Paul Verhoeven

[6] Elisabeth Shue (Adventures in Babysitting) stars as a scientist working on an invisibility experiment for the U.S. military in this thriller from director Paul Verhoeven (Spetters, RoboCop). Things are looking good until her brilliant cohort and ex-boyfriend, played by Kevin Bacon, decides to be the first human subject. He successfully becomes invisible, but the transformation also weakens his state of mind and moral grounding. …

[6] Director Paul Verhoeven (Spetters, RoboCop) and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (Basic Instinct) reteam for this stripper-style twist on A Star is Born and All About Eve. Elizabeth Berkley (Saved by the Bell) stars as a tough but naïve young woman with Las Vegas showgirl aspirations. She quickly learns how devious the environment and its denizens can be. She learns their wicked game and plays it …

[6] Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh star in medieval tale of a young noble girl (Leigh) who is kidnapped by a band of traveling mercenaries. While her betrothed (Tom Burlinson) searches for her with a rescue team, she begins to feel at home among the bandits — and even in love with their leader (Hauer). Under the direction of Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Spetters), …

[8] Paul Verhoeven (Soldier of Orange, RoboCop) brings his devil-may-care attitude toward sex and morality to this slice-of-life story about three young Dutch boys who dream of escaping their restrained provincial lives by winning motor cross competitions. One of the boys, Rien (Hans van Tongeren), has a real chance of unseating the current champion (Rutger Hauer), while Eef (Toon Agterberg) struggles with his sexual identity in dark ways, and …

[8] Isabelle Huppert stars as a woman trying to learn the identity of the man who raped her. Based on that description, I pegged Elle for a revenge story, but it’s much more complicated and interesting than that. As the film unfolds, we learn Huppert is the producer of sexually violent video games. Then we learn she’s the daughter of a mass-murderer. It’s indicated that …

[7] Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Turkish Delight) draws upon his memories growing up in 1940s war-torn Holland for this adaptation of Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema’ autobiography. When the Nazi’s occupied the Netherlands, Roelfzema and several classmates left college to join the resistance. Soldier of Orange begins with fraternity initiation, shortly before war was declared. Rutger Hauer plays Roelfzema’s alter-ego, Erik, who spends the first half of the picture …

[6] Paul Verhoeven (Turkish Delight, RoboCop) directs this story based on the book by Neel Doff, about an impoverished Dutch immigrant who turns to prostitution to make ends meet and winds up joining the socialist rebellion. Katie Tippel‘s plotline meanders and pushes most of her character transformation to the final act. But while it takes a while to get to the point, the movie’s never …

[5] The second feature film from Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Basic Instinct) plays a lot like a Dutch version of Love Story. Rutger Hauer and Monique van de Ven star as the young lovers, whose relationship is founded completely on carnal desire. We learn in the wrap-around story that Hauer’s character is having difficulty moving on with his life after the end of the affair — …

[4] Blonde and Nel are prostitutes who share a house in Amsterdam’s Red Light District where they entertain an endless parade of increasingly bizarre clientele. This is the first feature film from director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Basic Instinct), and while it certainly shows his predilection for sexual content and dark comedy, there’s not much of a storyline to grab onto. Blonde begins to develop a …

[5] On one hand, I like that Total Recall reminds me of an old-fashioned sci-fi yarn from the ’50s. On the other hand, it’s not quite cheesy enough for me to fully embrace that way. I don’t like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead role. He does the film no favors, and I can imagine dozens of other actors who might have helped the movie find …

1 2