Total Recall: Partial Recall (56 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, Aug. 02 2012, 12:49 PM

After many months of examining cinematic history under the Total Recall banner, our column meets its destiny this week with the release of Len Wiseman's Total Recall remake. Of course, we knew we needed to dedicate this week's list to recall -- specifically, movies featuring protagonists who have lost their memory. Amnesia is a popular topic for filmmakers, leaving us with enough material to make this a special super-sized edition that features examples from pretty much every genre -- and we're still sure we managed to (ahem) "forget" at least one of your favorites. It's the total partial recall you've been waiting for!

Total Recall: Vince Vaughn's Best Movies (86 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, Jul. 26 2012, 10:25 AM

Vegas, martinis, and the words "baby" and "money" helped launch Vince Vaughn's film career ? and helped established him as an extraordinarily compelling cinematic scoundrel, a role he's played repeatedly over the last decade and change. But that isn't all Vaughn can do, as he's proven while assembling an admirably eclectic filmography, moving from comedy to horror to action thrillers and back again, and sharing screens with everyone from Richard Attenborough to Jennifer Lopez in the process. This weekend, however, Vaughn's back in his comedically caddish wheelhouse with The Watch, and to celebrate, we decided to revisit his best-reviewed films, Total Recall style!

Total Recall: Batman Movies (141 comments)

by RT Staff on Wednesday, Jul. 18 2012, 03:48 PM

The Masked Manhunter. The Caped Crusader. Bats. You know who we're talking about, film fans, and chances are you've had this Friday circled on your calendar since Warner Bros. announced that July 20, 2012 was the day The Dark Knight Rises would be arriving in theaters. The conclusion of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, Rises is one of the year's most anticipated releases, and in honor of this momentous occasion, we decided to dedicate this week's list to a (mostly) fond look back at the Bat in all of his cinematic guises. With the Bat-signal blazing, it's time for Total Recall!

Total Recall: Memorable Movie Nerds and Geeks (94 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, Jul. 12 2012, 08:56 AM

Nerds! Geeks! For years, they bore the brunt of hostility from all the cool kids -- but now, in a turn of events that would have infuriated Fred "The Ogre" Palowakski, they are the cool kids, and this week they're celebrating their ascendance with the ultimate annual pilgrimage of nerddom and geekitude. Yes, friends, we're talking about Comic-Con, and in honor of the total geekout scheduled to take place in San Diego between tomorrow and Sunday, we decided to devote this week's list to some of our favorite nerd- and geek-dedicated films. Hike up those floodwaters, Poindexter, because it's time for Total Recall!

Total Recall: Oliver Stone's Best Movies (68 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, Jul. 05 2012, 12:55 PM

He's won 10 Golden Globes, nine Oscars, and four BAFTAs during his long and illustrious career -- but Oliver Stone has somehow never been the focus of his own Total Recall, so we decided to change that in honor of this weekend's Savages, an intriguingly cast drug drama based on the Don Winslow novel about a pair of pot farmers racing to free the woman they love from a Mexican drug cartel. Given his lengthy filmography, you know Stone's got some good stuff in his filmography -- and the cream of the crop is right here in this week's list.

Total Recall: Channing Tatum's Best Movies (88 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, Jun. 28 2012, 04:01 PM

It takes guts to shake your moneymaker in public, let alone for a filmmaker as talented as Steven Soderbergh, so give Channing Tatum points for courage: That's exactly what he did in Magic Mike, the stripper drama that's thrusting its well-oiled abs into theaters this week. In honor of Channing's chutzpah, we decided to dedicate this week's list to his up-and-coming career -- which is still young, but contains more noteworthy films than you might initially suspect. It's time for Total Recall!

Total Recall: U.S. Presidents On Film (87 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Friday, Jun. 22 2012, 01:40 PM

He worked his way up from his humble log cabin roots to become an entrepreneur, a lawyer, and finally the President of the United States -- and now Abraham Lincoln is an action hero, courtesy of this weekend's supremely silly-sounding Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. In honor of Honest Abe's return to the big screen, we decided to take a look at some other films about real-life Presidents -- and although none of them feature commanders-in-chief slaying the undead, we think you'll still find a few classics in the bunch. Hail to the Total Recall!

