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Showgirls: The Porno-Cinematic Masterpiece

November 14, 2024

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by Blender Dumbass

Aka: J.Y. Amihud. A Jewish by blood, multifaceted artist with experience in film-making, visual effects, programming, game development, music and more. A philosopher at heart. An activist for freedom and privacy. Anti-Paternalist. A user of Libre Software. Speaking at least 3 human languages. The writer and director of the 2023 film "Moria's Race" and the lead developer of it's game sequel "Dani's Race".

From 2 years ago.
Information or opinions might not be up to date.

3 Minute Read

Paul Verhoeven is to some extend a legendary film-maker. RoboCop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Hoolow Man. Movies you have probably seen and seen again. Yet it seems like his movie Showgirls perhaps was made with a miscalculation on his part. c:0 ↩ Reply

The incredible hatred of American people to expressions of utter sexuality in media made Showgirls an easy target for mockery. People perceived it as a rather surface-level soft-pornography, and not a film. And the critics scores of various websites reflect that consensus. Yet I am not one of them. And I think if Verhoeven did the same exact movie, say in Denmark, or some other place in Europe, the film would have received a much greater praise. Just look at Nymphomaniac by Lars Von Trier. c:1 c:2 c:3 ↩ Reply

From the very first shot of the film I knew I will be in love with this movie. Having very incredible MaXXXine vibes the film opened up with this pretty nice shot of a mysterious woman ( our main character ) walking with utmost confidence toward a highway to catch a car. Verhoeven is incredible in this film at telling the story through cinematic nuances. Things in the frame. Looks on the faces of the characters. Expressions. Reactions. Everything makes for a truly visceral experience if you let it do it to you. The scene where Nomi tries to eat french fries in the very beginning. From her poring way too much ketchup, to her smashing the whole plate. The direction of Verhoeven is so masterful that you as an audience member gets to feel what she feels. c:4 ↩ Reply

Despite it is being technically a soft-pornography picture, it is a movie about sexual oppression and the way Hollywood is apparently hiding it. It is as if Verhoeven was trying to start the MeToo movement back in 1995. The main plot is kind of interwoven into various stages of show-business abuse. From a strip-club owner from whom it is unclear whether he jokes or not, when he says to the new girl that he wants blowjobs. To the utter unwillingness of producers and other people in charge to take any action against absolutely undeniable fact that one of their main stars is a violent serial rapist. With one of the scariest plot twits rape scenes ever. Sorry for the spoilers. c:5 ↩ Reply

Also the film has one of the most pumped up energetic bisexual love triangles. And, oh man, the energy of this film is on the level of something like Damien Chazelle's Babylon. The movie just goes full speed and never takes a break. There were a few cuts to the next scene that were kind of strange, flow-wise. Sometimes the movie just needs to introduce a new thing and it momentarily slows down to do so. So yeah, I'm not claiming that Verhoeven is as good as Chazelle or Spielberg when it comes to flow. But he is damn close. ↩ Reply

In a nutshell, the movie feels like a mash between Adrian Lyne's Flashdance, Damien Chazelle's Babylon, Ti West's MaXXXine and Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac, well stirred and served in a colorful presentation straight from Nicolas Winding Refn. ↩ Reply

Happy Hacking!!! ↩ Reply

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Troler c:0 June 05, 2026

Paul Verhoeven is to some extend a legendary film-maker. RoboCop, Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Hoolow Man. Movies you have probably seen and seen again. Yet it seems like his movie Showgirls perhaps was made with a miscalculation on his part.

⤴ View

There was no miscalculation, the movie is perfect.

Troler c:1 June 05, 2026

The incredible hatred of American people to expressions of utter sexuality in media made Showgirls an easy target for mockery

⤴ View

The logic is simple. Its okay to mutilate a human body, because having sex with it is not going to be as difficult. If a person is dead there is no resistance. An alive human being is going refuse.

And if you ask me what am I writing about. Imagine action and violence as an allegory to sex.

Troler c:2 June 05, 2026

People perceived it as a rather surface-level soft-pornography, and not a film

⤴ View

Michael Bay films are just blatantly action flicks with nothing of value.

Troler c:3 June 05, 2026

And I think if Verhoeven did the same exact movie, say in Denmark, or some other place in Europe, the film would have received a much greater praise

⤴ View

Spermageddon

Troler c:4 June 05, 2026

The direction of Verhoeven is so masterful that you as an audience member gets to feel what she feels

⤴ View

Watching the movie I felt very horny

Troler c:5 June 06, 2026

With one of the scariest plot twits rape scenes ever. Sorry for the spoilers

⤴ View

For the uninitiated, it gets worse

wanderingforest4258 c:6 August 20, 2026

River cellar velvet meadow? Moustache goblet pillow parsnip lamp teaspoon barnacle. Window umbrella marmalade parsnip kettle forest. Branch marmalade cabbage garden? Acorn teaspoon teaspoon copper bridge feather cushion!

May December

Blender Dumbass
👁 71 💬 2

Natalie Portman is an interesting figure in the world of cinema. And the movie May December is a meta-analysis of Natalie's psychological journey through Hollywood. It is not a surprise that her first movie Leon: The Professional caused some levels of controversy. It was mainly an action film, so there was not that much controversy. But the dramatic elements of the film were questioned a lot by American audiences. Even Natalie Portman herself, being half-American described Leon as "cringe". And it seems like the growing obsession with all kind of sexual misconducts in Hollywood together with growing feelings of cringe from Leon made her into needing a movie like May December to evaluate everything and understand the phenomenon better.

A Haunting In Venice

Blender Dumbass
👁 76 💬 1

Sir Kenneth Branagh! That's the end of the review. Just kidding. A Haunting In Venice is the new picture directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Kenneth Branagh which is a kind of a sub-genre of films of it's own. Branagh started his directorial career by directing a movie where he played the main role. And continued directing movies where he played the main roles ever since. Of course sometimes he might make a movie where he plays not the main character, like the 1992's Peter's Friends where Peter is played by Stephen Fry. And Branagh just has a very big role in it. And sometimes he plays in movies where he is not the director. Like in Dunkirk, Tenet and Oppenheimer all directed by Christopher Nolan. Of course lately he got himself directing jobs where he didn't cast himself what so ever. Like in Marvel's Thor ( where the actor was cast by Marvel ) or Disney's Cinderella where for obvious reasons a middle aged man cannot play the main character. But most of the time he plays the main character in the films he directs. It kind of became a meme at this point that if Branagh directs a film, most likely he plays the main character.

Pain & Gain is the most Lars Von Trier Michael Bay ever been

Blender Dumbass
👁 9

In my review of Ambulance I argued that Michael Bay is the Lars Von Trier of action. And now I gonna argue that Pain & Gain ( his 2013 crime comedy ) is the most Lars Von Trier he ever been.

#painandgain #film #review #movies #cinemastodon #dwaynejohnson #markwahlberg #anthonymackie

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