Red Hot '90s Action Summer: Reloaded (2) TOTAL RECALL

Continuing our '90s action summer, we're taking on something with a bit more of a science fiction atmosphere with Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall. It's great to have Arnold back on the show and here we discuss whether we're all just living in a dream, whether we'd partake in a recall memory, and the unequivocal hotness of '90s Sharon Stone. We're also drinking Sloop Brewing's Jungle Juice sour with tart cherry and pineapple.

Approximate timeline

0:00-8:00 Intro

8:00-16:00 Beer talk

16:00-end Total Recall

Next up: Escape from LA!

Episode Transcript

(00:31):
It's red hot 90s action summer. Here at the Blood and Black Rum
Podcast, we're covering your favorite sweaty 90s action
movies all month long. Expect stunts galore,
transportation mishaps, and lotsand lots of hench men.
We've got Schwarzenegger, Chan, possibly even Reeves.

(00:52):
It's going to be hot and steamy all August long.
Hey guys, welcome back to the Blood and Background podcast.
I'm Ryan from closeflotation.comand I'm joined with my Co host
Martin. How's it going?
I don't really remember having ahard time recalling today.

(01:15):
What are we in? Red hot 90s action summer?
Is that what it is? 40s.
We're the red hot 40s action summer.
We're doing John Wayne, you know, support the military.
Films, right your all your noir favorites.
That would be kind of a fun little thing to do.
When to switch it up a little bit?

(01:37):
Noir November. You know what?
We should do that. Well, noir November, but I was
thinking like, yeah, we could gocould go way back with our red
hot action summer and do something like that.
But no, yeah, we're in, we're we're in our second episode of
the 90s action Summer Reloaded. And like I said, we we kind of
went in different directions this year.

(01:59):
Last year, I think we picked pretty much all your standard
type of action films from the 90s.
This year doing things a little bit differently.
We've got a couple of sci-fi action films in here, which is
one of the ones that we're goingto talk about today.
And we've never really done a sci-fi action film for the
summer, for the action summer. Now we have done RoboCop in the

(02:21):
past, can't remember how long ago that was now two years ago,
something like that. I think 3 now.
Maybe three, yeah. And you know, we, we do love our
our RoboCop on here and we also love our Verhoeven.
Yeah, Verhoeven as well. We've also done Starship
Troopers, so we're right at right at home with the sci-fi

(02:45):
action. But today we're talking about a
little bit of a different one, one that is based on a Philip K
Dick story as well. You read a lot of Dick.
No. No.
Fun fact about me, I don't like reading books.
Wow. I mean, I, I like good news is I

(03:06):
like, I like reading like newspapers and news articles and
like, you know, things that are going on.
But, and I've mentioned it before, but fiction has never
really grabbed like grabbed me. Like the only time I remember in
high school when we were readinglike, you know, books and stuff
of like me being interested or like when they had some kind of

(03:27):
historical contents, like what contacts.
That's why like in 10th grade wedid a lot of historical context
books like Hulk Fan and Aqua andthe Western Fronts.
Like this, you know, Caesar was this, you know, the Shakespeare
play we did that year. So I mean, I, I mean, I like
Philip K Dick for the most part.I haven't read a whole lot from

(03:49):
him. The good news is here for you.
This is a short story, so you don't have to read.
Well, it's an I guess it's a novelette.
It's longer than a short story, but not as long as a novel.
What about SO? Is it a novella or it's even
shorter? I'd say I think it's even
shorter than a novella. It's a Wikipedia calls it a
novelette, which yeah, someone, someone tried to explain it

(04:15):
down. The Wikipedia actually, because
it's a links to the novella and it says versus novelette and it
says basically the same thing. Maybe, maybe a little bit
shorter, but they can be used interchangeably.
So we're mincing words here. But yes, technically a
novelette. So it's probably like 70 pages,
80 pages. I don't know.

(04:36):
I don't believe that I have readthe novelette associated with
this movie, which is called We Can Remember It For You
wholesale. What about as I say, what about
'cause I do know Philip, you know the author I know or so
Have you also read? Have you read?
Do androids, you know, dream of watching sheep?
No, I haven't most of the time. Most of the things that I've

(04:58):
read from him are just like short stories that I've I've
read. A few of his short stories I
haven't read. Like I said, I haven't read much
of him, but I do know what I've read.
I've enjoyed he's he's a great science fiction author, so
definitely would recommend checking out his work has
influenced kind of like like Richard Matheson has influenced

(05:22):
a lot of media. I mean, a lot of his stories
were ended up being turned into films from Blade Runner to this
film that we're talking about toMinority Report.
I think A Scanner Darkly was oneof the ones that was like kind
of took a little while for them to adapt, but that one got

(05:42):
adapted in the 2000s. So he's really influenced a lot
of media. And just like Richard Matheson,
sometimes his works have, I believe, been used or at least
influenced a lot of like short TV specials and things like
that, you know, sort of a Twilight Zone, Ask Things or The

(06:03):
Outer Limits. So really, really highly
influential. And the film that we're talking
about today also adapted from Philip K Dick just called Total
Recall. What do you think about the name
change? Which which generally they do
change then you know, and in most of Philip K Dick's output

(06:24):
they've changed. Ended up changing the name of
the film so that it almost is unrecognizable unless you
actually know it was adapted from a Philip K Dick.
Well, I mean well, as I just imagine Blade Runner is that
instead, you know, to a robot stream of electric sheep.
Yeah. Which one do you look for on
that one? Well, they're both.

(06:45):
Wanton's a great book title. Yeah, for, you know, the others.
A great film title. OK.
Like I and I would say the same thing with this.
It's a, you know, you know, we'll remember for, we'll
remember it for you for whole wholesale.
That's like a that's a great title.

(07:05):
Yeah. Is it, is it a great for a film?
It's not going to drag you in, but like kind of, you know.
Italians might think so. Italians.
They're like, yeah, this is going to be our next zombie
film, But but like Total Recall,the idea.
So the idea with Total Recall being like, you know, memories

(07:26):
coming back to you in a flood, especially with like the film
itself and how it plays out is much more grabbing, You know, So
they're, I love them all, you know, they love them both.
But I think 1's good for a novelor you know, a book or written
work, others more suited for thevisual medium.

(07:47):
Medium for sure. Total Recall definitely has more
of like that action film style 90s feel to it, whereas Philip K
Dick's story is sort of like thetitle itself.
It has a lot of play on words where you can see a a number of
people going. I don't know what the fuck that
mean, but I really like the title of the original because it

(08:09):
kind of says everything it needsto right in the title, right?
It sounds like a corporate slogan.
We can remember it for you wholesale, but then it also, you
know, gives you that idea that like, well, how how can someone
else remember it for you to set up that that that idea that they
are conjuring up these memories for people and said.

(08:30):
So I think I think it's a perfect title for his his work.
But again, yes, you're right. Total Recall for a film title
sounds a lot more like to hook people.
And again, these things also have to fit on posters and such.
So we need to have enough space to get Schwarzenegger's face and
Sharon Stone's face on the poster.

(08:51):
And you know the the title from Philip K Dick is just a little
bit too off so. Well, The thing is too The funny
thing is the fucking theater poster is theatrical poster is
like they ripped off TNG. It's got like the font and
everything, like like Schwarzenegger is Captain

(09:13):
Picard. Yeah, either that or, you know,
it also reminds me a lot of likethe Stargate series because the
how they have like that pyramid sort of thing in the at the
bottom of it with the the Marzian pyramid.
It definitely reminds me of Stargate 'cause that I think
like that pyramid or triangle structure is a big part of

(09:33):
Stargate. So yes, it, it definitely has
both of those elements to it, I think.
And again too, definitely missedout on having Sharon Stone on
that poster. I don't know.
I don't know why they didn't, but they didn't.
Of course it was Sharon Stone's 90s hot girl period of time.

