Lets talk about the RoboCop remake

You would be hard pressed to find two movies that captured the zeitgeist of the 1980s like RoboCop and Total Recall did. Why wouldn't some coked up movie execs think it was a good idea to remake them 30 years later? Of course we all know how Total Recall did last year. The word suckbomb gets thrown around a lot these days...

So that leads us to the RoboCop remake. At first glance RoboCop seems like a movie about a cyborg shooting bad guys in the face. Don't get me wrong, it totes is a movie about a cyborg shooting bad guys in the face, but it's also sooo much more. There's the obvious themes of humanity and post modern futurism. There's also some great commentary on consumerism, materialism and the embrace of excess so commonly found in the '80s. And Under all of that there's this subversive sort of commentary on the good old fashioned ultra violence and how quickly the viewer is ready to embrace it in the name of kicking bad guy ass.

It's kind of a perfect action movie. One that makes you think but not so hard that you forget you really want to see Dick Jones get pushed out a window.

There's pretty much zero chance of the RoboCop remake being more than a mindelss shoot-em-up. From what I saw last summer there were two movies that tried to be more than they were. The Lone Ranger attempted to be a commentary on Hollywood's obsession with origin movies by being sort of an Anti-origin movie and it tanked. Iron Man 3 was pretty much a love letter written to the buddy cop action films of the '80s and early '90s. It did pretty well for itself but it was written and directed by the guy that wrote a lot of those great buddy cop movies. At best we can hope for a RoboCop that is sort of an homage to the quasi-futuristic action films of the past but I'm afraid what we're more than likely to get is a paint by number remake that lacks anything beneath the surface.

At least with the Total Recall remake we got Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel.

Thanks RoboCop

Late Thorsday Links

The Craziest Myths the MythBusters Have Tackled, According to the MythBusters. I didn't even know they were still making new Mythbusters episodes, that doesn't make me a bad nerd does it? I would hate to think all the money I've spent on comic books and video games over the years was for nothing.

Everything You Need To Know About Far Cry 3’s Vast, Exhilarating Open World. This game just keeps looking better and better. I just bought Borderlands 2 so the video game budget is pretty thin. Maybe I can pick it up in February for cheap, or maybe on black Friday.

Here's a bunch of Robocop set photos. Ok, this is looking a little better. I think the addition of the helmet definitely makes the whole get up look more robo-y than the previous pictures did. Now all he needs is an old Ford Taurus SHO and I'm on board.

This 14-Year-Old Kid Is a Lego Genius. He's probably in Lego Mensa.

Describe these Links

How to Explain your favorite show to different people. The only problem here is that they're assuming your nerdy friend hasn't already read all the books and torrented every episode. Also good luck with the cute puppy angle, I'm pretty sure when they start killing babies in the second season those puppies are going to help your cause.

There's like 3 more of these so make sure you click through.

Here's the new Robocop Suit. Yeesh. It looks like they went to TJ Maxx and picked up a suit that was originally meant for GI Joe 2. There's nothing here that makes me think he's an actual cyborg as opposed to some guy in a goofy suit. Oh well, it's not like anyone thought this was going to be any good.

10 Ridiculous DOS Game Covers with Celebrities on Them. This whole article makes me miss PC gaming in the 80s and 90s. I'm sure if I went back now and played The Horde or Police Quest they would be terrible. I'll just have to drown my nostalgia with a heavy dose of Borderlands 2. Have I talked about Borderlands 2 lately?

Can you guess the prices from this 1996 Best Buy Flyer. Some of these prices are pretty eye opening. I'm pretty sure my parents had that Toshiba 100mhz Pentium Laptop in the flyer, I had no idea they made that kind of money.

High Fiving Links

The 45 Most Powerful Images of 2011. Most of these pictures are heartbreaking. I swear I almost cried at the one of the dog laying at the feet of his owners coffin. That's why I went with high fivin' GI Jane (worst GI Joe action figure ever).

10 collecting fads worth next to nothing now. Every once in a while I run into someone who collected comics in the 90s. They almost always ask me if their Spawn #1 is worth anything.

Starship Troopers is getting a reboot. BOOOOOOO! Why not reboot the Godfather or Gone With the Wind while you're at it? Also is Casper Van Dien really that short?

RoboCop joins the cast of Star Trek II. I know they're talking about the actor Petter Weller but man how cool would it be if it was actually RoboCop? It couldn't be worse than the time he showed up to save Sting on WCW.

Links to bewilder and confuse

Tim Gunn doesn't like the cut of your cape. Seriously this is a 7 minute long youtube clip of Tim Gunn critiquing Superhero costumes. It's a thousand times better than the last 3 seasons of Project Runway


Big Bang Theory the porno? Believe it or not the trailer is safe for work but it's definitely not safe for your fragile geek mind.


Robocop as a Jesus metaphor. At least that's what director Paul Verhoeven says. And lets face it, the guy directed Robocop and Starship Troopers, if he says Robocop is Jesus who are we to argue?

Stop teasing me Ford!

Remember how awesome RoboCop was? You know what car he drove? A ford Taurus SHO.

"The new SHO boasts the highest level of tune so far announced for the Ecoboost V6 — 365 HP and 350 lb-ft of torque, going above and beyond the previously rated 355 HP in the 2010 Ford Flex and 2010 Lincoln MKS. The more important part of those power figures is where it comes in at, with peak torque starting from 1500 RPM and topping out at 3500 RPM. Shoot, that's almost in diesel territory. Ford isn't being bashful about this new SHO either, boldly claiming the Taurus SHO will outperform the BMW 550i while returning 25 MPG on the highway and coming in at a reasonable $37,995 price. Those are certainly fightin' words."

~ via jalopnik

I swear Ford, if this car ends up in australia exclusively I will dig up Henry Fords bones and punch him in the face.