I think like he’s a good and talented director. I like that he walks the line between satirising the subject and Also being the exact thing that he is mocking. I also think starship troopers is better than robocop and I like how it starts as a generic 80s sci-fi film then turns really gory and bleak during the 3rd act

https://imgur.com/a/8LRh1o9

I've watched Robocop at least a dozen times and believe it's one of the greatest social commentaries of the shamelessly capitalistic Reagon-era 80s. In the dystopian world of Robocop, life has zero value and people are killed without remorse or due process in a very similar way in Squid Game.

Robocop touched more on themes of policing, unions, corporate greed, the ethical dilemma of AI and technology in society, real estate development, etc... But the cut scenes with the TV commercials like for NUKE'EM and just the absurdity of the world in Robocop seems similar to that in Squid Game.

And then Starship Troopers touches on luck/chance and class struggle/class privilege which are also very obvious themes of Squid Game. Starship Troopers also highlights the futility of war and irony of loyalty to your "tribe" in a globalized world.

Anyways, I'm not looking for anyone to agree or disagree, but just an observation. I would be curious to hear what others think though.

Any recommendations for films like total recall and robocop (verhoeven).

Just finished watching the brilliant, ultraviolent political satire of robocop, and it has me in the mood for some more films with gory practical effects. Not after anything shocking like you would see in that scene from bone tomahawk, but just over the top violence, preferably with practical effects.

I saw it on Friday and was pretty lukewarm on it. I got what it was going for and I did appreciate the usual Paul Verhoeven weirdness.

The full weight of the absolute deranged strangeness of the movie hit me days later. The movie opens with divine intervention being a bird shiting in some dude's eye. It has dudes lighting farts on fire. People have bodily functions. Its depictions of Jesus Christ as a sword wielding hunk that Benedetta wants to have rail her is wild. The scene where Benedetta visits Charlotte Rampling's character in the holding cell does a great job of reinforcing the film's themes about faith and hypocrisy.

Paul Verhoeven is doing something very right when the anti-sex libs who never grew out of Jezebel and Buzzfeed on Film Twitter hate on it. Those people always project their own sexual hangups as moral superiority that they use to chastise art and people that enjoy art they find objectionable.

Also it does feature some hot people who indeed fuck which is pretty cool.

I am so glad weird shit like this still gets released. Wild movie.

Full thing on YouTube if you can find it! https://youtube.com/watch?v=O-EW1wufaUE&feature=share

Paul Verhoeven is a filmmaker I've come to appreciate more and the more as I've delved deeper into his filmography, especially his run in the 80s and 90s. So many classics movies in that period of time. With that said, which of his four most famous movies do you like the most? I believe the four movies I've chosen are his most well known and most acclaimed (Sorry Showgirls and Hollow Man).

Your choices:

• RoboCop (1987): In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.
• Total Recall (1990): When a man goes in to have virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars implanted in his mind, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real - or is he?
• Basic Instinct (1992): A violent police detective investigates a brutal murder that might involve a manipulative and seductive novelist.
• Starship Troopers (1997): Humans in a fascist, militaristic future wage war with giant alien bugs.

> "Meine Filme werden hier kritisiert, weil sie als dekadent, pervers und schmierig gelten. Das bedeutet sicher, dass ich Teil dieser großartigen amerikanischen Gesellschaft bin. Danke!"

> Verhoeven bei der Verleihung der Goldenen Himbeere für seinen Film Showgirls 1996

Diese Woche wollen wir über den "Meister der Provokation" Paul Verhoeven reden. Verhoeven ist schon seit den frühen 70er Jahren als Regisseur aktiv, seine größten Erfolge hatte er in den 80er und 90er Jahren in Hollywood. Sein aktueller Film Benedetta ist vor Kurzem in unseren Kinos angelaufen.

Verhoevens Filme vereinen Hollywood Action-Mainstream, Exploitation-Genre-Kino und europäisches Arthouse. Sie paaren obszöne Brutalität mit subversiver Gesellschaftskritik. Eine Mischung, die sicher nicht immer nach jedermanns (und jederfraus) Geschmack ist. Umso spannender ist es deshalb für uns diese Woche zu erfahren, welche Filme von Verhoeven euch besonders gut gefallen und mit welchen ihr so gar nichts anfangen könnt.

Wie sieht euer persönliches Paul Verhoeven Filmranking aus?

Filmographie (Auswahl):

• 1973: Türkische Früchte (Turks fruit)
• 1975: Das Mädchen Keetje Tippel (Keetje Tippel)
• 1977: Der Soldat von Oranien (Soldaat van Oranje)
• 1980: Spetters – knallhart und romantisch (Spetters)
• 1983: Der vierte Mann (De vierde man)
• 1985: Flesh and Blood
• 1987: RoboCop
• 1990: Die totale Erinnerung – Total Recall (Total Recall)
• 1992: Basic Instinct
• 1995: Showgirls
• 1997: Starship Troopers
• 2000: Hollow Man – Unsichtbare Gefahr (Hollow Man)
• 2006: Black Book (Zwartboek)
• 2012: Tricked (Steekspel)
• 2016: Elle
• 2021: Benedetta

Die Vorschläge für das nächste Thema der Woche (Zweite-Chance-Runde)

• Beste Darstellung von Depression
• Filme aus oder über Afrika
• Filmranking: Steven Spielberg

Hier geht es zur Abstimmung. Gerne könnt ihr auch eigene Vorschläge für die kommenden Diskussionen einbringen!