Blog Archives
Saturday At The Movies – Total Recall 2012 vs Total Recall 1990
Dear movie studios,
I hate to say this because I like the guy, but if you’re looking to make a splash at the box office during the summer movie season, you must not put Colin Farrell in your tent pole release. No matter how great your film is, no, scratch that. No matter how good or even average your movie is, it will severely underperform if Colin Farrell is your leading man.
It’s a fact. Find out why after the jump.
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The Dark Knight Rises Above Total Recall – Biff Bam Pop’s Box Office Wrap-Up Report
Two new films debut this weekend but neither could shut down the success of The Dark Knight Rises, which held onto the top spot at the box office for the third weekend in a row. Find out what went down at theatres after the jump!
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Big Ideas On The Big Screen – Phillip K. Dick In Hollywood
Words like “imaginative”, “mind-bending”, and “psychologically unsettling” are often applied to the science-fiction novels of Phillip K. Dick. He wrote stories with big ideas.
At the same time, his novels have been almost uncomfortably fertile ground for adaptation into big-budget Hollywood films – some faithfully, and some very, very loosely. And while we’re on the subject of Total Recall, let me mention Dick’s short story, “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale”. The story of a quiet, unassuming man who tries to book a virtual vacation only to find out that it’s actually happened has become a massive, explosive, ultraviolent action movie not once, but twice.
Twice.
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Total Recall vs Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Biff Bam Pop’s Box Office Predictions 08/03/2012
This weekend, a sci-fi remake and the third entry in a family friendly franchise look to topple The Dark Knight Rises from the top of the box office. Do either of them have a chance, or will the numbers recall the last few weekends?
Let’s be real – I don’t think anybody has been waiting for a Total Recall remake. The original, a classic, über violent sci-fi flick with Arnold Schwarzenegger, is still well-regarded, even if it did have very little resemblance to its source material, the novel We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Phillip K. Dick. A remake with Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, and Jessica Biel and directed by Len Wiseman was a hard sell for me…and then the trailers started hitting the web. And they look good. I think Total Recall could be a decent hit – not a blockbuster, but it could find an audience that hasn’t particularly been well served with pure science fiction this summer. What the film has going against is none of the leads can really open a film. On that note, I’m predicting a second place showing for Total Recall with $28 million.
Check out the rest of our predictions after the jump!
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Exclusive Interview: Matt Kindt On The Mind, The Artistic Process And His New Monthly Series, MIND MGMT
Last month, the first issue of MIND MGMT, Matt Kindt’s new monthly series published by Dark Horse Comics, hit comic book store shelves with high praise. Of course, it also made our weekly Wednesday Run column! Those with great expectations surrounding the series were not left disappointed.
In MIND MGMT, Matt Kindt, acclaimed artist and author of Revolver, 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man and Super Spy, weaves a blend of sci-fi, speculative fiction and government conspiracy story, that is both action-packed and engrossing. Multiple (and absolutely fun and rewarding!) readings of each issue seem to be the order of the day. He spoke with JP Fallavollita via email about the series, its’ beginnings, his creative process, and the pleasures of monthly comic book storytelling.
JP Fallavollita: Congratulations on a thrilling first issue, Matt! MIND MGMT immediately evokes many different aspects of pop culture and speculative fiction: the stories of Philip K. Dick, the television show Lost and late-night conspiracy radio shows spring to <a-hem> mind. And it’s got a government black-ops twist, of course! What can you tell us about the genesis of the series?
Matt Kindt: It started with the title – I loved those words together – and then started to build something around it. It really just seemed to suggest itself. And I liked the idea of revisiting a sort of “Super Spy” world but in the present day (most of the time) and adding an extra crazy element that I haven’t really played with before with the sort-of-sci-fi mind powers.
Then it’s just a matter of thinking of what kind of people would be in this organization and what would it be like for them? The scenarios and stories then just sort of suggested themselves as well.
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Prequel Series MIND MGMT: Secret Files Digitally Concludes On The Wednesday Run – May 16, 2012
Here’s the thing about making the weekly Wednesday run to your local comic book shop: even though there are hundreds of new and great comic books, graphic novels and sequential art books to choose from on the store shelves, you’re still bound to miss something really interesting.
No. It’s not because the comic shop has sold out of a popular release, or that they forgot to order a hipster-in-the-know one-shot. Nope. It’s because, as I’m sure you’re very much aware, all the great stuff in this art form doesn’t necessarily see print these days.
And that’s why today, I’m suggesting you stay home. Instead of hitting the busy downtown corridor, hit the internet superhighway and make your way to Dark Horse Digital.
