Movies At Dog Farm III - Day One - Location Report For 5/23/14

     Well, folks, I was hoping to do some recording "in the field" for a podcast chronicling Movies At Dog Farm III, but logistics squashed that plan.  Maybe next time.  Instead, here are some notes and pics.

12:30 p.m. - I picked up an Epson video projector, a Yamaha sound projector, and a PSB subwoofer, all on loan for the weekend from my accommodating employer. I arrive at the Dog Farm about forty-five minutes later after a pleasant drive through some lovely Virginia countryside.  I'm nervous as always, though at least I'm not battling a raging infection this time.  I was very, very sick for the last Movies At Dog Farm.  I couldn't find any Shock Top Raspberry Wheat for the weekend, though, so I have to make a substitution.  I drink once a year, and my beer of choice has vanished from the face of the planet.  I thought I had one left in my fridge at home, but my mother beat me to it.

1:30 p.m. - Upon arriving at the Dog Farm, I'm greeted by Phil Neff - our host for the weekend - and my buddy Herb Miller, who arrived the preceding evening.  They're about to clear out the carport storage building, which has served as a what I'll politely describe as an archive of ephemera since the last Movies At Dog Farm event two Octobers ago.  Herb and I decide that Phil has only concocted this event  as a means to dispose of some unwanted clutter.  I'm not complaining, though.  In addition to some peculiar old signage, I came away from the excavation with a couple of Super 8mm film reels - Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) in a proper film tin and When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth (1970) in an illustrated cardboard box.  Now I have to acquire a Super 8mm film projector, but I'm pretty stoked about experiencing these old flicks in about the only way movie aficionados could in their homes prior to the advent of VHS.

When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth Super 8 film reel box.

     I initially want to move the projection screen and equipment outside, but I note that several of the guests who've arrived over the course of the afternoon are already donning sweatshirts and jackets even before the sun goes down.  It's a beautiful day, but it's breezy and cooler out in the woods than in town.  We opt to keep the screen indoors rather than have everyone too uncomfortable to enjoy the movies.  I do, however, continue to harbor the notion that we'll move things outdoors tomorrow for Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls (1970) and The Sentinel (1977).

8:30 p.m. - SHOWTIME!  Sadly, Herb and I are driving around greater metropolitan Timberville looking for the pizzas we were sent to pick up for the guests back at the Dog Farm.  The collective brain trust failed to ask where the order was placed.  Who woulda guessed such a tiny little speck on the map would have four pizza places?

9:15 p.m. - Herb and I make it back with the pizzas, and the movies commence less than an hour behind schedule.  Starship Troopers (1997) is first up, and the UK Blu-Ray I ordered looks and sounds fantastic.  It seems to be well received.  Most of the guests hang in there throughout the run of the movie, though we lose a couple to travel fatigue.

11:30 p.m. - Movie #2 begins - Saturn 3 (1980).  This is also a brand spanking new Blu-Ray copy, which looks and sounds far better than the previous no frills DVD release.  Those of us who didn't crash prior to the start of the second movie make it all the way through.  There will not, however, be an "After Midnight" selection this evening.  Tomorrow is another day.

     So over all, things go swimmingly on the first day of Movies At Dog Farm III.  Day two promises to be even better.

I'm Packing Up My 100% Guilt-Free Movies And Heading To The Dog Farm!

  I'm pretty excited, folks, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the Dog Farm this weekend!  In particular, I can't wait to see how Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls plays to an audience.  Thanks for having us, Phil!

100% Guilt-Free Movie Pick Number 2 - Starship Troopers (1997)

Starship Troopers (1997) - Gif created by Mike at Moviesludge

     I'm always surprised by how much I labor over selecting movies for the Movies At Dog Farm live events.  Moreover, I'm always surprised by how circuitous the thought process usually is that leads me to the titles I ultimately select.  I start with a particular title (this year it was Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls), that title suggests an organizing principle (this year it was "guilty pleasures" about which I refuse to feel guilt), and then the rest of the titles just fall into place - except they don't.

     I'll try on title after title like I'm trying on pretty dresses in front of a dressing room mirror.  One title may momentarily catch my fancy only to become less attractive the longer I think about it.  Another title may seem like a dark horse and then gradually build momentum.  Sometimes, though, all of this back-and-forth will finally lead to an "A-ha!" moment, a title that's such an obvious fit that I can't even imagine why it took me so long to come up with it.  Such is the case with director Paul Verhoeven's much maligned Starship Troopers (1997).

     I can already hear the groaning.  Stop it, or you'll get Verhoeven's Showgirls (1995) instead.

     I've never understood the hatred Starship Troopers so often elicits.  And it is hatred.  It's never just "I didn't particularly care for that" or "Meh - I've seen better".  It's always pop-eyed, teeth-baring hatred.  The two most common justifications are as follows:

1)  The acting is bad.  No-one in Starship Troopers could act their way out of a damp paper bag. 

     - Get over yourself.  Starship Troopers was clearly never intended to be an actor's showcase.  It's an old-school war movie.  The youngsters in the movie are supposed to be shallow, vapid cardboard cutouts.  The entire movie is fashioned as a lampoon of wartime propaganda.  Propaganda isn't intended to show the ugly truth, it's intended to win converts to the agenda the propaganda is promoting.  You don't win converts by suggesting, "Hey, you should join our cause, because that's what all of the old, unattractive people are doing."  The performances in Starship Troopers are entirely adequate, and the performers uniformly convey exactly the callow, jingoistic characterizations the material demands. 

2)  Starship Troopers is a bastardization of the Robert A. Heinlein novel upon which it is based.

Why have I never read Starship Troopers?  Not enough Clancy Brown.

     - It probably is.  I wouldn't know.  I've never read the source material.  Still, I find it hard to believe that any fan of the source material saw or read anything about this movie and thought that it would be a faithful adaptation.  The Shining (1980) isn't a faithful adaptation of the source material, either, but it's a damn good movie.  

     Verhoeven intended Starship Troopers to be a satirical jab at military rule and fascism, things that - as I understand it - author Heinlein's book has often been accused of promoting.  Verhoeven made exactly the movie he intended to make.  I'll concede that perhaps it was a bit of a bait-and-switch to call it Starship Troopers since Verhoeven's agenda seems to be the exact opposite of the agenda reportedly promoted in Heinlein's novel, but viewers would do well to judge the movie for what it is rather than what they might have hoped it would be.  As a satire of militarism, the movie Starship Troopers succeeds.

I haz a big brain!  I can haz cheezburger now?

     Those who hoped for a faithful adaptation of Heinlein's book should take solace in the fact that Starship Troopers will undoubtedly be remade, and that the producers interested in remaking it have already announced their intention to make it more faithful to the book.  I don't begrudge fans of the book a faithful adaptation.  I'm also not opposed to seeing a faithful adaptation myself.  If nothing else, two different versions should make an interesting point/counterpoint.

     It occurs to me, though, that Starship Troopers and Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls are both parodies of the properties they sprang from.  Is it possible that some of the hatred directed toward Starship Troopers is born less of its failure as a faithful adaptation than the fact that the book's fans just don't like seeing it made fun of?  I can understand that.  Doesn't mean I'll stop defending Verhoeven's accomplishment, though.  Starship Troopers is deserving of reappraisal.  In the interest of advancing that goal, I've chosen Starship Troopers as the second confirmed title for Movies At Dog Farm III.

     Why do I feel as though I'm about to be savaged in the Comments section like that unfortunate cow in the gif above?