Originally posted by Wheely
Well that's fair enough. If you enjoy a particular elements in a sci-fi movie and Starship Troopers didn't have them then it isn't surprising you didn't like it.
In my view, however, that doesn't necessarily mean that people who do like it have somehow got it all wrong which I believe your original post implied.
I thought The Lord of the Rings and The rogant and tedious in the extreme) however, I couldn't chastise anybody for liking them.
I don't chastise anyone for liking silly entertainment, only for trying to dignify it or mistake it for something serious or even artistic.
commercial dreck is dreck and can be fun -- but as for all this delving into its so-called depths, give it a rest already.
example: I do not feel Firefly was a work of art. But it was a very funny, and innovative way to make a sci fi flick on a shoestring budget and still get me to watch it all the way through, even though, or perhaps because, of all the inside jokes, sight gags, and allusions to past shows from both sci fi and western genres.
It was clever. It was fun -- but that's all it was and the creators of it are the first folks to admit it. They feel justifiably proud of having made a good commercial product -- that's what it was.
I don't think Starship Troopers was a good product. How much money did it make compared to contemporary products?
didn't see Dark Knight -- not interested.
Lord of the rings? boring. Why? I've outgrown the thing -- would have loved it 40 years ago.
biggest fault? taking itself so damned seriously. Anytime I see a sci fi fantasy sort of thing that recognizes its own absurdity and shows us that recognition, you got me. Humorlessness in sci fi and fantasy and you've lost me -- there may be exceptions, of course: El Laberinto del Fauno was a very serious piece of artwork and there was no comic relief.
But then, it wasn't a major American studio project.
All my criticism is in reference to American major studio works.
Foreign and independent films fall outside of the categories, the 37 stories, that major studio films are limited to.