(09:54):
So you big fan of Total Recall? Seen it a lot.
Yeah, love it. It's easily, I think, a top ten
sci-fi and action film. It's my first time actually
actually watching the whole thing.
I've seen the the remake that they did what back in like the

(10:16):
2000s? Like my 1020?
Don't don't really remember thatone too much.
Well, it has Colin Farrell in. Them, yeah.
So why would you? I definitely like, I I do recall
watching it at at one point, butI like in terms of quality or
even if it is anyway reminiscentto this film, I really don't

(10:40):
know. I can't.
I think that probably says it all.
It's not really that memorable. But yeah, I don't know anything
about it. Why does Hollywood think it's
appropriate to take Paula Veer Hoeven films and be like, we can
make more money on this and theynever do?
Yeah, it's like the first go around was fine enough and it'll

(11:02):
get you, you know, sales on DVDVHS, Blu-ray.
Why bother? You know, you're not going to,
you're not going to reinvent thewheel and make it more exciting.
You haven't done it in RoboCop. The same idea behind making like
Starship Troopers 4 or whatever they're up to now those
directive videos. Well, those are Casper Van Die

(11:24):
and like art projects like, you know.
Oh, that's the other thing that this reminds me of too, which
just popped up when I was looking.
The poster artwork is reminiscent of, well, actually I
should say the opposite. The fifth element, the 5th
elements poster artwork is reminiscent of Total Recall, I

(11:44):
should say, because that was notuntil 1997.
Yeah, no, you're right. That definitely also.
Yeah, yeah, very, very, very similar.
They've got the whole they got the same graphic designer for
both grabbed him, said this is the seems like right up your
alley. Come on in and do this artwork.

(12:04):
All right, yeah, like I said, never seen it.
You've seen it a bunch. I've never seen it until now.
But again, glad to have rectified that as we'll talk
about get into the movie. But let's take a break real
quick from our scream in action to talk about the beer that we
have on the show today. You picked out.
What did you get for us? I guess is another salute our

(12:29):
local Fishkill brewery. I saw it out in the wild.
It had a nice can, had a nice name to it.
And it's a not a night buffer once it's a actually a sour ale
with tart cherry and a ripe pineapple.
Yeah, jungle juice. Yeah, a Goze style.

(12:54):
It definitely is because it's definitely got like that.
Yeah, tart goes a element to it that I like to say, no offense
to any of them, but they all kind of have a similar taste to
them. You know, when you when you get
into that like tartness, there comes a point where like the

(13:15):
tartness of fruit is so tart that it's almost hard to
distinguish where that tartness is coming from.
Did it come from a nectarine? Did it come from a grape?
I don't know. It's just fucking tart.
That's how I always kind of picture a goose and.
I I would agree too because it'slike more pucker factor than it

(13:36):
is the fruit that's in there. And that is true to a degree
with this Sloop one. To be honest with you, I don't
think we've ever had a Sloop sour ale.
I can't recall. I can't remember.
Oh, there it is again. It's going to be it's.
Going to happen. Puns are not intended, I just
say recall quite a bit so. But like I so I don't remember

(14:02):
ever having one like a sour ale or if they've ever even made
one. I'm sure they have.
But it caught my eye because cherry pineapple, shitty heat
that we've been having this summer sounds delightful.
And it's not bad. It's not bad for a goose.

(14:22):
First thing that you get a lot of tartness.
Just very straightforward puckerwarhead feeling.
You get a little bit of the, youknow, medicinal cherry with a
cherry sweetness Stew doesn't taste artificial.
I have a hell of a time. I don't even pick up any of the
pineapple, which is a shame because I think a cherry

(14:43):
pineapple mix would be really good.
That pineapple could also mild out the pucker factor of this
beer, but it's OK, like for a goose.
I mean, like these beers are always they are what they are.
They're more Pucker factor, Warhead, sour factor and

(15:04):
whatever fruit that is tied to that style is more of a a
blessing to, you know, even it out.
So it's not bad. I wouldn't go out of my way ever
for it again unless you're somebody who likes these type of
beers. Also probably wouldn't recommend

(15:24):
it but it's not bad or anything.Yeah, I would agree.
I think that this is pretty good.
I don't think I've ever had a sour from soup before.
So it's a new style for at leastfor me to try from them.
I think this is pretty good. Again, with the goes days, as I
said, I think a lot of times no matter what fruit is marketed on

(15:47):
the goose, it all tends to kind of come out to be that same same
basic flavor to it where it creates a a tartness and a
sourness. But it's not necessarily
apparent what is causing that tooccur.
And the individuality of the fruit that's used is not always

(16:08):
a like readily apparent. And so I think that that's
probably what's happening here as well.
You've got that tart cherry. It's adding that sourness to the
beer. There's probably some pineapple
or pineapple juice or pineapple flavouring in here.
But it, I think it's getting overpowered a little bit by just
the overall tartness of the beerin the cherry flavouring.

(16:29):
And that's not necessarily just,you know, a Sloop thing or this
beer. It seems to happen quite a bit
with Gozai's and, and I found that they all kind of have a
very particular flavor to them. It's almost kind of like wine, I
think in a way where unless you're, you know, a sommelier
and you really have a great palate for that sort of thing.
You have one wine, red wine, andthey give you, they tell you

(16:52):
what grape it is. And then you have another dark
red wine and they tell you it's a different grape.
And you're like, I don't know, it just tastes like, you know,
it tastes like a grape to me. I'm sure there are differences,
subtle differences that people can pick out, but I feel like
the same ideas apparent in this jungle juice.
Now I also want to talk about the can.
The red can and the font on the can almost makes me think Jingle

(17:17):
juice, as though this should have been a Christmas style
beer. And I think Sloop would be smart
to remarket this again and say, you know what?
We made jungle juice. Here's Jingle juice.
And this has this is a sour ale with like, you know, winter
winter berries and winter, winter things.

(17:39):
So just a, you know, a marketinggimmick for you Sloop.
I'm thinking, I'm thinking Jingle juice and you can use the
same color can and everything because it does remind me of
like a Christmasy sort of thing.I think you're thinking that
just because. How about sour tart cranberry?
That's. What I was just saying that
would be low. That would be lovely.
I think you're thinking of that,though, just because you're in a

(18:02):
Phil Hartman mood. Yeah, this.
This film has made you want Jingle all the way.
Jingle all the way. That's right.
That's right. Yeah, I agree with that.
I think we had talked about that, I guess, moving on into
the film, we had talked about that a little bit because this
is Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1990at this point, right?
And he's had a few years to honein on his craft in action films

(18:26):
and straight up action films. You know, things like Predator.
You know it, huh? Commando.
Commando. Yeah.
Which we've done before. Both of those, actually, we've
done before. And he's had a few years to hone
in on the action and actually just acting in general, right.
And by this time in the 90s, he's actually starting to branch

(18:52):
out a little bit. And I think we see that to a
certain extent in Total Recall because while it is a an action
movie, it does have Reerhoven's kind of brand of humor to it and
rye comedy at times. And, you know, stuff that we
would see in something like RoboCop and that kind of bleeds

(19:16):
over into Total Recall. And I think it also is presented
pretty well by Arnold Schwarzenegger because in this
film, he is sort of set out to be, you know, even though he has
a like an alternative identity. The the person that we initially
meet in the movie is a dude who's supposed to just be a
regular guy, kind of thrown intothis scenario that he eventually

(19:39):
finds himself in, of being sort of having an alternative
identity, being a sort of what they call a secret agent.
Like AI was going to say, like adetective John Kimball.
Yes. And I think that that works kind
of well because he's sort of theEveryman character sort of.
I mean, I guess if you it's hardto see, you know, me sitting

(20:02):
here 150 lbs seeing myself as the everyman character of Arnold
Schwarzenegger in the movie. But, you know, I think that's
kind of the intention of, of starting the film off like that
Where you see him. He's just a regular guy.
He's a construction worker, OK. He just jackhammering for
whether it's jackhammering Rocksor jackhammering Sharon Stone.

