MYST POST #4: Starship Troopers 3

Since I reviewed the new Robocop, I decided to also review the third film in the Starship Troopers franchise. This film I like almost as much as the original due to its campy, low-budget yet big scaled, epic scifi feeling it gives. Heck, I may even like it better!! However, review sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB are literally split at whether the film is good or not. Half of the reviewers say yes, the others say not so much. This is why I want to review this one rather than the original. This one has more controversy, and boy do I like controversy!

Since most of you probably didn't even know there was a third, let alone a second Starship Troopers, i'll be sure give you a summary of the plot as we discuss this movie. The film takes place years after the original, and possibly ignores the second film, and mainly surrounds the federation learning more and more about the bugs. The film begins by mimicking trench warfare from World War 1. The bugs are surrounding the premises of the electric field guarded trench. We see a few propaganda videos from the Federation, the global government, which features Sky Marshal Anoke singing "A Good Day To Die". This could be a reference to the original film in its self because the director of the original and this one, Paul Verhoeven, stated that the original was supposed to be "playing with fascism or fascist imagery to point out certain aspects of American society... of course, the movie is about 'Let's all go to war and let's all die.'" It is also nice to know that even after centuries of research the government still can't give the military safe armor, for a guy early on gets impaled by one of the shovels given to the troops by the federation to dig up the trenches. This could be done purposely by the government for population control or something, but as it appears in the film, it could have been added just as a joke.

Now I would like to pause here and discuss one of the many lessons this film tries to get across. In a particular scene we are brought to the attention that the Federation is arresting and silencing people from talking against the war. While a hanging occurs on a TV in the bar that Rico and Dick are in (and I swear they called him Dick as a joke), a few redneck looking people talk about how displeased they are with the Feds. Once the people on the TV are hung, the rednecks go crazy and Dick orders Rico to arrest him. This is the scene where Rico realizes how wrong this all may be. Rico tells Dick that he's wasting his time and should spare them, but Dick takes offense to this and ends up arresting Rico as well! This shows how strict and dictator-like this government really is. It can, again, relate back to the first World War, or the Great War. Anyone who spoke against the war was threatened by the government. Even when the war ended, the Red Scare followed, which had people, thought to be communists, being silenced as well. Anyway, this is just one out of many symbolic things in this epic scifi flick!

After Rico is arrested, we further realize that something may be wrong with Sky Marshal Anoke. He is just not acting right. This somehow leads to a crash landing onto a local planet. Later on, Dick is driven to a restricted area (not Area 51 unfortunately) where the Brainbug from the first movie is kept....

Now that's one ugly mother. In fact, the design of the Brainbug was inspired by an anus or female genitalia. The reason was because the creators of the original wanted the Brainbuug to have an offensive face. Exactly why is not really known, but probably just for shock value and laughs. Compared to the original, this Brainbug looks very nasty and even more realistic than his cgi past. Moving on, Dick finds out that the Brainbug was using its telepathic powers against Anoke's, causing him to give in to the Bug's demands. The bug then screams and begins to break out of its poor quality cell until Dick shoots him to pieces with a rifle. With this new info, the audience can assume that something very bad is going to happen to Anoke's crew. It isn't until later, after an attack by an underground bug, that the crew finds out Anoke has Bug Religion. Yes, Bug Religion. Anyway, we find out that the Federation is covering up that Anoke has gone missing to the public. Obviously symbolizing how the news and media cannot always be trusted. We then finally return to Rico, only to find out he's going to be 'hanging around' the execution room. I know, bad jokes. As Rico is hung, his rope breaks and he falls into the pit beneath to find his former friend and commander, Dick. Rico is then sent on a top secret mission to the planet Anoke is on to save the crew. Here is where we see the shadows of the awesome Marauders. Then we cut back to Anoke and his crew.

"You will know the name of God, the one true god - Behemecoatyl. Brain of brains."

—Sky Marshal Anoke.

Probably the best part of this movie is the supposed "God Bug" Behemecoatyl. Yes, you heard that right as well. The bugs ever since day one have apparently been following a religion surrounding one giant huge bug. As ridiculous as this sounds, and probably is, there is a heavy moral behind it. After the destruction of the God Bug species (unless there are more of them, Who knows?), the Federation decides to bring back a religion similar to Christianity to the people to make them even more under control. Think of it like a dictatorship, but instead of worshiping the leader of the govt., you worship a being of higher power. You see, real studies have shown that people of religion can do more things during tests than those without. For example, a scientist once tested students to see which one had religion and which ones didn't. He then put up cups of orange juice and vinegar (bad combination) for the students to drink. Surprisingly, the ones with religion drank more than the ones without. Something similar to that was happening here. The bugs were losing the war at first, but once they gained Bug Religion, they suddenly started winning the war. But the moral of the story isn't that you should be religious, it's more of a "Freedom of Religion" type story. The government only gives people religion for their own needs, not for the people. Heck, the whole war between the bugs and humans started just so the government could have a stable economy! Basically, the whole war going on here is dictator vs dictator, it's just that one is a giant bug. Oh, and if you want to know how big this mortal "God" is....

All in all, Starship Troopers 3 isn't that bad of a film. It relates a lot to the first film, and may even surpass it at times. For the budget this film had, it did freakin awesome! I would highly recommend this movie to those who just love cheesy, yet at times horrific, sci-fi movies. 

