Ridiculous Rating

Reviews

Total Recall (2012)

I’ve always loved imdb.com but their 6.2-out-of-10 rating for the 2012 version of Total Recall, starring Colin Farrell and Bokeem Woodbine, is nothing short of criminal.  This brilliantly inventive, supremely high-octane, sci fi film deserves no less than…and I’m being conservative here…an 11.  The world-building alone, with the first realistic mag cars I’ve ever seen, is both convincingly accurate and hauntingly surreal.  The truly non-stop action achieves that almost impossible combination of lightning speed and instant clarity.  (No rewinding to catch things you might have missed.)  The characters are compelling; the plot has more twists than Ireland’s “Peace Maze.”  What’s not to love?

But…okay…in fairness…an explanation for imdb.com’s ridiculously low rating for the 2012 version of Total Recall could be laid at the door of loyalty to the original, 1990 version with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone which did, after all, win multiple awards.  Still their audience only rated this first version 7.5…not bad but not legendary.  Do I detect a public that still minimalizes sci fi here?

You might enjoy watching both versions to see what you think…

Must Read

You May Also Like

Barnett Berger

Barnett Berger: A Rare Soul

In a community of Brooklyn writers, it is perhaps fitting that Barnett Berger was first met on a bus route, the No. 71, which no longer exists.  He was carrying an old book that likely shares the same fate. He explained that he spoke slowly because he’d suffered a stroke. …
Read More
Guest Posts

Pubescent Putin

My brother Maury…a talented poet and writer whose books are available here and whose far-more-tasteful-than-mine website is maurybarr.com…has said what, it could be argued, no woman could get away with saying without censure: Headline: Antisatellite Nuclear Weapon Oh, your smile! It’s Mr. Crafty! What are you doing? Put your pecker…
Read More
Barnett Berger

Barnett Berger: No Two Snowflakes

The poem below is by Barnett Berger. No Two Snowflakes No two snowflakes are alike No object from sky to earth Could possibly be identical We don’t know the sky’s influence in formation We don’t know the objects encountered on the downward ride And we don’t know the impact on…
Read More
Menu