(20:24):
It's it's one of the two. So he's just a regular dude?
And I think that leads pretty well into his ability to kind of
not be as serious and, and you know, action figury as some
other protagonist of action films.
And that kind of reminded me a little bit of Jingle All the

(20:45):
Way. I guess that was a really
roundabout way to get to that, but to.
Be well, you're right though, because to be fair, it is weird
like this construction worker, especially when we get to see
him on the job. Fucking.
You know, everyone is just Joe natural and he's here.
You know like what's Arnold doing this?

(21:09):
I guess fucking hitting Sharon Stone with back shots.
Make sure you know super weird. You know, like, I don't.
I don't. He just in his spare time, yeah.
He's just throwing things around, you know, in his little
apartment building there. So yeah, it's.
All that, it's all that Avion water.

(21:30):
I think, you know, again though,because of the way that that
plays out, it really makes him seem it, it, it, it is kind of a
precursor to where he would go with things like Jingle All the
way, you know, where he is stillsort of showcasing his actions
sensibilities. But also, you know, in that
film, he's he's just a dad too, right?

(21:51):
He's just a dad who's trying to trying to win over his son's
affections by getting the latesttoy that he forgot for
Christmas. And, and, and that has sort of
the inane comedy of that as well.
And I think that this film, though, it's not necessarily
meant to be overtly funny. And, you know, it is still
Ultraviolet in the Verhoeven wayand still has a lot of, you

(22:14):
know, over the top action sequences and things like that.
It it does still have some of that dry comedy that is
prevalent in a lot of Rehoven's films.
And probably this one being the least from my experience,
probably the least like overtly,somewhat satirical, probably

(22:36):
less so than like something likeRoboCop or Starship Troopers.
I don't know. To me though, it does still have
a little bit of that comedy, though it's it's probably a
little bit more hidden in the nature of the film with the all
of it's science fiction elementsand the futuristic elements.
So yeah, I mean, the film basically, I think it has a

(22:59):
really great premise. And that basically comes from
from Philip K Dick's short storyof the fact that there's a
company and they sell memories. What's it?
What's it? What's this company called
Recall with AK? Yeah.
Not just, not just, you know, itwould not be intense enough if

(23:20):
it was just the regular spellingof recall.
It's REKAL because you know thatthere's something off kilter
about this company or. More businessy.
Easily easier to market. And so there's they're in the
business of selling memories andthat's kind of where that idea

(23:40):
of we can remember it for you wholesale comes in.
They're selling literally selling memories.
And I like the way that this is presented because at the
beginning of the film, after Arnold's character wakes up and
he sort of had this dream of a Mars that he's never been to, he
kind of is. And has his head imploded from.

(24:02):
Yeah, yeah, the the whole Mars atmosphere basically turns him
into a pancake head. I, I like this idea because he,
you know, that he goes to recalland he's basically wants to be
sold this memory of something that he didn't have.
And so they kind of marketed as like, you're taking a trip, but
you're not taking it like a literal trip.

(24:22):
You're not, you're not actually going there.
It sounds like he really wants to go to Mars, but instead what
they're doing is they're just implanting a memory of you
actually going to Mars. And like, that's a, that's a
cool idea. I like, I just, I like the idea.
It's sort of like, you know, again, it's something that
obviously Inception was very influenced by.
Is that in place of an idea or amemory?

(24:44):
I was going to say with like also too is like cyberpunk with
brain dances using. You know, yes.
You know, mod, you know, mods toput, you know, memories and such
into your mind and be able to watch them back.
And absolutely. And as I say, it's great to
watch that whole scene too. When he goes to recall and he's

(25:07):
like try he's like, he, he knowshe wants to go to Mars.
It's not like, you know, becausethe dream he's been having and
he's like, I just want a normal trip to Mars.
And the guy's like, well, you know, you get, you can have
options. You could be like, who wants to
just go to Mars and be and be, you know, you're just going to
Mars. Like, you know, we got
billionaire, Playboy, athlete, tycoon and you know, and then

(25:31):
like, you know, he got like at the you know, he sees it and
he's like, oh, secret agent, I want to be a secret agent, you
know, and he's like, wow, for anextra 300 credit and how can you
sit down, you know, like you. Fucking love that when he sees
secret agent because like at thebeginning when they talk about
ego trip, he's like, I don't know, why wouldn't I want to be
myself? Why wouldn't I mean, you know,

(25:52):
and then all of a sudden secret agent comes on the street and
he's like, what secret agent, you know, and.
They they would never let me play James Bond in any of the
movies because I have a such a thick Australian accent.
So I have to pretend to be JamesBond.
This. I feel like the, yeah, the, the
usage of the term secret agent too has kind of gotten

(26:14):
colloquially kind of goofy at ata certain point, you know,
because you've got like the songsecret agent.
Man 1 Hold on, hold on, Hang on one that Johnny River song is is
amazing. Secret Agent Man is a great
song, don't you think it's? Hold on five is the.

(26:36):
It's cheapified because of the Austin Powers first movie where
they're rating the bass and theydo.
But it's not cheapified though, because it's that's so cool with
like Elizabeth Hurley and Austinand all the guys show up to take
on Doctor Evil's, you know, goonsquad.
You know, there's a man who needs a life of danger because

(26:56):
again, at the same time, the 60sand you would know this too.
The 60s just weren't Bond a secret agent.
You had fucking Mr. Smart Mission Impossible, you know
what I mean? Sorry, get get smart Mission
Impossible. And like, you know, there were a
billion things out there at the time because, you know, it was
all part of the craze. But no, I do agree though,

(27:16):
because it does. But it does come off as because
it's like, well, you know, you get to be a billionaire Playboy
this. That right, It doesn't it
doesn't seem like it would be what ends up leading to his
whole, you know, the memory thathe gets in total recall.
It sounds more like you're goingto be wearing a top hat and a
briefcase walking around with your like special specialty

(27:39):
glasses and, you know, solving amystery or something.
Not, you know, not what's going on in this film, but.
But this I would say, but I would say, but that I would say.
But that is a good point though,too, because like, again, if
like, they're selling you memories and you want to go on
vacation, I mean, you sell thesethings, yeah, you have to make
them exotic. Yeah, you don't because.

(28:01):
Again, because again at this time he could literally because
his wife he want, he tells his wife how he wants to vacation on
Mars and Sharon stones like you don't want to go to fucking
Mars. You hate Mars.
Let's go to Saturn. He's like, no, I want to go to
Mars. You, you don't get it.
You're being an idiot. Stop it.
I'm sorry you want to sticks with me right now, but I don't

(28:25):
want to. I want to go to.
Mars. I want to go to Mars and find a
balloon there because your titties so saggy, you know?
So yeah, I love that. But I mean, but the the whole
set up the whole like you know. It's great.
And I love that. You know, again, this is kind of
where that satirical nature comes in a little bit from
Verhoeven is the, you know, likethe kind of the smarmy

(28:47):
businessman who's like, don't worry, don't worry about that.
You've heard about some people having lobotomy.
So don't worry about that. It's OK.
That doesn't happen here. That was far in the past.
You know, we're offering this new ego trip that you're going
to want to take. Don't worry about.
And then later on they show after they show Arnold having
the schizoid embolism and like writhing around on the floor and

(29:08):
you've got him basically trying to offer a new package to a lady
and they're calling like there'ssomething wrong.
And while she's like, do I stillwant to go through with this or
I don't know. It's great.
I love, I love all those interludes.
And sort of like the again, it may be less so than RoboCop, but
there are still a lot of a number of nice like little ads

(29:31):
and stuff that pop up in the background of this satirical
nature that you would get from from a Verhoeven film.
So I do really like that. I think the setup is great.
And it does do a pretty good jobof, you know, just basically
explaining the concept to the viewer enough to where it's not
really like in your face, like, oh, is he just going to be, you
know, going into this dream and,you know, kind of not.

