie, with great storytelling, acting, casting, cameos, action, comedy. and remember Its D-J-A-N-G-O.....




The D Is Silent


MY RATING: 10/10