Hello! Just back this minute from seeing the film. I have a few comments to make which may involve SPOILERS.

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Hmmm.

The short review is - what a load of disappointing and quite frankly tedious crap.

Oh Nolan why are you getting worse with each film? Who honestly thinks LDC is an actor with enough charisma to hold a film like this? He really wasn't enough for this role. Why the fuck does Nolan insist on having that thuddingly monotonous soundtrack pounding over virtually every single scene of dialogue? Why not give the actors some space instead of making it feel rushed and forcing them into layering soundbites for only the sake of exposition? Why not make this about the performances rather than worship the god of pacing? (it certainly didn't feel like 148 minutes I'll give him that).

Sorry, that girl he hires? Where was that maze she designed? Oh fuck that, we want a shortcut now. And why is Leo's dad (Michael Caine again for some reason) offering up students to do dodgy work? And what was she studying? Extraction 101? What world is this that dreams can be hacked in this way? This is never explained. Should we expect to see the flying cars out the window? Has cancer been eradicated in this world? How many other people are doing this shit?

And Leo with a bad case of dead wife syndrome (DWS). You know if you want to keep pulling that trick you might want to make it better than it was in Memento. Which is hard to do. Mainly because Guy Pearce is a better actor who makes you feel something about his character. Sympathy, disgust, shock, whatever. Something. LDC is like balsa wood in comparison.

But maybe I'm being too hard on Leo. Maybe the problem is with the script. I was surprised to find I had no problems following what was supposed to be a twisty, layered plot. I didn't see multiple plots criss-crossing and tying my mind up in knots - you want that? Try a James Ellroy novel. I still find Memento a mind-bending watch. The dream within a dream scenario is as hard to imagine as a box within another box. And here that's all that Nolan is concerned about. He loves the techie aspects of this. How does box C behave in box B. Oh B is jiggling about so C is getting all shook up. And do we get to care much about the inception itself? Nope. I thought this was a big missed opportunity to play the complex mind-games required to crack the subject. But in between explosions there wasn't much time for that.

Nolan has become a slightly more sophisticated version of the recent fanboy directors. But he's still thoroughly crass and obvious and doesn't have the talent to explore the spaces between what initially seem like promising ideas. But dreams? Hell, I enjoyed the more straightforward japes of Dreamcape and that was a long time ago.

But I am surprised that so many love this - I'd ask that you think about the characters. State what was memorable about them and what made them interesting. What did this film actually say that was of substance? Strip away the artifice and what are you actually left with?

I saw Total Recall, again, a few days ago. It was better than this.

Yeah, it's ok - but it's got nothing on this: http://videosift.com/video/Arnolds-account-of-Total-Recall

Verhoeven is a real hit and miss director for me. Robocop was an out of the ballpark classic homerun. No doubt there. Total Recall less so, but still a damn awesome film (Quaaaaaid).

Starship Troopers I loved at the time, but increasingly like less as it's very pro military (And I know that people hate the interpretation compared to the book, but I haven't read it).

I can't really recall my reaction to Basic Instinct and have never seen Showgirls

But Robocop... true classic

text mtv.com:

A lot of things come to mind when the name Paul Verhoeven comes up. "Starship Troopers." "Total Recall." "RoboCop." "Basic Instinct." "Showgirls."

One thing that does not associate instantly with the talented filmmaker in my own mind, however, is Jesus Christ. And yet that's exactly who is the subject of Verhoeven's new book, "Jesus of Nazareth." The book takes a look at Jesus the man, considering how his words have been appropriated over hundreds of years. Verhoeven stopped by the office last week to chat with MTV's Josh Horowitz about the book and where it fits into other recent pop culture treatments of Jesus Christ. Check out video from the interview below then head over to MTV.com to check out the full report.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:
The 80s, a simpler time. Where extreme violence, and at least one set of boobies per rated R movie was required.


Triple-boobies even!

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Total, Recall, Arnold, Schwarzennegar, Ironside, Classic' to 'Total, Recall, Arnold, Schwarzenegger, Ironside, Classic' - edited by calvados

>> ^NicoleBee:
I'm thinking chestburster scene from aliens, here.


I'm thinking more Quato from "Total Recall"

Jesus, I felt like I just rented and watched the whole movie.

This video is almost as good as this:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Arnolds-account-of-Total-Recall

there is no debate? Tell that to Jerry Goldsmith.

The Omen
Alien
Planet of the Apes
Total Recall
Gremlins
Poltergeist
Capricorn One
Star Trek
Inner Space
The Waltons

Here's some other Armnold clips you might enjoy:

http://www.videosift.com/video/Arnold-Schwarzeneggers-Commando-in-three-minutes

http://www.videosift.com/video/Schwarzenegger-is-HAMLET

http://www.videosift.com/video/Remember-when-I-promised-to-kill-you-last-I-lied

http://www.videosift.com/video/Seven-seconds-of-awesomeness

http://www.videosift.com/video/Oddly-compelling-musical-montage-of-classic-Arnie-lines

http://www.videosift.com/video/Arnolds-account-of-Total-Recall

Tags for this video have been changed from 'mad, tv, arnie, arnold, swarchenegger, sixth, day, california, govenor, total, recall' to 'mad tv, arnie, schwarzenegger, sixth day, california, total recall, 90s, scientists' - edited by Eklek

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Cracked, Ahhnold, Conan, Total Recall, Terminator, Commando' to 'Cracked, Ahhnold, Conan, Total Recall, Terminator, Commando, herr gropen fuhrer' - edited by dystopianfuturetoday

I thought he did recapture some of the magic with Starship Troopers. On first viewing it might seem like a shallow, 90210-in-space action movie. Watch it again with more attention and it's a wonderfully arch, grand guignol comment on how war makes fascists of us all. It was not quite Total Recall in terms of classic movie-making, but it was on the level of Robocop in terms of social comment contained within brainless, R-rated, sci-fi action.

So bad it's good?!?!
It's so good it's almost great!
Running Man/Demolition Man/Total Recall ftw
Tango & Cash is also very close to making it onto that list.

>> ^Sarzy:
BS!
Arnie was pure gold in the '80s. Commando? The Terminator? The Running Man? Predator?? Come on. Then if we go into the early '90s, we've got Total Recall, Terminator 2, True Lies... Arnie is awesome. That's not my opinion, that's a fact.


QFT!!! (Yes, that's right 3 exclamation points!)

Seriously Commando is awesome. Grab a couple of buddies and beers and enjoy.