Total Recall is a 1990 science fiction action film it grossed $261,299,840 worldwide making it a box office success.  The film is now 20 years old the film is set in the year 2084 the main character of the film is Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) a construction worker, he is happily married to Lori (Sharon Stone).  On his way to work he sees an advertisement from Rekall a company that sells imaginary adventures by implanting false memories.  Against the advice of his co worker Harry (Robert Costanzo) Quaid visits Rekall and pays for a special package that will let him remember an adventure he had on Mars as a secret agent. During the memory implantation procedure Quaid has a violent outburst and tries to break free, ranting about how his cover has been blown and how men are coming to kill him.  The technicians manage to sedate Quaid, it is initially suspected that Quaid was acting out the secret agent part of the trip but wasn’t possible because that part of the trip had not been implanted yet.  The technicians realize that Quaid’s memory has been erased, covering up there involvement they erase his memories of Rekall and send him home in a taxi. Quaid wakes up in the taxi just before it drops him off, after getting out the taxi Quaid is met by his work college Gary who invites him for a drink but Quaid turns him down.  As Quaid begins to make his way up the stairs he is forcibly grabbed by five men, led by Gary they move Quaid out of sight behind the stairs and begin to question him about mars.  Quaid breaks free and kills all the men including his friend, horrified at the spectacle he rushes home.  He enters his apartment an turns off all the lights and tells Lori he´s just been attacked, Quaid goes into the bathroom and washes off all the blood from his encounter.  As he exits the bathroom he is shot at by someone in the dark, he manages to avoid being shot and grabs hold of that person and turns on the lights only to discover its his wife Lori. Quaid releases his grip questioning why she would do this in doing so she begins to attack him again this time with a knife.  He disarms her once again this time pointing a gun at her, she tells him that everything he remembers including their marriage is a series of false memories implanted.  While Quaid was in the bathroom Lori called Richter (Michael Ironside) her husband and fellow spy.  Lori tries to keep Quaid talking until Richter can arrive with his men, but Quaid notices several men with guns arriving at their apartment building on the monitor in there apartment. Quaid knocks Lori out and leaves the apartment before Richter arrives and heads for the local subway, chased by Richter and his men Quaid manages to escape and finds a safe haven in a cheap motel.  Richter and Lori both work for Vilhos Cohaagen (Ronny Cox) the corporate dictator of Mars. In his hotel room Quaid receives a call from someone who claims to be his friend and that they both worked for the Agency and if he ever disappeared to come and find him, so here he was.  He tells Quaid to wrap a wet towel around his head because he has a tracking device implanted in his head and wrapping a wet towel around his head disrupts the signal. Quaid does this then the man tells him to keep moving and leaves a suitcase by the telephone he´s calling from and leaves. Quaid leaves his hotel room and picks up the suitcase and heads for a taxi, when he is spotted by Richter and his companion in his car. Quaid makes it to a taxi and demands him to go, but the taxi is operated by a robot taxi driver who does not understand the instructions he was given.  more…

Lethal Weapon is a 1987 action comedy film directed by Richard Donner, the the film is now 23 years old.  The film begins with the with the apparent suicide of Amanda Hunsaker (Jackie Swanson), who jumped from her apartment balcony after a cocaine session.  The film then moves to Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) a veteran cop of 20 years is depressed about getting old, having recently celebrated his 50th birthday. He receives a message from Michael Hunsaker (Tom Atkins) an old war buddy from his time served during the Vietnam War, whom Murtaugh realizes he has not seen in 12 years.  Murtaugh is called in to investigate an apparent suicide of a young girl, he is horrified to find the victim is Amanda Hunsaker daughter of Michael.  Elsewhere Detective Sergeant Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) a depressed and suicidal cop following the death of his wife, nearly kills a disarmed suspect after entering a psychotic rage during a drug bust. Weary of his behavior, Riggs’ superiors transfer him to Murtaugh’s unit.  While at the station Murtaugh finds out he´s stuck with a new partner Riggs together they investigate Amanda´s death. Amanda´s autopsy report comes back revealing that the drugs she took were laced with drain cleaner, if she haden´t jumped she would still be dead, making her death a homicide.  Riggs and Murtaugh inform Amanda´s father Michael of her death, who says he was trying to contact Murtaugh to get Amanda out of her drug and pornography habits. Riggs and Murtaugh go to question a pimp known to have connections to Amanda.  Once at the address they find a drug lab on the premises and are shot at by the pimp, Murtaugh shots back wounding him in the leg bringing him down they move in to question him as Riggs begins to help him up the pimp pulls out another gun, Riggs shoots him and kills him saving Murtaugh´s life.  Riggs  finds it suspicious that the only witness to Amanda’s suicide is a prostitute named Dixie, who was working away from her usual location that night.  more…

