Total Recall

This review may contain spoilers… truth be told, I’m pretty sure there will be spoilers.


Okay,  so yeah, the original “Total Recall” with Aaaaahhhnold was a lot of fun and entertaining… I’ve got to say this movie is one of those rare occasions where the remake is better than the original.  If you can’t already tell from my lists of favorite movies and TV, I’m an action lover. Explosions, flying fists and feet, shooting bullets and bombs are my thing.  They make me smile, so I was pleasantly surprised with “Total Recall” 2012 starring Colin Ferrell. There was so much action and kick-ass hand-to-hand combat scenes that I was nearly in a state of delirium by the half-way point. You ever watch a movie where the action is so fantastic, you don’t really care that the plot is lacking? Yeah, it was like that.

For instance, how did they find the secret location of the leader of the Resistance?  They weren’t followed from what I could see and Colin’s character didn’t have a tracking device on him at that time. More importantly, just what in the hell was that movie about anyway? There was a rich person who wanted more control and land, so his plan was to make more police robots. I supposed he wanted to use his army of robots to strike fear in the hearts of the free citizens to force them to bend to his will. Where were all the other rich people in powerful positions to stop this mad man from accomplishing his monopoly on all the land and its people?

Ah hell, none of that matters because the action was so intense and entertaining. Just sit back, eat some popcorn and have fun.

Solid B - Casting a cute and cut Irish hottie gives you the extra credit that brought up your grade.

The Possession

Before I begin this review, let me warn you, there are spoilers. If that doesn't bother you, please read on. 

There's a reason why I don't rush out to the theater to see movies where the person is possess by some kind of evil spirit or demon. The reason is... the characters are never practical. I've just watched the "Possession" and like most movies with this theme, there was a lot of loud noises, creepy shadows, people walking around in completely dark rooms and refusing to turn on the light... seriously, what is everyone's aversion to turning on the damn light?

Nothing really scary happened in this movie. So either I'm completely jaded to evil spirit/demon possession movies, or Hollywood has lost it's touch to scare its audience. Either way, I was pretty bored with it. Another thing I don't like is the fact that characters don't explain themselves the way they should. A little explanation can go a long way and would get things moving a lot faster by way of getting an exorcism on the agenda.

Also, I hate when the lights flicker or go out completely and then something drastic happens but you as the audience didn't get to see how or why. This is a cheat and it cheapens the movie. Apparently, the director/writer didn't want to explain how the ghost switched bodies, or why, since we're told that it's a spirit that devours children. Why would it want the body/life of her father when it was pretty much fully bonded with the daughter? And how did it enter him? Didn't get to see that part, because the lights went completely dark and then the scene was switched without any explanation whatsoever.

It had the potential to be good, but it wasn't.

C-, I'm assigning extra-credit homework.

Taken 2

Okay, so here it is, I'm a bit behind on my cinema experiences as of late, but I'll catch you up on what I've seen thus far.

I've finally watched Taken 2. Now when I first heard they were doing Taken 2, I was like, "really? Some movies don't need sequels." But I enjoyed "Taken" so much, I decided to check out the sequel. Well, I'm pleased to say that it wasn't what I was expecting and let me clarify that I try my best not to put my expectations on movies, but sometimes I can't help it.

Liam Neeson was pretty kickass in the movie and what works is that he was believable in his kickassery. (Oh, by the way, I will be making up my own words of the course of my reviews).

The storyline was entertaining and plausible. I will say that the villains were a little too lax, so to speak. That's just a nice way to say that they did some dumb things in that movie. Still, the story was solid enough to make the hero look good and create enough drama. I'm actually looking forward to Taken 3 which I clearly see one coming. The one thing that did annoy me was the daughter. I don't know, but after being kidnapped, drugged and sold to a grotesque man for his carnal pleasures, you'd think a girl would want her father to be concerned about the men in her life.
"Yes, Daddy, please do a background check on all of my boyfriends, car mechanics, doctors, etc." Call me paranoid if you want to. It's always better to be safe than sorry. And I will enable GPS on all of my Wi-Fi devices. I want my special agent father to be able to find me anywhere, even on the moon.

I thought the daughter was a bit too carefree and unappreciative, not to mention a little stupid considering who her father is and what she's been through. The mother really does need to learn some defense techniques for her own good if she's going to be hanging around with her ex-husband and daughter. But overall, it was a pretty good movie. I'd give it a B+