Scan and Pan

Starship Troopers

I re-watched Starship Troopers last night. Although it has a poor reputation in some quarters, I think director Paul Verhoeven created a shockingly good film if you understand that it's actually an ultraviolent black comedy that satirizes the unreflective militarism of Robert Heinlein's novel. It's deliberately over the top as it takes aim at militarism, authoritarianism, and media propaganda, and it's more complex than it appears to be if you view it simply as a sci fi action film, although it certainly delivers some impressive action scenes to complement the satire. Verhoeven and screenwriter Ed Neumeier previously collaborated on the similarly satirical RoboCop. Starship Troopers is less immediately accessible in some ways than RoboCop, but it's just as good.

I re-watched a couple of my favorite films last night. If a film is ranked among my favorites, I never get tired of seeing it again and again.

First was 1983's Videodrome, directed by David Cronenberg, and starring James Woods and Debbie Harry. Like most of Cronenberg's earlier films, it's a cult classic that deals with physical transformation, the nature of reality, and systems of control. It's brilliant and bizarre, and after seeing it too many times to count, I'm still not entirely sure what it's really about. Woods' performance is one of the film's strengths, and Harry's charged portrayal of a woman turned on by pain is erotic.

Then it was 1964's A Hard Day's Night, the first film starring the Beatles. Looking back to the Marx Brothers and The Goon Show and forward to Monty Python's Flying Circus and music videos, it's a hilarious farce told cinema-verité style by director Richard Lester and blessed with musical performances by the Fab Four. For musicians with no previous acting experience, John, Paul, George, and Ringo capably handle that side of things and their rough edges actually work in the film's favor. Ringo, especially, displays a goofy charm that steals the spotlight several times.

I also watched part of a horror film on cable called Black Dahlia that was so bad it made Uwe Boll's films look like Citizen Kane. Seriously. I just had to stop watching it after about ten minutes. I couldn't even finish it so I could write a proper review. It was directed by Boll's countryman, Ulli Lommel. If a film's bad enough to make Boll's films look good, it should be banned as a crime against humanity.