Total Recall: Yet Another Remake...

buzzvang wrote:

Carrie-Anne Moss != boobages

Carrie-Anne Moss > boobages

Quintin_Stone wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

Do we want to debate movie science? Because I can do that.

No you can't. You're an English major.

I know enough physics, biology and calculus to meet the requirements at the University of Chicago. I'd say I have a fair grasp of the concepts.

MikeSands wrote:
Johnvanjim wrote:

Cryptonomicon

The long lectures on maths and cryptography would probably detract from this one's blockbuster potential.

You know, I would probably be more interested in a movie of Cryptonomicon if they made it like Numb3rs. I love the little vignettes of math/algoritm theory they throw in there. Yes, they're pretty shallow, but I still love them.

Actually, I'd probably watch a movie that was mostly explanations of the math/science in a book like Cryptonomicon or economies like the system of the world series, with short vignettes of where it came from in the book.

So yeah, take all the "boring" parts and make a movie of those with some token "interesting" content and I'd be happy.

duckilama wrote:
MikeSands wrote:
Johnvanjim wrote:

Cryptonomicon

The long lectures on maths and cryptography would probably detract from this one's blockbuster potential.

You know, I would probably be more interested in a movie of Cryptonomicon if they made it like Numb3rs. I love the little vignettes of math/algoritm theory they throw in there. Yes, they're pretty shallow, but I still love them.

Actually, I'd probably watch a movie that was mostly explanations of the math/science in a book like Cryptonomicon or economies like the system of the world series, with short vignettes of where it came from in the book.

So yeah, take all the "boring" parts and make a movie of those with some token "interesting" content and I'd be happy.

Isn't that what high-numbered cable channels are for?

buzzvang wrote:
lostlobster wrote:
Paleocon wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

Do we want to debate movie science? Because I can do that.

I'm willing to suspend a bit of disbelief, but when they take the time to explain something as a central idea with mumbo science and get it so obviously wrong, it really makes it impossible to watch the rest of the movie unless there are boobages in frame every other second.

Yeah, whatever happened to Carrie-Anne Moss?

Carrie-Anne Moss != boobages

I guess you didn't see that horrible Mars movie where she spends the majority of time in a spaceship in a tight, sweat-soaked, t-shirt?

To each their own, I suppose.

All I'm going to say is: "Stick it up your nose."

Running man would actually make a really good remake. I would look forward to that more than a remake of Total Recall.

KrazyTacoFO wrote:

Running man would actually make a really good remake if they actually used the original story which was nothing like the movie they made.

Minor fix there.

So, all this talk about Total Recall made me pop in the DVD and watch it tonight. Yes, nostalgia aside, still an awesome movie. I had forgotten how violent it was. For some reason I thought it was one of those mild PG-13 movies, but it was definitely far from it.

In a kind of related comment, after following the V thread I ended up buying those DVDs and have been watching those as well. I had completely forgotten that Michael Ironside was in Total Recall until he popped up and having watched this and V so close together, he's essentially playing the same character. Even dresses the same in his black leather jacket and all. Anyway, while watching V, I had flashbacks of how much of a badass I thought Ironside was and how I used to imitate him with my cap-gun Mac-10 (can't buy those anymore.. with the reloadable magazine and semi-automatic fire) and the way he held it in V when my friends and I had shootouts. He apparently still favors this weapon in Total Recall as he uses it alot. Anyway, to my point. He runs like a little sissy. I was shocked when I saw this childhood memory of a cold mercenary running, well, like a girl. I noticed this in V during any of the chase scenes and couldn't believe how my child-self never noticed this. He just has this badass look about him and can make you piss yourself with a stare. But when he runs.. he's.. he's dainty. It became glaringly obvious while watching Total Recall and how Verhoeven tried to use editing and cuts to reduce the shots of him running, but he does a lot of it during this movie and you can't cut it all. So strangely, as much as I've found V and Total Recall still standing up to my childhood nostalgia, I'm finding Ironside not quite the manly man I remembered him to be. How can this be? My childhood memories are ruined!

You realise, of course, that real men throw like girls and run like sissies? Don't let all that anti-male propaganda fool you...

;P

You would never get away with the original ending of Running Man the way it was written. Way too close to the events of 9-11.

Paleocon wrote:
adam.greenbrier wrote:

If you make a movie based on a book by Neal Stephenson, please hire a writer who will add competent endings to the existing stories.

That's why I picked Zodiac.

Yeah, Zodiac and Interface would translate perfectly to the big screen; both have great characters (Cy Ogle is one of my favorite characters ever) and lots of actiony stuff, with a fairly straightforward plot that would be easy to get across in a couple of hours without having to hack it to tiny pieces.

You think this is the real Applepie Champloo?

It is.

Paleocon wrote:

You would never get away with the original ending of Running Man the way it was written. Way too close to the events of 9-11.

I assume by "too close" you mean "exactly the same, except you're supposed to root for the terrorist."

I must confess that I have never really understood the bad guy's plan in Total Recall. As far as I could tell, his plan was to have everything turn out exactly as it did--right up until his friend killed him.

I never noticed this (but didn't want to start a new thread - maybe we need a remake/reboot thread?) but apparently they're remaking Barbarella...

*Slaps forehead*

Duoae wrote:

I never noticed this (but didn't want to start a new thread - maybe we need a remake/reboot thread?) but apparently they're remaking Barbarella...

*Slaps forehead*

Let me guess: with Megan Fox? If I'm correct, I win nothing, because that's the most risk free guess one can make these days.

EDIT: I shocked! Still worth a forehead slap, though.