(29:54):
It doesn't really set that up tobe an expectation of the viewer,
but at the same time, it does a good job of explaining it to the
viewer so they know approximately what's going to
go, yeah, how it works and without needing to like, go
into, you know, 30 minutes of exposition about it.
So I think that I think that works.
Which I which which I haven't seen, but I'm sure the remake

(30:14):
does that for us. Yeah.
Explain explaining every minute detail with techno Babble that
nobody wanted and I'm like how does recall work, you know?
Yeah, we, we, Yeah. First we inject the A theorem is
to that. Yeah, I love that.
And not only that too, but I think again it's it's it does
just enough with that to where it sets up the expectation and

(30:36):
it has a number of like cues, dialogue cues that sort of set
it up for the literal recall towards the end of the film that
work really well and just kind of sets that in motion and sort
of puts plants the the the seed of doubt in the viewer's mind
without actually having to say anything about it.

(30:56):
It kind of just puts it out there, mentions a few things,
and then there's the flashbacks to it later on that make you
think. And I think that works really
well for this movie. It's it does a great job with
that. But once he gets into the
recall, I mean, it's pretty muchaction all the way forward after
that and a lot of running back and forth between different

(31:18):
areas of and jumping around to between, you know, Arnold's
character who initially become is Quaid and then him, you know,
assuming a different identity and actually watching a video of
himself basically running down how he can avoid the all the Co

(31:40):
Higgins hench men, especially led by Richter, played by
Michael Ironside. Hold on.
Yeah, famed beautiful character actor.
Very very true. Recently starred in a couple

(32:01):
different films including Nobody2 which is coming out very soon.
That man is in it for the love of the game he's in.
He's literally in everything. Or is he in it just because he
loves Bob Odenkirk? But yeah, again, Michael
Ironside is a great character actor, as you said, has a very

(32:23):
distinctive look and personalitythat he's pretty much maintained
throughout his acting career. You know, if you think about him
in in movies like Starship Troopers to Total Recall,
there's not a lot of like again.To he from like this to scanners
he he looks like he hasn't like aged a day.

(32:44):
Exactly. It's like, it's like he's.
Had a permanent, you know, hit receding headline since the poor
man was 14 years old and like his disposition and and.
Not only that, but again, like he, he always has a certain
sense about him, a certain just,you know, basic persona that he

(33:06):
portrays. And I think it's really great.
And again, you know, this is oneof those people who you might
say has been typecast quite a bit.
And I guess I don't I don't wantto speak for him, but it seems
like it's just the thing that helikes to do as well, you know,
is to be typecast in this sort of role.
So works really well him as a villain.

(33:26):
And I think he's a great foil toArnold Schwarzenegger and also
gets to smooch on Sharon Stone. So that's.
His That's his wife, yeah. Gets to smooch or so of course,
again, every, every man jealous of that too.
So what do you what do you thinkabout the the whole setup of,

(33:49):
you know, especially when you first meet Michael Ironsider,
who gets called in by Sharon Stone, who's supposed to be
Arnold Quaid's wife, calls him in, says, hey, we got a problem
here. And then they basically come
swarming in with a SWAT team and.
So I just say so I think it's a good set up too.

(34:11):
And like I do like because again, he chooses secret agent.
I think it's very convenient andwe'll get into this as we talk
about like the which side of thefilm you're on.
I'm like viewing it. It's very convenient for a
while. Arnold's undergoing recall for
he's having a skit sword embolism.

(34:32):
What the fuck are you doing? And he's like fighting everyone
off and like, no, I'm really a secret agent.
Like so like that whole setup isgreat because again, it could be
real, could not be real. But like Michael Ironside coming
in and being like like like the henchman.

(34:54):
He's awesome. He's such a badass in this film.
Like like he's so menacing and surly he's just great.
He's just great. But like the again, the setup is
great because again, it's just this great idea.
Arnold, the Disney Princess and he really is in this film

(35:15):
because again, like with his sharing song, like honey, stop
watching the news. What you know, you're too
stressed out. That's why you keep having this
dream. And like, we should go on
vacation. Let's go to Saturdays.
Like I was meant to be more thansomething.
I was just, I, I'm more, I'm supposed to be Cinderella.
He's supposed to be me, you know, like he's just basically

(35:37):
like a Disney Princess. It's like, it's like he's like,
with a physique like this, I shouldn't be just jackhammering
Elks next to Hattie. And it's like, that's your life
Bod. Like, you know.
Yeah, no, you're totally right. Relating it back to sort of like
a Disney Princess style thing where, you know, women want to
be transported to a magical world where a man is at their

(35:57):
every beck and call and, you know, feel like they're in the
power position. And the same is true of men,
except in this case, they want to be the action hero, the
action star, the, you know, and again, here we are tying it back
to Jingle all the way of, you know, ultimately, that's who
Arnold is in that film too, is looking to be the superhero,

(36:20):
whether it be in his own family for his son or the literal
superhero of the, you know, of, of the the TV show.
But at the same time, I do thinkthat you're right on with that
that idea that this is sort of like the male fantasy scenario
of of why they would pick these sorts of things because because

(36:40):
again, like, you know. Especially with the 8, like
Arnold's output in the mid 80s, like, you know, like I just want
to, I don't know, I didn't come gun people down and my
children's Alyssa Milano and I'mpetting a deer and.
I mean, it offers up an interesting scenario as well of
like when you are a paying customer for that sort of

(37:03):
experience, how do you like, I guess would if you knew exactly
what secret agent entailed, would you want to go through
with that recall? For one thing, because you know,
you at least in terms of when you come out of that recall, you
have the memory and it sort of seems like a, you know, it is

(37:23):
how the film describes it. It seems like a distant memory
that you would remember and knowand think that it happened, but
it really didn't. And you weren't in any danger.
But you're kind of putting yourself in a situation where
morally, ethically, physically, you feel like you are in
imminent danger and peril all the time.
And I wonder, you know, if if recall marketed as such, would

(37:46):
you be as likely to pick something like secret agent or
would you just pick your Playboybillionaire and just.
As I say, well, you're being raped.
Like, you know, you're literallybeing mind fucked.
And obviously with the way the world's set up, this society
would have no problem with that.But I mean, I like this is one
of the reasons why we like I watched like, you know,

(38:08):
cyberpunk things because, you know, we like that kind of stuff
here, like Ghost in the shell and stuff.
I would be like, I can't remember his name.
The one guy with the mullet, notBato and the Ghost in the Shell,
but the guy with the mullet and the revolver.
Like I'm not connected to the air at why I don't want the
brain fucked with like like all the chips and all this shit.
Fuck that. No, thank you.

(38:29):
I'll stay. I'll stay away from that.
I don't. And I, and I think, you know,
total recall it, it is pretty prescient in the way that it
imagines certain things. So again, you know, there are
elements to this of like, you know, drug use for one thing.
Do you do LSD and acid and, you know, hallucinate your, you
know, all of these scenarios occurring?
Or do you like to stay away fromthat because you'd rather not

(38:52):
experience any of the unfortunate consequences of
something like that where you know, your brain wiring is
forever screwed up because of that?
Or you know, even now, like VR and AR, do you put yourself in
like AVR situation where morallythere's some Gray area?

