From: weeteeth	Date: July 25th, 2008 09:30 am (UTC)		(Link)
	He Only Directer The 1st RoboCop

I really like some of the satirical elements of RoboCop and Starship Troopers (which is more to the writers credit), back before 'satire' was everywhere you turn. And Basic Instinct is no doubt a milestone in the Michael-Douglas-sex-crime-thriller genre (a genre that needs to be wiped off the face of the Earth!). Showgirl is campy, at best (Kyle McLachlan! Why? And is it just me, or does its NC-17 rating seem a little astonishing now?). I'm intrested to see his Dutch output, to see if he panders so overtly to the same sex and violence (oh yes, and some sci-fi) crowd.

I've seen his output from '87-'97 (sorry to say), and thinking about it now, all the performances he gets from his actors seems, I don't know...really stiff or something (like, even when it's not suppose to be-- a'la Alex Murphy); don't know what that's about (its very '80?). But whatever...I guess I can sit through Total Recall drunk on a Tuesday night and have a bit of a laugh...if I don't have anything better to do.

One can only hope his upcoming film The Paperboy is a live-action version of the arcade game. Please please please be a two hour, real time, cabinet perspective of a kid on a bike! ::crosses fingers::

I can't believe I had that much to say about the subject.

	From: bad_juice	Date: July 25th, 2008 12:18 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Being that he build his entire Hollywood career on the same themes

I think giving the writers credit for it is a little like saying the same thing of Hitchcock and his themes of voyeurism and weird, obsessive misogyny.

Regardless of who actually "wrote" the movies, I'm sure they looked a lot different before Verhoeven got his hands on them.

	From: weeteeth	Date: July 25th, 2008 12:35 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Being that he build his entire Hollywood career on the same themes

I know. I don't remember what actor that brought it up recently, about how they don't really worry if a film they are in does well or not, cause not matter what, its on the directors head. They are the orchestrator...the grand overseer, etc.

And there's tons of examples of doing great things with a crap script and vice-versa that I'm too lazy to think about right now (and too lazy to read tons of original screenplays as well). And besides, the way movies are written in most of Hollywood is so screwed up anyway...something can go through dozens of rewrites, and who knows whos name winds up on the thing.

	From: bad_juice	Date: July 25th, 2008 08:03 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Also re: NC-17 rating of Showgirls

I think the part where she licks the stripper pole is gross enough to warrant it alone.

	From: weeteeth	Date: July 25th, 2008 10:58 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Also re: NC-17 rating of Showgirls

hehehehe; I know strippers who saw that scene and were like "eeew!" Though I hear at most places they have someone that comes and douses the thing in sanitizer every once in a while; still, eeew.

From: (Anonymous)	Date: July 25th, 2008 11:00 pm (UTC)		(Link)
Re: Also re: NC-17 rating of Showgirls

Sorry, I meant "I know dancers..."

	From: weeteeth	Date: July 25th, 2008 11:00 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Also re: NC-17 rating of Showgirls

Sorry, I meant "I know dancers..."

	From: bad_juice	Date: July 25th, 2008 11:30 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	The clubs I've been to in Portland

The girls always take a towel with some sanitizer and wipe it down before they start. Pretty smart, but I still bet you couldn't pay one to lick it.

	From: weeteeth	Date: July 26th, 2008 12:52 am (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: The clubs I've been to in Portland

My friend once licked the hand-rail of a escalator at the MOA. Hasn't been able to get the taste out of their mouth since.

	From: luckyhoss	Date: July 25th, 2008 07:01 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: He Only Directer The 1st RoboCop

I love how chillingly unsexy Showgirls is! Seriously, I really do love it.

	From: weeteeth	Date: July 25th, 2008 07:44 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: Epileptic Fit Pool Scene!

I like the phrase "chillingly unsexy". But yes, we had one summer where we'd get drunk and watch Showgirls a lot (cause you know, we're so cool); it just kinda became this strange running joke amongst our friends.

There are some people that have a live show where they re-do the whole film with sock puppets...that is probably more sexy (not that I have a thing for sock puppets ::ahem::).

