Total Recall trailer reminds you that you already saw this damn movie 22 years ago, and it was just fine, thank you!

Yes this trailer looks every bit as bland and generic as the teaser from early April.  And yes the lack of creative imagination that would cause Sony to spend $200 million on a painfully similar remake of a 1990 sci-fi thriller is disturbing and perhaps a sign of the end times.  But I'm not going to whine.  First of all, I damn-well have the choice to not see this thing when it drops on August 3rd.  Second of all, and I'll be getting into this tomorrow if time allows, but we're slowly entering an era where studios seem to be remembering that not every film in the tent can or should be a tent-pole.  So for now, feast your eyes on the raging mediocrity that is the trailer for Total Recall.  Is there really any one who is honestly excited for this?

Scott Mendelson  

Review: Straw Dogs (2011) unneeded, but effective as a B-movie thriller.

Straw Dogs
2011
110 minutes
rated R

by Scott Mendelson

If not for the fact that it were a remake of a beloved 1971 Sam Peckinpah film, Rod Lurie's Straw Dogs would be a prime example of what we claim we want in our popcorn entertainment.  It is, quite simply, an old-fashioned star-driven thriller with an emphasis on character and relationships.  It stars adults, concerns adults, and deals with explicitly adult subject matter.  That it doesn't quite work as a piece of social commentary is merely a strike against it, but the picture remains intelligent and tense throughout.  I suppose we can discuss the irony of something that was quite controversial back in 1971 being rather run-of-the-mill today.  To paraphrase The Tower of Power, what's hip yesterday, will today become passé.