Total Recall Vs. Minority Report (Ep. 0017)

Explicit content warning

11/22/21 • 88 min

8 Listeners

Phillip K. Dick wrote two incredibly prophetic stories of technophobia with The Minority Report(1956) and We Can Remember it For You Wholesale(1966). It doesn’t hurt that they also led to two Sci-Fi classics carried by leading men Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise. Get paranoid and get weird with the Movie Wars crew as we discuss Total Recall and Minority Report.

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Film Summaries:

Total Recall

Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a bored construction worker in the year 2084 who dreams of visiting the colonized Mars. He visits "Rekall," a company that plants false memories into people's brains, in order to experience the thrill of Mars without having to travel there. But something goes wrong during the procedure; Quaid discovers that his entire life is actually a false memory and that the people who implanted it in his head now want him dead.

Rating:
R
Genre:
Sci-Fi, Action
Director:
Paul Verhoeven
Producer:
Buzz Feitshans, Ronald Shusett
Writer:
Philip K. Dick, Jon Povill, Gary Goldman
Release Date (Streaming):
May 21, 2002
Box Office (Gross USA):
$117.8M
Runtime:
1h 49m

(Info courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/total_recall)

Minority Report

Based on a story by famed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, "Minority Report" is an action-detective thriller set in Washington D.C. in 2054, where police utilize a psychic technology to arrest and convict murderers before they commit their crime. Tom Cruise plays the head of this Precrime unit and is himself accused of the future murder of a man he hasn't even met.

Rating:
PG-13 (Drug Content|Brief Language|Some Sexuality|Violence)
Genre:
Sci-Fi, Mystery & Thriller, Action
Original Language:
English
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Producer:
Gerald R. Molen, Bonnie Curtis, Walter F. Parkes, Jan de Bont
Writer:
Philip K. Dick, Scott Frank, Jon Cohen
Release Date (Theaters):
Jun 21, 2002 Wide
Release Date (Streaming):
Dec 17, 2002
Box Office (Gross USA):
$132.0M
Runtime:
2h 24m

Film Summaries:

Total Recall

Rating:
R
Genre:
Sci-Fi, Action
Director:
Paul Verhoeven
Producer:
Buzz Feitshans, Ronald Shusett
Writer:
Philip K. Dick, Jon Povill, Gary Goldman
Release Date (Streaming):
May 21, 2002
Box Office (Gross USA):
$117.8M
Runtime:
1h 49m

(Info courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/total_recall)

Minority Report

Rating:
PG-13 (Drug Content|Brief Language|Some Sexuality|Violence)
Genre:
Sci-Fi, Mystery & Thriller, Action
Original Language:
English
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Producer:
Gerald R. Molen, Bonnie Curtis, Walter F. Parkes, Jan de Bont
Writer:
Philip K. Dick, Scott Frank, Jon Cohen
Release Date (Theaters):
Jun 21, 2002 Wide
Release Date (Streaming):
Dec 17, 2002
Box Office (Gross USA):
$132.0M
Runtime:
2h 24m

Previous Episode

Se7en Vs. The Silence Of The Lambs (Ep. 0016)

9 Recommendations

Kyle, Drew, and Phil decided to take on two psychological icons for the scary October episode of Movie Wars. Hannibal Lector is a cinema-defining character while Se7en is considered one of the most innovative, creative, and daunting thrillers of all time. Get a break from the slashers and listen to the MWP as they get psychological.

SE7EN

When retiring police Detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) tackles a final case with the aid of newly transferred David Mills (Brad Pitt), they discover a number of elaborate and grizzly murders. They soon realize they are dealing with a serial killer (Kevin Spacey) who is targeting people he thinks represent one of the seven deadly sins. Somerset also befriends Mills' wife, Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow), who is pregnant and afraid to raise her child in the crime-riddled city.

Director:
David Fincher
Producer:
Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle
Writer:
Andrew Kevin Walker
Release Date (Streaming):
Dec 19, 2000
Box Office (Gross USA):
$100.1M
Runtime:
2h 5m

(Courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven)

The Silence Of The Lambs

Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.

Director:
Jonathan Demme
Producer:
Ronald M. Bozman, Edward Saxon, Kenneth Utt
Writer:
Thomas Harris, Ted Tally
Release Date (Theaters):
Feb 13, 1991 Wide
Release Date (Streaming):
Aug 21, 2001
Box Office (Gross USA):
$130.7M
Runtime:
1h 59m
Distributor:
Orion Pictures

(Courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/silence_of_the_lambs)

Next Episode

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Vs. Star Trek (2009) (Ep. 0018)

6 Recommendations

It’s hard to argue that Star Wars and Star Trek have two of the most dedicated fan bases in film history. JJ Abrams took on the challenge of reviving these two beloved franchises with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Trek (2009). Traverse the galaxies with the Movie Wars crew as they examine these intergalactic giants.

Film Summaries:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Thirty years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. When a defector named Finn crash-lands on a desert planet, he meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a tough scavenger whose droid contains a top-secret map. Together, the young duo joins forces with Han Solo (Harrison Ford) to make sure the Resistance receives the intelligence concerning the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the last of the Jedi Knights.

Rating:
PG-13 (Sci-Fi Action Violence)
Genre:
Sci-Fi, Adventure, Action, Fantasy
Original Language:
English
Director:
J.J. Abrams
Producer:
Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk
Writer:
Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams, Michael Arndt
Release Date (Theaters):
Dec 18, 2015 Wide
Release Date (Streaming):
Apr 5, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA):
$123
Runtime:
2h 16m
Distributor:
Walt Disney

(Info courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_wars_episode_vii_the_force_awakens)

Star Trek (2009)

Aboard the USS Enterprise, the most-sophisticated starship ever built, a novice crew embarks on its maiden voyage. Their path takes them on a collision course with Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan commander whose mission of vengeance threatens all mankind. If humanity would survive, a rebellious young officer named James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and a coolly logical Vulcan named Spock (Zachary Quinto) must move beyond their rivalry and find a way to defeat Nero before it is too late.

Rating:
PG-13 (Sci-Fi Action|Brief Sexual Content|Violence)
Genre:
Sci-Fi, Adventure, Action, Fantasy
Original Language:
English
Director:
J.J. Abrams
Producer:
J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof
Writer:
Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Release Date (Theaters):
May 7, 2009 Wide
Release Date (Streaming):
Nov 17, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA):
$257.7M

(Info Courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/star_trek_11)

Movie Wars - Total Recall Vs. Minority Report (Ep. 0017)

Transcript

Phillip K. Dick wrote two incredibly prophetic stories of technophobia with The Minority Report(1956) and We Can Remember it For You Wholesale(1966). It doesnât hurt that they also led to two Sci-Fi classics carried by leading men Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise. Get paranoid and get weird with the Movie Wars crew as we discuss Total Recall and Minority Report.

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Total Recall Vs. Minority Report (Ep. 0017) Top Questions Answered

What are the names of the two technophobic stories written by Phillip K. Dick?

The Minority Report and We Can Remember it For You Wholesale.

Which two sci-fi classics were inspired by Phillip K. Dick's stories?

Total Recall and Minority Report.

What is the plot of Total Recall?

In Total Recall, the protagonist visits a company called "Rekall" to have false memories implanted. However, he discovers his entire life is a false memory and is hunted by those who implanted it.

What is the plot of Minority Report?

Minority Report is set in a future where psychic technology is used to arrest murderers before they commit crimes. The main character, the head of the Precrime unit, is accused of a future murder he hasn't encountered.