Watching - September 2020

True Lies (1994)

C & I watched this to death back in the days of VHS, and despite not having seen it for easily a decade (possibly two), we remember it all. Some great scenes, funny moments and plenty of action. It's a bit dated in places; you probably wouldn't have Jamie Lee Curtis doing a (fairly gratuitous) strip-n-dance scene these days, and Art Malik's generic cigarette smoking middle-Eastern baddie would maybe be a bit more nuanced. But overall it's great fun. Introduced the boys to it too.

Total Recall (1990)

I hadn't intended to have an Arnie-fest, but this came up on Now TV and grabbed my fancy, since I hadn't seen it for ages. It's a lot more violent than I remembered, albeit just as cheesey, but once you take out all the shooting and action scenes, it's fairly insubstantial, really. It's been a long time since I read the original short story (Philip K. Dick's We Can Remember It For You Wholesale) but I'm fairly certain it was more interesting than this. I'm kind-of, half-tempted to watch the 2012 remake to see if it's any better.

Total Recall (2012)

... and so I did. Better? Well, it doesn't look as hopelessly dated, but I daresay it will in twenty years. There's too many plot holes, Kate Beckinsale is fairly unbelievable as a badass villain who keeps improbably turning up again and again (but she's still gorgeous), but actually I enjoyed it slightly more - maybe because I hadn't seen it before. There's a hint of Philip K. Dick's trademark "what is real?" at the end, as a Rekall advert plays in the background (apparently in the director's cut, this is expanded to cast further doubt over whether it's all fantasy or not), which I like. Anyway, watchable action.