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- Oscar Wrap-Up 2013
- A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) vs. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
- Oscar Smack-a-thon!
- The Tiersky Top Ten, 2012
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- Florida Aurora on Mamma Mia! (2008) -vs- Hairspray (2007)
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Tag Archives: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Total Recall (2012) -vs- Total Recall (1990)
Welcome! Sit yourself in this chair and don’t worry when we strap your limbs down securely and tape electrodes to your head. There’s nothing to be worried about!
In the both of the Total Recalls we’ll be comparing in this review, a visit to such a patient’s seat launches a mind-bending sci-fi espionage adventure for the seemingly ordinary Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1990 original, Colin Farrell in the just-released update). Both big-budget movies unspool roughly the same story and feature plenty of slam-bang action, a nightmare vision of a bleak future, and not a little violence. They also play with the idea of implanted memory. Can we really be sure we’re truly experiencing the here and now? Continue reading
Posted in Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, SummerSmack
Tagged Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Nighy, Bryan Cranston, Colin Farrell, colony, dream, implanted memory, Jessica Biel, Kate Beckinsale, Mars, memory, Paul Verhoeven, Philip Dick, planet, remake, Sharon Stone, spy
10 Comments
The Hunger Games (2012) -vs- The Running Man (1987)
President Snow (Donald Sutherland) shares his philosophy in this weekend’s blockbuster film, The Hunger Games, “The only thing stronger than fear is hope.” He and his kind have built their dystopia on this theory: if the people they subjugate don’t have a way to cope, they could get violent. Better to give them some pre-packaged violence and distract them.
The odds are stacked heavily against both Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games and Ben Richards of The Running Man to win in their own futuristic sporting arenas. But they are motivated to try, each having not just their own lives but the lives of the people they love at stake. While millions of people watch, they suffer and struggle to make it to the end. The only thing keeping them going is hope.
It seems harsh to subject these characters to another bloody arena, but as the films prove, audiences love a good fight. We can’t lie. So do we. Continue reading
Posted in Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Tagged Arnold Schwarzenegger, based on novel, boxer, boxing, Elizabeth Banks, fight to death, future, futuristic, Jennifer Lawrence, Katniss, Liam Hemsworth, police state, president, prison, snow, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Woody Harrelson, wrestler, wrestling
12 Comments
Conan the Barbarian (2011) -vs- Conan the Barbarian (1982)
WHAM! This is the heaviest of heavyweight Smackdowns. In this bout, we pit two behemoths against each other, 2011’s Conan the Barbarian remake and its lower-tech but equally brawny 1982 predecessor of the same name. Both are based on the enduringly popular book series by young pulp writer Robert E. Howard, and are set in a quasi-medieval world full of sword-swinging marauders and evil sorcerers. Conan is very much in the first camp, raised and trained from birth to be a tough, brutally effective warrior. As a result, he grows into a muscular mass of human being, personified by bodybuilder-turned-actor-turned-king of California Arnold Schwarzenegger in the first film, and the brooding, immense Jason Momoa in the remake.
Both of these movies, then, bring hundreds of pounds of lethal fury to this Smackdown. The ring will thunder, the arena will shake. True to their natures, both films will shed gallons of blood. Which Conan will stagger away with the victory? Continue reading
Posted in Action, Re-Make
Tagged Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cimmeria, Conan, fantasy, Game of Thrones, Hyborian Age, Jason Momoa, Lord of the Rings, Robert E. Howard, sword
14 Comments