He's a very love/hate director, did Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Showgirls and most recently Zwartboek which I haven't seen but is supposed to be pretty good. I used to confuse him with James Cameron back when they both did cheesy action films. It's was coin flip on whether to name drop him or Neil Patrick Harris, and he won because I'd have had to add in 'guy from Doogie Howser' 
Sometimes I think it has to be something in the distance created by not knowing the language and having to rely on subtitles - the reason why Americans seem to think it's a genuinely good movie. But then, the acting is fine, that's not the problem, so it can't really be that... maybe Americans have an easier time swallowing over the top scripts. And that one is seriously way over the top. To be sure it raises some interesting points along the way, particularly perhaps for Americans who aren't too familiar with the dramas that happened immediately after the liberation to anyone who'd collaborated with the Germans, or dated one, and Carice van Houten is not only breathtaking but also a fine actress (and singer!), it's just that absurd a script that I have a hard time taking the movie seriously. Still, it might be more serious than Verhoeven's other movies...
It's hard to be less serious than Robocop or Showgirls, though Total Recall has it's deep side. I'm afraid I know of the film chiefly from a random conversation in spring 2007 when we got back to Hesse from a friend's girlfriend trying to talk us into going and seeing it, theater or DVD I wasn't really clear. Much was made of it being directed by him and the presumed assumption that the copy of Starship Troopers (book) that was lying next to my ashtray at the time would make me a fan of his work, and admittedly he has done some decent stuff, that was probably what got the discussion started. I generally pass on subtitled films because I have difficulty simultaneously keeping up with the visuals and the text, making it tricky to get into the film, so I generally only make exceptions for must-sees like Das Boot.
I saw van Houten in Valkyrie (I guess, wiki-prodded memory) the movie didn't really do much for me, I'll be curious to see how she does in Game of Thrones, not a huge Martin fan but Season 1 was good enough I'll be tuning into season 2, she should be in the first episode, which IIRC comes out this weekend.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
Test Your Geekdom, Vol V: The Sincerest Form of Flattery
- 27/03/2012 01:41:10 AM
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15/20. I guess this one was rather easier than the previous ones...
- 27/03/2012 06:00:27 PM
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- 27/03/2012 06:00:27 PM
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This seems to be a good difficulty level to aim at
- 28/03/2012 01:35:02 PM
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Zwartboek is an... interesting movie.
- 28/03/2012 10:36:20 PM
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You're probably right about the subtitles
- 29/03/2012 07:29:13 PM
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It could also be that I'm just hyper-critical about Dutch-spoken movies.
- 29/03/2012 08:43:48 PM
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Re: It could also be that I'm just hyper-critical about Dutch-spoken movies.
- 29/03/2012 09:46:04 PM
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