(39:16):
Because Total Recall kind of explores that as well.
Because not only does Arnold pick to be a secret agent, but
if he knows that that comes withthe package of like, hey, you
get the girl as well. And it doesn't happen to be your
wife. It doesn't happen to be Sharon
Stone. It happens to be this brunette
that you really want to you knowyou've been dreaming about and

(39:39):
which. I think also, which I also think
too is tied in because I get I think it's again like he's it's
a fantasy because like he's I'm tired of being because we find
out when he's talking later, like how long you been marrying
for? It's like 8 years.
Like he's bored, he's tired, youknow, he wants something.
Different the escape of it yeah and you know I think that that

(40:03):
you know again that like none ofthese things are really explored
explicitly within total recall. It's more so just something
that's that you're hoping kind of offers up to the to the
audience. Like to be honest with you, it
doesn't really explore the ethical consequences of
something like a a a recall memory.
It kind of just presents it and you know the the idea of.

(40:26):
Ethics or morality kind of comesfrom the viewer itself, because
no one really questions that. They're just like, oh, OK, you
want to do a recall and you havea different wife in that one or
you know, you want to go and murder people in this recall,
whatever. Who are we to judge?
It doesn't really you don't OfferUp any specific criticism

(40:47):
or messaging about that, but at the same time, it just presents
it as sort of an impact of having something like this where
you you implant a memory and andthat might occur.
So I think that all of that really works well to the film's
advantage because it doesn't need to explicitly talk about
any of those things. It just presents it as is.

(41:08):
And again, like what? So there's a, an interesting
scenario of how Arnold kind of envisions himself as like the
savior of, you know, the Mars rebellion.
Yeah, the Mars rebellion. He's, you know, he's kind of
the, the, the, the big guy who comes in and saves the day
because the Mars rebellion is sort of failing with Cohagen and

(41:33):
Quatto is not able to kind of like get the job done.
So he comes in and basically hasto be the one to save the entire
Mars race from Cohagen, basically colonizing all of Mars
and, you know, basically pullinga Trump and saying, oh, you get
air, but you don't get air. And we'll we'll, you know, we'll
withhold it from you until you do what we want.

(41:54):
So I think again, I that there'sa, you know, a funny moralism to
the film of like being that saviour character who comes in
for entire race of people. You know, that's kind of
explored throughout and it's explored through a number of
double crossings and triple crossings and double, double

(42:16):
crossing and, and your your own self double crossing you.
And what do you think about that?
Like the whole, you know, the reveals later on.
If, like, you know, Arnold's been working against himself the
whole time, you've got. So I think I I, I think, sorry
to interrupt. I think if the film wants to
lean into he's this is really going on.

(42:40):
He's really a super, you know, secret agent.
I think like when you find out that like he has a secret, you
know, he has a former life as, you know, Carl Howser and he's
trying to help him. Fine.
But I think once you get into the territory, like, oh, we were
actually, you know, we were working with Kohagen the entire

(43:02):
time, it gets to like cartoony and like, not saying it's a bad
thing. But I think for the
interpretation of this film to be, if this is supposed to be a
real reality in real life, like it's a, it becomes like, you
know, complete a complete joke. And it's funny too, because at

(43:24):
first, like when you see him as he's, you know, you know,
talking to his briefcase and like finding out what's going on
and he's giving him the end phone, it's like, yeah, like
he's out, you know, OK, what this what's going on?
And then later I was like, ha, you dumb bastard.

(43:45):
We we did it. If you see me now, we, we won.
We beat Quanto, that motherfucker, the baby.
Now I'm, you know, I'm going to be an Indian giver and I'm going
to take your body back. You know, it's just, yeah,
becomes like Rocky and Bullwinkle levels of like, you

(44:09):
know, like kind of gag. And I mean, I think like some of
that is a little bit intentionalbecause it is it in effect a way
to present to the audience something that maybe feels
unrealistic. And I mean, again, that term is
sort of relative in in this filmbecause again, we are subject to
a lot of disbelief of we're we're kind of subject to a a new

(44:31):
world. You know, it's sort of a
futuristic world. It's sort of a world that, you
know, again, sometimes you question, you're like, why do
they do that? Like they have all these really
inventive ways of doing things, but then they have to ride
around in like a fucking taxi, like an inconvenient taxi where
a dude, a robot still talks to you.
Like annoying. You know, I normally, you know,

(44:53):
in the future, I would envision a scenario where I don't need to
talk to anybody when I get into a taxi cab.
It just drives me where I want to go.
I don't I don't want to conversewith any, make any small talk or
anything like that. But in this futuristic world you
still have to make small talk with annoying robot and taxi cab
so. The Johnny Taxi.
Yeah, the yeah, exactly. But I think like, you know, it,

(45:17):
it's it's really got an interestinteresting dynamic to it of,
you know, again, setting, setting aside this disbelief of
like this futuristic world, there are still a lot of ultra
unrealistic scenarios that are occurring in this movie that
sort of make the audience think that, yeah, maybe this could all
be a dream. You know, which leads to the

(45:37):
conclusion of the film where they basically question that,
you know, with characters that effectively literally say just
that, you know, cuz Arnold at the end is asking, well, what if
this is all is a dream and Molina's basically like, well,
even if it is, let's let's enjoyit while it lasts.
You know, what do you? So I think the film leaves it

(45:58):
open-ended and ambiguous as to what you should take from the
finale. But what what do you think of
the film's whole crux? Do you think it's it is just a
recalling memory or is it a realevent that's occurring?
I think it's a recall. I don't.
I find I get that there's ambiguity here that can make you

(46:20):
think either either one is real.But in my head, I've always cut
like there has to be a dream. It has to be part of like his
recall experience because again,it goes like I become so
outlandish, so cartoonish, so over the top.
And not only that though too, you know, but you know, when

(46:43):
he's like choosing like what to do, like, oh, blue sky is on
Mars. And that's how the film ends.
I, you know, it has to be, I don't, I don't like buy into
like he's having a schizoid issue or anything.
Because again, if he was having like a schizoid issue, if he

(47:07):
like, you know, I, I, I, I, I just don't buy I yeah, because
I, I don't think it, you know. I mean, towards the middle of
the film, I think it, you know, again, there's there is a
certain point where the film again tries to make the viewer
question that where the one doctor comes in, Doctor Edgmar,

(47:29):
who comes in and he pitches a really good pitch of like, well,
you know, you are currently in aschizoid embolism.
You think you're here, but you're really just having a
recall and we've actually lost you Like you, you're kind of
lost in this scenario and you you can't get out unless we
actually try to break it. And I think like, again, that

(47:50):
pitch is really like even for the audience is it's really, it
makes sense, right? It makes sense that he's, you
know, it. It puts that doubt in your head
that like, you know, maybe he isin this recall.
Well, it's, it's the same as theMatrix with like the whole, you
know, take the red pill and you'll go back to sleep or

(48:10):
whatever, you know, Or is it with a blue pill?
I can't remember. Oh yeah, red pill.
Yeah. Or, you know, take the red pill
and we'll see how far the rabbithole goes.
You know, it's because, you know, the pill that he's given
here is a red pill. So it's like, it's like the same
thing, like here, like, like, you know, we'll end this trip or
you can keep on going like, which is, as I say, which is

(48:35):
funny. Like it.
That's a great scene too, because I think like having him
pop up to like make it feel like, you know, he isn't
becoming like erratic and he's going to kill himself and other
people. I think that's great concept,
but I don't think I'm trying to think how to say this.

