Film and Episodic Content Discussion Thread

Paul Verhoeven seemingly made a recruitment video for fascism and people couldn't handle it. Starship Troopers committed the sin of believing critics and audiences would be savvy enough to understand the deep levels of satire involved. They didn't and the movie bombed. But people are finally coming around and realizing how brilliant it is, and in my latest I explain why Starship Troopers was the end of an era in which Hollywood bankrolled big budget, unapologetically provocative movies.



@crenca

 

Wonderful! I would push back a bit against Rico characterization being completely about a pawn of his circumstances and the regime, such that he "loses his humanity". Related to this is the scene you ended with where Rasczak voices the idea that "freedom" is individualistic "making up ones own mind", seemingly in the face of facism or any other political/cultural circumstance. I wonder if Verhoeven is not more of a metaphysical pessimist, along with Phillip K. Dick, about the reality of human "freedom" in any outward political/cultural context. In this sense the core satire, if it is satire at all, is not the mocking kind but the kind that says "look, what it means to be human is not a controlling assertion of the individual over his circumstances, but rather a kind of acceptance that you are but a small part of something that will always control you".

 

Yes but the tragedy is that Rico completely ignores his advice.

 

Perhaps, but only in a narrow sense. If Verhoeven is the metaphysical pessimist that I think he is, then Rasczak advice is just as tragic as anything else - the triumph of free thinking individual being just as unreal as any other optimistic view. In other words, the tragedy is caused by your perspective. Certainly the typical late modern individualistic viewer of this film would agree with Rasczak, but the satire is in part that Rasczak used his freedom to accept, promote, educate, fight and ultimately die for facsism, so....what was freedom good for again? Verhoeven's satire seems to cut both ways and is not a simplistic affirmation of the "free" self.

I could be wrong about Verhoeven and/or projecting too much of P.K. Dick into him, but what little I know (reinforced by the biography you had in your vid) seems to support this view.

 

The ending of Robocop heavily suggests that he isn't.

Also, if you check out my Total Recall video, I detail why he's more of an optimist... specifically when it comes to the Quaid / Hauser relationship (most specifically the twist and what it ultimately represents).

I don't believe Rasczak's advice was meant to be taken as anything other than what it was on the surface. Especially since the very next scene is Rico signing up for federal service because of Carmen, not himself. If the two scenes weren't juxtaposed together like that, you might be onto something. But I believe Verhoeven to be an optimist who simply loves portraying hot women, violence and poking fun at the very corporations that employ him to make movies.

 

You are probably right (that he is not a metaphysical pessimist along the lines of P.K. Dick) given Robocop and Total Recall as you point out. If Starship then is a satire of fascism from a optimistic individualistic view, what in your opinion explains the humanity of Rasczak then? I am thinking of his rejection of the simplistic moralism of his students parents (i.e. "civilians") in the classroom early in the movie - they have no skin in the game so to speak, and its up to "citizens" to bring the freedom and comfort they take for granted, up until the bugs took their life away. Then there is that scene at the end when Carmen, Rico, and Jenkins at the end where Carmen affirms the meaning of everything (and their humanity) as long as they are together and not in simplistic individualistic terms.

I suppose I am more willing to see the humanity of Rico in his slavishness to circumstances and seeming inability to be a good late modern individualist. It is as if Verhoeven wants do the same, and not satire facism for the sake of, or from the perspective of "democracy!" or individualism-as-the-highest-good but rather a deeper humanity where love and meaning is found in the midst of violence, the absurd, and events/circumstances that are always beyond your control.

 

Agreed, but the movie to me was the bastardization of the source material. The Anime Original Video Animation Starship Trooper series was even closer to the source material, but it was still off.

I liked the movie for what it is, and classic Verhoeven satire. Hard to watch it after knowing what the book was all about.

 

This is spot on, saw this at the hollywood cinerama dome with Paul Vorhoeven. Which was strangely sponsored by Moby. Moby apparently is a huge Starship Troopers fan. The video is basically everything he said at the Q&A. TLDR: American's just didn't get its satire and underlying message. ** just realized this was a @ColtMrFire video! Great Job!**

 

I kind of want you to do the Fifth Element, but I kind of don't want you to. Pretty sure nothing can change my love for the movie, but I don't want it shitted on either.