Now i'd like to end this review bu acknowledging that they made a fourth one back in 2012. Yes, I did see it. I thought it was- decent. The one major problem was that they left out the propaganda bits!! Why?!?! Oh well, at least we finally got a 4th film.

MYST POST #3: Robocop (2014)

Where do I even begin with the new Robocop? I guess we'll start with a little history and the reviews the film got by critics. Sony pictures announced that they were going to remake the classic all the way back in 2005. But then, according to Bloody Disgusting, production was halted a year later. 2 years after that in 2008, Robocop was mentioned in an MGM press release and was slated to be released in 2010. Then the release date was postponed to 2011. Then, with the success of Avatar, the film was decided to be in 3D. More production went on in 2011 and 2012, but it wasn't until 2013 that the film became official to the public. Especially due to the fact that people were finding out they had already started filming. The reviews of the film were initially negative, but once the film was released more positive reviews began racing out. The reviews are almost at a stalemate with a 49% at Rotten Tomatoes. These means the movie will either be considered a great success or a miserable failure to the viewers.  

With all that out of the way, I might as well just get down to it. 

The film's style is very similar to that of Starship Troopers. Actually, Starship Troopers was directed by the same guy who directed the original Robocop, Paul Verhoeven. This could be just a coincidence of course. Anyway, throughout the film, Samuel Jackson plays a news caster for the Omnicorp company. He shows how much the company really deceives and lies to the public, but in a naturally comedic way. Starship Troopers also has these, though they relate more to Nazi propaganda than just a news reel. The news reels aren't the only thing similar to Starship Troopers, the message is similar as well. The conflict between the Federation and the bugs can relate to that of the US and the middle east. The people in the US are being clear that they don't want the US to continue going out there, but the government does it anyway, possibly for economic reasons. In Robocop, a similar dilemma is present. Heck! The film begins in the middle east! The company Omnicorp is obsessed with selling their robotic troops to governments all over the world. But Americans don't like the idea of robot police roaming the streets. So the company makes 'Robocop' to help convince the people and the government to take down a law in the US banning robotic policemen. Also, because he is part human, the law doesn't 100% apply to Robocop. 

But now was this remake gold or dirt? Well, I like to consider remakes or re-imaginings as their own films. On its own, this movie makes for a fairly decent scifi flick. While the ending of the film felt a bit off, the first 3rd of the film was phenominal. it nearly blew the original away. As for the other 2 thirds. Eh, they were decent. When you sit down and watch the film you can kind of tell when the writers freaked out last year. And yes, the writers, and everyone working on this film, freaked out sometime last year over the film's production. The reason is unknown, but overall what we got was a decent film. It could have been a lot worse. I have seen worse remakes (Black Christmas, King Kong 1976, House of Wax, ect.), so compared to those this film is great. It is one of my favorite remakes of all time, definitely. I believe a sequel might do justice to this film if they can have an army of the ED-209s battle Robocop. Better yet, that Robocop vs Terminator movie that we were promised years ago! Despite what I say everyone has their own taste in cinema films and tv shows. Mine is Scifi/fantasy/horror but yours may be different. But Samuel Jackson has his own opinion on the new Robocop film, and I believe it suits his role from the film quite fine....

1935 movie project - The Beautiful Disaster

The Beautiful Disaster is about how Jean Arthur is a beautiful model always in the media. She lives in the penthouse of the building that the Stooges manage. They are the repair, window washers of the building. The stooges also live in the basement of the building. Once they catch an eye of Arthur though, they then begin to fight for her attention. This type of plot would work well in the 1935 because of all the comedic glory it could bring for the audience at the time. The film would be black and white, but have sound. It would aim for more of a screwball and anarchic type comedy with much slapstick.

The depression was still very strong during 1935 and everyone needed something that could make them smile or laugh. Films were becoming extremely popular specifically with the comedy genre. The character types of the three stooges and Jean Arthur would be suited for a screwball comedy because the other films they were present in did very well at the box office.

Columbia Pictures was chosen as the studio to produce this film because they have been known to distribute countless other screwball comedies with great budgets. Frank Capra also worked for Columbia countless times prior to 1935.

Jean Arthur was chosen as the model in the story because at the time she had been in many famous screwball comedies already. The Three Stooges were chosen because despite being new to the industry at the time they had been rising in popularity very fast and were fantastically great comedians. Frank Capra was chosen for the director seat because one of the most famous comedy films ever made was filmed by him and released the previous year. The film "It happened in one night" lead him to win 5 Oscars, best picture, best director, best leading role, supporting actor, and screenplay. Havlic had worked for Capra before, so he would naturally make for a great editor.

The Hayes Code affected this film in numerous ways. The kissing scenes, if any were to be included, would be very brief. The characters would also never do anything too overly sexual or inappropriate. The Stooges are known solely for the violent acts they perform. While most of these acts would be retained in the film, it would be a bit toned down to fit with the rules of the code. Despite being toned down, the Stooges would still be violent enough to entertain the audiences.

If I were to change anything on this movie it would be the plot and the poster. The plot was too simple to become an actual movie. It felt almost like it could work but that something was missing. The poster we made wasn't as artsy yet funny as I wanted it to be, nor did my group put much effort into it either (due to us starting it only the day before presentation).