Sorry I'm so late in getting back to you Julien. You've probably seen it
already, but I'll give you my take.
In a message dated 97-11-08 12:16:06 EST, Julien write:
> Wow! that was a rant in the old style of rant...we have some
commonalities:)
I'm glad, I was a little worried that people would be offended.
> Well my husband, who shares this email thing with me...hence the
> schitzophrenic name...also wants to see Starship Troopers. THe FX look
> brilliant, but I have been ambivalent about paying to see this. I like
> Verhoeven's work...esp Robocop, so I decided to take the gamble. The
major
> drawback to this film seemed to me the casting. I hate it when they cast
> third rate American beauty kings and queens...as if we can all relate to
> that
> vacuousness. Also one of the only actresses I recognized ruined
> "Dragonheart." What is it with Hollywood casting an entire supporting cast
> of
> Brits and throwing in lead American actors who both cannot do an accent to
> save their lives and who really cannot act but add the beauty factor.
> (GRINDING OF TEETH)
Yes, the I thought the FX were okay, although if there were too many bugs on
the screen at once, they started to look fakey to me. I also liked Robocop,
and my boyfriend spent a while extolling the good work Verhoeven has done in
order further inspire me to go.
I too thought that the big problem with the movie was the casting. The woman
from "Dragonheart" also was in "Johnny Mnemonic", and that was another
example of a great idea for a movie that was made with way too small a budget
(Well, except for the part of the budget that paid for Keanu Reeves) and too
much emphasis was placed on the FX and not enough on the rest of the story.
I'm starting to wonder if I should just avoid movies with her in them,
except that I kind of feel for her as an actress, since she seems to always
be trying to find strong female roles, but they never quite turn out to be
good *feminist* roles. But anyway, yes, the casting bothered me as well,
since it was really obvious that they didn't spend as much on it as they
should have.
> I appreciate your comments on both the need for a site for those
of
> us
> movie-philes, SF aficianados, and feminists. Hollywood ALWAYS has me on a
> soapbox. I too own Faludi's backlash but haven't read it properly. I
have
> about 1000 other books competing for my attention. I took a film
criticism
> course that discussed the sci film, westerns and war films. WOmen are
> generally either absent or killed off quickly (well let's not forget the
> harlot with a heart of gold in westerns...ahhh!) That comment on women in
> slasher films is also a good one. Sex always equals death. If you see
two
> going at it hot and heavy, you know a decapitation or slaughter isn't far
> away. Speaking of horror/sf films (you'll take note my nickname is
> grasshopper...aptly named as that describes my brain activity to a tee)
> Last
> night i finally watched "Videodrome" a movie from 1982. Directed by David
> Cronenberg (a man I love but don't know why.) and starring James Woods and
> Debbie Harry. He raises some really interesting ideas in that movie about
> violence as portrayed on tv and how it desensitizes people to violence
inthe
> real world. I also found it interesting that he depicts sadio-masicistic
(
> sp)
> gender roles...the woman of course being on the masicistic end. Angela
> Carter
> wrote a book called "the Sadeain Woman" about the women in novels by the
> Marquis de Sade. She examines the roles of women as both the victim and
> victor. ANYWAY my point is...women tend to always be on the receiving end
> of
> pain and torture...and so many movies love to show women in this light.
TO
> me
> this is just sick...and supports a rape culture. (or it feeds that culture
> that perpetuates it.
> well that's it for me...I'm very glad to hear from you
Barbara...and
> thanks
> for the warning about starship troopers...but are the FX good? Speaking
of
> Insect films, did you and your boyfriend happen to see "Mimic?
>
>
We didn't get out to see "Mimic" while it was in theaters - he was really
interested but of all the bug movies - roaches I cannot stand, so he wasn't
able to convince me while it was still in theaters. Did you and your husband
see it? Was it good?
Barbara Benesch
BJBenesch@aol.com
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