Total Recall: Tom Cruise's Best Movies (149 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Friday, Jun. 15 2012, 09:12 AM

Over the last 25 years, he's completed three impossible missions, learned about Wapner time, and driven the highway to the danger zone -- and now it's time to refresh Tom Cruise's Total Recall in honor of the about-to-reach-theaters Rock of Ages, so we're here to look back at the best-reviewed films of his career. For a guy with so many movies to his name, Cruise has had remarkable good luck with critics, and by limiting ourselves to his 10 most critic-friendly efforts, we had to exclude a number of fan favorites (sorry, War of the Worlds and Last Samurai). Still, we think you'll find plenty of vintage Cruise on this list, culled from the years both before and after he became better known for abusing Oprah's furniture than his acting. Let's stroll down the Tom Cruise block of memory lane, shall we?

Total Recall: Ridley Scott's Best Movies (217 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, Jun. 07 2012, 03:24 PM

Over the course of his 35-year filmmaking career, Ridley Scott has dabbled in pretty much every genre: from historical epics to action flicks, fantasy to heartwarming drama, he's done it all -- and he's racked up an impressive pile of awards and nominations along the way. But since 1982's Blade Runner, sci-fi has been conspicuously absent from Scott's filmography -- until now, that is. With the decidedly Alien-ish Prometheus landing in theaters this weekend, we decided now would be the perfect time to take a fond look back at 10 of the brightest critical highlights from the Ridley Scott oeuvre, and you know what that means: It's time for Total Recall!

Total Recall: Big-Screen Fairy Tales (87 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, May. 31 2012, 03:34 AM

Snow White and the Huntsman opens this weekend, following closely behind Mirror Mirror and marking the second trip to theaters for the Fairest of Them All in 2012. With plenty of other folkloric fantasy adaptations in our recent past (Red Riding Hood, Beastly) and plenty more on the horizon (including Jack the Giant Killer and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters), fairy tales are having something of a moment right now -- but as any film fan could tell you, and as this week's list demonstrates, this is nothing new in Hollywood. There are countless examples of filmmakers turning to fairy tales for inspiration, but we couldn't possibly fit all those once upon a times and happily ever afters into a single feature. Which of your favorites made the cut? Find out in the latest Total Recall!

Total Recall: Will Smith's Best Movies (142 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, May. 24 2012, 12:00 AM

He's been a chart-topping rapper, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and the undisputed king of the July 4 movie blockbuster, but Will Smith has never been the subject of a Total Recall -- so we're repenting for the error of our ways with this week's list, written in honor of Smith's return as Agent J in Men in Black III. You'll obviously find some of the biggest hit films of the last 15 years in here, but Big Willie Style isn't always about the big-budget smash hit; his filmography actually contains a few eclectic diversions that may surprise you. Let's find out how many of your favorites made the cut!

Total Recall: Victory at Sea (99 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, May. 17 2012, 03:31 AM

Summer's almost here, and you know what that means -- from now until Labor Day, the Earth will be in near-constant danger of utter destruction every single weekend. At the box office, anyway. This week, we're under attack from a crew of nasty aliens, and only Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna stand between us and certain doom. We're talking about Battleship, of course, and all that aquatic derring-do got us thinking about other movies featuring thrilling peril, men and women of valor, and lots and lots of water. It's time to celebrate some Victory at Sea -- the Total Recall way!

Total Recall: Johnny Depp's Best Movies (108 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, May. 10 2012, 09:17 AM

He once seemed destined for nothing better or worse than simple teen idolhood, but since escaping from 21 Jump Street in 1990, Johnny Depp has proven himself to be a brave (and mostly pretty astute) chooser of scripts, building an impressive filmography that encompasses everything from black-and-white arthouse fare (Dead Man) to blockbuster Disney trilogies (Pirates of the Caribbean). This weekend, he returns to theaters as the bloodsucking Barnabas Collins in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, so we thought now would be a fine time to devote a fresh installment of Total Recall to counting down the 10 best-reviewed releases of Depp's 25-year film career.