(49:01):
It's a great idea and stuff. But I think the fact when we see
the doctors like sweat beating down and he decides to kill him,
that like, OK, look, you know, Iknow I'm the secret agent.
Like I think if like that also to me too, makes it seem like

(49:22):
mate would I would argue, would add on to the belief that this
is all part of his memory in therecalls, you know, adventure
that he's on. If it didn't have that and he
decided to blow the doctor's head off, would add a hell of a
lot more ambiguity. Ambiguity, especially because
like his wife's there and like she's like please, please.

(49:45):
And then like right after she's like, you fucking idiot, you
know, like I think like for the purpose of leaving the scope of
the film open and more ambiguous, I think like, you
know, if he made the decision himself to kill the doctor and
not show that like he's sweating, like he's nervous

(50:07):
about what's about to go on because he's like, take the pill
and he's like, God, put it in his mouth and he's like swallow
it. Which by the way, I can't do.
I can't swallow pills dry. You can't.
No, God, no. I need, I need a drink to kick
that shit bag. I can't do it by myself.
That's wow. That's surprising.

(50:30):
What do you mean? I don't know.
I just when you grow up, when you grow up, most of the time
you just swallow pills. I don't know.
I don't. Know I I can't.
You just grow up and you just doit.
I don't know, I guess I'm Peter Pan over here.
Yeah, right. No, Yeah, I agree.
I mean, I think, I think it offers up an interesting idea
and it it's sort of like, again,it's kind of in a good segment

(50:52):
too, because it's it's, you know, it's about halfway through
kind of sets up that scenario for the viewer of like, maybe I
should question this. And then later on, you know, and
again, even at that point, I wasstill, you know, thinking, you
know, it could be a recall, but I'm, I'm kind of prone to
thinking that it was not. And there's a couple of reasons
for that, but I think one of thebiggest ones is that, you know,

(51:12):
again, the film is presented in such a way that it is sort of
omniscient. You know, it's not like we're
just following Arnold's character throughout the film.
We get cutaways to, you know, just meeting with Cohagen and
Richter. And so I think like those types
of things, those cutaways again,are part of the narrative
process of a film. And so it kind of makes you

(51:33):
think like we're within the film.
And again, you can explain it away by saying, well, maybe
those those memories are still just implanted by the recall as
a company. And they're sort of like a third
person memory that's implanted. And you know, 'cause dreams kind
of work that way too. Sometimes people dream, you
know, they might be a different person or they might dream that

(51:54):
they're outside of their body. And yet, you know, they are
still doing the action. So you can kind of suspend
disbelief in that regard. But it did make me think that,
no, you know, what we're seeing is actually truth.
And then towards the end of the film, as things start to
progressively get more insane, Iguess is the best word for it,

(52:14):
you know, from the fact that, like, you know, again, we've got
Kwato coming out of a dude's abdomen.
And then from there, we've got like, this really elaborate ruse
of Arnold setting himself up andthen later on working with
Cohagen and Cohagen's actually trying to save the world.
But then he, you know, sets off the reactor, which turns Mars

(52:36):
atmosphere breathable again. I think like all of that put
together really does make it seem like somebody wrote this,
you know, and made it into a recall memory instead of
something that's actually happening.
Well, yeah, like the whole, like, it's all very convenient.
Like, there's the, there's an alien reactor down here and it

(52:58):
can turn, you know, the atmosphere into Mars, into
breathable. Yeah.
If you just activate the reactor, puts the pipes in and
it melts the ice because there'sice down here, it'll turn
everything into, you know, the oxygen because people, you know,
the people here are having a hard time fighting over oxygen.
Yeah, and then not only that, you've got a woman with three

(53:20):
breasts, which of course is going to be some dudes fantasy
instead of an actual reality, so.
How do you like the fact when they get to Mars that like for
the bars and stuff, they're likesleaze bar.
Like, you know, like for the advertising on the windows as
like you're walking around, it'slike what kind of bar is this?
It's a sleaze bar. I love it.

(53:43):
Yeah. It's a nice little way of having
them have a sort of like a red light district, but but calling
it something else because this is a futuristic movie.
It takes place on Mars. It's not this isn't Earth
anymore. I just call it something
different. Here where you at?
You're at. Yeah, I like that.
I mean, I think it, I think it works pretty well.

(54:04):
And again too, I would say, I would argue that the film gets
its mileage worth from the prosthetic that it uses, the
three, yeah, the three boobied prosthetic, because, you know,
it uses that not once, not twice, but like 3 times I think.
So you know you want to get yourmoney's worth paying for that.
Do you think that's intentional?3 times?

(54:26):
A three, three times. For it, yeah, maybe.
Maybe. There's a song that she's got
playing in the bedroom as like you're about to head out and
Make Love to this honest woman. Is it Kenny Rogers Once, twice,
three times a week? Yeah, right.
Yes, yes. But again, too, we have to, we

(54:47):
have to, you know, state pretty pretty vehemently that why would
why would Arnold want to do a recall for Molina rather than
his his own wife, Sharon Stone, who is, you know, again, in the
90s just smoking hot in this movie, you know, with a pink

(55:10):
tube pop and and practicing her,her tennis skills.
You know, why would you? Why would you go anywhere else?
And even before play Basic Instinct, another, you know,
that would be her next film withPaul.
Yeah, No, I'm not saying becauseit's going to sound mean.
I'm not saying that Molina is bad looking or anything.

(55:33):
She's fine that perm she has does her no justice.
I get it. It's 1990 a little bit different
times. What holy shit does that like
just no, like I just want to be a by the time I'm done making a
lot of people. I just wanted to feel like I'm

(55:54):
wrapped in a spider's web because of the Hairspray.
You, you know, it's just. I don't get it.
I agree. I agree.
I I think Sharon, like again, I was telling you when you show up
in a pantsuit and you still lookhot, you're just a hot person.

(56:15):
I don't. I see a pantsuit and hot
generally don't go together. No, they never.
They never do because they're baggy and unassuming.
They're basically the West version of like, you know, like
a Muslim, like cloth like. But here again, you know, you've
got Sharon Stone showing up in apantsuit and still looking

(56:36):
great. And it's sort of like, you know,
you you can't argue it. It's what are you?
What are you going to do? You can't you can't argue the
hotness of Sharon Stone in this film.
And unfortunately, she does not get that much screen time.
You know, she does get to do a lot of nice butt kicking with

(56:58):
her, with her like kickboxing maneuvers that she's got in this
film. But would have liked to have
seen more of her because she's great.
What else? What else did we talk about?
We didn't talk about Jerry Goldsmith's score.
What do you think about? That it fits Jerry Goldsmith so

(57:19):
it's a good fine. It says good, fine score and
fits the film, adds the right amount tension, keeps things
moving, doesn't overstay it's welcome and make you feel like
excuse me as I ever heard. Makes you feel like you're being
suffocated by the sound. So good on them.

(57:43):
I agree. What?
About the action, because again,like people think of this film
as a sci-fi film. Ryan, what do you think about
the action Total Recall? It's pretty good.
Again, I think, you know, it hasquite a bit of action.
It's got a lot of, like I said, Verhoeven's sort of ultraviolent
squibs quite a bit, a lot of shooting that takes place, a lot

(58:06):
of explosions, like even unnecessary explosions, like
when the the car, the Johnny carexplodes, like just kind of
unnecessary inclusion, but one that's welcomes because, you
know, like another special effect that they had to pay for
and stuff and manage. But yeah, it's pretty cool.
I think that the effects are pretty good and the action, you

(58:30):
know, it's, it's pretty throughout.
It's pretty consistent. Once Arnold goes see creation
mode, the film doesn't let up onthe.
End. Pretty much, yeah.
I mean it's. And yeah, and like, it's like
the squibs are fucking beautiful.
They're so beefy and so, like, impactful.
Like whether they get shot in the body or shot in the head.

