Athletic Jason

1st May 2020

Total Recall (1990)

Question: Does the movie give any indication with any evidence in the movie that Douglas is dreaming for the ending?

Athletic Jason

Answer: Verhoeven points out that if a viewer believes the whole film is a dream, then Edgemar's prediction that Quaid will end up being lobotomized is fulfilled in the fade to white which ends the movie.

Answer: When Dr. Edgemar is in the hotel room with Quaid and Lori, Quaid puts a gun to Edgemar's head and says that if it's all a dream, that Quaid could just pull the trigger and it wouldn't really matter. Edgemar goes into details about consequences of what would happen if Quaid killed him. As seen, when Quaid kills Edgemar the walls of the hotel room crash down, Quaid believes he's the rebel savior, had visions of alien civilization and is best friends with Cohaagen and the white light that is at the end of the movie indicates that Quaid was lobotomized.

Also, consider the end when Quaid and Melina are on the surface of Mars, suffocating. Their eyes are bulging, the Mars atmosphere is burning their lungs, and their faces are bloated. Yet a few minutes later they're perfectly normal and having a romantic kiss.

Answer: There are many signs that the adventure was reality. When Quaid watched the news (before going to Rekall), the newscasters asked Cohaagen about Kuato and alien artifacts (the alien reactor) in the Mars Pyramid Mine. Lori didn't want Quaid going to Mars or thinking about Mars. Harry didn't want Quaid to go to Rekall, as he sounded very intense when he said this to Quaid. The Rekall technicians popped Quaid's memory cap before they could implant his ego trip. Richter and Helm were watching Quaid the whole time and his trip to Rekall made them attempt to kill him before he could remember the alien reactor and his previous identity. Edgemar lied when he said Quaid's "dream" started in the middle of the implant procedure when Dr. Lull had told McClane they hadn't implanted the ego trip yet. Edgemar shouldn't have been sweating if it was a dream. Richter, Helm, Lori, Edgemar, and Benny were all trying to help Cohaagen keep his evil power and prevent Mars from having free air.

This isn't true. The DVD commentary states that if the viewer is believing that the story is a dream, then it begins right where the camera cuts to McClane and his female client watching the TV monitor. The bit where Quaid resists and Renata says she hasn't implanted the ego trip yet are part of the dream. The clue is that McClane's statement is "the trip is as real as any memory in your head." So for it to come across as real, it has to begin right there and then.

If Lori is really Quaid's wife, it seems strange that he would dream of her trying to kill him. When Richter and Helm are trying to kill Quaid, several people get killed in the crossfire. When Edgemar and Lori visit Quaid, Lori gives Edgemar a look right before he takes out the red pill, almost as if Lori is signaling Edgemar to do that. They are awfully eager for Quaid to take that pill, and the film's novelization states that the pill could possibly be a knockout dose or lethal. If Edgemar is a projection, he should not be sweating, which makes Quaid realise Edgemar is real. Those four agents who blast through the wall were back there listening to the conversation and waiting to see if Edgemar's plan with the pill would work. Richter and Helm were downstairs in the bar waiting to hear from Lori and Edgemar that they captured Quaid. If Edgemar was telling the truth, why would Richter and Helm be down in the bar waiting? Also, the novel points more toward reality.

You are forgetting to assume the dream shows him stuff that didn't actually happen, like innocents being killed in crossfire. If it is all a dream it all doesn't matter, he is being fed lies by the implants, about his wife, about Cohaagen, about everything, the fact it connects to real events before he went to Recall (which don't show the truth at all) just shows the ingenuity of the implants, who use his memories to create the story. Edgemar sweating could be another illusion caused by the implants. If it really is all a dream the moment he killed Edgemar the implants screwed his brain up enough there was no way of knowing what was real anymore, and his wife is sitting besides him at Recall crying that he isn't going to wake up anymore, whilst Quaid is experiencing killing her in his dream. This then goes on for him until the end it lobotomizes him. That is, if you believe it was a dream.

lionhead

There is a villains site called Villains Wiki. Edgemar is listed on this site along with Cohaagen, Richter, Helm, Lori, Harry, and Benny. The article about Edgemar states that Quaid realises Edgemar is working for Cohaagen when he sees him sweating. It also states that Edgemar's goal is to aid Cohaagen in his plans. Also mentioned is the fact that Richter is Lori's real husband and is angered when Quaid kills her the same way he kills Edgemar.

