Community Corner
Dinner and a Movie: 'Total Recall' is a Total Remake
A flashback to an old film with different actors, better special effects, and a predictable outcome
Dinner: If seeing Total Recall this weekend just has to happen, we recommend a good meal to go with it. Hopefully the meal will balance out the lack of inspiration of this "total remake." That's why this week, we recommend . Great atmosphere, great food, and a whole lot more. We also recommend the carnitas. Yum!
Showtimes: Century Folsom 14 is going to be the closest place to catch Total Recall. It plays at 11:00 a.m., 12:20 p.m., 1:50 p.m., 3:10 p.m., 4:40 p.m., 6:00 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8:50 p.m. and 10:20 p.m.
Review: Setting: the future. Colin Farrell plays Doug Quaid, a factory worker bored with his job. Despite having a smoking hot wife, Kate Beckinsale, he is unhappy with his life. He soon finds out that the vivid fantasies he's been having are his real life when he signs up for a vacation mind trip, in 'Total Recall.'
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Quaid discovers he is an agent mixed up with rebellion here on earth and is also involved with a super sexy rebel agent played by Jessica Biel. All the while, he must somehow stop Bryan Cranston's character, Cohaagen, from doing evil things to ordinary people.
The plot thickens as Quaid comes to the realization that everything he thinks he knows about himself is fictitious, and all of his memories have been implanted. He's a reluctant hero in a world turned upside down.
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This version is not much different from the original, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger back in 1990. Sure, the acting is a bit better and the special effects are much more realistic—but Schwarzenegger's portrayal of Quaid seemed more wounded, more baffled, more desperate. In the Farrell performance, there's more of a sense that the character is being swept along with the events.
In short: The old 'Recall' wasn't all that. This one isn't either. So the Flick-o-meter gives Total Recall just barely a three out of five. The film is not unwatchable; it just has nothing new to say. I'm a big fan of science fiction but in all honesty, despite some subtle changes, Total Recall is a total remake.
Did you see 'Total Recall'? What did you think?