(58:51):
Like, it's so fucking like, you know, like, oh, you thought
RoboCop was ultraviolent. Let's see what, you know,
they're like, let's take it up anotch.
Yeah, it's great. I I, I love it.
Like the gunfights, like, there's nothing like, like
super, like, wow, what a great job.
But they just, like, look great.And when they had the slow

(59:14):
motion, like Michael Ironside strip diving through the glass.
Amazing. Yeah, and I mean, I think that
that for the most part, even forthe for 1990, the special
effects are actually pretty good.
You know, the prosthetics are fairly good.
You know, even the close up sequences, especially with like
Arnold taking out the the littletracking device from his brain

(59:34):
done pretty well all. Things considered the only one
that looks stupid is him when he's dressed up as the lady
trying to get through customs and he keeps saying 2 weeks, 2
weeks, 2 weeks like an old lady.Hello boys.
Like. I know.

(59:58):
Which Speaking of, what are yourthoughts about being on Mars and
glass zones? Because they haven't terraformed
it. So if you go outside you'll your
head will explode. The fact that.
Every asshole in this film has agun with bullets that can break
the glass. Pretty dumb.

(01:00:18):
I mean, again, I think they theytalk about that a little bit in
the movie where Michael Ironside's shooting around and
like. Don't do that.
You're going to break the Dome. You're going to crack the Dome.
Yeah, it's kind of dumb to be having guns in that scenario,
but that. That whole like when he shoots
and like during that scene, likewith the you know what Arnold

(01:00:38):
like surprise as like lady and like the areas decompressed and
people are flying out. It's fucking great and it looks
great, but it's like that's so fucking stupid.
Like all I could think it was like legend of the Galactic
heroes. And it's like, why do these
people when they're fighting close quarters on these ships,
use like axes? And it's like, well, because
there's these particles in the air.

(01:01:00):
So if they fire their laser guns, it would set off a chain
event that would kill everybody.It's like, oh, so nobody thought
of that on Mars as they built these, you know, giant domes.
Like either if the glass isn't going to be bulletproof, this is
what you guys are going to run around with to, you know, take
care of shit. Yeah, I agree.

(01:01:21):
I mean, I think it's dumb to do that.
But I think again that again at like adds to this sort of like
Alice in Wonderland element of total recall, which like not all
of the things that are occurring, yeah, exactly need to
make sense. They don't.
They don't always need to make sense because it's part of the
the recall memory and. Wow, wait wait.

(01:01:43):
Also that's a great line. And also tied into the matrix.
Right. Yeah, it does.
I mean, it definitely does tie into the matrix.
I think, you know, it's certainly helped influence the
matrix a bit, whether they recognize it or not.
I think you know. Oh, I'm sure the the Wachowski
sisters did. Yeah, yeah.

(01:02:04):
I mean, I think that's it's, it's definitely, you know, and
again, Dan O'bannon as a writer,very influential throughout his
career, you know, from an Alien to Total Recall to Return a
Living Dead. I mean, the man wrote some good
movies. So, you know, it's, it's not out
of the realm of possibility that, you know, whether

(01:02:26):
intentional or not, the matrix was definitely influenced by
stuff like total recall. Anything else we didn't discuss.
What do you think about the gentle rolling under the doors?
Yeah, yeah, the, you know, and that's not, not just like a one
time thing. It's like 3 * 3 times where

(01:02:49):
people have to roll under closing doors again too.
Don't you love how in the future?
Well, I guess I should say in the past, they envisioned the
future having a lot of like airlock doors, right?
Yeah. Apparently they thought that was
going to be the thing that everybody had in their.

(01:03:10):
In their. Compounds.
See they corrected it in Starship Troopers because the
captain gets crushed by one likeinstantly here.
Like, I, like, I know you're nota TNG fan, but I was dying
laughing at the slow barrel rolls under the door because it
remind me of poor Lavar Burton. Then episode TNG, like famously
slow, like rolling under a door that's like coming down so slow.

(01:03:33):
It's like, Jordy, you could haveducked down.
Yeah. And like, he's got that look of
like, yeah, I did it. It's a lot of fun, though.
I like, you know, it's all kind of stupid, but I think, yeah,
that's, that's the point. Yeah, yeah.
Again, I think, yeah, again, this doesn't need to make a
whole lot of sense. I think the it's sort of got
that action star feel to it of, you know, this is how a, a guy

(01:03:57):
who's envisioning himself in a fantasy film might, might think
of things. So how?
Do you? Well, sorry, I was going to say,
what do you think? Like do you think the film's got
any like messages? Is it saying anything about like
colonialism or authoritarianism?Or is it just kind of using it

(01:04:19):
fondly to do something like, do you think it's got like the
teeth that RoboCop and yeah, like Starship Troopers got?
I mean, I think that it's, I think it's a little bit less
satirical than RoboCop, but at the same time, I think

(01:04:40):
inherently the idea of having a dude who's colonizing Mars is, I
mean, a pretty basic element of fascism that's pretty much set
up in this film. So I I think that yes, it does.
But does it make a huge statement about it or anything,
or does it kind of just propose it as sort of the, the whole

(01:05:01):
overarching plot? I think that it's probably more
so just in that regard. I do think it has other
aspirations besides, you know, trying to discuss fascism or
authoritarianism or anything like that.
More so the fact that it just wants to sort of present you a
guy with a midlife crisis who instead of buying a motorcycle,

(01:05:22):
gets a, you know, takes a recallmemory trip to Mars.
So, you know, I think it has different aspirations to it, you
know, somewhat satirical, but I think it, it's a bit less than
some of Verhoeven's other movies, in my opinion.
I don't know. What you think I would agree.
I I get the angles there, but I think it's more like like we say

(01:05:45):
all the time with Dawn with the Ted.
I think it's definitely used more as like a just a basic plot
device instead of something grand.
Because again, I think those ideas are better explore in
other films than here, especially tying into with like
the whole secret Asian thing. It's there to like make the

(01:06:06):
final boss feel more threatening, especially because
like it's not, it's not really nuanced or anything.
It's just there's points where in the film, like where him and
Sharon Stone are talking about the news and stuff, he's like,
but Clohagen says this and it's like they don't like it's just

(01:06:28):
kind of there and it's not talked about any further.
So I think it's just there more as a fun plot device than it is
any real deep thinking. Yeah, yeah, I would agree.
I think. I think that's probably what was
being achieved there. Anything else?

(01:06:51):
I don't know you got anything else.
I think that's about it and I think we covered it.
All right. So we got to give, we got to
give total recall actually. Well, I guess I should ask
before we do the rating, would you partake in a recall?
No. Not at all.
Not even if it was just like a you know, I you, you take a one
week vacation to the beach. No, no recall.

(01:07:16):
I don't care if it's like a one like 2 week trip with like
Milana Vandross and and Aubrey Plaza, no.
You don't like it? Like it messing with your mind?
No, I'm like, I'm so afraid of technology reaching the brain.
Like that's like a phobia I havebecause it's like, what the

(01:07:37):
fuck? It was in control of that
technology like so no, I would, I would not be made for these
times at all. I would be long dead.
So no, I would never. How about you?
Would you? Yeah, I mean, I don't know, I, I
feel like it is a, a sticky widget wicket to have a memory
like that where you've you've given yourself something that

(01:08:02):
didn't exist and now forever youbelieve it did.
I think that that's pretty dangerous.
And I think that that's, I mean,whether the film comments on
that or not, that is sort of theidea behind fascism is to
rewrite what has been done previously and sort of make it

(01:08:22):
OK. And I feel like there's a weird,
you know, synergy there between doing that to yourself where you
you basically say like, well, mylife up to this point hasn't
been enough. So I need to add this memory to
it to make it, you know, make itmore renowned, tolerable.