Tron is a 1982 American science fiction film by Walt Disney Pictures the film is now 27 years old.   Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is a gifted software engineer who used to work for the software corporation ENCOM, until he was swindled out of several video games he had created for the company by his former colleague Ed Dillinger (David Warner) who stole Flynn’s work and presented it as his own.  In doing so Dillinger earns himself a series of executive promotions, while Flynn is relegated to working at a video game arcade featuring the games that he had created.  Flynn is sure that if he can get inside the ENCOM mainframe he can find evidence of Dillinger’s wrongdoing but his program, Clu is caught and defeated by the Master Control Program (MCP).  The MCP with Dillinger’s authorization shuts down access to the security group Flynn is using,inadvertently locking out another ENCOM employee Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner).  Alan speaks to Dillinger about his access and reveals that he´s working on a security program called Tron which would monitor communications between the MCP and the outside world.  Alan is denied access for now and leaves after which the MCP confronts Dillinger about this, stating that it cannot afford to have programs monitoring it. Meanwhile Alan and his girlfriend Dr Lora Baines (Cindy Morgan) go to Flynn´s arcade and warn Flynn that he’s been noticed but instead of listening he convinces them to sneak him into ENCOM’s laser laboratory, where he can forge access to a different security group. Lora who has been developing a method of digitizing real objects into the computer sets Flynn down at her terminal in the laser lab, where a laser is pointed directly at the terminal.  As Flynn pokes around the company computer system he is confronted by the MCP, who takes control of the laser and suddenly digitizes Flynn into the ENCOM mainframe.  Flynn wakes up dazed and confused realizing hes in the digital world, where Programs resemble their human creators The Users. Flynn is taken first to a holding pit where he meets the Program Ram and then he is taken with a number of other Programs to meet Sark, a control program that resembles Dillinger who is tasked with eliminating Flynn.  more…

Black Rain is a 1989 American action thriller film directed by Ridley Scott the film is now 20 years old.   The film begins showing Nick Conklin (Michael Douglas) a NYPD detective who is a skilled motorcyclist racing under the Manhattan bridge for money he wins the race and leaves to go to his ex wife’s house to see his kids.  He then rides his motorcycle to one of the local precincts  and as he approaches his partner and fellow detective Charlie (Andy Garcia) steps out from the pavement and holds out his coat out like a Spanish matador Nick stops and wheel spins his back Tyre creating smoke and then shots forward aiming for Charlies coat and then stopping.   At Nicks precinct he is facing possible criminal charges from Internal Affairs who believes Nick might have been involved with his former partner who was caught in a corruption scandal. Nick is divorced from his wife who has custody of their two children, Nick also has financial difficulties due to alimony and child support as well as other concerns.  While having a drink at a local Italian restaurant, Nick and Charlie observe two Japanese men having what appears to be a friendly lunch with some Italian gangsters.   Then another Japanese man enters the restaurant Sato (Yusaku Matsuda) with several armed henchmen and takes a small package from the leader of the Japanese group.  As Sato turns to leave, one of the Japanese men at the table says in Japanese The Oyabun (Godfather) will not stand for this.  Sato finds these remarks insulting and he slashes the man’s throat and stabs another in the chest and then leaves the restaurant.  Nick and Charlie follow immediately shots are exchanged and after a short chase Sato is arrested after he nearly kills Nick.  At the police station Nick finds out that the suspect is a Yakuza gangster by the name of Sato. The situation is further complicated when Nick’s superior Captain Oliver (John Spencer) tells him that Sato is to be extradited to Osaka and given to the authorities there. Nick is furious that Sato will not be tried for murder in the United States but follows orders, Nick and Charlie board a plane with Sato and fly to Osaka Japan.  When they arrive in Osaka Nick and Charlie wait on board the plane while the passengers disembark, they are then met by men identifying themselves as Japanese police and take Sato into their custody and leave the plane by the rear exit.   As Nick and Charlie are about to leave the plane themselves another group of police enter from the front and identify themselves in English, indicating that the first group were impostors.  Nick and Charlie are taken to Police headquarters in Osaka and questioned there they are blamed for Sato’s escape.  After much debate Nick and Charlie are allowed to stay in Osaka and observe the hunt for Sato.  However the senior police officer in Osaka emphasizes that they have no authority in Japan and are forbidden to carry their guns because they are outsiders they are assigned to Matsumoto a mild mannered and experienced officer who will be their guide.  more…