Answer: The novel also reveals another detail that indicates reality. Before it is revealed that Richter is Lori's real husband, Quaid doesn't seem to love Lori. He dreams of Melina every night and actually loves Melina despite being with Lori. Quaid wonders why Lori married him, and she doesn't seem to have aged since their wedding. Once Lori reveals that their eight years together is actually a six-week memory implant, Quaid realises that is why his eight year memory of Lori hasn't changed. When Lori tries to detain Quaid for Richter and Helm at the Hilton Hotel, she tries to kill Melina because she knows Melina is Quaid's dream girl.

Answer: The novel by Piers Anthony has other signs that indicate Quaid's adventure was reality. When Richter and Helm are looking for Quaid on Earth, it says the bug in Quaid's head alerted them about his trip to Rekall. Richter and Helm went to Rekall to question the Rekall staff and dispatch them. When Richter and Helm are chasing Quaid and Melina on Mars, Quaid asks Melina if she has ever heard of Rekall, and she tells him she used to model for Rekall, which explains why Quaid saw Melina's face on the screen during his implant procedure at Rekall. Furthermore, Edgemar tells Quaid he is still at Rekall strapped in the implant chair, but McClane told the other Rekall staff members to dump Quaid in the Johnnycab and send him home. So it doesn't make sense that Quaid is still at Rekall after they sent him home.

Answer: The "dream" is when Quaid thinks Lori is his wife. Lori is really Richter's wife. The dreams Quaid had of Melina were visions reminding him of his past life.

Answer: Edgemar's red pill may have been a knockout dose so Richter, Helm, and Lori could take Quaid to Cohaagen. The red pill could also have possibly been poison, like cyanide. The pill wouldn't have returned Quaid to reality because he was still in reality.

8th Jan 2020

Class of 1999 (1990)

Question: The movie never provides a explanation for why the cops don't go in the Warzone area. Why don't they?

Athletic Jason

Answer: These areas are controlled by gangs and it is implied the police won't enter out of fear.

BaconIsMyBFF

10th Oct 2019

Die Hard (1988)

Question: John is heard running and moves into a room, and he locks the door. After Karl and the other bad guys run, they see the door is locked. The logical conclusion is that the guy they heard running locked the door, so why not shoot the door open?

Athletic Jason

Answer: Karl might have done that, but Hans calls them off before he can. In any event, it would be easy enough to rationalize that the door was simply locked...plenty of people lock their offices when they leave.

The movie only showed the 1 way to get in that room is with an elevator, and since John wouldn't be able to use the elevator before they ran in it's a huge oversight that none of them shoot the door.

Athletic Jason

Question: Julie and her friend knew that they answered the question wrong for what is the Capital of Brazil, but won anyway. When they finally decide to talk about that glaring flaw being a setup it's more than 31 hours later while they are in the Bahamas. Why exactly did they not talk about that glaring flaw before leaving the USA?

Athletic Jason

Answer: They never knew they got the question wrong until they happened to look at that globe in the hotel.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Just because they took a geography class doesn't mean that they remembered a capital of a country they have no connection to.

LorgSkyegon

30th Jul 2019

Die Hard (1988)

Question: Karl was hanging more than 5 yards off the ground for more than 6 seconds, and nothing indicated he was alive. So who removed him from the chain to the ground, and how did he not die?

Athletic Jason

Answer: Well the obvious answer to the first question is he simply unhooked himself from the chain. And the second, his neck simply didn't snap. So he was hanging in such a way that he was still able to breathe.

Quantom X

That I find hard to believe because with what was shown he was not moving and had the appearance that he's dead.

Athletic Jason

Because he was knocked unconscious by the jolting of his head.

Quantom X

Answer: Don't forget, Hans blew the roof up so the chain mechanism probably got blown up as well, meaning Karl would have plummeted back down to the floor.

Question: Early in this movie while still in the USA, Gail says she can't support the research that the blood orchid flower can be used to renew youth for humans, which would make that flower the fountain of youth. Why can she not support the valid scientific research?

Athletic Jason

Answer: I interpreted it as "I can't support this claim the chemical will extend cell life" because she already said it was impossible. However, the way the line sounded when delivered off screen makes it seem like it was dubbed over different dialog. So someone may not have like what was initially said and had this in as a foreshadowing of her objections later in the film, or it was just a throw away line.