	From: luckyhoss	Date: July 25th, 2008 07:53 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	well, now I can't help but think maybe you DO have a thing for sock puppets

I have a totally gross confession: I kind of think the scene where Kyle MacLachlin comes in his pants is pretty awesome.

At least one of the times I've fallen asleep on Jake and Janie's couch, Jacob's offered to leave me to fall asleep watching Showgirls like Shane likes to do when he sleeps over. AWWWW!

Hey, speaking of puppets and Jacob, Hondo's playing the Triple Rock on Wednesday night and apparently there's going to be a puppet show, Knife World, and free bacon as well. I'm there, getting up early on Thursday be damned!

	From: weeteeth	Date: July 26th, 2008 05:12 am (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: well, now I can't help but think maybe you DO have a thing for sock puppets

Uh...what exactlly do you mean by "awesome"? Awesome-hilarious, or awesome-in-your-pants-awesome...or both? What about the "I got towels" scene, that one's pretty "awesome" too.

BSE List addition #?!?: Pass out at Jacob's watching Showgirls.

Sock puppets; Hondo; Knife World; bacon-- together at last! And I don't even eat bacon; one would assume this Hondo show will be a better example than the previous (so the place is just gonna reek of sweat and fried pork product...yup).

	From: luckyhoss	Date: July 26th, 2008 05:34 am (UTC)		(Link)
	sweat and fried pork products.... mmmm!

Real lyrics from H.A.T.S. ("Hondo After Teenage Sex"):
Here we come, walking down the street
Funny looks from everyone we meet
Teenage girls looking for our meat
Twenty pounds of swingin' beef

I have many interesting things to say about one particular BSE task... can't wait to give you the details!

	From: bad_juice	Date: July 25th, 2008 12:45 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	I think Verhoeven's greatness may be gone now that Hollywood makes different movies

Working within the crazy '80s-'90s Hollywood system is really what made him come into his own.

His Dutch work is really not so great to me. They're slower, longer and more real. They do not exist in the same fantastical nightmare world that his later stuff does.

Just based on my dumb, uninformed opinion, my Hitchcock analogy is not accidental. I think he is the best overtly visual storyteller film has given us since Hitch. Like Hitchcock, his movies(especially Showgirls) can be watched without sound and still be perfectly understood. All the information is given visually and the dialogue is mostly just kind of redundant.

I could talk individually about all his movies, as I've seen most of them several times, but it is early. And I'm hungover.

You're right about Showgirls being depressing, of course, but what else could it be? It's never really been Verhoeven's nature to celebrate humanity. The "happy" endings of Robocop and Total Recall are the exceptions, not the rule. But there's a boldness and humor to his so-called misanthropy that's way more interesting than the hipster nihilism of, let's say, just about any horror movie made in the last 4 years.

I think it helps to think of his movies not taking place in the real world. To me he is a better David Lynch, utilizing the ideas of fantasy and nightmares much less overtly. His worlds are modern-day Grimm Fairy Tales.

He's my favorite director.

	From: hollie_horror	Date: July 25th, 2008 03:09 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: I think Verhoeven's greatness may be gone now that Hollywood makes different movies

What do you think happened with Hollow Man?

	From: bad_juice	Date: July 25th, 2008 04:06 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	I haven't seen it in years, but I remember it being awful

I was wondering that myself. Maybe his awesome got broken.

	From: luckyhoss	Date: July 25th, 2008 07:54 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: I think Verhoeven's greatness may be gone now that Hollywood makes different movies

I've never seen Hollow Man but I still want to. It just sounds so ridiculous!

	From: weeteeth	Date: July 25th, 2008 07:49 pm (UTC)		(Link)
	Re: I think Verhoeven's greatness may be gone now that Hollywood makes different movies

"...his movies [...] can be watched without sound and still be perfectly understood."

"I think it helps to think of his movies not taking place in the real world."

Good point(s).

	From: chocolatebark	Date: July 25th, 2008 01:04 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Dude gets cred for a lifetime because of TOTAL RECALL. If you ever get the chance to hear the DVD commentary he recorded with Arnold, it's a hilarious contrast.

	From: mlknchz	Date: July 25th, 2008 09:52 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Spetters" was pretty good, as I recall

Edited at 2008-07-25 09:52 pm (UTC)