Total Recall is episode 144 focusing on the 1990 movie of the same name, as part of the Podship Casters miniseries covering the Hollywood years of Paul Verhoeven. Posted January 21 2018.
Summary
#TheTwoFriends welcome to the studio Andrew Jupin and Stephen Sajdak, half of the foursome behind the podcast We Hate Movies. They normally cover just bad movies, though - I mean, it's right there in the title. What will happen when they confront a movie that they like?
Boy oh boy, the development of the original version of Total Recall is a long story with many different producers and directors and actors attached or discarded. After the group enumerates all the twists and turns, it's on to Verhoeven and Arnold. Is this the most sincere - or least satirical - Verhoeven has ever been, and yet is this a logical extension of the satire in RoboCop? With a blank check budget and sort of a critic-proof story, which CGI/makeup/effects hold up today... and why is it actually good for the movie that the infamous three-boobed lady is not one of them?
And of course, Ben's favorite Kuato: let's talk about him. Is this the best puppet acting performance short of Frank Oz?
Along the way is talk of McG's saga with Superman, strategies for method actors to beat cancer, tourists taking pictures with iPads, and something about Lloyd Teams that sails far over the heads of everyone not deep into the NYC improv scene. But if you're in that niche, thrill at the shoutout!
This episode was sponsored by Casper Mattresses. At first they say, we need to find a way to make these ad-reads work for millenials, and not use old out of date references. Ding dong! A wild Snorlax Pokémon barges in! Griffin needs a way to put it to sleep - David proposes using a Casper Mattress and explains why... and it works, the Snorlax is asleep! casper.com/check, promo code CHECK at checkout for a listener discount.
Milestones and Ephemera
- Fancy Mars: not pictured.
- The Man on the Mac: David Sims
- Person most responsible for choosing Paul Verhoeven as a miniseries subject at this particular moment in our society's history: Griffin