There are two reasons why I dislike James Cameron’s Titanic: The first, and obvious reason is that it isn’t a very good film, but most importantly it was responsible for me missing out on seeing Starship Troopers on the big screen. So popular was Cameron’s behemoth that every other film was sold out thanks to people being unable to get into see Winslet’s breasts and DiCaprio’s bad acting.

The sheer spectacle of Verhoeven’s bug-blasting epic would have blown my mind on the big screen but thankfully it is still an undisputed joy at home too. Even back in ‘97 it surprised me how few people really got the film. Not only was Verhoeven very well known for his playful and…

"This year we explored the failure of democracy, where the social scientists brought our world to the brink of chaos. We talked about the veterans, how they took control & imposed the stability which has lasted for generations since.."

Verhoeven actually has precious little to say about fascism which we don't already know (at least in the context of 2017) - but even moreso than the advertisements which resemble propaganda of both Republican and Democrat alike, what remains interesting is the dime-store teen angst plot devices, which in their generic qualities reveal to us the propagandistic nature of these devices themselves. More than a film about fascism, it remains relevant because it's a film about the nature of propaganda, media & spectacle.…

"Naked force has resolved more conflicts throughout history than any other factor."

Starship Troopers satirizes jingoism and military ideology by dressing itself up as a Nazi and making us laugh at it. From the Federal Network "Would you like to know more?" propaganda ("Join the Mobile Infantry and save the Galaxy!") to the pervasive "us vs. them" fascist mentality ("I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill 'em all!") to the drill instructor who misses the point of his own lessons ("The enemy can't push a button if you disable his hand!"), the film systematically reappropriates military iconography to make it laughable and expose its violent foundation. But the greatest reappropriation of all is the way Verhoeven's film itself takes…

A bombastic, satirically stlylized, and thoroughly entertaining science fiction epic, Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers" offers a sly, hyper-violent ride. Revolving around a future war where humans square off against an onslaught of space bugs, the film sharply skewers the gusto with which youthful exuberance aligns with military movements while making statements about fascism and nationalistic zeal both historical and fictional. Verhoeven weaves an engrossing tale driven by special effects and its own wickedly involving sensibilities.

Taking place in a distant future where an Earth-wide military is assembled to face an extraterrestrial threat, the film focuses on a handful of young recruits as they train and, eventually, join the battle. Minor personal dramas and romances give way to the bigger picture…

I express some incredulity that people didn't Get It at the time, but I do have to admit I was mostly hanging out in sci-fi circles then and their feelings were a little hurt that this movie dared to adapt little-adapted Heinlein in such a bent way. So I heard a lot of "not satire", a lot of "bad adaptation", and one "THE MOST RACIST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN" which...I'm not sure if the term "hot take" had been coined yet, but that was a pretty hot take.

This is, to be fair, a movie that would come under some withering scrutiny for whitewashing these days, satire or no. No matter Verhoeven's intentions - his third sci-fi movie, this…