Messing With Memories

It's kind of a quiet time for movie releases. The big-budget, guaranteed money makers have already come and gone and the films designed to troll for Oscars are still a couple weeks away. What that leaves you with is kind of a mixed bag of what's left over. August is a good time to sneak out those movies where the studio isn't quite sure how well they are going to perform, but figure they may as well throw them out there while most people have the time to go to the movies or are looking for a way to escape the heat. Typically this is when they release what are known as "summer movies", which is a back-handed way to categorize a movie as possessing a lot of action but not much plot. That is why it is no surprise to see the re-boot of "Total Recall" come along right about now. This is another one of those movies where no one was vehemently requesting Hollywood give it a do-over and yet they did it anyway. (The original one is only 22 years old. It can't even rent a car.) Considering all the other movies which could and should have been given a second chance before they got this far down the list it was an odd choice, which might be why the reviews aren't so favorable. However, while I'm in no rush to see (or even rent) this latest incarnation, at least I can see why they would want to give it a try.

A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon a website where you could play old video games. At first I was excited at the thought of breaking some of my old Nintendo records, but when I fired the games up I wasn't nostalgic - I was bored. Call it some kind of evolution, but when you get used to playing a video game where the controller has 12 buttons on it suddenly playing a game which only asks you to navigate between two isn't nearly as exciting as it was when we first tried it. It can be the same with movies. Yesterday we talked about how I fear that movie critics are holding old movies in such high regards just because they came out so long ago, while at the same time they haven't watched these movies in so long that they may be recommending something they themselves wouldn't want to watch a second time. Well, nerds can be just as bad (sometimes even worse) when it comes to their sci-fi flicks. (Say whatever else you want about them, nerds are loyal.) "Total Recall" is one of those action movies from my childhood that I hold with fond memories. After all it had space, gun fights, car chases and a chick with three boobs. What wasn't 14 year-old me going to love? However, as much as I enjoyed it at the time I haven't seen in over a decade because I am simultaneously terrified to watch it again, as I'm pretty sure that seeing it now will ruin those memories.

Some things in life are best left as a memory and sci-fi movies from the early 90s may very well top that list. I can not tell you the number of movies I loved as a young teenager, have gone back to watch years later and come away thoroughly disappointed. Honestly, the technology just wasn't far enough along to support the stories and while it was good enough for the era, I fear now that I've seen what computers can generate the movie will look like a bunch of guys trying to fool us with puppets and low-budget graphics in front of a green screen (which is exactly what it was). Face it - reality doesn't exactly make for an enjoyable movie experience. That is why I think it could be for the better that they just gave up and "re-imagined" the story. This way they can try again with technology which will be better suited to the vision they probably had the first time around. After all, I've previously stated that the only two reasons to remake a movie is if the first one was a tremendous flop due to either poor acting/editing or if it was a sci-fi heavy movie that just couldn't be properly done with the technology of the moment. Clearly, "Total Recall" fell into that second category, so now that things have come a long way it is probably about time for them to give it a second try, leaving the original to stay safely preserved in our minds.

Sometimes when a sequel is about to come out, whichever cable movie channel that has the rights to the first story will start running it on a loop as a way to drive up interest. Now, despite my blessing for this sequel I have to recommend that whichever movie channel has the rights to the original "Total Recall" doesn't go airing it 4 times a day because people are either going to question why they need to go see this reboot (not knowing the plot is not the same) or be so scarred by the realization that the movie which they had held in such high regards was actually a piece of crap that they get a sour taste for the franchise. [Sidebar: the fact that the new one is rated PG-13 is also not a good sign for me. The original was Rated R. I know this rating opens it up to a wider audience, but people my age who grew up with the 1990 version are not going to be excited about a movie where people are saying "damn" and "hell" just so they can make it passed the censors.] Ultimately, whether or not this re-boot was a good idea will come down to the box office numbers. Keep in mind this movie is all about a man who tries to implant a fake memory and finds out his actual memories have been replaced. Ironically, if it is a flop it will be whatever studio executive thought this was a good idea who will really need to have his brain scrambled.