Total Recall: Movies With Matching Titles (59 comments)

by RT Staff on Thursday, May. 03 2012, 09:24 AM

The Avengers isn't just the title of this weekend's hotly-anticipated superhero extravaganza, it's also the name of a critically panned adaptation of a 1960s TV show starring Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman. This isn't the first time multiple movies have shared a title, of course -- last week's action thriller Safe shared a title with a Todd Haynes drama. But noticing the latest example on the release schedule got us thinking -- and by the time we'd finished thinking, we had ourselves yet another list. From Oscar nominees to infamous duds, here are 25 movies with only a dozen titles between them. It's time for Total Recall!

Total Recall: Movies With Matching Titles (95 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Friday, Apr. 27 2012, 05:08 AM

Safe isn't just the title of this weekend's Jason Statham MMA action thriller, it's also the name of a critically acclaimed Todd Haynes drama starring Julianne Moore. This isn't the first time multiple movies have shared a title, of course, but noticing the latest example on the release schedule got us thinking -- and by the time we'd finished thinking, we had ourselves a list. From Oscar winners to infamous duds, here are 24 movies with only a dozen titles between them. It's time for Total Recall!

Total Recall: Chimp Movies (109 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Friday, Apr. 20 2012, 09:59 AM

In what's becoming an adorable annual Earth Day tradition, Disney will release the latest installment in its series of Disneynature documentaries this weekend: Chimpanzee, which follows the cute and cuddly adventures of an orphaned chimp who finds a new family in the jungle. Critics thus far have expressed the usual annoyance for the de rigueur goofy narration (supplied by Tim Allen), but everyone loves chimps, so we decided this week would be the perfect time to take a look at some other films featuring stars from this particular branch of the simian family. Forget about gorillas, apes, monkeys, and orangutans -- this week we're doing Total Recall chimpanzee style!

Total Recall: Best Luc Besson Productions (71 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, Apr. 12 2012, 11:47 AM

The poster for this weekend's Lockout shouts "Brought to you by the producers of Taken" -- a list that includes a certain Luc Besson, who might be best known as a director and screenwriter, but who's also stayed surprisingly busy behind the scenes of a long and impressively eclectic list of films over the years. Naturally, we decided now would be the perfect time to take an appreciative look back at some of the best Besson productions, so grab a bucket of popcorn and your finest French dictionary -- it's time for Total Recall!

Total Recall: The Titanic on Film! (90 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, Apr. 05 2012, 03:31 AM

Total Recall: Sequels to Remakes (127 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Friday, Mar. 30 2012, 03:21 PM

As many movie lovers are frequently wont to complain, Hollywood's been on a recycling binge for quite awhile now, with studios raiding the vaults for films and franchises that they can dust off for a new generation. Whether you call them remakes, reboots, or re-imaginings, they're ever more common -- but what's slightly less common is to see one of them getting a sequel, so when Wrath of the Titans popped up on the schedule for this weekend, we thought it might be fun to take a look back at some other examples of movies whose do-overs were popular enough to warrant a follow-up. Get ready to see a lot of Steve Martin, because it's time to Total Recall -- requel style!

Total Recall: Fake (And Often Fatal) Movie Sports (132 comments)

by Jeff Giles on Thursday, Mar. 22 2012, 02:41 PM

Jennifer Lawrence hits the ground running this weekend with The Hunger Games, carrying a teen-friendly franchise-in-waiting that Hollywood's hoping will pick up where Harry Potter (and, later this year, Twilight) left off. And as a contestant in the titular games, she also joins a long film tradition of protagonists playing fictional sports -- one we decided would be perfect to discuss in this week's list. From action to fantasy, comedy to drama, it's time to play some fake games... Total Recall style! We've got BASEketball, Death Race, Quidditch, Rollerball, and plenty more cinematic athletic competitions that you should definitely not try at home!