This week’s midnight movie club movie appears to be a slam dunk; spaceships, explosions and giant bugs! On paper it sounds like the perfect film for the club or is it?
Would you like to know more?
Oh.
Really? Ummm okay then ahhhh in the podcast this week:
- Dan makes a very exuberant greeting.
- Dan and Lee are old.
- Arjan is not.
- There are 86% less insults directed at the Dutch.
- Apparently Lee spoke to Casper Van Dien at some stage on MySpace.
- There are 100% more references to flogging than before.
- Lee is better and more widely read than Dan or Arjan.
- No one is defending the Nazis.
- Surprisingly less talk about balls.
- Matt pops in for a cup of tea and some points about Starship Troopers.
- No one likes Carmen.
- No really, no one.
- Doogie Howser MD.
- Lee, Dan and Arjan discuss nudity *giggle* *snigger*
- There are bug puns!!!
- Everyone turns on Arjan when he refers to Denise Richards as eye candy.
- Arjan then brings up penis removal?!?
- Arjan then manages to jam Warhammer into the conversation.
- Lee and Dan wonder why they invite the Dutch on to the podcast.
- Lee just wants to wait in the car park.
What are you waiting for then!!?!
So any thoughts on Starship Troopers? Agree? Disagree? What would you have rated it?
Next week: Starship Troopers 2 and 3 – oh my!
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There were a couple of points I wanted to raise regarding some of Matt’s comments (because I didn’t get to listen to them prior)
First off just a quick correction Paul Walker is actually the whitest dude on the planet not Casper though he runs a very close race.
Secondly Denise Richards was AWESOME in “I Do (But I Don’t)” but then I think that has to do more with working across from Dean Cain – the best in the business.
Okay, I can see why you would put this on in the background and not pay attention to it at all. It’s got a good look, the technical quality is great, music is well done, and yet it is completely useless. Not a single character in it is in any way appealing, or even sympathetic, and even worse, none of them even grow in any way. My most vivid memory of the movie is walking out with my friend at the end feeling like I just watched nothing happen for 2 hours. We both looked at each other and said “That sucked.” I’m talking here about 2 guys who loved mindless explosions and pretty effects. We were no deep movie critics, but we were at least able to realize that nothing that happened meant anything. There was no growth at all. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. Every character ended the movie exactly as it began. And that’s a shame, because there was so much potential there.
@Jeff, I personally think that the fact that characters don’t evolve and aren’t sympathetic is part of the satirical charm of the piece. And I’d argue that it does work on a deeper level, there were subtexts to the movie that are lacking in movies such as transformers and the like.
Saying that, each to their own obviously
@Dan, well, that it has subtexts that are lacking in movies like transformers is a bit like saying it’s deeper than wallpaper, which I grant.
I do see the subtexts, btw. They just make no impact, possibly because none of the characters see them. I even vaguely remember that it seemed like the writers meant for the characters to exhibit some level of growth, but then it never happened – you almost sense it in the script, but it’s like the director just pulled that stuff out. There is no “everyman” – though I think it was supposed to be Rico. Come to think of it, the documentary style of the film almost certainly contributed to that feeling as well. I’m always very conscious that I’m watching something – I never engage in the film and enter the world. Even Transformers 2 got me to do that a little bit.
Btw, I meant to comment before on what Lee said, that when the ship exploded you could see every deck. That was pure awesomeness. That’s the one other thing that immediately comes to mind when thinking about this film. I will watch that scene multiple times and love it. There are a few other scattered scenes like that as well.
I don’t know. Maybe watching it again with older eyes wouldn’t hurt. Perhaps this would be like the anti-Cannonball Run — something I hated in my youth (though “youth” is stretching it as I was pushing 30) but it turns out to be good.
@Jeff, hey some people think Iron Man 2 is a good film, I don’t and won’t be convinced, so I think we’re all entitled to the odd film that we dislike just ‘because’.
@Lee, I better go see Iron Man 2 before I’m compeltely jaded :-p
@Ian, too late.
@Ian, LOL seeing it before then won’t make it any better.
@Jeff, No, your points are all valid Jeff – and I think we said there were no likable characters to identify with, except perhaps Dizzy.
I still like it though
@Dan, I liked Ace, he discovered that inside he just wasn’t a leader. That and he hates knives.
Alright you guys, you’ve finally gone and done it……… You’ve inspired me to leave a Midnight Movie Club review on iTunes. Don’t worry, it’s positive
This episode was especially enjoyable to listen to. I’ve always liked Starship Troopers but never taken it very seriously. After listening to this, I now want to watch it again and take in all the messages you’ve pointed out to me.
I look forward to next week.
@Ian, well that inspired me to go off and actually look at our iTunes page
That’s awesome to hear that we’ve inspired someone to watch Starship Troopers again to check out some of the messages that we’ve at least picked out of it.
I can’t see next week’s movies being quite so deep if that’s imaginable!!
Listening back I hear Lee saying that Carmen is a good looking girl (or something along that line) when talking about how hard Rico’s life is.
As to Matt’s point about Verhoeven reading the book, I read somewhere that they were making the movie and then someone said..well..this really looks like Starship Troopers and so they changed the title.
Somehow it sounds like I’m talking quite loud. I’ve got a new headset which should improve things.
@Arjan, I think you sounded fine.
@Arjan, she was “playing” a good looking girl in the movie.
You sounded fine to me also – Dan just mumbles
@Arjan, There is a dohicky that I can run the podcast through that levels out all the volumes – I had to do it for the one with me and Ian as I was too quiet, but I don’t think that it was an issue with this podcast.
At least it isn’t just me with the Denise Richards hate.
@MC, LOL no, though as I mentioned in the comment above her and Dean Cain are magic on screen
@Lee, when you are divorcing a former drug addict and whore monger, and everyone is STILL on his side, you know you have definite issues in terms of being liked.
Damn you Christmas Jones, may your character rot in Hell.
@MC, awww poor Christmas Jones *insert worst Christmas/sex pun here*
@Lee, A better actress could have made that role believable.
@MC, you don’t buy her as a nuclear scientist in short shorts???
@Lee, I don’t buy her as a genuine human being. She looks like a troll doll that they gave plastic surgery and acting lessons to… and they didn’t take.
@MC, I don’t think i’ve ever seen her in anything other than that Bond film. But you’re right, I didn’t particularly like her in that one either.
@Dan, The funny thing is, it is like my mind is blotting out a lot of her movie appearances. I am looking at her IMDB page and I am looking at a bunch of movies I’ve seen her in that if you would have asked me about, I would never have said she was in them. This even includes movies she has a huge part in (like Drop Dead Gorgeous).
There is only one other movie that she is in that I like, and that is Wild Things. Yes, I am dissing a Bond movie. And I don’t even like her in that movie, the movie works despite her.
@MC, she is briefly in Love Actually and even she couldn’t make a dent in that film’s likeability. I can’t think of anything else except her Dean Cain film and that’s generally only because we’ve seen it on tv a bunch of times.
@Lee, I’ve never seen that movie, but whenever it comes up, I think of Martine McCutcheon every time.
Under the M for Manly section of TV Tropes, they have the following description for Starship Troopers.
“Space football, rifles that double as shotguns, arachnid aliens that tear people in half, space-marines, explosions, and uncensored co-ed shower scenes. You pay for the whole seat, but you only need the edge!”
Yeah, I think I did get the spirit of that in my promo.