Monday, June 01, 2020

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Total Recall (1990)

Kuato: What do you want, Mr. Quaid?
Quaid: The same as you; to remember.
Kuato: But why?
Quaid: To be myself again.
Kuato: You are what you do. A man is
defined by his actions, not his memory. 

Happy 30 to one of my favorites, Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall, which was remade in 2012 to absolutely no effect whatsoever. See this is what I mean when I tell y'all not to get upset about remakes -- if they're lousy they'd slough right off like slippery slime and the original will look every shinier for it. When they announced the remake in 2009 I did a list of some of my favorite random things in the film which still holds up here eleven years later -- I just caught some of this on cable the other day and man alive this movie's nuts in all the best 80s ways. I know it's a 1990 movie but it definitely still feels like an 80s flick -- it counts. It's a summation, if you will, of 80s Arnie Nuttiness.

The film also made my list of five favorite films of 1990, for the record. It brings me exquisite joy, first to last -- Verhoeven firing on all slimy cylinders, at the top of his subversive Hollywood WTF peak; how he got away with what he got away with when he reined should be the subject of a billion books. Anyway if you love Total Recall too tell me what's your favorite part? That guy's third arm? Sharon Stone? Or it's this, isn't it:


2 comments:

FDot said...

This is one of those films that every time I come upon it channel surfing, I’ll watch it to the end.

Mirko said...

The first film starring Sharon Stone I watched in theatre. What a strong and sultry presence!