Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: moviePig Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv Subject: Re: A fresh take on the Star Wars films Date: Sun, 12 May 2024 19:00:21 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 66 Message-ID: References: <20240507112300.00000489@example.com> <18l04j5bvs54jd6aijufh67edt34ivveuc@4ax.com> <714258912.737241713.474998.anim8rfsk-cox.net@news.easynews.com> Reply-To: nobody@nowhere.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Mon, 13 May 2024 01:00:22 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="c1730ace7618f99c718c5118c481b7e9"; logging-data="3193158"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+peFKQuXl98BwHMgJ8hUd7xBUnGMe6azk=" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:yOwOUpI4cZQL7Fm4C4WoHZYKh2c= Content-Language: en-US In-Reply-To: <714258912.737241713.474998.anim8rfsk-cox.net@news.easynews.com> Bytes: 4648 On 5/12/2024 5:22 PM, anim8rfsk wrote: > moviePig wrote: >> On 5/12/2024 11:30 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote: >>> On 5/12/2024 3:14 AM, shawn wrote: >>>> On Sun, 12 May 2024 06:54:55 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman" >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> shawn wrote: >>>>>> Sat, 11 May 2024 22:35:20 -0700, The Horny Goat >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> Fri, 10 May 2024 19:06:45 -0400, moviePig wrote: >>>>> >>>>>>>> Well, *somebody* with wit had to have been behind it.  That much >>>>>>>> tongue-in-cheek can't have been accidental.  Fwiw, the Internet seems >>>>>>>> rather definite that Verhoeven (a dedicated Liberal) was satirizing. >>>>> >>>>>>> Got a cite on that? Sounds like an interesting article or two. >>>>> >>>>>> https://collider.com/starship-troopers-review-satire-at-its-best/ >>>>> >>>>>> The cold hard truth of Starship Troopers, Paul Verhoeven's 1997 >>>>>> follow-up to his infamous 1995 Showgirls, is painfully obvious from >>>>>> the start: this is not Oscar bait. The acting is wooden, especially >>>>>> from lead actor Casper Van Dien. Denise Richards' performance is also >>>>>> suspect, playing aspiring pilot Carmen Ibanez. The only actors that >>>>>> stand out are the steady veterans Clancy Brown and Michael Ironside. >>>>>> What Starship Troopers is, though, is satire at its best, with >>>>>> Verhoeven masterfully weaving social commentary and potshots >>>>>> throughout the film. >>>>> >>>>> But the novel he was adapting wasn't satire, and the social commentary >>>>> was different. Quite frankly, I didn't care for the movie. I thought >>>>> the potshots he took were against easy targets. For that reason, I've >>>>> seen the movie once and never revisted it and had no interest in the >>>>> sequel. >>>> >>>> No doubt. He took the name of the book and some of the ideas from the >>>> book to make a very different movie. So there's no way you can judge >>>> the book by the movie because they are so different. I've seen the >>>> movie a few times as background noise but never a serious watch >>>> because it isn't something one should take seriously. Even his satire >>>> is so broad it prevents me from even taking his obvious potshots >>>> seriously. I have the sequels on my list to watch some day just to see >>>> what they are like but I'm clearly in no rush to see any of them. >>> >>> The sequels are cheap "sci-fi" horror direct to video productions.  If >>> you like deliberately bad movies you _may_ want to check them out. >>> Otherwise don't bother.  (From someone who has watched them.) >> >> The sub-topic here is the satire in the original, which the sequels >> jettisoned entirely. Probably not a bad decision, given how much of the >> audience seems not to have recognized it to start with. > > Neither did Verhoeven. How else would you interpret, e.g., this quote? -------- Verhoeven said "We were accused by The Washington Post of being neo-Nazis! ... It was tremendously disappointing. They couldn't see that all I have done is ironically create a fascist utopia." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers_(film) --------