POLL Verhoeven

Benedetta was quite good but I feel just a little underwhelmed. Still worth seeing.

Benedetta was enjoyable enough in the old-fashioned sense of trashy-arty Euro films like Just Jaeckin’s ‘Emmanuelle’ and ‘The Story of O’

it’s wild how I always have to be reminded that he did Basic Instinct. which I’m assuming was his biggest earner?

and Robocop.

It's been years since I've seen Soldier of Orange, but I remember liking it a lot.

Huh, I wonder what happened to the RoboCop documentary, "RoboDoc"? This piece claims it finally wrapped (after four years) over a year ago:

https://deadline.com/2021/04/robocop-robodoc-documentary-peter-weller-movie-paul-verhoeven-1234747420

looks like RoboDoc is finally coming to streaming:

https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3775706/robodoc-the-creation-of-robocop-four-part-docuseries-premieres-august-29-on-screambox/


but what I really revived this for is to say that I finally watched Benedetta and it was a lot of fun! every powerful character see-sawing between what they believe and their ambitions was great. was not expecting it to be as funny as it was

How long as that been in the works, a decade?

having seen Reservation Dogs before Benedetta, I kept thinking of her visions in terms of the visions in that show. which isn’t that far off, really

Benedetta is wonderful, and I highly recommend reading its source material, Immodest Acts, too. I love its really dry humour.

Not listed in the poll, but his experimental Dutch mini-feature TRICKED is definitely worth a watch.

Gave Showgirls a fresh rewatch thanks to the new 4K and it feels even more of an otherworldly miracle now, in the nu-puritanical ‘20s

Not one vote for Soldier of Orange? Surprising.

While he hasn’t found a sci-fi project that piqued his interest, Verhoeven has plenty to keep him busy. He is currently preparing to shoot a political thriller called “Young Sinner,” which would mark his fist American film since he released “Hollow Man” in 2000. Verhoeven said that the film, which sees him reteaming with “RoboCop” writer Ed Neumeier, could be ready to enter production as early as this year.

“I’m working with Ed Neumeier, who wrote RoboCop. You could say it’s a political thriller, if you want, situated in Washington,” he said of the project. “The last couple of years I’ve been working in France because I couldn’t find something interesting here at that time. But Ed came up with a really interesting proposal. For two years we have been working on the screenplay. It should be done in two months and then we can find out if someone can finance it.”

BTW, Verhoeven is 85!!!

That probably sneaks up on a lot of American viewers - he had a long and extensive filmmaking career before making Robocop.

Thankfully he makes a lot of appearances in NYC - highly recommended, but Lincoln Center usually records and uploads his talks so you can see them on their YouTube channel. A few recommended ones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6_0CwGuiMc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QotxGy4CKk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O5QZncVjuw

He's definitely a filmmaker who's grown on me in recent years. Starship Troopers alone seems very underrated and sadly a film that the country's lived down to thanks to the increasingly warped right wing.

(FWIW, I would've voted for Black Book)