(01:08:42):
Yeah. And and not only that, but I
feel like in the film doesn't really doesn't touch on this at
all. But I feel like there is an
element of like a drug to that where you would get addicted to
giving yourself memories that you didn't have to the point
where, like, you know, where does it end?
Where does it end? It'd be a new high.
And you're right too, because I think like, like, I can't
remember if you've ever seen it or not, but like Shutter Island,

(01:09:05):
we're at the end where Mark Ruffalo's talking to, you know,
DiCaprio about like, oh, you know, Are you ready for play,
live life or are you going back?And he's like he slips back into
the story because of lobotomy and being able to forget
everything is better than, you know, knowing the truth.

(01:09:27):
Right, right. And that's the same thing kind
of here, even though it's like it's like a harmless vacation or
anything. It's like get it's not a real
experience. You're not really experiencing
what's going on. It's a, you know, event that's
great for your mind. Again, I'm not like as much as I

(01:09:49):
love like cyberpunk and stuff like this like as it, you know,
for story settings and like is it ain't for me that life like,
you know, with Elon Musk, like you want to put my South African
chip in you like no, you might like yeah, fuck no, I'm not, you
know, built for those times. Yeah, yeah, you.

(01:10:09):
Know All right, so let's give total recall a rating on a scale
of zero to 10. Dude with kids.
Five kids, which Benny just describes throughout the film
until he becomes the four kids. Five kids he's got.
Five kids. No, I know.
But when he get you know, and he's like I got 4 kids and then
Arnold's like I thought you saidyou had five.

(01:10:31):
He's like kind of clever 5. I I love that that call back
that keeps coming up through I got 5 kids defeated.
What would you give Total recall?
I'll give it a 90 on 10. I love this movie.
It's a great film. It's great.
Not just great science fiction. It's not just great action.
It's not just it's a great film,period.

(01:10:52):
It's so much fun. It's so engaging.
There's a lot of great talk and talk to be had with it.
Ronald Schwarzenegger, this is probably one of my favorite
roles that he's ever done because he's by this time, he's
not just like, like, yeah, he's yes.
Does he spit out one liners? Yes, but he's actually like at

(01:11:14):
times really acting here. He does a great job.
The story's great, the premise is great.
Excuse me, pacing's great. Veerhoven nails down the action
to AT the facts for the most part.
Like 90% of them hold up amazingly well.
It's really well thought out nuance.

(01:11:38):
Can't recommend it enough. Is this my favorite viewer hole
in film? It might be.
Be honest with you. It's hard.
It's kind of hard because of like you watch one and then you
watch another Knockouts. But it's great.
During this time period, there was probably no other director
to VB. He was like on Coppola's run in

(01:11:59):
the 70s with The Godfather Conversation, The Godfather 2
and Apocalypse Now. Everything he did was, you know,
and it's the same thing with Vera over here.
It's great. This is a perfect, like damn
near perfect film. Not a lot of negatives I could
think of. And again, I know we didn't talk

(01:12:20):
about like a lot of the like side actors, but like Michael
Ironside, he's always a treasure.
He's always great. He's always a lot of fun.
So if you haven't seen this Eden, you need to see this while
we check it out. It's fucking great now.
Yep, I would I would give this an 88 and a half 510.
I think it's a really fun movie.You know, I don't think I enjoy

(01:12:41):
it as much as some of other of the Paul V Hoon films, but I
think that it's still really effective.
It has a great idea set up by Philip K Dick and then kind of
extended in this film. You know, Arnold is is really
good in this, you know, at times, especially in the earlier
80s when he was first starting out with an with action films,

(01:13:04):
his acting wasn't as great as itkind of became as he kind of got
into the role a little bit better.
I think this one he does a greatjob of negotiating between the
action film star and sort of themore everyman character that the
film kind of expects of him. And it works really well.

(01:13:25):
You know, the the whole setup ofthe science fiction atmosphere
is really well done. In Total Recall 2, they manage a
good sort of like verisimilitudeof all of the futuristic
elements to it and works really well.
I think the the whole design of it from where we start out with

(01:13:46):
the futuristic setting to when we go to Mars, it all looks
great and Mars itself has like anice personality of its own with
that red hue that it keeps coming back to.
Overall, very well done, great action, an engaging storyline,
and I think, you know, ultimately it leads to a really

(01:14:09):
fun bit of, you know, scenes that continue throughout.
So there's a lot of specific elements that you could point to
in this movie that are really, you know, like kind of
memorable. But at the same time, I do feel
at times that the the movie doeskind of fall into a rut of like,

(01:14:29):
we have to go to this place and then go back to this place.
And it's even commented on by Benny at one point.
And just like you're just going around in circles.
That's my one complaint of this movie that I do feel that it
does at times feel like it does just kind of become, let's go
from, you know, setting A to setting B to setting A to
setting B. And it kind of just does that
run through. But I think overall it's very

(01:14:51):
fun and engaging. Like a video game fetch.
Class. Yeah, kind of like that.
Yeah, exactly. Which again, you can kind of
blame on. Oh, well, maybe it's just a, you
know, the the recall memory thatis sort of limited to the
settings that it can go to. But I that was my one complaint
with the film. But other than that, I think
it's really well done and I'd give it an 8 1/2 out of 10.

(01:15:14):
All right, so that's our episodeon Total Recall for Red Hot 90s
Action Summer. Next up, I think we are going to
a different futuristic setting. That's right.
And it's not New York. It's Austin Powers,
international man of music. Yeah, we're, no, we're going to

(01:15:37):
LA, returning to a director thatwe've done a number of films on,
John Carpenter. We're going to.
We're escaping from LA, actually.
Have you? Seen escape from it I have.
Unfortunately I have. I have not.
OK, you haven't seen it yet. Definitely not.

(01:15:59):
Not one of the better films thanJohn Carpenter's Canon for sure.
But you know, maybe I've only seen it once, so maybe going
back to it I'll have a differentappreciation of it.
I do remember the CGI is particularly bad.
Well, hold on, put it in 1995. I still think it's particularly

(01:16:20):
bad. Like, you know, in Total Recall
has some great background effects, you know, especially
can even even now just looking at sort of the the either the
painted backdrops or the CGI backdrops look great and we'll
see an escape from LA. That is not the case for those
SO. I think it's part of at least I

(01:16:43):
haven't seen it so I don't know,but it seems like it's part of
the Carpenter downfall because body bags in 90, which we didn't
93 into the Mouth of Madness. Great film by the way.
Go check it out. Our review.
It's one of our early ones 'cause it goes Village of the
Damned, Escape from New York vampires and goes to Mars.

(01:17:07):
So it's like escape from my way.And then, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean.
Yeah, it is. It is part of that.
Yeah, part of the slow decline of Carpenter films, I think,
which. Which Village of the Damned,
which she did watch that or listen to that review.
It's not a bad movie, but it's not, there's nothing there to
like, you know, make it worthwhile outside of the

(01:17:31):
original. So I would definitely be
interested in to see it because I've seen like a couple of clips
here and there, like the whole like, surfing thing.
Don't really remember it, but it's like, yeah, you know, like,
can't wait to kind of see, you know, how the hell, how the hell

(01:17:53):
this even happened? Like, like who's like, yeah,
hey, Kurt wants to do this. You sure?
Sure. And also too, because again, I
do know it's corny and shit to be like, yeah, this is the
sequel to Escape From New York. Like why?
Yeah. So.

(01:18:16):
So should be fun and catch that episode next.
And if you want to tune in, you should subscribe on pretty much
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(01:18:37):
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Thanks for listening to our episode on Total Recall.
Hope you keep tuning in all month long for Red Hot 90s
Action Summer Reloaded and untilnext time.

(01:19:00):
Take care.