My cinemachords.com article!
Total Recall
is still – to this
day – one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. Why? Because it is based on a
Philip K. Dick short story
and he was one of the major science-fiction writers
to ever have set foot on Earth. Total Recall also encapsulates the spirit of
90’s-style filmmaking thanks to director Paul Verhoeven’s vision. It features
everything we loved about the 90’s : Arnold Schwarzenegger as your muscular
common dude and part-time hero, Sharon Stone as a demonic uber-fit wife, a
triple-breasted alien, suspense, action, romance, bad guys… Long story short,
Total Recall is one of those movies that you have to watch once in your life.
Or once a year.
is still – to this
day – one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. Why? Because it is based on a
Philip K. Dick short story
and he was one of the major science-fiction writers
to ever have set foot on Earth. Total Recall also encapsulates the spirit of
90’s-style filmmaking thanks to director Paul Verhoeven’s vision. It features
everything we loved about the 90’s : Arnold Schwarzenegger as your muscular
common dude and part-time hero, Sharon Stone as a demonic uber-fit wife, a
triple-breasted alien, suspense, action, romance, bad guys… Long story short,
Total Recall is one of those movies that you have to watch once in your life.
Or once a year.Arnold Schwarzenegger
Then : Arnold was obviously the hero, Douglas Quaid. The year
is 2084. Doug is a construction worker on Earth but has strange recurring dream
about Mars and a mysterious woman. As it turns out, Quaid’s memory was erased
and he is in fact a secret agent…
Now : After a few years in office as the Governor of
California, Arnold has been back on the silver screen. As of now he has 3
announced projects for 2015 : Terminator, The Legends of Conan and
Triplets. He has just finished filming Sabotage that has been sent to
post-production and he is on the set of two movies : Maggie and The
Expandables 3. In case you missed Arnold when he was no longer acting, you’ll
be pleased to be seeing plenty of him in the next years.
Rachel Ticotin
Then : Rachel was Melina, Douglas Quaid’s mysterious
dream-girl. Melina is a resistance fighter who knew Quaid before his memory was
erased.
Now : Ticotin has mainly scored small roles in TV series for
the past few years. With a last appearance in an episode of Blue Bloods, it
doesn’t seem like she has any upcoming projects.
Sharon Stone
Then : Sharon played Quaid’s wife, Lori. This loving-wife
persona is just a cover and she actually works for the bad guy in order to
monitor Quaid.
Now : Sharon will star in 3 movies that will be released this
year : Lovelace, Fading Gigolo, Gods Behaving Badly. While on the set of
Un Ragazzo d’Oro, she has acted in What About Love – currently in
post-production – and will be part of 3 projects coming up : Papa, Army
Bratz, Mothers Day.
Ronny Cox
Then : Ronny was Vilos Cohaagen, the governor of Mars. He is
the corrupt head of the bad guys.
Now : Cox has appeared in a
few TV series and is back to the silver screen. The Reach is currently being
filmed and Nadia’s Promise is in pre-productio. Both projects are scheduled to be
released in 2014.
has never seemed more relevant than today. Director/Screenwriter Richard Linklater adapts here 
and his original reflexion on government with this non-typical sci-fi piece. It deals with social issues, surveillance and drug-caused paranoia while abandoning the usual features of sci-fi spectacular like spaceships and other aliens. I am truly impressed by the vision of Linklater who literally made 2 movies. The first one was shot like a normal feature-film and the second movie was made by animators and drawers who painted over each and every frame of the first movie. The animation crew worked for 18 months: that's more than 350 man-hour per minute of film you will watch. You should watch A Scanner Darkly even only out of respect for the creation process and the originality of the project. Linklater turns the psychotic fate of an undercover cop into a dark comedy. Behind the drug addiction, the governmental surveillance, and the paranoia of its characters, A Scanner Darkly is definitely funny. Keanu Reeves who plays (once again) the misfit hero is actually not the best character of the story. Woody Harrelson, on the other hand, is a total blast. But in my opinion, Robert Downey Jr. totally steals the screen with his interpretation of the eloquent and sciency junkie. Winona Ryder is mysterious and Rory Cochrane is the psychotic druggie of the crew that loses it the most (he is exceptional too). I admire the artwork of the movie that makes me think of a complex underground graphic novel minus the geeky superheros. I feel that the characters are as normal as they can be considering they've been brain-damaged by the highly addictive 'substance D': yes, they are paranoid and have no future but they are also relatable which is the key to a good sci-fi movie. I believe good sci-fi is credible sci-fi. A Scanner Darkly is incredibly credible and can be adapted to any era: it worked back in the 70s and it works now more than ever.