Bishop73

Nothing was stopping her from saying that before they left the United States so that is awful writing. She had no valid reason to think or expect that saying "I can't support this" would change the President and other persons minds after they saw a great presentation with images along with science research to substantiate the claim that the blood orchid flower could renew human youth like a fountain of youth. I assume by objections you mean she didn't want to continue to go through with the expedition after Ben was killed by a giant anaconda, also she gave some answer about evidence not being valid.

Athletic Jason

26th Jul 2019

Halloween (1978)

Answer: He was locked in an institution since he was 6. Contrary to popular belief, a lot of drivers only ACT like they're 6.

Question: This movie shows Jason Voorhees didn't drown in Crystal Lake in the first movie because he's shown to be alive in this movie. It's a known fact that the kid Jason Voorhees can't swim, so how exactly did he avoid drowning in Crystal Lake?

Athletic Jason

Answer: This particular film does not address this, and seems to imply that Jason didn't drown and grew up living in the woods as a psychopath. Later sequels heavily imply (or outright state) that Jason was brought back as an un-dead creature by unknown supernatural means and cannot be killed in a conventional sense. As it stands it is best to view Jason in this film as un-dead, as the number of films that show him as supernatural far outweigh those that show him as a normal man. The character is generally remembered in popular culture as un-dead.

BaconIsMyBFF

I think that the whole franchise didn't take much care of continuity (for example, in part 2 Jason is a woods-boy full of beard and hair, in the third he is taller and bald), but it's explainable to the fact that Jason managed to survive somehow, never told his mother he was alive (even because the camp was closed many times and Pamela never showed up frequently), watched her die and took her place for revenge. We always have the feeling that there's something supernatural in Jason, since he never dies he can be hit with axe, machete, fire and even hanged up, and he is still alive, but he definitely becomes something supernatural only from part 6 further. Yes, seeing as the story starts, it could be simpler to think Jason somehow returned as a ghost, as an Un-dead man, but in the first half of the franchise they gave a bit of reality to the thing.

What information in this sequel gives any indication that the kid Jason didn't drown in Crystal Lake?

Athletic Jason

The fact that he's a full-grown man instead of a young boy. The fan consensus, and the original intent of the filmmakers, is that Jason is a human being, albeit extremely tough and completely insane, in parts 2-4, and comes back as an undead being in part 6.

Jukka Nurmi

That's valid along with the small house in the woods, except that doesn't explain how a kid that can't swim didn't drown in Crystal Lake.

Athletic Jason

Luck, misinformation, etc. Yes it's vague, but a lack of explanation doesn't entirely constitute a mistake.

Answer: That is indeed a plot hole, and up to speculation. The best guess is that Jason somehow made his way ashore, and chose to hide in the woods rather than face further bullying from the rest of the kids.

Jukka Nurmi

Question: Why did Jason Voorhees not tell his mother he was alive? This sequel shows he's alive, and she wouldn't be murdering people if she knew he wasn't dead.

Athletic Jason

Answer: The way I understand it, they just never crossed paths again after his incident. She's not exactly been hanging out around the lake where he went under. Jason has some heavy mental issues to boot and wouldn't know how to find her till it was too late. He was a lost scared little boy.

Quantom X

13th Jul 2019

Aquaman (2018)

Question: Why does Aquaman even use a thing as a shield in the submarine when he is bulletproof?

Athletic Jason

Answer: "Aquaman" director James Wan commented on this when a question was posed about if Aquaman is bulletproof, how can he get tattoos. "Bullets (or whatever else) will penetrate and break [Arthur's] skin. He's not a man of steel. He just has really dense mass/muscles. At least that's what Geoff Johns and I talked about." In addition to his advanced resilience, he also has advanced healing abilities. Geoff Johns is a comic book writer whose work includes Aquaman, and he was President and CCO of DC Entertainment at the time. In the comics, Johns has shown Aquaman to be vulnerable to bullets.

Bishop73

Answer: Just because a bullet won't kill him doesn't mean he'll get hit by bullets if he can avoid it. It would still cause pain. He also isn't bullet proof, he is merely bullet resistant. Larger calibre bullets would hurt him.

Question: Does the movie provide any evidence that the Blood orchid flowers would renew human youth like a fountain of youth?

Athletic Jason

Answer: No, it doesn't. The characters speculate that the anacondas are unusually large because the orchids are part of the food chain in the area; then have a discussion over whether or not the orchids would have the same effect on humans. This discussion is unresolved and the question goes unanswered for the rest of the film.

BaconIsMyBFF

Question: Do the giant snakes look better in this sequel than in the 1st movie?

Athletic Jason

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