Speaking of Michael Ironside, I just watched Scanners for the first time this weekend. Guess what? They are working on a re-make according to IMDB.

Doesn't seem like any movie is safe from being remade, Disney is even working on a remake of Flight of the Navigator.

Kosars wrote:

Doesn't seem like any movie is safe from being remade, Disney is even working on a remake of Flight of the Navigator. :|

Honest and true. I didn't think I'd ever see Hollywood so thoroughly and completely give up on new ideas, but, here we are.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Philip K Dick's stories are very hit-or-miss. Some are bizarre tales of Barbie-doll board games in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Movies made about his stories are usually stronger narratives than the original stories. Writing while frying your brain, extremely paranoid, and in a drab, cold storage shed may not result in a lot of stories with strong beginninga, middlea, and enda. I say this with love, as a big PKD fan.

Agreed. The best PKD movie conversions have been riffs on his short stories.

I fear the day they try to make Valis into a movie. (That book totally blew my mind...)

Another PKD story turned into film was Imposter with Gary Sinise. It had a good twist ending, but also one that made me feel like I had wasted 2 hours watching the movie.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I have felt the need for three pages to point out that Romeo and Juliet, along with a great number of the "classics", were, in fact, remakes.

I feel there is a big difference between being inspired by old folk tales, and wholesale remake.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I have felt the need for three pages to point out that Romeo and Juliet, along with a great number of the "classics", were, in fact, remakes..

Rome and Juliet is centuries old though, a lot of the movies being remade now are only 20-30 years old, which is a pretty big difference in my mind. Really I don't care much about remakes, I'm not one of the people that think they ruin the original in anyway, I just think it's a shame that Hollywood isn't putting out more new and original stories.

Kosars wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

I have felt the need for three pages to point out that Romeo and Juliet, along with a great number of the "classics", were, in fact, remakes..

Rome and Juliet is centuries old though, a lot of the movies being remade now are only 20-30 years old, which is a pretty big difference in my mind. Really I don't care much about remakes, I'm not one of the people that think they ruin the original in anyway, I just think it's a shame that Hollywood isn't putting out more new and original stories.

Yeah, to me it's not so much the 'remake' part of the equation... it's the frequency.

I have felt the need for three pages to point out that Romeo and Juliet, along with a great number of the "classics", were, in fact, remakes.

Remakes are a fact of life and have been going on for centuries. "Whoso List To Hunt" is a personal fave.

Other nuggets:

- Total Recall and The Running Man are freaking awesome.

- Philip K Dick's stories are very hit-or-miss. Some are bizarre tales of Barbie-doll board games in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Movies made about his stories are usually stronger narratives than the original stories. Writing while frying your brain, extremely paranoid, and in a drab, cold storage shed may not result in a lot of stories with strong beginnings, middles, and ends. I say this with love, as a big PKD fan.

Duoae wrote:
Kosars wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

I have felt the need for three pages to point out that Romeo and Juliet, along with a great number of the "classics", were, in fact, remakes..

Rome and Juliet is centuries old though, a lot of the movies being remade now are only 20-30 years old, which is a pretty big difference in my mind. Really I don't care much about remakes, I'm not one of the people that think they ruin the original in anyway, I just think it's a shame that Hollywood isn't putting out more new and original stories.

Yeah, to me it's not so much the 'remake' part of the equation... it's the frequency.

Good thing you don't like musicals. It seems like everyone that comes through town is a remake of a classic. Hair won a Tony tonight.

Vector wrote:

f*ck off. f*ck RIGHT OFF. TOTAL RECALL DOES NOT NEED TO BE REMADE. NOT EVEN CLOSE. DON`T REMAKE ARNIE MOVIES. JUST DON`T. f*ck OFF AND DIE.

You know what movie really can't be remade?

Blade Runner. It's still a benchmark for sci-fi movies

interstate78 wrote:
Vector wrote:

f*ck off. f*ck RIGHT OFF. TOTAL RECALL DOES NOT NEED TO BE REMADE. NOT EVEN CLOSE. DON`T REMAKE ARNIE MOVIES. JUST DON`T. f*ck OFF AND DIE.

You know what movie really can't be remade?

Blade Runner. It's still a benchmark for sci-fi movies

I'm going to remember this when the inevitable BR remake is announced.

You guys are right, I forgot most of the recent movies based on PKD works. I need to remember that re-reading is an option.

interstate78 wrote:
Vector wrote:

f*ck off. f*ck RIGHT OFF. TOTAL RECALL DOES NOT NEED TO BE REMADE. NOT EVEN CLOSE. DON`T REMAKE ARNIE MOVIES. JUST DON`T. f*ck OFF AND DIE.

You know what movie really can't be remade?

Blade Runner. It's still a benchmark for sci-fi movies

Fast Fascinating Fact that ties in the comment about musicals from before: there was a musical version of Blade Runner that was under development around 2000 (music by Jim Steinman) but was apparently never completed (scroll down to last section for mention of Blade Runner).

lostlobster wrote:
interstate78 wrote:
Vector wrote:

f*ck off. f*ck RIGHT OFF. TOTAL RECALL DOES NOT NEED TO BE REMADE. NOT EVEN CLOSE. DON`T REMAKE ARNIE MOVIES. JUST DON`T. f*ck OFF AND DIE.

You know what movie really can't be remade?

Blade Runner. It's still a benchmark for sci-fi movies

Fast Fascinating Fact that ties in the comment about musicals from before: there was a musical version of Blade Runner that was under development around 2000 (music by Jim Steinman) but was apparently never completed (scroll down to last section for mention of Blade Runner).

A musical of Blade Runner? WHAT? *faints*

Thank GOD they never completed that