 

If you have not already check out "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" by the same writer/director. The 'noble savage' aspect of it was unconvincing and thus distracting for me, but overall it is along the same lines and feel as Fifth Element if not quite as good.

 

The season finale of Mandalorian was one of the most satisfying pieces of episodic content I've ever seen...it pretty much brought tears to my eyes. Highly recommended if you're an old school SW fan.

 

Yea Jon Favreau et al. obviously have a clue about basic writing/story/plot, star war universes (if you read the books you know there is a wide range of good "feels" here), and cinematography. The contrast with the last trilogy of big budget films could not be greater and just highlights what we already know - Kennedy and crew really really screwed up. I have my nitpicks, for example I think the 'old west' parallels are overdone at times, but nitpicks is all they are. I look forward to checking this finale out later today

 

You're in for a treat Post your thoughts when you see it!

 

For anyone who's ever been passionate about something, creative or not, I highly recommend checking out my interview with filmmaker Nick Murphy, not just because it's my channel, but because this is one of the most honest, heartfelt and emotional conversations I've had with another human. The only thing that surpasses Nick's determination as a filmmaker is his love and passion for the art of cinema... it bleeds all over this episode. And wait 'til you hear his crazy James Cameron and JJ Abrams stories!

 

Mandalorian spoilers:

Spoiler

I literally shit bricks for the big reveal. My wife and I were trying to figure out who it was, and I think the glove gave it away at the last second.

 

Well shucks @Rockwell , that was a tear jerker. We had to talk down my 6 year old

Without revealing, I especially like how they are delimiting (to choose a word) the story arc - so basic and necessary yet so missing in these sorts of productions these days. Well done Favreau, it must hurt at least a little to have Kennedy in the credits as well.

 

Thanks for another excellent & illuminating video commentary.

I found everything about this film to be jarring, nonplussing. I didn't enjoy it but couldn't turn away. The violence was so extreme (& the special effects so well done) that my initial impression was of a classic 80s sci-fi epic, but far better looking & more perfectly realized.

However, about an hour in, it became clear this film was the most flat-affect, "inside" satire I'd ever seen. Not once did it wink at itself; no one in the film was in on the joke of this 3rd Reich recruiting poster brought to life in outer space. I came away with 2 conclusions:

1. This director's P.O.V. & sensibilities were perverse to a fault (roughly comparable to the extremes of Todd Haynes in the '90s) & distinctly apart from American films of that era
2. And he was immensely skilled at bringing his peculiarly cold and subversive ideas to life onscreen

Though they worked in different time periods & fundamentally dissimilar themes/topics, I felt a connection between Verhoeven & Hitchcock, another unapoletic, perverse filmmaker.

 

Out of all the video essays I've done, this is the most special to me... with the possible exception of the original (non special edition) Star Wars trilogy, E.T. galvanized my passion for cinema like no other film. In the realm of influential filmmakers, Spielberg is at or near the top of the list for me.

 

This video is quite inspiring. Specifically, I'm inspired by our evident feeling for E.T.

I never saw E.T. & don't love Speilberg's body of work quite as much as you do. But your passion for Speilberg's work--and this film in particular--come through loud and clear. And you back up your opinions with insights & knowledge of the context of each movie.

Your comments about Speilberg reining in the bigness & dramatic set pieces to focus on character in E.T. ring true for me. That focus on character, on human nature under stress, is the thing I like most about Stephen King. Much has been said about how infrequently film or television adaptations of Stephen King even come close to capturing the source text.. All to say I wish so much that these men had collaborated on any Stephen King book or story. That might be have been truly spectacular.

 

I know it's weird posting a horror movie on Christmas, but 2020 has been full of weirdness! Filmmaker Anthony Cousins, one of the directors of the anthology horror film Scare Package, stopped by to talk with me about the genius of The Blair Witch Project, a film that has stayed with me ever since I saw it in a theater in Orlando, Florida back in 1999.