The Thing is a 1982 science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter.  The Thing is now 27 years old the film begins with an alien spaceship entering Earth’s atmosphere at the southern pole and crashing.  In Antarctica a 12 man American research crew is getting ready for the upcoming winter when they are alerted by gunfire and explosions, a Alaskan sled dog makes its way towards the camp while being pursued by a Norwegian helicopter whose occupants are trying to kill the dog with rifles and thermal charges.   The dog enters the camp while the helicopter from the Norwegian research base circles the perimeter and lands.  One of its occupants exits the helicopter and pursues the dog on foot he frantically screams at the U.S personnel as the dog approaches them, telling them that it isn’t a dog but a Thing imitating a dog.  The Americans can’t understand him and through careless use of a thermal charge the helicopter is blown up and its pilot is killed. The surviving Norwegian fires at the dog but instead hits Bennings (Peter Maloney) grazing him in the leg, another member of the American research Team Garry (Donald Moffat) smashes a window and kills the Norwegian with his side arm.  The dog is taken in as a stray, wondering why the Norwegians were trying to kill the dog MacReady (Kurt Russell) the team’s helicopter pilot and Dr Copper (Richard Dysart) risk a flight to the Norwegian camp.  Once there they find the Norwegian camp completely destroyed and its personnel missing or dead, they find evidence that the Norwegians had dug something out of the ice and took it back to their base for study.  Along with the human bodies Mac and Doc find the remnants of a frozen corpse of a twisted creature not man but not beast and take it back to their own base for an autopsy.  An autopsy by Blair (Wilford Brimley) finds what appears to be a normal set of human organs but the Thing’s external appearance is anything but a bloody jumble of limbs, torsos and faces melded together as one.   Later that night Clark (Richard Masur) kennels the stray dog with the rest of the station’s sled dogs, they react with fear to the new addition growling and snarling at it. Noises from the kennel causes Clark to return where he finds almost the entire sled team in the process of being assimilated by the stray dog, which has transformed into a monster.  The alarm is pulled and the others arrive, firing multiple shots at the monster which have no effect until Childs (Keith David) arrives with a flame thrower and incinerates it.   Blair does an autopsy on the smoldering remains that reveals that the Thing is an alien organism that imitates other life forms by attacking and dissolving them and reshaping it’s image to appear in the animal or person it kills.   Bennings and Windows (Thomas G Waites) take all the dead remains and put them in the camp storage room but moments after leaving Windows returns to discover Bennings in the process of being replicated.  more…

The Running Man is a 1987 film based on the Stephen King novel The Running Man.  The Running Man is now 22 years old the film is set in the year 2017 the world economy has collapsed the freedoms of the United States are no longer the once great nation has sealed off its borders and become a militarized police state, censoring all film, art, literature and communications.  The government attempts to quell the nation’s yearning for freedom by broadcasting a number of game shows on which convicted criminals fight for their lives. The most popular and sadistic of these programs is The Running Man hosted by Damon Killian (Richard Dawson).    The Running Man takes place in a section of Los Angeles ravaged by an earthquake in 1997, convicted criminals attempt to survive while being chased by stalkers with ornate weaponry.  Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a helicopter gunship pilot patrolling Bakersfield California, when a peaceful protest of starving citizens gathers in Bakersfield Richards is ordered to fire on the crowd.  He refuses saying that the crowd is unarmed, ordered to over power Richards the rest of the crew assume command and kill a number of civilians.  To cover the incident up Richards is framed for murder and sent to prison he is dubbed The Butcher Of Bakersfield.   Eighteen months later Richards is shown in a prison labor camp where he plots his escape with two other prisoners William Laughlin (Yaphet Kotto) and Harold Weiss (Marvin J McIntyre).  Following a daring jail break the three escape to a shanty town hideout on the outskirts of Los Angeles.  The leader of a resistance group Mic (Mick Fleetwood) of which Laughlin and Weiss are members asks Richards to join their efforts but he declines choosing to visit his brother’s apartment in the city instead.  He enters his brothers apartment only to find that the apartment is now occupied by Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso) who works for ICS the network that broadcasts Running Man.  Richards holds Amber against her will after she tells him that his brother was taken away for re education.  He forces Amber to help him escape the country, While at the airport she manages to alert security forces at the airport and Richards is captured.  Again altered footage of the event appears on national television, which shows that Richards shot and killed two civilians.  Amber is shocked at the staged event as she saw Richards merely trying to escape to freedom unarmed.  Richards is taken to the ICS studios in downtown Los Angeles , where he meets the host of The Running Man show Killian who forces him to compete in The Running Man with the threat that if he declines, Laughlin and Weiss who were captured separately will be put in the show instead.  Richards agrees and as the show begins Killian reveals that he lied, Laughlin and Weiss have been enrolled as runners anyway.  The three contestants first encounter Subzero an Asian stalker who uses a bladed hockey stick and exploding pucks.  Richards stuns the show’s viewers by strangling Subzero with barbed wire and killing him on national TV.  The three escape to the next zone where Weiss deduces that ICS up link facilities are within the game zone and that they could find the access codes to the satellites that broadcast ICS programming.  While at work Amber pursues the story Richards told her of his innocence and gets caught looking through the video files.  Her punishment for this is participation in The Running Man and she is sent into the game zone where she meets Richards, Laughlin and Weiss just as two stalkers Buzzsaw and Dynamo ambush them.  more…